According to Chris Santiago at Change.org, Republicans in the Senate have banded together to prevent the appointment of two Asian Americans to the federal bench. Goodwin Liu and Eric M. Chen have both cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee. By nominating both Liu and Chen, the White House had hoped to correct the historical under-representation of Asian Americans on the federal bench.
Apparently, the GOP doesn’t want that to happen. Normally, the Senate must agree to carry over pending nominations when it goes on a 30-day recess. But Republican leaders have objected to carrying over Liu’s and Chen’s nominations. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (who recommended both Liu and Chen to President Obama) explains, “The Republicans are obstructing and, in effect, trying to kill these nominations….It is tragic because these are very worthy nominees who deserve to have their nominations debated and put to a vote.”
Get the full explanation on what you can do and why you need to act after the jump.
Continue Reading »
Subscribe to our mailing list
Get the day's stories from 8Asians.com, delivered to your inbox every evening at 6:00pm PST.
The National Association of Asian American Professional’s is holding the 24th NAAAP National Convention and Diversity Career Fair, sponsored by Macy’s. The convention and diversity faire will be this August 12th-15th at San Francisco’s Palace Hotel. Click through to learn more about the convention and career fair, as well as exclusive discounts to attend the convention and workshops for 8asians readers!
Continue Reading »
Shopping With GASP!
San Francisco: land of the localvore, organic food and Alice fucking Waters. For a city of only 49 square miles, San Francisco loves its high-class restaurants and eateries, so it’s a case of awkward turtles as popular San Francisco blog SFist gives their review of Filipino fast food joint, Jollibee.
And yes, the SFist review is probably how you think it will turn out: “Overall, we didn’t care for the fare at Jollibee; we probably won’t return. However, our dissatisfaction has less to do with our refined palate and more to do with our lack of indoctrination.” Actually, that’s pretty accurate — Jollibee isn’t so much cuisine as much as a place that conjures up memories from home, and without context, Jollibee spaghetti is just too-sweet spaghetti with hot dogs in it. But coming from the same blog where a different blogger thought Lapu Lapu was a silly name for a San Francisco street or that parols were “some kind of cute Xmas ornament,” we’re just glad the blog entries didn’t have any statements like, “for a restaurant where everyone looked Hawaiian, they didn’t serve poi. I’m confused.”
(Flickr photo credit: Steven Damron. Hat tip: Laura O.)
I don’t speak or read Korean so I really don’t know what’s going on in this commercial for Pizza Hut featuring the hot moves of girl group F(x), except to say that perhaps South Korea has crazier nonsensical commercials than Japan. In this case, South Korea: 1, Japan: 0.
Of course, this meant that the we here at 8Asian choreographed our own Pizza Hut dance! Check it out after the cut!
The Chinese, inventors of many things: Fireworks! Paper! Electronic equipment, similar to the iPod in functionality but different in branding! And, thanks to this news report from the AFP – THE FIRST 3D PORN FILM. That said, the otakus have been having sex with their anime body pillows for a couple of years now, so this isn’t really so much of a sex breakthrough as it is LARPing, but with masturbation instead of live-action roleplaying, and thus less face paint while having just as much of the humiliation.
On Saturday, 19-year-old Fremont, California native Sarah Liu was crowned Miss Asian American 2010 at the 25th Miss Asian American Pageant. I am more aware of the older Miss Chinatown USA contest, but that’s probably because I know a few past winners. Additionally, Miss Chinatown USA is traditionally held in San Francisco around Chinese New Years, while the Miss Asian American pageant changes locations from year to year.
There were 22 contestants, ages 17 to 27, from across the country competing in the pageant, which was held at San Francisco’s Palace of Fine Arts. The competition was started to showcase the culture, intelligence and talent of Asian American women. The local ABC news affiliate, ABC 7 News, does a nice profile of the event after the jump. Congratulations to Sarah!
Sometimes, you just have to wonder what the heck is wrong with the world.
Jon Kawaguchi, an environmental health supervisor for the Multnomah County Health Department in Oregon, shut a seven year old down for a lemonade stand.
You heard that right. Violation of code, he says. Public first, he says–which is amusing as hell to me, since from my perspective, there are usually a number of laws that are not enforced by various local governments at any given time of day until they “feel” like it.
While I do understand where Kawaguchi s coming from, I have to ask, “Seriously?” A seven year old needs to be given a fine? How about just telling them that there are bad things that could happen if you don’t use treated water. What’s even more funny is that the lemonade stand wasn’t busted on a health violation. It was shut down because there was no “temporary restaurant license” which is a business administrative issue.
Get your facts straight. Unless that lemonade stand had rats running around or the seven year old had tuberculosis and was sneezing into the drinks, then I would probably be tell them to “Shut ‘er down!” The guy just went a bit far (albeit legitimately) with his job without standing back and saying, “Hey, it’s a little kid. I’ll just teach her about the health risks and buy a cup from her.”
Back on July 4th, 6-time hot dog eating champion Takeru Kobayashi was arrested and charged with obstruction of governmental administration, resisting arrest, trespassing and disorderly conduct. On Thursday, the court cleared Kobayashi of all charges so long as he stays out of trouble for six months. As soon as this happened, I thought that this had to be staged to generate more publicity. Let’s hope Kobayashi can compete next year. For now, he’s off to Canada for a pizza eating competition.
Today marks the 65th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan. At 8:15am on August 8th, 1945, the United States dropped the first nuclear bomb, “Little Boy,” on humankind, leading to the deaths of over 100,000 people and the atomic bombing of Nagasaki three days later. This year also marks the first time an official representative from the US, Ambassador John Roos, attended the annual Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony, after President Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize last year for his work in promoting a nuclear weapon-free world.
Is it really necessary to have a third installment of Step Up ? Apparently yes — and in 3-D no less! If this movie franchise made Channing Tatum a megastar, then it must be important.
Even though the movie’s plot doesn’t need an explanation (it’s secondary compared to the dancing), I’ll give you one anyway.
An awkward skinny dancing boy with curly hair by the name of Moose (Adam Sevani) steps out of Step Up 2 and into NYU with his BFF Camille (the Missy Elliott video kid dancer-turned-actress Alyson Stoner). While on an orientation tour, he accidentally gets thrown into a dance battle (no surprise there) where he shows up Kid Darkness (Daniel Campos) the b-boy from the bad-ass dance crew, House of Samurai.
(I think we all know where this is heading, but I’ll continue anyway.)
There is a ruckus after the defeat and Moose gets rescued by the hunky documentarian/dancer Luke (Rick Malambri) who houses dance vagabonds (known as the Pirates dance crew) who are “following their dreams” in his living space/dance fun house once owned by his late parents.
We later learn that the house is up for auction and unless they come up with money, they will be kicked out. It just so happens that there’s a big dance competition where they can win the money to keep the house! What a coincidence! But there is one thing standing in their way: The House of Samurai, led by Luke’s arch rival and ex-friend, Julien (Joe Slaughter). Plus, Luke has a hormonal distraction of the mysterious sexy dancer, Natalie (Sharni Vinson).
Friendships are tested. Enemies are made. Love is put on the line. But all this pales in comparison to the power of dance! Continue Reading »
If you’re a foodie or you’re from the New York Metropolitan area, you know that Flushing, Queens has good Chinese food. So says Anthony Bourdain, so says Serious Eats. Those who aren’t thrilled? The white and Jewish people that live in Flushing, which has become a point of contention after the sole non-Asian grocery store has moved out of the neighborhood. “The problem is that the older folks in the neighborhood, they haven’t got a place to go buy their Entenmann’s.” Do you know how I know I’m Asian AND from California? I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT ENTENMANNS IS. (Seriously; that’s a doughnut, right? Aren’t those Chinese too?)
I ran across this a while ago but haven’t had time to look into it further until now. I was searching for a microlending organization that not only was either a write-off or “investment” of sorts, but focused on China. Everything so far that you usually hear about was Kiva this, or Kiva that but they don’t really allow tax deductions.
Enter Wokai.
Wokai actually helps rural entrepreneurs in China start their own businesses. It goes through field partners and gathers information on whether or not this person is successful with repaying their loans. A person that gives to Wokai gets to see the money all the way through three rounds of loans before it goes into Wokai’s long-term fund which I found absolutely gratifying since you are donating money and writing it off, but you also get to pick and choose where it went went, which is a bit more unusual.
While there are many microlending foundations, there really aren’t many that focus on Asia in general (most of them are more Africa based). So finding something that ties back to my heritage was pretty neat to say the least.
Custom Search
Recent Posts
- Cherry Blossom Favor Candles
- Michelle Kwan Inducted Into Figure Skating Hall of Fame
- 7500 Teaser Trailer Reveals My Worst Nightmare
- Some Skin Whitening Creams Can Be Hazardous To Your Health
- I am Bruce Lee Documentary Trailer & Why We Should Remember His Legacy
- Sukiyaki Western Django
- NPR Interviews Fred Korematsu’s Daughter On His Civil Rights Work & Celebrating Fred Korematsu Day
Recent Comments
- : Did... did the overhead luggage compartment just eat Jamie Chung? – 7500 Teaser Trailer Reveals My Worst Nightmare
- : I'm such a scardey cat. I couldn't even watch the entire trailer. Someone tell me when it's over, ok? – 7500 Teaser Trailer Reveals My Worst Nightmare
- : Who better to be the Founding Father of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), than someone of mixed racial heritage? Who more likely to teach non-Asians in... – I am Bruce Lee Documentary Trailer & Why We Should Remember His Legacy
- : One person says in that video clip that Bruce Lee was "the superhero of the Asian community." Funny, but back before he was rich &... – I am Bruce Lee Documentary Trailer & Why We Should Remember His Legacy
- : I never understood it. I have international friends, especially in India, and this role on the Disney Channel does not do that ethnicity justice. I... – Is The Portrayal of Ravi On Disney Channel’s “Jessie” Racist, Unfunny, or Both?
APA Events
Feb 9: (Los Angeles, CA) East West Players presents THREE YEAR SWIM CLUB
Feb 9: (Los Angeles, CA) OR (Orphan Relief): China Care Bruin’s 4th Annual Awareness Night
Feb 10: (Los Angeles, CA) CAUSE: Women in Power Annual Luncheon
Feb 15: (Seattle, WA) Pork Filled Players Enter The Year of the Dragon Spam*O*Rama
Feb 16: Adam WarRock and Kirby Krackle: West Cost Tour Dates!!!
Feb 16: (New York, NY) Amar Chitra Katha: Monica Ferrell, Chitra Ganesh, Keshni Kashyap, and Himanshu “Heems” Suri of Das Racist
Feb 17: (Los Angeles, CA) All My Sons- Feb 18: (San Francisco, CA) NAAAP-SF Lunar New Year Gala 2012
Staff and Contributors
- Editors
- Ernie Hsiung - Founder, Editor-in-Chief
- Moye Ishimoto - Co-Editor, Editorial
- Joz Wang - Co-Editor, PR & APA Outreach
