Ninja Warrior is a Japanese game show that my sons got me hooked on. I found it absorbing and creative (who says Asians are not creative?), so I vegged out for a weekend watching a Ninja Warrior marathon on the G4 channel. Called Sasuke in Japan after a ninja in stories called Saratobi Sasuke, the game is a brutal obstacle course in four stages. Contestants win four million yen if they complete all four stages. Here is some examples of the first stage, and if you can believe it, not the hardest!
The show is fascinating for a number of reasons. First, it’s incredibly difficult — out of 22 contests in the past 12 years, the entire four stage course has only been completed twice. The contestants seem to have a lot of camaraderie as they are competing against the course far more than against each other. Second, there is a mix of serious and non-serious contestants (including actors, comedians, and just plain eccentric folks), which leads to those painful and humiliating collisions and falls that Japanese game shows seem to love. To complete the courses, a combination of balance, agility, and above all, a fantastic strength weight ratio is required. As a result, some of the best contestants, which are have been from all over the world, are Olympic level athletes like gymnasts Paul and Morgan Hamm, and decathlete Paul Terek. Third, G4 thankfully doesn’t dub the show, which preserves the tone set by the Japanese play by play announcers. I dislike the dubbed versions of Iron Chef, and while some may like it, to me, the dubbing really detracts from the original show.
Ninja Warrior surprised me in a number of ways; despite having Olympic level athletes from around the world, the only two men who have completed all four stages have backgrounds as Japanese fishermen. In a way, that’s not surprising, as fisherman do a lot of pulling – pulling in nets, pulling down ropes, pulling up anchors – which builds the biceps, lats, and hand strength critical for finishing the third stage. I was also surprised at the number of professional and high level Asian athletes; who says Asians aren’t athletic? A final surprise was how long the show has lasted — it’s gone on for 12 years, with contests done twice a year.
While Ninja Warrior doesn’t exclude women, there is a women-only version called Kunoichi, named for female Ninjas. G4 TV also runs a contest called American Ninja Challege, where the finalists go onto compete on Sasuke in Japan. You can see all of three competitions on G4 TV.
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“It will not be welcome on the territory of the French republic.”
Following a meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama in which the two disagreed on the issue, French President Nicolas Sarkozy made a major policy speech condemning the covering. “The burka is not a sign of religion, it is a sign of subservience,” this male, non-Muslim expert stated on Monday, adding that it deprives women of identity and acts as a prison.
In 2004, France made a controversial decision to ban headscarves in public schools. Sarkozy has evidently watched a few too many Hollywood terrorist propaganda movies, he himself denying the identity of the Muslim women who choose to wear it. As a burqa-wearing thread contributor on Salon.com points out “I’m also happy to have non-Muslim friends who don’t try to take my agency away by assuming I must be brainwashed.” And she is only one of many Muslim women speaking out against anti-head covering sentiments.
Since when is spinning spiritually significant clothing as evil considered to be progressive? Oh right, like when Sikh turbans were banned from Canadian Mounted Forces until 1990. Canada being one of the most progressive countries, naturally.
Many try to play off the call to ‘ban religious symbols’ in the name of secularism. Yet, it is usually muslim women who wear head or body coverings that are the first targeted. On behalf of Islamaphobia and sexism — ahem — secularism, naturally.
Shopping With GASP!
A recent tweet by a New York Times reporter posted a link to Modeling Interracial Love, a report about a recent Center for Economic and Policy Research discussion paper excitingly titled Anthropometry of Love: Height and Gender Asymmetries in Interethnic Marriages (.pdf):
“We argue that a simple preference for a taller husband (or shorter wife) can explain part of the gender-specific… asymmetries across ethnic groups in the propensity to outmarry. Blacks are taller than Asians, and their height distribution is closer to whites. Because they are taller, black men have better prospects on the white marriage market than Asian men. For women, the reverse is true. Because Asians are relatively short on average, women fare substantially better on the white marriage market than black women.”
Their findings are primarily based on British data, but also consider American marriage data and patterns; economists and sociologists try to model interracial dating based on such factors as education and socioeconomic status in order to explain interracial marriage imbalances between men and women of the same ethnicity, without much luck.
Most would agree that men prefer women who are shorter than themselves and women prefer men who are taller than themselves, but to say that height alone is the sole determining primary factor for interracial marriage imbalances between men and women is simplistic — I’d like to think that humans are more evolved than our predecessors. That said, studies exist in regards to height and their relationship to management material.
I’ve written about artist/animator Martin Hsu before, so I’m excited to write about his latest collection, The Legend of Naii, at Gallery 1988 in San Francisco.
The eight paintings are a tribute to his grandmother, whom he depicts as a goddess warrior defending her forest from demon pests.
Nai nai means grandma on the father’s side in Chinese. She was the center of our family and will always be my inspiration.
For as long as I can remember she’s always had silky white hair. She was also one of the last women in China who had their feet bound and survived the wars. She had eight kids even though one didn’t live pass the age of 4. She carries them on her back in the eight paintings in order to look after them.
I’m a huge fan of Martin’s work, since he always manages to successfully combine pop art, his culture and his strong, crazy imagination into fun yet thought evoking story. I only hope he’ll start illustrating children’s books sometime in the near future!
The show opens at Gallery 1988 on Friday, June 26th from 7:00-10:00pm. Check out the flier for more information after the jump.
We’ve covered the “Asian Flush” more than once and well, frankly, getting taped and humilated is a far worse consequence than turning red from alcohol. Well, that’s what I think, anyway.
Be careful who you are drinking with because they might capture your drunkest moments on video and share them on TheDrunkest.com. And then a bored blogger named Joz might come upon it and repost it on 8Asians.com. As a point of information, the vast majority of the people depicted on this website are non-Asian. In fact, there are only two videos (at this time) which come up in a search for “Asian.” So don’t be like this girl, who is probably hoping no one recognizes her because we all look same:
It’s Saturday afternoon and I know many of us are preparing for a night out of drinking and general debauchery. Back in the day before cheap digital cameras and cell phones that could record your every move, you could go out, drink until you started showing people your tits (NSFW), and no one would remember what had happened. Not anymore.
You have been warned.
I like to think that I bleed Dodger Blue. I love baseball and I LOVE the Los Angeles Dodgers. While I may not be an expert, I know my around a game enough to surprise the boys who think girls do not know anything about baseball. I’m a very passionate fan and I’ve annoyed many a fans who have been unfortunate enough to sit in front of me at games. And I’m proud to say that I’ve even woken up a baby with my cheers while I was baby-sitting (it was unintentional).
Thanks to Ernie, I found out before my boss (who loves the Dodgers more than I do) that the Dodgers signed their first Korean high-schooler (Tae-hyok Nam) to a minor-league deal. Though Nam won’t be seen playing at the beauty that is the Dodger Stadium for a few years, it’s exciting that my team has been able to sign a promising player at a young age. I hope Nam matures into a great player so that he can do the Blue proud!
While we’re on the topic of MLB, let’s discuss something: Asians seem to dominate — read, do well — in baseball. Our office has been having discussions about this for as long as I’ve been working here. What is it in Asian men that help them shine in this sport? Theories from muscle memory to intelligence were thrown around; in any case, I’m glad to see Asian guys shining in professional sports in USA. Hey, whatever it takes to dispel the stereotype that Asians aren’t athletic.
(Flickr photo credit: Nitro101)
On a spring morning in 1998, Dominic Orr woke up as he did every day, in the dark. While his children slept, he showered, checked his phone and e-mail messages, and drove from his Saratoga, Calif., home to a breakfast meeting nearby. When he emerged an hour or so later, he stopped cold.
In the early-morning light, he saw his dark-green Infiniti J30 covered with deep dents. The taillights were smashed, and the body was riddled with chips and scratches. Orr could hardly believe his eyes. When had this happened? Who could possibly have done it?
From “Confessions of a CEO” in Fortune, by Stephanie Mehta
While we have talked about the lack of Asian-American CEOs and the glass ceiling, we haven’t discussed the price of “success” for those who have made it to that level. At that time of the above incident, Dominic Orr was the CEO of a hot Internet startup ready to go public. Always intensely driven, he was seeing little of his family. So who attacked his car? His son, in attempt to get some kind of attention. “I tried to destroy something that mattered to him,” said Alvin Orr.
The stereotypical Asian-American father is thought of as strict, distant, work-oriented–not so emotionally involved with their children. In Up, Russell’s father, assuming that he is Asian, is not there for him (nicely pointed out by this commenter on Rice Daddies). My own father spent months at sea when I was a child. I can’t blame him, though, as joining the U.S. Navy was one of few options for coming to the US for Filipinos of his era. Only when I had kids of my own did I discover how much he really liked children and how hard it must have been for him.
My child arrived just the other day
He came to the world in the usual way
But there were planes to catch and bills to pay
He learned to walk while I was away
And he was talkin’ ‘fore I knew it, and as he grew
He’d say “I’m gonna be like you dad
You know I’m gonna be like you”…
I’ve long since retired, my son’s moved away
I called him up just the other day
I said, “I’d like to see you if you don’t mind”
He said, “I’d love to, Dad, if I can find the time
You see my new job’s a hassle and kids have the flu
But it’s sure nice talking to you, Dad
It’s been sure nice talking to you”And as I hung up the phone it occurred to me
He’d grown up just like me
My boy was just like meFrom Cats in the Cradle by Harry Chapin
I always said to myself that I wouldn’t be like those fathers. I haven’t always succeeded, but I’m proud of the fact that I managed to find the time to coach each of my kids in some sport. My career hasn’t reached the heights like Dominic Orr’s, but since it’s been flexible enough for me to spend time with my children, I’d have to call it a success. In the end, Dominic Orr took time off to connect with his son. I see a new breed of highly involved Asian-American fathers – check out Rice Daddies. My father spends time with my kids. Making up for lost time, I suppose.
I’m setting up a get together with my father, my children, my wife’s father and much of our extended family for Father’s Day. I don’t know how many of these Father’s Days that we have left, so unlike the men in Cats in the Cradle, I can find the time.
Elaine Touch is a beautiful 24 year-old college grad from Long Beach. She aspires for a career in public relations and she’s in the news. Why? Because the custom wheelchair that she relies on to live her life was stolen last month when she went to see Star Trek on a date.
That’s right. Some bonehead kids evidently stole the wheelchair from a woman with cerebral palsy while she was watching John Cho kick some alien butt. If I had seen this happen, I’d have kicked those kids’ asses to Romulus.
Elaine graduated from CSULB last year with a degree in Sociology. She’s had a number of cool internships, including the Mitsubishi Electric & Electronics USA’s summer internship program for young people with disabilities. Normally she watches movies in her wheelchair, but she wanted a better seat for this particular movie. She asked her date to carry her up to a better seat a few rows up and left her wheelchair a little ways away. By the time the house lights went up, her wheels were gone. Security tapes show footage of two minors rolling the wheelchair out of the theater. To get back to the car, her date had to push her out of the theater on a rolling computer chair.
If you think that this is some isolated case, well in the nearby town of Lakewood, 14 year-old Summer Kearney, also had her wheelchair stolen from a backyard patio at her home. What the HELL people?!?!?
Anyway, because of these two random acts of unkindness, there now is a “Wheelchair Donation Fund” to get these ladies in new wheels. The Wheelchair Donation Fund is being taken care of by the Disabled Student Services department at Cal State Long Beach and you can send your donations to:
Address: Disabled Student Services
Attn: Disabled Student Wheelchair Fund
Address: 1250 N. Bellflower Blvd., Rm 250, Long Beach, California 90840
Phone No. 562-985-5401
Email: dss@csulb.edu — Subject line: Disabled Students’ Wheelchair Fund
Let’s get these ladies rollin’ again.
*Please don’t fire me from writing headlines.
I’ve heard and seen people into the body modification scene, but I’ve never really heard of the saline inflation fad in Japan until coming across these photographs by Ryoichi ‘Keroppy’ Maeda in Bizarre Magazine.
Saline inflation what? Yeah, fans of body art can now slowly inject a saline solution under their skin to temporarily distort, balloon and mod parts of their bodies for fun. And it’s not just so you can walk around looking like a bagel has been embedded inside your forehead; apparently the experience of inflating oneself is a party in itself:
“Inflation isn’t painful, it’s more of a weird sensation – but it is the act of using the body and seeking another experience. It’s a bit tight. If your head gets really full, you feel a lot of pressure.”
Cool. Sign me up.
So what makes this saline inflation club so big in Japan? Bizarre believes that the Japanese naturally takes a subculture farther and more excessive than any other country. Maybe that’s true, in the sense that breaking away from such a dominant monoculture would require the extreme lifestyle. You can’t just give yourself a pink mohawk; you gotta INJECT YOURSELF WITH SALT WATER!
I’m curious to know if any of our readers have undergone a saline inflation themselves. I’ll be over in the corner recovering from looking at all these photographs. And why is that photographer’s nicknamed after a Sanrio character?
…and the Green Dam Girl doesn’t have anything to do with dental dams.
Actually, Green Dam Youth Escort (绿坝·花季护航) is “content-control software” developed in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Ostensibly designed to block pornography, Green Dam can actually be used to block other content, as well. A week ago China announced that as of July 1, 2009, all computers sold in China must be installed with Green Dam. Under the guise of screening out pornography, its true main purpose is for the PRC government to censor and spy on its citizens. Not only does Green Dam automatically download the latest updates of a list of prohibited sites from an online database, it also collects private user data.
Due to a public backlash to its original announcement, the PRC government later announced that the installation of the software is “optional.” While much of the outcry from users and computer manufacturers was surrounding issues of censorship, the real reason for the PRC’s about-face is because there are many security flaws within the software that allows hackers to take over computers. In fact, typical of what you might expect from China, a place where piracy of all kinds runs rampant, it turns out that Green Dam is built upon copyright and open source violations. ZDNet Government reports that Green Dam not only rips off Cybersitter software from Solid Oak, but that it also uses open source code without proper attribution.
Outside of the security vulnerabilities and its copied source code, Green Dam also has a number of major functional defects. From Wikipedia:
Green Dam Youth Escort recognizes pornographic images by analyzing skin-coloured regions, complemented by human face recognition. However, according to a Southern Weekly article, the software is incapable of recognizing pictures of nudity featuring black- or red-skinned characters but sensitive enough to images with large patches of yellow that it censors promotional images of the film Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties. The article also cited an expert saying that the software’s misrecognition of “inappropriate contents” in applications including Microsoft Word can lead it to forcefully close those applications without notifying the user, and so cause data losses.
Wikipedia shows a photo of pigs, banned because the pink pigs “matched” the color of human skin.
Not surprisingly, says ZDNet Government, “Chinese youth mock the Green Dam program, kidding each other that if they don’t behave, ‘I’ll youth-escort you.’ Anti-Green Dam websites and petitions are popular. And a Manga-style cartoon mocking the thought police has appeared: Green Dam Girl (绿坝娘).” Chinese blogger Hecaitou says that the images of Green Dam Girl show “the creativity of the post 80s generation (i.e. those born after 1980). The character carries a rabbit (the Green Dam software’s mascot), wears a River Crab badge (a pun about ‘harmonious society that Chinese netizens use to mock Internet censorship), and holds a bucket of paint (or soy sauce) to wipe out online filth.” Says Greenormal, “The police cap emblazoned with a crab, a pun on the Chinese word for “harmonious”, the government’s euphemism for a society without unrest, controversy or opposition.”
Despite the temporary “good news” that Green Dam is now “optional,” it is clear that the PRC government will not give up its intent to control internet speech. It will be up to global citizens to be vigilant and pressure the global computer companies to refuse to be collaborators of such government control.
It sounds like a major FAIL, all the way around. But I did get a chuckle out of the picture of Green Dam Girl pulling down Windows XP Girl’s underwear. Come on, you did, too… didn’t you?!
PS – I normally would not be using simplified Chinese characters, but this is an article about the PRC, so the proper names of these things do actually use this bastardized form of Chinese.
PPS – You think if 8Asians wasn’t already being banned by Green Dam that this post will get it done?
Bravo’s Top Chef spin-off, Top Chef Masters, kicked off last week and I know I’m not the only one glued to the television (or DVR) when it’s on. I’m waiting for Roy Yamaguchi’s episode to come on, since I’m curious to see what sort of Japanese/Hawaiian touch he can put on those quickfire challenges but hey, host Kelly Choi is hot enough to keep me occupied for a while.
But can I just be outright and say she’s pretty horrible as a host? Okay, she’s a well known tv presenter with numerous Emmy nominations under her belt, but she’s clearly no Padma Lakshmi, who manages to challenge, sample and judge the delicious concoctions from Top Chef with the graciousness and warmth of a perfect host. Choi, on the other hand, is so made up, blow-dried, manicured and bejeweled with a giant bobble head that her looks seem to overshadow her lack of personality.
In a fun cooking challenge show, Kelly comes across as fake, proper and robotic, reciting her lines like she’s reading aloud to a group of preschoolers (just like Giada from the Food Network) or reporting on a local news station. Kelly! Stop! These are well-known and established chefs you are dealing with. You’re hosting a show tied to people like Tom Colicchio and Anthony Bourdain, not Guy Fieri in a TGIFridays commercial. Let’s bring out some personality and warmth.
Kelly has undoubtably earned her accomplished television career, but I can’t wait until the next season of Top Chef returns with Padma. Please come back soon. We need you.
Growing up in Korea, I’ve heard from different adults in my life that a child’s success is their parent’s success: if a child misbehaved, they would blame the parents rather than the misbehaving child; if a child did well in school, had great talent, they would attribute that to the intelligence and talents of the parents of that child.
Whenever I acted up, I looked guiltily at my parents because I knew they would hear an earful from some nosy busy body that they had failed as my parents because of my behavior. When I did well in school, I knew my parents were getting praised from their friends and older relatives. Although my parents rarely voiced their need for me to be a certain way so that they can be deemed successes in the eyes of their peers and our relatives, I felt the pressure and I blamed the culture.
Some things don’t change. Kim Yuna is quite an accomplished figure skater, and her mother has made sure that Yuna’s knack for figure skating was channeled properly so that it could reach world class status. Other Asian mothers are following suit and doing whatever they can to ensure their child’s success: Spelling Bee winner, Kavya Shivashankar’s win is attributed to her upbringing of being drilled on spelling by her parents.
When is a parent’s love and devotion to a child’s success too much? While I am definitely behind parents encouraging a child’s dream, talents, and aspirations, I’m not behind obsessive parents who push the child regardless of what the child may want.
What will become of kids who feel the pressure, the obsession, the need parents have to see them achieve the impossible so that they can be seen as having achieved it themselves? While I know — and hope — that love motives parents to desire the world for their children, when does the love for the child turn into love for their own acclaim and success?
(Flickr photo credit: aloshbennett)
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