November 2012

11.30.2012

toestah's dangerzone mixtape release party, december 6

Some new music for you... Up and coming hip hop artist/producer Toestah just released his long-awaited new mixtape Dangerzone. Get it now as a free digital download from HotNewHipHop, or preview it on the widget below:

If you're in Los Angeles, you can help Toestah celebrate the mixtape launch (and his birthday) at an in-store release party on Thursday, December 6 at Bait. Here are some more details:

Guest Post by Keith Chow

When Secret Identities came out, the guys -- Jeff Yang, Parry Shen, Jerry Ma -- and I traveled to college campuses all over the country to do our "Build a Hero" workshop. Essentially, we would lead the audience in an exercise to create a wholly original character while an artist, usually Jerry, would draw that character in real time.

Before we got to the drawing and creating part, we'd ask the audience to come up with some of their favorite Asian American superheroes. Needless to say, there weren't very many responses. Aside from the usual crickets, Sunfire might have gotten a shout out and maybe Quick Kick, too.

All right, everybody. You know what time it is. Time to meet the Angry Reader of the Week, spotlighting 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 Christopher Larkin.

charlize theron to star in lady vengeance remake

More Asian movie remake news... Plans have come together for Charlize Theron to star in a remake of the South Korean revenge flick Sympathy For Lady Vengeance: Team Comes Together For 'Sympathy For Lady Vengeance' Redo: Charlize Theron To Star, William Monahan To Write.

According to Deadline, Theron's Denver & Delilah Films, CJ Entertainment, and Annapurna Pictures are producing an adaptation of the third installment in director Park Chan-wook's revenge trilogy, to be written by William Monahan:

For real? In Orange County, a Vietnamese American man recently filed a discrimination lawsuit against his employer after his boss allegedly banned him from speaking Vietnamese anytime on the job: OC Company Boss To Asian Employee: You Can't Speak Vietnamese Even On Private Time.

Hung Trinh, a lab assistant at Quest Diagnostics Inc., says his supervisor Estela Comba had it out for Vietnamese employees, and made things particularly hostile for him in the workplace. He suffered "constant harassment" and was prohibited from speaking Vietnamese -- even on breaks or at off-duty functions. Whaaaat:

Black Friday. While some suckas were lining up outside Best Buy and Walmart to get their grubby hands on discount goods, the real deals were going down at a dollar store in New York, where people lined up to get themselves a real deal: Improv Everywhere Brings Black Friday To The Dollar Store.

The public pranksters behind Improv Everywhere organized a Black Friday stunt where a hundred people camped outside a dollar store in Manhattan, complete with tents, mock security and a fake news crew. When the store opened, the crowd rushed in with glee, buying up lots of 99 cent goods.

Looks like it was quite a sight. The whole thing confounded and delighted a lot of folks -- including one very grateful store owner:

More news of campus hate incidents... At UCLA, police are investigating two instances of racist and sexist slurs that were recently found posted on campus: Rally planned in response to VSU sign vandalization.

Earlier this week, a Vietnamese Student Union office was vandalized with the message "asian women R Honkie white-boy worshipping Whores!!!" printed out on a 8.5" x 11" sheet of paper and affixed to the VSU banner.

caam & global film initiative present global lens at the great star theater, november 30

San Francisco! Join CAAM And the Global Film Initiative this Friday, November 30 - Saturday, December 1st for the Arthouse Revival program, a screening of three award-winning Chinese films from the Global Lens collection.

The opening reception on Friday includes the premiere of Beijing Flickers, a film by director Zhang Yuan. The next day, go to the Great Star Theater in Chinatown and enjoy these movies:

Spotted on Laughing Squid... What is the smell of a "Thai Massage"? The Axe brand seems to know, because they're selling a Thai Massage scented shower gel. On closer inspection, the bottle says it's made from Tigergrass Oil and Bali Sea Salt, though neither of those ingredients make it more appealing.

For the record, "Cool Metal" and "Sport Blast," also pictured, don't really sound like substances I'd want to rub on my body either.

music video: "anna karina" by blue scholars

Really the digging the new music video for "Anna Karina" by Blue Scholars. Something different, artfully produced in a single take, on that film-inspired tip. Directed by Matt Jay, this is some true film nerd, Cahiers Du Cinema-type love. Read here for the details.

I was going to say that this is one of my favorite tracks off Cinemetropolis, but I realize that I've pretty much said that about every song on the album. The whole damn thing is great. Just watch and listen:

Oh, didn't you know? Bill O'Reilly happens to be an expert on popular musics. Why else would the blowhard host of Fox News' O'Reilly Factor go out of his way to decry the success of "Gangnam Style," not only dismissing Psy as "a little fat guy from Yongyang or some place," but also bringing in a so-called psychiatrist to decode and explain the Korean hit's inexplicable success.

It's baaaaaaack. And you know you've been waiting for it. Here's the much-anticipated season two premiere of K-Town,the reality show you love to hate to love to hate... Scarlet, Jowe, Violet, Jasmine, Steve, Joe, Young... back for another round of bleeped-out yelling, partying, drinking, and sh%t talking, Koreatown style. Take a look:

Nooooooo! Someone apparently has the bright idea to make a live-action adaptation of Grave of the Fireflies, based on Akiyuki Nosaka's semi-autobiographical novel about two orphaned Japanese children struggling in war-torn Japan: Dresden to produce live action Grave of the Fireflies.

According to Screen Daily, Dresden Pictures as acquired the UK rights to make a live action adaptation of the story, which was made into Isao Takahata's classic 1988 animated feature, aka one of the most heartbreaking movies ever made. Seriously, it's both incredible and devastating.

In the age of racist tweets and Facebook updates, people get lazy. You have to give some credit to the person who makes a good old-fashioned hand-written sign to communicate their passive-aggressive racial prejudice.

For example, this sign that was posted in a dorm bathroom stall at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, on a floor with many Hmong residents.

The author's got Hmong Problems. Note the us-versus-them distinction between Hmong and American -- as if someone who is Hmong couldn't possibly be American, because "American," of course, really means white.

Sure, a crappy sign is seemingly not as bad as hate violence or an outright racial slur, but situations like this usually give way to bigger ignorant bullshit. And it happens all the time on campuses around the country.

asian american joins civil rights lawsuit against arizona immigration law

Meet Jim Shee, the Asian American man who has joined the federal civil rights lawsuit challenging Arizona's ridiculously tough immigration law, SB 1070: Asian-American says Latinos not only ones hit by Ariz. immigration law.

The law allows police to ask the immigration status of a person, stopped, detained or arrested if there's a reasonable suspicion the person is in the country illegally. This is racial profiling, straight up. But it doesn't just target and affect Latinos.

Shee, the only Asian American among ten individuals named in the lawsuit, joined the fight when he too became the victim of racial profiling -- twice within the span of two weeks -- during traffic stops where he was asked for his "papers."

threepointfour: an aapi caucus for rootscamp, november 29

My people, if you're in Washington DC this week for the New Organizing Institute's annual grassroots organizing conference RootsCamp, you are invited to participate in the first-ever AAPI Caucus, chaired by Adriel Lui and sponsored by 18 Million Rising. It's happening Thursday, November 29. Here are some more details:

Hey, students. Want to help out a grad student?

I recently heard from Emily Le, a doctoral candidate in the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at UCLA, who is conducting an online survey on the study abroad experiences of Asian American students, for her doctoral dissertation exploring how study abroad affects ethnic, racial, and national identity development.

Here's some more information on the study:

So check it. Our friends behind the hilarious web series Nice Girls Crew, starring Lynn Chen, Michelle Krusiec and Sheetal Sheth, are hard at work on a second season of more hijinks with the most amazing book club in the history of existence. To make it happen, they're raising funds through an Indiegogo campaign. But first, you should watch the whole first season, if you haven't already. Check it out:

For days now, I've been putting myself in Savita Halappanavar's shoes.

I'm expecting. Seventeen weeks in, piercing pain sends me to the hospital. For three days, I'm miscarrying. There's no hope for my child and my own health is fading. For three days, I'm in physical agony and doctors refuse my pleas to terminate the pregnancy to save my life. The child won't survive, but there is a heartbeat and doctors fear terminating will violate my country's laws. The unthinkable happens.

The tragedy that ended Savita's life put a human face on the abortion issue. People are demonstrating in droves and even the Indian government is pressuring Ireland to change its laws. One demonstrator held a placard reading, "Savita had a heartbeat, too."

Happy birthday, Bruce Lee. The legendary actor, martial artist, philosopher and international icon of asskicking was born on this date, 72 years ago, in San Francisco. The guy gave Asian kids everywhere someone to cheer for.

In honor of his legacy, I'm reposting this video I did with National Film Society earlier this year, naming the Top 5 Bruce Lee Movies. (Yes, I know he only starred in like four and a half movies. That's kind of the joke.)

Nominations for the Film Independent Spirit Awards, which honor achievements in independent filmmaking, were announced this morning: 'Moonrise Kingdom,' 'Beasts of the Southern Wild' Top Indie Spirit Awards Nominations.

As expected, critical darlings Moonrise Kingdom and Beasts of the Southern Wild lead the pack with the most nods, but for the purposes of this website, there are a few names to note...

Huge shout out goes to friend of this blog (and former Angry Reader of the Week) Mynette Louie, who is nominated for the 16th Annual Piaget Producers Awards for her awesome movie producing skillz. Yes, with a "z."

This is amusing and awesome... Blogger Jia Jang is on a 100-day quest to overcome his fear of rejection by making at least one crazy request a day, and chronicling the journey on his blog, 100 Days of Rejection Therapy.

On Day 3, he walked up to a Krispy Kreme counter in Austin and made an order he thought would get denied on the spot: five doughnuts linked together in the colors and shape of the Olympic symbol. Much to his surprise, a resourceful Krispy Kreme employee named Jackie made it happen: Sweet Krispy Kreme worker surprises man on quest for rejection.

Watch the video:

Seriously. What is up with these f%*cking hate crimes going down in Australia lately?

Some news of another racially motivated attack, this time in Ipswich, where a man faced trial as the ringleader of a racist attack: 'Mob mentality' fuels vicious racial attacks.

25-year-old Vernon Absolom Ross Saylor and two friends are accused of assaulting a Korean man as he was leaving a grocery store, repeatedly punching him in the head and making fun of his eyes. At some point, the thugs turned their attention to two Indian men leaving their car:

eric liu: citizen who? november 28

Hey, Los Angeles. What does it mean to be an American citizen? Former Clinton White House speechwriter Eric Liu tackles this question through the eyes of five Americans in his one-man performance, "Eric Liu: Citizen Who?" He also reflects on his parents' path from Taiwan to the U.S. in the 1950s. It's all happening Wednesday, November 28, at the Actors' Gang in Culver City:

Attention filmmakers! Asian CineVision is currently accepting entries for the 36th annual Asian American International Film Festival, running July 24 through August 3, 2013 in New York City. Filmmakers are invited to submit narrative features, documentary features, short films, music videos, youth films and work-in-progress. Here are some more details:

Wow. I was recently introduced to the vocal talents of Bay Area indie singer/songwriter Sid Sriram, and I'm pretty damn impressed. Check out Sid's incredible soulful rendition of Sam Cooke's "Change is Gonna Come." It's downright life-changing:

Almost missed this bit of news... Last week, the FBI released a statement outlining its findings in the investigation of the Oak Creek Sikh temple shooting, and have determined that the shooter acted alone: Wade Michael Page, Sikh Temple Shooter, Acted Alone, FBI Says .

According to federal investigators, Wade Michael Page was acting by himself, with no evidence to suggest that he had help carrying out his attack or was carrying out orders facilitated by any white supremacist group. Here's the FBI's press release on the investigation:

Well, would you look at that? io9 recently unearthed some unused concept art from Warner Brothers' doomed live-action remake of Akira.

Not sure what iteration of the project this comes from -- there have been several attempts over the years -- but this batch does reveal the look of a non-Japanese Kaneda. That's something I didn't want to see, even in illustrated form.

Let's hope this project remains dead. To see more images of what "Neo-Manhattan" might have looked like, go here.

"gangnam style" is the most viewed video of all time

Forget Red Dawn. The real invasion has already begun, and it started with a crazy little something called "Gangnam Style." Sometime over the weekend, the runaway international pop hit became the most watched YouTube video of all time: Psy's "Gangnam Style" video becomes YouTube's most viewed.

It's official. With over a staggering 800 million views, South Korean rap star Psy's staggeringly successful k-pop track surpassed Justin Bieber's 2010 music video for "Baby" to take the top spot. Incredible, considering the video was only uploaded to YouTube back in July. And in case you're the last person who hasn't seen it:

I don't know who created it, but I got this image passed along to me several times... No surprise, lots of idiotic people went to go see the Red Dawn remake over the holiday weekend. Also no surprise, some of those people took to Twitter with their reactions -- which included quite a bit of anti-Asian sentiment. I am saddened by your stupidity. Take a look:

Daaamn. More hate crime news out of Australia... In Melbourne, a Korean student says he was the victim of a racist knife attack by a group of teenagers who cut off his finger: Korean Loses Finger in Racist Attack in Australia.

The student, identified only as "Jang," was walking through a park with a friend when a group of teenagers asked him for a cigarette. When he refused, the group assaulted him, calling him racial slurs and cutting him a knife. Jang ended up losing a finger:

read these blogs

How 'Red Dawn' Could Have Been Remade Without the Xenophobia: Jeff Yang's latest "Tao Jones" column weighs in on Evil Asian Invaders and "blurry xenophobia" in the ridiculous Red Dawn remake now in theaters.

Foreign Policy Experts React To The "Red Dawn" Remake: The plot of Red Dawn, in which North Korean forces invade and occupy the United States, is completely preposterous. But what to actual foreign policy experts have to say about the movie's premise?

Asian American consumers: Nearing $1 trillion in buying power: Marketing execs, take heed. According to a new Nielsen report, Asian American consumers' buying power is big and getting bigger.

this week's angriest posts

Not necessarily the angriest, just the most viewed.

psy performs "gangnam style" at american music awards, racist tweets predictably follow

"we're skinheads and we don't like asian people"

"neither. I'm just angry."

military dad surprises sons at football game

seventh soldier found guilty in connection with danny chen's death

national film society goes to dante basco's house

fund this: pho life

four arrested in asian ghost scam

angry reader of the week: eddie kim

glenn takes a beating on the walking dead

Stay Angry.

11.23.2012

jason chu's much love album release party, november 30

Los Angeles-based hip hop artist Jason Chu has been hard at work on his new album Much Love. He describes the project as "an exploration of all the places and ways that we look for love -- and how we find, or fail at it."

It drops November 30, and if you're in Southern California, you're invited to help him celebrate at a free release concert going down at EBCLA in Rosemead. Here are some more details:

Let's do this. It's time again to meet the Angry Reader of the Week, spotlighting 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 Eddie Kim.

thankful

Happy Thanksgiving, however you observe the occasion.

11.21.2012

jam session: "love and happiness" by kero one & tuomo

One of my favorite dudes making music, emcee/producer Kero One, recently teamed up with Helsinki soul singer Tuomo for an impromptu jam session, putting together this fun, groovy reworking of Al Green's "Love and Happiness," from Kero's 2009 album Early Believers. Check it out:

Ugh. In Vista, California, a judge ruled that a man accused of killing and partially dismembering his mother in 2010 will face trial for murder: Son to stand trial in dismemberment of mom.

During the three years since the murder, 31-year-old Bryan Chang was twice ruled incompetent to stand trial and sent to a state mental institution. At Monday's preliminary hearing, testimony indicated that he suffers from mental illness, but he had apparently been cleared for trial.

According to authorities, Chang killed his mother, then sliced off her right arm and placed it in the refrigerator:

I recently heard about this independent feature documentary about the unique Chinese American streetball subculture around the sport of "9-man." If you've never heard of it, you probably didn't grow up hanging around Chinatown.

Directed by Ursula Liang, this film gives you a rarely seen glimpse of the 9-man community. The project is currently trying to raise some production funds with a Kickstarter campaign. Here's the video with the pitch:

Oh nooooo. Things don't look too good for Glenn on the next episode of The Walking Dead. Here's a brief sneak peek clip, in which our favorite Asian American survivor of the zombie apocalypse, played by Steven Yeun, is getting interrogated by Merle. And he's in pretty bad shape:

I've been on a bit of an anime kick, so this hits the spot... Check out this awesome six-minute animated short, NEXT A-Class, featuring a car chase through a futuristic city in pursuit of a legendary food truck. Beautifully produced by Production I.G., it's actually a commercial for Merecedes-Benz.

For English subtitle options, hit the "CC" button:

This week, a seventh soldier was found guilty in connection with the death of Pvt. Danny Chen, who took his own life while serving in Afghanistan after enduring weeks of racial abuse at the hands of his fellow soldiers: Sgt. busted down in rank for his role in hazing Pvt. Danny Chen.

Jurors in the court-martial of 27-year-old Staff Sgt. Andrew Van Vockel found him guilty of hazing, as well as dereliction of duty and maltreatment of a subordinate. He was the so-called "ringleader" in the abuse, which included racist mocking and throwing rocks at Chen during training.

Van Bockel testified that his treatment of Chen was "corrective training." The rest of us prefer to call it torture.

george takei sings! for old navy.

If you've been watching some television, you may have seen the latest commercial for Old Navy featuring none other than actor George Takei. Here's Uncle George singing his ass off in a grand old spot for the clothing chain's "Cheermageddon" sale: "I Don't Want to Miss a Deal."

The Asian American Policy Review at the Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government is the premier academic journal dedicated to analyzing public policies affecting Asian American and Pacific Islander communities.

AAPR is currently accepting submissions for its 23rd edition, to be published in the spring of 2013. They're seeking papers exploring 1) the social, economic and political factors impacting the AAPI community and 2) the role of AAPI individuals and communities in analyzing, shaping, and implementing public policy. Here are some more details:

Teresa Lee, lead singer of the New York City-based indie pop band PaperDoll, is dropping guest posts on the road during the "All or Nothing" China tour.

DAY 5-6

We're off to Ningbo! Waiting outside our hotel, I get a call from our host in YiWu -- Jack Wu -- who's supposed to drop us off at the bus station. He's running late because he got into a car accident. Despite getting the bumper of his car ripped off, he picks us up 45 minutes before our bus leaves. I'm a little nervous about making our bus, but Jack Wu is cool and collected.

Thirty minutes before our bus departure we pull up to a noodle house. Our gracious host was not about to have us leave hungry! Obviously. So during his car accident he made reservations and ordered ahead at this super authentic YiWu noodle house.

News of a variation on that "ghost" scam... In Honolulu, police are looking for suspects in a similar scheme targeting elderly women in Chinatown: Police investigating bizarre scam targeting Chinatown's elderly.

This scam involves several people approaching elderly Chinese women with a charade about an herb doctor, a fortune teller and again, evil spirits. The victim puts their jewelry and cash in a red bag for some kind of blessing ritual, there's a sneaky switcheroo, and the scammers make off with the valuables:

Here's the trailer for Wong Fu Productions' new interactive web series When It Counts, their latest collaboration with AT&T. It's a love story about a college dance crew, and stars dancer/choreographers Yuri Tag and Mike Song of ABDC's Kaba Modern, K-pop performer Aimee Lee Lucas and Wong Fu's own Philip Wang. Take a look:

This is some awesome indie film news... Bryan Cranston, Alice Eve and Logan Marshall Green have signed on to star in the crime drama Eye of Winter, to be directed by Tze Chun: Bryan Cranston, Alice Eve board 'Winter' indie.

The film, co-written by Tze, Osgood Perkins and Nick Simon, is about a woman and her daughter who are taken hostage by a nearly blind career criminal to be his eyes as he attempts to retrieve his cash package from a crooked cop.

I'm a huge fan of Tze's work, and the story sounds really cool. And frankly, I'd watch Bryan Cranston in pretty much anything:

Yes, Korean rapper Psy performed at the American Music Awards, sharing the stage with none other than MC Hammer and bringing down the house with their live mashup rendition of "Gangnam Style" and "2 Legit 2 Quit."

But of course. At this point, I'm not longer surprised by the galactic success of Psy's runaway hit, and I'm just going with it. You could tell me that NASA is launching Psy into outer space to perform "Gangnam Style" on Mars, and I'd just be like, "Cool." That's not what this post is about.

Here's what also doesn't surprise me: fools on Twitter broadcasting their willful ignorance with racist tweets about Psy's performance. This helpful Tumblr has amassed a pretty sweet selection of such tweets:

Check out this great video of Joshua Ricafrente, a gunnery sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps, surprising his sons at an Eastern Carolina University football game: U.S. Marine Surprises Sons at College Football Game.

From the looks on their faces, 10-year-old Noah and 8-year-old Elijah had no idea that their dad, who had been deployed in Afghanistan for the past five months, would show up during halftime. The way they run in to his arms is pretty darn heartwarming. Take a look:

national film society goes to dante basco's house

Rufio fans will get a kick out of this... Our friends Patrick and Stephen of National Film Society recently did a Cribs-style visit to the home of none other than actor Dante Basco, who pretty much lives in the lair of awesomeness you might expect. It's highly entertaining. Check it out:

11.30.2012

11.29.2012

11.28.2012

11.27.2012

11.26.2012

11.25.2012

11.24.2012

11.23.2012

11.22.2012

11.21.2012

11.20.2012

11.19.2012

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