Squirrel Hill's Cool Ice Taipei closes, to be replaced by Thai restaurant.

Old news from last week, but Squirrel Hill's Cool Ice Taipei has recently closed at 5813 Forbes Ave., and will be replaced by Sukhothai Bistro, a Thai restaurant. It may be a familiar name to Pittsburghers: there used to be one in Oakland on Semple St., and ages ago there was a Sukhothai downtown.

Sukhothai Bistro will join Bangkok Balcony, Silk Elephant, Sun Penang, and Curry on Murray as the neighborhood's fifth Thai restaurant.

Free Japanese class at Carnegie Library East Liberty begins May 21.

The Carnegie Library branch in East Liberty periodically offers free Japanese classes, and the latest session will begin on May 21.

Learn Japanese in a fun and friendly environment. All ages and levels are welcome.

The class runs from 6:30 to 7:30 pm, and the library is located at 130 S. Whitfield Street, about four blocks northwest of Whole Foods.

The Oakland branch still offers several free Japanese classes: Japanese For Beginners on the second and fourth Mondays of each month (next is June 9); Japanese II for high-beginners and intermediate learners on the second and fourth Tuesdays; and a Japanese conversation club for intermediate and advanced learners, also on the second and fourth Tuesday. Visit the library's event page and search "Japanese" (or Korean, or Chinese) for more information.

Pittsburgh Bonsai Society 33rd annual Bonsai Show, June 7 and 8.

The 33rd annual Bonsai Show will be held at Phipps Garden Center in Shadyside (map) on June 7 and 8. It's presented by the Pittsburgh Bonsai Society and is free and open to the public from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm on Saturday the 7th, and from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm on the 8th.

Pink Box, an "Asian-European fusion bakery", coming to Squirrel Hill.

Signage went up today for "Pink Box," what the owners call an Asian-European fusion bakery at 2104 Murray Ave. in Squirrel Hill (map). Situated next to Crazy Mocha in the old Chaya location that's been empty for years, it's across the street from a Korean bakery (Sumi's Cakery), up the hill from a Taiwanese bakery (Bubble Pi), and down the street from two others.


The facade on Tuesday (left), and the facade on Thursday with the new signage.

Demonstration for Sewol victims, May 18 at Schenley Plaza.

A demonstration is scheduled for May 18 at 2:00 pm in Schenley Plaza for the victims of the Sewol ferry tragedy. Pittsburgh's event coincides with simultaneous nationwide demonstrations here in all 50 states. Attendees are asked to wear black and bring white chrysanthemums.

The Sewol was a ferry boat that sunk off the coast of South Korea on April 16 while carrying passengers and cargo between Incheon and Jeju. The majority of the passengers were students from Danwol High School on a school trip; of the 281 deceased, 250 were from Danwol High School. Since then, protests against perceived government incompetence and obfuscation have erupted in Korea and among Korean expatriate communities abroad.

Asian-European fusion bakery coming to Squirrel Hill.

Work started recently on what the owners call an Asian-European fusion bakery at 2104 Murray Ave. in Squirrel Hill (map). Situated next to Crazy Mocha in the old Chaya location, it's across the street from a Korean bakery (Sumi's Cakery), up the hill from a Taiwanese bakery (Bubble Pi), and down the street from two others.

Update: It has a name.

Chinese, Filipino performances at Pittsburgh International Children's Festival, May 14 - 18.

The Pittsburgh International Children's Festival starts tomorrow and runs through the 18th. It's moved this year from Oakland to the Cultural District downtown. Events of relevance to this blog include: the Organization of Chinese Americans Youth Ensemble and Phillipine Folk Dances, both on the 18th at Lilypad Park (.pdf map) on the corner of 8th St. and Penn Ave.

Spirited Away (千と千尋の神隠し) at Maridon Museum, May 23.

Butler's Maridon Museum will present the 2001 Japanese animated film Spirited Away on Friday, March 23. A brief summary of the Hayao Miyazaki / Studio Ghibli film from a 2002 A.V. Club review:

Spirited Away centers on Chihiro, a sullen, fearful Japanese girl whose parents are moving so far out into the country that they predict they'll have to drive to the next town just to shop. While traveling to their new home, they discover an abandoned, disintegrating theme park, which they cheerfully explore in spite of Chihiro's shrill protests. Suddenly, a boy approaches her and commands her to leave before nightfall. But before she can gather her wayward parents and escape, night does fall, in a breathtakingly eerie sequence that almost subsumes Chihiro's danger with its technical achievement. Chihiro is trapped in the spirit world, and in order to save herself, her parents, and eventually her new friend, she has to come to terms with herself and her unwitting captors. Gradually, in a series of almost episodic adventures, she learns to be brave and face up to her responsibilities to herself and the people she loves.

Wikipedia sums up its reception:

When released, Spirited Away became the most successful film in Japanese history, grossing over $274 million worldwide. The film overtook Titanic (at the time the top grossing film worldwide) in the Japanese box office to become the highest-grossing film in Japanese history with a $229,607,878 total. Acclaimed by international critics, the film is often considered one of the greatest animated films of all-time [and it won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 75th Academy Awards, the Golden Bear at the 2002 Berlin International Film Festival (tied with Bloody Sunday) and is among the top ten in the BFI list of the 50 films you should see by the age of 14.

The Maridon is an Asian art museum located at 322 N. McKean St. in downtown Butler, roughly 40 miles north of Pittsburgh (map). The movie begins at 6:00 and is free and open to the public; reservations are required, though, and can be made by calling 724-282-0123. The movie is dubbed in English.

The "PITT" リサイクルコットン Tee, seen in Kagawa Prefecture. Part of the Spring 2014 collection by Free Rage.


From the Free Rage website.

Taiwanese film Yi Yi (一一) at Maridon Museum, May 15.

The Taiwanese film Yi Yi (一一, A One and a Two) will play at Butler's Maridon Museum (map) on May 15 as the last of three installments of the museum's Spring Film Series.

A lengthy 2011 Alt Screen post quotes from numerous contemporary and retrospective reviews the 2000 film. From a hyperbolic 2009 Salon review of what "might be the greatest [film] ever":

For me, Edward Yang’s “Yi Yi: A One and a Two …” may be the greatest film ever, let alone the best of the decade. What does that mean? For starters, it means that Yang’s final film lies somewhere between formalist hard-assery and middlebrow accessibility, between slow-burning Ozu and — in the abruptly climaxing story lines of the last hour — understated soap opera. In telling the story of a Taiwanese family in crisis, Yang has three hours to zero in on what makes one family’s members tick while positioning them exactly in the center of late-20th-century global economics: micro- and macro-, both specifically Taiwanese in its business scenes and universal in its familial dynamics.

The movie starts at 6:00 pm, is presented by Slippery Rock's Dr. Ken Harris, and runs nearly three hours.