11.30.01
Check out the trailer for Kung Pow: Enter the Fist. Some of it looks funny, but a lot of it looks...racist. Yeah it does. And who is this Steve Oedekerk foo? I'm going to have to check this out.
11.29.01
I'm told Pat Morita is in the video for Alien Ant Farm's "Movies." I like Mr. Miyagi.
11.29.01
Props to Min and II Stix, who always give love.
11.29.01
HV, our angry Asian sista who always keeps it real (and is getting married in 16 days) reports another somethin' racist:
Erik drove me to the airport last weekend.
As we were driving towards RI, we pass a work truck. Erik and I are talking when he makes this face and tells me not to look at the truck because I will get mad because it has already pissed him off.
I look anyway.
There is a sticker. With a caricature of an Asian face and the word JAP. With a BIG HONKING FRICKING RED X through it.
WHAT THE HELL?!?! They actually MAKE these stickers? AUGH. I think I am going online to see what company actually sells these things and lodge a protest.
Who the hell is making these stickers? Who would go out of their way to make crap like this? If anyone finds out, let us know. That's racist!
11.28.01
In Spy Game, our hero is captured in Chinese prison. So there are all these Chinese evil dudes. I also noticed the two undercover "doctors" helping Brad Pitt's character were Ken Leung, who played karaoke guy Don in Keeping the Faith, and Adrian Pang, aka Hock in That's the Way I Like It.
11.27.01
Our man Austin sends us this call-to-arms:
Red Envelope, a mail order company in San Francisco, recently released
their Holiday catalog. The cover of the catalog features an attractive,
happy Asian woman with her half-Asian daughter. Inside the catalog, the
Asian female and her White Male husband are represented in numerous
photographs, including a bed scene where they are lying down
together. There were no Asian men in the catalog.
I called their corporate headquarters today to "educate" them about the
stereotypical images presented in their catalog, like the common Asian
Fem/White Male pairings in ads and movies, absence of any Asian male, no
Asian Male/White Female pairing, and of course the implied racist fantasy
that Asian females are only happy with White men (take for instance The Joy
Luck Club movie).
I told them that many Asian Americans are becoming sensitive about their
pigeon-holed portrayal in American Media and that Red Envelope and other
socially responsible companies should be more careful about the images they
select - especially since the Red Envelope catalog has a special "East
Meets West" section. Since their catalog was mailed out only a couple weeks
ago, they said my complaint was the first. However, the PR representative,
Amy, said she would bring up my issues to the advertising team in their
next meeting... I think she might remember better if a few more people call
their PR office.
I know that all of you are aware of Asian image problems, and I'd like to
encourage you to make a statement against this beautiful, not-so-subtle
racism. I dream of a day when America will see me and other Asian
Americans as equal and loving human beings. Red Envelope's corporate
number is 415 371 9100, press "0" for the operator. You can ask the
operator for Amy or someone else in the Public Relations office.
Way to go, brotha. Let them know what's up!
11.15.01
Actress Ming Na is one of the new faces for (Oil of) Olay. That's right baby.
11.15.01
Got AOL Instant Messenger? Okay, when you send a message, check out the little yellow face pull-down menu. You know what I'm talking about. First of all, all these faces are yellow. Man, that's racist. But it gets worse. Check out the one that depicts "yelling." I believe it's the typing equivalent of ">:o" Look at that face! Now that's freakin racist. And it's even called "yelling," as in yellow. That's racist!
11.13.01
Hey, we got correspondent Suchin Pak on MTV. Pretty high profile.
11.13.01
So I've looking all over to find out if Ming Na actually left ER for good... Her character quit the ER a couple of episodes ago, but her name is still in the credits. I checked Ming Na's official site, and came up with this message from the actress herself:
Wow, I didn't think people would get so worked up over "Never Say Never," but it's nice to know that my character is/was liked by so many of you. My thanks to the numerous fans who wrote in right after the show to express their sympathy and dismay at my exit from the ER. As for the rumors... well, it IS Hollywood.
What the heck does that mean? Is she gone for good? Is she coming back? Just taking a break? What's up with that? Yo, if she got the ax, that's racist.
11.12.01
It's official. San Jose International Airport will be named after U.S. Secretary of Transportation and S.J. native son Norm Mineta.
11.08.01
Ocean's 11 looks like a lot of fun... Check out the movie's official site, which gives a neat little flash run down of the characters... and there's an Asian dude among Ocean's eleven! Shaobo Qin is number 10, "the Grease Man." Whatever that means. The site's bio says he's some Chinese circus dude. What the-?! Hang on, this could be racist.
11.08.01
Random Asian crewman at the helm on Enterprise. Not Hoshi. She's the communications officer.
11.07.01
Asian dude as the head surgeon in Scrubs.
11.03.01
Well, we all know that hate crimes against Middle Easterners and South Asians have increased since September 11. This is tragic. But here I call attention to an especially troubling incident: Birthday Gone Bad: South Asian man attacked by APIA youth. That's racist!
11.03.01
This week's issue of AsianWeek features Linda Park (woohoo!) on the cover for an article about Asians in Star Trek. Props, once again, to Star Trek.
11.03.01
There's a Japanese restaurant in Monsters, Inc.. Pretty funny scene.
11.02.01
So Eddie Shin as Stanley will hopefully be a semi-recurring character on ER. Well, some may know that Dr. Carter has been having back problems. A crazy guy stabbed him pretty bad a few years back, and he also had a pretty bad spill out on the street a couple of episodes ago. So there was a scene last night with Stanley poking some accupuncture needles into Carter's back. What's up with that? OH yeah, the Asian doctor is the one with accupunture skills, right? Probably pulled out his trusty needle kit right out of his jacket. Just because he's an Asian doctor, it doesn't mean he some master of eastern medecine... That's racist!
11.02.01
The One, starring Jet Li, opens today. Directed by James Wong.