Pete Walls in Travel
For the Freshest Fish of the Day, Head to Hội An's Coast Before Sunrise
The alarm goes off at 3am. By 3:30am, scooters laden with empty crates and baskets are already moving through the dark lanes and sandy passages towards Hội An's coast. Long before the old town wakes, the beaches along the shore are coming alive with engines, head torches, waves, and fishermen preparing to return to land. Thankfully, coffee is readily available almost anywhere.
From the Mind of 'Mekong Review' Comes ‘Yellow,’ a New Lit Mag Focused on SEA
“Cooped up in my apartment-cage in Tân Định, I created, with scissors and glue, dummy after dummy of a cosmopolitan rag positively pumping with scandals and half-truths. I was having a lot of fun dreaming of a magazine that I would never be able to do. And buried somewhere in that detritus on the floor—advertising cutouts and newspaper clippings—was Yellow … Once I knew I had the name, the magazine more or less made itself, as though the name determined the rest, ie, form and content,” writes Minh Bui of the birth of Yellow, his “what-do-I-do-after-Mekong Review magazine.”
In Saigon's Bửu Long Pagoda, a Meditative Escape and Pan-Southeast Asian Architecture
It all started with a sparkle on the horizon, a beam of solar brilliance bouncing off a garish metallic surface.
On Reading Ocean Vuong and Thinking About the Sniff Kisses of My Family
Having always been a little brother, I had to learn to be a big one when I was 10 years old. In the midst of the confusion of this new role, I found myself pressing my nose to this newborn’s head and inhaling as hard as I could. This “sniff kiss” was not an action I invented. Rather, it was an instinct forged through mimicry: I started noticing from this point that my father and grandmother both did the same thing to me.
Paul Christiansen in Music & Arts
Meet Th.ink Room, the Tattoo Collective Bringing New Life to Old Artworks and Onto Skin
Tattoo Therapist, dr.99hz, cd.cadao, goc.viet, Solarist and Baby Nepotism: listing the artists that call Th.ink Room home feels like shouting out the members of a rap clique. Indeed, tattoo artists, more than any other visual artists, are akin to rappers in their use of pseudonyms, so to employ a common hip-hop refrain, Saigoneer became interested in Th.ink Room because “game recognize game.”
Khôi Phạm in Film & TV
A (Literally) Brief History of Vietnamese Representation in 'Mean Girls' (2004)
Written by Saturday Night Live alum Tina Fey and premiered in 2004, Mean Girls is often heralded as a sharp, self-aware comedy that was ahead of its time, yet still holds up surprisingly well today. Alas, its depiction of Asians has aged a little more poorly, even though at the time of its release, the Asian representation was shockingly accurate for its time, despite some haphazard characterizations.
On Shooting an Entire Movie on 35mm Film: The Curious Case of 'Quán Kỳ Nam'
“Let’s go to Vietnam!” declared Sabrina Baracetti, president of the Far East Film Festival (FEFF) in Udine, Italy, as she wrapped up her introduction for Leon Lê's Quán Kỳ Nam (Kỳ Nam Inn). Sitting in the Teatro Nuovo, watching Quán Kỳ Nam unfold for the first time, I felt an overwhelming surge of pride.
Tracing the History of 'Hello Vietnam,' the Overnight Sensation From Europe
Most people who have flown with VietJet are probably familiar with the song ‘Hello Vietnam’ or its Vietnamese version ‘Xin chào Việt Nam.’ As it's often played during landing, tourists might mistake the song for a cute jingle of the company, but the meaning behind the song lyrics is much more nostalgic. It’s about a person of Vietnamese descent longing for their ancestor’s homeland, a place they’ve never been — a story that can certainly strike a chord with many Vietnamese people. Few know, however, that this song was originally a French-language song, one that was almost never released.
[Video] See If You Can Spot Vietnam in This 'Skull Island' First-Look Featurette
As part of this year's MTV Movie Awards ceremony, which took place last weekend, the people behind Kong: Skull Island put out a nice little featurette teasing the forthcoming movie, which is set to pr...
Technology Has Officially Entered Saigon’s Art Scene
From the invention of farming to the advent of military drones, technology has shaped the economy, politics and culture of every society. It was inevitable that such a vital element of our lives would...
[Video] Travel the Length of Vietnam in One Minute
For those of us who prefer armchair travel, Vimeo user Riccardo Fasoli's stunning minute-long journey through Vietnam is the perfect mini holiday.
[Photos] Incredible Juxtapositions Show How China Has Changed Over the Past Century
In a country where cities rise from rice paddies, to say that China has developed rapidly over the past century is something of understatement. Self-described “photography and creativity enthusiast” D...
Animated Shorts Bring Vietnamese History to the Small Screen
In an effort to teach Vietnamese children (and perhaps adults, too) about their nation's past, one local channel has begun playing short, animated videos depicting famous moments in Vietnamese history...
[Video] Filmmaker Captures the 'Phantoms of Saigon'
In his latest short film, Phantoms of Saigon, filmmaker Pham Hong Chuyen juxtaposes poetic, almost alien angles of Saigon with the often faceless community of wandering scrap collectors who roam its s...
[GIFs] Character Building: Illustrator Brings Bitexco Tower's Personality to Life
British animator and illustrator Michael William Lester recently added some character to a few of the world’s most iconic buildings, including Saigon’s own Bitexco Tower, by way of a series of animate...
April Films at Saigon’s Alternative Movie Venues
A filmmaker fights censorship, an architect’s endeavors reassess the leftist ideology and documentarians raise awareness about contemporary capitalist practices as well as development. From fictional ...
[Photos] Hong Kong Illustrator Re-Imagines Star Wars Characters in Traditional Chinese Art
In case the memory escapes you, last year's Star Wars: The Force Awakens was kind of a big deal. While it didn't make the top box office spot during its opening weekend in Vietnam, the seventh install...
[Video] Instant Noodle Commercial Outtakes Make for an Incredible Short Film
Watch a few Vietnamese TV commercials and you wouldn't characterize most local advertising as sexy.
Michael Tatarski in Music & Arts
Contemporary Asian Art Program Turns Its 'Eye' to Vietnam
In 2008, British contemporary art collector David Ciclitira and his wife Serenella, an art critic, visited South Korea. Though they were struck by the modern art scene there, the couple struggled to f...
[Video] Watch a Vietnamese Worker Singlehandedly Put This Excavator on the Back of a Truck
Vietnam does things a little differently than the rest of the world.
'Tokyo, Blind': Eerie, Black-and-White Images From a Saigon Photographer
In Tokyo, Blind, the first solo exhibition in Vietnam by Saigon-based photographer Ryan Neilan, men and women emerge as ghostly bodies, depicted either as a composite of fragmented shadows or as isola...
[Photos] VietJet Co-Pilots Get Married, Take Tarmac Wedding Photos
VietJet pilots Dang Tien Cuong and Nguyen Phuong Anh are probably the only couple to have snapped their wedding photos on the tarmac at Tan Son Nhat International Airport.
[Video] Hanoian Vendors Get Fit With Market Aerobics
No one loves an office job. Sure, there are perks – the air-conditioning, the peaceful environment, the free corporate stuff – but at one point or another, every pencil-pusher has wished for a more ac...
New Rules Prohibit Swearing, Fighting or Loud Noise in Local Apartments: Ministry
If you feel the need to tell off your neighbor, let loose by turning your speakers up to 11 or just want to start an innocent fight club in your apartment, you better get to work, as none of these wil...
[Video] A Modern-Day Homage to 'Sai Gon Dep Lam'
First released around 1965, “Sai Gon Dep Lam” became an instant classic the moment it hit the airwaves. The iconic song is now considered a musical embodiment of old Saigon and has spawned dozens...
Dana Filek-Gibson in Arts & Culture
Urban Distortions: Contemporary Dance Comes to Saigon
It's mid-morning on a hot, humid Sunday in Saigon's Botanical Gardens, and the audience in front of the main stage represents an eclectic cross-section of Vietnamese society. Parents field phone conve...
[Video] Saigon Hyperlapse Takes You Through D1's Chaos in Under 3 Minutes
Saigon already runs at hyperspeed. From sunup to sundown, ours is a city constantly on the move.
Saigon Makeover Calls on Local Residents to Re-Imagine Their City
Global Shapers HCMC's Saigon Makeover competition is back and accepting innovative submissions from local designers until April 23.
