AUGOR ~ REVOK

Cyd Charisse’s leg in the dance sequence that made her famous from the 1952 Stanley Donen/Gene Kelly masterpiece “Singin’ in the rain”… One of my top 10 most erotically charged scenes in the history of film… not just because of the way Cyd wraps her famously gorgeous legs around a blushing Gene Kelly, or the burning hot chemistry between two of the best dancers of their time… but because of that smile on her face when he finally takes charge.

Thanks to YouTube, you can click here if, like me, you like to watch.

HOLLYWOOD CHINESE screens for one week only at the Laemmle Music Hall in Beverly Hills and the Laemmle One Colorado in Pasadena from Friday, May 30th through Thursday, June 5th. The filmmaker will participate in a Q&A’s after the 7:40 screenings at the Music Hall in Beverly Hills on Friday, May 30th and the One Colorado on Saturday, May 31st.

For more information go to www.laemmle.com or to the film’s website, Deep Focus Productions.

“HOLLYWOOD CHINESE is a captivating revelation on a little-known chapter of cinema: the Chinese in American feature films. From the first Chinese American film produced in 1916, to Ang Lee’s triumphant “Brokeback Mountain” nine decades later, Hollywood Chinese brings together a fascinating portrait of actors, directors, writers, and iconic images to show how the Chinese have been imagined in movies, and how filmmakers have and continue to navigate an industry that was often ignorant about race, but at times paradoxically receptive.

HOLLYWOOD CHINESE is produced, directed, written and edited by Academy Award® nominee and triple Sundance award-winning filmmaker, Arthur Dong (Licensed to Kill, Coming Out Under Fire, Forbidden City, U.S.A.), and presents eleven of the industry’s most accomplished Chinese and Chinese American film artists who share personal accounts of working in film. Ang Lee, Wayne Wang, Joan Chen, David Henry Hwang, Justin Lin, B.D. Wong, Nancy Kwan, Tsai Chin, Lisa Lu, James Hong, and Amy Tan are among the storytellers who have wrestled with being the “other” in Hollywood.Non-Asian personalities are also featured to point out the controversy over portraying the Chinese in yellow-face. Two-time Oscar® winner Luise Rainer (Good Earth, 1937), character actor Christopher Lee (Fu Manchu, 1960-65), and 1940s matinee idol Turhan Bey (Dragon Seed, 1944) give first-hand recollections on being yellow on the silver screen.

HOLLYWOOD CHINESE is punctuated with a dazzling treasure trove of clips from over 90 movies, dating from 1890s paper prints up to the current new wave of Asian American cinema. The documentary also unearths films long thought to be lost. During the documentary’s production, filmmaker Arthur Dong remarkably discovered two nitrate reels of what is now acknowledged as the first Chinese American film ever made, “The Curse of Quon Gwon” (1916). Directed and written by filmmaker Marion Wong, it is also one of the earliest films made by a woman and was recently placed on the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.At once humorous, maddening, and inspiring, HOLLYWOOD CHINESE weaves a rich and complicated tapestry, one marked by unforgettable performances and groundbreaking films, but also one tainted by a tangled history of race and representation.”

LA Legends…. Hollywood Legends….

Robert De Niro and Al Pacino… Mister Cartoon and Estevan Oriol… A collaboration like no one has ever witnessed….

This is it… the iconic “Righteous Kill” movie poster created by Mister Cartoon and Estevan Oriol before it hits the streets.

Keep an eye out for an SA Studios / Righteous Kill Downtown LA Experience. Word is out, this is going to be a historical tribute to SA Studios’ two favorite actors, De Niro and Pacino. The “Righteous Kill” experience is set to open up in August 2008 right next door to the “The Last laugh” Mister Cartoon’s & Estevan Oriol’s retail spaces along side the Upper Playground retail space located on 6th and Los Angeles Streets in Downtown Los Angeles

Also in August 2008, SA Studios and Righteous Kill in collaboration with Upper Playground will release “Righteous Kill” limited edition merchandise and lithographs signed by the designers of the “Righteous Kill” iconic artwork, Mister Cartoon & Estevan Oriol.

The upcoming feature film from Overture Films, “Righteous Kill” starring Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, will be in theaters 09-12-08.

I heard Upper Playground is now open and Estevan & Toon’s retail space will open in a couple of weeks.

Star Trek The Tour ~Queen Mary Dome

(Continued)

Going down tonight in Downtown Los Angeles. Undefeated, Adidas Originals and Estevan Oriol celebrate adidas Basketball History with 1979.

South Central Farm @ the AFI Film Festival, Arclight Cinemas, 6360 W. Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles ~ Tuesday, Nov. 6 @ 2pm, Thursday Nov. 8 @ 7:15pm ~ For more information go to www.afifest.com.

This 24-minute documentary tells the true story of a high profile controversy involving poor farmers and their supporters including celebrity tree-sitters, the developer and the City of Los Angeles over the South Central Farm, the largest and most bio-diverse farm in the U.S. There will be a Q&A with filmmakers Laffey, Pepos and Forster and farm leaders Tezo and Rufina at both screenings. Tree sitter John Quigley, Lila Garrett, human rights activist Don White and Academy Award winning and legendary cinematographer Haskell Wexler who filmed the protests and evictions will be at the November 6 screening. The film is in a program with other shorts.

Two different trailers for the film are up at www.envirofilms.com and www.naturalheroes.org.