07.31.02
This is outrageous. This news out of Vancouver is the most disturbing yet: 4th Asian student attacked.
07.31.02
Asian "boy band" At Last will be on Fox's 30 Seconds to Fame tonight. Check your local listings.
07.31.02
Last night I attempted to attend the Asian American Songwriters Showcase show at Espresso Garden in San Jose. Featuring Emm Gryner, Jenny Choi, Annie Linn and Vienna Teng. But I couldn't get in, along with this big ol' mob of disappointed music fans. I might try to catch the SF show tonight at the Last Day Saloon. Hope I do.
07.30.02
Norah Jones will be performing "I've Got to See You Again" on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno tonight. Just thought I'd let you know.
07.29.02
This is a load of crap, on so many levels: South Koreans Offer Microwaveable Dog Meat. (Thanks, Dave)
07.25.02
Same guy, another email:
first off i aint a racist so dont go and get me crossed up!
second, i wasnt talking about discrimination. i dont believe you should be persecuted or treated unfairly and i thats cool with me that you're stepping up for that.i do believe you should have the same rights as me and everyone else and that includes employment and the right to be joked on. i was only replying to the article on loveline adam corolla saying things about asians just to be funny, he's a comedian. most asians dont fit a stereotype but some do and its funny, not in a bad way. every nationality has some stereotype thats sometimes true but i hate people that get offended by something someone says thats not referring specifically to them. i have 5 or 6 asian friends and they all laugh when we joke about that stuff and they crack jokes on white people and i dont get offended i just laugh cuz its funny.
So... do you still want me to go back to Asia?
07.24.02
Oh joy. Received my latest dose of ignorance, via email:
if i went to korea or whatever im not gonna complain about how their gov'ts laws are unfair to whites or americans or whatever. thats their country they can have it, fine do whatever they want i dont give a damn. but for asians to come over here voluntarily and have the nerve to start demanding us to censor ourselves for them thats bullshit... its funny and nobody takes it as 100% accurate observations..nobody. i laugh when people make jokes about white people it doesnt bother me. why are you worried about what other people say. so please, just get used to it or go back to asia. i mean we didnt drag you over here nobody forced you to come so if you dont like what we say or do then just go back. is that not fair game?
You have to appreciate the effort that went into writing this email. It takes a really immature, uneducated individual to produce something so wrought with hate and ignorance. Best of all, what purpose did the writer feel that this would serve? Like it would actually discourage me from continuing my site? Or I would suddenly be enlightened, "Oh! Perhaps he's right! Maybe there is no such thing as racism!" Or maybe I'd take his advice and just "go back to Asia." Hell no. I'm an American, and that's racist!
07.24.02
Interesting article on television diversity (and the lack thereof) on new shows set in SF: Un-Reality Television: Few Minority Actors in S.F. Shows
07.24.02
The Rock will play Hawaii's King Kamehameha: Casting The Rock as King Draws Fire. (Thanks Eugenia.)
07.22.02
Now this truly makes me angry:
Third Korean student attacked in Vancouver
For the third time in just two months, a Korean exchange student has been attacked in Vancouver. This comes after a local Korean organization received a letter filled with hate, threats of murder and kidnapping.
The 21-year-old woman was calling her parents in Korea from a payphone near the Pacific National Exhibition site, just after 3 a.m. Friday, when the attack happened. She was grabbed from behind, forced into a car and raped.
Vancouver Police Cst. Sarah Bloor said the victim struggled with the suspect, bit him on the right ear, then she was able to flee and get to a safe place on foot.
In May, a 22-year-old language student suffered brain damage after she was beaten while jogging in Stanley Park. Her alleged attacker is awaiting trial.
Last week another Korean student was dragged into some bushes in a Surrey park and sexually assaulted.
Compounding fears in the community, The Korean Society of B.C. recently received a hate letter. In it, the author threatens to kill a Korean each week and use Korean women as sex slaves.
The society is now warning exchange students to walk in groups and avoid late night activities.
The recent violence has made front-page headlines in Korea. Esther Kwon of The Korean Society of B.C. says people may be wary of visiting Vancouver. There are more than 10,000 Korean exchange students studying in Vancouver and the violence has some of them reconsidering their plans.
Police suspect the latest assault was a crime of opportunity, but in any event, officers are warning exchange students to be extremely careful.
Police describe the suspect in Friday's attack as a white male, six-feet three-inches tall, with a large nose and stubble on his face. He was wearing a green T-shirt and driving a red, four-door sedan.
This article can be found here. There are sick, racist people out there, and this CANNOT be allowed to happen. That's racist!
07.18.02
Oh yeah, here's word on another Korean American actress named Linda. Brief, but neat: A moment with ... Linda Park from 'Enterprise'. She's cool. (Thanks HV)
07.18.02
Still no diversity on TV. What's new? Ethnic groups chasten networks for perceived lack of diversity in TV shows
In related news, the Emmy nominations were announced this morning. No Asians there either.
07.18.02
Actress Linda Kim showed up in short bit on Extra! the other day. Check out her out here: Extratv.com: Linda Kim. They make her sound like she has a huge part in Men in Black II, but like I said before, it's really like 5 seconds in a fuzzy flashback with no dialogue. (Thanks, Camille) As an aside, I must say that I know another lady named Linda Kim (not an actress) and she is like the sweetest little lady I know.
07.16.02
All right, Parry Shen informs me he is a huge Trading Spaces fan. He even watched the entire 12-hour marathon. I suppose some day when I own a home of my own, this will all make sense. But for now, I still don't wanna watch it, Jo.
07.16.02
So fairly often, Jo and I are sitting around watching TV. I've got the remote, just flipping through stations. S'all good. But whenever the channel surfing rolls around to TLC, in my heart I fervently hope and pray that at that moment they are not airing Trading Spaces --because Jo loves that show, and I sooooooooo do not. And if it's on, guess what we're gonna end up watching? For those of you out there without girlfriends or cable television, allow me to explain the basic premise of TLC's cult hit, Trading Spaces. You've got two neighbors/friends. Each paired up with an interior designer, they both agree to allow the other to decorate their home. And the given episode takes you through the process, from planning to remodeling to unveiling. Sometimes they love what the other has done with the house, and sometimes they HATE it (Jo always tells me about some episode where a lady cried 'cause she hated the remodeling so much). Anyways, Jo loooves this show, and so do my sisters. And a whole mess of other people I know (almost unanimously women). I think it's pretty boring (especially if it's on when they're also airing Die Hard over on USA). Anyway, why the heck am I telling you all this? Upon Jo's insistence, I must bring to your attention Mr. Vern Yip, one of the regularly rotating designers on the ridiculously popular Trading Spaces. He is Asian.
07.16.02
For those of you in the Boston area, Linus informs of an event going on tomorrow, courtesy of the Asian American Resource Workshop: Remembering Vincent Chin - Fighting 20 Years of Anti-Asian Violence. Check it out if you can.
07.15.02
Got some email:
Check out this page: Claim: St. Bernard dogs are being raised for food in China. Basically, it's an urban legends site. I've talked about Asia's eating habits vs. the rest of the world before, so blah blah blah. I won't rant on about it. My position is still the same. Thankfully, the last paragraph on this site is pretty level-headed about it. Check it out. (Thanks HV)
Dave sends me this link: SuperBrawl. It's basically the organized sport of people beating the crap out of each other... Or, as Dave puts it, "asians kicking ass across the board of ethnicities. whites, hispanics, blacks. its pretty hilarious... " Yes, it sure is.
Here's one from Eugenia: Pedophile Jokes, Williams Irk British Viewers. Check out the last paragraph:
"But the program that drew the most complaints -- about 1,000 -- was a report for London radio news station News Direct which blamed last year's devastating foot and mouth epidemic on Chinese restaurants.
Yo, if that was the number one complaint, why didn't that get the friggin' headline? I guess you can't compete with the likes of pedophiles and Robbie Williams.
Finally, Zach writes in:
microsoft Word has a self edit program. whenever you type a countries name, it automatically makes the
countries first letter capital.
except for these 3 countries: china, korea, and japan.
use these 3 in a sentence, in between sentences, not as a first word, because Word capitalizes all first words typed. write japan, korea, or china in between some words in Word program, and they will not become capitalized. All other countries you type become capitalized.
What's up with that? I tried it on Microsoft Word 2000, and indeed, china, korea and japan do not get auto-capitalized. I'd say that's racist! However, neither does spain, france or mexico. It's weird --England, Thailand, Kenya and Switzerland get auto-caps, but italy, pakistan and laos do not. How do those Microsoft folks decide which countries get auto-captilization status? Why do Malaysia, Zaire, Vietnam and Ecuador get some auto-caps lovin', while bosnia, brazil and peru do not? I just don't know.
07.15.02
Nick sent in a screenshot of the CNN headlines in question... See for yourself, make the call.
07.13.02
Haha... What the hell is this? Check out Notorious MSG. Be sure you listen to the MP3s. Motha suckas! (thanks, Min)
07.13.02
Got this from Nick:
Wanted to draw your attention to the current CNN front page ... (07/13/2002 2:06 AM PST)
Pay particular attention to the language that is used. There are two headlines ... one reads in tabloidish fashion "Shocked: 99 Alien Fish Snagged in Pond" and the accompanying blurb reads "Nearly 100 flesh-eating fish native to China have been found in a Maryland pond where they were dumped." Interestingly enough, directly beneath this headline is an "Other Top News" headline, "Pentagon warns on China threat." Coincidence?
The following is my interpretation: It stinks of sensationalistic journalism where a story that shares a theme with a current issue (in this case, China's apparent military threat) is thrown in the limelight using a headline with unnecessary hyperbole. The use of the word "alien" is odd, and seems almost strategically chosen. When is the last time you heard of non-indigenous species of any kind of animal referred to as "alien"? I smell the undercurrents of Yellow Peril rhetoric or thinking in at least one CNN employee's psyche. And "flesh-eating"? Last time I heard that term invoked was during the "flesh-eating bacteria" scare. I'm sure I'm not the only one who clicked to find out more, fooled into thinking that these alien fish ate human flesh!
And how about this quote in the alien fish article? "They can gain a foothold here and begin to proliferate in ways that would displace native organisms ... " I don't know about you, but this all smells very fishy to me.
In case you don't see the front page in its current state (the correlation is very evident when the headlines are seen juxtaposed), the two articles are linked below:
http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/07/12/alien.fish.ap/index.html
http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/east/07/13/china.taiwan/index.html
Unfortunately, the juxtaposed headlines are no longer there. But the heck are they called "alien" fish? They could've chosen a less-xenophobic name than that. That's racist!
07.12.02
The fight continues! We all do our part: Wen Ho Lee pardon drive gets 15,000 signatures
07.08.02
Saw Men in Black 2. Linda Kim plays Ambassador Lauranna in an extremely brief, fuzzy flashback with no dialogue. Not very impressive. However, according to IMDb, we can look forward to seeing Ms. Kim later this summer in Austin Powers in Goldmember as 'Geisha Secretary.' Lovely.
07.05.02
Saw Notorious C.H.O. today... typically hilarious antics from Ms. Margaret Cho. Good stuff, although extremely raunchy at moments. I don't think it's as good as I'm the One That I Want... But her trademark mom imitation is fantastic as usual. Check it out.
07.04.02
Independence Day! It's the 4th of July, and I got a little sumthin' to say. Asians of the United States: You are an American. Never let anyone tell you or make you believe otherwise. They are ignorant sucka foos.
07.03.02
Movies opening this weekend... Eugenia informs me there's an Asian girl, Brenda Song in the movie Like Mike. She plays L'il Bow Wow's l'il friend. However, in no way does this change my complete utter lack of desire to watch this film.
Just perusing the cast list at IMDb, I see that actress Linda Kim plays 'Lauranna' in Men in Black II. Um, this is what she looks like.
Michelle Krusiec is in Pumpkin (starring Christina Ricci).
Don't forget, Margaret Cho's Notorious C.H.O. is now playing in select cities.
07.03.02
Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey will air again, July 26 on AMC, 7:30 PM and 12:00 AM, PST.
07.03 .02
So a few weeks ago Chicago Sun Times columnist Mark Brown wrote a pretty ugly article ('Nation of dog-eaters turns us off to World Cup') that got more than a few people angry, myself included... And apparently he got a severe beating for it, by way of email... Here's his follow up column: Columnist in the doghouse over wisecrack. He remains adamant that he has nothing to apologize about...
07.03.02
San Francisco Giants outfielder Tsuyoshi Shinjo hit two home runs the other day agains the Colorado Rockies.
07.03.02
I haven't seen it myself, but I'm told that Xbox Bruce Lee game is pretty sucky --particularly because the Bruce Lee character doesn't have any sort of accent. He's apparently missing Bruce Lee's trademark accent! That's just wrong. Sacrilege!
Speaking of the legend, did you catch Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey on AMC? Great little documentary on Bruce Lee's career, philosophy and martial arts. Some great archival footage... but the best part was the reconstructed sequences from Bruce Lee's original plans for Game of Death. Amazing! Finally, we get some semblance of what the film was supposed to be, as opposed to that fake ass excuse of a movie the studios crapped out. It was a real treat. By the way, the film is available at Amazon.com.
07.02.02
Apparently there was a strong reaction in today's USA Today to a writer's disparaging, derogatory racial remarks published last week regarding Yao Ming... Read the article in question here: Will Rockets blast off or blow up with Yao? (Thanks Lando Calrissian)
07.02.02
According to this site, Kelly Hu is one of the worst autograph signers. Number two, in fact: Annual Ten Best & Worst Signers. That's too bad. This makes her sound rather unapproachable. I do object to this site's observation of Kelly Hu as, "an exotic beauty with a bad attitude." The only Asian person on the list is called exotic. Argh... That's racist! (Thanks, Pav)
07.02.02
Props to Christine. I just got a small stack of Banana magazines in the mail. Very cool. Banana is an Asian-Canadian lifestyle and culture magazine. Yes, brought to you by our neighbors up north. The U.S. needs a general lifestyle magazine like this to fill the void left when a Magazine folded... I mean, I guess Yolk is kinda interesting, and certainly caters to a particular demographic, but a diverse line of publications would reflect the diversity of the Asian American population. Anyway, props to Banana. Go check it out.
07.01.02
Oh yeah, I totally forgot to mention last week, the Houston Rockets got Yao Ming.