ARACELI PALAFOX WRITES- In September, there was a turn in media in Cambodia when Cambodia’s Center for Independent Media (CCIM) applied for radio and television licenses. If granted, CCIM would operate it’s Voice of Democracy (VOD) program through the Ministry of Information. VOD was established in 2003 under Cambodia’s Center for Human…
ALEX QUEJADO WRITES — Where do we look for new media information, and what medium do we use to find it? Have traditional media outlets—newspapers, radio, and television—lost their prominence? With the rise of mobile devices, this seems to be the case in Southeast Asia, and most notably in Vietnam.…
YVONNE EPPS WRITES — The next generation console war is heating up in the West as Sony’s PS4 and Microsoft’s Xbox One are neck and neck. In the East, however, Sony has had Microsoft on the ropes. According to Arcade Sushi, the Xbox One launched in Japan in September and was…
LEXIE TUCKER WRITES – Can you remember the last CD you bought? I’m not talking an album on iTunes. I mean an actual, physical compact disc. Can’t recall? Ask anyone in Japan this question, and you’ll most likely get an answer without much thought. After the U.S., Japan is the…
ASIA MEDIA STAFF WRITES – Even as Singapore’s National Day came and went Aug. 9, planning for the island city-state’s 50th birthday bash is already in full gear. The special committee set up to plan and implement this celebration has been dubbed SG50, or singapore50. A big point of departure for this year’s…
RYAN LIPPERT WRITES – Certainly a country with the title “The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea” is all about freedom and equality…right? Earlier this year, the United Nations published a report on the state of human rights in North Korea. It found that the country has one of the worst human…
AMBER VERNETTI WRITES – Beauty is in the eye of the beholder…or perhaps it’s in a box. Bellabox, an Australian beauty subscription service, received over $3 million in backing from Allure Media, digital publisher of PopSugar and Shopstyle. With the help of Allure Media’s funding, bellabox will expand its…
PEYTON CROSS WRITES – With the recent release of the iPhone 6, millions of Americans are preparing for a technological upgrade. More than 9,000 miles away, Sri Lanka is also gearing up for its own IT reboot. On September 14, the Colombo Page reported that the Sri Lankan government plans to…
JEREMIAH FAJARDO WRITES – From potato salad to Oscar nominated films, the popular crowd-funding site Kickstarter has been at the forefront of rethinking project funding. Surprisingly, some of the most successful campaigns have come from Japan’s risk-averse entertainment industry. The time for change has come and it’s in the hands…
DYLAN FIELDS WRITES – This weekend the Japan Film Society hosts the 4th annual Los Angeles EigaFest, showcasing contemporary Japanese cinema in the US. A portmanteau of the Japanese word for film (eiga) and ‘festival,’ the name signifies its objectives to “showcase Japanese and Japanese-influenced films that appeal to the…
AMBER VERNETTI WRITES – To thwart digital pirates, the Australian government has put forward a plan to keep websites from hosting copyrighted material. Aussie creative types and the media say ‘Bravo’. The Media, Entertainment, and Arts Alliance (MEAA), a union representing artists, film makers, journalists and other creators, say they…
LEXIE TUCKER WRITES – Paying for college isn’t easy. Either you were lucky enough to have parents who started saving from the time you were born, or you’re forced to take out loans in ungodly amounts to help fund your outrageously expensive education. Of course, part-time jobs are an option. You…
ASIA MEDIA STAFF WRITES – It’s no secret that Singapore news media is not exactly free. That said, controls on the nation’s journalists have eased over the years, and today’s environment is far looser than a decade ago. This has led to a unique brand of Singaporean citizen journalism found most…
YVONNE EPPS WRITES—No one, it seems, can escape the far-reaching grasp of the Internet. Vietnamese authorities thought they could lock away dissidents, but their fingers keep tapping and a scene emerges that looks eerily similar to African Americans during the 1960s Civil Rights era. According to TuoiTreNews, it’s now apparent that prisoners have…
RYAN LIPPERT WRITES – Could sports succeed where years of diplomacy have fallen flat? On the heels of Dennis Rodman’s visits to the Hermit Kingdom, an international group of wrestlers, including athletes from Japan and the US, journeyed to North Korea recently to compete in a match before thousands of…
Join the Asia Society Southern California for an exciting evening to celebrate the U.S.-China Film Relationship. As in the past, the Gala Dinner will feature high-profile honorees and guests from China and the U.S. This year’s full-day conference will draw on the Film Summit’s roots in U.S.-China co-production.…
