Author Archives: John

About 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...)

Paramount+: Official Trailer: Love in Taipei – Streaming August 10th

I first met author Abigail Hing Wen at her book launch event of her Young Adult novel “Loveboat, Taipei” in Menlo Park, California. As a producer (one of many), on the documentary “Love Boat: Taiwan,” I had a great interest … Continue reading

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American Born Chinese: Jin & Amelia

This blog post contains spoilers.

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Asian American Frozen Foods: MìLà’s “Soup Dumplings” found at Costco

I saw a friend of mine post  this photo on Facebook after she went shopping at the same Costco in Silicon Valley where I shop. I’ve been aware of MìLà‘s (formerly known as Xiao Chi Jie) Xiao Long Bao (“XLB”) … Continue reading

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Randall Park’s UCLA 2023 Commencement Address

This past week, actor, comedian, writer, director, and UCLA Alumnus Randall Park delivered the keynote speech at all three UCLA 2023 college commencements. In this speech, he walks through his career ups and downs and how they shaped himself to … Continue reading

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SF DocFest: How to Have an American Baby

I had first heard of ‘birth tourism’ from a former co-worker/friend of mine more than a decade ago. When I heard that Chinese women were coming Southern California to give birth so that their kids could get U.S. citizenship, I … Continue reading

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CAAMFest 2023: Review – Photographic Justice: The Corky Lee Story

I was supposed to review Photographic Justice: The Corky Lee Story (trailer here) during or around CAAMFest 2023, but I let the screener link expire and the screening during CAAMFest was on Mother’s Day. I finally reached out to the … Continue reading

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125th Anniversary of Wong Kim Ark Day [3/28/1898] – Celebration & Commemoration

Another blog post I am woefully late on (but did post the video on YouTube shortly afterwards). I had attended the 125th anniversary back on March 25th commemorating and celebrating the landmark Supreme Court decision of U.S. vs. Wong Kim … Continue reading

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Andrew Yang & Moving Forward Together with the Common Sense Party – San Francisco (4/21/23)

Speakers in the video above – in order of appearance: (click on “Watch on YouTube” for entire timestamped video segments in the video description) Sara Lashanlo, Northern California Volunteer Coordinator, Common Sense Party Andrew Yang, Co-Chair, Forward Party Tom Campbell, … Continue reading

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CAAMFest 2023: Review ‘Starring Jerry as Himself’

At CAAMFest, some friends of mine were interested in seeing Starring Jerry as Himself: “Wait wait. How did we go from funny 80s immigrant family home videos to horror film infrasound playing behind an ominous phone call from Shanghai Police? … Continue reading

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CAAMFest 2023: Opening Night with ‘Joy Ride’ & Gala

For the first time since the pandemic, CAAMFest (Center for Asian American Media Festival) 2023 went full-tilt for the in-person attendee in San Francisco with the opening night film Joy Ride: “From the producers of Neighbors and the co-screenwriter of Crazy Rich … Continue reading

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C100 & Columbia University: The State of Chinese Americans

Recently, the Committee of 100 and Columbia University published a report on “The State of Chinese Americans”: “New York, NY (April 27, 2023) – Columbia University’s School of Social Work, one of the world’s leading research universities, and Committee of 100, … Continue reading

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‘Joy Ride’ Coming to a Theater Near You on July 7th!

I’ve never been to South by Southwest (“SXSW”) in Austin, Texas, where part of the overall set of conferences and art festivals is a film festival. Literally one year after ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once” premiered at SXSW, Joy Ride … Continue reading

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