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I Want to See Yellow People on the Big Screen – LA Asian Pacific Film Fest 2013

May 1, 2013 by Leave a Comment
http://asianfilmfestla.org/2013/

http://asianfilmfestla.org/2013/

Tomorrow (May 2) is the start of the LA Asian Pacific Film Fest! For the next 10 days, Angelenos will be able to watch Asian/American actors on the big screen! What, Asian actors? YES! I can’t believe it myself. [use trailer voice] In a world  of emasculating and stereotypical Asian roles in entertainment, there exists a festival (or two or three) around the country that showcases Asian filmmakers and their films… with real Asian actors! [/end trailer voice]

Here’s the general info on tickets and what it’s going to cost you to see mostly-not-white people on the screen: http://asianfilmfestla.org/2013/box-office/

The festival gets kicked off by the documentary Linsanity. By now, you may have heard of Jeremy Lin, Asian American guy who plays pro basketball? If not, who are you? Even the NHL has Asian hockey players (Paul Kariya, Richard Park, Devin Setoguchi, Jamie Storr, Brandon Yip…) Anyway, Daniel Dae-Kim narrates the film, which covers Lin’s upbringing in Palo Alto, CA to heading off to Harvard to his shot in the NBA.

Linsanity photo source: http://laapff.festpro.com/films/detail/linsanity_2013

Linsanity
photo source: http://laapff.festpro.com/films/detail/linsanity_2013

As a feminist, aka. a person who wants to be paid the same as a white man if I’m doing the same work, I’m interested in this panel – Women Got The Power. It’s scheduled for Sunday May 5 at DGA. Go get your tickets and maybe you’ll see me. Or not. Apparently, some of you think all Asians look alike.

Not into panels? There are 148 films being screened between May 2 – May 12.

Another preso I’d like to get tickets for is Nice Girls Crew. It stars Michelle Krusiec, Lynn Chen, and Tsai Chin (who you may remember as one of the moms from The Joy Luck Club). The premise – three girl friends in a book club. Hello, I’m in!

Nice Girls Crew photo source: http://asianfilmfestla.org/2013

Nice Girls Crew
photo source: http://asianfilmfestla.org/2013

Other screenings that caught my eye:

Yellow Face starring Ryan Yu and Christopher “Abs” Gorham. This is interesting – it’s labeled as work-in-progress, and the final cut will be aired on YouTube!

Insert Credit is an animated short by David Nguyen. It’ll be run on Saturday May 4 under the Shorts Program.

Sake Bomb brings two cousins on a road trip to find one of their ex-girlfriends. Comedy ensues.

Don’t let me stop you from watching the other 143 productions. Go through their directory and pick your faves. Enjoy and let me know what you’re looking forward to.

 


FTC Disclosure: VC Communications sent out a media alert; no trade was exchanged for this post. DUH. Don’t you think I would have said “I got tickets, yo!” in my post, if I did? Broaden your horizons; watch something else in addition to Iron-Man 3.

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Blogger Ethics at Latina Lifestyle Bloggers Conference #LALLBLOG13

May 1, 2013 by 1 Comment
#LALLBLOG13 - Cooper Building, Downtown LA

#LALLBLOG13 – Cooper Building, Downtown LA

And another thing...! photo source: Allen Taylor Photography

I like werewolves.
photo source: Allen Taylor Photography

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to speak about blogger ethics and social media at the third annual Latina Lifestyle Bloggers Conference (aka. #LALLBLOG13). Ana-Lydia Ochoa (Latina Lifestyle Bloggers Collective founder) and Carolyn West (So Cal Lady Bloggers co-founder) managed to pull off an amazing two-day conference with sponsors such as Coba, Cover Girl (Fleishman Hillard), Latino Fashion Week, Fresh Brothers, and Alegria Magazine.

My fellow panelists were Lee Reyes-Fournier, the co-founder of Couple Dumb, and Stephanie O’Dea, “The Crockpot Lady,” and our dynamic moderator was Vicky Ayala, digital strategist and entrepreneur. I hope that our panel was useful for the attendees. I apologize for dropping so many F-bombs during my panel. I’m very passionate (heh) about verifying regulations and guidelines. My past experience as a senior social media manager for a regulated industry drilled that into me.

The main points I wanted attendees to take back were these:

  1. FTC disclosure update – this is a PDF and you should read the whole thing
  2. A simple disclosure like “Company X sent me this for review; here’s what I think” is OK per the FTC.
  3. I have not seen any language from the FTC that requires a blogger to disclose above the fold. I believe that as long as it is within the post and it is clear, you are good to go. Contact the FTC if you have questions. Get back to me if you find out otherwise.
Lee Reyes-Fournier on the mic! LALLBLOG13 photo source: Allen Taylor Photography

Lee Reyes-Fournier on the mic! LALLBLOG13
photo source: Allen Taylor Photography

The panel before mine featured my fellow colleague, AJ Feuerman, Lisa Rocha (Ilaments), and Jose Resendez who manages the Cover Girl account at Fleishman Hillard. The panel was moderated by super blogger (and all-around nice person, for real) Marie Denee (The Curvy Fashionista). This panel discussed how to work with brands and what not to do (don’t stalk). There was a ton of info thrown out but the main takeaway I got from it is that bloggers STILL hide their email address. If you want a brand to work with you, make it easy for them to find you. Put your email address in a place that’s easy to find on your blog.

Marie Denee (The Curvy Fashionista); AJ Feuerman (Confessions of a Fat Girl); Lisa Rocha (Ilaments); Jose Resendez (Cover Girl/Fleishman Hillard)

Marie Denee (The Curvy Fashionista); AJ Feuerman (Confessions of a Fat Girl); Lisa Rocha (Ilaments); Jose Resendez (Cover Girl/Fleishman Hillard)

Sponsor Coba impressed me. Hello, HORCHATA IN A BOTTLE!!

Mexican wrestling mask on the bottom of the COBA cap! Horchata in a bottle!

Mexican wrestling mask on the bottom of the COBA cap!

The team at Juan’s Restaurante brought in tamales and mole. Hi, my name is Chris Lam and one of my favorite foods is TAMALES! I love you, Juan’s Restaurante. I don’t have a photo of my plate since I scarfed it down. I sense a visit to his restaurant in the near future.

We ended the day with Blue Print juices. Blue Print is another cold-pressed juice company that has made an impression on me. They exhibited at the Natural Products Expo this year, and I thought their juices were tasty. I also sense another juice cleanse in the near future.

Thanks for all you techies who retweeted my tweet. It became a Top Tweet on Saturday! I think it was retweeted 12 times!

Top Tweet #LALLBLOG13!

Top Tweet #LALLBLOG13!

I missed the first day of the conference because I was at the NAWBO-LA annual luncheon where LL COOL J was there! But, Along Comes Mary has a great first day recap. Go read it!

Thank you, attendees, sponsors, colleagues, and of course Ana-Lydia and Carolyn for inviting me to speak and share resources with you. I look forward to connecting with you offline as well!

 

 

** All photos by me unless otherwise noted.

Disclosure: I was invited to speak at this conference; my attendance fee and parking was comp’d by the organizers. 

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Broaden Your Horizons – Visit Sweden (and the Ice Hotel)

April 29, 2013 by Leave a Comment
photo source: Ola Ericson/imagebank.sweden.se - http://imagebank.sweden.se/search/stockholm

photo source: Ola Ericson/imagebank.sweden.se – http://imagebank.sweden.se/search/stockholm

The Wife and my travel list gets longer every year. This month, I added Sweden to the list. Before this year, the only thing I knew about Sweden was that it was where Lisbeth Salander lived and where ABBA came from. (Sidenote: Someone decided to create a LinkedIn profile for Lisbeth – haha!)

I was recently invited to a luncheon at the SLS Hotel by the team at Visit Sweden. First off, I want to thank Magnus Lindbergh, Marketing/Sales Director of Visit Sweden US, and Geraldine Gatehouse, Event Planner, for inviting me to this event. I didn’t know what to expect, and I’m very appreciative of being invited into the circle.

I’ve never been to the SLS Hotel. I know, I know. It’s beautiful. The luncheon was held at the Garden Terrace and Patio where the bartender served Sweden-tinis!

Visit Sweden - Sweden-tini!

Visit Sweden – Sweden-tini!

SLS Hotel - Garden Room & Terrace

SLS Hotel – Garden Room & Terrace

IMG_1033_tablesetting

Visit Sweden – Tableseating

Visit Sweden - Swedish dishes on the menu

Visit Sweden – Swedish dishes on the menu

But wait, before we started, we sang. Sang.

I met a few travel planners and folks who owned travel agencies. I sat next to Dan the Man (his real name is Dan Bjork but he IS the man!) – the Director of Sales & Marketing for the original Ice Hotel! YES, THE ICE HOTEL. (It requires all caps.) Go and check it out now. This hotel is insane.

https://www.facebook.com/icehotel.sweden

photo source: https://www.facebook.com/icehotel.sweden

Ice Hotel - Dan Bjork, Dir of Sales & Marketing

Ice Hotel – Dan Bjork, Dir of Sales & Marketing

I grilled Dan before he got up to present. Here are some fun facts:

  • The Ice Hotel is currently melting. 2013/2014′s season starts on Dec 1, 2013 – April 15, 2014.
  • 30,000 visitors from 84 countries visited last season.
  • It takes 1-1/2 months to build and about 250 people to do the work.
  • You CAN apply to work/create the Ice Hotel. Last season, they picked 50 artists and engineers out of 1,500 applications, and you do not need to be a renowned artist or engineer. (Apply here: http://icehotel.com/uk/Icehotel/Art–Design/#art-suite-designers)
  • Each room in the Ice Hotel is different!
  • You can reach the Ice Hotel from Stockholm by airplane (1.5 hours), bus, or…. dogsled! They have shuttled up to 350 people at one time via dogsleds! They’ve got the largest number of Scandinavian huskies to do this!
  • The Torne River… the water/ice used comes from the one of the few rivers left in the world that does NOT have hydropower technology (machines, hardware) embedded in it. Ie. it is a pure river.
photo source: https://www.facebook.com/icehotel.sweden

photo source: https://www.facebook.com/icehotel.sweden

We ended with dessert and coffee. What caught my eye was the ribbon that held the lyrics to the song we sang. Visit Sweden’s tagline is “Broaden Your Horizons – Meet in Sweden.” I thought, this is such a great tagline. I hate the #YOLO saying, but you really do only live once, so why not see the world? It just so happens to apply to my new woman-owned business, so kudos to Visit Sweden for (unknowingly) giving me a mental boost.

So, what are you waiting for? Go put Sweden on YOUR To-Travel List!

Visit Sweden - Coffee ends the presentation

Visit Sweden – Coffee ends the presentation

 

 

 

Disclosure: The team at Visit Sweden US invited me to this special luncheon; they did not require me to write a post about it. I wrote it because the Ice Hotel is awesome and more people should know about it. Plus Magnus was kind and I think kind people should be recognized. 

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Splashing with Tarte’s New ‘Aqualillies’ Collection for Summer 2013

April 9, 2013 by 4 Comments

Summer is getting close and what’s a girl to do when her makeup slides right off? Talk to Tarte! Did you know that the I ‘found out’ about Tarte’s Amazonian clay products through QVC? Yeah, QVC! When I can catch it, I will watch Friday Night Beauty like it’s a movie.  (That’s how I learned about Argan Oil too.) Anyway, I ordered Tarte’s foundation and brush through QVC. That foundation brush is one of the best purchases I’ve ever made.

Recently, the Tarte team invited me to try out their newest collection, inspired by the Aqualillies! Don’t know who the Aqualillies are? They’re probably one of the most famous (if not most famous) water ballet/synchronized swim companies in the country.

If you know me, you know that I have a hard time with finding makeup that doesn’t slide off my face. I’m also a constant sweat-er. I sweat my makeup off like there’s no tomorrow. (What can I say… my sweat glands are X-Men worthy.) So I put on my Amazonian Clay Foundation and the rest of my game face on, and I headed to the Annenberg Beach House in Santa Monica and took a look.

Aqualillies for Tarte - Annenberg Beach House, Santa Monica

Aqualillies for Tarte – Annenberg Beach House, Santa Monica

IMG_1536_tartemakeup

Aqualillies for Tarte – Summer Collection 2013

I met a few new beauty bloggers and got my eyes and lips done by the Tarte makeup team. I didn’t take a picture of my newly lined eyes but Bren of OMGBren fame (hey, girl!) snapped a pic of me getting my new coral lips on.

I warned the makeup artist that all eyeliners bleed on me. She said “Unh, uh. Not this time.” She put TURQUOISE liner on my bottom lid, and IT STAYED ON FOR HOURS. People, do you know what kind of miracle this is? This is like me giving birth to a baby – it’s that kind of miracle. (And I don’t have a baby, so do you see the miracle? I’m barren like the Salton Sea.)

IMG_1585_chris_lip

I’m not beige anymore! I have color!

IMG_1544_iphone_colors

My Speck case matches the Aqualillies collection!

IMG_1547_compact

Aqualillies for Tarte – Amazonian clay waterproof eye and cheek palette

The Collection’s packaging is beautiful in turquoise blue and tangerine; I’m a fan – coincidentally, my Speck case matches Tarte’s collection! The big compact is the Amazonian clay waterproof eye and cheek palette. I’m very very very excited to try products that the Aqualillies use – if their makeup doesn’t slide off while doing water ballet, chances are, it shouldn’t slide off my face while working on a client’s social media program. Right?

While I got my makeup did, attendees were served hors d’oeuvres, sweets and drinks (sake, anyone?). Then we were treated to a performance by the Aqualillies!

IMG_1564_aquallillies1

Aqualillies performing – Annenberg Beach House

IMG_1580_chris_aqualillies

The Aqualillies in their waterproof Tarte makup!

Best of all, I got to meet them!

I took some video of the Aqualillies and uploaded it to YouTube. But you can play it right here if you want to see their awesomeness.

Major thanks goes to the Tarte Team who generously sent me home with the Aqualillies line as well as Summer 2013 products like the Maracuja Rain Glow body perfector and Self Tanner. I’m pretty stoked to try these products out and use more of Tarte’s Amazonian clay makeup products.

 

 

 

Disclosure: Tarte invited me to this event and sent me home with products. I am not required to write a post but this is an honest recap of my day. Why should I lie when lying gets you nowhere in life?

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