A new Asian American theater company journeys to the west Direct Arts performs Paper Angels in Portsmouth Square in San Francisco to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of Angel Island, the Ellis Island of the West:
Wed to Fri, Sept 15, 16 and 17
Play begins at dusk
Portsmouth Square, San Francisco
(Grant Street at Clay Street)
Free admission
www.directarts.org
Set in 1915 during the Chinese Exclusion Act, PAPER ANGELS is about an elderly Chinese railroad worker whose attempt to bring his wife to America after 40 years of separation leads to their detainment on Angel Island, the Ellis Island of the West. A seminal play by San Francisco native Genny Lim, the play premiered in 1982 and was subsequently filmed for American Playhouse on PBS starring James Hong and Joan Chen. Dusting off this prescient gem nearly three decades later in the wake of heated debates on America’s immigration policy, Direct Arts’ new multimedia production incorporates projections of archival images, live traditional Chinese music, spoken word and segments of Chinese opera and folk dance.
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A blog from CNN announced that a study published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs found that drug abuse differed ethnic groups, with Asian-American drug use seen to be the lowest. The study looked at drugs such as marijuana, alcohol, and cigarettes and also at cultural differences regarding drug use. I think that last aspect is important. According to this article from Pacific Citizen, Asian-American college students are increasingly abusing prescription drugs like Adderall in order to study more effectively. The article mentions an Asian-American college student named David at Oregon State University who uses Adderall:
“It helps me focus a lot more when it comes to crunch time. I can sit there for four to five hours straight studying without having to hit a wall or anything. It’s great.
Adderall is a prescription drug made from the psychostimulants dextroamphetamine and amphetamine. It can help to control focus for people suffering from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Apparently, it is also used illegally as a tool to improve studying. David cites pressure from his Chinese-American parents to get good grades as one reason he started using what some call the “Miracle Drug.” He doesn’t think that its use is particular to Asian-Americans, estimating that 80% to 90% of Oregon State University students are using it. Adderall abusers risk addiction, stroke, and even sudden death.
When I was in high school and college, the drug use that I knew about was strictly recreational. In a lecture given by Challenge Success, an organization that works to change excessive academic pressure by broadening definitions of success (check them out), I heard that Adderall is also widely abused at some of the more competitive high schools in the Bay Area. What are your experiences? Is that 80% or 90% of Adderal use cited for Oregon State realistic? Have any of you seen abuse of Adderall and similar drugs in high school or college by Asian-Americans and others?
Shopping With GASP!
On September 9th, the NCRR (Nikkei for Civil Rights & Redress) and the JACL (Japanese American Citizens League), in cooperation with the Japanese American National Museum and other groups held a vigil in Little Tokyo to show their support for Muslim Americans. Their timing couldn’t have been any more perfect as the day was also Eid Ul-Fitr, the end of the holy month of Ramadan.
I got there around 7:15pm and was quickly joined by swelling ranks of Asians and non-Asians who came to show their support. For this event, I wore my “This is what a Jihadist looks like” t-shirt, which was created by the W&M Muslim Student Association. This student organization and the truly amazing people I met there back in my college days have been one of my foundations of inspiration to not only be an activist, but understanding what Islam is all about). The beautiful thing about the t-shirt is that it is bold and proud in what they want to say, to take back the word “Jihad” from how Western scholars and the mainstream media defines it.
Sometimes, I love it when people take vast amounts of data and run trends on them. It’s amazing what sort of things come out of it. This is especially fascinating when a dating site does it such as OKCupid.
In all honesty, there’s definitely some things that you could generalize from both race and stereotype and it’s proven through data such as this. I’m willing to bet that if Match.com and eHarmony both ran trends on their own data, it would probably strike most of the same major points in their own tag clouds.
So in the area of “Stuff Asians Like,” you find that Asians like to mention their heritage (Taiwan, Chinese, Korean, Singapore, etc.) , the fact that they’re simple, and the usual stereotypical jobs along with mentions of food. Honestly, do Asians really go around talking about how they’re a simple Chinese guy who loves gaming and sashimi? Crap. I guess I fall into these categories. But what really caught my attention when scanning through the keywords, was the word “swingers.” Now, I suppose this could be the 1996 movie starring Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn, but is it? Or is it dealing with sexual orientation and promoting the fact that Asians are in general a bunch of promiscuous pervs? I’ll let you make the call.
What is interesting from this particular data stream is that the breakdown consists of their own user base, but is vast enough that it can probably be a pretty accurate statistical analysis. I mean, over half a million users at random is actually a pretty good lot to choose from, wouldn’t you say?
The biggest film in Vietnam this year Fool for Love (Để Mai tính) stars Dustin Nguyen– yes, that’s the same Dustin Nguyen of 21 Jumpstreet fame– and Kathy Uyen. One of the most successful comedies in Vietnam’s history, it is directed by Charlie Nguyen, a Vietnamese American film producer, director, screenwriter and martial arts action director.
The success of this film can partly be attributed to the collaborative nature of the filmmakers, drawing from talent from both inside and outside of Vietnam. Though the crew was primarily Vietnamese, experts in their specialties from all over the world introduced new technical skills and film technologies. The growing Vietnam-based film industry could provide opportunities for more Vietnamese and Vietnamese American talent in the future.
For now, you can enjoy Fool for Love in selected U.S. cities.
SYNOPSIS: Fool for Love (De Mai Tinh) follows the travails of earnest bathroom clerk Dung (played by Dustin Nguyen) as he falls in love and quits his job at a five-star hotel to pursue the affections of a beautiful lounge singer, Mai (played by Kathy Uyen). The problem is, she’s already being chased by a wealthy real estate tycoon whose willingness to employ her depends on her willingness to date him. Comedy ensues as the penniless clerk, in order to finance his pursuit of love, is forced to shack up with a very rich but very gay businessman named Hoi (in a hilarious performance by Thai Hoa) looking for male companionship. Through it all, boy and girl are both tested as they find themselves in the same predicament – having to choose between true love and financial security. Faced with unexpected choices, will love prevail in the end?
Fool for Love is slated for release on September 10th in the following U.S. cities:
- OC: Edwards Westminster 10
- OC: Regal Garden Grove 16
- DALLAS (Garland): AMC Firewheel 18
- DALLAS (Grand Prairie): Cinemark Movies 16
- HOUSTON: AMC Loews Fountains 18
- SAN JOSE: Camera 12 Downtown
- ATLANTA: Regal Hollywood 24 @ I-85
- VIRGINIA: DC Regal Ballston Commons in Falls Church
More at: Facebook, Twitter, and Official Website
There are two things that I absolutely love: a sedentary lifestyle and food. Those passions combine in Bravo’s Top Chef, which allows me to park my ass on the couch once a week and also (somehow) savor the delicious concoctions that talented reality TV chefs put together as they compete to win a rather meaningless title. Though past seasons have attempted to represent the API community with their competitors and hosts (and winners! Long live Top Chef Hung Huynh!), this current season actually featured a diverse cast of African Americans, Asian American (okay, only one) and Latinos (or at least a little bit.)
Better yet, Top Chef seems to be acknowledging the world of Asian cuisine, bringing the season finale to Singapore. In last night’s episode, the final four contestants were required to cook street food, complete with wok, in a Quickfire Challenge, followed by putting together a menu of Singapore-influenced dishes for the Elimination Challenge. From tapioca congee to guava cucumber salad, the dishes whipped up by Kelly Liken, Kevin Sbraga, Ed Cotton and Angelo Sosa were enough to make me drool into my couch seat cushions. Except: Dude, what’s up with Angelo? Am I the only one here who thinks he’s got a bad case of Yellow Fever?
During this recent economic downturn there have been statistics that show that Asian Americans typically have had lower unemployment rates than other racial groups. New data from the State Employment Development Department in California shows that once an Asian American loses their job, they typically have a harder time reentering the labor force.
The data showed that in July, nearly half of all jobless Asian Americans in California had been out of work for 27 weeks or longer, compared with 40% of Latinos and 42% of whites. It’s believed that strong family and cultural ties common in Asian American communities plays a part in this continued unemployment. Workers that typically worked for companies owned by Asians, find a hard time trying to find work outside the Asian community due to lack of contacts and for some a language barrier.
Many Asian owned businesses cut employees’ hours as a first response to the economic downturn rather than let them go which helps to explains in part why the California unemployment rate for Asians is relatively low, just 9.5% in July, compared with 17.1% for blacks, 14.9% for Latinos and 12.0% for whites.
Several days ago, I got an audition for an internet ad campaign called “The Journey” where they needed Korean men. At first, I was extremely excited and also because the gig paid $300 a day. But then when I looked closer, I realized that the internet ad campaign was for the upcoming video game Homefront.
Homefront, we meet again. The last time I saw you was several months ago, when I was a North Korean marching soldier for the E3 2010 convention promoting your game. The story of Homefront takes place in the near future, in a world where North Korea takes over South Korea and all of Asia, then proceeds to invade America. It’s basically the premise of the Red Dawn remake that’s coming out next year but loftier (and written by the original Red Dawn scribe John Milius). Continue Reading »
Fellow blogger John, recently sent out an article to our internal mailing list on how clothes dryers are having a tough time in the Chinese marketplace. At first no one responded, maybe because most of us thought, “so what, that’s what I’d expect”.
After I offered to tackle the subject, the replies started coming in, about how our parents never had dryers, and how our parents and even many of us writers today, don’t use dishwashers. If you were socially conscious, you might even be applauding us for being so green, although saving money and entrenched habits, might have been more the driving factors for our parents.
Read tidbits from our conversation after the jump. Continue Reading »
Three years ago, director Quentin Lee and I started a film festival here in Los Angeles at the Japanese American National Museum. We wanted to showcase films by Asian Pacific Islander (API) filmmakers for API filmmakers. This year we have three days of exciting movies, an API filmmaker’s conference, and workshops!
3rd Annual ID Film Festival
Dates: October 8 through 10, 2010
Japanese American National Museum (369 East First St, Los Angeles, CA 90012)
The 2010 ID Film Fest includes films including several of which are Los Angeles and World Premieres, the Asian American Independent Features Conference, a Filmmaker’s Crash Course session, and competitions geared toward advancing the careers of Asian Pacific Islander filmmakers.
Check out the schedule and ticket information after the cut.
Any one who has followed me on 8Asians knows I am a fan of Michelle Kwan. This past May, I blogged about her commencement speech that she gave in Vermont. Michelle is about to start her second year at the Fletcher School of International Relations at Tufts, but according to the LA Times, she’ll be in Los Angeles promoting:
2010 All That Skate LA
Saturday, October 2, 2010, 7:00PM
Sunday, October 3, 2010, 3:00PM
Other skaters also scheduled to appear include Vancouver gold medalist Kim Yuna of South Korea, Olympic ice dance champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada and pair champions Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo of China.
The last time I saw Michelle skate was in San Jose some time ago, and the first time was at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics for the figure skating short program, where she placed first (and ultimately would get the bronze after the long program two days later). I rarely make it to Los Angeles, so I am seriously thinking it might be worth it to visit some friends there that weekend.
By Ken
Margaret Cho has become the Banshee of Bawdiness, the Brad Paisley of blue jokes and a Big Bitch of Bathroom Humor.
Since the beginning of her career, Cho has managed to reincarnate herself as many times as Madonna (to whom Cho often refers and credits for picking up the guitar: “If that bitch can do it then so can I”). But her mutations have been less noticed than the Material Girl’s—probably because most still can’t get past “that Asian girl who’s funny.”
To be honest, I didn’t care much for Margaret up to and during her All American Girl transfigurement. I thought that she relied on the “Let’s laugh at Asians with heavy accents” thing. The edginess that I did like from her pre-sitcom days was eliminated in her ill-fated TV series. She then seemed to capitalize on her recognition more than her talent with forgettable cameos in TV shows and small films. She seemed to be spiraling down the Bobcat Goldthwait and Paul Hogan route to obscurity—or “When They Were Someone.” She tried serious dramatic roles (It’s My Party), short films and cameos that never showcased her outspoken humor.
And then came I’m the One that I Want, which was a revelation in frankness and in blending storytelling with stand-up, mining emotional pain for the benefit of making people laugh. And think.
Read the rest of Ken’s review of Cho Independent after the jump.
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