the increasingly important asian vote

Presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton has apparently been hard at work trying to grab the "ethnic vote," appearing at an event yesterday to tout her support among Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders: Clinton pushes hard to lock up Asian support. At a small Washington DC gathering, Clinton named Rep. Doris Matsui of Sacramento as her national Asian American voter outreach campaign chairwoman, and was backed by a roster of Asian and Pacific Islander business and community leaders. If you read the article, it's a pretty substantial list. I guess the battle for the increasingly important Asian vote is on...

sneaky chinese spies among us

Last week in Santa Ana, CA, jurors convicted engineer Chi Mak of conspiring to export U.S. defense technology secrets to China, including data on an electronic propulsion system that could make submarines virtually undetectable: Engineer guilty of trying to leak U.S. military secrets. Mak was also found guilty of being an unregistered foreign agent, attempting to violate export control laws and making false statements to the FBI. He now faces up to 35 years in prison when he is sentenced September 10.

The government accused Mak of taking thousands of pages of documents from his defense contractor employer and giving them to his brother, who passed them along to Chinese authorities over a number of years. While Mak acknowledged during the trial that he copied classified documents and kept copies in his office, he maintained he didn't realize at the time that making the copies was illegal. His defense team still believes he's innocent. Regardless of if he's guilty or innocent, a spy or just stupid, you know that this conviction is going to fuel the racist rhetoric of some kind of idiot out there. Sneaky Chinese spies among us, they'll say! Shut the hell up, I say.

aspiring actor killed in gang stabbing

21-year-old Jimmy Khounchanh, an aspiring actor, died last week after being stabbed outside a movie theater in Covina, CA: Aspiring actor fatally stabbed. According to the story, his girlfriend escaped the scene amidst a hail of bullets, avoiding injury while her car was hit by half a dozen rounds. The attack appears to have been the result of "angry looks" exchaned inside the theater. That's got to be the stupidest reason to stab someone. Ever. Police are now searching for "about 10 male Asians dressed in what was believed to be gang attire." Ironically Khounchanh's two recent roles as an actor were small parts in Gridiron Gang and Freedom Writers—movies with themes of overcoming gang violence.

my blueberry nights trailer

A short trailer for Wong Kar Wai's first English-language feature My Blueberry Nights has popped up here. It features Norah Jones in her feature film debut, alongside all these hopelessly unattractive people—Jude Law, Rachel Weisz and Natalie Portman. I'm not sure what to make of it, and the early reviews from Cannes seem to indicate it's good but nothing extraordinary... but hell, it's Wong Kar Wai. I'll watch it.

depression, suicide and asian american women

As we all know, there has been quite a bit of scrutiny on the topic of mental health issues in the Asian American community over the last several weeks. CNN has an article on the alarmingly high suicide rate among Asian American women: Push to achieve tied to suicide in Asian-American women. And tonight on CNN, Elizabeth Cohen examines depression in Asian American women and the cultural stigma against getting help on Paula Zahn Now, 8:00pm ET.

According to the Department of Health and Human Services, Asian American women ages 15-24 have the highest suicide rate of women in any race or ethnic group in that age group. Suicide is the second-leading cause of death for Asian American women in that age range. That is an astounding, sobering statistic. While there are no easy answers, the article suggests that it has a lot to do with the tremendous family pressure and cultural expectation to be the perfect daughter/student/citizen. I can believe it. And it's not just your family or Asian culture doing the pushing—it's the society at large, reinforcing the ridculous "model minority" standard, amidst all the other crap we have to deal with.

I also wonder what kind of research has been done regarding depression and suicide among Asian American men... I'm thinking the Virginia Tech shooting tragedy has shone a spotlight in that direction as well.

2007 azn excellence awards tonight

The 2007 AZN Asian Excellence Awards are happening tonight at UCLA's Royce Hall. Co-hosted by Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park, they're boasting that this is going to be a star-studded, red-carpet event celebrating "significant Asian and Asian American achievements in entertainment, the arts and other disciplines that have had a profound impact on American culture." I've already mentioned the nominees, who include Margaret Cho, Roger Fan, Sharon Leal, Rex Lee, Parminder Nagra, Dustin Nguyen, Masi Oka, Kal Penn, Russell Peters, Dat Phan, Maggie Q, Will Yun Lee, among many others. My only question about the awards: who actually determines who wins?

According to the press release I received the other day, the show's presenters include Apl.de.Ap of Black Eyed Peas, Megan Abrigo, Moon Bloodgood, Sarah Bronson, Adam Carolla(!), John Cho, Elisha Cuthbert, Antoine Fuqua, Kenny G, Carrie Ann Inaba, Michelle Krusiec, Yul Kwon, Jason Scott Lee, Bai Ling (ugh), Sanjaya Malakar, Leyla Milani, Lou Diamond Phillips, Rob Schneider, Elisabeth Rohm, Geoffrey Rush, Lauren Shiohama, George Takei, Quentin Tarantino and Tamlyn Tomita. I'm sorry, but what the hell is Adam Carolla going to be doing there? Has he come to make amends for mocking last year's awards on his radio show? I hope the audience boos that assclown.

And man, I guess they weren't kidding about Kenny G.

The show will also feature appearances by Jin, Sunkrish Bala, Karin Anna Cheung, Justice Ming Chin, Justin Chon, Alexandra Chun, Toby Dawson, FREQUNCY 5, Janina Gavankar, Josie Ho + Conroy Chan, Ryan Hoyle, Johnny Hsu, Mimosa Iwamatsu, Grace Junot, Archie Kao, Ravi Kapoor, Christel Khalil, Hans Kim, Paul Kim, Chil Kong, Denyce Lawton, Brooke Lee, Michelle Lee, Reggie Lee, Dana Leong, Emily Liu, Daniel Lue, Camille Mana, Minae Noji, Joy Osmanski, Harold Perrineau, Lindsay Price, Milan Q, Lela Rechon, DJ Shy, James Sun, AJ Tabaldo, Brian Tee, Rich Ting, Suzanne Whang, Louise Wu, Kaila Yu, Eugenia Yuan, Yungmac, and more apparently to be announced. I'm not even sure who a bunch of these people are, and in what capacity they'll be appearing, but it looks like they're trying to load it up with as many "names" as they can.

The show airs May 28th on AZN TV. I'm planning on braving Westwood traffic and attending the show tonight. I'll be taking a few notes, so hopefully I'll have some coverage of the event here tomorrow.

more extras needed for ping pong playa

If you're in Southern California and free this Saturday, here's another opportunity to be an extra in Jessica Yu's sports comedy Ping Pong Playa. Got this email with a few details:

From: extraplayas@gmail.com
Subject: Extras Needed (again) for Filmmaker Jessica Yu

Hey everyone!

You are being contacted again since you expressed interest in participating as an extra in Jessica Yu's film last month.

If you are free next Saturday, May 19, 2007, here is your second chance!!!! Location: MONTEREY PARK (beginning at the intersection of Garvey/Alhambra Rd). Time: 10:00 a.m. Watch a real parade in Monterey Park! We need help for a few hours.

It should be a lot of fun! If you're interested, please reply to this e-mail, or email Joan Huang at casting@cherryskyfilms.com and cc: me. Hope you can get involved!

Get your friends, family members, and their friends involved too!!

Additional detailed information will follow next week. Thanks for your consideration.

Looking forward to your response, and I apologize for any duplicate notices.

Karen Gee

I mentioned this movie last month when they were looking for extras for a crowd scene. It stars Jimmy Tsai, Roger Fan and Smith Cho, among others. The movie's IMDb page has been updated here.

filipino veterans equity shirts by archipelago

Archipelago, the apparel company responsible for the awesome "ROCK THE ASIAN VOTE" t-shirt I wear every election day (now only available as a women's tee), has a cool new design to fundraise for Filipino Veterans Equity: "It's About Time." As you know, this year, with the Democratic takeover of Congress, there's renewed hope that aging Filipino veterans will finally receive the benefits that were promised to them for their service during World War II. Archipelago, a Filipino American-owned company, is hoping to help support the veterans' cause with this new shirt, pledging to donate proceeds to an organization working to push the bill through Congress. It's a cool shirt, and will no doubt help raise awareness about this important cause. You can buy it here. Wear it proudly, and spread the word.

crappy movie alert

I'm always intrigued when an email pops shows up in my in-box with the subject line "crappy movie alert." N., an actress, tells us about a new movie starring Keanu Reeves, Forest Whitaker and Chris Evans called Kings X:

So I just got called in to audition for this new indie movie with Keanu Reeves, Forest Whitaker and Chris Evans called Kings X (a.k.a. The Nightwatch).

I'm actually going to call the casting director tomorrow and cancel my audition after reviewing the sides. So I can't give you the entire plot of the film but after reading my sides and a couple of other sides, I know that a part of it does take place in Koreatown, with lo and behold korean sex slaves and korean guys as the baddies.

There's also a part of dialogue where Reeves' character greets the korean guys with 'konichiwa.' The Korean guys in turn tell him that phrase is Japanese and insulting to Koreans but Reeves says that he can't tell the difference. Then Reeves' character responds "It means you got eyes like apostrophes, dress white, talk black and drive Jew. So how'm I supposed to know what kind of zipperhead-dog-munching dinks you are if you don't."

Sounds Oscar-worthy doesn't it? Well, you can check out the rest of the sides on Showfax. It's pretty discouraging to be an asian actress these days...

Indeed, it sounds awesome. Keep an eye on this one, folks. I can't what kind of racist Hollywood nonsense ends up on the screen. That's racist! (Thanks N.)

yau-man don't need no stinkin' truck

Here's an article on Yau-Man Chan, this season's fan-favorite Survivor: Fiji contestant who came oh-so-close to winning that $1 million prize, but losing it in an ill-fated deal with an untrustworthy competitor: 'Survivor' loss no cause for bitterness. How close did he come to winning? During Sunday's cast reunion finale, host Jeff Probst asked the jurors if they would've voted for Yau in the final three, had Dreamz not reneged on his deal. Based on a show of hands, Yau would've taken home the million. Yau-Man admits, "I made a very expensive mistake." But he bears no hard feelings. And he remains one of the most respected players in the game. Very cool guy.

How cool is Yau-Man Chan? Check out this website: truckforyau.com

uci dispands lambda phi epsilon

Last week at UC Irvine, the university officially disbanded its chapter of the Lambda Phi Epsilon fraternity nearly two years after the death of a pledge, Kenny Luong, who was hurt in a hazing ritual football game: UCI dissolves fraternity involved in hazing case. Luong's parents have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against UCI and the national and local chapters of Lambda Phi Epsilon, an Asian American fraternity.

we do, too: apis and the marriage equality debate

Being Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, there's a ton of stuff going on... Hard to keep track! This week, the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles presents a panel of experts to discuss the historical, political, religious and legal implications of the debate on equal marriage rights for lesbians and gay men, featuring award-winning author/activist Helen Zia; Reverend Mark M. Nakagawa, senior minister of Centenary United Methodist Church in Little Tokyo; actor James Sie; attorney Karin Wang of the Asian Pacific American Legal Center; with welcoming remarks from Sulu himself, George Takei, Chair Emeritus of the JANM Board of Trustees. Thursday, May 17, 2007 7:00pm at the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy. For more information about the event, download this PDF. Should be a very interesting discussion.

angry asian speller

Kunal Sah, a 13-year-old eighth-grader in Green River, Utah, is an angry speller: He knows how to spell a-n-g-r-y. Ah, a kid after my own heart. His family was torn apart last year when his parents were sent back to India last year after being denied political asylum. He apparently cried every day after his parents left, but when spelling bee season started Kunal got angry, spelling words, kicking ass... and winning. He's one of three students from Utah who will be going to Washington at the end of this month for the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

goodbye, gilmore girls

Tonight, we said goodbye to one of TV's most beloved shows, one of the few network shows to feature an Asian American cast member... For the last seven seasons, Keiko Agena played Lane Kim on Gilmore Girls. And tonight was the series finale. I can't say I ever actually watched an entire single episode, but when keeping count of all the Asians on TV these last few years, it was always good to know you could rely on "that Asian girl on Gilmore Girls." No more. But thanks, Keiko.

vc filmfest 2007: wrap-up

Well, last week VC Filmfest 2007 went out with a bang with its Closing Night screening of Charlie Nguyen's The Rebel, which was pretty badass awesome. An ambitious film with a shoestring budget, shot on location in Vietnam, it's a period action flick that kicks some serious ass. Good film, lots of fun. And Dustin Nguyen is the best I've seen him in pretty much anything, as the movie's villain.

The festival also announced the winners of this year's awards, presenting the Grand Jury Prize for Narrative Feature to The Rebel, and Special Jury Prize to Juwan Chung's Baby, a gritty indie gangster flick that delivers a solid story and great performances. The festival jury also presented for the first time acting prizes to noteworthy performances, giving Best Actor to Esai Morales in American Fusion, Best Actress to Meredith Scott Lynn in Finishing the Game (she's great in every scene she's in), and Outstanding Newcomer to David Huynh in Baby (the guy's got a bright future ahead of him).

In the documentary feature category, the Grand Jury Prize was awarded to Linda Hattendorf's The Cats of Mirikitani, and the Special Jury Prize to Lisette Marie Flannery Na Kamalei: Men of Hula. In the shorts category, the Golden Reel Jury Prize for Best Short went to Ruby Yang's amazing (but extremely depressing) documentary The Blood of Yingzhou District, and the Linda Mabalot New Directors/New Visions Award was presented to Tad Nakamura's Pilgrimage. The Audience Award for Narrative Feature went to Frank Lin's romantic comedy American Fusion, and the Audience Award for Nonfiction Feature went to Socheata Poeuv's New Year Baby—though I'm not sure many people heard these two being announced over the hubbub of the party. That's a lot of awards. I recommend seeking out any and all of these films to watch in the future...

UPDATE: Super-extensive VC coverage in the latest edition of Asia Pacific Arts, including video content from the Finishing the Game red carpet, capsule reviews and more. Great stuff, as always.

entertainment news and stuff

Bits of media/entertainment news...

Cannes to open with Wong Kar-wai's My Blueberry Nights: The 60th Cannes Film Festival will open this week with Wong Kar-wai's first English-language project, My Blueberry Nights, starring Norah Jones making her big screen debut. The film will play in competition.

Michael Kang, Director: Gothamist briefly interviewed Mike a few weeks back, just after the world premiere of his latest film West 32nd at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Kim Yun-jin Reveals How She Made It in Hollywood: Lost star Yunjin Kim has written a memoir provisionally titled Hollywood Story, about her struggle and triumph as an actress in Hollywood.

TV Squad interviews James Kyson Lee of Heroes: During the course of this first season, his character Ando has grown quite a bit, from sidekick to full-fledged protagonist (albeit without powers... yet). Hopefully they'll keep giving him interesting things to do.

TV Squad interviews Sulu, er ... George Takei of Heroes: The headline pretty much speaks for itself. This show is a sci-fi/comic book geek's delight. I'm really looking forward to seeing these last two episodes of the season...

Sandra Oh's doing just fine: A profile on the climbing career of Grey's Anatomy star Sandra Oh, a long way from her roots in Canada.

The Kumars at Number 42 ... Sunset Boulevard: Producers of the hit British sitcom The Kumars at Number 42 are in talks to remake the show for American audiences. The show, which ended its seven-series run last year, is about a British Indian family who invite and interview stars in their home. Not sure how the show will translate on U.S. television, but crazier things have happened.

Witherspoon developing 'Bridge': Reese Witherspoon's production company is developing Under the Bridge, a film based on the true story of a brutal high school murder, the 1997 killing of Reena Virk in British Columbia, and the ensuing investigation and prosecution. Virk, the daughter of Indian immigrants, was violently assaulted and killed by a gang of eight teenagers.

'Step Up 2' Will Begin Filming This Summer: I know you've all been eagerly awaiting this one. No, seriously. Did anyone actually see the first Step Up? The sequel reportedly will be directed by John Chu. According to IMDb, his sole previous directorial credit is The Secret of the Magic Gourd. I missed that one too.

asian americans and hepatitis b

Another article on the "silent killer" hepatitis B, a disease that affects a disproportionate number of Asians, putting them at greater risk of developing liver cancer and cirrhosis: Asians losing race with hepatitis. The story mentions Chi Mui, who became San Gabriel's first Asian American mayor in March 2006, only to die of liver cancer after about a month in the position, at 53. He had hepatitis B. The HBV-related death rate among Asian Americans is seven times greater than the rate among American whites, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This is a serious, pressing problem for our community, and the biggest challenge is awareness. For more information about Asian Americans and hepatitis B awareness, vaccination, screening and treatment, go here.

graduate research study on asian american men

Another grad student who needs some help... Richie Wong is a 3rd-year graduate student in Clinical Psychology at Alliant International University in San Francisco, looking for Asian American men ages 18 and older to participate in a study about Asian American men's perceptions and beliefs about themselves and others (seems like there are a lot of these studies going on recently). Allow you have to do is fill out an online survey (it takes about 10-15 minutes to complete). Participation is voluntary, and responses will be kept completely anonymous. For your time and effort, you'll be entered into a drawing to win a $50 gift certificate for Amazon.com. If you're interested in participating and/or would like more information, go here. So all you Asian American men out there, help the guy out with his research.

gq editor and "asian whores"

Got a few emails last week telling me to check out the latest issue of GQ, page 28, for an article by the magazine's editor-in-chief. Not having a subscription, I filed it away to check it out the next time I went to the supermarket... Well, according to Page Six, GQ editor Jim Nelson uses the phrase "Asian whore" twice:

ON the heels of Don Imus, GQ editor Jim Nelson is drawing fire over his letter to readers in the May issue, where he uses the phrase "Asian whores" twice. In discussing the hit DVD "The Secret," which preaches the power of positive thinking, Nelson's letter coaxes, "visualize what you want (an Alfa Romeo? Leather pants? An Asian whore?), think positively, and 'the universe will . . . make it happen for you.'" Janice Lee, deputy executive director of the Asian American Journalists Association, told Page Six, "It is appalling that an editor would find it acceptable to use such racist and sexist language. That GQ is considered a 'men's magazine' is not an excuse." A spokesperson for the Asian American Justice Association told Page Six, "The use of the term 'Asian whore' was unnecessary. To racialize the term 'whore' is completely irrelevant in this context. It's disturbing." Nelson ends his letter with a "thumbs up" to any reader whose wishes are met. "If it's an Asian whore, congrats. But please don't make a DVD about it." Nelson told Page Six, "I think if you read you'll see I'm skewering a Western attitude that one ought to find noxious. The notion that Westerners can have and exploit whatever they want."

I don't buy this guy's excuse for a minute. The fact of the matter is, he used "Asian whore" because he thought it sounded funnier that just "whore" or some other racialized whore. That's racist!

sentenced home and the cats of mirikitani

Just wanted to make sure everyone knew about two great documentaries currently airing this month on PBS... Sentenced Home follows three young Cambodian Americans through the deportation process. Raised in inner city Seattle, they pay a harsh price for mistakes they made as teenagers. Under strict anti-terrorism legislation enacted in 1996, even minor convictions can result in automatic deportation. For these three young men, it means losing against an unblinking legal system, uprooting their lives in the United States, and struggling to start anew in Cambodia. For more information about the film, go here. It premieres on May 15th.

Fresh off the festival circuit, The Cats of Mirikitani is an intriguing portrait of eighty-year-old Jimmy Mirikitani, who survived the trauma of internment camps, Hiroshima and homelessness by creating art on the streets of New York City. The film follows director Linda Hattendorf's unlikely friendship with the prolific, eccentric artist when she invites Jimmy to live with her after the toxic collapse of the World Trade Center. It's a fascinating look at an amazing life. To learn more about the film, go here.

For broadcast dates and times for both films, check your local listings.