Let’s talk about Glee. Not only is this new musical show one of the most hyped up series of the new TV season, but it also features a new face: Jenna Ushkowitz, an experienced Broadway actress who landed the role of the stuttering goth punk outcast, Tina, in the school’s most unpopular extracurricular group: the Glee Club.
Okay, I’ll admit it. I’m only writing about this because I was excited to spot an Asian American face on one of my new favorite shows starting this Fall. Yes, this will be a one of those “Look, she’s Asian and therefore relevant to the rest of us” post but haters to the left, please.
Let’s talk about Jenna, who was adopted from South Korea as a baby and raised in New York City. She’s had her share of musical roles under her belt, including her first Broadway performance at the tender age of 9. Meeting the casting director for Spring Awakening (for which she was an understudy) let her to auditioning for Glee and the next thing you know, we’ve got a new Korean American girl singing her heart out on Fox.
So what can we expect from Ushkowitz? We’ve already seen her groove to Kanye’s Gold Digger and grind to Salt-n-Pepa’s Push It. The second episode only just aired this week, but I’m hoping there will be more lines, more stuttering and more Rihanna for Jenna in this first season.
PS. I’d like to start an 8Asians Glee Club. We can cover Rain and Boa. Who’s in?
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Let’s face it – there are more wall calendars that exist of Asian women than Asian men, and the Asian male calendars we have seen around are marketed less for the ladies and more for, say, your closeted high school vice-principal. But the new Asian Pacific Male 2010 calendar goes a different direction as far as treating Asian males as the sex objects we’re not used to being: think less Asian men sitting in a bubble bath or sitting on an operating dryer and more standing in the LA Hills, wearing half of a BMX outfit. With proceeds to benefit the Asian Pacific Health Care Venture (APHCV) of Los Angeles, the calendar looks to be perfect gift for white girls that hang out in anime conventions, your closeted high school vice-principal and — oh yeah — Asian women.
Shopping With GASP!
Thirteen year old Alex Ko has been named to be the new Billy Elliot on Broadway. A gifted dancer and half Chinese-American, Alex Ko is set to become the first Asian-American Billy Elliot in the Broadway production of the Elton John musical. Yes, even Asian boys can dream of being Billy Elliot!
When Stephen Daldry, the director of the musical and movie, was asked about colorblind casting the role of Billy Elliot with a black or Asian Billy, he was quoted as saying, “It’s an interesting question. I hope audiences aren’t taken aback. Given the talents of these kids, any doubts about their right to be in the show would be swept away.”
The London production of Billy Elliot was first played by its first non-white Billy by Matthew Koon, whose family is originally from Hong Kong.
I’m excited to hear the reviews of Alex Ko’s performance starting at the beginning of October. Meanwhile, check out his YouTube video of a beautiful solo he dedicates to his father, Sam Ko, who died from liver cancer several years ago.
In Pakistan and India, there is a new TV ad featuring a dark-skinned man talking to a light-skinned man. The dark-skinned man proclaims he is unlucky because of his face, and the light-skinned man says it’s not his face, it’s the color of his face. Then he gives the dark-skinned man a whitening cream called “Fair and Handsome” that will make his face lighter.
Wow.
We have all heard (and probably seen firsthand) how lighter skin is preferred, not just in South Asia and America, but in many other parts of the world. Maybe I’m just naive, but it saddens me that this concept of “lighter is better” is being blatantly and unapologetically being marketed to the masses. It’s one thing to cast all light-skinned models for a campaign. It’s another thing to say right out, “Here’s a cream that will make your skin lighter because dark skin totally sucks.” Here’s another ad from the same company, Emami, promoting its “Fair and Handsome” skin lightening cream.
What are your thoughts on this? Has anyone else heard of this product, or similar ones?
“She’s too fragile!”
I have heard this a number of times from Asian parents as an explanation why they don’t let their daughters play sports. I’m glad that the Filipino parents of Asian-Canadian Katie Reyes didn’t feel that way. Katie is one of two girls who played in the Little League World Series. As filamako.com points out, she hasn’t just shown up, but she has been making an impact, breaking barriers as the first girl to hit a gamewinner as Canada beat Germany 14-13.
While Canada didn’t make it to the finals, the championship game definitely had Asian kids in it. The final two teams were from Chula Vista, California and from Taipei, Taiwan. The Chula Vista team, being from a heavily Filipino city that we have talked about before, had at least one Filipino player, as Bradley Roberto definitely looks Filipino. He’s the kid in the video who Conan gives a hard time regarding his ring. It was good to see Asians competing against them, particularly Asians who had no hint of cheating. Taiwan, a perennial challenger, was characterized by the announcers, as quick, excellent on defense, and opportunistic, scoring many points on unearned runs. The American team was characterized as being powerful, hitting many home runs. How stereotypical! Ironically, during the first part of the game, Taiwan was leading, scoring by hitting home runs. The American Team didn’t have any home runs at that point. The lead was not to last as Chula Vista team eventually pulled ahead to win 6-3.
I’m not going to discuss (at least in this post) whether or not the Little League World Series exploits kids. Whether or not that’s true, it was good to see Asian, Asian-Canadian, and Asian-American kids there, breaking down stereotypes hit by hit.
(hat tip to Kristian at www.filamako.com for the story idea.)
City Councilmember Sam Yoon has been running for the mayor of Boston. With the primary election on September 22nd, The Boston Globe did a nice profile of Yoon and his campaign, highlighting his background and breakthrough election in 2005:
“In a city long dominated by pols of Irish and Italian descent, the first Asian-American elected official in Boston history is an exotic presence. Yoon, a boyish-looking 39, uses it to his advantage with his elderly audience… On the campaign trail, Yoon uses his ethnicity as a calling card and a symbol of Boston’s transformation. Indeed, he views his breakthrough election in 2005 to one of four at-large City Council seats as a harbinger. He defeated four Irish-American candidates, including a son of a former mayor, the daughter of another, and the son of a former secretary of state.”
Yoon, along with the other mayoral candidates, are trying to unseat 16 year incumbant Mayor Tom Menino, Boston’s longest serving mayor in its history. Menino promised when he first ran for mayor that he would only serve two terms… Whites make up 56% of the Boston’s population, with the Irish making up almost 16% and the Italian 8.3% – which surprisingly, matches the Asian American population.
There were previous reports and complaints that Yoon’s appeal to non-Bostonians, with him traveling around the United States trying to raise money for his campaign — often at Asian American related political fundraisers, of which I’ve attended in the past. Without the emotional and financial support of the Asian American community, Yoon’s mayoral campaign would not have gotten as far as it has and he has recorded a special thank you message, as well as an additional appeal for last minute contributions. Realistically, this campaign wouldn’t have been possible without generous donations from the Asian-American community. Yoon, as well as many other candidates, raise money outside of their geographic constituency to maximize every legal advantage that they can. As an incumbent, Menino already has a built-in advantage.
As a former Massachusetts resident, I have at least some interest and connection to Boston and to Yoon — most of you reading this do not. But after reading and learning more about Yoon, if you feel he is the kind of mayor that will bring a new face and kind of leadership to Boston, please do support him. In the first debate, in an Op-Ed Boston Globe columnist Scot Lehigh gave Yoon the edge as the most credible challenger to Mayor Menino.
Today marks a special day to many Asians (and many non-Asians as well). Like last year’s 08-08-08, today’s convergence of three nines, is considered lucky to many Chinese, and a record number of Chinese couples have planned their wedding for today. The number nine represents long lasting (usually in reference to a long life) in Chinese culture, and the emperor of China used 9 dragons as part of the Imperial robes, and Forbidden Palace designs.
The Sing For China tour will bring Hedgehog, Queen Sea Big Shark, and Casino Demon, three of China’s biggest and best indie-rock bands to San Francisco as part of an unprecedented effort by the Chinese music community to raise funds for the China AIDS Orphan Fund charity. All proceeds from artist share of performance ticket sales/fees will go to China AIDS Orphan Fund. The all-ages show is TONIGHT at 8pm at San Francisco’s Bottom of the Hill, and is $8 in advance, $10 at the door; you can view the Sing for China tour website or view their Facebook Event page.
Every once in a while, we get e-mail asking us to discuss particular subjects. In this case, an article last month from The Seattle Weekly:
Thought I’d share this slap in the face to my local Asian Community, here in Seattle: Seattle’s Ragin’ Asians.
The author is a complete hypocrite, when it comes to binge drinking and being generally irresponsible, even while on assignment for her publication. I’m sending this to you both because I’m outraged and because I’m a reader and fan of your publication. If we Asians who are connected in the media world can work together to rebuke ignorant authors like this, that would be a service to our fellow Asians.
To which, the following exchange occurs.
Ernie: Personally, I’m not that outraged, but whatevs.
Joz: I just don’t understand why this is hypocritical. The author is a little condescending, but other than that she’s really not casting judgement on the “ragin’ Asians.” So what if the author got drunk while on assignment? She’s the stupid one for including it in her story.
John: Of course we should be outraged – this is showing that Asians can be those who aren’t the model minority, didn’t go to a four-year Ivy League level university and shows them drinking like there’s no tomorrow.
Christine: Sound the alarms, Asians partying and drinking till they throw up — the outrage! Next thing we’ll find out is they have sex! With each other! Someone tell me what he’s outraged about. Or is he feeling responsible for them? I don’t get it.
Ben: Being from Seattle, I can say that…. UHHH… hello? Seattle Weekly? That’s the alternative paper anyways. It’s not like it’s coming from the Seattle Times. And what… Asians don’t party? I dunno about that whole sex thing, Christine. It’s SO TABOO.
Yan: I’ve been to Venom once. Ironically, I know the promotional team for a club that has dubbed itself the “anti-Venom” in Seattle. I’m only offended that these partying Asians are treated as such a peculiar topic.
Jeff: I was going to clubs like this in San Francisco 20 years ago. I do like to irritate my daughter with stories like this. “Let me tell you about when I used to go to clubs…” “You at a club? Eww! Dad, stop!”
Moye: I’m personally outraged that someone got paid to write 4 pages about Asian people who like to go clubbing and drink.
As to why I think the person who sent that e-mail was offended, I’m not really sure. Does it paint Asian Americans as an all-inclusive melting pot of diversity? Hell no. But we’re talking about going clubbing, not going to some Asian American awareness workshop or HR seminar, and it’s not like some Better Luck Tomorrow shit is going on and they’re off to endanger lives. Just because I’m too old to roll with a crew and watch my friends throw up on their Banana Republic pants on expensive soju drinks, what gives me the right to judge someone writing about it? Or am I just being an insensitive asshole?
(Flickr photo credit: joeltelling)
In Los Angeles at the San Gabriel Mission Playhouse, over a thousand Asian Americans spent their Labor Day rocking out at the International Secret Agents concert. Produced by the hip hop group Far*East Movement and Wong Fu Productions, the concert featured a variety of talent including the dance group Quest Crew, YouTube personality KevJumba and musicians David Choi and Kina Grannis.
Far*East Movement (FM) had the most spectacular performance with strobe lights, colored panels, and fog. Kev Nish said before the show, “we’re taking the secret agents to the moon, past the moon, up to Mars, past Neptune to a different galaxy.” Kev Nish, Prohgress, J-Splif, and DJ Virman wore silver jackets and space helmets. FM experienced their first success with the song “Round Round” in the movie The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. They performed a few songs from their most recent album Animal and for the finale to the night got all the featured artists on the stage with them for their latest hit “Girls on the Dance Floor.”
The audience spontaneously rose to their feet when Quest Crew came on. This group of breakdancers won MTV’s America’s Best Dance Crew (third season). Previously, member Ryan Conferido won lots of hearts on the first season of So You Think You Can Dance but got shafted from the title; Hok Konishi and D-Trix Sandoval were on the show in subsequent seasons. The energy in the auditorium surged and some stood on their chairs to see the breakdancers debut a new freestyle set developed just for the show. As a returning performer from the first ISA concert last year, Hok said he was excited “to see the faces that we saw last year and see them succeed at what they do. It’s really meeting friends and sharing the arts that we do.”
Lydia Paek from Quest Crew and Tom Ngo hosted the concert. Because the audience was a high school and college aged crowd, they talked about going back to school and their music and art classes. Tom Ngo played good sport to ongoing dialogue about whether he could ask out Kina Grannis. The skit had echoes of the short film “Yellow Fever” that Wong Fu Productions made in when they were at UCSD. It seems the guy is still figuring out how to get the girl.
Since “Yellow Fever,” Wesley Chan, Ted Fu, and Philip Wang of Wong Fu have made more films and online content, stayed busy with speaking engagements at colleges, and were recently featured on CNN. Said Philip Wang, “the hardest part was putting on the show last year. We were doing it all by ourselves with our own money and it was just FM. Then we had another show in San Francisco that was sold out, and now we’ve come back here, the ISA name is bigger now, the fans are more excited and this was a little easier.” They continue to strengthen the ISA brand and the other facets of their media company.
(Video credit: Pacific Rim Video)
A.M.S.P. Suppiah and his wife Kanageswary have a lot to celebrate as they win a major victory in court against McDonald’s in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia today. McDonald’s lost an eight-year trademark battle to prevent local restaurant McCurry from using the ‘Mc’ prefix in a precedent-setting judgment by Malaysia’s highest court. The Malaysian Federal Court ruled that McDonald’s cannot appeal against another court’s verdict that had allowed McCurry to use ‘Mc’ in its name and that other restaurants could also use it as long as they distinguish their food from McDonald’s. McCurry’s signage has white and gray letters against a red background with a picture of a smiling chicken giving a double thumbs-up, in contrast to McDonald’s red and yellow “M” logo. McCurry also serves only Indian food, not competing with McDonald’s menu. Though I have no idea why this couple was so insistent to keep the “Mc” in their restaurant name, it doesn’t seem they were attempting to “fake out” restaurant-goers “Shanzhai” style. I wonder if this opens the door for a chain of “McStinkyTofu” in Taiwan? I, for one, would totally be all over that.
By Maricris
I’m beginning to think that my colleagues have a very misconstrued idea of what being Asian means.
Whenever we have a meeting and something goes wrong or business transactions goes veering off to the loony side of things, they’re quick to say “well, he’s Asian, he’s crazy!” or “She’s Asian, she’s crazy!” For the love of me, I really don’t understand the relationship between CRAZY and being ASIAN. And you know what’s even crazier? One of them is Asian and he completely agrees to this wacky definition; I guess that makes him, uhm, craziest?
I admit that with the cultural differences, we approach and see things differently, but that does not equate to being crazy; it’s just how we cope. At this point, I should mention that my boss is Chinese and her husband is American — these two constantly fight and nothing wrong with that, but this is where all this “Asians being crazy” stuff in the office originated from. His usual mantra whenever she does not agree on what he said is to always say, “She’s Asian, she’s crazy!” And strangely, like a contagious virus, it got picked up by everyone else. Isn’t that crazy?
What is it about being Asian that makes us crazy: is it the fact that I insist using the broom instead of the vacuum whenever I clean up the carpet in my office at work? But the vacuum emits a skunk-like odor! Does that make me crazy? Or the fact that most Asians talk loud even when the person they’re talking to is right next to them? (I’m keeping my mouth shut on this one.) Or the fact that I’m so straightforward and frank about most things, I don’t even bat an eyelash when I say to a customer “you owe us money, pay up!” So, what’s crazy about that? They’ve got to pay, right?
One time we had a client who was not too keen on paying up her delinquent account, and my colleague begged me to take care of her ONLY becauseI was “Asian & crazy frank that way,” and then went on to say that he is American and they just don’t do it the way I, crazy Asian woman, does it brutally. Really.
Yes, my frankness is incurable. Like I can confidently tell my lady boss she looks like a witch whenever she comes to work and her hair is in disarray, which just blows everyone away! But guess what — she appreciates that. (Well, not her looking like a witch, but me telling her the truth.) In our culture, pointing out something means we care. It is not out of maligning or insulting the person. I don’t know why my American colleagues couldn’t see pass that. So does this make me crazy? Well, no more crazier than what these people from Paramount did to that poor Asian guy in the movie. Now that is crazy.
ABOUT MARICRIS: Maricris shares her journeys in life through her personal blog ZenVentures, her views on being Asian in Toasty Brown, her insight as a working mother in Working Mother Magazine, and who’s creative side can be found at Golden Flower Creations.
(Flickr photo credit: JenXer)
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