Ryan Potter cast as Beast Boy in 'Titans'

Upcoming live action TV series based on the DC Comics title.



Looks like we have a Beast Boy! Ryan Potter has been cast in the series regular role of Beast Boy in Titans, the upcoming live-action TV series adaptation based on the popular DC Comics title.

'Titans': Ryan Potter Cast As Beast Boy In Live-Action Series For DC Digital Service

Titans follows a group of "soon-to-be superheroes from every corner of the DC Universe." Recruited by Dick Grayson (Brenton Thwaites), this fearless band of new heroes includes Starfire (Anna Diop), Raven (Teagan Croft), and of course, Garfield "Gar" Logan, aka Beast Boy.

As a child, Gar contracted a lethal disease on an African safari with his geneticist parents, only to experience some "bizarre side effects" after being treated with an experimental drug. In addition to his skin and hair turning permanently green, the wisecracking, fun-loving Beast Boy is able to transform himself into animals of any size.

Charlyne Yi Recounts Racist Remarks from Writer and Director David Cross

By Jenn Fang. Cross-Posted from Reappropriate.



Charlyne Yi -- the award-winning actor, comedian, writer, and musician best known for her role as a series regular on House, her voice acting work on Steven Universe, and her starring role in Paper Heart which she also wrote -- took to Twitter earlier this week to describe her first encounter with writer, director and actor David Cross.

In a series of four tweets, Yi -- who is mixed race Filipinx and Korean American -- describes how when she first met Cross, Cross made fun of Yi for her appearance. When she didn't respond, Cross reportedly said: "What's a matter? You don't speak English?? Ching-Chong-Ching-Chong." Cross went on to mockingly challenge Yi to a karate match.

At the time of the encounter, Cross was over forty years old, and already an established comedian, writer and TV and film actor with several stand-up comedy specials already under his belt. Yi was a veritable newcomer to the comedy and acting scene, and was only about twenty years old.

Get this Awesome Shirt and Support 18 Million Rising

Celebrate 18MR's five years of organizing Asian Americans online.



Just wanted to point your attention to this awesome t-shirt design from our friends at 18 Million Rising. To celebrate five years of organizing Asian Americans online, as well as fundraise to keep it all going for the future, they're offering these super-cool limited shirts and hoodies.

Designed by Karl Orozco, the shirt is a re-imagining/inversion of the old political cartoon about the "yellow peril" tiger attacking the globe. According to 18MR, "we wanted our tiger to protect the globe as our communities increasingly find ourselves on the frontlines of state violence, gentrification, and climate change."

Federal judge in Hawaii blocks Trump's travel ban

Travel ban "plainly discriminates based on nationality" in a way that is "antithetical" to American principles.



Trump keeps trying to make this shit happen. And Hawaii keeps knocking it down. A federal judge in Hawaii has issued an order blocking major parts of Trump's newest travel ban, suggesting it violated immigration law.

The decision, ordered by U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson in Honolulu on Tuesday, stopped the administration’s travel restrictions nationwide, hours before they were scheduled to take full effect Wednesday.

The newest travel rules, which Trump signed September 24, indefinitely ban entry to the U.S. by most nationals of Syria, Libya, Iran, Yemen, Somalia, Chad and North Korea. They also restrict travel by certain Venezuelan government officials and their families.

Watson wrote that the ban goes against the Immigration and Nationality Act and "plainly discriminates based on nationality" in a way that is "antithetical" to American principles. He also said the order "lacks sufficient findings that the entry of more than 150 million nationals from six specified countries" would harm U.S. interests.

More here: Federal judge in Hawaii blocks Trump's new travel ban

Chinatown Art Brigade protests racist exhibition

"Chinatown lives are not poverty porn!"



On Sunday afternoon in New York, dozens of protesters from the Chinatown Art Brigade and other local art and anti-gentrification activist groups converged in the front room of James Cohan Gallery's Chinatown location, demanding that the gallery take down what the group is calling "racist art."

Their target: Omer Fast's new exhibition, August, which has transformed the space to appear like a poorly maintained Chinatown business. Visitors walk through the space to see the artist's video work in the backroom.

In a letter sent to the gallery last week, CAB called the exhibition a "racist aggression towards the community of Chinatown," and added "this show reifies racist narratives of uncleanliness, otherness and blight that have historically been projected onto Chinatown."

More here: Chinatown Art Brigade Protests Omer Fast's "Racist" Exhibition at James Cohan Gallery

"Here's my problem with most racism: it's the inaccuracy."

Watch Kumail Nanjiani's opening monologue from 'Saturday Night Live.'



Hey, racists! Kumail Nanjiani would take you a little more seriously if you could just get it right.

Over the weekend, the Pakistani American comedian, fresh off the summer success of his indie romantic comedy The Big Sick, performed hosting duties on Saturday Night Live. During the opening monologue, he delivered a hilarious, timely standup set, taking on racism and... more racism.

Among other things, he pointed out the very real fact that Sikhs are often targeted with Islamophobic violence, mistaken for Muslims. This is a challenging thing to joke about, but Kumail just slays it. He also clarifies what bothers him most about racism: the inaccuracy. Racists, you're just not coming at this with correct information -- and it's not working out for you.

"I'm like, do the research," Kumail says. "Put in the work. You will see the benefits!"

Check it out:

Read These Blogs

She Was Told Internment Didn't Happen. Now, Her Family's Story Is in School Books. Starting this semester, students in the U.S. will be able to learn about the World War II incarceration of Japanese Americans from Katie Yamasaki's 2013 children's picture book, Fish for Jimmy, which was selected to be included in the newest version of McGraw-Hill Education's anthology textbook for fourth grade students.

* * *
29 Things That Are Too Damn Real For People Raised By Asian Parents: "If at first you don't succeed, don't come back home." Yet another one of these BuzzFeed lists so many of us can relate to...

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Chinese immigrants in Philly still recovering from home-invasion terror: More than a year after masked gunmen burst into their homes and robbed them, the terror remains vivid for Philadelphia-area Chinese business owners and their families.

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Definitive For Americans: A Refugee's Review of 'The Vietnam War': Beth Nguyen watched Ken Burns' documentary series The Vietnam War, which strives to give some Americans a sense of healing, but gives little perspective from the Vietnamese or Vietnamese Americans who were also there.

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A New Generation Of Therapists Is Fighting Asian-American Mental Health Stigma: When it comes to mental health, research shows Asian Americans are three times less likely than white Americans to seek help.

* * *
Cyberpunk Cities Fetishize Asian Culture But Have No Asians: The Blade Runner universe is visually Asian -- a visual cue for the future. But if Asians shaped this cyberpunk future, where are they?

* * *
Asian American TV Producers Speak Out About Making the Shows They Want, Whether or Not Networks Are on Board: TV producers Mindy Kaling, Daniel Dae Kim, Alan Yang, and more on creating a more inclusive storytelling landscape.

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Asian American TV Actors Expose the Difficulty of Landing Parts - With or Without an Accent: Daniel Dae Kim, Kal Penn, Jamie Chung, and more on role models, problematic auditions, breakthrough gigs, and the changing face of TV.

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Asian-Americans Are Disrupting An Unwelcoming Music Industry: "It's a different world now" - and one that's leveling the playing field for Asian American pop artists, who've traditionally been shut out of the American music industry.

Angry Reader of the Week: Alice Y. Hom

"I'm a lover of pandas, plaid clothing, and good eats."


Photo: Erin O'Brien

Greetings, internet friends. You know what time it is. It's time to meet the Angry Reader of the Week, potlighting you, the very special readers of this website. Over the years, I've been able to connect with a lot of cool folks, and this is a way of showing some appreciation and attention to the people who help make this blog what it is. This week's Angry Reader is Alice Y. Hom.

They Call Us Bruce - Episode 25: They Call Us Randall Park

Jeff Yang and Phil Yu present an unfiltered conversation about what's happening in Asian America.



What's up, podcast listeners? We've got another episode of our podcast They Call Us Bruce. Each week, my good friend, writer/columnist Jeff Yang and I host an unfiltered conversation about what's happening in Asian America, with a strong focus on media, entertainment and popular culture.

This episode, we welcome our good friend, actor Randall Park, aka "Asian Jim." He reflects on the fourth(!) season of Fresh Off The Boat, shares almost nothing about his role as Jimmy Woo in Ant-Man & The Wasp, and considers the Good, the Bad and the WTF of being "Asian Famous."

In which Fred Armisen discovers he is actually Korean

'Portlandia' star learns some startling family secrets on the PBS ancestry series 'Finding Your Roots.'



After playing a cavalcade of memorable characters for years on Saturday Night Live, Fred Armisen has discovered he is not who he thinks he is. The Portlandia star recently appeared on the PBS series Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates Jr. to find out some pretty damn earth-shattering truths about his lineage, including the fact that he is not a quarter Japanese, as he has believed his whole life.

He's actually Korean.

Appearing on season four of the acclaimed ancestry series, Armisen learns that his paternal grandfather, dancer and choreographer Masami Kuni, was actually quite famous. There's even a whole museum exhibit dedicated to him in Japan. But Armisen also seems unsettled to learn that in the 1930s and 40s, Kuni was employed in Germany (where he eventually met and had an affair with Armisen's grandmother) as a performer for the Nazis.

But wait, there's more. A 1944 report from the U.S. Office of War Information suggests that Kuni was actually leading a double life, moonlighting as a secret agent for Japan during his stint as performer among the Nazis. The perfect cover. Oh, the intrigue! This is the kind of stuff they make movies about.

Letters to Immigrant Parents on National Coming Out Day

Guest Post by Patrick Lee



Growing up queer is rarely easy. Throw on a heaping load of immigrant family sacrifice, cultural conflict, and language barriers, and you have something that starts to approximate how I felt coming of age in a very white suburb of Chicago.

I didn't know whom to talk to or confide in; I didn't even really know why I felt so different from other people around me. I just knew that I didn't see myself in any of my friends or classmates.

But now I know I'm not alone: As an adult, I moved to New York and started seeking out community. I met a handful of queer and trans Asian Pacific Americans, and then another handful, and then another. Our experiences are never the same; our families all unique. But we share some common threads and frustrations, and for the first time in my life, I felt like someone was hearing me.

I decided to make a film to document some of the stories of our community, and the struggles we have communicating with our immigrant parents about queerness, gender identity, and sexuality.

Stupid Korean Games: Korean Drama Podcast - Boys Over Flowers #19

A K-Drama re-watch podcast by (and for) people who don't watch Korean dramas.



Are you a fan of Korean dramas? Then this podcast is probably not for you. The Korean Drama Podcast is the K-Drama rewatch podcast by (and for) people who don't watch Korean dramas.

In season one, host Will Choi (founder of Asian AF) and I -- both self-professed Korean drama beginners -- with help and hand-holding by our resident K-Drama expert Joanna Lee, attempt to watch and discuss the 2009 megahit drama Boys Over Flowers in its entirety, episode by episode.

In this episode, we discuss Perm Boy's mom's spy games, surprise pizza trucks, and how Pottery Boy sucks now, but Ringo is still keeping it real. Also, we explain the strange, punitive world of Stupid Korean Games.

They Call Us Bruce - Episode 24: They Call Us Jeremy Lin's Hair

Jeff Yang and Phil Yu present an unfiltered conversation about what's happening in Asian America.



What's up, podcast listeners? We've got another episode of our podcast They Call Us Bruce. Each week, my good friend, writer/columnist Jeff Yang and I host an unfiltered conversation about what's happening in Asian America, with a strong focus on media, entertainment and popular culture.

This episode, we discuss Jeremy Lin's hair. Yes, his hair. Specifically, the recent dustup over our favorite Asian American point guard's decision to sport dreadlocks, and where it's situated in the larger conversation about cultural appropriation.