Godzilla Scholars Invade Kansas
LAWRENCE, Kan. — The University of Kansas plans to pay homage to Godzilla later this month, organizing a three-day scholarly conference for the 50th anniversary of his first film.
It’s not just about celebrating campy creature features. Planners want to provoke discussions of globalization, Japanese pop culture and Japanese-American relations after World War II.
“I would like people to take Godzilla more seriously,” said Bill Tsutsui, a history professor at the university and author of Godzilla on My Mind. He points out that an H-bomb testing awoke in Godzilla’s first movie, only eight months after the United States tested a hydrogen bomb in the South Pacific.
Yoshikuni Igarashi, director of East Asian studies at Vanderbilt, sees Godzilla films as important cultural artifacts.
“(But) it is true there were some bad, bad films produced, particularly in the late ’60s and early ’70s,” said Igarashi, who plans to lecture on Godzilla’s battle with Mothra.
Saigon TV Axes ‘VAX’ Show
LOS ANGELES — VAX TV, a weekly magazine show targeting young Vietnamese Americans, was pulled off the air permanently by broadcaster Saigon TV after the show aired a segment of a documentary about a local video storeowner’s support of Ho Chi Minh and the Communist Party of Vietnam.
Shortly after the episode was aired on Oct. 9, protesters gathered outside of Saigon TV’s offices complaining about the show’s coverage of the 1999 Little Saigon demonstration in Westminster.
VAX TV is produced by the Vietnamese American Broadcasting Channel and was only in its second episode. Saigon TV was founded in 1992 and was the first to broadcast live daily Vietnamese-language programs in the United States.
VAX plans to hold a public forum and open discussion with the Vietnamese American community to address this issue.
‘Diwali’ — Renewal of Life
EVENT: Celebrate Diwali with dancer Purnima Jha
BACKGROUND: Renowned dancer specializing in Kathak form of Northern India. Her father, one of the great Kathak artists of the 20th century, trained her at an early age.
INTERESTING: Diwali, a five-day Hindu festival of lights, honors the renewal of life.
DETAILS: Nov. 1, 6:30 p.m., Oakland Public Library, Golden Gate branch, (510) 597-5023 or www.oaklandlibrary.org.
Piano Concert at Kokoro
EVENT: Junko Ueno Garrett Piano Concert
BACKGROUND: Pianist Junko Ueno Garrett’s tour features a century of Japanese classical piano music, including Rentaro Taki and Kousaku Yamada, plus two original arrangements.
INTERESTING: The performer was an acclaimed pianist in Japan before moving to the United States in 1989.
DETAILS: Nov. 6, 2 p.m., Kokoro Assisted Living, 1881 Bush St, (415) 356-2466 or www.kokoroassistedliving.org.
Jahja Ling Leads Juilliard
EVENT: Jahja Ling leads the Juilliard Orchestra in concert
BACKGROUND: Guest conductor for Mahler’s Symphony No. 9.
INTERESTING: Ling made his debut as a concert pianist with the Cleveland Orchestra in 1987 and became the orchestra’s resident conductor for 18 years. He has also been the artistic director of Taiwan’s National Symphony Orchestra.
DETAILS: Nov. 1, 8 p.m., Avery Fisher Hall, New York City, (212) 721-6500 or www.juilliard.edu.
No Rest, No Peace in ‘Rest in Peace’
EVENT: Monument Recall: Public Memory and Public Spaces
BACKGROUND: International artists present an exhibit that challenges the concept of public monuments or memorials.
INTERESTING: Features “alternative and augmented views of what society chooses to remember and forget, and what underlying values and ideologies are embedded in markers of ‘public memory.’” Artists include Germain Koh and Wang Qingsong.
DETAILS: Oct. 26 through Nov. 24, SF CameraWork, 1246 Folsom St., (415) 863-1001 or www.sfcamerawork.org.