WRITES TOM PLATE – In the pantheon of American movies, the 1985 flick ‘Back to the Future’ does not rank at the top of temple Hollywood, as do canonical masterpieces such as ‘Casablanca’, ‘Gone With the Wind,’ ‘Lawrence of Arabia” and others. Yet the movie title alone enriched American argot,…
Author: Asia Media Staff
JAPAN: Japan’s Nishikori Returning to ATP… the Smart Way
JACQUELINE DILANCHYAN WRITES – Japan’s Kei Nishikori made a highly anticipated return to professional tennis this January, but it wasn’t the expected Australian Open, this season’s first Grand Slam, where he made his awaited comeback. Instead, Nishikori made his comeback at the ATP Challenger Tour Event in Newport Beach, which…
SAUDI ARABIA: Women Driving in Saudi, Women’s Rights Victory or Economic Ploy?
NADIA ALJOJO WRITES – According to a Saudi Arabian cleric, Saad Al-Hijri, “women have half a brain,” and once they go shopping they, “return with a quarter of a brain, [so] how can she get a driver’s license with a quarter of a brain?” Although later punished for speaking such…
FILM REVIEW: ‘1987 When the Day Comes’
ALEXIS CRUZ WRITES – Fans of South Korean cinema know the country can produce world class horror, thriller and even rom-com films. You can add political biopic to that list, with the December release of “1987: When the Day Comes.” This moving film centers on the government’s botched cover up…
MYANMAR: THE FUTURE OF THE FREEDOM OF PRESS
ELIZABETH SOELISTIO WRITES – The freedom of the press in Myanmar is in a questionable state. Despite talk of a transitioning democracy, it is unclear whether human rights, such as freedom of the press, will receive the reform needed to become fully democratized. Lau Hon Meng and Mok Choy Lin,…
LOS ANGELES: WORLD FAMOUS UN EXPERT ON THE POLITICS AND ETHICS OF GLOBAL FOOD DISTRIBUTION COMES TO BRIEF LMU
WRITES JAY SEO – The UN Rapporteur for the Right to Food, Dr. Hilal Elver, will speak to students and faculty next Wednesday, 31 Jan., at Loyola Marymount University. This special event, co-sponsored by LMU’s Asia Media Center and the International Relations Program of LMU’s Political Science Dept., will take…
COLUMNIST’S VIEW: ALL THE HOT RUMORS ABOUT THE BOSS OF CHINA
PROFESSOR TOM PLATE WRITES – Years ago, Singapore’s founder Lee Kuan Yew would needle me, in all seriousness, about the time and effort we silly journalists invest in seeking to lay out a leader’s personal traits. This dynamic man dubbed our penchant for such detail “the Western journalist’s exaggeration of…
SOUTH KOREA: North Korean Glamour Offensive Commences
This caption material courtesy of The South China Morning Post, Asia’s leading English-language daily, published out of Hong Kong, China — Glamorous head of all-girl band from North Korea shown above arriving in Seoul to boisterous reception. The government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (NK) has begin its…
ONE COLUMNIST’S VIEW: INSIDE THE ‘MIND’ OF DONALD J. TRUMP
TOM PLATE WRITES – Recent U.S. presidents, at least in public, would speak of China only after the vetting of practically every word, as if an errant one might prove seriously chancy. The bilateral was too complex, the stakes too high, the relationship freighted with too many tensions to have…
ONE HARVARD STUDENT’S VIEW: FELLOW STUDENTS, STOP ROMANTICIZING COMMUNISM, IT IS EVIL
WRITES GUEST CONTRIBUTOR LAURA M. NICOLAE OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY — In 1988, my twenty-six-year-old father jumped off a train in the middle of Hungary with nothing but the clothes on his back. For the next two years, he fled an oppressive Romanian Communist regime that would kill him if they…
LOS ANGELES: HEAR YE, YE JOURNALISTS! DEADLINE IS COMING SOON — APPLY!
LMU’S LOYOLA LAW SCHOOL WRITES — The Civil Justice Program at Loyola Law School, Los Angeles will host its 13th-annual Journalist Law School from Wednesday, June 6-Saturday, June 9, 2018 on its Frank Gehry-designed campus in downtown Los Angeles. The application deadline is Friday, Feb. 9, 2018. Apply or learn…
LOS ANGELES: THE DAZZLING ASIA WORLD FILM FESTIVAL
Alexis Cruz and Elizabeth Soelistio Write – The Asian World Film Festival has ended and is closed until next year. The artistry in the participating movies is astounding and they are true testaments to the cultures and countries that produced them. Even more astounding were some of the personal stories…
THAILAND AND BEYOND: HONEST JOURNALISM IN A TENSE AND DIFFICULT AGE
ASIA MEDIA WRITES – The Committee to Protect Journalists does vital work around the world. Below is the CPJ Year-End Highlight Statement. We are proud to reprint it here. The CPJ year-end summary: “There is no way to sugar coat it—this has been a terrible year for press freedom around…
SINGAPORE: TEEN BLOGGER AMOS YEE GRANTED ASYLUM IN THE U.S.
ASIA MEDIA STAFF WRITES– Amos Yee, a teen blogger who fled Singapore, has been granted asylum in the United States. Yee was released from U.S. detention after 9 months of being detained. Yee first received asylum in March, but was quickly rejected by the Department of Homeland Security. However, the…
INDIA: INDIA HATES WOMEN (EVEN MORE) WHEN THEY’RE WITH THE OPPOSITE SEX
AASHNA MALPANI WRITES – Stories of harassment and violence in India made headlines all over the world again when a Swiss couple was brutally assaulted by a group of five young men at Fatehpur Sikri near Agra late last month. Marie Droz and Quentin Jérémy Clerc, both 24, decided on…
JAPAN: IVANKA TRUMP AND SHINZO ABE AND THE LAND OF THE RISING BALONEY!
AASHNA MALPANI WRITES – Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, invited Ivanka Trump to speak about female empowerment at the World Assembly for Women in Tokyo recently. Ivanka Trump, daughter of current U.S. President Donald Trump– a man infamous for repeated offenses and disrespectful comments against women – spoke about the…