The past weekend, competitive eater Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas defeated San Jose local, 2010 hot dog eating champion and highly favored Joey Chestnut (hot dog eater Takeru Kobayashi’s nemesis) by eating 181 chicken wings in 12 minutes (that’s 4.86 pounds of chicken) to win the U.S. Chicken Wing Eating Championship, setting a new world record (breaking her own set in 2005)! This is Sonya’s fourth time winning the competition.
Joey only ate 169 chicken wings (4.55 pounds). Apparently, for a competitive eating sport, eating chicken wings takes some special skills and techniques to eat them so quickly. Maybe Sonya is resistant to hot, spicy food! Sonya gets her nickname, the Black Widow, because she often defeats bigger male competitors. She’s only5 feet tall and weighs 105 pounds.
You know, I never knew for the longest time why Buffalo wings were called Buffalo wings. To be honest, I just thought that maybe Buffalo wings were some sort of breed of chicken or something, until I read the history of how Buffalo wings were invented in Buffalo, New York. To be honest, I can’t even imagine devouring a plate of wings in12 minutes, let alone 181.
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A recent article by gay website Edge Boston talks about the anti-Asian sentiment that exists in the gay male community websites: “Queer men of color in particular … not only face exclusionary messages in predominately white queer communities online, but also do not see others like them represented in promotional and advertising images on sites like Manhunt and other LGBT news and entertainment sites.”
Yep, agreed. But rather than give my two cents over the state of overt anti-Asian sentiment in the gay community, I’ll simply relay an anecdote: two or three weeks ago, my [white] friend Andy recently received a message from this guy on Grindr, a gay cruising dating iPhone App, for the straight people out there. The user description? “Asians, prease reave me arone.” GET IT? He’s trying to be clever, and by “clever,” I mean “a guy trying to win over white and/or Latino twinks by putting down a WHOLE FUCKING ETHNICITY.”
Rather than being full of anger, hurt or sadness, I will simply take advantage of social media and display his publicly available profile photo, with absolutely no commentary whatsoever.
To the guy I’m slandering on the Internet: So Sorry! Oh wait: So Solly!
Shopping With GASP!
When Cuong “Soi” Nguyen seemingly came out of nowhere to qualify for the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) main event, the question was asked – could Soi Nguyen spark a poker boom in the Asian-American community just as Chris Moneymaker sparked a poker boom in America at large? As this article from Pokerlistings.com mentions, one problem with Soi Nguyen doing that is that high profile Asian-Americans poker players seem to have a hard time getting major sponsorships. Jerry Yang (the poker player not the Yahoo founder) won the 2007 WSOP main event but didn’t trigger a boom in Asian-American poker. TV commercials and major sponsorships passed him by. He also noticed that this didn’t happen just to him. “I’d like to know why Asian players don’t get the big sponsorship deals?” Yang asked. “I really would like to know. Being a World Champion, I get that question all the time. Do you know why, because we would like to know and I don’t know the answer?” Other notable Asian-American poker players like Johnny Chan, Scotty Nguyen (pictured below), and J.C. Tran haven’t gotten big sponsorships. “I think it’s mainly because I’m an Asian guy and it’s tough to market an Asian guy. I mean, how many Asian guys do you see on TV?” said Tran at a 2007 tournament. Continue Reading »
August 10 marked the start of Ghost Month, a Chinese and Taiwanese celebration based in superstition around wandering souls. There’s a belief that for one month out of the year, deceased souls can come out and visit the living. Because of this belief, it’s also considered bad luck to buy a house during Ghost Month in Taiwan, although the effect has lessened as the belief in superstition has diminished with younger generations. Couple Ghost Month with a home that’s seen either a murder or a suicide (also known as a “Murder House”), and you’ve got a home that traditionally has been unsellable in Taiwan.
That is until the younger generation started reaching buying age. 30-somethings in Taipei seem to have much less concern for superstition and Feng Shui. A murder house can generate a savings of up to 50% off current home prices, especially during a slow season like Ghost Month. A recent survey by Chinatrust Real Estate Co. found only 25.6 percent of home buyers said they would stick to the taboo during the month, when spirits are believed to return to the human world to feast.
We’ve already talked on 8Asians about how superstition plays heavily in San Francisco Bay Area real estate sales, especially around Feng Shui. And it’s been no different for my family. We own a home that we shared with my mom, who passed away peacefully from cancer in the house. We tried selling our home, unsuccessfully for the past 6 months, even though my mother was neither murdered nor committed suicide. Many agents told my realtor that their client was Asian and was passing on purchasing our home just because of the death in the house (even though it wasn’t technically a “murder house”, there was too much misunderstanding about the superstition around murder houses and deaths in a home). If Taiwan can start to outgrow superstitions, may be it’s even possible the Bay Area will as well. But it just won’t be in time for our family.
By Ken
One of the things I tell “emerging artists” is the sooner you find out what your “type” is, the sooner you can pursue your career with focus. A plan of attack. For some actors, it takes years and years to discover their type. Or better yet, come to terms with it. Actors can drift for decades without realizing a substantial career because of this flaw, and when they do finally recognize their type, they’re no longer that type—they’re a different type by then.
For me, I was told in college that I wasn’t going to be a leading man on prime time TV. There went my aspirations to be the Asian bitch on Dynasty. But it was what I needed to hear. I moved onto the “off-kilter gay guy.” But recently something sparked an epiphany that I was no longer “bent Bent” and that now I might be “deceptive stalker guy.” It was the look that Margaret Cho gave me at her recent CD release party.
I hate invoking the R-word. And I certainly hate directing that word at people. So before anyone gets on my case for calling someone a racist, let me just say that I think there is a difference between someone actually being a racist and someone doing/saying racist things (though some may ask “What’s the difference?” — a topic for another post!).
But after reading an article (Hearing is not believing, 8/26/2010) in the Pasadena Weekly written by Jim Laris, its former publisher and owner — who evidently has a regular column called Cigar Smoke published in the Pasadena Weekly every other Thursday — I don’t know if there is another word other than “racist” to describe his article, except maybe “unfunny.” The article seems to be trying to telling an “amusing” story about how the sound from his TV/cable box seemed to be coming out in Chinese — I’ve republished it in its entirety in case this gets pulled offline or edited — but it has drawn the ire of the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA), who issued a Letter to “Pasadena Weekly” for Racist Remarks.
Again: I just want to make clear I’m not calling Mr. Laris a racist. But I wonder if he had any consideration how the following excerpts might sound to Chinese-speaking (not all of whom are from China or “commies,” by the way) or South Asian people: [emphasis is mine]
- …we started to hear the Chinese guy Kung Powing in Chinese.
- It made me exclaim to Marge [his wife], “Holy communist plot, what is happening?”
- Nat King Cole singing “Oh Holy Night” in commie would have killed me.
- Should I call Charter? Well, I would probably get some Indian techie guy and when I told him I was hearing Chinese coming out of my TV and then it switched to Nat King Cole, he would hold his hand over the speaker of the phone, and turn to his buddy in Bombay and laugh his tandoori-ass laugh and regain his composure and ask me, “Sir, vat is a Nat King Cole?”
Ok, so I get that he’s trying to be funny. He makes reference to his wife calling him “Couch Potato Face” and to imaginary conversations with the late Richard Feynman. But as a former publisher and owner of a publication based in the San Gabriel Valley — one of the largest concentrations of Chinese American populations in the nation — is it really a good idea for him to say things like “kung powing in Chinese” or refer to the language as “commie?” And exactly WHAT is a “tandoori-ass laugh?” Who is trying to be, Joel Stein?
What do you think?
Continue Reading »
You’ll notice I sound a bit different in this episode. In fact, I’ve got a guest DJ who kindly asked if he could mix this episode for me. And seeing as how I haven’t exactly learned how to spin, virtual or otherwise, it probably would be something fun and different for you all to listen to.
Please welcome DJ PLo from KSCU 103.3FM in Santa Clara who can also be heard at OMGKPOP.com Wednesday Evenings 9pm PST. Leave him some love in the comments and check out his site.
If you like what you hear, please show your support by supporting the artists and buy their CDs and DVDs using the links provided on this site. Most will soon be available on iTunes, so please support them there as well!
For any requests, comments, suggests, dedications or feedback, feel free to leave a comment at Popcast88.com or send an email.
Continue Reading »
Remember that hardcore two year old baby from Indonesia who shocked the world with his two-packs-a-day smoking habit? You can lay off on those phone calls to Child Welfare Services because National Commission for Child Protection Secretary-General Arist Merdeka Sirait has announced that Ardi Rizal has officially kicked the habit. Through “intensive specialist care,” child welfare officers have managed to “divert his addiction from cigarettes to playing.” And by playing, they mean food and Nicorette gum. Actually, it sounds more along the lines of hobbies and friends.
“He received psychosocial therapy for one month, during which therapists kept him busy with activities and encouraged him to play with kids of the same age,” Sirait said…[He] said the government had given financial support to Ardi’s parents, who were ignorant of smoking’s dangers and used cigarettes to keep the toddler happy as they worked long hours at a street market.
Now, little Ardi can face a childhood of anxiety attacks, weight gain, teeth grinding, mild depression and the shakes. Congrats, Ardi and here’s to a healthy third year of your little life.
We here at 8Asians are also accepting wagers on whether this baby will relapse in 2011. Email us if you’re in on the betting pool.
APA Spotlight is a bi-monthly interview of Asian Pacific Islander Americans (APAI) community leaders. It is a spotlight on individuals who have dedicated their careers to issues surrounding the APAI community with the goal of bringing much deserved recognition to their work and cause(s).
Honored by San Diego Magazine as one of the Top 50 People to Watch in 2009, Lee Ann Kim is the founding executive director of the San Diego Asian Film Foundation, which serves more than 30,000 people each year. Lee Ann worked for nearly 12 years as a news anchor/reporter for KGTV Channel 10 where she earned numerous awards for her journalism including a regional Emmy for investigative reporting.
She was recently honored by KGTV as a 10News Leader, as well as the KPBS Hero of the Month for May 2010, San Diego Metropolitan Magazine’s Top 40 Under 40 in 2007, as well as Director of Excellence from the 2008 International Film Festival Summit.
Lee Ann also serves on the San Diego County Television Cable Commission, and on the boards of Orchestra Nova, Korean American Coalition in San Diego, and the Korean American Foundation for Educators.
The mission of the San Diego Asian Film Foundation is to connect audiences with the human experience through the Pan Asian media arts. Learn more about Lee Ann Kim’s work on the foundation, after the cut.
CNN, along with a number of other news organizations, has reported that James Jay Lee has been arrested at Discovery Channel’s headquarters near Washington, DC after taking hostages and demanding that the discovery take a more “enviromentalist and anti-capitalist agenda.”
Lee has had a beef with the channel for years, as CNN has reported that he has been trying to encourage the channel to have game shows promoting an environmentalist agenda — although his rants quickly devolved into him accusing the channel of promoting “the birth of any more parasitic human infants.” While I’m personally all for Asian Americans pushing a more environmentally friendly agenda, I don’t think environmentalism has anything to do with calling civilization filth, like he does, or the birthing of children parasitic.
Earlier this year, I had reviewed the documentary film, Wo Ai Ni (I Love You) Mommy. The film had its national broadcast premiere this past week on PBS’s POV series. For a limited time, from September 1, 2010 through November 30, 2010, you can catch the film streamed online for free here! The film follows the journey of a young Sui Yong and her adoptive family from China to New Jersey and the challenges and joys of raising a child from a foreign land, culture and language in the United States. Even if you are now interested in adoption, I think you will find this film both gut wrenching and heartwarming at the same time.
So, this was unexpected: YouTube Comic KevJumba and his father — the source of a lot of KevJumba’s comedic bits — have been cast on the latest season of The Amazing Race, albeit with the normal names of Michael and Kevin. For a reality show that has been criticized lately of being stale, the casting of Team KevJumba is an interesting choice by producers: not only do they cast the token Asian Team(tm), but they also reach for the younger YouTube demographic — high schoolers to young adults — that watch Internet shows instead of television. Smart move, although KevJumba might want to be concerned that the person that will be doing the show editing won’t be KevJumba himself, but some random white guy.
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