05.30.01
Pascal's Triangle is that special mathematical pattern we all know and love. But we should really call it Zhu Shijie's Triangle, since Zhu, a Chinese mathematician from fourteenth century, discovered three hundred years before Pascal. As it is though, math books in classrooms across the nation honor this Pascal foo. That's racist!
05.25.01
The concern surrounding Pearl Harbor seems to grow at an alarming rate. Police are stepping up security measures to deal with the possibility of anti-Asian sentiment or violence this weekend. San Francisco police will increase their patrols by as much as 75 percent at theaters where the movie is being shown. This gives me something to worry about. This tells me that our fears as Asian Americans are validated, that indeed, we have to fear the fact that we're still not viewed as Americans, but still as aliens and foreigners. You can't deny the fact that the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, and I can't blame the filmmakers for telling the story. The fault lies with the ignorance of the general public. Here's an article from the SF Gate: S.F. police keeping eye on theaters That's racist!
05.24.01
Props, one last time, to Star Trek: Voyager, which aired its final episode last night (and was pretty dang good). During its seven-year run, Voyager's cast featured Garrett Wang as Ensign Harry Kim (left). While by no means the most interesting character, or the most engaging actor in the cast, Ensign Kim was our angry brotha --representin' in the Star Trek universe. Dig it. Now we'll just have to wait for Ensign Hoshi Sato and Enterprise in the fall. The anger continues!
05.22.01
KTEH Channel 54 will be airing the indpendent film Yellow, directed by Chris Chan Lee, tonight at 10:00 PM. I'm assuming this is in honor of Asian Pacific Heritage Month. Definitely not a fantastic movie, but all things considered, it's okay, and worth a viewing. I'm just glad that public television is willing to do this kind of thing. Support Asian American independent filmmaking!
05.21.01
Ever seen that show Queen of Swords? It's basically about this Zorro-like hot babe who fights baddies with swords. Lame. In last night's episode, entitled "The Dragon," a Samurai master is murdered, and his apprentice (Sung Hi Lee) is out for revenge. Some evil chick tells her that the Queen of Swords is responsible. Uh oh. Time for two hot ladies, Asian and Latina, to fight each other with swords. Just step back and watch. Of course, they'll probably sort out this misunderstanding by the end of the show. Asian woman as Samurai warrior. Yeah, right.
05.18.01
Old Chinese lady on last night's Friends season finale. Ross and Phoebe are on the street looking for a missing Chandler. Phoebe's like, "Hey! Is that him?" Ross says, "Phoebe, that's an old Chinese woman." Ha ha. And good ol' Phoebe's like, "Well, he could be in disguise..."
05.17.01
Cute little Asian boy on Mazda MPV commercial.
05.15.01
I'm not calling anything racist... yet. I've been thinking about this for a while, and apparently I'm not the only one. There seems to be growing hesitance and concern among Asian Americans that the upcoming film Pearl Harbor might generate anti-Asian sentiments with its audience. The film is expected among industry insiders to do phemomenally well at the box office when it opens May 25, Memorial Day weekend. I'm hoping they'll have a fair-minded depiction of Asians in the film. Most likely though, they'll neglect the fact there was a large population of Asian Americans, loyal to the United States, who lived in Pearl Harbor at the time. I fear they'll most likely focus on the attack and the attackers. But I won't say anything until I see the movie. This could be racist!
05.15.01
Shots of people walking around on Japanese streets in a commercial for Applied Materials.
05.12.01
The honorable Norman Mineta, current Secretary of Transportation, spoke at Santa Clara University's law school graduation. Former San Jose city councilman, mayor and congressman, he is a true Asian American pioneer.
05.11.01
Asian kid in The Chosen, Ang Lee's short film installment of The Hire series at www.bmwfilms.com. It's a well-done, entertaining little film (go Ang Lee!) The Driver must transport and protect a mysterious eight-year old Tibetan boy. Very Golden Child-esque. I believe the kid is actually played by Ang Lee's real-life son. Cool.
05.11.01
So they've finally announced and confirmed the details for the upcoming new Star Trek series, Enterprise. It seems the speculative casting sheet I discussed on 03.06.01 was indeed the real thing. Actress Linda Park will play Ensign Hoshi Sato of the Enterprise. Very cool. As I've said before, mad props to the Star Trek franchise, for always creating ethnically diverse casts that include Asian Americans.
05.09.01
Beans reports that Nicole Bilderback (Bring It On) was on last night's episode of "Dark Angel." Dig it.
05.08.01
Asian couple in the latest Orchard Supply Hardware commercial. The come home to find the dog has completely messed up their place.
05.07.01
The latest Sprint PCS commercial features a white dude suffering from some funky internal ailment. He's sitting in a Chinese restaurant. That creepy Sprint dude shows up. Their entire conversation is a metaphor comparing bad cellular service to bad Chinese food. The concerned proprietors of the Chinese restaurant look on in the background. That's racist!
05.07.01
Asian dude in the Hyundai Tiburon commercial. Sitting in the passenger seat.
05.07.01
Woohoo! Singer/songwriter Jenny Choi emailed me today. She's hooking me up with a copy of her new CD! Nice. I really dig her music, and cool beans, she also Asian American. Dig that. She represents. Check out some of her stuff at mp3.com. Better yet, see her live if you get the chance.
05.05.01
The Rock (aka Dwayne Johnson), a half-Samoan brotha in the struggle, is featured prominently in The Mummy Returns as The Scorpion King. Sort of. I know the promos make a big deal about The Rock being in the movie. I suppose that's a pretty noteworthy selling point, considering his phenomenal popularity as a professional wrestler. The thing is, he's in the movie for about two minutes, and he has like only two lines --and they're spoken in Egyptian. I admit, they're a very good two minutes. He commands his usual charismatic onscreen presence. Still, it's only two freakin' minutes. But I guess that's enough to go on --they're currently filming The Scorpion King, a prequel to The Mummy, starring THE ROCK. Can't stop The Rock, baby.
05.04.01
This cracks me up. From The Onion:
Asian Man Has Thing For Asian Women
TOKYO-- Shoji Furukawa, a 33-year-old Tokyo man, confessed Monday to a fetish for Asian women. "For some reason, as long as I can remember, I've always been into Asian chicks," Furukawa said. "I don't know what it is about them, but they just totally do it for me." Furukawa said the preference may be a familial trait, noting, "My dad was really into Asian girls, too."
05.03.01
May is Asian Pacific Heritage Month. aZn pRidE! Just kidding. Shout outs to Asian Pacific Americans everwhere.
05.02.01
Picked up a comic book called Bay City Jive today. It's about the adventures of Sugah Rollins --'70s playboy, raconteur, daredevil, adventurer and lover. He's jive-talkin', afro-sporting, and karate choppin'. It's the first issue, and it introduces a character named Zhoa Mei Xia. She's this staff-wielding, leather-clad Asian hottie. Kind looks like Lucy Liu. Could be interesting, but it'll probably just fall back on stereotypes. (That's racist!) I'll have to check out issue #2.
05.01.01
Lucy Liu will be departing from Ally McBeal at the end of the current season. She is perhaps the most high profile Asian American woman on television today --and she was the best/worst part of that show. She will now be concentrating on her movie career. Let's hope she chooses some quality roles.
05.01.01
According to a study by the organization Children Now, the so-called Family Hour (8:00-9:00 pm) contains the least racially diverse casts in all of primetime television. Minorities are included in these shows only to provide "a service, a piece of information or a punch line," the study said. It found that only 13 percent of network programming during the hour featured a mixed cast, versus 67 percent during the 10:00 pm hour. And how much of that mixed cast is at all Asian? That's racist!