Angry Asian Man

9.21.2011

music video: "spaceship" by iammedic

This came way a couple of weeks ago, but I just got around to taking a look... It's sci-fi swagger run amuck in the music video for "Spaceship," the latest single from Los Angeles-based glitch/electro/pop group IAMMEDIC. Yeah, I'm a shameless sucker for silly Star Trek references. Check it out:

This week in New York, the City Council unanimously voted to approve a plan designating Chinatown a "business improvement district" in an effort revitalize the neighborhood's lagging economy, which was hit hard and never really recovered after September 11: Chinatown to Join Roster of Business Improvement Districts.

Under the designation, property owners will by assessed an annual fee of $200 to $5000 to help pay for street cleaning, outdoor lighting, security, tourism and signs to steer visitors. However, the plan was vigorously opposed by a group of landlords and merchants who say that business is so bad, that can't afford even small increases in expenses:

Check it out! Here's Retrofit Republic's Community Heroes Lookbook, which features community change makers "who are paving the path towards sustainability, social justice, LGBTQ equality, and improved living conditions for our communities." Styled up to Look Good and Do Good at the same time.

To view the full lookbook, and to learn more about Retrofit Republic's mission to be a sustainable vintage retailer with a social impact, go here.

nebraska lineman seung hoon choi gets his first start

A couple of years ago, I posted a story on Seung Hoon Choi, the 6-foot-2, 320-pound high school kid from South Korea who joined Nebraska's football team as a walk-on. Last week, he earned his first start as an offensive lineman for ninth-ranked Nebraska: S. Korean finds way into lineup for No. 9 Huskers.

Not bad for a guy who knew next to nothing about football when he moved from Korea to attend high school in the United States in 2004. The only English words he apparently knew upon his arrival were "yes" and "no." After one fateful encounter with a substitute teacher, nearly six years later, he found himself in the Huskers' starting lineup against Washington:

Your one-stop shop for Asian excellence. I guess. Where students of all ages and levels can work out the body and the mind. Hey, why the heck not? In this day and age, you need to crush your opponents at both the karate tournament and the math bowl. Kick some ass and kick some math. (Thanks, Fred.)

suspect pleads guilty in new jersey triple murder

Revisiting this grisly case from a couple of years ago... Last week, Kang-Hyuk Choi appeared in court and pled guilty to the murder of three family members in their Tenafly, New Jersey home in 2008: Choi enters guilty plea to killing three Tenafly residents.

Choi admits to stabbing and killing three people, then hiding the bodies and fleeing to Los Angeles. He apparently stabbed Han Il Kim during an argument over money, then waited to kill Kim's mother Yoo Bok Kim and his uncle Doo Soo Seo to cover up what he had done:

robots - a benefit for giant robot 2, september 24 - october 12

If you live in Los Angeles, and you've frequented the Sawtelle Blvd. area over the last ten years, you're aware of the kind of unique cultural impact that the Giant Robot spaces have had in the area. From September 24 through October 12, Giant Robot will host Robots, a special benefit for the GR2 gallery space. Here are some details:

Attention filmmakers! Visual Communications is now accepting entries for the 2012 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival. Since 1983, the LAAPFF has presented more than 3,000 films and videos by Asian, Pacific Islander and Asian Pacific American artists. The festival has also featured seminars, panels, guest appearances, filmmaker awards.

You are invited to submit your film to be considered for next year's festival, slated for May 10-19, which promises to continue showcasing the best and brightest of Asian Pacific American and Asian and Pacific international cinema. Here are some more details about the Call For Submissions:

Here's the official music video for "Bumble Bee," the latest single from singer Joseph Vincent. Kind of a happy tune. No matter how you slice it, this guy is a smooth dude with some solid star quality musical chops. And he ain't so bad to look at either. See for yourself:

Over the weekend in Sacramento, police arrested the prime suspect in a violent one-man crime spree in San Jose that included robbery, shooting, murder and carjacking -- claiming the life of a popular radio talk show host: San Jose crime-spree suspect caught.

33-year-old Paul Ray Castillo is accused of shooting a 42-year-old man during a robbery at a gas station, then carjacking and murdering Cindy Nguyen, a real estate agent and Vietnamese American radio personality. Her body was found in a garage in San Jose:

Our friends at the Chinese culture-themed clothing brand Akufuncture just launched its sixth season, this time drawing inspiration from the historical Imperial Palace. The Fall/Winter 2011 collection features two new tees, the Guardian Lion and the Imperial Guard:

study examines effect of stereotypes on mental health

A group of researchers at Texas A&M are studying stereotypes and unrealistic expectations, and their effects on mental health. Yup, I think Asian Americans might know a thing or two about that: Texas A&M researchers study effect of stereotypes on mental health.

This research specifically looks at stereotypical and cultural influence on Houston's Chinese American immigrant population. As part of their study, Project Chinese American Successful Living, their aim is to understand the factors that contribute to positive or negative mental health and academic performance of immigrant students:

Weird footage of dutiful North Koreans dancing, set to LMFAO's "Party Rock Anthem"? Yes, please. Sometimes, you don't know what you've been missing until a YouTube video like this comes along. North Korea, I didn't know you could get down like that. Bloody brilliant:

In Georgia, the State Board of Patrons and Paroles recently rejected Troy Davis' clemency petition, despite compelling, ample evidence pointing to his innocence. Davis faces execution on Wednesday, September 21 at 7:00pm ET, unless the Board reconsiders its decision.

Here is a statement from Asian Pacific Americans of Conscience speaking out and calling for action to stop the execution of Troy Davis. It was written by civil rights activist Angela Oh and signed by API activists/artists Helen Zia, Maxine Hong Kingston, K.W. Lee, Jessica Hagedorn and Don T. Nakanishi:

saigon electric presents: the electric showcase, september 20

If you're in Orange County on Tuesday night, don't miss your chance to check out an advance screening of director Stephane Gauger's Vietnamese b-boy coming-of-age movie Saigon Electric, featuring dance performances from Poreotics, Kaba Modern and more. Hell yeah. It's happening September 20 at the Saigon Performing Arts Center in Fountain Valley. Here's the movie's trailer:

For your information... Last week, South Asian Americans Leading Together released a new report Community Resilience, providing a picture of the state of the South Asian community in the months and years after September 11.

The report includes testimonials from South Asians who experienced loss as a result of the September 11 tragedy as well as examples of best practices around community collaborations. Here's some more information:

Kids these days... Here's the official music video for "Destiny," the new single from teen singer Megan Lee. At just 16 years old, she's got big dreams and big talent to match. Are you listening, world? Check it out:

job opportunities: voter engagement and health policy openings at apalc

Our friends at the Asian Pacific American Legal Center in Los Angeles are looking for qualified candidates to fill some new key positions...

The Voter Engagement Project, a new unit in APALC's policy team, will seek to foster a progressive AAPI electorate, empower AAPI voters to hold policymakers accountable, and win policy change that benefits low-income and immigrant communities.

They're hiring two new staff to establish and run this new area of work: a project director and a coordinator.

Are you an Asian Film Super Fan? The San Diego Asian Film Festival is looking for The Ultimate Asian Film Super Fan. They're giving away a Verizon Tablet, two all-festival passes, hotel accommodations and much more. You'll be attending the festival in style, with supreme Asian Film Super Fan swagger.

To enter the contest, you'll have to make a short video explaining why you're the biggest Asian Film Super Fan. Here are some more details:

Remember Justin Lin's two-year TV deal with Sony Pictures? Here's the first project...

According to The Hollywood Reporter, he's going to executive produce NBC's Pong, a single-camera comedy based on the 2010 book Everything You Know Is Pong by Roger Bennett and Eli Horowitz: NBC Lands Justin Lin Ping Pong Comedy.

Before you get the wrong idea, Pong is not an adaptation of the old Atari video game (I have a hard time imagining what that would actually look like). This Pong is a comedy set in the world of table tennis.

You know I'm crazy about all things Bruce Lee. This was posted on Letters of Note earlier this year, and I thought it was pretty cool...

This is a letter Bruce wrote in 1967 to friend and metal-worker George Lee, detailing some "gadgets" he wanted create to promote Jeet Kune Do -- most notably a symbolic miniature tombstone inscribed with an epitaph to the "once fluid man." It's pretty fascinating. Here's the transcript:

body found in search for michelle le

UPDATE: The Alameda County Coroner has confirmed that the human remains found over the weekend in Sunol Canyon are those of missing nursing student Michelle Le. It has not yet been determined how she died: Coroner says remains are Michelle Le's.

* * *

This weekend in northern California, human remains were found during a search for missing nursing student Michelle Le. A volunteer searcher reportedly discovered a body in the Niles Canyon/Sunol Canyon area late Saturday morning: Michelle Le search turns up body in Sunol Canyon.

However, the remains haven't been identified, and because investigators were unable to determine the gender, they can't say whether the body is that of Michelle Le. But the remains were found in the same area where police believe Le's body had been dumped by the suspect, ex-friend Giselle Diwag.

read these blogs

The Great GQ Pants-Off: Check out Hawaii Five-0's Daniel Dae Kim rocking some pants -- lots and lots of pants -- in the August 2011 issue of GQ.

Blue Scholars' Geologic: A Maintained Seattle Brain: Here's a cool interview with George Quibuyen, aka Prometheus Brown, aka Geologic of the Blue Scholars -- one of my favorite hip hop groups.

From OUTSOURCED to WIDOW OF NO IMPORTANCE: Actor Parvesh Cheena, who played Gupta in the NBC comedy Outsourced and can be seen in East West Players' A Widow of No Importance, guest blogs for YOMYOMF.

Sexy Quirky Love with Leonardo Nam: A podcast about relationships -- dating advice, pick up lines, etc., courtesy of Giant Robot and Leonardo Nam.

this week's angriest posts

Not really the angriest, just the most viewed.

korilla booted from the great food truck race for cheating

the asian exclusion act: when u.s. immigration "worked very, very well," according to michele bachmann

toyota commercial: "growing up"

beware the yogurt shop rapist and his soundproof sicko chamber

model rock ji channels the style (and abs) of bruce lee

the world's biggest spam musubi

freddie wong on jimmy kimmel live

manny pacquiao custom g.i. joe action figure

racist "asian guy" ringtones

family sues joe and amy senser in fatal hit-and-run

Stay Angry, my friends.

9.16.2011

east west players presents a widow of no importance, september 8 - october 9

This for all you theatergoers in Los Angeles... East West Players, the nation's longest-running organization dedicated to producing Asian American theater, opens its 46th Anniversary season with the world premiere comedy A Widow of No Importance by Shane Sakhrani, and directed by Shaheen Vaaz.

A Widow of No Importance features an all-South Asian cast that features Anjali Bhimani, Parvesh Cheena, Sunil Malhotra, Puja Mohindra and Lina Patel. This is the third South Asian play that East West Players has produced in nine years. It's running now through October 9 at the David Henry Hwang Theater in Little Tokyo. Here's some more information:

Vancouver! Seattle! San Diego! Los Angeles! San Francisco! Boston! New York! You are the lucky cities who get to see Clara C on her Shaking Off Silence. She'll be playing songs from debut album The Art in My Heart, as well as unveiling songs from her upcoming sophomore album. Here's the tour announcement video:

Here's a cool internship opportunity for folks in the Bay Area interested in documentary film editing, passed along to me from our filmmaker pal Gerry Kim... The feature documentary he's producing chronicles the life of acting/activist pioneer George Takei and the release of his new musical Allegiance, based on his internment camp experiences.

The documentary is almost halfway through production and they desperately need interns to help transcribe and organize approximately 50+ hours of footage. There's an opportunity for future pay, but at the moment, the film has no real funding yet (they're working on it).

The director, Jennifer Kroot, is working out of San Francisco. So they're putting out a call for interns or assistant editors in the Bay Area who can help out. Although it's pro bono work, meals and travel will be covered, and if you're a student, they can try to work it out so you'll get school credit.

Anyone interested should email a cover letter and resume to georgetakeidocumentary@gmail.com.

who says asian students don't like college football?

Fox Sports' crappy racist segment making fun of Asian students at USC was a mean and dirty low blow for cheap laughs. The network has since apologized for producing it and swiftly canceled the show. Good riddance.

This great video, on the other hand, shows the coaches and players at Rice University taking some time out to host a clinic for international students on how to appreciate this not-so-familiar sport of football: FOX Sports Was Wrong, Asian Students Freaking Love College Football.

From tailgating to the field! I don't know if this event was inspired by that dumbass Fox Sports video, but seriously, it's in a school's best interests to indoctrinate new students from abroad to their football cult. Beats the hell out allowing them to get mocked and made fun of.

more on the death of harry lew

Some more information on the death of Lance Cpl. Harry Lew, the Marine who committed suicide while serving in Afghanistan. Lew shot and killed himself in his foxhole after hours of beatings, repeated push-ups in full body armor and mouthfuls of sand -- punishment by fellow Marines for falling asleep on duty.

Last week, during a House Armed Services hearing on the status of suicide prevention programs in the military, California Rep. Judy Chu talked about the life and death of Harry Lew -- her nephew: Congresswoman talks about nephew Harry Lew during hearing on military suicides.

Saw this on io9 last week, and it's so delightfully weird I had to share... This is a clip from the 1967 South Korea monster movie Yongary, Monster from the Deep -- a shameless Godzilla ripoff, from the looks of it.

Sure, kaiju creature movies this eara are a dime-a-dozen, but have you ever seen a monster from the deep dance to a surf-rock rendition of the Korean folk tune "Arirang"? Behold, the beast getting down:

An update on the Senser case in Minneapolis... Amy Senser, the wife of former Minnesota Vikings star Joe Senser, has been charged in the hit-and-run death of Anousone Phanthavong, who was struck and killed while putting gas in car on an interstate ramp: Amy Senser charged with felony in hit-and-run.

Phanthavong's body was found 40 feet in front of his car -- and within walking distance of a hospital emergency room. Over a week later, Senser admitted in statement that she was the driver. Authorities apparently still aren't sure what happened that night, but they apparently have enough evidence to charge Senser with the felony.

You know what time it is. It's time for 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 San Francisco mayoral candidate David Chiu.

kollaboration dc, september 17

It's your turn, D.C. This weekend, the world-famous Asian and Pacific Islander talent show movement returns to Washington for the second annual Kollaboration DC, showcasing the best and brightest of up-and-coming API talent. It's happening Saturday, September 17 at the University of the District of Columbia. Here are some more details about the show:

Hey filmmakers! The Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles is currently accepting narratives, documentaries, shorts, music videos, experimental, children's and animated films of any length and format for its 10th Anniversary festival in April 2012 at ArcLight Hollywood. Jury and Audience Choice prizes will be awarded for best feature, documentary and short film.

Interested in submitting your film? Here are some more details:

Awwwww yeah. Mr. Jonathan Park, aka your friendly neighborhood Knocksteady emcee Dumbfoundead, just dropped the shiny brand-new music video for "BRB" featuring vocals by Andrew Garcia. It's got a little bit of a Cast Away/Lost vibe to it. With smoke. Lots of smoke. Check it out:

Earlier this month in Minneapolis, 63-year-old Fang Wong of East Brunswick, New Jersey was elected National Commander of the American Legion, a mutual-aid organization representing veterans and service members of the United States armed forces, with a membership numbering 2.4 million.

Wong, a Chinese immigrant who served in the Vietnam War as a Chinese language expert, is the Legion's first-ever Asian American National Commander: Chinese immigrant Vietnam War vet Fang Wong becomes head of American Legion veterans association.

Here's a film project out the Bay Area that could use your support... Breathin': The Eddy Zheng Story is a documentary about one man's struggle for redemption after over two decades of incarceration.

After serving over twenty years behind bars for a robbery he committed as a teen, community leader Eddy Zheng now faces deportation to China. Released from prison in 2007, Eddy has dedicated his life to preventing youth violence and delinquency through his work with various community organizations around the San Francisco Bay Area.

Director/producer Ben Wang and an intrepid team of filmmakers are currently in the midst of a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for the film and tell Eddy's unique story. Here's a video with some background information about the project and how you can help:

Heads up, fight fans... Last week, Ultimate Fighting Championship announced that former Strikeforce middleweight champion Cung Le will make his long-awaited debut in the Octagon against Vitor Belfort, headlining UFC 139 on November 19 in his hometown of San Jose: Cung Le to fight Vitor Belfort.

Fans of both G.I. Joe and Manny Pacquiao... this one's for you. This was posted action figure forum a couple of months ago, and it's just too awesome not to share. Someone created a custom action figure of the Filipino boxing champ in the style of the old 1980s "A Real American Hero" line: The PAC-MAN Cometh!!! ARAH Manny Pacquiao MOC.

The Manny figure was made using a Quick Kick head, Sgt Slaughter torso, Sagat waist and thighs, and Big Boa feet and arms (and gloves). Kind of like a weird Frankenstein's monster action figure, but I think it looks pretty cool. They even made "A REAL FILIPINO HERO" package for the figure, complete with Manny's own G.I. Joe Command File:

Ten years ago on this day, September 15, 2001, Balbir Singh Sodhi was shot and killed outside of his gas station in Mesa, Arizona -- the first murder victim due to post-9/11 backlash.

In a misguided attempt at retaliation for the September 11 attacks, Frank Roque said he wanted to "kill a Muslim," and targeted Sodhi simply because he had a turban and beard in accordance with his Sikh faith.

Roque was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life in prison for the hate crime.

Today in Arizona, a memorial service will be held to commemorate the victims of September 11, and to remember Balbir Singh Sodhi and all victims of post-9/11 backlash: Memorial for First 9/11 Backlash Murder Victim.

amp music festival, september 17

If you're in the San Diego area this weekend, and want to check out what's good on the Asian American music scene, don't miss the AMP Music Festival -- twenty artists, two outdoor stages, and a full day showcase of API talent, including lots of folks I write about here all the time. It's happening Saturday, September 17 at the Market Creek Plaza. Here are some more details:

research survey: library use of asian american studies professors

This one's rather specific, but I'm aware that there are a number of Asian American Studies teachers and scholars who regularly read this blog, so why not... Here's an online survey that was passed along to me, gathering informal data for a class project on how Asian American studies professors and scholars use library services: Library Use of Asian American Studies Professors.

Oh, you like music videos? Check out the latest joint from Azuré, "So Nice", one of my favorite tracks off of his mixtape Illusions of Oasis. If you like that laid back, feel-good hip hop music, I think you'll like this. Get your friends together and sing along. Take a look:

This news is a couple of weeks old, but I was just reminded about it... and damn, it gives me the friggin' shivers. In August, a yogurt shop owner in Southern California, California was arrested for allegedly attacking an employee and imprisoning her in a soundproof box: Owner put naked yogurt-store employee inside box, D.A. says.

37-year-old Robert Yachen Lee, the owner of O My Yogurt in Monterey Park, is accused of knocking out a female employee, removing her clothes and dressing her in an adult diaper, and holding her prisoner in his homemade sicko chamber. Lee is charged with kidnapping to commit rape and attempted first degree murder:

This has been a long time coming... But at long last, YouTube darling Jennifer Chung, who has been entertaining online fans with her singing for years, has released her full-length debut album 4 Years & Counting, and she celebrated over the weekend with a release show at Hotel Cafe in Hollywood.

I've been listening to the album nonstop for the past few days, and I'm really enjoying it. Twelve original tracks of soulful, polished pop goodness -- and I mean that in the best possible way. For the lazy and/or time-constrained, here's a video with various snippets from the album:

Saw this over on Jenny Yang's blog... WTF indeed. She points us to these crappy, racist Asian Guy Ring Tones for your phone, which was apparently a top sellers on iTunes this week -- because everybody knows that mock Asian accents always make good comedy and profit.

For everyone who's ever wanted a stereotypically racist chinky voice blasting from your pocket every time you get a call, there's "Kamikaze," "Buddha Says," "Nunchuk!" and other racist bullshit for sale. Jenny has painstakingly transcribed some of these gems for your information:

Holy crap. This is an awesome video of spoken word artist Giles Li performing his poem First Draft of Yao Ming's Retirement Speech, an eloquent, thought-provoking persona piece on the athlete who shouldered the hope (and hype) of a billion people. Really nicely done. Check it out:

bill to improve data collection for aapis in california

Last week in California, a bill that would require key state agencies to improve data collection for Asian Americans Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders passed in State Legislature, moving on to the governor's desk for consideration: Bill to Improve Data Collection for Asian and Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islander Ethnicities Passes the Legislature.

Assembly Bill 1088 would require the Department of Industrial Relations and the Department of Fair Employment and Housing to include the full spectrum of Asian American, as well as Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander ethnicities in their data collection, consistent with those groups reported by the U.S. Census. In addition, this information would be made available to the public to ensure a level of transparency and accountability.

AB 1088's supporters, including the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality and Asian and Pacific Islanders California Action Network, have started an online petition urging Governor Jerry Brown to approve the bill:

plate by plate san francisco, september 16

For my friends in the San Francisco Bay Area who want to get their food on... It's not too late to buy your tickets for Plate By Plate, Project by Project's annual tasting benefit. You know what it's all about -- food, drinks, entertainment, a silent auction, and lots of fun folks to mingle with.

Proceeds from this year's event will go to Oakland Asian Students Educational Services, which empowers students from low-income households through education, mentorship, and service in order to strengthen the Oakland community. Join PbP and OASES on Friday, September 16 at The Bently Reserve in San Francisco. Here are some more details:

Oh snap! In case you missed it, check out YouTube's moviemakers of mayhem Freddie Wong and Brandon Laatsch having some fun as guests last week on Jimmy Kimmel Live. I'm pretty sure that's not a special effect -- that's actually Jimmy Kimmel, and they were actually on broadcast television. In two parts:

Yes. Yum. Spam. Over the weekend in Honolulu, as part of the second annual Hawaii Rice Festival in Honolulu, volunteers came together to sizzle some spam and wrap mad nori in an attempt to create the world biggest spam musubi. And they did it: Spam musubi sets new world record.

Oh, you've got to be kidding be. So we've been sort of keeping an eye on what the hell has been going on with the school situation in Philadelphia. Because, you know, it has sucked for quite some time.

So I had to take notice of the launch of this comic book-styled iPhone/iPad game, "The Teachers of Philly," in which superhero teachers battle against the evil mayor, Arlene Ackerman and others in the Philadelphia School District: Game app takes Philly schools to a whole new level.

That actually sounds funny. The problem is, one of the teachers featured in the game, Teng, is a straight-up Asian stereotype, complete with slanty eyes, fu manchu 'stache and bowl haircut. What's up with that? Watch the video and see the character design for yourself:

Heads up, film fans. Mark your calendars and make your plans... the 12th Annual San Diego Asian Film Festival, running October 20-28, recently announced its official schedule of films, panels, parties and other programs. This is one of my favorite events of the year, and this time I had the pleasure of serving on the festival jury.

The festival kicks off October 20 with the Opening Night presentation of Bertha Bay-Sa Pan's Almost Perfect. I have much more to write about the festival in the coming weeks, but for now, I just wanted to get the word out. In the meantime, peruse the full schedule of programs on the SDAFF website here.

the asian exclusion act: when u.s. immigration "worked very, very well," according to michele bachmann

Oh, what now? Every day I am assaulted with the latest news about whatever lame-brained remark or crazy-ass proclamation that has escaped the mouth of Michele Bachmann.

At this point, I'm inclined to just ignore them, until I'm reminded that there is a significant number of actual human beings who think she should be the next President of the United States.

This latest one's a doozy: Michele Bachmann: U.S. Immigration 'Worked Very, Very Well' Under The Asian Exclusion Act.

At last night's CNN/Tea Party Republican presidential candidates' debate, Bachmann made statements effectively giving the thumbs up to the racist immigration policies of America's past, saying they worked "very, very well":

Check out this cool video of 15-year-old Annie Wu of Pleasanton, California rocking her rendition of "Three Beats for Beatbox Flute," which she performed last month at the National Flute Association's annual convention in Charlotte, North Carolina. In addition to top honors, her performance of "Three Beats" earned her the honor of Best Performance of a new work commissioned by the association. Take a look:

9.21.2011

9.20.2011

9.19.2011

9.18.2011

9.17.2011

9.16.2011

9.15.2011

9.14.2011

9.13.2011

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