One-Year Anniversary Show - Friday, November 24 at UCB Sunset
Hey, Los Angeles! Looking for some good laughs? After stuffing your faces with turkey (and a side of kimchi), cure your post-Thanksgiving blues with Asian AF, the wildly popular monthly Asian American variety show at Upright Citizens Brigade. This month, celebrate Asian AF's one-year anniversary with a lineup that includes standup by Peter Kim, a special screening of Cartoon Network's We Bare Bears and improv by Voltron.
It's happening, Friday, November 24 at UCB Sunset. Here are some more details:
This is a joke, right? Or maybe some kind of performance art? A Florida woman claims that although she was born white, deep down inside she feels Filipino, and now identifies as "transracial."
A Tampa woman calling herself "Ja Du," who was born white, tells WTSP that she now considers herself Filipino. She insists that she is transracial -- someone born one race, but identifies with another.
"Whenever I'm around the music, around the food, I feel like I'm in my own skin," Ja Du says. "I'd watch the History Channel sometimes for hours you know whenever it came to that and you know nothing else intrigued me more but things about Filipino culture."
In stunning news for the Asian American community, beloved community activist and Star Trek star George Takei has been accused of sexually assaulting former male model and commercial actor Scott R. Brunton in a 1981 incident.
The Rohingya are facing genocide. We cannot be bystanders: We cannot allow people to be slaughtered and burnt out of their homes, while the world watches, write Salman Rushdie, Kiran Desai, Aziz Ansari, Mindy Kaling, Riz Ahmed and dozens of others, in an open letter.
You Love 'The Simpsons'? Then Let's Talk About Apu: Comedian Hari Kondabolu's new TruTV documentary The Problem With Apu wrestles with The Simpsons' stereotypical Indian convenience store owner Apu, a character that has haunted South Asian Americans for decades.
A Letter to My Daughter About Heroes: Amy S. Choi grew up searching for heroes -- and knows now that her daughter doesn't have to look far to find her own.
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The war between Vietnamese fishermen and the KKK signaled a new type of white supremacy: In the late 70s and early 80s, a small coastal town in Texas became the home of many Vietnamese refugees, who tried to make a living in the shrimping industry. Feeling threatened by the influx of non-whites, the Klan brought military support to white shrimpers, signaling a troubling shift in the white supremacist movement.
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Asian-American Cuisine's Rise, and Triumph: "These are American ingredients now, part of a movement in cooking that often gets filed under the melting-pot, free-for-all category of New American cuisine. But it's more specific than that: This is food borne of a particular diaspora, made by chefs who are "third culture kids," heirs to both their parents' culture and the one they were raised in, and thus forced to create their own."
"Life is too short to not be brave enough to stand up for what you believe in."
Greetings, internet friends! You know what time it is. It is time, once again, 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 Lata Pandya.
Jeff Yang and Phil Yu present an unfiltered conversation about what's happening in Asian America.
What's up, podcast listeners? We've got another episode of our podcast They Call Us Bruce. Each week, my good friend, writer/columnist Jeff Yang and I host an unfiltered conversation about what's happening in Asian America, with a strong focus on media, entertainment and popular culture.
NERDS! This episode, we welcome friend and fellow geek Keith Chow, founder of the Nerds of Color empire. We talk about the rise of nerd culture, representation, bad adaptations, and the changing face of fandom.
More Asians on TV, maybe! Fox has given a script commitment with significant penalty to Model Minorities, a single-camera comedy from Fresh Off The Boat co-executive producer Sanjay Shah, Portlandia and Baskets co-creator, executive producer and director Jonathan Krisel and 20th Century Fox TV.
Written by Shah, Model Minorities is a stereotype-busting comedy that follows a highly educated but struggling Indian American who moves in with his uneducated, but rich, immigrant cousin.
So... like an Indian Perfect Strangers? Sure, I'm down for it.
This could be great. Shah, who got his start on the animated series King of the Hill and was a co-executive producer on the comedy Enlisted, has had a hand in some of Fresh Off the Boat's most memorable episodes.
That title though... I'm going to have think about it.
Hoboken city councilman emerges victorious after racist fliers called him a "terrorist."
The Jersey Journal
Awwww yeah. Take that, racists! The Hoboken councilman who was targeted with a racist flier calling him a "terrorist" has won the city's mayoral race, becoming the first Sikh mayor in the state of New Jersey.
Just days before the election, fliers attacking Ravi Bhalla were anonymously placed on car windshields in the mid-town area, warning "Don't let TERRORISM take over our Town!" above a picture of Bhalla, who is Indian American and wears a turban and unshorn beard in accordance with his Sikh faith.
The fliers appear to have been a modified version of a mailer previously sent by the campaign of mayoral opponent Michael DeFusco, claiming that Bhalla had an alleged conflict of interest. DeFusco denounced the fliers, saying his campaign had nothing to do with them. Whoever's responsible -- surprise, racists are anonymous cowards -- they were probably pretty disappointed with the election results.
On Tuesday, Bhalla emerged the historic winner atop a field of six candidates, garnering 34 percent of the vote. Congratulations to Ravi Bhalla, the first Sikh to be elected mayor of a New Jersey municipality. About time.
School board candidates Jerry Shi and Falguni Patel are not going anywhere.
Awwww yeah. Take that, racists! In New Jersey, the two school board candidates who were targeted with racist "Make Edison Great Again" mailers that made national headlines won seats in the election on Tuesday.
Last week, voters in Edison received postcards, mailed anonymously, warning "The Chinese and Indians are taking over our town!" and calling for the deportation of school board candidates Jerry Shi and Falguni Patel.
Shi and Patel, who respectively claimed their seats with 6,259 and 6,115 votes, will serve a three-year term on the Edison Township Public Schools board. So yeah, they're not going anywhere.
A K-Drama re-watch podcast by (and for) people who don't watch Korean dramas.
Are you a fan of Korean dramas? Then this podcast is probably not for you. The Korean Drama Podcast is the K-Drama rewatch podcast by (and for) people who don't watch Korean dramas.
In season one, host Will Choi (founder of Asian AF) and I -- both self-professed Korean drama beginners -- with help and hand-holding by our resident K-Drama expert Joanna Lee, attempt to watch and discuss the 2009 megahit drama Boys Over Flowers in its entirety, episode by episode.
Boys Over Flowers refuses to end, and so the Korean Drama Podcast valiantly continues our vow to see this series through! On this episode, we have crying, hospital scenes, cute picnics, bitter breakups, and all the other K-Drama tropes you crave! We also share stories of being starstruck, and wonder why nobody on this series looks each other in the eyes while talking.
Kelly Marie Tran drops hints about her 'Last Jedi' character.
As you know, we are hyped as hell for Kelly Marie Tran's role as Rose Tico in the upcoming new Star Wars movie. So we're pouncing on every little Rose-related morsel of story details, marketing and merchandising in the run up to The Last Jedi's release next month. The latest visual clue: space jewelry.
Entertainment Weekly's Holiday Movie Preview has dropped some more information about Rose, including the above image of Tran and John Boyega's Finn piloting a craft to the interstellar casino city of Canto Bight.
We already know that Rose is no-nonsense maintenance tech who usually works in the background of the Resistance, but finds herself caught up in a dangerous adventure with Finn. Tran offers some more details about her character, her background and what she brings to their mission in a galaxy far, far away.
"The journey that she and Finn go seems pretty impossible, you can tell in this moment that she's very much aware of the dangers that they are about to face, but she's also logically in her mind problem-solving on the way," Tran says. She knows exactly, probably, how many things can go wrong in a situation."
Racist flier attacks Sikh mayoral candidate in New Jersey.
What the hell, New Jersey? For the second time within a week, a racist flier attacking a local candidate has been circulated anonymously. The latest one targets a Sikh mayor candidate in Hoboken.
On Friday night, fliers attacking Hoboken councilman and mayor candidate Ravi Bhalla were anonymously placed on car windshields in the mid-town area. The fliers declare "Don't let TERRORISM take over our Town!" above a picture of Bhalla, who wears a turban and unshorn beard in accordance with his Sikh faith.
Bhalla shared the flier on Twitter, assuring supporters that "we won't let hate win."
Tuesday will show if racist fear-mongering can win elections: "The only way that these racial appeals will diminish is if they are rejected at the ballot box. Otherwise, we can expect a far greater number of candidates, incumbents as well as challengers, working to add race-baiting advertisements and appeals to their 2018 campaigns."
How Racism Made Me a Dodgers Fan: By now you probably know about Houston Astros player Yuli Gurriel mocking L.A. Dodgers pitcher Yu Darvish with a racist slur and gesture during Game 3. Fern Shen talks about how this moment brought up a lot of the author's own past, and how it made Shen a new Dodgers fan.
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For China's Gold Rush Prospectors, 'Bone Scraping' Was the Last Way Home: While many of the Chinese laborers who came to San Francisco during the gold rush came seeking fortune, many did not expect to return. In order to get the deceased's remains to China, relatives would pay for "bone scraping" services -- where remains were exhumed, cleaned, and neatly arranged into shipping boxes.
Coffee with John Cho: Debating good and evil, and revisiting that time he auditioned for The Office: A great interview with John Cho, who stars as Andy Kim in Fox's Exorcist. "Really, the harder thing [to think about] is, 'What do I have in common with Harvey Weinstein?' And that is what we as a society have to think about. Maybe the entertainment business also has to say, 'Who is, and what's close to Harvey Weinstein that we haven't identified around here? What do we have in common with him rather than uncommon with him?'"
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Randall Park's Kimchi Recipe: "Sometimes you find a kimchi recipe, sometimes a kimchi recipe finds you." Fresh Off The Boat star Randall Park shares his homemade kimchi recipe with The Mash-Up Americans.
"Literally cannot name my feelings with feeling words but will design you a citywide scavenger hunt."
Hey, folks! You know what's up. It's time, once again, 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 Christy NaMee Eriksen.
Civil rights advocates file nationwide class action lawsuit on behalf of 100+ refugees detained by ICE.
Posda Tuot, cousin of Nak Kim "Rickie" Chhoeun, who was detained by ICE on October 20, 2017.
Cambodian refugees detained in recent raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have filed a nationwide class action lawsuit challenging their unlawful arrests. Since early October, ICE has rounded up over a hundred Cambodian refugees with deportation orders, making these the largest raids ever to target the Cambodian community. Nearly 2000 Cambodian refugees are at risk of being unlawfully arrested.
The complaint, filed last Friday by civil rights organizations Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Asian Law Caucus, Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Los Angeles, and Sidley Austin LLP, alleges the detentions are illegal, and argues that without that clear pathway to deportation, the detainees should be released.
The people detained in the raids arrived in the United States as refugee children fleeing the horrors of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. Many of them were born in refugee camps and have never set foot in Cambodia. They made the United States their home and became lawful permanent residents.
In the U.S., Cambodian refugee families struggled with trauma and poverty in violence-ridden neighborhoods. Some refugees made mistakes in their youth, which led to criminal convictions and ultimately deportation orders. But because Cambodia has refused to accept them for deportation, ICE had to release Cambodian detainees instead of keeping them indefinitely and unconstitutionally detained.
Our annual gallery of reader-submitted Halloween costumes.
All right. As we put Halloween behind us, here is one last look at your Halloween costumes. Here's the fourth and final round of our annual reader-submitted Halloween costume photo gallery (also see Part One, Part Two and Part Three). I put out a call for your awesome, tasteful, non-offensive costumes, and you delivered, dear readers. Thanks to everyone who submitted a photo. You all look great!
Entertainment Weekly's latest cover story goes behind the scenes of next summer's buzziest film.
Crazy Rich Asians fans, check it. Entertainment Weekly's latest cover story goes behind the scenes with an exclusive look at next summer's buzziest film, which features a rare all-Asian principal cast that includes Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Michelle Yeoh, Harry Shum Jr., Ken Jeong, Gemma Chan and Awkwafina.
Based on the hugely popular bestselling novel by Kevin Kwan, Crazy Rich Asians follows Rachel Chu, a Chinese American economics professor who accompanies her boyfriend Nick back to his hometown of Singapore for his best friend's wedding. That's when she realizes Nick's family is not just rich -- they're crazy rich. He is perhaps the most eligible bachelor in Asia, and every single woman in his ultra-rarefied social class is incredibly jealous of Rachel and wants to bring her down.
"This is about a girl going somewhere that's foreign to her, to really find out who she is," Wu, who plays Rachel, tells EW. "It's just such a beautiful story, to show an Asian American immigrant going back to Asia and finding the things that overlap and connect us all, things like family, things like love."
Racist mailers sent to voters in Edison, New Jersey.
With an election just around the corner, you can always count on some underhanded racist campaigning. But it's still pretty shocking when it's this blatant. The above mailer, targeting Chinese American and Indian American school board candidates, was apparently sent to voters in Edison, New Jersey.
With the super-original slogan "Make Edison Great Again," the postcard implores voters to "Stop Jerry Shi & Falguni Patel From taking over our School Board," with a red "DEPORT" stamped under Shi and Patel's faces.
"The Chinese and Indians are taking over our town!" the anonymous mailer declares. "Chinese school! Indian school! Cricket fields! Enough is enough!" But wait, they're not done yet.
The reverse side says, "Stop the overcrowding! Stop taking over our sports fields! Stop the McMansions! Stop the multiple families living in the same house! Stop wasting school holidays! Stop the outsiders! Let's take back our Edison & our Schools."
Our annual gallery of reader-submitted Halloween costumes.
Too... much... candy... As you recover from your Halloween candy sugar crash, let's take a look at some more of your costumes. Here is the latest found of our annual reader-submitted Halloween costume photo gallery (also see Part One and Part Two), one of our favorite holiday traditions. I put out the call for your awesome, tasteful, non-offensive costumes and you delivered, dear readers.
Mark your calendars. Crazy Rich Asians has a release date. Warner Bros. has announced that the comedy, starring Constance Wu and Henry Golding, will be released on August 17, 2018.
Directed by Jon M. Chu and adapted from the hugely popular novel by Kevin Kwan, Crazy Rich Asians centers on three wealthy Chinese families as they prepare for Singapore's wedding of the year.
The story follows Rachel Chu, a Chinese American economics professor who accompanies her boyfriend Nick back to his hometown of Singapore for his best friend's wedding. That's when she realizes Nick's family is crazy rich, he is perhaps the most eligible bachelor in Asia, and every single woman in his ultra-rarefied social class is incredibly jealous of Rachel and wants to bring her down.
