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South Korea will be sending their first astronaut, Ko San, into space on April 8th aboard a Russian spaceship bound for the International Space Station. The New York Times reports that San will be bringing with him one of Korea’s iconic dishes - kimchi in “Starship Kimchi: A Bold Taste Goes Where It Has Never Gone Before“:
“Three top government research institutes spent millions of dollars and several years perfecting a version of kimchi that would not turn dangerous when exposed to cosmic rays or other forms of radiation and would not put off non-Korean astronauts with its pungency… The South Koreans created versions of several other foods for Mr. Ko’s mission, including instant noodles, hot pepper paste, fermented soybean soup and sticky rice. But kimchi was the toughest to turn into space food… Ordinary kimchi is teeming with microbes, like lactic acid bacteria, which help fermentation. On Earth they are harmless, but scientists feared they could turn dangerous in space if cosmic rays and other radiation cause them to mutate… Another problem was that kimchi has a short shelf life, especially when temperatures fluctuate rapidly, as they sometimes do in space.”
The Korean government spent millions of dollars for space kimchi - that’s pretty crazy! I guess when you are in space, having comfort food can be pretty important. Apparently from the research, scientists have found a way to slow down the fermentation of kimchi for a month so that it can be shipped around the world at less cost - which will lead to helping the globalization of kimchi.
2 Comments | Posted in: Current Events, Food & Drink
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One of my friends is the most politically active American (let alone Asian American) I know - Sophia (and her husband) recently launch their website, Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders for Hillary ’08 (www.aapiforhillary.com):
Although Asian Americans make up about 5% of the U.S. population, in California, Asian Americans make up 12%. If you’ve been following the political commentary on Super Tuesday in California, Hillary Clinton won the Asian American vote 75% to Barack Obama’s 25% - leading many pundits to ask, Does Obama Have an Asian Problem?
The big test for Clinton is in the next week and a half with the Texas and Ohio primary - where Asian Americans constitutes 3.6% of Texas and 1.7% of Ohio.
I’ve mentioned a past event for Asian Americans for Obama already, so thought I’d let others know about a blog for Hillary. If there are any Asian Americans for John McCain sites or blogs out there, let me know.
6 Comments | Posted in: Current Events, Politics
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Just read this interesting article in the Advertising Age website by Bill Imada called, “Have Asian Americans Done Enough for the Black Community?”
It’s sad that I think the really obvious answer to this really is, no. Given the history of what I’ve seen, on how we treat black people as customers, as friends, as people to emulate and yet not really understand their histories and how they’ve paved the way for other minorities to fight for social and economic justice, and how Asians view blacks with so much hatred and fear because of how blacks have been portrayed in the media (like the infamous AsianWeek op-ed piece), I think that there should be more introspection into how we’ve been taught to fear and hate each other and learn how to respect each other and our histories and that we’re dealing with many of the same issues they are.
Yes, this is really painfully obvious, but sad that people need to write articles like Imada’s to make us see that we’ve got a long way to go…
(Flickr photo credit: yngrich)
4 Comments | Posted in: Discrimination, Observations, Politics
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Cinequest is an annual film festival held in San Jose, California. This year, there is a lineup of Asian interest films during the festival, running February 27th - March 9th, including:
For more information about these films checkout the Cinequest Web site at www.cinequest.org. You can also download this flyer for more info.
No Comments | Posted in: Entertainment
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For the K-drama lover and Sci-Fi fanatic in you, coming next year you’ll be able to see the American born, South Korean model turned actor Daniel Henney in X-Men Origins: Wolverine playing Agent Zero.
Now this isn’t just a gratuitous post about ‘yet another Asian in a mainstream film to look out for’ … well, not just that … but his public reason as to why he chose the role.
“Although I received many offers from Hollywood in the past, they were usually for stereotypical, hackneyed Oriental roles that Western audiences are used to. However, the advantage of being a native English speaker and having a westernized physique can be utilized to play a different, more original role not given to other Asian actors; therefore, breaking the barrier of the stereotypical oriental character. The character in “X-men Origins” fulfilled my expectations, which helped me decide to play a role in this film.”
Course, this is actually translated from a Korean newswire while the rest of the English-speaking world is reporting that the Lost Hobbit has also joined the cast to play Beak.
Really, who would you rather watch?
The answer, of course is Hugh Jackman. Daniel Henney just makes it THAT much worth my $12 Cdn.
Image Credit (ComicBookMovie.com)
4 Comments | Posted in: Entertainment
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I meant to post this a couple of days ago, but now that I’m in our fine nation’s capital, I’m reinvigorated… albeit tardy.
66 years ago, on February 19, 1942, United States Executive Order 9066 was issued during World War II by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, using his authority as Commander-in-Chief to exercise war powers to send people of Japanese ancestry to internment camps. Although the order technically targeted those of “Foreign Enemy Ancestry” — which included Japanese, Italians, and Germans — Japanese Americans were by far the most impacted by EO 9066.
Every year, the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program holds an “Annual Day of Remembrance” to mark the anniversary of the event and this year the program presents a staged reading of the critically acclaimed new play, Innocent When You Dream, by Ken Narasaki and directed by Alberto Isaac.
After 66 years, the number of the people who were old enough to remember these events as teenagers or adults are dwindling. I believe it’s important to remember these landmark events in our nation’s history (we must remember the good, the bad, and the ugly). It is vital to keep the memories of this chapter of our history via oral histories, literature and other types of documentation, as well as via the dramatic arts. If you’re in the DC area, try to catch this one-time event. I’ll be there to support… I hope you will be, too.
Innocent When You Dream
A play reading by Ken NarasakiSaturday, February 23, 2008 3:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.
Meyer Auditorium
Freer Gallery of Art
12th Street and Independence Avenue, SW
Metro: Smithsonian or L’Enfant Plaza
www.timescapearts.com
www.apa.si.edu
No Comments | Posted in: Current Events, Discrimination, Entertainment
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As the years pass, you would have imagined that racial tolerance would be progressing. Yet an incident that occurred at my alma mater, Washington State University, spoke of regression.
Why is this problematic? When I first read about this particular assault on Kyle Descher, I was actually shocked. In all the years I spent in Pullman, never was I even in a situation similar to this victim of a possible hate crime. In fact, the closest I have ever been to being victimized has been some name calling of which was easily shaken off. But perhaps times have truly changed for the worse.
The fact that Kyle was sucker punched while entering a local bar after some words that were exchanged, and that a Korean friend had a knife pulled on him the night before makes me truly wonder what goes on in people’s heads these days. What’s worse is that no one is willing to come forward to identify the assailants even though there were others in the bar. Even after friends and family have raises over five thousand dollars reward for any information that leads to the arrest and conviction of whomever was involved. That just blows my mind that no one “saw anything”.
His only crime apparently was being a “f***ing Asian.”
Even his uncle whom is the editor of The Daily Aberdeen, wrote a piece as a guest columnist in the Seattle Times on the tragedy of his nephew. Like his uncle, I’m saddened by the thought that ironically Kyle’s ill-fated night on a day where we recognized Dr. King whom wished for racial tolerance.
Perhaps a lesson to be learned is that there will always be “haters” out there. What a terrible thought, eh?
Photo Credit: (llimllib)
1 Comment | Posted in: Discrimination, Observations, WTF
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I’ll admit it - I haven’t been watching American Idol this year. I blame it on not having working cable, but from what I’ve been hearing the ratings have been going down the past couple of years anyway. Awkward first auditions? Pretty people singing “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough?” Been there, done that.
So the producers have made some changes to this year’s Idol: Less mean judging, and the addition of “ringers” - contestants that previously had recording contracts. And the addition of this year’s token Asian American contestant - Ramiele Malubay.
American Idol has never been good to Asian Americans: William Hung. That Filipino guy in the pimp suit. That guy who was the anti-William Hung, but got eliminated in the first round anyway. Sanjaya. But even though the women officially sing for the first time tonight, Ramiele has gotten early buzz - she’s the third most searched for contestant on Yahoo! and has been profiled heavily in the Philippines media. Whether Ramiele will be the next Jasmine Trias (who later produced platinum albums overseas) or the next Melinda Lira (who single-handedly wins for the most awkward Idol elimination, ever) remains to be seen.
Update: American Idol uber-blogger Rickey has MP3’s and videos of her first performance.
3 Comments | Posted in: Entertainment
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