May 28, 2004
Get your Europe on...
You know, just the other day, I was sitting at home, jonzing for a does of Belgium and Cyprus music... and lo and behold...
This Satureday, Vancouver's 7th Annual European Festival (thanks Andrea)
ps: See we are TRYING to not be all Asian all the time... honest! Tipsters... send me more non-Asian ethnic cool stories! NOW!
May 26, 2004
Dim sum girl... you really rock my world
yeah... the Notorious MSG, a trio of renegade Chinese restaurant workers gone gansta rap. They sport bowl hair cuts... and they have lyrics like:
"just comin’ out the ghetto with an egg roll
got a .57 magnum feelin’ loco"
check out their site... and be very sure to play around. They make about as much sense as that really weird guy on the bus with whom you desperately avoid eye contact... Now before all you NMSG faithfulls get all testy with me, the crazy bus man comparison is NOT always a bad thing. Do yourself a favor, and don't let yourself miss the "Bowl Cut Heros" section of their website.
May 24, 2004
Review of Sketch Reloaded
Margarat Cho is funny... but her show while she had one... wasn't always funny. Too often, it had moments of "awww... look at us... we are ASIAN! We act all funny!" And that just isn't very funny. But then again, sometimes... that IS funny. That is often the question minorities have to ask when we do comedy isn't it? How much do we play to our ethnicity? Why do we have to think about that anyway? Jason Lee of Schema Magazine thinks along such lines as he reviews VACT's Asian sketch comedy competition.
May 22, 2004
Sushi is no longer an ethnic food, its a Vancouver Food
Today's Vancouver Sun uses the example of four best friends who all comes from different ethnic backgrounds, to illustrate as a city of "cultural sharing." Where good things (like sushi, yoga, and butter chicken) are just regarded as good, not as, "the ethnic stuff that I'll indulge in everynow and then, but really have no place in my regular life."
How ahead IS vancouver in leading this perhaps inevitable trend of cultural fusion? NYC for example, is right up there in my opinion. Thoughts?
Oh, and Schema Magazine, and our sexy publisher, Alden Habacon, is also quoted in the article. So now you MUST read it.
Beyond diversity: Why Vancouver is a world leader [Vancouver Sun] (thanks Pansy)
May 21, 2004
Video Game Rock Stars
Video Game playing is turning into a big dollar, televised sport league complete with stars in Korea.
"Last year, Mr. Lim made about $300,000 from player fees and commercials. Another top earner, Hung Jin-Ho, whose fingers are insured for $60,000, recently signed a three-year deal with telecom provider KTF Co. that will pay him $480,000 altogether."
"Starcraft devotees study Mr. Lim's moves as chess players study Garry Kasparov. A DVD detailing Mr. Lim's winning plays sold 30,000 copies in South Korea last year, outselling the movie "Matrix Revolutions.""
Wow, in the mean time, I will just keep training for the day when someone develops a pro league for aimless web-surfing.
Don't Tell the Kids: Computer Games Can Make You Rich [Wall Street Journal] (thanks Grant)
May 19, 2004
More Asians on TV in the new fall schedule
AngryAsianMan.com reports:
"ABC and NBC announced their fall schedules this week, and both networks will feature shows with with Asians in the lead cast. On ABC, JJ Abrams' Lost will star Daniel Dae Kim and Yunjin Kim, among others as plane crash survivors on a desert island. Sounds cool. Over on NBC, they've got Hawaii, a crime drama with lots of Asian good guys and bad guys. Aya Sumika, Cary Tagawa, and Peter Navy Tuiasosopo are in the cast. The Men's Room, a sitcom starring John Cho, will air later on NBC as a midseason pick up. Sounds promising... Stay tuned."
Does sound promising indeed. I wonder if the asian roles on these new dramas will exceed the "supporting characters of interest with the occasiona episode focus" roles we've seen in recent years from shows such as Voyager, or Enterprise. And I wonder if they will be uptight lawyer/doctor types... Can't wait!
May 18, 2004
Baby Yu launches new site
Toronto DJ Baby Yu launches a new site. Holy crud... somebody needs to stop playing video games...
Never seen him spin myself, but I hear very good things. So if you are in TO and have a chance to see him, check him out.
May 14, 2004
Rex Navarrete: Filipino Comic Genius
Okay, this flash file is quite old. It's been around the block a few times. But if you haven't seen it yet... you so very must...
Pack this sheet!
SBC Packers Flash Cartoon
Rex's skid of a Filipino maid in the halls of the SuperFriends
Rex Navarrete Official Website
May 13, 2004
Sex and the Asian Man
Another story this week on how us poor Asian man are being ignored as sexual beings?
Maybe the gods are just trying to make me feel better about my love life of late. Damn gods... always so condescending...
Read David Pierson's analysis of the North American media stereotypes that portrays Asian men as less then masculine in today's LA Times Style & Culture section.
Read an old story with a similar strain of thought, with many same subjects on Salon. Yellow Porn [Salon]
See the rare Asian male in straight porno action:
Asian-Man.com WARNING: This is a porn site, contains material not suitable for children, and MOST office environments...
My word of advice for all the fellow Asian brothers bitching about not getting enough love on the big screen? Go vote with your dollars everytime they cast a Asian male as a lead. So what if most of these movies are bad and/or tread the comedy/racism line too closely? We have to show the fat cat media overlords that the market place is comfortable and happy to see Asian men leading the show. One baby steps at time everybody. We'll get them to feel comfortable letting us get our freak on on the big screen eventually.
May 12, 2004
You know you've made it when... you star in a meat-head/frat-boy idiot comedy
I've always thought that a benchmark of cultural acceptance in America, is the media's willingness to a) show the men of that ethnic background get their freak on, and b) give them the starring role in a meat-head comedy (not as the comedy side kick, though that is a start, but as the primary antagonist we cheer for).
In the upcoming Harold & Kumar go to White Castle, we have an Indian-American and Chinese-American starring as the cliche misadventure proned underdogs that we, as the idiotic, pull my finger loving public, are suppose to identify and sympathize with.
No matter how bad the movie may or may not be, regardless of the potential racist content... THIS... is definitely a good sign in my book.
Not to mention that the trailer looks hella funny :)
Harold & Kumar go to White Castle [Official Site]
Trailer
May 10, 2004
William Hung Vs Harlemm Lee
"Both guys sucked it up and stuck themselves in front of a national television audience.
Both were Asian-American men, a rarity in American pop music.
One danced and sang, and did it quite well. The other banged and well, tried to sing.
But few people remember the guy with the agile grooves while nowadays, the guy with the awkward moves needs only his last name for instant recognition. Say "Hung" to a passerby and elicit a likely, "She bangs! She bangs!""
An editorial on the attention recieved by two recent Asian american reality tv talent show contestants:
A loser's success and a winner's failure [Detroit Free Press]
Not sure how insightful this comparison really is. I mean, is it really a surprise that people with actual talent can't sell records? And have we learned anything new when the Reality TV loving public embraces a goofy, good hearted guy that makes us laugh and feel way better about our own talents and coolness by comparison?
I don't know, hard for me to comment when I've never watched either Fame or American Idol. I don't really understand this particular cultural phenomenom. What do you guys think?
May 07, 2004
Pho Shizzle!
Quite possibly the most genious name for a pho place yet... even better then Pho Bich Nga in Vancouver.
While we are at it...
Examination of the phrase "Fo' shizzle ma nizzle" [Urban Dictionary]
May 06, 2004
Ode to Smart, Strong and Sexy Asian American Men
"I'm tired of hearing people diss on my smart, strong and sexy Asian American brothers out there. And I there are enough people who complain or write about it. There are not enough, however, who pay homage to these extraordinary men. So here I profess my love to them. No Long Duk Donging or Fu Manchuing allowed here!"
Miss Mel gives us a much appreciated ode to Asian brothers in a recent posting in Model Minority. God BLESS you sister!
Also, allow me to quote her again... "Yeah? Well I've heard that Asian men have big dicks. "
Again, bless you Miss Mel, bless you...
Ode to Smart, Strong and Sexy Asian American Men [ModelMinority]
You Got Messed Up Color
A personal story about a white mother moving into a mostly African American neighbourhood:
"When my husband and I moved to a mostly black neighborhood four years ago, 8-year-old Tyrone became our friend. Then one day he asked me if I was white."
You Got Messed Up Color [Salon]
May 05, 2004
Magazines aimed at second generation Asians
Justin Lee offers a critical break down of what happened to Banana Magazine, and a look at the new/current efforts to appeal to the second generation Asians (Jasmine and Rice Paper).
Banana Split [Ryerson Review Journal]
While we are on the topic of failed Asian American/Canadian magazines, here's a much older article from Monolid magazine on the glorious demise of AMag (not glorious as in "I am happy to see them fail" [because I am not] but more glorious as in "holy crud they burned through a whole LOTTA money!" umm... can I get some of that? oh... I miss them dot com days...)
Bad Company (pdf) [MonoLid Magazine]
Speaking of Monolid magazine... anyone know that the story is with them these days? Are they still alive and kicking? on a hiatus? The "latest" issue on their site seems dated...
May 04, 2004
A swirly Asian Pacific Herigate Month
Emil Gillermo of SFGate.com writes:
" I'm Filipino American, born and raised on the backside of the Mission Playground at 19th and Guerrero. But since I'm Asian with a Spanish surname, I've coined my own category: Aspanic.
My wife is simple. She's a Midwesterner of Scotch-Irish descent. For her, white or Caucasian will do.
Our children, however, are half-Filipino, half-Caucasian -- or, as I like to call them, Caucapinos. (Hey, if Tiger Woods is Cablanasian, my kids can be Caucapinos).
But now that I've talked to Jen Chau, I know better.
My kids are really swirls."
Our parent's ideas about ethnic identity are starting to become outdated. What label are we suppose to be putting on Tiger Woods, Vin Desel, and the Rock anyhow? Here's yet another attempt to come up with some new labels...
Not sure if new labels are really the way to go, but at least I like the word... "swirl"
Have a Swirly Asian Pacific American Heritage Month [SFGate]
Swirl
May is Asian Heritage Month in Canada
"The Month of May is Asian Heritage Month. This acknowledges the long and rich history of Asian Canadians and their contributions to Canada."
Government Canada's Heritage Website
AHM events happening across Canada...
Vancouver
Edmonton
Calgary
Winnipeg
Toronto
Ottawa
Montreal
Halifax
May 03, 2004
Interview with the director of Iron Chef America
Who doesn't love the Japanese cult TV series Iron Chef? There has already been two American cracks at shooting their own version of the Iron Chef (one disastrous attempt with William Shatner as host), and one with the real Japanese Iron chef Morimoto against Bobby Flay in a make shift kitchen on a stage in NYC's Webster hall. Both were a pathetic attempt to emulate the real McCoy.
Last week, foodTV finally came out with a 4 part mini-series called Iron Chef America that actually rocked. Here's the Interview with the director on his attempts to both emulate, and differentiate the series from the original show.
Pumping Iron Chef America [eGullet]
May 02, 2004
Who's your anime girlfriend?
If you are like me, and have spent yet another weekend shut in your apartment working on your grand schemes of world domination... perhaps you can join me in taking comfort in that despite the heavy price of a dwindling social life as a result of your pursuit of a future dominated by robotic monkey butlers (or whatever happens to tickle YOUR fancy...) ... there COULD be someone special for you regardless... because he/she could be as simple as a bit torrent download away... And my silly friends keep telling me to "get out there."
Who is your anime girlfriend?
Who is your anime boyfriend?
May 01, 2004
Rediscovering Anna May Wong: the First Asian-American Film Goddess
"Anna May Wong was the first Asian-American movie goddess, and made over 50 films in a remarkable career that spanned the silent, sound, and early television eras. Although usually confined to stereotypical roles that embodied racist notions of oriental exoticism or villainy, Wong was a powerful, alluring screen presence who often upstaged her top-billed leads."
As part of the ExplorASIAN Asian Heritage Month, the Vancouver Asian Heritage Month Society and Pacific Cinémathèque presents a five film tribute to Anna Wong.
Chad Reeves, inspired by graphitti artists, uses aerosole to tell stories about his aboriginal roots.