Comparative Religions: Buddhism and Shinto, March 18 at Carnegie Library West End.

The third talk in a three-part series on Comparative Religions of East Asia at the Carnegie Library West End will be held on March 18 on the topic of "Comparative Religions: Buddhism and Shinto":

During the third and final comparative religion lecture at CLP-West End, we will focus on Japan to examine the island nation’s differences with it’s mainland neighbors. How Buddhism evolved there and how Shinto worship came to be, and what it symbolizes, will be the focus of our religious inquiry..

The event runs from 1:00 to 2:00 pm and are free and open to the public. The West End branch is located at 47 Wabash Street (map).

Veteran (베테랑), Train to Busan (부산행) comprise Korean Film Festival at Pitt, March 17 and 31.

The University of Pittsburgh's Department of East Asian Languages & Literatures announced the lineup for its annual Korean Film Festival today, consisting of Veteran (베테랑) on March 17 and Train to Busan (부산행) on March 31.

A New York Times review summarizes 2015's Veteran:

Hwang Jung-min is cool and capable as the longtime detective whose investigation of a friend’s suicide attempt pits him against the conglomerate’s lawyers, thugs and paid-off policemen; he’s a quieter version of the Eddie Murphy or Mel Gibson cop who plays the fool but is good in a fight. The Korean heartthrob Yoo Ah-in plays the preening adversary, whose response to being shown up is to humiliate the nearest woman or assault the nearest pet.

A July 2016 New York Times review summarizes Train to Busan, the 2016 hit zombie movie:

The setup is lean and clean. A flattened deer, mowed down in a quarantine zone in Seoul where some kind of chemical spill has occurred (echoes of Bong Joon-ho’s 2007 enviro-horror film, “The Host”), springs back to life. Then, in just a few swiftly efficient scenes, we meet a harried hedge-fund manager and his small, sad daughter (Gong Yoo and an amazing Kim Su-ahn), see them settled on the titular locomotive and watch in dismay as a vividly unwell last-minute passenger lurches onboard. And we’re off!

Sprinting right out of the gate, the director, Yeon Sang-ho, dives gleefully into a sandbox of spilled brains and smug entitlement. (“In the old days, they’d be re-educated,” one biddy remarks upon spying an undesirable fellow traveler.) As zombies chomp and multiply, an assortment of regular folks face them down while furthering an extended critique of corporate callousness. The politics are sweet, but it’s the creatures that divert. Eyes like Ping-Pong balls and spines like rubber — I’d wager more than a few chiropractors were required on the set — they attack in seizures of spastic energy. They’re like break-dancing corpses.

Both movies will play in 4130 Posvar Hall (map) and are free and open to the public.

Abacus: Small Enough to Jail at CMU International Film Festival, March 24 and 25.

In addition to the two films on Asia, the Carnegie Mellon University International Film Festival will show Abacus: Small Enough to Jail, a 2016 documentary on "the incredible saga of the Chinese immigrant Sung family, owners of Abacus Federal Savings of Chinatown, New York."

Accused of mortgage fraud by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., Abacus becomes the only U.S. bank to face criminal charges in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. The indictment and subsequent trial forces the Sung family to defend themselves – and their bank’s legacy in the Chinatown community – over the course of a five-year legal battle.

The movie will play on March 24 at the Harris Theater downtown and on March 25 at Carnegie Mellon. The screenings include a Q&A session with director Steve James. Tickets are available online.

Pitt hiring part-time instructors of Korean.

The University of Pittsburgh's Department of East Asian Languages & Literatures is currently hiring part-time instructors of Korean for Fall 2017.

EALL anticipates openings for part-time instructors in the Korean language program beginning in the fall of 2017. Candidates must have native language proficiency, hold at least a college degree, and be authorized to work for the University. Prior experience in teaching foreign languages and familiarity with language pedagogy or linguistics is highly preferred. If interested, please send a resume or CV to Mi-Hyun Kim. The CV is required for initial screening. Candidates with desirable qualifications will be contacted for interviews in April/May 2017.

The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble at Pitt, March 21.

The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble, following the cellist Ma and a collective of musicians from across the world, will play at Pitt on March 21. The official site summarizes:

Over the past 16 years, an extraordinary group of musicians has come together to celebrate the universal power of music. Named for the ancient trade route linking Asia, Africa and Europe, The Silk Road Ensemble, an international collective created by acclaimed cellist Yo-Yo Ma, exemplifies music’s ability to blur geographical boundaries, blend disparate cultures and inspire hope for both artists and audiences.

The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble, the latest film from the creators of the Oscar-winning documentary 20 Feet from Stardom and the critically-hailed Best of Enemies, follows an ever-changing lineup of performers drawn from the ensemble’s more than 50 instrumentalists, vocalists, composers, arrangers, visual artists and storytellers as they gather in locations across the world, exploring the ways art can both preserve traditions and shape cultural evolution.

Blending performance footage, personal interviews and archival film, director Morgan Neville and producer Caitrin Rogers focus on the journeys of a small group of Silk Road Ensemble mainstays from across the globe to create an intensely personal chronicle of passion, talent and sacrifice. Through these moving individual stories, the filmmakers paint a vivid portrait of a bold musical experiment and a global search for the ties that bind.

The movie starts at 5:00 pm in 125 Frick Fine Arts Center in Oakland (map).

Gene Luen Yang at Carnegie Lecture Hall, March 19.

The Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures series will host author Gene Luen Yang on March 19.

Gene Luen Yang is an award-winning graphic novelist and the 2016 Library of Congress National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. He has written and drawn over a dozen books including Duncan’s Kingdom, The Rosary Comic Book, Prime Baby, and Animal Crackers. His 2006 book American Born Chinese was the first graphic novel to be nominated for a National Book Award and the first to win the American Library Association’s Michael L. Printz Award. His 2013 two-volume graphic novel Boxers & Saints was nominated for the National Book Award and won the LA Times Book Prize. Yang also writes Dark Horse Comics’ Avatar: The Last Airbender series and DC Comics’ Superman. Secret Coders, his middle-grade graphic novel series with cartoonist Mike Holmes, teaches kids the basics of computer programming.

With his latest graphic novel, Level Up, Yang returns to the subject he revolutionized with American Born Chinese. Whimsical and serious, by turns, this story about a boy who wants to play video games and his parents’ high expectation for him to go to medical school, is a new look at the tale that Yang has made his own: coming of age as an Asian American.

Tickets are $11 and available online. The talk begins at 2:30 pm at the Carnegie Lecture Hall in Oakland (map).

Hit movie Your Name (君の名は) in Pittsburgh, from April 7.

The record-setting Japanese movie Your Name (君の名は) will be premiering across the United States on April 7, and will open in Pittsburgh at the Southside Works Cinema. The distributor provides a summary:

From director Makoto Shinkai, the innovative mind behind Voices of a Distant Star and 5 Centimeters Per Second, comes a beautiful masterpiece about time, the thread of fate, and the hearts of two young souls.

The day the stars fell, two lives changed forever. High schoolers Mitsuha and Taki are complete strangers living separate lives. But one night, they suddenly switch places. Mitsuha wakes up in Taki’s body, and he in hers. This bizarre occurrence continues to happen randomly, and the two must adjust their lives around each other. Yet, somehow, it works. They build a connection and communicate by leaving notes, messages, and more importantly, an imprint.

When a dazzling comet lights up the night’s sky, it dawns on them. They want something more from this connection—a chance to meet, an opportunity to truly know each other. Tugging at the string of fate, they try to find a way to each other. But distance isn’t the only thing keeping them apart. Is their bond strong enough to face the cruel irony of time? Or is their meeting nothing more than a wish upon the stars?

Tickets are not yet available online, and more theaters carrying the film will be announced later.

Reading with Chinese lawyer and human rights activist Teng Biao at City of Asylum @ Alphabet City, March 21.

By May Tze for South China Morning Post.

City of Asylum @ Alphabet City will host Chinese lawyer and human rights activist Teng Biao on March 21.

Teng Biao will be reading an essay about his fight for human rights and freedom in China–why people like him join the struggle even after being persecuted severely–as well as a poem he wrote for his wife when he was kidnapped and detained by secret police in 2008.

. . .

Dr. Teng Biao is an academic lawyer and a human rights activist. He was formerly a Lecturer in the China University of Political Science and Law, a visiting Fellow at Harvard Law School, Yale Law School, and currently a visiting scholar at New York University and the Institute for Advanced Study. He co-founded “Open Constitution Initiative”, ”China Human Rights Accountability Center” and is also the Founder and President of the China Against the Death Penalty. His research interest includes human rights, criminal justice, constitutionalism, social movement and political transition in China.

The event begins at 8:00 pm, and is free and open to the public (RSVP requested). Alphabet City opened in September 2016 as the permanent home of City of Asylum, and is located at 40 W. North St. in the North Side (map).

Korean Hand Therapy workshop at Western Allegheny Community Library, April 8.

The Western Allegheny Community Library in Oakdale will host a workshop on Korean Hand Therapy (고려수지침) with Bonnie Lowery on April 8:

Korean Hand Therapy is a modified system of acupuncture that is limited to the hands and requires no needles. By the application of direct pressure on the hands, or by placement of small metal pellets on specific points on the hands, signals are sent out to the entire body to relieve pain and to bring balance to the afflicted area. Korean Hand Therapy helps relieve headaches, sinus congestion, back pain, inflammation, migraines, and other physical conditions. This therapy offers immediate results! In this workshop you will learn how to relieve your back pain. Bonnie Lowery is a Korean Hand Therapist and has been practicing this art since 2008.

The event starts at 10:00 am in the library's Community Room and is free and open to the public. The library is located at 181 Bateman Road in Oakdale (map).

Japanese psychedelic band Kikagaku Moyo at Spirit, May 10

The Japanese psychedelic band Kikagaku Moyo will play at the Spirit in Lawrenceville on May 10. Doors open for the 21-and-over event at 8:00 and the show starts at 9:00. Tickets are $10.