1989 Japanese film Tetsuo: The Iron Man (鉄男 Tetsuo) at Row House Cinema, October 13 - 17.

The 1989 Japanese film Tetsuo: The Iron Man (鉄男 Tetsuo) will play at the Row House Cinema from October 13 - 17 as part of its Body Horror series. A 1992 New York Times review shares the story:

Early in Shinya Tsukamoto's film "Tetsuo: The Iron Man," a character identified only as a metals fetishist (Mr. Tsukamoto) scours a junkyard, slices open his thigh and sticks a piece of scrap metal into the wound. Gasping in ecstatic agony, he lurches into the street where he is nearly run over by a car driven by a white-collar worker called the Salaryman (Tomoroh Taguchi).

While shaving the next morning, the Salaryman notices a metal spike growing in one cheek. It is the first sign of his gradual transformation from a human being into a walking metal scrapheap of rusty metal plates, dangling cables and a rotating metal drill that extends from his groin.

. . .

"Iron Man" makes little sense as a story, but it is driven by a perverse sense of humor. As the Salaryman's transformation proceeds, it becomes increasingly hard for him to differentiate between his waking state and nightmares in which he is attacked by machinery.

Tickets are now available online. The single-screen theater is located at 4115 Butler Street in Lawrenceville (map).

2018 Philippine movie Billie and Emma at 2019 Reel Q festival, October 12.

The 2018 Philippine movie Billie and Emma will play as part of the 2019 Reel Q festival on October 12.

Set in the mid-90’s, the film tells the story of Billie, a troublemaker from the big city, who finds herself exiled to San Isidro to live with her spinster aunt who is also the town’s religion teacher. Determined to change her ways and get through the last year of high school without incident, Billie hides herself from the world until she meets Emma, the ambitious, star student who coaxes Billie out of her shell. They soon fall in love but things get complicated when Emma finds out that she’s pregnant. Together, they explore the fleeting nature of love and life on this journey of growth, laughter and music.

The movie plays on October 12 at 3:00 pm at the Row House Cinema in Lawrenceville (map). Tickets are available online.

Pitt's Chinese Nationality Room turns 80 today.

The Chinese Nationality Room in 1939; via Historic Pittsburgh.

The University of Pittsburgh's Chinese Nationality Room was dedicated on October 6, 1939.

English-Korean Language Social Hour, October 11 at Pitt.

via travel oriented (Creative Commons)

The University of Pittsburgh's English Language Institute and Asian Studies Center will present its next English-Korean Language Social Hour on October 11.

Join us for an evening of language and cultural exchange between Pitt students and international students.

It runs from 4:30 to 5:30 pm in 4130 Posvar Hall (map).

Chinese calligraphy workshop downtown, October 12.

"Chinese calligrapher," by David Boté Estrada (Creative Commons).

The downtown branch of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh will host a Chinese calligraphy workshop on October 12.

A Chinese calligraphy expert will show us pictures of her home in China, give background on the art of calligraphy, and lead a Chinese calligraphy workshop for all ages! No registration is necessary for these sessions. Seating for all workshops is available to 20 participants on a first-come, first-served basis. You’ll want to come early to be sure you MAKE it on time.

The event runs from 2:30 to 4:30 pm. The Downtown & Business branch is located at 612 Smithfield St. (map).

Ian Condry and "Japanese Pop Music and the Curvature of Social Space-Time: From Underground Music to Pop Idols," October 10 at Pitt.

Akihabara (Creative Commons)

The University of Pittsburgh's Asian Studies Center will host Michael Condry and his talk "Japanese Pop Music and the Curvature of Social Space-Time: From Underground Music to Pop Idols" on October 10.

Dr. Ian Condry will lead the third lecture in our new Asia Pop series. Titled "Japanese Pop Music and the Curvature of Social Space-Time: From Underground Music to Pop Idols," he will compare the diverse range of pop music in Japan to understand how they all influence Japanese society.

The talk will be held in 4130 Posvar Hall (map) from 5:30 pm, and is free and open to the public.

Tickets now on sale for Amber Liu show in Pittsburgh, February 9.

Amber Liu will perform in Pittsburgh on February 9, 2020 as part of her North American "X" Tour, and general admission tickets went on sale at 10:00 am. The concert will also feature Meg & Dea and Justin Park and will be at Rex Theater in the Southside (map) from 7:00 pm.

2017 Xu Bing film Dragonfly Eyes at Pitt, October 8.

The University of Pittsburgh's Department of History of Art and Architecture will present the Xu Bing film Dragonfly Eyes on October 8. The Museum of Modern Art summarized the film thus:

Few images come closer to reality than those recorded by surveillance cameras. In China, a country with strict film censorship, an estimated 200 million such cameras have been installed to capture life unfiltered; mundane daily activities are mixed with dramatic events beyond the realm of imagination. Visual artist Xu Bing’s first feature film stitches together surveillance footage collected from the Internet to create a fictional tale about a young woman traversing life in modern China. The result is a provocative tale as mundane, surreal, and outlandish as reality itself. Known for works that consistently disrupt our understanding of what we see—from Book from the Sky, an installation of books and scrolls with printed “fake” Chinese characters, to Phoenix, giant phoenix sculptures made of salvaged materials—Xu persistently explores the relationship between vision and meaning.

The film will begin with a reception and will follow with remarks from Pitt's Gao Minglu and NYU's Zhen Zhang. The evening starts at 4:30 pm---film begins at 5:00---at the Frick Fine Arts Building in Oakland (map) and is free and open to the public.

Amber Liu coming to Pittsburgh, with Meg & Dia and Justin Park, as part of North American "X" Tour in February.

A concert with Amber Liu, Meg & Dia, and Justin Park was recently announced for the Rex Theater on February 9, 2020.

Presale VIP ticket packages are available now, but general admission tickets will go on sale on Friday, October 4, from 10:00 am.

Tuvan throat singers Huun Huur Tu in Pittsburgh, October 10.

Tuvan throat singers Huun Huur Tu will perform in Shadyside on October 10.

Huun-Huur-Tus style could be best described as profoundly mysterious. This comes as a consequence of their traditional, ritual laryngeal chants descending from Central Asian land of Tuva. This unique song technique reside on developing an enthralling sound cosmos rich in undertones and overtones.