7th Annual Korean American Film Festival New York

October 24-26 at Village East Cinema



Hey, New York film fans... October 24-26 marks this year's Korean American Film Festival (KAFFNY), the only New York-based international, independent film and arts festival that programs culturally and socially relevant content for the Korean American population and global Korean diasporas at large. KAFFNY will be screening several films throughout the weekend at the Village East Cinema in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the Korean War Armistice. Here are a few highlights:

Asian American youth speak out for immigration reform

Elevating the voices of Asian American youth in the immigration debate



Asian American youth! You have a stake in immigration reform. Chicago's Fighting Youth Shouting Out for Humanity (FYSH) -- a social justice-oriented youth leadership council of the Korean American Resource and Cultural Center -- collected over 1,000 signatures from young people all over the country in support of Comprehensive Immigration Reform. Featuring spoken word performances from local youth, this video campaign aims to elevate the voices of Asian American youth in the immigration debate:

Justin Lin directing period drama pilot set in Hawaii

New series from Shawn Ryan, creator of The Shield

Yeah, it's official -- Justin Lin is the busiest man in Hollywood. Here's news that he's attached to direct yet another project, a new Fox television pilot from Shawn Ryan, creator of The Shield: Shawn Ryan/Justin Lin Period Drama Set In Hawaii Gets Fox Put Pilot Commitment.

Co-written by Ryan and Davey Holmes, the untitled project is period crime drama set in 1957 Hawaii, two years before the territory becomes the 50th state. It sounds pretty intriguing, and one hopes that setting the series in Hawaii will at least mean we'll get to see some API actor representation... right?

"Silly asians... always copying shit!"

Silly assholes... always saying stupid shit.



This one comes courtesy of Justin Mateen, Co-Founder and SMO of the wildly popular dating app Tinder, who took to Facebook to offer his unsolicited opinion on "Silly Asians." Thanks for the insight.

And the sweeping generalization about an entire race of people. Yeah, I get that it's supposed to be a joke. Funny though, after Valleywag pointed it out, the post in question seems to have been deleted or hidden from public view on Mateen's Facebook profile. Re-thinking that assessment, are we?

More here: Tinder Co-Founder: "Silly asians... always copying shit!"

Creepy camera crew harasses New York Comic Con attendees

Asshole producer uses SiriusXM credentials to conduct racist and sexist interviews.

Got this passed along to me from our friends at 18 Million Rising...

Last weekend at New York Comic Con, a guy named Mike Babchik snuck in to the convention using his credentials from SiriusXM, where he is a producer/on-air personality on the Mad Dog Sports Radio Show. But he didn't go to Comic-Con to geek out or cover the festivities -- he went to racially and sexually harass attendees.

You know, in the grand tradition of asshole jocks messing with nerds.

While he got in using his day job credentials, Babchik was actually there for his side hustle, a public access and internet show called "Man Banter." If that sets off douchetastic red flags for you, Babchik's behavior pretty much confirmed it, as he and his creepy camera crew spent the day conducting racist, sexist interviews.

One of the attendees he talked to was Diana M. Pho, a panel moderator at the convention, who blogged about her run-in with Babchik (he's referred to here as "TCI" -- "The Creepy Interviewer"):

Fall 2013 Family Style Open Mics at Asian Arts Initiative

Every Third Friday at Asian Arts Initiative in Philadelphia



Hey, Philly. The Asian Arts Initiative is kicking off a new season of monthly open mic nights. This Friday, October 18, the South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA) is hosting the first event. The line-up includes local singer-songwriter Umer Piracha, Indian classical dance company Usiloque Dance Designs, and the Unsung Theater Company will be some of the folks taking stage. Here's more information:

Boxers & Saints is a finalist for the National Book Award

Gene Luen Yang is the first author to be nominated twice for a graphic novel.



HUGE congratulations to our friend Gene Luen Yang, whose marvelous graphic novel Boxers & Saints has been nominated for the prestigious National Book Award. The finalists for fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and young people's literature were announced this morning on MSNBC's Morning Joe, and Gene made the cut!

A Conversation with Lela Lee, October 19

Meet the creator of Angry Little Asian Girl



Hey, Los Angeles. Lela Lee, the mastermind behind the adorably awesome Angry Little Girls comic series, is coming to the Japanese American National Museum on Saturday, October 19 as part of its new exhibition, "Marvels & Monsters: Unmasking Asian Images in U.S. Comics, 1942-1986." The artist and author will be talking about her comics and their impact on Asian America and beyond. If you're a JANM member, you can also speak with her during the members-only meet and greet:

WTF Casting Call: Asian School Girls

Uh oh. Sounds like some screenwriter's sick Asian fetish gone crazy.

At this risk of giving this film project more attention than it deserves... what the funk is up with this? Got this casting call passed along to me for a feature film entitled Asian School Girls. That phrase probably conjures up some uncomfortable, skeezy imagery... but dude, it's even worse than what you can imagine.

The plot, as far as I can tell, is about a group of young Asian women who are drugged, raped and forced into sexual slavery. Vowing revenge upon on their captors, the girls all somehow learn self-defense and weaponry -- each adopting a lethal specialty -- and embark on the violent path of killing everyone responsible for their predicament. Sounds like some screenwriter's ugly Asian fetish gone crazy haywire.

Here are some more details about the roles, which will apparently require topless, rear, implied nudity and sexual situations. Of course:

C3: The Conference for Creative Content, October 26

Presented by Visual Communications



Hey, Los Angeles! Visual Communications presents the 3rd annual C3: The Conference for Creative Content, the premiere digital media and content conference happening October 26 at SAG-AFTRA.

C3 will shed light on the changing nature of entertainment media and allow larger audiences to connect with Asian American talent through a diverse array of panels, seminars and features approaching media platforms from all angles. This year, they've put together another great lineup that further expands the conversation.

Here's a brief trailer for the conference:

Job Opportunity: Lecturer in Asian American Studies

Responsible for teaching Hmong American Experiences in the U.S.

I got this academic job listing passed along to me, and figured one of you smart somebodies out there would be qualified for it...

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is a looking for a lecturer in Asian American studies to teach a course next semester on Hmong American Experiences in the U.S. That sounds like it could be a pretty cool class.

Here are some more details on the position:

Roll Call! Preview the artists on CHOPS' Strength in Numbers

Featuring "more names than you can fit in your homie's Honda Civic."



On Sunday, I had the honor of meeting rapper/producer Scott "Chops" Jung, member of the pioneering hip hop group Mountain Brothers and the mastermind behind the upcoming music project Strength in NUMBERS.

For the past two years, Chops has been working on this epic collaboration bringing together dozens of emcees and singers from across the United States and beyond. Just thought I'd throw out another plug for their Kickstarter, because it's cool project that deserves some of your funding love.

Again, here's the video with the pitch:

Two charged in Hmong celebration shooting

Five wounded at traditional Hmong New Year's festival event in Tulsa

Over the weekend in Tulsa, Oklahoma, two men were arrested in connection with a shooting that left five people wounded at a traditional Hmong New Year's festival event: Boonmlee Lee and Meng Lee arrested in Tulsa mass shooting that left five wounded at Hmong celebration.

The shooting occurred at a private party in the Tulsa Event Center, while attendees were lineup for dinner. According to police, two victims were shot in the torso and the other three had wounds to their arms and legs. The shooting was apparently part of some kind of personal vendetta.

21-year-old Boonmlee Lee and 19-year-old Meng Lee, who are apparently counsins, were each charged with five counts of shooting with intent to kill, in addition to firearms charges. Police reportedly tracked the suspects in their car, where one of the men was stripped down to his underwear in an attempt to change his clothes.

Taiwan is crazy for Jeremy Lin. The feeling is mutual.

Some highlights from the Houston Rockets' trip to Taiwan.



You might have heard that Jeremy Lin was in Taiwan with the Houston Rockets to play a preseason game against the Indiana Pacers. You might have also heard that he kicked some butt on the court and made quite a showing for his Taipei fans, who were out in full force. Houston topped Indiana, 107-98, and Jeremy finished with 17 points on 6 for 8 shooting, including 3 for 4 three-pointers, with four assists, three steals, two rebounds. Oh, and one nice dunk. Here's a brief video with some highlights from the game:

WTF: This music video makes me hate Chinese food. And pandas.

A pop star wannabe, a creepy panda, and a racist, kid-friendly ditty about "Chinese" cuisine.



What the hell did I just watch? From the forces of evil that unleashed Rebecca Black's "Friday" upon the world, here is the godawful music video for "Chinese Food" by pop star wannabe Alison Gold. Who? Yeah, exactly. The video really defies description (and coherence) but it's sort of a G-rated, culturally-inappropriate, tween-friendly foodie celebration of Orientalist imagery. Yes, this video is real.

Check it, this pop hit in the making includes Mongolian barbecue, hot sauce, geishas and an extremely creepy panda man flying away on rainbow power. As you can see, you don't need scantily clad women to exoticize and objectify Asians -- kids can get in on the racist fun too! Just watch it once and be done with it:

The Avengers re-imagined as Chinese opera heroes

Awesome art by Gene Luen Yang



Just have to share this awesome art that I got in the mail the other day... These are the Mighty Avengers -- Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk and Thor -- re-imagined as Chinese opera heroes. It's the work of graphic novelist Gene Luen Yang, whose latest book Boxers & Saints was recently long-listed for the National Book Award.

Pretty darn cool. I'm hanging it up on my wall! Want one? If you're in the Austin, Texas area, Austin Books & Comics has exclusive, limited-edition prints of Gene's Chinese Opera Avengers drawing for $20. You can also order it from the Guzu Gallery Official Online Store.

Here's a closer look at the characters:

An Open Letter from the Asian American Community to the Evangelical Church

On cultural insensitivity and reconciliation in the church



This has been a long time coming... Recent incidents of repeated, offensive racial stereotyping of Asians in the evangelical Christian church have compelled a group of Asian American leaders to come together and speak out against this growing gap in the church's understanding and pursuit of racial reconciliation.

I've covered a number of these incidents here over the years, from VBS curriculum, to youth skits, to general Christian trade books, in which Asians have been mocked, caricatured and stereotyped in the name of... I don't know what. Jesus? I didn't see a whole lot of Jesus in any of those things.

Most recently, well-known Christian leader Rick Warren posted an image of a Chinese Red Guard on Facebook, in a failed attempt at humor. When it was pointed out why this imagery might be culturally insensitive, he was dismissive, ultimately issuing one of those perfunctory sorry-if-you-were-offended non-apologies.

And last week at Exponential West, a popular Christian conference attended by thousands, programming included a video featuring a white person mimicking Asian accents and kung fu fighting (do I really have to describe this further?), prompting criticism from Asian American attendees. Organizers have since apologized and promised to remove the video from future conference content.

All of this, and the mounting concern over the church's troubling treatment of Asian Americans and Asian culture, have prompted leaders to draft and post An Open Letter to the Evangelical Church from the Asian American Community, to draw awareness and dialogue to the situation.

Here's the letter:

Read These Blogs

Man Of The Hour: Guess who's baack? Some analysis and observations from the Houston Rockets' 107-98 preseason victory -- in which Jeremy Lin kicked some ass -- over the Indiana Pacers on Sunday in Taipei.

Q&A: The Directors of Linsanity Talk About Their New Film, Taiwan, and February 4, 2012: A Grantland interview with producer Brian Yang and director Evan Jackson Long on their documentary film Linsanity.

Asian-Americans troubled by stereotypes from white evangelicals: Asian American Christians are voicing concerns over how they're depicted by white evangelicals, most recently in a video shown at a conference hosted by Rick Warren's Saddleback Church in Southern California.

An Open Letter to Asian American Parents: Higher education consultant Vijay Pendakur shares a very important list of Five Things Asian American Parents Need to Know in Order to Raise Asian American Children that are Critically Race Conscious.

This Week's Angriest Posts

Not necessarily the angriest, just the most viewed.

1. Aziz Ansari goes to Hong Kong, gets schooled on the proper way to eat a pineapple bun

2. Girl rocks the guzheng with "Sweet Child o' Mine" cover

3. File Under Badass: Malala Yousafzai on The Daily Show

4. Undercover detective charged in motorcycle mob attack

5. Could Dami Im become the first Asian Australian pop star?

6. Get happy with Jane Lui's cover of "Listen to the Music"

7. Wei Chen wins the Peace First Prize

8. Pvt. Danny Chen's life and death to become an opera

9. Reality show casting call seeks Asian American families

10. Unpaid interns are not protected from sexual harassment

Shout out to all the DC folks coming to APA Film's panel on Stereotypes in Hollywood, happening this Sunday, October 13 Goethe-Institut Washington. The event is apparently all filled up, but you can still get yourself added to the wait list. Hope to see you there!

Angry Reader of the Week: Wei Chen

What's up, good people? It is my pleasure to introduce the latest 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 Wei Chen.