TED Talk: "How Rock Music Shaped the New Mongolia".

Today Lauren Knapp uploaded her 16-minute talk at Greater Johnstown High School titled "Live from UB: How Rock Music Shaped the New Mongolia". Knapp has been in the local news the past year for her documentary Live from UB, and wrote at length in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in September on the country and its rock scene.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes about Victoria Lee, a Korean-American student who was named "an outstanding Asian-American student by the Asian-American Heritage Committee of the Pittsburgh Federal Executive Board". The article also mentions her parents, whom you might know as the owners of a large sports clothing store in the Strip District.

Pittsburgh is swell, but an "expat hotspot"?

The CNNMoney headline "Pittsburgh becomes expat hot spot" jumped out at readers on May 30, leading us to wonder why author opted for the present tense over something more representative of a developing situation. Those who choose to read the entire report---all seven paragraphs of it---might not get too worked up. Pittsburgh is a fine mid-sized city with rotten public transportation but is very insecure and boasts of any ranking or mention in the mainstream media, regardless of how vapid the source or cursory the glance.

Northwest Chinese Pop-up Restaurant, June 1 in East Liberty.

A reader passes along news of a Northwest Chinese Pop-up Restaurant event at AVA Lounge Saturday night, June 1, from 7:00 to 10:00 pm at AVA Lounge. To plagiarize the Eventbrite posting:

Come out Saturday for a sampling of authentic Northwestern Chinese food with dishes from the cuisines of the Chinese Muslims and throughout Central Asia. We'll also have beer and be playing various ethnic music from Northwestern China!

Tickets are, as the site says, $6 online through Eventbrite, or $10 at the door. Formerly known as Shadow Lounge, AVA Lounge is located at 5972 Baum Blvd in East Liberty (map).

Oakland's Kbox adds 8,000 Korean songs.

One of the biggest complaints of Oakland's Kbox, Pittsburgh's first and only Asian-style singing room, has been the lack of much other than Chinese-language songs. Kbox announced today that they've added 8,000 K-pop songs to go with the 13,000 English-language and 70,000 Chinese-language songs available. They've recently made their songlists available online, so you can browse the newly-added Korean songs on their website.

Any reader 노래방 favorites? A friend learned Kim Do-hyun's "사랑했나봐", and the relatively slow speed mades it memorizable for non-native speakers. However, it's not among the 8,000 listed:

Pittsburgh Magazine readers vote on best restaurants.

The June 2013 issue of Pittsburgh Magazine has the results of its readers' poll on best restaurants in Pittsburgh. For the Japanese / Sushi category, Nakama Japanese Steakhouse came in first, with Umi and Little Tokyo Bistro second and third. Sushi Kim was voted the Best Korean restaurant, with Golden Pig and Dasonii Korean Bistro rounding out the top three.

These results are similar to the City Paper's last fall, and 2013's haven't changed much from 2012's, with Umi replacing Ichiban Hibachi in the Japanese category and Dasonii bumping Green Pepper out of the Korean. The 2009 reader's poll also put Nakama and Sushi Kim in first place. A poll with more Japanese and Korean voters, though, would probably put Chaya Japanese Cuisine and Kyoto Teppanyaki on the list, and vote Golden Pig first place.

In other categories of note, Sesame Inn was voted Best Chinese and Nicky’s Thai Kitchen Best Thai.

Beautiful Birds, Entertainers, Samurai exhibits at Butler's Maridon Museum.

The Maridon Museum has three special exhibits of dolls, figurines, and sculptures on display now through the end of August: "Beautiful Birds", "Entertainers", and "Samurai". The museum is located at 322 North McKean St in downtown Butler (map), and is open Wednesday through Saturday from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm.

Free Japanese classes at East Liberty Carnegie Library, June 6 - August 29.

The East Liberty branch of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh will hold free Japanese classes each Thursday evening from June 6 through August 29 (excepting July 4). From the library website:

Learn conversational Japanese in a casual setting. Classes are free, and all ages and backgrounds are welcome!

The classes are 6:00 - 7:30 pm in Meeting Room 2, and the library is located on 130 S. Whitfield Street (map). A reminder that the Oakland branch holds Japanese for Beginners, Japanese II, and a Japanese Conversation Club on biweekly schedules each month. Each class is suited for a different level, so check the course descriptions for more information.

WQED's "In Country: A Vietnam Story" and Friends of Danang.

Watch In Country: A Vietnam Story on PBS. See more from WQED.

A documentary worth watching is WQED's "In Country: A Vietnam Story", an hour-long 2006 program that follows a group of Vietnam veterans as make an emotional return to the country for the first time since the war. Accompanying the group is "Friends of Danang", a Pittsburgh-based non-profit with the mission of rebuilding and reconciliation almost exclusively known to the general public for the American destruction there. From a WQED profile [.pdf file]:

In Country: A Vietnam Story, tells two emotional stories; separate yet intertwined. There are the “Friends” themselves, the men and women who travel to and from Vietnam on a bi-annual basis, devoting their energies and talents to building an elementary school for the children of Danang. Their current reconciliation efforts are devoted to providing prosthetic and orthopedic rehabilitation services for children still being maimed by abandoned ordinance from the conflict, as well as funding the construction of a second school.

It's especially significant around Memorial Day, when we consider--among other things--American interpretations of the Vietnam War, a public imagining that focuses almost entirely on its own suffering: the loss of American lives, the tumultuous protests, and the upheaval of a generation. As we noted in 2011, the inscription on the Vietnam Veterans Monument in Pittsburgh, for instance, reads:

Welcome home to proud men and women We begin now to fulfill promises To remember the past To look to the future We begin now to complete the final process Not to make political statements Not to offer explanations Not to debate realities Monuments are erected so that the future might remember the past Warriors die and live and die Let the Historians answer the political questions Those who served -- served Those who gave all -- live in our hearts Those who are left -- continue to give As long as we remember -- There is still some love left. - T.J. McGarvey

No doubt a moving tribute to those who served and were forced to serve, but trying "not to make political statements" and "not [debating] realities" ignores the scale of destruction half a world away. We don't often enough acknowledge the enormous devastation wrought on Vietnam and its neighbors, the losses suffered by American allies acting on its behalf, and the tension their presence caused to Pan-Asian relationships. A major part of the American response to this war in particular needs to be atonement, not simply an accounting of its own losses, and projects like Friends of Danang are important parts of this.

Bonsai Show at Phipps Garden Center, June 1 and 2.

The 32nd annual Bonsai Show will be held at Phipps Garden Center in Shadyside. (map) on June 1 and 2. It's presented by the Pittsburgh Bonsai Society and is free to the public.