Commenter Spotlight is a weekly interview with the people who comment on 8Asians.com – whether what they have to say is insightful, touching, humorous or controversial, they’ve earned the respect of other 8Asians.com readers.
8Asians readers, meet commenter Tien Nguyen:
Tell us a little bit about yourself. Where are you from? What do you do for a living?
I’m Tien, my parents are from Vietnam and I was born and raised in Norcal. As the first in my family to be born in the US I had early presidential aspirations, then my parents wanted me to be a doctor, then an engineer (original, I know).
I then went to UCLA as a math/econ major followed by a six week Europe trip after which I was introduced to the real world and it all went downhill from there. After a few months a few friends and I got tired of it and conspired to get out of corporate America to start our own online ad agency, which is still going strong 4.5 years later and turned out to be the best decision of my/our lives.
I can also do a Rubik’s cube.
More from his interview, after the jump! Continue Reading »
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If there’s one Internet site to go hand in hand with Asian Americans (Xanga doesn’t count anymore, sorry), it would be YouTube, which a lot of people translate into doing covers of pop songs in hopes of getting noticed by the music industry and pushing their musical career along–or maybe it’s for those 5 seconds of viral video fame? Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about: those videos featuring the latest from Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars or Taylor Swift as performed by so-and-so with amazing talent.
And that’s exactly why I love Asian Shower Dudes because they’re bringing cover songs back to classic rock, whether it’s Queen or Led Zeppelin. Actually, it’s only Queen and Led Zeppelin right now because they’ve only got three videos up so far. That doesn’t make me lose hope though! Who cares about another version of “Born This Way” (BORED) when there are other Asians out there who can belt out to The Who, REO Speedwagon, Rush or Journey? Can’t stop believing? I won’t stop believing in Gary Luk and Michael Chan. I have no idea who these guys are but I hope the boxer-clad hits keep coming.
Shopping With GASP!
The New York Times is reporting that prices for Chinese art (even pieces that can not be substantiated to certain claimed dates of origin), have been fetching incredible amounts at recent auctions at Sotheby’s in New York and London. The astronomical prices are attributed to Chinese citizens exhibiting extreme nationalist pride by trying to bring art pieces back to the homeland.
APA Spotlight is a weekly interview of Asian Pacific Islander Americans (APIA) community leaders. It is a spotlight on individuals who have dedicated their careers to issues surrounding the APIA community with the goal of bringing much deserved recognition to their work and cause(s).
Helen H. Ota is the Artistic Director of COLD TOFU, the nation’s premier Asian American comedy improvisation group. A member since 1993, she has performed in and produced numerous COLD TOFU improv and sketch shows.
She is also the co-founder of Yes, And…Productions which produced Songs for a New World at the Tateuchi Democracy Forum in Downtown Los Angeles. They are currently working on a new musical which will make its world premiere in 2012. Helen is also a performing member of the Grateful Crane Ensemble whose mission is to present educational and theatrical programs in appreciation for the unique hardships and inspiring contributions of Japanese Americans in our country’s history.
In a recent Youtube video response to Tennessee’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill, famous actor and activist George Takei reaches out humorously to fight against this legislation. He says “By not talking about gay people, they can simply make us disappear.” When I saw the video thought it was a joke, then I realized how serious this is. What an ingenious way to fight against discrimination with humor.
I usually ignore any television commercials for pet food since I’ve never had a pet, but this veterinarian caught my eye. In our Asian American Commercial Watch series, we’ve seen all sorts of professions represented on television, including: a car saleswoman, a real professional golfer, Geek Squad geek, future Olympic swimmer, and now veterinarian. Personally, I’d like to see a police officer portrayed, which would bring things back full circle for me.
The partnered implementation of the Chinese government organization Hanban’s Confucius Classroom at Cedarlane Middle School in the Hacienda la Puente Unified School District has caused a year long controversy which has lead to an effort to recall the school board members as well as a community counter-effort to stop the recall. I’m happy to update now that the recall effort has officially been abandoned.
Without the proper guidance, college applications can be a crazy and confusing process. That’s why high school senior George Chen decided to share his dos and don’ts of applying to schools for APA students looking for a little help. Check back to see the later installments of this ongoing series, the 8Asians Guide to College Applications.
By George
In my previous posts, I talked about researching about schools, the different applications for UC schools, private schools and writing the personal essay, but now let’s talk about deadlines.
The UC App tends to be due at the end of November. In our case, it was due November 30th. Don’t submit it last minute because the server begins to severely lag and you may get disconnected in the middle of writing your essay. There have been some instances when the UC system had to move the deadline back because of server crashes.
I have never been one to be able to turn down a George Clooney movie. The veritable “silver fox” simply has to give his small come-hither smile before I (and many other women) flock to shell out $10 for a short two hours with him. So when someone sent me the trailer for his new movie, The Descendants, I was intrigued.
When I was offered the chance to review a complimentary copy of the new iOS application (for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch), the 3 Pandas Animated Storybook from See Here Studios, I had high expectations for this children’s story book that was in both Chinese and English. Here was a chance for my own 5 year old daughter to play with an application where she could pick up some Chinese words, and maybe undo some of my angst around her lack of Chinese.
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