Little known fact: the bloggers here on 8Asians do more than just huddle alone at their desk and desperately mash away on their keyboards to churn out posts for you to read. Sometimes, we actually talk to other human beings and appear on other API blogs. At least, some of us do.
Congratulations to Efren who was featured on Film-Am Ako in an interview about his Filipino background, representing other Filipino Americans as a blogger in the LGBTQ community, just like Jeff last summer (except for the LGBTQ part).
I met up with Efren to gather his thoughts on his feature with a few [completely unoriginal] questions of my own. Interestingly, what I got was a totally different side of our famous contributor. Actually, now that I think about it, Efren is kind of a bitch. A bitchy diva. Ugh.
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“Dad, I have to sign up for the SAT II tests!”
The Daughter was annoyed that she still had to take the SAT subjects tests (formerly known as the SAT II tests), as the University of California’s elimination of the SAT II test requirement and other eligibility changes, called Entitled to Review (ETR), take effect after she graduates from high school. The controversy over ETR, which was intended as a way of increasing diversity, continues. As Efren pointed out here, a simulation done in early 2009 of the effects of the changes showed there would be a significant decrease in the number of Asian Americans admitted, negligible changes in the number of African-Americans and Hispanics and an increase in whites. UC ran a new simulation of the in the fall of 2009 that showed that system wide, African-American , Hispanic, and Asian-Americans admits would have dropped roughly 25%, 10%, and 3% respectively while whites admits would have gained more than 20% compared to 2007-2008 admits. Seemingly not satisfied with those results, UC ran a third simulation which Mark Rashid says in this KQED forum on university admissions shows little change in Asian-American enrollment.
This editorial in New American Media by Henry Der, Ling Chi Wang, and Vincent Pan charges that this third simulation was made because UC didn’t like the previous results. They assert that the assumptions made by the third simulation were bad, and claim that even this flawed third simulation shows that the number of African-Americans and Asian-Americans will decrease.
It’s hard to know who is right when the data is not available, as I had trouble finding details on the third and final simulation. It isn’t unreasonable to change assumptions while doing a number of simulations, although I have to agree with Henry Der and company to say that the way the simulation have been done and the way the results have been released does make it look like UC is fishing for the right input to get the results that they want. I’d also agree with the editorial that UC equivocates on the admissions simulations by saying that it is hard to predict results, and then suggests what those results will be (see section VI).
The editorial concludes by saying that with reductions in funding for UC and increases in tuition, is not clear that ETR will increase diversity. I’m not sure if the simulations deal with that – the editorialists say that none of them do. To me, the best way to increase diversity would be to improve the quality of secondary education for all, and this whole approach of finding more clever ways of dividing up the admissions pie seems to have given up on that. Also, the decreases in the number of freshman admits this year, the problems one hears about getting classes these days in UC, and the resulting extra time it takes to graduate have The Daughter looking out of state. As this article points out, she is not alone.
Shopping With GASP!
Man, it feels like just yesterday when Paul Dateh was just some random Asian guy that no one has ever heard of YouTube, playing violin to a bunch of hip-hop songs while a DJ spins in the background. Three years and 4.2 million hits later, Paul is back to his classically trained, viral video generating roots, producing a violin mash-up of pop music goodness from the likes of Lady Gaga, Ke$ha and Usher. The hip-hop MC has been replaced with a beat machine, but the multiple shots of him backing himself up on violin has to be seen to believed. This video also cements the fact that Telephone by Lady Gaga has replaced Rihanna’s Umbrella has the most covered/parodied/OMG-I-GET-IT-PEOPLE-LIKE-THIS-SONG song on YouTube, pretty much ever.
(Hat tip: Laurie)
We’re already into the first week of the month of May, officially Asian American and Pacific Islander Month. Former governor of Washington state and current Commerce Secretary Gary Locke wishes everyone a wonderful celebration of this commemorative month. Personally, I find it quite gratifying to see a record three Asian Americans in the President’s Cabinet, along with Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki.
- Lin Yu Chun, the Taiwanese Susan Boyle, inks a signing deal with Sony. [MSN]
- A Californian ban on live turtle, frog sales angers Chinese merchants. [SF Chronicle]
- Asians smarter than you: High school senior Diana Keng has started her THIRD start-up. [ABC7]
- For China, Attacks Shine a Light on Its Treatment of the Mentally Ill. [WSJ]
- Asian-American Hip-hop/Dance trio Triangle Offense releases a new mixtape called “The Courting.”
Setter and National Player of the Year Kawika Shoji lead his brother Erik and the Stanford Men’s Volleyball team to the 2010 NCAA championship over Penn State. It was awesome to see Asian-Americans celebrating an NCAA Division I championship win – just don’t see that very often. In 2007, the current seniors on the Stanford team endured a 3-25 season. Now they are national champions, winning in a dominating 3 straight sets – hence “worst to first.” Kawika and Erik’s father Dave is a volleyball coach at the University of Hawaii Manoa.
By Ken
“You’re only as good as your last film.”
That’s an accepted dictum in the entertainment industry. Does that apply to being “diverse,” “non-traditional,” or “un-racist”?
Color-blind casting has long-been an attribute of The Blank Theater Company, with its celebrity performers and Noah Wyle serving as artistic producer. The LA Times even praised it for its color-blind casting and the theater’s new musical, See What I Wanna See, is based on the short works by Ryunosuke Akutagawa, a famous 19th century writer who is called the “Father of the Japanese short story.”
While the first segment involves lovers in medieval Japan, the production boasts no Japanese or remotely API actor in the roles.
When asked about the casting, artistic director Daniel Henning responded via email, “The roles have never been played by Asian actors except when the show was done in Seoul.” He also rationalized the casting decisions by saying that the Japanese segment is only about “7% of the show.” While the casting notice on Actors Access referenced the Japanese milieu (sans percentage) and source material, there was no specific request for Japanese or any other Asian ethnicity.
Henning promoted his non-traditional casting history in his response but wouldn’t it be more progressive to break the tradition of casting Caucasians in these roles? Is the percentage of the time on stage pertinent? What if I was casting a film based in Zaire, but justified casting all white people because they’re only in the background? Could the reason he could not find any (as he said) qualified Asian talent, is because the notice didn’t specifically seek them out?
The artistic director concludes his statement:
Our dedication to diversity should be obvious to even the casual observer, and we stand behind our credentials to prove that. But the one thing we will NEVER do is to compromise the artistic integrity of a production in order to cure society’s ills.
As a casual observer, I did notice Alec Mapa’s non-traditional casting in their recent show. But as that same observer, I know only what is happening now. History is not something that creates justification for future ills. It may be a character witness, but the ultimate judgment relies on the immediate.
ABOUT KEN: Ken Choy is an actor, writer, community organizer, and producer of Breaking the Bow. He is gay, green, and gluten-free. He’d like to credit Erin Khue Ninh for helping him edit this post.
[Photo credit: Lyric Stage, Broadwayworld.com]
UPDATE: The winner is cjanger! Enjoy!
I’m a huge fan of Spaghetti Westerns, so my interest was definitely piqued when I heard about ‘The Good, The Bad, The Weird.’ It is an over-the-top “Korean Western” (or “Kimchi Western” as it’s already being dubbed) and is a loving, virtually non-stop action tribute to ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly‘ (one of my faves).
Set in the 1930s Manchurian desert where lawlessness rules and ethnic groups clash, three Korean men fatefully meet each other on a train. The Good (Jung Woo-sung) is a bounty hunter who tracks down criminals with rewards on their heads. The Bad (Lee Byung-hun) is the leader of a group of bandits and can’t stand to be second best. The Weird (Song Kang-ho, The Host) is a train robber with nine lives. The three strangers engage in a chase across Manchuria to take possession of a map The Weird discovers while robbing the train. Also on the hunt for the mysterious map are the Japanese army and Asian bandits. In an unpredictable, escalating battle for the map, who will stand in the end as the winner? Never be sure who’s good, bad or weird! Directed and co-written by Kim Jee-woon (A Tale of Two Sisters).
The film’s running time is 130 minutes; it is not rated. In Korean, fully subtitled in English. (South Korea, 2008)
Landmark Theatres Engagements begin Friday, May 7, 2010 at
Landmark’s Lumiere Theatre. 1572 California St., San Francisco, (415) 267-4893
Landmark’s Shattuck Cinemas. 2230 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, (510) 464-5980
Want to check it out this weekend, Bay Area folks?
What you could win from Landmark Theatres and 8Asians:
A free pair of tickets for Opening Weekend (5/7/2010) in SF (Landmark’s Lumiere Theatre) or Berkeley (Landmark’s Shattuck Theatre)!How do you enter?
All you have to do is to leave a comment with your preferred location and one lucky winner will be selected to go!Hurry, the deadline to enter is: Friday, May 7 at 12noon (Pacific Time)
ONE lucky winner will be selected and contacted that afternoon.Rules for entering:
1) Please be serious about using the tickets– unused free tix suck!
2) Contributors to 8Asians and their immediate family members are not eligible to win.Prize courtesy of: Landmark Theatres and 8Asians.
Living in the SF Bay Area, where it’s obviously more liberal than other parts of the country, it’s not hard to find opposition to Arizona’s new law on immigration SB1070. Dig a little deeper and you’ll usually find there’s not as much understanding about what’s in the law as just general opposition against racial profiling of Latinos. There’s more going on with the new Arizona law that should make all Asians suspicious regardless of political view.
Unless you’ve been following Arizona news in the last year, you may have missed the fact that in 2009 arrested Chinese illegals were the largest group to attempt to cross the Arizona border behind Mexican illegals. So if there’s any racial profiling, I’m sure you can bet it will include Asians as well as Latinos.
I’ve had a special interest in the new Arizona law, since my family purchased a vacation home south of Tucson over a year ago and we’ve been spending a lot of time down there. During my first visit out in Arizona, I noticed the distinct lack of Asian faces where we bought our home. The only other Asian I noticed the entire time I’ve spent at my home is the manager of the local Panda Express. I’ve had little kids just stare at me, mouth agape, when we’re in any of the local restaurants or stores, since I’m the only truly “Asian” looking one in my family. I’ve even had one little kid walk up to me and ask if I was “Chinese”.
We are still planning on visiting and using our home in Arizona, since we have family there. But, the new law does force me to think about some planning before we go on our next trip. Since only Arizona driver’s licenses and passports will be considered legal proof of the right to live in the U.S. (and we don’t have AZ driver’s licenses, only CA ones), we’ve considered getting passport cards for the entire family to carry when we’re in Arizona. But I’m still wondering if I’ll get questioned just because I’m Asian. Apparently I’m not alone in this thinking, as there’s been recent concern in the Asian community as well. So if you don’t think this new Arizona law affects you because you’re Asian, think again.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Art show opening
Marc Johns and Steven Weissman at GR2
May 8 – June 2, 2010
Reception: Saturday, May 8, 6:30 -10:00
GR2
2062 Sawtelle Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90025
gr2.net
(310) 445-9276
Giant Robot is proud to host Butter and Blood, an art show featuring new work by Marc Johns and Steven Weissman.
Marc Johns draws almost daily, and has been for as long as he can remember.
Once posted online, his humorous, witty, and thought-provoking drawings were quickly embraced, and earned him a fast-growing community of fans around the world as well as published works in Wired and the New York Times Sunday Magazine. Whether it’s a man with branches growing out of his head that need pruning, or a pipe that’s trying to quit smoking, his characters are simply, sparsely drawn, yet speak volumes. For the show, the Victoria, Canada-based is preparing 30 ink-and-watercolor pieces that examine the public’s conspicuous consumption of trend items and branded goods, and how we blindly participate in what is a bit of a charade.
Steven Weissman has written and drawn comics for Fantagraphics Books, Nickelodeon Magazine, Last Gasp, Marvel Entertainment (for whom he created the “Mini-Marvels” series), and numerous other publishers/publications. He won the Harvey Kurtzman Award for “Best New Talent” in 1998 with his acclaimed, ongoing indie-comic series, Yikes, which channels nonironic darkness of Chas Addams with the raw, youthful honesty of Charles Schulz and has been collected into several volumes. For the show, the Los Angeles artist is preparing a series of medium-sized pen, ink, and screen-tone pieces with themes such as baseball, proverbs, ghosts, and Barack Obama.
Giant Robot was born as a Los Angeles-based magazine about Asian, Asian-American, and new hybrid culture in 1994, but has evolved into a full-service pop culture provider with shops and galleries in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York City, as well as an online equivalent.
An opening reception attended by Weissman will take place from 6:30 – 10:00 on Saturday, May 8. For more information about the artists, GR2, or Giant Robot magazine, please contact:
Eric Nakamura
Giant Robot Owner/Publisher
[email protected]
(310) 479-7311
###
Oh, Street Fighter movies. Time and time again, you excite your fans with promises of hadouken and spinning bird kick action, and then disappoint us when you have a Belgian guy who does the splits every single chance he gets as Guile, or that chick from Smallville star as the whitest Chun-Li you’ve ever seen. (Oh come on, you were thinking it too.)
So what makes the short film Street Fighter: Legacy, different? Not much, at first glance: Yep, there’s the obligatory teaser trailer with Ryu and Ken, and their trademark fighting stances. And, oh look, there’s rain! All you need now is a pixelated FBI logo of someone telling kids not to do drugs. All done on purpose, says director Joey Ansah:
As an actor, filmmaker and fan, I have been disappointed by the many diluted, unfaithful and outright butchered movie adaptations of fighting video games. It was clear to me, that given the way the movie industry worked, we would never see a super faithful, darker toned and more adult themed (or just plain good!) incarnation of Street Fighter unless a die-hard director or filmmaking team with game canon knowledge stepped up to the plate to helm such a project.
[...]
We’ve all strived to make a beautiful film that hopefully non fans will really appreciate, but ultimately this is a love letter to the fans and the brilliance of the game. As a result, I’ve gone to every length to be as faithful as possible down to the smallest details of the costume, the choreography, the narrative, the original music themes and, of course, the special moves!
The other major difference between this and other Street Fighter movies? The movie will be released — in its entirety — on Thursday, quite possibly on the director’s website. What isn’t different are some of actors; Jon Foo, who plays Ryu, also just happens to be the guy who played Jin Kazama in the recent Tekken movie. I guess there’s an actors guild for fighting game characters or something.
(Hat tip: Kristian from Fil-Am Ako)
Everyone’s a little bit racist / Sometimes.
Doesn’t mean we go / Around committing hate crimes.
Look around and you will find / No one’s really color blind.
Maybe it’s a fact / We all should face
Everyone makes judgments / Based on race.- Avenue Q
This past February, as I was driving through downtown L.A. with my friend, I locked my doors randomly when we were going through Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. My friend looks at me and asked, “Eddy, did you just lock your doors when you saw those two thug-looking black people walk across the street?”
“…Oh shoot. You’re right, I DID lock my doors right after I saw them.”
“Eddy, you’re so RACIST.”
“Damn. This is something I need to think about.”
And so for the past two days, I have been thinking about the issue of racism, one of the few topics in the world that can reduce the most rational and sensible people into furious and blubbering savages. In this day and age, it has become uncool to be racist and whenever anyone implies that another person is racist or has racist intentions, the other person will react in such violent force and defend how non-racist they are.
I’m gonna keep it real and say it out straight. Like the Avenue Q song, I firmly believe that EVERYBODY is a little bit racist and those who say they are not…well, they are heavily misguided.
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