As this comment mentions, the UFC’s first televised featherweight match saw Nam Phan lose in a highly controversial split decision. Most people watching gave the match to Phan, and the you can hear the audience chant their disapproval in the above video. Even his opponent, Leonard “Bad Boy” Garcia, thought that Phan won, and commentator Joe Rogan went on a long rant about poor judging in MMA.
Despite officially losing, I think Nam Phan won in many ways. He was given his win bonus and a $30,000 Fight of the Night Bonus to add to his $8,000 fight salary. A large audience saw him beat a game opponent who once fought for the WEC featherweight title. One MMA columnist called him one of the three MMA stars of that weekend. This can only help Nam with getting publicity for his own martial arts school and to procure sponsors. Still, as he says in my interview with him, he’ll have to really work hard to win, as the WEC/UFC merger makes it easier to get cut.
(h/t to Angry Asian Man for the video pointer)
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‘Tis the season to be jolly, and I hope all of you are getting into the holiday spirit as Christmas rolls around the corner!
In an effort to get all of you in the holiday spirit, I wanted to share a video I directed/produced with YouTube sensation/singer/songwriter Joseph Vincent. The song of choice was JV’s own rendition of “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas,” and I thought it would be a nice idea to spread some cheer throughout the city as he performed. All in all, we wanted to have fun with this shoot and deliver random gifts to some of JV’s friends to see how they would react. You’ll also find some interesting tidbits throughout the video if you really pay attention. Some notable cameos: Clara Chung, Tom Ngo, Paul Dateh, and yours truly.
I hope this gets you in the mood to go out and buy a ton of presents for your loved ones! I’d like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a happy holiday!
Shopping With GASP!
Former controversial chancellor of the Washington D.C.’s Public Schools Michelle Rhee appeared on The Colbert Report last week. She discussed many of the challenges of improving the public education system in America. Her boss, the mayor of D.C., lost his bid for re-election and thus Rhee is out of a job, as the new mayor will be picking on a new chancellor. Rhee hadn’t decided what her next steps were going to be, but a quick Google today shows that she may be in line to head up education reform in Florida.
A recent panel in San Jose discussed the difficulties of growing up gay in the Vietnamese community. “‘They think we are bad people, and will go to hell,’ [a panelist] said in Vietnamese, his words translated by an English-language interpreter. Standing in front of about 60 people, mostly Vietnamese-Americans, Chuong added that he considered suicide when his parents first kicked him out of their home. ’I'm a good student, a good citizen,” he said. “I have a hard time trying to figure out what I did to have to bear this stigma.’” [Hat tip: Lac S.]
Sunday, December 5th marks the unofficial but still globally sanctioned International Day of the Ninja. We here at 8Asians understand the impact of the ninja lifestyle on the API community in North America, and sympathize with their ongoing struggle against the pretentious and overrated pirates.
We’re proud to welcome a very special guest writer, the 8Asians Ninja. Read on to learn the history behind the Day of the Ninja and how he plans to celebrate this holiday.
It was just a little over a year ago when Tiger Woods was in a car accident when then unknown Taiwanese animation studio Next Media Animation became infamous for its animated depiction of the post-Thanksgiving event. Recently, TBS TV comedian and talk show host Conan O’Brien did a fake animation news reel in jest about him fighting with his sidekick Andy Richter.
Well, Next Media Animation reacted with a quick counter-attack within 48 hours! Watch the hilarious rebuttal here. Conan is going to respond, but since they only have one animator, it’s going to take a while. (Their first animated video took something like six weeks to do by one Team Coco animator! Apparently Next Media has 300 animators!)
I happened to catch “All Things Considered” late last night driving home. The program that was airing was on hate crime statistics and how they are generally under-reported. It was the lead that caught my attention. Lara Pellegrinelli started her piece by talking about a murder of an Ecuadorian immigrant that occurred in Patchogue, NY in late 2008. It wasn’t until she reported that prior to 2008 Suffolk County (the county in which Patchogue is located), had consistently claimed zero hate crimes did I sit up and listen.
You see, I grew up in the next town over from Patchogue and often found myself in Patchogue, at either the local discount store or movie theater. My parents spent over 30 years of their lives in Suffolk County, and on more than one occasion during the seventies, eighties and nineties reported to the police hate crimes that had been perpetuated against our family or our home. There was the time that someone shot bb gun pellets through our windows, and then there was the time someone threw eggs at our house, and the all too numerous times our mailbox at our sidewalk edge was destroyed. These things only happened to us but never to our neighbors, and we were the only Asian family on the block. These were the events that got reported to the police, but not apparently classified as hate crimes. There was also the numerous times we were yelled at, whether it was “ch*nk”, or “go back to your country” or any other typical slurs, but we never spent the energy to report those incidents.
It was a complete shock to me to hear that Suffolk County had zero reported hate crimes prior to 2008. As Pellegrinelli goes on to explain most hate crimes are classified incorrectly, and hate crime statistics from the FBI are generally lacking. In Suffolk County’s case, the police are being investigated for consistently ignoring hate crimes against immigrants. In the FBI’s newest report on hate crimes for 2009, there were only 6,604 reported cases of hate crimes in the U.S., of which half were based on race and ethnicity. A number that seems low even to me.
So as I sat in my car last night in the driveway of my house listening to NPR, and I could feel myself getting mad, mad that the crimes against my family that my parents took the time to report to the police, weren’t ever recorded as a hate crime. As Pellegrinelli reported, the hope is that the police helped victims but just didn’t record the incident as a hate crime, instead just classifying it as vandalism perhaps. In my family’s case they took the reports, but they never found any suspects. Now I wonder if they were just ignoring us, and the other immigrant families that suffered hate crimes. I’ve had a day to reflect on the story, but I don’t feel any less anger and I don’t have any good ideas on how to channel my anger, other than to write this piece, so thanks for listening.
Although Nam Phan, a contestant on The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) reality show, lost a close, split decision semifinal match to finalist Michael Johnson, his performance earned the goal of TUF contestants – a chance to fight in the UFC. On December 4, 2010 at the TUF 12 Finale, he will be fighting Leonard “Bad Boy” Garcia. Nam will be at a much better weight for him at featherweight (145 lbs). Garcia is tough opponent and is coming off a tough loss and a much talked about fight against the “Korean Zombie” Jung Chan-Sung. The fight will be televised December 4th on Spike TV at 9 PM (Eastern and Pacific Time zones).
Ahh! I’m so excited! Last night, Bravo premiered Top Chef All-Stars, the new 8th season that features the best and the brightest from all the past competitions who either should have or could have won. This show’s contestants include the sly Spike Mendelsohn, the dapper Stephen Asprinio, that Marcel guy with Dragonball Z hair, poor Richard Blais (best known, as he stated himself, for losing in his season’s finale) and, of course, butterscotch scalloped Dale Talde. Oh, and that Angelo guy. Whatever.
I’m not quite sure why I’m such a fan of Dale, but it’s probably my Asian American pride kicking in. I always get excited whenever I see our API community represented on a show like Top Chef and I’m glad they considered Dale one of the strongest chefs to be on the show. He’s like an urban version of Season 3 winner Hung Huynh (with better hair). Dale has the right amount of agreeable arrogance, drama and talent to make any reality television show interesting. Plus, he’s proud to be Pinoy, loves Filipino cuisine and believes he’s a top notch chef. His confidence carried him through his season…until those ill-fated butterscotch scallops arrived. But as the Top Chef All-Stars premiere revealed, he learned from his mistakes and successfully turned that unlucky dish into a brand new (and edible) meal. And remember that time he got really mad and punched a locker? A.W.E.S.O.M.E. I love my Asian men who show a little rage.
Good luck, Dale! I’m rooting for you!! I love you!! Did you get my friend request over Facebook yet? Is that weird? Am I being weird? Just be honest. I’ll back off if you want. Please don’t. Hello?
I was checking out a Jeremy Lin fansite and learned that his official website at www.jlin7.com just recently launched, which has his own blog, YouTube channel, as well as his Twitter account, @JLin7 (which has been around for a while). Check it out!
“MTV Iggy recently spent the day with the crazy cast of K-Town to see what, exactly, these gorgeous, tanned, toned, over-sexed, over-gelled, and shamelessly egotistical, Asian American cast members do with their time. We kept the cameras rolling from the gym to the pool to the hottest Korea-town clubs of LA, and caught every absurdly addictive moment in-between.” – Victoria, via our Suggest a Link Page
Down below this article is the press release for The Warrior’s Way, an upcoming film starring Jang Dong Gun. The film is about an East Asian warrior assassin who is forced to hide in the American badlands after refusing a mission. Along the way, he meets a hot white chick who he makes out with, fights cowboys, and then fights ninjas.
But a press release without any form of opinion is kind of boring, so let me tell you first what I think about this film and its possible impact on the mainstream audiences. First of all, I’m glad to see a film where an Asian man actually kisses a white woman because far too often, you don’t see that happening with ANY woman. So that’s one tally in my score card. Second, this film has Geoffrey Rush. Gosh, what a fantastic actor. Third, I love ninjas. I also love cowboys. This film has both. Awesome!
But it’s discouraging that this film is another example where the only time an Asian actor can actually get any hype is if he is a foreign national superstar. Don’t get me wrong — Jang Dong Gun is one sexy beast, but there’s this element of him being foreign that amps up his reputation, rather than just him being an actor who just HAPPENS to be from South Korea. If an Asian American actor was cast as the warrior, I highly doubt you would get as much hype for this film.
It would have been really cool if Jang Dong Gun played a cowboy who was formerly a ninja. While people can argue it’s hard for mainstream audiences to imagine an Asian playing a cowboy, it’s been done with The Good, The Bad, The Weird, a fantastic film starring Choi Jae-Won and Kim Jee-Woon.
So there’s my 2 cents on the film and the possible roads it could’ve taken. But we are not here to criticize or rant, we are here to celebrate a really cool looking film with a top notch cast combined with a visionary flair that looks to be a lot of fun. The press release for The Warrior’s Way is after the jump:
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