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

Last month, 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 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. The movie is in Japanese with English subtitles, and the theater will include movie-related giveaways while supplies last.

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.

Are you a native Japanese speakers also active on mTurk? A Pitt grad student is doing a study on language processing, and has an hour-long HIT that pays $5.00.

Road to Ninja coming to Hollywood Theater in August.

The Hollywood Theater in Dormont announced today that it will show Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie on August 29 and 31. Tickets are $12 and are available online for the Friday evening and Sunday afternoon shows. The movie will be dubbed in English.

Gwangju students back in Pittsburgh for language immersion, cultural exchange.

Heading on one former student's travel report.

Students from Gwangju National University of Education (광주교육대학교) in South Korea are back in Pittsburgh for a language immersion and cultural exchange. From June 25 through July 24, 18 education students will attend classes and tour the city under the guidance of the Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council. Other cohorts are visiting California, New Zealand, Vietnam, Thailand, and Japan.

The GPLC hosts these students twice a year, and posts updates on its Facebook page. Readers of Korean can learn more about the trip and the students' experiences by reading the trip reports prepared by the students each term, hosted on the GNUE website. The school magazine also publishes interviews with returning students from time to time, though its website is currently broken.

These training and immersion programs have been going on between GNUE and Pittsburgh since 2009, shortly after Park Nam-gi was named school president. Park earned his Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh in 1993, and worked two stints as a visiting professor at Pitt in 1999 and 2000-2001. In 2013 he received a University Medallion Award, given to distinguished alumni around the world to mark the 225th anniversary of the University of Pittsburgh's founding.


Via the GPLC GNUE Facebook page.

A slice of mocha cake, from Pink Box Bakery. Pink Box is the "Asian-European fusion" bakery that opened on Murray Ave. in Squirrel Hill on July 7. It's from the same Taiwanese family that owns Ramen Bar and Rose Tea Cafe, also in the neighborhood.

Dragons on the Lake Dragon Boat Festival at Ohio's Portage Lakes State Park, July 12.

The 2014 Dragons on the Lake Dragon Boat Festival will take place on July 12 at Portage Lakes State Park, about two hours northwest of Pittsburgh in New Franklin, Ohio. Dragon boats are 46-foot-long boats with 20 rowers each, and have been a part of southern Chinese culture for some 2500 years. An overview of this festival:

Festival day activities start with a ceremonial eye-dotting “awakening of the dragons.” Once the racing begins, it will be non-stop action with dragon boats heading to the finish line every 12 minutes. The races are fast and furious, typically lasting around two minutes. With entertainment and lots of beach front activities throughout the day Dragons on the Lake Festival will be a summer spectacle for the whole family. Admission is FREE for spectators.

The opening ceremony is at 8:30 am and the festival is held at Turkeyfoot Beach (map). Two Pittsburgh-area teams are competing: the Steel City Dragons Mixed Team and Pink Steel.

And speaking of Sichuan, a new restaurant is coming to Squirrel Hill.

A new facade is up on Forward Ave. in Squirrel Hill: Chengdu Gourmet. Work is still being done on the interior at 5840 Forward Ave. (map), though the restaurant does have a website and a menu.

And speaking of Sichuan, I'll have to check and see if it's a sister location of Sichuan Gourmet further up Murray Ave.--or the result of a split--as Chengdu Gourmet's menu is identical to a previous version of Sichuan Gourmet's. The Chinese name (老四川, Old Sichuan) references the other spot, too, though it's not an uncommon name. Both are regions of China; Chengdu is the capital of Sichuan province.

Groundbreaking for Sichuan University-Pittsburgh Institute held.

Via the Sichuan Daily.

On July 2 in Chengdu, China, a groundbreaking ceremony for Sichuan University-Pittsburgh Institute (四川大学-匹兹堡学院) was held. Provost Patricia Beeson---third shovel from the left---was among the University of Pittsburgh officials in attendance. Pitt announced its partnership with Sichuan University in the development of a Joint Engineering Institute on April 1, 2013. The institute at Sichuan University's Jiang'an campus is set to open in Fall 2015 with an initial enrollment of 100 undergraduates across three majors.

Scott Kofmehl and "U.S.-Vietnam Relations and the Rebalance to Asia", July 8.

The World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh is presenting a Breakfast Briefing with Dr. Scott Kopfmehl on July 8 titled "U.S.-Vietnam Relations and the Rebalance to Asia". Kofmehl, a Pittsburgh native, is currently Senior Vietnam Desk Officer at the U.S. Department of State.

Bong Joon-ho's Snowpiercer at AMC Loews Waterfront.

The 2013 film Snowpiercer, by Korean director Bong Joon-ho, made its US debut last week and is still playing at AMC Loews Waterfront (map).



It stars Song Kang-ho (pictured above) and Chris Evans, though 80% of the film is in English.