August 19, 2012 (Updated August 29, 2012 with screening dates and video of SAG Foundation's conversation with cast members Linus Roache and Michael Park, and producer/writer/actor Derek Ting.)

by Lia Chang

Don't miss these screenings!: (more listings below)
SAN FRANCISCO - August 24 - 30 at the Landmark Opera Plaza Cinema, 601 Van Ness Ave, San Francisco, CA 94102
LOS ANGELES - August 31 - September 6 at the Laemmle's Noho 7, 5240 Lankershim Blvd., Los Angeles, CA (North Hollywood, CA 91601)

Kudos to Derek Ting, for taking control of his destiny, pursuing his dream and realizing his vision with his eleven year journey from inception to the big screen. Derek is the writer, producer and star of $upercapitalist, a financial thriller set in Hong Kong directed by award-winning filmmaker Simon Yin. Ting's film debuts in theaters this month, and is available now through your local cable TV station's video-on-demand, and online at many outlets including iTunes and Amazon Video. (Top image L to R: Lia Chang, $upercapitalist writer, producer and lead actor Derek Ting, producer and Derek's wife Joyce Yung Photo by Francois Bonneau). 

I met Derek and his wife, Joyce Yung, a producer on the film, when the Screen Actors Guild Foundation hosted a special 'Conversations' advance screening of $upercapitalist, at the NYIT Auditorium on Broadway in New York. 

$upercapitalist is screening now in Los Angeles (August...

Tens of thousands flee Bangkok fearing beach of river banks. Click here for the full story.

In a story too horrific for words - on Monday August 21, 2012 with video of the civil war in Syria - the inside of a van carrying a Japanese correspondent narrates to the camera as they drive to an explosion in Aleppo, the largest city in Syria. The award-winning journalist who worked for The Japan Press, Mika Yamamoto was the reporter narrating. She is then shot dead. There was another journalist seen in the video behind her, it is Bashar Fahmi, a reporter for Al-Hurra network. 

The sad fate of Yamamoto underscores the extreme dangers that journalists face covering stories in war-torn countries like Syria. Fahmi, a Jordanian citizen of Palestinian origin, and his Turkish cameraman, Cuneyt Unal, are said to have been captured in the city of Aleppo amid the shooting that killed Yamamoto, highlighting the extreme threat to journalists who report firsthand on the Syrian conflict, which by some estimates has killed more than 20,000 people and forced well over 1 million to flee their homes since the uprising against President Bashar Assad began in March 2011.

Yesterday, the father of Austin Tice, said he hasn't heard from his son in more than a week. Tice, a former Marine, has reported for The Washington Post, McClatchy Newspapers and other media outlets from Syria, where he recently spent time with rebel fighters.

Click here for the full story.

Jonathan Mak, a 19 year old Hong Kong student created an Apple logo with a profile of Steve Jobs which goes viral. The design garners him worldwide attention, a job offer, and merchandise with the graphic can be found for sale on eBay

. Click here for the full story. 

Journalist Lisa Ling has developed a new sitcom, which has been picked up by ABC.

Click here for the full story.