Leisure

February 17, 2024 0

‘Expats’: A Disappointing Exploration of Grief

I watched the first season of Expats on Amazon Prime and was sorely disappointed by the quality of the six-episode offering. Directed by Lulu Wang (Posthumous 2014, The Farewell 2019) the show is based on a 2016 novel called The Expatriates by Janice Y.K. Lee, which received mostly positive reviews. The story follows the lives of a group of expatriates living in Hong Kong and chronicles their interactions with each other, and how they navigate the unfamiliar world around them […]

January 13, 2024 0

Real Women Have Curves Premieres in a Funny, Poignant, and Memorable Musical

by Harmony Witte

The American Repertory Theater has another big hit in the making with Real Women Have Curves: The Musical! (Book by Lisa Loomer, additional material by Nell Benjamin. The show opened recently to excited crowds and is introducing a new generation of people to the story of big dreamer, Ana Garcia. The musical is significantly different from the 2002 award-winning film (Josefina Lopez and George Lavoo’s screenplay based on the play by Josefina Lopez) in all the right ways. Aside from […]

December 23, 2023 0

Jiaoying Summers is No Joke

by Jia H. Jung

Comedian Jiaoying Summers, 33, shivered on the Congress Street Bridge and gazed at a museum and ships commemorating the Boston Tea Party that happened almost 250 years ago to the date. As fife music trilled in the morning air and men in tricorn hats and leggings stood in waiting, she pondered how colonists threw tea into the harbor to protest British tariffs, catalyzing the American Revolution. Looking down into the water, she mumbled that she would have just pretended to […]

December 22, 2023 0

Ping Pong Serves as a Bridge Between Cultures, Generations

by Derek He

As many families across the country celebrated Thanksgiving with traditional turkey dinners, a group of local Asian Americans marked the occasion by competing in a ping pong tournament. Inside the Malden High School gym, students and adults competed during the holiday in the event led by Mei Hung, executive director of the Chinese Culture Connection. “Like other sports and arts, ping pong helps people who have language barriers communicate,” Hung said, adding that holding different divisions allowed participants of all […]

December 9, 2023 0

Nobel Prize Winner Claudia Goldin ‘Made Women a Topic of Study for Labor Economists’

by Brandon Wong

Labor economist and historian Claudia Goldin will be honored on Dec. 10 as the 2023 Nobel Prize for Economics laureate for her contribution to understanding women’s labor markets outcomes. She was awarded the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences on Oct. 9. Born in the Bronx borough of New York to Jewish parents, Goldin initially studied microbiology because of her fascination with Manhattan museums. While at Cornell University for undergraduate school, she identified her passion for history and economics and […]

November 18, 2023 0

Sunshine Brings Science to the Screen

by Harmony Witte

The Coolidge Theater screened Sunshine (2007) on November 6th as part of their “Science on Screen” programming, including a talk by Harvard astrophysicist Dr. Katharine Reeves. The talk that accompanied the Sci-fi/horror film was on the topic “What It’s Like to Fly Through a Solar Eruption.” The audience laughed along with Dr. Reeves throughout the entire half-hour presentation as she gave a humorous and accessible lecture to a room full of moviegoers. It provided a nice introduction to the very […]

November 18, 2023 0

Killers of the Flower Moon Is a Painful Descent Into Historical Injustice

by Yizhen Zhang

In the vast expanses of the Oklahoma Hills, where the blooming flowers succumb to the shadows of taller plants in May, a grim chapter of American history unfolds in the 2023 epic Western crime drama, “Killers of the Flower Moon.” The film meticulously chronicles the chilling series of murders that plagued the Osage Tribe during the Osage “Reign of Terror” in May 1921. The narrative roots itself in the aftermath of the Osage Allotment Act of 1906 and the Burke […]

November 18, 2023 0

Diwali Festival of Lights Celebrated Worldwide

by Bipinchanra Modi

This week Hindus in India and its diaspora worldover celebrated the Festival of Diwali. India is a vast country having religious and cultural variations hence Sikhs, Budhists and Jains also celebrate their version of Diwali or Deepavali. The festival has its roots in Hindu mythology and epics. Diya (Lamp) and Deepmala (Row of light), both symbolize light and spiritually; it is victory of light over darkness, knowledge over ignorance and good over evil. People celebrate by lighting lamps, decorate homes, […]

November 3, 2023 0

The Fortune Teller is a Heartwarming Play about Family and Destiny

by Harmony Witte

This week, a heartwarming play premiered at the Boston Center for the Arts Plaza Theaters. The Fortune Teller’s opening night was October 28th and the play runs through November 4th. It’s a story about a family through the generations, starting in the 1800s, and the destiny that lies before each of the members as they are tied together by familial legacy. The play was co-produced by CHUANG Stage, a translingual Asian American theater company in Boston, and TC Squared Theatre […]

November 3, 2023 0

The Boston Asian American Film Festival Gave Red Carpet Treatment To The Contribution — and Voice — of Asian American Film

by Harmony Witte

Kicking off with a book launch and talk by the authors of The Golden Screen: The Movies That Made Asian America, the Boston Asian American Film Festival celebrated Asian American films in October. Traditional dances were performed by the Wah Lum Kung Fu & Tai Chi Academy and the New England Bhangra Club. “I’m very excited to just hear about the perspectives of the Asian American community within the filming space.” said Chelsea Vuong, 2023 Miss Massachusetts, who acted as […]

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