University of Pittsburgh Chancellor Mark Nordenberg with the mayor of Pohang, Lee Kang-duk (이강덕) , on June 24. Nordenberg was in South Korea's steel capital giving talks at Pohang National University of Science & Technology on the 24th.

Pitt's Chancellor Nordenberg to speak about Pittsburgh, Pitt at Pohang University of Science and Technology, June 24.

Via POSTECH.

University of Pittsburgh Chancellor Mark Nordenberg will speak in Pohang, South Korea, on the 24th as part of this year's Advance Pohang Forum at the Pohang University of Science and Technology. He will give a lecture in the morning on "Pittsburgh and Pitt, The Rebirth of a Great American City" (피츠버그, 위대한 미국도시의 재탄생), and a lecture open to the public in the afternoon on "The Role of Research Universities in 21st Century America" (21세기 미국 연구중심대학의 역할).

Taiwanese inventors win 76 medals at INPEX 2014 in Pittsburgh.

Via the CNA and Yahoo! Taiwan.

At the 2014 Invention and New Product Exposition (INPEX), held at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center from June 18 through 20, Taiwanese inventors were again the big winners, earning 32 gold and 44 silver medals at the annual international invention trade show.

Green tea cake, from Sumi's Cakery.

Chinese, Korean shorts at the Pittsburgh Independent Film Festival this weekend.

The Pittsburgh Independent Film Festival begins today---sorry for the late notice, blame the local papers---and a few short films are of relevance to this website, including: one on "a group of renegade Chinese artists"; "Winter Shower" by Kyoungju Kim; and "Door God" by Yulin Liu. Steel Cinema has a full schedule and list of synopses. Movies are shown at the Ryan Event Center in McKees Rocks (map), and as the paper says, beware road construction if you go.

Ai Wei Wei: The Fake Case at Harris Theater, from June 27.

From the official website.

The 2014 documentary Ai Wei Wei: The Fake Case will play at the Harris Theater from June 27. A summary, from the distributor's website:

After 81 days of solitary detention world famous Chinese artist Ai Weiwei is put under house arrest. He suffers from sleeping disorder and memory loss, 18 cameras are monitoring his studio and home, police agents follow his every move, and heavy restrictions from the Kafkaesque Chinese authorities weigh him down. Picking up where Alison Klayman's Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry left off, AI WEIWEI THE FAKE CASE is more explicitly political, reflecting Ai's battle against the gigantic lawsuit thrust upon him by the Chinese government in an effort to silence him. Ai Weiwei is shaken, but during his year on probation he steadily finds new ways to provoke and challenge the mighty powers of the Chinese authorities in his fight for human rights and free expression.

The Fake Case made its US debut in New York on May 16. Times and dates for the Pittsburgh run have not yet been announced, but should be on the Pittsburgh Filmmakers site shortly. The Harris Theater is located at 809 Liberty Ave., downtown, in the Cultural District (map).

BonChon coming to Philadelphia.

Bonchon, a chain of Korean fried chicken places, is coming to Philadelphia, writes Philly.com.

[I]t's being built on the ground floor of a new apartment building at 1020 Cherry St. That is across the street from Simply Shabu, the hot-pot specialist.

BonChon will have a liquor license and is pegged for a September opening.

BonChon will open in the middle of Philadelphia's Chinatown; here's a map.

Pittsburgh police brutality makes the Korean news.

From the "Korean news watching us" category, the front page of Daum, the second-largest portal in the Korean internet, Tuesday morning has screen captures from a cellphone video showing alleged police brutality at the Pittsburgh Pride parade on the 15th.

K Missing Kings at Hollywood Theater in Dormont, July 19 and 20.

On Friday, the Hollywood Theater in Dormont announced on its Facebook page it would be participating in the United States premier of the Japanese animated film K Missing Kings on July 19 and 20. The distributor Eleven Arts provides a brief summary:

Based on the hit anime K, K MISSING KINGS picks up where the series left off. Featuring the same director and scriptwriter as the series, this movie brings the characters that you've grown to love in the same spirit of action, honor, and loyalty. K MISSING KINGS also sees the return of popular voice actors such as Daisuke Namikawa, Daisuke Ono, and Tomokazu Sugita, reprising their roles for the first time on the big screen.

The story starts some time after the Island Academy Incident, in which four of the seven great Kings crossed paths. Since this time, silver clansmen Kuroh Yatogami and Neko have been searching for their master, Yashiro Isana, the Silver King. Their search having turned up fruitless, the two begin to give up hope, until they encounter Anna Kushina and Rikio Kamamoto, two members of the red clan HOMRA being chased by someone.

According to Anime News Network, the movie will premiere at the Anime Expo in Los Angeles on July 5 and will have a limited US release from July 18. There are three shows scheduled on the 19th and 20th: Saturday at 7:00 pm, Sunday at 4:00 pm, and Sunday at 7:00 pm. Tickets for the Dormont shows will be available online, though online ticket sales are currently paused.

The theater is located at 1449 Potomac Ave. in Dormont, and is accessible by Pittsburgh's subway/LRT at a block south of Potomac Station. It frequently shows newish Japanese animated films on or near their US release date, including, in recent memory: the Madoka Magica series, Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo, Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day, and Tiger & Bunny: The Rising.

Taxi fights in the old news: Pittsburgh almost had 대리운전, too.

Advertisements for a designated driver company lined up in Gangnam, from Sisa Channel.

Big local news in recent months has been the arrival of ride-share companies Uber and Lyft to Pittsburgh, and the pushback by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission and the entrenched taxi services. Several years ago, Pittsburgh briefly had another para-taxi company called BeMyDD, which functions like the designated-driver (대리운전) services ubiquitous in South Korea. From an August 26, 2010 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article:

BeMyDD (Be My Designated Driver) started operations in Pittsburgh this week after launching in three Ohio cities earlier this year, he said.
"BeMyDD is a new twist on a transportation service which gives people an affordable alternative to the usual limo or taxi. The premise is that 'We drive YOUR car, so you don't have to,' " Mr. Simanovsky said.
The company offers two services: A customer can reserve a driver ahead of time who will meet them at a location of their choice, chauffeur them around in their own car, wait for them and take them home, for $12.50 an hour.
For those who are already out and in no condition to drive, the company will dispatch two drivers to take them and their car home. That costs $25 plus $2.95 a mile for the first 10 miles and $1.50 per mile thereafter.