Google Doodle Celebrates Olympic Diver Vicki Manalo Draves

And Other Things to Know from Angry Asian America.



Celebrating Vicki Draves
Today's Google Doodle celebrates Filipino American diver and coach Victoria "Vicki" Draves, the first Asian American woman to win an Olympic medal. On this day in 1948, Draves won the gold medal in the women’s 3-meter springboard event at the London Summer Olympics.

* * *


Meet the Bay Area rapper working on a COVID vaccine
Ruby Ibarra will save us all. With her rhymes an her science. You might know her as an incredible ass-kicking Filipino American hip hop artist. But did you know she works a day job? As a freaking scientist? She's a scientist at a Bay Area biotech company, working in the quality-control department on COVID-19 test kits and even a vaccine. She's got the smarts and the flow. I should not be surprised.
* * *


Suspect Arrested in Death of Professional Poker Player Susie Zhao
A suspect is in custody in connection to the death of professional poker player Susie Zhao, whose burned remains were found at a Michigan park in July. A 60-year-old man was arrested on Friday in the investigation of Zhao's homicide. Charges have no been released, and the investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information about this case is asked to contact the FBI at 1-800-CALLFBI or submit tips online to tips.fbi.gov.

* * *


BCD Tofu House Founder Hee Sook Lee Has Died
Hee Sook Lee, who founded the beloved, Los Angeles-based BCD Tofu House restaurant chain, known for its bubbling pots of soondubu and its late night hours, has passed away. The Koreatown Youth and Community Center announced her death last week in a post on its Facebook page. No date or cause of death was given, although it appears Lee died in early or mid-July. Pour out some soondubu jjigae in her honor. Rest in peace.

* * *


Wong Kar-Wai's New Series Is an Ambitious Ode to Shanghai
Blossoms Shanghai, famed auteur Wong Kar-Wai's first dramatic series, is an adaptation of the epic, multi-award-winning novel Blossoms by Jin Yucheng. The series "tells the story of an enigmatic, self-made millionaire, Mr. Bao (Hu Ge), and his journey of reinvention from a young opportunist with a troubled past to the heights of the gilded city of Shanghai. Set against the backdrop of massive economic growth in 1990’s Shanghai, the series unveils the glamour that follows his dazzling wealth and his entanglement with four fabulous women that represent the pursuits of his life: adventure, honor, love and innocence."

Google Doodle Celebrates Screen Icon Anna May Wong

Things to Know From Angry Asian America



Celebrating Anna May Wong
Today's Google Doodle is a beautiful slideshow celebrating the life and career of screen icon Anna May Wong, the first-ever Chinese American movie star in Hollywood. The slideshow, created by illustrator Sophie Diao features snapshots of Wong's life, from her humble beginnings working in her parents' laundry to some of the more famous characters she portrayed in the more than 50 movies she appeared in over her career.

* * *


LEGO 2020 Chinese New Year Playsets
Look, if you're not celebrating the Lunar New Year with an official LEGO 2020 Chinese Lunar New Year playset, then you're missing out. There's the very cool Lion Dance playset (882 pieces) featuring 5 dancing lions, 8 minifigures (including a man in a rat costume to mark the Year of the Rat), a percussionists' stage, a detailed temple gate and more. There's also the Chinese New Year Temple Fair playset (1664 pieces) featuring an ornate Chinese temple, stalls displaying an array of LEGO barbecue dishes, candy, toys, vases and dough figurines, plus 13 minifigures and a baby figure. Red envelopes included!

* * *


MSG in Chinese food isn't unhealthy -- you're just racist
"To this day, the myth around MSG is ingrained in America's consciousness, with Asian food and culture still receiving unfair blame. Chinese Restaurant Syndrome isn't just scientifically false — it's xenophobic." Asian American activists, restaurateurs and medical professionals are calling monosodium glutamate's bad rap outdated, racist, and unscientific.

* * *


What It's Like to Never Ever See Yourself on TV
Charles Yu, author of the forthcoming new novel Interior Chinatown, reflects on a lifetime of watching television, never seeing yourself reflected on the screen, and the generational feedback loop the denial of subjectivity creates for Asian Americans and America at large.

* * *

Awkwafina is Nora From Queens
Awkwafina's new series Nora From Queens premieres tonight on Comedy Central. The half-hour scripted comedy is inspired by her real life growing up in Queens, New York. Raised by her Dad (BD Wong) and Grandma (Lori Tan Chinn) alongside her cousin (Bowen Yang), Nora Lin leans on her family as she navigates life and young adulthood in outer borough-NYC.

Google Doodle celebrates artist Ruth Asawa

Acclaimed Japanese American artist was known intricate wire sculptures and works on paper.



As you you may know, May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. To kick off the celebration, Google dedicated its iconic home page Doodle on Wednesday to Ruth Asawa, a Japanese American artist who overcame discrimination during World War II to become a nationally renowned sculptor of wire forms and an arts educator who believed "art will make people better."

More here: May 1, 2019: Celebrating Ruth Asawa

Google Doodle celebrates Tyrus Wong's 108th birthday

Pioneering Chinese American artist served as lead artist on Walt Disney's 'Bambi.'



Today's Google Doodle honors the life and legacy of Chinese American artist Tyrus Wong on what would have been his 108th birthday. Drawing inspiration from Chinese artists of the Song Dynasty, Wong was responsible for some of the best-known images in American popular culture, applying his unique vision to paintings, prints, and perhaps most famously, the 1942 Walt Disney animated film Bambi.

Here's the gorgeous tribute that plays when you click on the kite:

Google Doodle honors cinematographer James Wong Howe

The pioneering Chinese American cinematographer worked on more than 130 films during his career.



If you've done any internet searching today, you may have noticed that today's Google Doodle pays tribute to legendary Hollywood cinematographer James Wong Howe. The pioneering Chinese American cinematographer worked on more than 130 films during his career, including the heralded 1934 comedy-mystery The Thin Man, which was released on this day, 84 years ago.

Howe was born in Guanzhou, China in 1899 before immigrating to the United States when he was five years old, but could not become a U.S. citizen until the repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1943.

Despite fighting prejudice his entire life -- you can only imagine what it was like for Asians in Hollywood in his era -- he forged a groundbreaking career in movies, starting as a cleaner sweeping the studio floor, becoming an assistant cameraman to legendary director Cecil B. DeMille, and eventually building a reputation over more than 50 years as one of the most innovative, influential and sought-after cinematographers in history.

Today's Google Doodle honors Fred Korematsu Day

"If you have the feeling that something is wrong, don't be afraid to speak up."



Happy Fred Korematsu Day! On this day, January 30, we celebrate the life and legacy of civil rights icon Fred Toyosaburo Korematsu. And at long last, Google has honored Mr. Korematsu's birthday -- officially designated "Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution" -- with a hallowed homepage Doodle. All things considered, the timing could not be more appropriate.

After Franklin D. Roosvelt signed Executive Order 9066 in 1942, more than 100,000 people of Japanese descent were forcibly removed from the west coast and relocated to internment camps throughout the United States. Fred Korematsu, however, did not go quietly. He was arrested and convicted for resisting incarceration. He appealed and took his case all the way to the Supreme Court in Korematsu v. United States, but lost.

But in 1983, the U.S. District Court in San Francisco formally vacated Korematsu's conviction after evidence came to light that disputed the necessity of the internment. At the time, he told Judge Marilyn Patel that instead of a legal pardon, he wanted to be assured the U.S. government would never again take such an action.

"If anyone should do any pardoning," Korematsu said, "I should be the one pardoning the government for what they did to the Japanese American people."

26 Things Asian Americans Secretly Google

There are just some things that we Asians do not know... about being Asian.



Why are Asians lactose intolerant? How do you say "happy birthday" in Cantonese? Asian glow remedies. How to do monolid makeup. Whether you'd like to admit it or not, there are just some things that we Asian Americans do not know... about being Asian American. Stuff you'd presume we'd know. Stuff we might be embarrassed that we don't know. Thus, the truth in this latest BuzzFeed video...

Today's Google Doodle is dedicated to Yuri Kochiyama.

Google's homepage honors the legendary activist on her 95th birthday.



In honor of Yuri Kochiyama's 95th birthday on May 19th, the Google homepage has dedicated today's Google Doodle to the legendary late activist, educator and humanitarian, who died in 2014.

The doodle, by artist Alyssa Winans, features an iconic image of Kochiyama at the center of one of many protests and rallies, for numerous social and political movements, over a lifetime in the fight for justice.

Where are the Asian American executives at top tech firms?

New report says Silicon Valley companies are bypassing Asians for exec jobs.



Anyone familiar with the tech industry is well aware that Asian Americans are significantly represented within the ranks of Silicon Valley. However, according to a new study released this week, major technology companies like Google and Yahoo are far more inclined to hire Asian Americans as computer programmers than to promote them to become managers or executives. Raise your hand if you already knew this.

Study: Top tech firms bypassing Asian workers for exec jobs

Asian Americans tech workers make up roughly a third of the workforce at companies like Google, Yahoo and Facebook, but they are severely underrepresented in leadership positions, according to a report released Wednesday by the Ascend Foundation, a nonprofit organization focused on issues of Pan-Asian leadership.

The report, titled Hidden in Plain Sight: Asian American Leaders in Silicon Valley, analyzed 2013 data filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission by five Silicon Valley companies -- Google, Yahoo, Intel, Hewlett-Packard and LinkedIn -- found that white employees had a massive advantage (surprise, surprise) over Asian Americans when it came to being promoted to the executive level.

Let's celebrate Fred Korematsu Day with a Google Doodle

Sign 18 Million Rising's petition asking Google to honor a civil rights hero.

Fred Korematsu Day honors the life and legacy of Japanese American civil rights hero Fred Korematsu, who, at 23-years-old, stood up against racism and discrimination and refused to be injustly incarcerated by the United States government during World War II. It's the first day in U.S. history named after an Asian American.

This Friday, January 30, people across the country will honoring Fred Korematsu on the fifth annual Korematsu Day. Hopefully, there will be schoolkids getting classroom lessons about Mr. Korematsu and the importance of preserving civil liberties. But wouldn't be great if more people knew about his story?

That's where Google might be able to help. Our friends at 18 Million Rising are leading the charge to request that Google dedicate Friday's "Doodle" to Fred Korematsu:

Hey, People. That's the wrong Asian Google Glass gal.

All Asians look the same... Google Glass edition!



Hey, People magazine, if you're going to identify someone as part of a billion-dollar love triangle, it's probably a good idea to get a handle on distinguishing between two Asian women. Put a pair of Google Glasses on them, and nobody's got a friggin' clue: People Accuses Wrong Asian Woman of Dating Sergey Brin.

This is downright silly. Last month, news broke that Google founder Sergey Brin is splitting with his wife Anne Wojcicki, amid reports that he is dating a 27-year-old employee, Amanda Rosenberg. Honestly, none of this is news I give a crap about... except when People has a hard time getting two Asian faces straight.

In its coverage of Brin's breakup, instead of posting an image of Rosenberg, People used a photo of completely different Asian woman, albeit also wearing the awkward Google eyewear. The photo is actually a cropped stock image of an unidentified non-Rosenberg woman taken on the streets of New York.

Artist Julia Kim Smith asks Google "Why"

Artist Julia Kim Smith did some Googling, using the search engine's Autocomplete feature, to ask "Why" and find out what people wonder about her, an Asian woman, and came across some "unsettling abstractions, truths, fallacies, desires, and fears about all of us." Take a look:

Google commercial: "Graduation" (Somebody give me a tissue.)

Can I just tell you how much I love this Google commercial. I've watched it like five times now, and I find myself getting a little choked up, blinking away tears with each viewing. Take a look: