apap's unsung heroes of 2011

All this month, Asian Pacific Americans for Progress has been unveiling its list of the Unsung Heroes of 2011, spotlighting exceptional, dedicated progressive advocates and celebrating their "unsung" work in the last year. Here's the full list of APAP's 2011 Unsung Heroes & Honorable Mentions:

honda commercial's "foreign language couple"

Saw this latest TV commercial for Honda's Really Big Sales Event, featuring an Asian American couple, airing multiple times over the weekend. I found it rather amusing. The commercial is entitled "Foreign Language Couple," but it turns out their language is not so foreign. Take a look:

chinese takeout attack victim dies

Some tragic news out of Philadelphia, where a Chinese takeout owner who was brutally attacked and subsequently confined to a hospital bed for nearly two years, died last week: Chinese-takeout attack victim dies.

44-year-old Jicun Wu was assaulted by a disgruntled customer outside his business in June 2010. 21-year-old Malik Niblack repeatedly punched and kicked him in an attack that severely damaged his pancreas and intestines. He never fully recovered:

fund this: daylight savings on tour

Daylight Savings, the indie film pseudo-sequel to writer/director Dave Boyle's festival favorite Surrogate Valentine, starring Goh Nakamura, recently debuted to sold out crowds at SXSW and the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival. If you missed it, don't worry -- here's your chance.

For the release of Daylight Savings, the producers are trying a different kind of distribution strategy. Rather than selling the film online through traditional means, they're making the film exclusively available as a reward to people who help their future projects through Kickstarter.

jeremy lin signs endorsement deal with volvo

It has begun. Today, Volvo Cars of North America held a press conference to announce a new marketing partnership with none other than New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin: With the advertising world at his feet, Jeremy Lin decides to endorse Volvos.

That's right. Jeremy Lin's first major post-Linsanity endorsement deal will be as a spokesman for Volvo. It's not necessarily the sexiest brand, but you know, something about it makes perfect sense for Jeremy. There's also an extremely lucrative angle for Volvo, which is trying to boost sales in China:

data by marz jr.

Over the weekend, I attended WonderCon, participating on panel put together by the fine folks at Racebending. Had a fun discussion with Jen from Disgrasian, Freddiew, Kristina Wong and Quentin Lee.

While I was perusing the artist booths on the convention floor, I picked up this cool Goonies-themed illustration by Brooklyn-based artist Marz Jr., who does a lot of nostalgia-flavored pieces. This is, of course, everybody's favorite Asian gadget whiz kid, Data. I just couldn't resist.

usc to award degrees to former interned students

This year at the University of Southern California, after one hell of a delay, a group of former students will receive their degrees... seventy years after the fact: After 70-year wait, Japanese Americans to get USC degrees.

For the first time in its history, USC will award honorary bachelor's and master's degrees to the Japanese Americans whose college careers were interrupted when they were forcibly relocated to internment camps during World War II:

read these blogs

Jeremy Lin, Face of America: Why Linsanity matters -- not only to Asian Americans, but to the rest of America.

Linsanity's Impact on My Son: While it seemed for a moment that Linsanity had gripped the entire nation, Frances Kai-Hwa Wang shares about the person who perhaps needed Jeremy Lin the most -- her eight-year-old son.

My Life's Sentences: Jhumpa Lahiri, author of Unaccustomed Earth, The Namesake and Interpreter of Maladies, with an elegant essay on sentences.

Chang-rae Lee on War, Alienation, and the Power of Reading: Chang-rae Lee, author of Pulitzer-nominated The Surrendered talks about how politics, history, and assimilation have influenced his work.

this week's angriest posts

Not really the angriest, just the most viewed.

• michael llodra calls tennis spectator a "fucking chinese"


• this potential employer has a problem with your immigration status and chinese name


• "my name is jessica hyejin lee. if you're watching this, I have been arrested."


• miss dmz by julia kim smith


• jeremy lin the movie: now with more machine guns


• before heejun han was on american idol...


• maryland student arrested for shooting rampage threats


• kung fu's caine will be "chinese-something"


• dharun ravi found guilty of hate crimes in dorm spying case


• steve byrne's sitcom sullivan and son picked up by tbs

Stay angry, my friends.

angry reader of the week: george wang

All right. Time to meet another 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 George Wang.

dharun ravi found guilty of hate crimes in dorm spying case

In New Jersey, a jury has found former Rutgers student Dharun Ravi guilty on all counts -- including hate crimes -- for using a webcam to spy on his roommate, Tyler Clementi, having an intimate encounter with another man in their dorm room: Defendant in Rutgers Spying Case Guilty of Hate Crimes.

The case received national attention in 2010 and became a flashpoint over anti-gay bullying when Clementi committed suicide by jumping off the George Washington Bridge after learning of the webcam incident. Ravi was convicted of invasion of privacy, bias intimidation, witness tampering and hindering arrest:

seeking asian female: a documentary

One film that I've heard a lot of buzz about out of South by Southwest is the documentary Seeking Asian Female. It looks absolutely fascinating.

Director Debbie Lum follows an "eccentric modern love story" between older white man with a shameless case of yellow fever (gag) and his young Chinese bride, and as you can imagine, things get very complicated. It's pretty apparent from the trailer that this isn't going to be the fairy tale anyone imagined:

driving school owners busted in cheating scam

Asians behaving badly... driving school cheaters edition! Just heard this ridiculous story out of New York, about the owners of a driving school who are accused of helping students pass exams with an elaborate cheating scheme: Driving School Owners Charged in Test Cheating Scheme.

Pui Kuen Ng and Ying Wai Phillip Ng, who were busted by an uncover agent for Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations unit, and been running a complicated test-taking scam involving miniature hidden cameras, vibrating pager pulses, and a dude in a minivan parked outside:

at: guitar center live vocal effects tour feat. clara c

Singer/songwriter Clara C recently announced that she'll be soon embarking on the At: Guitar Center Live Vocal Effects Tour, with stops at Guitar Centers in ten cities across the United States and Canada. She'll be performing songs from her debut album The Art In My Heart, as well as new music from her upcoming sophomore record. Here's the tour announcement video:

woman posted nude photo of nursing home patient on facebook

And the Awful Asian Award goes to... Ugh. In Oregon, a woman was recently arrested for taking a nude photo of a patient at a nursing home and posting it on Facebook: Gresham woman banned from social networking after posting nude photo of nursing home patient on Facebook.

26-year-old Nai Mai Chao, a former nursing assistant at the Regency Pacific Nursing and Rehab Center in Gresham, was convicted of misdemeanor invasion of privacy for taking numerous photos of patients without their consent -- patients she was supposed to be helping instead of humiliating:

sfiaaff30's san jose screenings open with michael kang's knots

All right. South Bay film fans, this one's for you. With the San Francisco portion of SFIAAFF30 closing up shop, San Jose gets a weekend of film festival screenings at Camera 3 Cinemas, kicking off with the Opening Night Gala Presentation of Knots, directed by Michael Kang and starring Kimberly Rose-Wolter, Sung Kang, Illeana Douglas and Mia Riverton. Here's the trailer:

joy osmanski cast in nbc pilot next caller please

Still catching up on a bunch of stuff... This news is from last month, but I would be remiss if I didn't pass along the good news that actress (and friend to this blog) Joy Osmanski was recently cast in the NBC comedy pilot Next Caller Please. She'll play a radio producer:

glowing suits + choregraphy = awesome

Um, holy crap. This is an awesome video of Japan's Wrecking Crew Orchestra doing a pretty damn kickass light-enhanced dance routine. As you can see, glowing suits make everything better. Take a look:

"my name is jessica hyejin lee. if you're watching this, I have been arrested."

This week in Philadelphia, two college students were arrested for staging a protest for immigrant rights outside the offices of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement: Philadelphia police arrest two at immigrant-rights rally.

19-year-old Tania Chairez, a sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania, and 20-year-old Jessica Hyejin Lee, a junior at Bryn Mawr College, were both arrested after sitting in the middle of the roadway and refusing to move.

Both students are undocumented immigrants who were speaking out to "come out of the shadows" and bring attention to the plight of fellow undocumented people. Here's a video of Jessica explaining her situation and what her undocumented status means for her:

22nd annual asian pacific islander issues conference at uc berkeley, march 17

Bay Area! Educate, empower, and organize yourselves. On Saturday, March 17, come to "Movement is Struggle, Struggle is Movement," the 22nd Annual Asian Pacific Islander Issues Conference at UC Berkeley. Special guest speakers include Vanessa Coe, Steve Louie and Colin Ehara. More information: