Top three movies in China playing in Pittsburgh: Chinese-Hong Kong film Operation Red Sea (红海行动) opens February 23; Monster Hunt 2 (捉妖記2) and Detective Chinatown 2 (唐人街·探案2) continue for another week.

The top three movies in China are in Pittsburgh this weekend. The new Chinese-Hong Kong film Operation Red Sea (红海行动) will play at the AMC Loews Waterfront theater from February 23. The production company provides a synopsis:

The Chinese Navy’s Jiaolong (“Sea Dragon”) Assault Team is famed for its skill in getting the job done. After its success in rescuing a cargo ship hijacked by pirates off the Somalia coast, the team is assigned an even more perilous mission. A coup in a North African republic has left local Chinese residents in danger, circumstances further complicated by a terrorist plot to obtain nuclear materials. The situation could prove fatal to the hostages and disastrous to the entire region, and presents Jiaolong with a challenge that threatens the very existence of the team and its members.

Holy Hum in Pittsburgh, May 3.

via @holyhum

Holy Hum, fronted by Korean-Canadian multidisciplinary artist Andrew Lee, will play The Funhouse at Mr. Smalls on May 3. Lee introduced the project to Korean Indie readers thus:

Holy Hum is a project I started probably in 2013 but I didn’t release any music or play any shows until 2015. The project is still in its early stages so I can’t really try and pin it down and define it. Sometimes it’s just me and a guitar or synth. Sometimes it’s a five piece post rock band. And sometimes it’s eight speakers in an abandoned fur vault.

Tickets for the 8:00 pm show are available online. The Funhouse at Mr. Smalls is located at 400 Lincoln Ave. in Millvale (map).

Tickets now available for San E (산이) and Mad Clown (매드클라운)'s April 10 Pittsburgh show.

As of 9:00 am this morning, individual tickets are on sale for the San E and Mad Clown concert in Pittsburgh on April 10. The Korean rappers, along with Korean-American singer Sobae, are performing at the August Wilson Center as part of a North American tour this year.

Your Night, You Decide.

Select one, select them all. You own the night with Multiple Choice Events:
[A] Attend a show featuring San E & Mad Clown
[B] Go to a post-show party
[C] Grab a bite to eat at our food truck roundup, or
ALL OF THE ABOVE.

Mad Clown and San E are two of the biggest stars in Korean pop music. With numerous hits songs in Korea, these rappers are joining forces to tour every corner of America and Canada. For both MCs, this tour is a homecoming, as Mad Clown is originally from the Chicago area, and San E grew up in Atlanta. Mad Clown and San E's "We Want You 2018 Tour" will hit North America in April 2018, with Korean American singer Sobae opening.

The 8:00 pm show will be at the August Wilson Center in the Cultural District (map).

"Two Evenings: Exploring the work of Viet Thanh Nguyen," April 5 at Pitt.

Via Nguyen's Facebook page.

Ahead of the sold-out lecture with 2016 Pulitzer Prize winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen on April 9 in Oakland, the University of Pittsburgh's Global Studies Center will host Nguyen and a discussion of his works on April 5.

2017 Japanese animated film Mary and the Witch's Flower (メアリと魔女の花) in local theaters February 24 and 26.

The 2017 Japanese animated film Mary and the Witch's Flower (メアリと魔女の花), which played throughout the Pittsburgh area in January, will return to local Cinemark theaters on February 24 and 26. The distributor provides a summary:

From Academy Award®-nominated Hiromasa Yonebayashi – animator on Studio Ghibli masterpieces Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, and Ponyo, and director of When Marnie Was There and The Secret World of Arrietty – comes a dazzling new adventure about a young girl named Mary, who discovers a flower that grants magical powers, but only for one night.

Mary is an ordinary young girl stuck in the country with her Great-Aunt Charlotte and seemingly no adventures or friends in sight. She follows a mysterious cat into the nearby forest, where she discovers an old broomstick and the strange Fly-by-Night flower, a rare plant that blossoms only once every seven years and only in that forest. Together the flower and the broomstick whisk Mary above the clouds, and far away to Endor College – a school of magic run by headmistress Madam Mumblechook and the brilliant Doctor Dee. But there are terrible things happening at the school, and when Mary tells a lie, she must risk her life to try to set things right.

Based on Mary Stewart’s 1971 classic children’s book The Little Broomstick, Mary and The Witch’s Flower is an action-packed film full of jaw-dropping imaginative worlds, ingenious characters, and the simple, heartfelt story of a young girl trying to find a place in the world.

The movie will play at Cinemark theaters in McCandless, Monaca, Monroeville, and Pittsburgh Mills. Tickets for the English-dubbed show on the 24th and the English-subtitled show on the 26th are available online.

Pittsburgh AAPI Town Hall, "United Asian Voices for Regional Economic Empowerment," March 4 in Squirrel Hill.

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf's Advisory Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs will hold its next Pittsburgh AAPI Town Hall on March 4 on the theme of "United Asian Voices for Regional Economic Empowerment."

"The Dynamics of a Duo: Perceptions and Reflections of Gender, Nationality, and Identity in Yamamura Misa," February 23 at Pitt.

The University of Pittsburgh's Department of East Asian Languages & Literatures will host M.A. candidate Ali Richardson and her talk "The Dynamics of a Duo: Perceptions and Reflections of Gender, Nationality, and Identity in Yamamura Misa" on February 23.

Green Pepper to add Korean fried chicken to menu.

Green Pepper, a Korean restaurant in Squirrel Hill, recently started advertising Korean fried chicken (양념치킨) in its window. Korean fried chicken is a stateside trend that hasn't spread widely in Pittsburgh; Chick'n Bubbly opened in Oakland in 2014, and Ki Pollo in Lawrenceville last year, but that's been about it. The poster is taken from 2014 advertisement for 처갓집, a Korean chain that also boasts a 허니올리고당 flavor; the top selling point the chain uses is the health benefits as compared with other fried chicken varieties.

Green Pepper is located at 2020 Murray Ave (map).

"Rebellious Youth and the Global 1960s: Politics, Punk Rock, and Propaganda in Cold War Japan" at Pitt, February 22.

Student protest at Tokyo University, 1968 (via The Asia Pacific Journal: Japan Focus).

The University of Pittsburgh's Asian Studies Center will host Christopher Gerteis and his talk "Rebellious Youth and the Global 1960s: Politics, Punk Rock, and Propaganda in Cold War Japan" on February 22.

The event runs from 4:00 to 5:30 pm in 4130 Posvar Hall (map) and is free and open to the public.

ORIENTED, featuring ceramic artists who identify with both Western and Eastern cultures, in Pittsburgh from March 13 to 17.

From "Clean and Bleed" by Jennifer Ling Datchuk."

The 2018 National Council On Education For The Ceramic Arts will bring hundreds of national and international artists to venues across Pittsburgh in March. One exhibition of particular relevance here is ORIENTED, on display from March 13 to 17, which

explores the concept of ceramists who identify with both Western and Eastern cultures; their stories are unique and give a taste of what goes on in contemporary America.

Featured are Adam Chau, Ayumi Horie, Steven Lee, Jennifer Ling Datchuk, and Beth Lo.