Posts by Brian
I live and work in NYC... and I love coffee. I really, really love coffee. Read me at brianjian.com.
Video Blog: Where You From?
[EDITORS NOTE: As we here at 8Asians are always down to try new things, we're experimenting with a regular video column. Today, our very own "velvety voiced" contributor Brian answers on video the question other bloggers on this site have been asked before: Where are you from?]
DramaFever – Asian Television Dramas (and more!)
Last Thursday, I was invited to attend the launch party for DramaFever, a new online video start-up focusing on fully licensed Asian dramas. In their own words: DramaFever will be starting off with over 50 Korean Dramas, adding Chinese and Japanese dramas later in 2009. All our videos are legally licensed, subtitled and streaming in high def. Viewers can watch for free with a few ads per episode. Later on we plan to offer an [...] Continue »
2-D Love: Otaku Culture
Forget sex dolls… how about sex pillows? The New York Times Sunday Magazine ran this article about a “…thriving subculture of men and women in Japan who indulge in real relationships with imaginary characters. These 2-D lovers, as they are called, are a subset of otaku culture— the obsessive fandom that has surrounded anime, manga and video games in Japan in the last decade.” Apparently Otaku can take many forms. One guy in particular, named [...] Continue »
Jammin’ Asians in NYC
Desperate cheap self-promotion alert: If any of you are in the New York City area next week, come check out the Jammin’ Asian show on Tuesday February 10th, 8:00 pm. It’s a spoken word, live music and stand-up comedy variety show, so all your bases are covered (and for the truly nerdy-inclined, “all your base are belong to us”). It’ll be good folks, good times and one particularly really, really, really hilariously funny stand-up comedian [...] Continue »
Dragon Ball Z – The Movie
I always KNEW Dragon Ball Z was white! And now I can prove it! More pics at the Dragonball: The Movie blog. (Extra emphasis on the douche-chill-inducing Chow Yun Fat picture…) This just in: the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics The Movie has been announced! They’re going to cast the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics as the film’s star.
Don’t Forget to Flush!
I’ve always considered Flushing, Queens a second home. My parents have been working there about twenty five years, taking me along since before I started grade school. Hard to imagine that, what’s now considered the second largest Chinatown in the US (!), my parents describe Flushing in the late 70′s, early 80′s as almost completely void of any Chinese at all. Today, what’s also a huge central hub of subway, rail road and buses, there’s [...] Continue »
Esther Ku: Last Comic Standing
I don’t watch Last Coming Standing, but someone brought this to my attention and now she’s been drawing particular ire b/c of Esther Ku‘s “…Asian women are out of Asian men’s league” joke. I have to defend her on this, because there’s some truth to it — the fact that some women feel this way. And I actually laughed out loud — LOL-style! — when I heard that punchline. (see @ approx. 1:30-2:10) You can’t take [...] Continue »
The Study of Koko
I just finished reading Kokology by Tadahiko Nagao and Isamu Saito. [From Amazon: Created by a famous Japanese psychologist, Kokology (koh-KOL-oh-jee) is the study of kokoro ("mind" or "spirit" in Japanese). Based on sound psychological principles, Kokology asks you to answer questions about seemingly innocent topics -- such as the color of an imaginary bird that has flown in your window -- and then reveals what your answers say about you. Kokology offers a unique [...] Continue »
Take Out Your Clock
Here’s an old bit from the Howard Stern show. Staff member Sal Governale calls up a Chinese clock repair shop and hijinks ensues! If you don’t laugh at this you have no soul and I invite you to take a long hot bath with a hair dryer. (Probably NSFW)
Ponyo on the Cliff: Pony-up, yo!
I can’t make heads or tails of this. I guess Studio Ghibli fans will rejoice. (I think) the official name is Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea. Is this good? Bad? Ugly? Hiyao Miyazaki is good stuff (ever since I first saw Spirited Away). From what I see above, the video looks like someone gave acid to a child then asked, “Now what do you see?… Hold on, talk slower!… I can’t draw that [...] Continue »
Akira’s Hip Hop Shop: Blapanese and Jack
I’m intrigued about this movie (and slightly pissed I didn’t hear about it till now, being that I was out in LA for over a year and there was a screening during that time. Nothing foreseeable out East, however). One line in particular that stands out from the trailer, the useless guy from Heroes with no powers says, “You love every Japanese girl you meet, I can’t like one Black girl…?” Ain’t that the truth? [...] Continue »
Shock-us Sulu!
Here’s the great George Takei (“That’s Tah-Kay… rhymes with OK“) on Conan O’Brien last night. The highlight @ 2:50… Banana Oil! I’ve been a dedicated diehard loyally psychopathic Howard Stern fan dating back to my 13th birthday. It wouldn’t be any stretch to say I was “raised” on The Howard Stern Show, and so my familiarity with George Takei and his openness and honesty about his sexuality have been almost exclusively through Stern. The irony [...] Continue »
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Feb 16: Adam WarRock and Kirby Krackle: West Cost Tour Dates!!!
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Feb 25: (Los Angeles, CA) Past Present I Future Imperatives: Queer Space Time
Mar 3: (New York, NY) Vong Pak’s ‘Electric Shaman’ Concert
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