Last month, the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore hosted our own Keith Chow in conversation with New York Times bestselling author Kevin Kwan as part of their “Writer’s Live” series. Because they spent a portion of their talk discussing Kevin’s childhood in Texas, we are presenting that conversation in its entirety for Southern Fried Asian!
I once heard the great political philosopher and activist Angela Davis argue that Americans are so obsessed with race as an identifying feature that when we meet racially ambiguous people, we are anxious until we know on which side of the color line they fall. Upon hearing this, I was relieved by the articulation of something I had suspected was at the heart of my experience. It was like experiencing great art, that rush of adrenaline that comes with recognizing what we’ve known all along presented as fantastically new.
Continue reading “The ‘Heights’ of Anxiety and the Color Line: Racial Ambiguity in a Culture of Absolutes”
Now that In the Heights is officially in theaters and streaming on HBO Max, what better time than now to re-up my convo with Lin-Manuel Miranda, originally recorded for the Hard NOC Life podcast.
Continue reading “NOC Interview: Lin-Manuel Miranda on the Making of ‘In The Heights’”
For our review of the film, click here.
The anticipated release of WB’s In the Heights is set to release this week, but the long-lasting impact of the film will affect many BIPOC, especially those from the Latinx community, for a lifetime.
Continue reading “NOC Exclusive Interviews with ‘In The Heights’ Director Jon M. Chu and the Cast”
Warner Bros. has moved up the opening of Jon M. Chu’s big screen adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda and Quiara Alegría Hudes’s Tony Award-winning musical, In the Heights, a day early. So it won’t be long now!
To hold you over until Thursday night, Chu and Miranda went to social media to announce they’re releasing the first eight minutes of the movie — essentially, the entire opening number — even earlier.
Continue reading “Light’s Up on the Opening Number from ‘In the Heights’”
On a new Hard NOC Life, Keith finally talks to Lin-Manuel Miranda about adapting his first musical, In the Heights, for the big screen. But before that, he is joined by Dominic, Britney, and Shawn to break down the Eternals trailer.
Continue reading “Hard NOC Life 219: Lin-Manuel Miranda! + The ‘Eternals’ Trailer Reaction”
It seems like only yesterday when national treasure and lyricist genius Lin-Manuel Miranda graced the Richard Rodgers Theatre as Usnavi in the Broadway production of In the Heights. Now, 13 years later, the Tony Award-winning musical is finally premiering on the big screen next month.
Continue reading “‘In the Heights’ Captures the Beauty of Washington Heights and the Community Behind It”
Few comic book characters mean more to me than G.I. Joe’s resident Ninja Commando. Created by Larry Hama and based on the Hasbro action figure designs, Snake Eyes wasn’t just my favorite action figure, he unlocked my imagination as a child. A silent warrior with a classified name and background meant that anyone could be beneath that iconic all-black mask. So for years, Snake Eyes looked like me until the comics eventually revealed the man underneath was yet another white-guy-who-happens-to-be-best-Asian.
Continue reading “Actions Speak Louder than Words: Henry Golding on Being ‘Snake Eyes’”
Warner Bros. has released the trailer for the anticipated musical film In the Heights, and it does not disappoint. Directed by Jon M. Chu, In the Heights brings back Lin-Manuel Miranda’s score and a screenplay by Quiara Alegría Hudes, the … Continue reading ‘In the Heights’ Trailer Celebrates Life in Washington Heights
In the Heights has played a huge role in the lives of the actors who created and originated in the original Broadway musical. Creator Lin-Manuel Miranda became an overnight superstar on Broadway. After the success of In the Heights and another Award-winning musical Hamilton, Miranda became a National Treasure. He was also credited for discovering the actors who performed in his musicals, including Anthony Ramos, who is now starring as Usnavi, a role that Miranda originated on Broadway.
Continue reading “Anthony Ramos Credits the ‘In the Heights’ Musical for His Career”
To celebrate the release of the trailer tomorrow, WB has released teaser posters for the anticipated musical film, In The Heights.
Based on the Award-winning Broadway musical of the same name, In the Heights fuses Lin-Manuel Miranda’s kinetic music and lyrics with director Jon M. Chu’s lively and authentic eye for storytelling to capture a world very much of its place, but universal in its experience.
Continue reading “Atención: New ‘In The Heights’ Teaser Posters!”
On January 10, 2020, production on the G.I. Joe spin-off Snake Eyes officially moved to Japan. To celebrate, the cast and crew assembled at Hie-Jinja Shrine to receive a traditional blessing ahead of the beginning of shooting in Tokyo.
Lights up on Washington Heights. No matter how many times you’ve listened to the In the Heights Original Broadway Cast Recording, whether once or 96,000 times, it gets stuck in your head. And after you watch the trailer for the big-screen adaptation, you’ll be singing it from now ’til its release next summer and beyond.
Continue reading “Washington Heights Dances Center Stage in the Trailer for ‘In the Heights’”
One year after Crazy Rich Asians was released to the world, Keith and Dominic look back at the film’s legacy on this week’s Hard NOC Life.
I’m actually on vacation right now, but the moment news broke that Crazy Rich Asians star Henry Golding was in talks to play the lead in Paramount’s G.I. Joe solo Snake Eyes movie, I couldn’t not write about it!
Continue reading “An Asian ‘Snake Eyes’ is All I’ve Ever Wanted”
It looks like Lin-Manuel Miranda won’t be the only one making his San Diego Comic-Con debut this year!
Entertainment Earth has revealed a new In The Heights pin mates wooden collectible item in the form of Miranda’s iconic Broadway character, Usnavi.
Continue reading “‘In The Heights’ Usnavi Toy Making Debut at San Diego Comic-Con!”
Just in time for AAPI Heritage Month, a collective of AAPI creatives and leaders, including Bing Chen who I interviewed on the Southern Fried Asian podcast last year, known as Gold House have announced their second ever list of influential Asian and Asian American talent.
From actors and athletes to CEOs and political leaders, the A100 list demonstrates the role of the AAPI community in American society. Click here to check out the full list of 2019 honorees.
Continue reading “Gold House Announces Annual A100 List of Influential Asians in American Culture”
Back in October, when I interviewed Gold Open co-creator Bing Chen on the Southern Fried Asian podcast, he teased a new iteration of the movement established to promote groundbreaking Asian American films like Gook, Crazy Rich Asians, and Burning. This morning, they revealed what the next stage of Gold Open will look like. In addition to a partnership with AMC theaters to help “streamline group movie-going, theatre buyouts and bulk regular-price ticket purchasing through a ticket buying system,” the Gold Open system will expand and be applied to media from groups dubbed “the New Majority,” i.e., women, the African diaspora, Latinx communities, and LGBTQ+ artists.
Continue reading “#GoldOpen Teams Up with AMC Theatres to Promote New Majority”
Tonight, NBC will be airing a Halloween special celebrating the 15th anniversary of the smash Broadway musical, Wicked.
So I figured what better opportunity to revisit this thread I started over two years ago when I fancast a bunch of Asian Americans as characters from the musical? Now that we live in a post-Crazy Rich Asians world, a movie adaptation of Wicked starring an all-Asian American cast is not as far-fetched as it seemed when I started the #AAWicked tag in 2016. Hell, even though Universal Pictures has already tapped Stephen Daldry to direct, Jon M. Chu might be the best person to bring an Asian American Wicked adaptation to life. His next project is bringing Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In The Heights to the big screen after all. Anyway, here’s who I’d cast in an all-Asian Wicked.
Ten years ago, Lin-Manuel Miranda burst upon the scene with the Tony Award-winning musical In The Heights. That same year, Jon M. Chu directed his first feature film, Step Up 2 The Streets. A decade later, both have hit the Lotto with Hamilton and Crazy Rich Asians, vaunting them to A-List pop cultural icon status.
And in 2020, the two will team up to bring Heights to the silver screen! Alabanza!
Continue reading “Atención: You Can Audition to be ‘In The Heights’”
Hard NOC Life with Shawn Keith return from a brief hiatus to share what’s Nerd Poppin’ this week.
Continue reading “Hard NOC Life: A New Era of Representation”
