‘Elemental’ Director Peter Sohn Talks Representation and Science of Organic Awkwardness

On the surface, Pixar’s Elemental looks like a fun play on the classic opposites attract story, where two unlikely characters are thrown together and develop an unexpected relationship. But digging deeper, director Peter Sohn tells us that story along with delivering an appreciation for the parents who made great sacrifices for a new life in a new world with next to nothing but the clothes on their backs and their family. And we had the chance to talk to Sohn about Pixar’s upcoming animated film and what it means to him to share his story with the world.

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Atsuko Okatsuka’s Grandmother Comes Clean in ‘Made From Scratch’ Clip

Fuse’s standout original series Made From Scratch invites viewers into the kitchens of their favorite celebrities, like comedian Atsuko Okatsuka, as they cook their favorite dishes while sharing their most cherished memories with loved ones.

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Atsuko Okatsuka on the Journey to Her HBO Comedy Special, ‘The Intruder’

For comedy nerds of a certain age, the HBO Comedy Special is synonymous with legends like George Carlin, Robin Williams, and Chris Rock. On December 10, Atsuko Okatsuka will add her name to the list when her HBO stand-up special, The Intruder, debuts.

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See the Trailer for Justin Chon’s ‘Blue Bayou’

You know I’m a sucker for stories featuring Asian Americans in the south. That’s why I created a whole podcast to highlight said stories. So you better believe I’ll be at the theater on September 17 when Focus Features’ Blue Bayou is released!

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‘Home’ Comics Creator, Julio Anta

Yo! Yo! Yo! It’s Kuya P back again with another interview for my friends here at the NOC! I recently sat down for a conversation with Comics Creator, Julio Anta to discuss his project with Image Comics’ Home which I’ve previously highlighted here on The NOC as a series that you should be picking up! Check out our conversation and then head over to your LCS so that you can give it a read!

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Image’s Forthcoming ‘Home’ Comic to Feature Special Series of Jacoby Salcedo Variant Covers

PORTLAND, Ore. 02/18/2021 — The upcoming series Home by writer Julio Anta (Frontera) and artist Anna Wieszczyk will boast a special, collectible series of variant covers featuring artwork by the lauded Jacoby Salcedo.

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Southern Fried Asian: Kavi Vu

Welcome to a new season of Southern Fried Asian! We’re kicking off 2021 with storyteller, writer, activist, and Georgian Kavi Vu to talk about how the AAPI community helped turn the state blue in 2020 and elect two Democratic senators in an historic runoff election.

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Image’s ‘Home’ to Explore U.S. Immigration Policy and Border Patrol Through Superhuman Lens

PORTLAND, Ore. 01/22/2021 — Debut creators Julio Anta (Frontera, forthcoming HarperCollins 2023) and Anna Wieszczyk weave a deeply grounded and heartfelt story in the forthcoming comic book Home. This five-issue miniseries will explore the real-world implications of a migrant with extraordinary powers, and will launch from Image Comics in April.

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The Backstory ‘Cobra Kai’ Should Tell

WARNING: The following contains spoilers from Season 3 of Cobra Kai.

The third season of Cobra Kai has been out for a few weeks already on Netflix and a lot unfolded over the course of its ten episodes. Familiar faces returned, dynamics between some of the characters changed for the better while others changed for the worst, and through a sequence of flashbacks, audiences got a glimpse at the backstory of the original (and current) Cobra Kai sensei, John Kreese (Martin Kove).

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Southern Fried Asian: H’Abigail Mlo

Just in time for the holidays, here’s the final Southern Fried Asian of season five to close out 2020! Joining the podcast is H’Abigail Mlo, a recent graduate of the University of North Carolina and one of the founders of Voices of the Highlands, a digital storytelling project featuring Montagnard/Montagnard-American voices on identity, culture, and everyday life.

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Southern Fried Asian: ‘First Vote’

With less than three weeks to go for the 2020 Presidential Election, Keith sits down with filmmaker and subjects from the new documentary, First Vote: director Yi Chen, podcaster Kaiser Kuo, and professor Dr. Jennifer Ho on this special election edition of Southern Fried Asian.

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Southern Fried Asian: Eva Noblezada & Diane Paragas of ‘Yellow Rose’

On October 9, Sony Pictures’ Yellow Rose makes its theatrical debut on hundreds of screens across North America. To celebrate, the film’s star, Eva Noblezada, and writer/director, Diane Paragas, join Keith on a brand new Southern Fried Asian.

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Southern Fried Asian: Chen Tang

This episode of Southern Fried Asian was recorded in February before the coronavirus shut down everything. While Disney may have taken Mulan off its release schedule, we’re filling the void by releasing Keith’s conversation with one of the film’s stars, Chen Tang!

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Southern Fried Asian: ‘Far East Deep South’

On June 5, the Oxford Film Festival will host the virtual world premiere of the documentary feature, Far East Deep South, a film about a Chinese American family discovering its unexpected history in Mississippi. Before its premiere, the filmmakers, Larissa Lam and Baldwin Chiu, sit down for this month’s episode of Southern Fried Asian.

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Alan Yang is About to Get Serious with ‘Tigertail’

Alan Yang is a funny guy. 

He has written and directed some of the funniest episodes for hit comedy series like Parks and Recreation and The Good Place. He also co-created the award-winning comedy, Master of None, winning both a Peabody and Emmy for his work on the acclaimed series. 

Now, Yang is about to release his first feature film this week on Netflix, and it’s not what you’d expect. After working in comedy for several years, Yang wanted to write about something personal. Inspired by a trip he took to Taiwan with his father four years ago, Yang really got to know his father and the life he lived in Taiwan — his hopes, dreams, failures, ambitions, and regrets. Tigertail, a multigenerational drama surrounding a Taiwanese American immigrant story, was the end result. 

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Southern Fried Asian: Qasim Rashid

A few weeks ago, Keith had the pleasure of welcoming to Southern Fried Asian human rights lawyer, policy advocate, and candidate for State Senate in the 28th district of Virginia, Qasim Rashid. With less than two weeks to go until voters go to the polls in Virginia, Keith and Qasim talk about why he’s running and why it’s important to get involved in politics at every level of society.

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Wakanda and Migration: #BlackFreedomBeyondBorders

We are living in a world where people are moving around the earth almost as fast as information. Most of us will not be buried in the soil of our birth. We move for different reasons: safety, opportunities, whims. What is gained and lost from these migrations?

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Supergirl: An L.A. Story for Today

by AJ Joven

It must have happened when I noticed Kara running in front of a slightly obscured monument that could only have been at Pershing Square. The flat sky scrapers, palm trees, and the technicolor brightness of the world all felt so familiar. An alien, misunderstood and hiding in plain sight, here in DC’s analog of Los Angeles is what makes Supergirl such a watershed moment: it takes this specific angle of the City and wears it unabashedly. As I’ve been playing catch up on the series (sorry… as a Filipino, I’m generally late to everything), I’ve found lots to like about the confident voice in Supergirl. Often steeped in questions of identity, Supergirl’s writers send up the concepts of being a professional woman, a millennial, and, most personal to me, an immigrant with swagger and intent. Seeing National City be so clearly depicted as Los Angeles (seriously, that flat top sky line is unique, y’all) and all of the auxiliary connotations involved in that is not, to my mind a mistake. It is, however, a first.

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