Angry Asian Man

1.13.2013

Read These Blogs

18MR Asks: What Happens When You Make Asians "Asian"? 18 Million Rising wondered -- what happens when you use that racist "Make Me Asian" app to make actual Asians "Asian"? They tried the app to find out for themselves. The results were not good.

Study: Racial stereotyping linked to creative stagnation: New research finds that "people prone to racial essentialism are more closed-minded, and less creative." Um, yeah.

Asian-Americans Gain Influence in Philanthropy: According to this New York Times article, a new class of affluent Asian Americans is making a mark on philanthropy in the U.S.

Love Your Body: A very important message from our friend Lynn Chen.

This Week's Angriest Posts

Not necessarily the angriest, just the most viewed.

A racist letter to the "filthy" Filipino community

The Colbert Report mocks Bill O'Reilly's racial stupidity

My name is Datta and this is my shirt made of gold.

Oh snap! This drive thru customer is invisible!

Greek police are rounding up (and sometimes beating the crap out of) "foreign"-looking people

Assemblywoman condemns racist anti-Filipino letter

Angry Reader of the Week: Ellen Oh

Watch the trailer for the post-apocalyptic indie road flick Best Friends Forever

ACV's CineVue presents The Joy Dunk Club

Cab driver beaten into coma

Stay Angry.

1.11.2013

Special Screening: The Last Stand, January 15

UPDATE: I've been informed that the screening is overbooked and they're not taking anymore RSVPs. Sorry.

If you're Los Angeles, and want to see Arnold Schwarzenegger beat up a lot of dudes in his latest film, come to a special Koreatown screening of The Last Stand, presented by Visual Communications and Lionsgate.

Director Kim Jee-woon and screenwriter Andrew Knauer, as well as actors Daniel Henney (yes, that Daniel Henney), Jaimie Alexander and Peter Stormare, will all be in attendance for a post-screening Q&A. It's happening Tuesday, January 15 at CGV Cinemas in Koreatown. Here are some more details about the event:

An invitation to scholars, activists and community leaders interested in critical race theory... Yale Law School presents Critical Race Theory: From the Academy to the Community conference on Friday, February 8-9. The conference will include speakers and community leaders whose scholarly work, legal practice, and activism can relate to critical race theory. Here's more info:

It is that time again. It is time for you 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 author Ellen Oh.

Giant Robot presents Living Depictions, January 12-30

If you happen to be in Los Angeles, Giant Robot invites you to check out its latest group art exhibition Living Depictions, featuring the work of Jay Horinouchi, Kwanchai Moriya, Sarah Lee, Elliot Brown, Shawn Cheng and Maiko Kanno. It runs January 12-30 at GR2. Here are some more details:

Some disturbing news from abroad... In Greece, police are apparently now hell-bent on apprehending undocumented immigrants, launching a new operation to check the papers of people who look "foreign." Yup, that means they're rounding up everybody who's anything other than a shade of white.

But when you indiscriminately start checking the papers of everybody who looks different, the cops are inevitably going to nab legitimate visitors in their sweeps, including a South Korean tourist who was beaten in an incident over his identification: The tourists held by Greek police as illegal migrants.

This incident involving Korean backpacker Hyun Young Jung went down several months ago, and has since escalated into a major international incident and huge PR fail for Greece:

Oh snap! This drive thru customer is invisible!

Freak out. A car pulls up to a fast food restaurant's drive thru window... and there's nobody inside! What the--!? Is it a ghost? Invisibility cloak? Nope, it's just the latest stunt from magician prankster Rahat, just having some fun with a camouflage costume made from cardboard and seat fabric. Watch as drive thru cashiers have a little freak out when the seemingly driverless car pulls up:

Some more on that racist letter that was recently mailed out in the Bay Area city of American Canyon... Assemblywoman Mariko Yamada, who represents California's 4th Assembly District (including American Canyon), has responded with a statement condemning the letter, which uses racist language and falsely purports to be from a state agency. From the Assemblywoman's press release:

Mandevilla: a short film about domestic violence

I recently heard from filmmaker Andrew Oh, who recently completed a short film, Mandevilla, for the Korean American Family Service Center, Office on Violence Against Women, and the Department of Justice, on the subject of domestic violence in the Korean American community. Take a look:

This one's for screenwriters (or wannabe screenwriters) in Los Angeles...

Visual Communications, the nation's premier Asian Pacific American media arts organization, is offering an Intro to Screenwriting Workshop taught by Koji Steven Sakai (The People I've Slept With).

This one's different from previous multi-session courses they've offered -- it's just a one-day intensive class happening on Saturday, January 19 at the Japanese American National Museum in Little Tokyo.

Here are some more details about the class:

A little while back, I shared this amazing rendition of "Change is Gonna Come" by Bay Area singer/songwriter Sid Sriram. It's one of my favorite songs, and Sid sang the hell out of it. The guy is one gifted vocalist. So if you liked that, you might like this official music video for his song "Elevate." Check it out:

At the University of California-Los Angeles, police are looking for a man who tried to sexually assault a student while she walking on campus: UCLA police search for man who tried to sexually assault student.

And yes, the suspect might be an Asian guy.

The attack occurred early Monday morning when the female UCLA student was walking between a parking structure and an engineering building. The attacker approached her from behind:

Some follow up on Bill O'Reilly ridiculous comments from last week, when he discussed Hawaii's social ills and acted like he knew a damn thing about Asian people... The remarks have since drawn criticism from Congresswoman Colleen Hanabusa, who says O'Reilly owes Hawaii and Asian Americans an apology: Hanabusa: Bill O'Reilly owes Hawaii and Asian-Americans apology.

Meanwhile, Comedy Central's The Colbert Report took the opportunity to mock Bill O'Reilly comments with its own hilarious takedown of stereotypes and racial generalizations, in a manner that only Stephen Colbert could get away with: Stephen Colbert Mocks Bill O'Reilly's Confusion Over 'Liberal' Asians In Hawaii.

Here's the new trailer for the indie feature Best Friends Forever, directed/produced/written by and starring Brea Grant. The post-apocalyptic road comedy will make its world premiere next week at the Slamdance Film Festival -- Park City, Utah's upstart rival film festival happening simultaneously with Sundance.

Best Friends Forever is described as a "clever dark comedy and heartfelt road trip buddy film wrapped in an apocalyptic disaster story, with two badass girls." Brea Grant and Vera Miao star as a pair of best friends who hit the road bound for Texas just as a nuclear attack strikes the country. Check it out:

What the hell? This was shared on Facebook and passed along by several readers... This letter, purporting initially to be from the "California Department of Consumer Affairs Board of Barbering & Cosmetology," was apparently mailed to Derek Valencia, who lives in American Canyon, California.

It starts off with a bunch official-sounding legal speak about a revoked cosmetology license, but if you read on, it quickly devolves into some real racist bullshit directed at the "filthy" Filipino community, signed by "Concerned American Canyon Neighbors." Here's the full text of the letter, transcribed:

Damn. Last week in San Jose, a 79-year-old man was struck and killed while walking in lanes of traffic on a busy freeway: San Jose man, 79, identified as person killed Friday while walking on freeway.

The victim was identified as Hyuk Joon Kim, who was spotted Friday night while walking in northbound traffic lanes on Highway 101 before being struck by a car. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Not much more information than that. According to California Highway Patrol officials, there were no other cars parked on the side of the road. Kim apparently got on 101 on foot, and may have been trying to cross the highway. Whatever the case, it's terrible.

1.07.2013

ACV's CineVue presents The Joy Dunk Club

This one's for Jeremy Lin fans... The Joy Dunk Club (Best. Name. Ever.), hosted by Asian CineVision's CineVue, is a new web-based roundtable video talk show about everybody's favorite Asian American NBA star.

Created and hosted by Terry Park of Hyphen magazine, each show will feature smart, energetic, "deceptively quick" analysis from folks like Keith Chow of the Asian American comics anthologies Secret Identities and Shattered, Ren Hsieh of the APIA sports podcast Dat Winning, Joyce Yin of Bulls-centric blog Hard Hat Lunchpail, and other special guests, breaking down Jeremy's game performance and weighing in on the larger cultural phenomenon of "Linsanity."

Joy Dunk Club will be live-streamed and recorded on CineVue Online's YouTube channel [EDIT: This Tuesday's episode will be streamed on host Terry Park's YouTube channel.], where followers can ask real-time questions for the panelists via YouTube or Twitter (hashtag #joydunkclub).

You can catch the inaugural show on Tuesday, January 8, 8pm PST/11pm EST, right after the Rockets/Lakers game. No Lin puns allowed.

Job Opportunities: 28th Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival

Some employment opportunities in Los Angeles...

Want to get involved with a classy film festival that's dedicated to bringing you the best of Asian and Asian American cinema? The Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, presented by Visual Communications, is looking for outstanding, motivated individuals to fill seasonal paid positions and volunteer opportunities for the 28th edition of the annual festival.

This is an opportunity to observe and participate intimately with the mechanics of organizing a large-scale event and the operations and philosophy of a grassroots, community-based Asian Pacific American arts organization.

Here are some of the available positions:

Here's the latest music video from rapper Jason Chu, for his song about a girl named "Grace" and how her struggling family needed her. According to Jason, the song is dedicated to "every family who made a new life in a new land, and to everyone looking for hope and healing in the midst of a difficult place." Check it out:

A guy almost beats a cabbie to death... and now he's out on bail like no big deal?

In New York, a man has been arrested in the brutal near-fatal beating of a Queens taxi driver in the early hours of New Year's Day after a dispute over the fare: Upstate New York man arrested in brutal beating of Queens cabbie.

28-year-old Andrew McElroy allegedly refused to pay his fare, then punched 53-year-old cab driver Kichun Kim repeatedly in the face until he was unconscious. Kim has reportedly been in a coma ever since.

Meanwhile, McElroy has been charged with assault and not paying the fare -- a misdemeanor -- and issued a violation for harassment. And now he's out on $10,000 bail. Weak. Kim's family is demanding justice.

More here: Cabbie beaten into coma; suspect out on bail.

Dueling Sulus: An Action Figure Rap Battle

This is madness. In Dueling Sulus, the latest super-crazy stop-motion video from 18 Mighty Mountain Warriors, George Takei and John Cho -- in action figure form -- battle it out to settle once and for all who was the greatest Sulu (I did not know that this was a dispute that needed to be settled). It turns into a rather sad rap battle:

I just cracked open Prophecy, the debut novel by Ellen Oh.

It's a young adult fantasy adventure rooted in ancient Korean folklore, about a badass young female warrior outcast named Kira who has crazy yellow eyes and slays demons. It has a kingdom in peril, a dangerous quest, a ragtag crew and a villainous Demon Lord. You know, everything a proper fantasy adventure tale needs. And swords.

I've been looking forward to reading this book for a while, every since we got news that Ellen Oh had signed a book deal for her trilogy, The Dragon King Chronicles -- possibly the first American novel of its kind, from a major publisher, drawn from and inspired by the legends and myths of Korea.

Here's the book trailer for Prophecy:

Why, hello. Nice to meet you. You look like the kind of classy woman who might be interested in a man with the means to wear a custom shirt made from threads of gold. Here is a news story about my fabulous solid gold shirt: Wealthy Indian spends £14,000 on a shirt made of GOLD to impress the ladies.

The Oakland Police Department is asking for the public and the media's help in locating Gloria Gee, who has been missing since Friday: Missing Person Alert: Oakland Police Requesting Community Help in Locating Mrs. Gloria Gee.

Gee's husband contacted authorities to report that his wife was missing and he suspected foul play. Gee left for work on Friday morning at about 6:30 am but never arrived. Investigators located her car in Oakland.

Gee is described as 63-year-old Asian woman, 5'1", with black hair, brown eyes and glasses. She is reported to be in good health.

Anyone with information regarding Gloria Gee's whereabouts is asked to contact the Oakland Police Department Missing Persons Section at (510) 238-3641.

UPDATE: Gloria Gee has reportedly been found: Missing Oakland woman found in good health.

1.06.2013

Read These Blogs

David Phan's Suicide Sparks Grief, Anger and Call for Justice: On November 29, 2012, 14-year-old David Phan committed suicide after enduring years of bullying. Utah's Granite School District has given little to no response to David's family, and so the ACLU and the Phan family are taking action.

Yes, you're racist: The casual comments permeating Twitter: You know a sentence that begins with, "I'm not racist, but..." never ends well. @YesYoureRacist keeps racists in check through Twitter.

Interview: THE AVENGERS Director Joss Whedon's S.H.I.E.L.D. Show Breaking From Comics: Ming-Na Wen talks about being a part of Joss Whedon's new show, S.H.I.E.L.D, which is set to air this fall.

Why Does This Movie About the 2004 Tsunami in Thailand Star a White Family?: Why are Thai people missing from The Impossible?

This Week's Angriest Posts

Not necessarily the angriest, just the most viewed.

Bill O'Reilly knows what's up with "Asian people"

WTF: Racist skit at the Mummers Parade

Teen sues police after being left locked in van overnight

Remember when "Sriracha" was added to the Oxford English Dictionary?

Father acquitted in son's murder

Kevin Wu and Dante Basco star in Hang Loose

Mike Song and Beatboxer KRNFX on Ellen

74-year-old landlord charged in deaths of two teen tenants

Nine killed in Oregon tour bus crash

Hillary Clinton: The Movie, a screenplay by Young Il Kim

It's 2013, everybody. Stay Angry.

1.04.2013

Ouch: Jeremy Lin's Bloody Head

Oh man. We've seen Jeremy Lin get banged up on the court before, but that's a pretty scary sight of our favorite Rockets' point guard with a bloody head injury, sustained when he collided with Larry Sanders in the third of quarter of Houston's game against the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday night.

Owwww. Jeremy and his bloody head were rushed to the locker room where he reportedly got stitches, but returned to the game for the start of the fourth quarter. What a trooper! The Rockets went on to the defeat the Bucks, 115-101. More here: Jeremy Lin Injury: Updates on Rockets PG's Head.

Job Opportunity: Museum Curator, Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center

Passing along this job opportunity... The Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC is looking for a Museum Curator for the Asian Pacific American Center, which produces educational programs, exhibitions and research about the Asian Pacific American experience and works in partnership with museums and centers across the Smithsonian and beyond to enrich collections and activities about the APA experience.

The position serves as Curator for APA digital and emerging media. That sounds pretty cool. But what exactly does that mean? Here are a few more details about the job:

Still catching up on videos I missed over the holidays... Here's Los Angeles rapper Dumbfoundead's crazy boozy hot doggy psychedelic music video for "10 Rounds," which someone's probably going to have to explain to me. Check it out:

Oh, come on! This week in New Jersey, a medical assistant was charged with sexually assaulting two female patients: Assistant in Fort Lee doctor's office charged with sexually abusing patients.

29-year-old Gung Kim is accused of inappropriately touching two female patients during procedures last month at the Edison Kidney Center and at a satellite office in Fort Lee. He is not a licensed nurse nor a physician:

It's 2013! Let's all gather 'round to meet the year's first 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 Timothy Yu.

Oh hell yes. They're making a sequel to The Raid: Redemption. The movie starts shooting this month, with the story picking up just two hours after the end of the first movie. There will reportedly be a villain named "Hammer Girl." And that's really all that needs to be said: 'The Raid Redemption' director to shoot sequel.

Sabatino Chen robbed of tie-breaking buzzer beater

Robbed! In this video, University of Colorado guard Sabatino Chen launches an awesome tie-breaking three-point buzzer beater in what looked like a last-second victory over the undefeated Arizona Wildcats. The replays seemed to confirm it. The referees, however, saw differently, and ruled that regulation time had expired. Watch and decide for yourself:

There's really no use in pointing out that Bill O'Reilly is a lying sack of hot air. He gets paid to be one. It's usually best to ignore him. But when he starts throwing down his completely unfounded generalizations about "Asian people," that gets a resounding OH HELL NO.

On yesterday's edition of Fox News' O'Reilly Factor, O'Reilly took it upon himself to break it down for America. Just what is up with Asian people, Bill? "Asian people are not liberal, you know, by nature. They're usually more industrious and hard-working." Let's go to the video, courtesy of Media Matters:

Yes, I would like to see this fan-made Robotech movie

This one's for my fellow Robotech fans... Check out this cool fan-made 50-second trailer based on the 1980s sci-fi cartoon -- my favorite show back in the day -- which was adapted from Japanese series Macross. If you get a thrill out of seeing Veritech fighters battling Zentraedi battlepods, you'll like this:

Remember David Chen? He's the Toronto Chinatown "vigilante grocer' who was arrested in 2009 for taking matters into his own hands and tying up a a repeat shoplifter. He was eventually acquitted, and became the inspiration behind the Conservative government's "citizen's arrest" law.

Next week, Chen will receive a Diamond Jubilee Medal, which honors significant contributions and achievements by Canadians. It will be a great day for the owner of the Lucky Moose Food Mart: Chinatown grocer who chased down thief to receive Diamond Jubilee Medal.

Catching up some fun videos... Here's a wonderful little island cover of "Rainbow Connection" by our friend singer/songwriter Jane Lui. Shot on location in Hawaii, it's got that chill ukulele vibe with Jane's lovely-as-usual vocals. Check it out:

Damn. Last weekend in Portland, Maine, a 74-year-old landlord was arrested in the shooting deaths of two teenage apartments tenants: Maine man, 74, held in deaths of teenage tenants.

James Pak is charged in the murders 19-year-old Derrick Thompson and 18-year-old Alivia Welch, who were renting out the apartment attached to Pak's home. Thompson's mother was also shot twice, but survived by pretending to be dead.

According to police, the shootings possibly occurred over a dispute about late rent and where the tenants parked their cars during a snowstorm:

Dancer/choreographer Mike Song was back performing on the Ellen show again today. You might remember his awesome performance on the show last fall with this mom. This time he blows everybody away with his crazy-ass collaboration with beatboxer KRNFX. First, watch the original YouTube video, The Dancebox:

One of the hottest political screenplays in Hollywood is a biopic about... Hillary Clinton? Yup. And it's written by a first-time Korean American screenwriter: Hillary Clinton script has Hollywood buzzing.

Rodham, written by Young Il Kim, follows a twenty-something Hillary Rodham Clinton as she's trying to decide between her career and her relationship with her boyfriend. The script ranked near the top of this year's "Black List," the annual roundup of the most popular unproduced screenplays in Hollywood, and it's got execs talking.

Here's the logline:

Holy smokes. This is a moment from this year's Mummers Parade, held annually on New Year's Day in Philadelphia, and it's just... wow. How many ways can you offend?

In this skit, an all-white group dances around to "Gangnam Style" and "Apache" in Indian and Native American garb. "Indi-Insourcing," by Venetian NYA, is supposed to be some kind of statement against the outsourcing of American jobs. Brotherly love, yo. Watch this disaster in all its xenophobic glory:

Remember that story from a couple of years back about a group of New Jersey teens who were rounded up by cops at a house party and left locked in a van outside police headquarters overnight? One the teens has a filed a lawsuit: Teen suing Fort Lee police after being left in van for 15 hours without food, water.

Adam Kim, who was 17 at the time of the incident, was detained inside a police van for nearly 15 hours without food or water after officers forgot about him and four other teenagers. The lawsuit, which names the Fort Lee Police Department, the police chief and a dozen members of the force, claims the officers who arrested Kim violated his civil rights. Not least when they called him and his friends "chinks":

Fund This: Rex and Rooty by Deep Fried Manna

I recently heard from my friend Mike Su, co-founder of Massive Joe Studios, who's getting the word out about their next project. Deep Fried Manna, started by Mike and team of dedicated folks, is an interactive studio whose goal is to make faith-based apps for kids. They're currently in the throes of a Kickstarter campaign to raise money for Rex and Rooty, an interactive Christian book. Check out the fundraising video, which features none other than NBA star Jeremy Lin:

Hey, student journalists! Here's an opportunity for you... The Asian American Journalists Association is currently accepting applications for the 2013 Council for International Cooperation/Anna Chennault Scholarship. The scholarship is open to college freshmen going into their sophomore year.

The winner will receive a $3,900 scholarship and an opportunity to be a Voices student news project participant at the 2013 AAJA National Convention in New York with all travel, lodging and registration costs covered. Here are some more details about the scholarship:

Some new tunes for you... Seattle-based emcee Gowe kicks off the new year with a new single, "Magneto." As far as I can tell, it has little to do with the X-Men's archnemesis, but I'm digging it. Check it out:

Still catching up on some news from before the holidays... You may remember this story out of the Chicago suburbs about Hyungseok Koh, who was arrested in the 2009 stabbing death of his 22-year-old son. Last month, the jury found him not guilty: Northbrook man acquitted of killing son.

The defense argued that there was simply not enough evidence to convict Koh. A key element during the trial was a video recording of the police interview in which Koh seemingly confessed to the killing -- a confession that turned out to be unreliable, based on Koh's limited grasp of English:

KevJumba fans will get a kick out of this one... The indie feature film Hang Loose, starring popular Youtube personality Kevin Wu and Dante Basco, was recently released online exclusively as a digital download.

The comedy, directed by Ryan Kawamoto, is about a straight-laced guy who finds himself trying to survive the craziest night of his life when he visits Hawaii for his sister's wedding. Here's the official trailer, introduced by Kev and Dante:

Hey! It's our pal (and former Angry Reader of the Week) Raymond J Lee showing off his super-smooooove voice and singing his heart out about his love for lip balm, of all things, in this commercial thing for ChapStick. Check it out:

I know it's the new year, but hold up. One look back, because this is important. Did anyone notice that the Oxford English Dictionary added "sriracha" to its list of new word entries in June 2012?

The official Oxford definition, for your information, is "a spicy sauce made with red chilli and garlic, served especially with Vietnamese and Thai food."

Damn right. Sriracha got a place alongside new words like digipak, aptronym, cybercast, superbad. Because Sriracha is awesome. The end. (Thanks, Phuoc.)

Nine killed in Oregon tour bus crash

Some awful news out of Oregon from over the weekend... On Sunday, nine people were killed and dozens injured when a tour bus went over a guardrail and plummeted down a steep embankment: Oregon Tour Bus Crash Kills 9 People, Injures More Than 20 Others.

The charter bus, carrying forty tourists -- mostly from South Korea -- from Canada to Las Vegas, skidded off an icy mountain highway and crashed hundreds of feet down a hill in northeastern Oregon. Four men, four women and one girl were killed, though authorities are still identifying several victims:

happy angry new year

Happy New Year, Angry Readers. Just want to wish you and your loved ones an awesome new year. Thank you for all your support of this blog over the years. 2012 was crazy on many levels, but I'm looking forward to doing it all over again, and doing it better. Let's kick 2013's ass. Here's to more good times. Stay Angry.

1.13.2013

1.12.2013

1.11.2013

1.10.2013

1.09.2013

1.08.2013

1.07.2013

1.06.2013

1.05.2013

1.04.2013

1.03.2013

1.02.2013

1.01.2013

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