Posts by John
I'm a Taiwanese-American and was born & raised in Western Massachusetts, went to college in upstate New York, worked in Connecticut, went to grad school in North Carolina and then moved out to the Bay Area in 1999 and have been living here ever since - love the weather and almost everything about the area (except the high cost of housing...)
Jay Chen Announces Run for Congress
Hacienda-La Puente, California School Board Member Jay Chen this week announced his run for California’s 39th Congressional District. His announcement is posted on his campaign site and blog as well as his background: Jay Chen, a Democrat, was raised and educated in Hacienda Heights. A first-generation American, Jay’s parents came to the United States from Taiwan to seek a better future and taught him the value of hard work, the importance of a good education [...] Continue »
Michelle Kwan Inducted Into Figure Skating Hall of Fame
Michelle Kwan honored at the U.S. Championships during a break in the women’s competition Saturday, January 28th evening. Last week to no one’s surprise, figure skater Michelle Kwan was inducted into the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame in San Jose, California: “Kwan was the face of figure skating for a decade, beloved as much for her grace and humility in defeat as her long list of triumphs. Though she won five world and nine [...] Continue »
Asian American Commercial Watch: Tempur-Pedic, WTF?
I was watching MSNBC the other day and caught this commercial, which apparently has been around (at least on YouTube) for almost a year. The commercial has testimonials from a wide, diverse group of Tempur-Pedic adjustable bed owners, who express, in English, their love for the product until 0:36 seconds into this this 1:00 minute commercial, where an Asian man speaks in what I think is Cantonese with his wife standing by his side. WTF [...] Continue »
The Amazing Race: Season 20 Features Misa & Maiya Tanaka
The new season of The Amazing Race started this past Sunday, and CBS has recently released a list of this season’s contests on the show’s website. The Amazing Race has done an amazing job of having Asian Americans competing as well as often winning the race. This season is no different, with sisters Misa & Maiya Tanaka hailing from San Diego, California. Maiya , 25, is a professional golfer on the LPGA Symetra Futures Tour, [...] Continue »
National Online March for Reproductive Justice, Rights and Health
Dr. Sophia Yen is a big supporter of trusting woman to make their own health care decisions, and is launching a national online effort for Trust Women Week to drawn attention and support for reproductive justice, rights and health during the anniversary week of Roe v. Wade which made abortion legal. There has been a long concerted effort to slowly chip away the rights of women’s reproductive rights since Roe v. Wade. Recently, Congress passed [...] Continue »
Australian Chinese and the Public Voice
When I was visiting a friend in Melbourne back in 2007, I visited The Chinese Museum – a museum dedicated to the history of Chinese in Australia. What I learned was the first major influx of Chinese immigrants to Australia were much like the Chinese immigrants in America – they came in search of gold, starting in the 1850s A fellow 8Asians blogger passed along this article from an Australian newspaper which fascinated me and [...] Continue »
Governor Christie Makes History by Nominating Phillip Kwon for New Jersey Supreme Court
Current Governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, made a historic nomination last week by nominating Phillip Kwon to the New Jersey Supreme Court: “One nominee, Phillip H. Kwon, a Korean immigrant who lives in Bergen County, worked under Mr. Christie when Mr. Christie was the United States attorney for New Jersey, and now works in his administration as first assistant attorney general.“ Kwon will be the first ever immigrant and first ever Asian American to [...] Continue »
Asian American Commercial Watch: Target’s Old Pipes
The latest Target commercial highlights the first interracial Asian American couple since I’ve been blogging about Target commercials. It’ll be interesting to see if Target highlights another couple with an Asian American Man (AM) with a White Female (WF) like McDonald’s recently did. In this television ad, this couple has moved into their newly purchased home. And that home has a kitchen sink that doesn’t exactly work. There’s always Target where you can buy a [...] Continue »
Asian American Commercial Watch: Roger Fan in Quicken Loans’ “Border Patrol”
I saw this commercial with Roger Fan (of Better Luck Tomorrow fame), though I guess it first aired last Fall. At first, I thought maybe the actor was Randell Park, with his hair styled a little differently – but the voice didn’t match. Then I thought, maybe that is Roger Fan? Fan blogs about this commercial and how doing commercials helps pay the bills while making a name for oneself in Hollywood. Fan says he’s [...] Continue »
President Obama’s Lunar New Year Message for 2012, Year of the Dragon
President Obama wishes all Americans, including Asian American and Pacific Islanders, a Happy Lunar New Year, which is the Year of the Dragon, beginning today, January 23rd. I like the fact that Obama recalls his childhood growing up in Hawaii (which is predominately Asian), as he sincerely recalls his youthful memories of Lunar New Year celebrations past – with parades, fireworks, and small family gatherings. And how Obama reiterates that America is stronger because of [...] Continue »
Kung Fu Master Teaches Dance
Every once in a while, I’ll get an email or a blog posting about a commercial I blogged about, like the McDonald’s commercial. The actor I highlighted, Vince Foster, sent a shout out thanking for profiling him and wanted to showcase a recent skit he helped put together with his friends. Funny, while just looking at his “What’s New” section of his site, I realized that Foster is also in the Samsung commercial mocking Apple [...] Continue »
Asian American Commercial Watch: Southwest Airlines’ “Celebration”
I was watching the New England Patriots pummel the Denver Broncos this past Saturday and saw this commercial. I’m a fair weather Patriots fan, having grown up in Western Massachusetts. I remember as a teen when the Patriots lost to the Chicago Bears as well as the Boston Red Sox lose to the New York Mets in the World Series. So it’s a quite the juxtapose how Massachusetts teams are doing so well in this [...] Continue »
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