Angry Asian Man

2.12.2012

read these blogs: jeremy lin edition 2

Jeremy Lin on Kobe Bryant, God, and His Fast Break to Fame: Jeff Yang was at Madison Square Garden on Friday night to witness Jeremy Lin and the Knicks' historic game against the Lakers. Yes, historic.

Lin's Appeal: Faith, Pride and Points: The New York Times' Michael Luo on how Jeremy Lin has given Asian Americans a popular sports figure to relate to.

Love Jeremy Lin Without Asian, Harvard, NBA Stereotypes: Hua Hsu: "It's a strange sensation seeing someone who looks like you in an unfamiliar space, particularly a space that radiates with the glow of minor celebrity."

See Jeremy Lin's impact through the inspired eyes of a child: It's only been a week since Linsanity came into our lives, but Jeremy Lin's impact has already become a profound inspiration to many in various walks of life.

Remembering Vincent Chin: Pete Hoekstra and Being Asian in America: Remember Vincent Chin, Michigan resident and victim of a brutal, race-based hate crime murder committed in 1982? Blogger Bruce Reyes-Chow reminds us that the sad reality behind Hoekstra's fear-mongering, downright idiotic racist campaign ad is that racism against Asians never went away.

Telling the Story of Civil Rights in America: Fred Korematsu and The Struggle for Justice: The Smithsonian Institution's National Portrait Gallery recognizes Fred Korematsu with two photographs in its Struggle for Justice exhibition, which pays tribute to civil rights leaders and organizers.

An Open Letter to Lawrence O'Donnell: "This is not about one woman's bad decision. This is about an entire culture complicit in perpetuating these ugly stereotypes." Struggling actress Joyce Wu reacts to Lawrence O'Donnell's commentary on Pete Hoekstra's campaign ad.

this week's angriest posts

Not really the angriest, just the most viewed.

starbucks labels drinks with the "chink eyes"

lisa chan, the actress in pete hoekstra's racist campaign ad

this hoekstra campaign ad is racist bullshit

welcome to the jeremy lin show

pete hoekstra and the "yellow girl"

funny or die spoofs racist hoekstra campaign ad

asians in commercials! superbowl XLVI edition

jeremy lin does it again

the legend of lin

read these blogs: jeremy lin edition

This has been, hands down, one of the craziest weeks in the history of this blog.

2.10.2012

the legend of lin

If you told me last Friday that in one week's time, Jeremy Lin would be the most exciting, talked about player in the NBA, I would have laughed at your ass. I love the guy, but we were not in that place. Now, we are waaaay beyond that place. Now, do you believe? Yes: With 38 Points, the Legend Grows.

Tonight at Madison Square Garden, school was in session. Jeremy scored a career-high 38 points -- his fourth straight game with at least 20 -- leading the charge for the Knicks to the beat the Lakers, 92-85. Kobe who? Let's go to the video:

Really, really short notice, but I just heard about this. If you're in Los Angeles on Saturday, come out to the west side to see my good friends Goh Nakamura and Jane Lui Rock Quietly. They're playing free concert happening 4:00-6:00pm at GR2. Here are some more details:

Hey! It's that time again. 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 hip hop artist Gowe.

Here's the freshly dropped new trailer for Shanghai Calling, the upcoming indie feature film debut from writer/director Daniel Hsia. It's a romantic comedy, starring Daniel Henney, about American "expats" living and working in Shanghai. I think it looks pretty promising. Check it out:

Lin's Success Surprising to Everyone: Are you surprised by Jeremy Lin's amazing play? Don't worry, so is pretty much every team in the entire National Basketball League. Even the Knicks are surprised.

From Ivy Halls to the Garden, Surprise Star Jolts the N.B.A.: Another great New York Times article about Jeremy Lin's journey from Harvard to the Knicks.

From Unknown To Phenom In 3 Games: Harvard Grad Jeremy Lin Saves The New York Knicks: Yet another great article about Jeremy Lin's journey, and his struggles in the NBA.

Jeremy Lins of America -- Please Stand Up! : "Asian Americans must dedicate themselves to becoming the Jeremy Lins of their respective fields."

stanford's 16th listen to the silence conference, february 18

Bay Area students, this one's for you. Stanford University's 16th Listen to the Silence Conference is Saturday, February 18. "Find your roots and derive your identity" by attending some workshops and listening in on this year's keynote speaker, David Monkawa, co-chair of the Nikkei for Civil Rights and Redress in the late 1980s and early 90s. More info:

Bay Area film fans, the countdown has begun. We've got thirty days until the 30th San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, running March 8 through 18 at locations in San Francisco, Berkeley and San Jose.

To kick off the countdown, SFIAAFF has unveiled its official festival website and program. We're looking at the thirtieth year of serving up the best of Asian and Asian American cinema, and once again, they've put together one hell of a lineup.

Two people made me cheer this week. Jeremy Lin, of course. But also Beverly Kim, the scrappy chef who fought her way back to a spot on Bravo's Top Chef.

The Korean American cheftestant (who happens to be the younger sister of our friend Lee Ann Kim) was eliminated from the cooking competition a couple of weeks ago, but came back to kick some ass on the concurrent online face-off Last Chance Kitchen, and earned herself a place on this week's episode.

I promise, I'm not going to post something for all of Jeremy Lin's games, but we're in the middle of something pretty damn exciting, it's just too fun.

Wednesday night's Knicks game saw yet another kickass performance from Jeremy against Washington Wizards -- 23 points and a career-high 10 assists. You can watch the highlight video here, but I direct your attention to one specific tasty moment of the game:

All right. Ever since Michigan Senate candidate Pete Hoekstra's racist bullshit campaign ad and its awful accompanying website assaulted the masses, one of the nagging questions has been about the Asian actress, aka "yellowgirl," who participated in shooting this godawful commercial. Who the heck is she?

The actress in question is named Lisa Chan. She's 21, from the Bay Area, graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in sociology, founded a nonprofit organization for at-risk youth, and recently competed as the reigning Miss Napa Valley in the 2012 Miss California USA pageant. (Yeah, I knowwwww.)

She's also a part-time model/actress who just added an extremely unfortunate credit to her resume.

pork filled players present spam-o-rama, february 16

Scientists, programmers, and nerds by day; female-led Asian American sketch comedy troupe by night! Seattle's Pork Filled Players are ringing in the Year of the Dragon with the latest edition of their comedy and music cabaret, "Spam-O-Rama," on Wednesday, February 16. More information:

In Monterey Park, California, a man has been arrested in connection with the death of his pregnant wife following a domestic violence incident: Pregnant Monterey Park woman's death probed as husband arrested.

Last weekend, 41-year-old Hongxin Liu was arrested by sheriff's homicide detectives after a coroner's investigator found suspicious marks on the body of his wife Chenan Bao, who was three months pregnant. Tragic.

Our friends at Retrofit Republic, the Bay Area-based styling firm with a social impact, recently released their 2012 Winter/Spring Lookbook.

The models are lawyer-turned-rapper recording and performance artist Hopie Spitshard and critically acclaimed Bay Area DJ Patrick "KingMost" Diaz, sportin' Retrofit Republic's signature vintage styling with a modern lift.

Looking good! To see the full lookbook, and to learn more about Retrofit Republic's mission and aesthetic, go to their website here.

coming soon: hk action-style game sleeping dogs

I'm not much of a gamer, but I just heard about the upcoming action game Sleeping Dogs, and it sounds kind of cool. The "gritty, open-world cop drama" was previously known as Activision's True Crime: Hong Kong, until plans for the game were scrapped. The rights were subsequently picked up by Square Enix: 'True Crime' game reborn as 'Sleeping Dogs.'

Set in the Hong Kong underworld, Sleeping Dogs is a "cop drama" casts you as undercover police officer Wei Shen as he attempts to take down the Triads. Shoot-outs, street races and martial arts brawls ensue. If you're a fan of Asian action flicks, this sounds like it could be for you.

Here's the live-action game trailer, which doesn't actually reveal any game play, but gives an idea of the feeling they're going for:

Well, here we go. It was inevitable and very necessary for someone to come up with a parody of that racist bullshit Pete Hoekstra campaign ad. I mean, come on, it's so awful the thing is practically a parody of itself.

So... check out comedian Ali Wong as the now-infamous "yellowgirl" in this spoof from Funny or Die (with a surprise appearance from "Jeremy Lin"):

Starbucks labels drinks with the "chink eyes"

Asian customers in Atlanta received racist caricatures on their coffee cups.

Oh, man. Not this again. Recent racist incidents involving employees at Chick-Fil-A ("CHING CHONG") and Papa John's Pizza ("Lady Chinky Eyes") have had me checking my receipts lately. Some ignorant-ass joker could be mocking you right in front of your face. But hey, why use words for your favorite racial slurs when you can draw them?

Last month at a Starbucks Coffee location in Alpharetta, Georgia, two Korean customers -- who are not native English speakers -- discovered that their barista had identified them by drawing "chinky eyes" on their drinks. You know, where they usually write your name? OH NO THEY DIDN'T. Yes, they did.

Here's the photo of their cups:

asian american performers action coalition presents representasian: the changing face of theatre, february 13

The Asian American Performers Action Coalition's recent findings that people of color are underrepresented in NYC's biggest stages should not be all that shocking. What sucks the most is that although the industry has made great strides in the past five years in getting equal-ish stage time for everyone, Asians still lose. Asians comprise 13% of New York City and are the city's fastest growing minority group, yet are seen less than 2% of the time, and usually in roles that are defined by race.

On Monday, February 13, Chinglish playwright David Henry Hwang moderates "RepresentAsian: The Changing Face of New York Theater" at Fordham University to discuss what we can do about it:

Hey, Philly! The Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival invites you to channel your creativity and skills for a good cause, and participate in the Hep B Free Philadelphia "B A Hero" PSA Video Contest.

To enter, create a 30-second public service announcement to raise awareness of about hepatitis, which disproportionately affects the Asian Pacific American community. Here are some more details about the contest:

For those who enjoyed that clever Community/X-Men mashup from a couple of weeks ago, here's another piece that re-imagines Greendale Community College's finest as the video game characters from Street Fighter, by artist Ben DeGuzman. Yes, Abed as Ryu and Chang as Blanka! I like it. Ben explains his artistic mashup choices here. And check out his other pieces here.

sikh gurdwara vandalized in hate crime

Got this passed along to me from the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund... In Michigan, SALDEF is calling on authorities to investigate the recent vandalism of a Sikh congregation's place of worship as a hate crime: Sikh Gurdwara Vandalized; SALDEF Calls for Hate Crime Investigation.

The facility, which has been under construction in Sterling Heights and was not yet occupied, was defaced with graffiti that included vulgar language, racial epithets, drawings of a cross and a gun, and references to the September 11 attacks:

Heads up, Harold and Kumar fans. Just wanted to make sure you're aware that A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas is out on Blu-ray and DVD today.

If you missed the movie in theaters, or if you just want to re-experience John Cho and Kal Penn's yuletide misadventures as the titular stoner comedy heroes, now you can see it all from the comfort of your couch.

Yes, it's gross. It's raunchy. You will see things you wish you could unsee. It's also pretty hilarious. And now you can own it. NPH thanks you.

pete hoekstra and the "yellow girl"

You've seen Michigan Senate candidate Pete Hoekstra's racist bullshit campaign ad. You've seen the accompanying website, which is even worse. It may come packaged as a pretty Asian girl, but this is some seriously xenophobic, calculated fear-mongering.

Of course Hoekstra insists the ad is "satirical" and not-at-all "racial."

Then his campaign certainly has some explaining to do. Somebody took a close look at the HTML code for the video on Hoekstra's "Debbie Spend-It-Now" website, and uncovered this curious label for the image of video's charming "Chinese" girl with the broken English: "yellowgirl."

This image pretty sums up how much Jeremy Lin kicks ass right now.

Last night at Madison Square Garden, fans looking for a repeat of Jeremy's stunning Saturday night performance were not disappointed. The kid from Palo Alto scored a career-high 28 points in his first career start, helping the Knicks beat the Utah Jazz, 99-88: Lin scores 28, carries short-handed Knicks again.

Let's go to the video:

Sunday might have been a big day for football, but it was a huge day for fashion-minded mobs trying to get their hands on heralded designer Jason Wu's limited edition line for Target. Across the country, people lined up outside Target stores at the buttcrack of dawn for a piece of that sweet, sweet discount couture.

Some fortunate shoppers got what they wanted. Others were left to choose from the scraps after the Wu racks got picked clean. And then there's this villainous couple in Miami, aka "The Vultures," who reportedly cleaned out a store and bought out the entire Wu collection: 'Fashion Vultures' Ruin the Jason Wu for Target Collection Launch in Miami.

sfiaaff30 launch party, february 9

This year marks Center for Asian American Media's 30th edition of the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, and they're kicking things off this week with a launch party.

Come Thursday, February 9 to the 111 Minna Gallery, dance all night, and pick up an official SFIAAFF30 guide and find out what films will be showcased at the festival this year.

This one's for my ethnic studies scholars... nineteen sixty nine (NSN), the official student journal of the Department of Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, have the put the call out for submissions for its inaugural issue. They're accepting creative works, scholarly essays and book reviews for publication. Here are some more details on what they're looking for:

Our friends in the kickass band PaperDoll are competing for the chance to play next month at SXSW. They're currently in the top ten, and have a good shot at winning this online contest -- they just need your votes to help them get to Austin. Here are some more details on how you can support them:

More upsetting news out of the Philadelphia area... In Olney, yet another Asian victim was murdered last week in a vicious, gruesome home-invasion robbery.

40-year-old Sophos Siv was found in his home badly beaten, stabbed, gagged and bound with duct tape, dead from head trauma and two gunshot wounds: Police ID victims of murder-suicide, home invasion.

As of yet, there appears to be no indication that this murder was racially motivated. Siv was scheduled to be in court next month on charges in connection with a 2010 fight, and police are looking into the possibility that his murder was gang-related:

If you were paying attention, or if you've got a quick trigger finger on the DVR remote's pause button, you might have seen M.I.A. saluting America with an obscene gesture during the Super Bowl halftime show. I suppose it really wouldn't be the Super Bowl without a little bit of controversy, and M.I.A. did it with her middle finger: M.I.A. middle finger upstages Madonna's Super Bowl.

I wasn't really watching the Super Bowl very closely, but here is an incomplete smattering of Asian faces I spotted across the commercial breaks, during American television's biggest broadcast of the year (Michigan viewers, of course, were treated to this racist bullshit from Pete Hoekstra):

Welcome to the Jeremy Lin Show

Jeremy Lin comes off the bench, plays his ass off and helps the Knicks come from behind to beat the Nets.

"The Hero From Harvard." You could hear the rumbles from New York, all the way to the west coast. Saturday night, it was all about Jeremy Lin. The third-string guard set Madison Square Garden on fire, coming off the bench to play his ass off and help the Knicks come from behind to beat the Nets.

Lin's career night leads Knicks over Nets, 99-92.

Jeremy finished with a career-high 25 points and 7 assists in 35 minutes. It's hard to overstate how amazing and how impressive his performance was -- jumpstarting the Knicks, cutting through the Nets' defense and absolutely electrifying the crowd.

Here's a handy video cut together from the highlights of Jeremy's big night, all the way down to the fans' chants of "Jeremy! Jeremy!":

Politicians seem to be in a contest for who can create the most xenophobic, inflammatory, anti-China campaign ad. These days, if you're running for office, the go-to strategy is to make your opponent look like China's best buddy.

The latest one comes from Michigan Senate candidate Pete Hoekstra, featuring some extra Oriental music and an Asian woman speaking in broken English against a vaguely Asian landscape. It's some serious racist bullshit:

Following recent high-profile military hazing cases, members of the House of Representatives, family members of victims, and community organizations are calling for immediate action from the highest levels in the military to stop hazing: Lawmakers seek answers from military on hazing; issue personal for California congresswoman.

The issue hits particularly close to home for Rep. Judy Chu, whose nephew Lance Cpl. Harry Lew killed himself after being brutally hazed while serving in Afghanistan. She is among the lawmakers who are calling for Congressional hearings on the military's effort to prevent hazing. Here are some of the statements from last week's press conference:

read these blogs

The Economist | An Editorial Staff Through Race & Language: The Economist published an article claiming that Korean women are good at golf because they have strict fathers and like to follow trends. This is a response.

Ai Weiwei Sundance Swag: Hey, Sundance attendees, thanks for watching Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry, a documentary about the impact of one man's political activism through art! We hope the takeaway message from the movie is much, much better than the door prize for watching: a Chinese takeout box filled with fortune cookies.

Disgrasian of the Week! 2 Broke Girls Creator Michael Patrick King: Disgrasian outlines the many ways in which this show and its executive producer Michael Patrick King are racist and just plain not funny.

"I've Been a Good Asian. And Now I Want to do What I Love.": Funny woman Jenny Yang recently quit her day job to pursue a full-time career in comedy, shifting her idea of what it means to be a "Good Asian."

this week's angriest posts

Not really the angriest, just the most viewed.

weird-ass craigslist posting, part 290: lonely loser seeks "unsophisticated chinese girl"

girls' generation on the late show with david letterman

david choe is crazy rich!

2 broke girls has found its "hot asian guy"

jay chen is running for congress

marine sentenced to 30 days for hazing harry lew

pinkberry co-founder pleads not guilty to assault charges

jamie chung in 7500 trailer

five ways you can celebrate fred korematsu day

lego man in spaaaaaaace

Stay angry, my friends.

2.03.2012

orphan relief: 4th annual awareness night, february 9

Los Angeles! Join Jane Lui, Goh Nakamura, and Yasmeen Al-Mazeedi for a night of music and charity. UCLA's China Care Bruins is holding its 4th annual Awareness Night on Thursday, February 9, all in the name of orphan relief. There will also be a panel discussing medical care and counseling to orphans and foster children. More info:

Hey folks. 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 Ryan Suda of Blacklava.

So... Remember that "hot Asian guy" that 2 Broke Girls was looking to cast for an upcoming episode? They've apparently found their man.

According to his website, Tim Chiou will guest star on the CBS sitcom as Edwin, the handsome web designer and potential love interest to Caroline, one of the titular broke girls (the one that's not Kat Dennings).

To refresh your memory, here's the casting call:

jay chen is running for congress

It's on, America. Specifically, it's on for California's 39th Congressional District, where Hacienda La Puente School Board Member (and friend to this blog) Jay Chen has just officially announced that he's running for Congress.

A graduate of Harvard University, Jay is a successful small businessman, serves as an intelligence officer in the United States Naval Reserve, and has been giving back to the community he grew up in as a member of the Hacienda-La Puente Unified School District Board of Education since 2007.

Jay made the announcement this afternoon at his alma mater, Wilson High School in Hacienda Heights. Here's part of his statement from the campaign press release:

This is craaaaaazy. So maybe you've heard the news: Facebook has gone public, which means some of the lucky folks holding company stock are now quite wealthy... including none other than renegade graffiti artist David Choe. Say whaaaat? The guy apparently just made about $200 million on shares of Facebook: From Founders to Decorators, Facebook Riches.

Back in 2005, Sean Parker commissioned Mr. Choe to paint some murals on the walls of Facebook's first offices in Palo Alto. No big deal, right? Story has it, Choe was offered a couple of thousand dollars cash or the equivalent of company stock. He chose the stock. And if estimates are correct, those shares are now worth a crapload of cash:

Imagine what could have been... some crazy-ass concept art from a wrinkle in the space-time continuum: Bruce Lee as Spider-Man, Harvey Keitel as Wolverine, and More Marvel Superhero Concept Art by Alexandre Tuis.

Movieline has posted some amazing fantasy art by French artist/designer Alexandre Tuis who re-imagines, among others, Bruce Lee as Marvel Comics' fan-favorite web-slinging wall-crawler. How cool is that? See more superhero art here. (Thanks, Alice.)

2.01.2012

hyphen survival issue release party and silent auction, february 4

San Francisco! Hyphen magazine invites you to celebrate the release of their "Survival" issue this Saturday, February 4. Come to 111 Minna and boogie down with DJ Boogie Brown, bid for a chance to spend time with prominent figures in the Asian American community, and just plain have a good time. More details:

Any freelance animators out there? Just passing along this job posting from Asian pop culture broadcast network MNET, which is currently looking for resourceful animator/producer/editor to help kick off a new animated television series. Here are some more details on the kind of skills they're looking for:

Decipher's "Angry Asian Man" was one of my favorite songs off of his album The Effect -- and not just for the obvious reasons. It's just a monster track that speaks to a very specific, real experience. If liked the original album version, you might just dig this dubstep remix of "Angry Asian Man" by b.lee:

Late last year, I wrote about a South Asian man in San Jose who was the victim of a vicious hate crime outside of a supermarket. Now, the man has come forward to speak out about the attack: SJ hate crime victim talks about attack.

32-year-old Atul Lall was assaulted by a group of men while he was leaving a Lucky's store on November 21. They broke his jaw, knocked out his teeth and called him a "terrorist." Last week, police released the first sketch of one of the suspects, and are asking for the public's help in finding Lall's attackers:

The guys from Wong Fu Production recently launched "Home is Where the Hans Are," a new webseries in four parts, produced in association with FremantleMedia. It's about a typical modern American family... though perhaps not like any family you'll typically see on television. Check out the trailer:

This week, Platinum Studios announced that they're developing a feature film adaptation of the comic book series The Weapon, about a martial arts enthusiast and inventor who becomes a superhero: Platinum Studios to Develop The Weapon Into Movie.

Which is cool... except that I was under the impression that Platinum Studios was already developing a movie version of The Weapon.

When we first heard about this project over two years ago, it was announced that Caucasian actor David Henrie had signed on to play the hero -- news that did not go over well with fans. The hero, Tommy Zhou, is Chinese American, and his ethnic heritage plays a significant part in his story. To change that would fundamentally change The Weapon itself:

I honestly can't call myself much of a fan of Kpop, but I heard that South Korean pop supergroup Girls' Generation was going to be making their official American network television debut on The Late Show with David Letterman.

I couldn't name a single member of the group, or identify any of their songs to save my life, but I thought why the hell not? So I tuned in. And I was thoroughly underwhelmed. Here's the video of Girls' Generation performing "The Boys":

Got this press release about a new report from Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy's Queer Justice Fund which reveals deep disparities in funding to LGBTQ AAPI communities: New AAPIP Report Finds Deep Disparities in Funding to LGBTQ AAPI, Despite Rapidly Growing Population.

The report, Missed Opportunities: How Organized Philanthropy Can Help Meet the Needs of LGBTQ AAPI Communities, finds that funding in 2009 to LGBTQ AAPI communities amounted to barely 0.7 percent of the total amounted granted to all LGBTQ communities and organizations that year. And funding to all LGBTQ organizations amounted to barely 0.2 percent of all foundation giving in the United States. In other words, it's a tiny sliver of an already small slice of the pie.

More from the report:

2.12.2012

2.11.2012

2.10.2012

2.09.2012

2.08.2012

2.07.2012

2.06.2012

2.05.2012

2.04.2012

2.03.2012

2.02.2012

2.01.2012

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