The 2007 AZN Asian Excellence Awards are happening tonight at UCLA's Royce Hall. Co-hosted by Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park, they're boasting that this is going to be a star-studded, red-carpet event celebrating "significant Asian and Asian American achievements in entertainment, the arts and other disciplines that have had a profound impact on American culture." I've already mentioned the nominees, who include Margaret Cho, Roger Fan, Sharon Leal, Rex Lee, Parminder Nagra, Dustin Nguyen, Masi Oka, Kal Penn, Russell Peters, Dat Phan, Maggie Q, Will Yun Lee, among many others. My only question about the awards: who actually determines who wins?
According to the press release I received the other day, the show's presenters include Apl.de.Ap of Black Eyed Peas, Megan Abrigo, Moon Bloodgood, Sarah Bronson, Adam Carolla(!), John Cho, Elisha Cuthbert, Antoine Fuqua, Kenny G, Carrie Ann Inaba, Michelle Krusiec, Yul Kwon, Jason Scott Lee, Bai Ling (ugh), Sanjaya Malakar, Leyla Milani, Lou Diamond Phillips, Rob Schneider, Elisabeth Rohm, Geoffrey Rush, Lauren Shiohama, George Takei, Quentin Tarantino and Tamlyn Tomita. I'm sorry, but what the hell is Adam Carolla going to be doing there? Has he come to make amends for mocking last year's awards on his radio show? I hope the audience boos that assclown.
And man, I guess they weren't kidding about Kenny G.
The show will also feature appearances by Jin, Sunkrish Bala, Karin Anna Cheung, Justice Ming Chin, Justin Chon, Alexandra Chun, Toby Dawson, FREQUNCY 5, Janina Gavankar, Josie Ho + Conroy Chan, Ryan Hoyle, Johnny Hsu, Mimosa Iwamatsu, Grace Junot, Archie Kao, Ravi Kapoor, Christel Khalil, Hans Kim, Paul Kim, Chil Kong, Denyce Lawton, Brooke Lee, Michelle Lee, Reggie Lee, Dana Leong, Emily Liu, Daniel Lue, Camille Mana, Minae Noji, Joy Osmanski, Harold Perrineau, Lindsay Price, Milan Q, Lela Rechon, DJ Shy, James Sun, AJ Tabaldo, Brian Tee, Rich Ting, Suzanne Whang, Louise Wu, Kaila Yu, Eugenia Yuan, Yungmac, and more apparently to be announced. I'm not even sure who a bunch of these people are, and in what capacity they'll be appearing, but it looks like they're trying to load it up with as many "names" as they can.
The show airs May 28th on AZN TV. I'm planning on braving Westwood traffic and attending the show tonight. I'll be taking a few notes, so hopefully I'll have some coverage of the event here tomorrow.