T?p H?p Thanh Niên Dân Ch?
The talk of town is this new Vietnam-based youth organization called T?p H?p Thanh Niên Dân Ch? that is literally touring the world and being received by each respective Vietnamese communities like rock stars and future leaders. The two masterminds behind this new organization are Vietnamese exchange students Nguyen Tien Trung and Hoang Lan from France who created this new organization to work with Vietnamese youths around the world to demand for more political freedom in Vietnam. Not fearing personal repercussions, they have boldly written dissident letters to the Vietnam government even though their families remain in Vietnam. The idea is that this organization represents a new political party that they want to offer the Vietnamese people in Vietnam, giving the people of Vietnam the option to choose between them and the Vietnamese Communist Party. Whether this is practically possible in Vietnam is of course questionable, but their bold statements (especially as du sinh) is what is making headlines in and outside of Vietnam. Currently, they are travelling the world to debut their organization in all Vietnamese communities, and this marathon includes cities in Germany, Switzerland, Australia, France, Denmark, United States and will conclude in Saigon. I had the opportunity to meet these bright individuals at their San Jose stop as well as at a kick-ass clapping-after-every-statement workshop at this month’s uNAVSA conference, where they participated in a Du Sinh workshop that bridges the divide between Vietnamese youths here and in Vietnam. Tomorrow, they will have a forum from 2-5pm in Little Saigon at Viet Nam Tuong Te Hoi, so come out and meet them. To learn more, listen to this radio show or visit their website at http://www.thtndc.com. Hats off!
VuuDoo Soul
So, the talk of town in the Vietnamese grassroots music community is VuuDoo Soul. You might have not heard of him, since he doesn’t belong to the Asia or Paris By Night crowd, but the Vietnamese grassroots youth community is raving about him. After finishing his electrical engineering degree at MIT (!!!), VuuDoo Soul decided to shift gears to pursue his music talents in R’n’B. I heard a LOT about him and heard people raving about him left and right, so I finally get to see him perform at this month’s uNAVSA conference, and boy, this guy surely knows how to sing, perform and make girls melt like phó mát and guys envy him with jealousy. VuuDoo Soul immediately stands out in the Vietnamese music community with his vocal talents and his jaw-dropping must-be-there-to-see-for-yourself-performances. His self-composed and self-performed music is original, it’s amazing, it’s impressive and has earned him recognition from various critics including American Idol critic Randy Jackson with a thumbs-up comment. So, check out his website and be sure to buy his CDs and see him perform some day.
Vietnam @ Movies
Yup, yup, yup, the Vietnamese International Film Festival is taking place next year in April in Irvine again and they are currently collecting entries for their festival. In its third edition, we are expected to see a plethora of movies being produced and directed by Vietnamese artists again. For one, Spirits-director Victor Vu is producing a new direct-to-DVD horror movie with almost the same cast of Spirits. Now, if you haven’t seen Victor Vu’s Spirits yet, be prepared to see a very frightening Vietnamese ghost story, so needless to say, expectations are very high for this upcoming DVD. On the other hand, Pig Meat Tran’s Journey from the Fall will be shown on August 5th at the Asian Film Festival in Dallas and on October 7th this boat-people-movie will even open the San Diego Asian Film Festival at the Opening Night Gala where actress Kieu Chinh is to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award. Cool beans.
Other Headlines
Somewhere in San Jose a lone Vietnamese guy returning from his grad school interview this week is waiting and hoping for the acceptance letter to the top engineering school and program of his choice.
Past Vietnamese Buzz entries: June 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006