8 Asians

George Takei appeared on G4′s Attack of the Show earlier this week to promote his character in Archie Comics’ Kevin Keller series, as well as his new book, Oh Myy! (There Goes The Internet), about how he basically took over the Internet … or at least Facebook. I’ve never been a Star Trek fan but I’m absolutely enjoying how Takei has managed to secure his popularity in the 21st century through the viral culture of [...] Continue »

Andy Marra, a Korean adoptee, shares the touching story about tracking down her Korean birth mother, whose love and acceptance allowed her to continue her male-to-female transition: “To this day I am astounded by my mother’s supernatural intuition despite the language and cultural barriers that still exist between us. I felt a great sense of relief when she helped me come out. My mother started to show her acceptance through simple acts. She would brush [...] Continue »

It’s not uncommon for single men and women to venture online to find love, but in Shanghai, some aging parents have been taking the initiative for their adult children with the “Marriage Market” in the People’s Square. Every weekend, these mothers and fathers (armed with a piece of paper outlining their single child’s assets) meet in a corner of the park to find a suitable match–kind of like what a listing of online dating profiles [...] Continue »

One interesting (and not very surprising) statistic to come out of Election Day is the racial and gender disparities between political parties. Francis Wilkinson from Bloomberg View writes about how Asian American voters are sending a message to the Republican party if they want our support: “Romney won among all voters making more than $100,000 a year by a margin of 54-44. Asian-Americans happen to be the highest-earning group in the U.S., out-earning whites, and [...] Continue »

With “Gangnam Style” still taking over the Internet one parody video at a time, it’s only natural that South Korea’s PSY would make an appearance on reddit with an “Ask Me Anything” session. While he didn’t shut down the site like President Obama did a month ago, it was still fun to hear from the musical artist directly, especially when it came to answering questions about asses. And if there’s anything we learned from this [...] Continue »

Congratulations are in order for Academy Award winning actress, Octavia Spencer, who has just signed a book deal with Simon & Schuster to release two books aimed at young adults, inspired by classic investigative series like Nancy Drew. The problem? The project is titled Randi Rhodes, Ninja Detective and the first book is summarized as such: Randi Rhodes isn’t your average twelve-year-old. She’s a Brooklyn vigilante with a Tae Kwon Do black belt. But circumstances [...] Continue »

The Japanese gardener–once a fixture in American culture–is slowly dying away with the passing generations. The LA Times recently profiled the cultural phenomenon spurred by Japanese American families taking over the horticultural industry after World War II:  “At one time historians estimated that one in every four Japanese American men was a gardener. It was menial work that required weekends, but it allowed them to buy homes, send their kids to college. Some women joined [...] Continue »

Asian American artist and YouTube sensation Clara C. recently performed live in Los Angeles as part of the At: Guitar Center with Nic Harcourt podcast, an ongoing series where emerging artists can share their music in an intimate setting for consumers and fans. You can download or stream the full interview with Nic here but we’re excited to premiere the exclusive performance here on 8Asians! I recently saw Clara C. at last month’s V3 conference [...] Continue »

Spike Lee’s Oldboy remake is moving forward, now with official distribution from FilmDistrict, a confirmed cast of non-Asians and an official synopsis: “OLDBOY follows the story of an advertising executive (Josh Brolin) who is kidnapped and held hostage for 20 years in solitary confinement without any indication of his captor’s motive. When he is inexplicably released, he embarks on an obsessive mission to discover who orchestrated his bizarre and torturous punishment only to find he is [...] Continue »

So what does our very own Koji Steven Sakai do when he’s not “researching” the latest on Asian body parts for 8Asians? He’s busy writing movies! The trailer for his latest movie, CHINK, has finally been released. Produced by Koji and Quentin Lee, directed by Stanley Yung and starring Jason Tobin, the film follows a young serial killer named Eddy copes with his own racial identity issues, a horrible boss and a killing spree. Check [...] Continue »

A man in Ahmedabad, India recently named his new clothing store “Hitler” (complete with swastika), not realizing that rule #3 in Things To Never Ever Do In The 21st Century is to associate one’s business with Nazis and/or the Holocaust. The kicker is that after locals raised their ire over the offensive name, owner Rajesh Shah said “‘I will change it (the name) if people want to compensate me for the money we have spent [...] Continue »

http://youtu.be/W6tlr2-aqVk Have you met Megan Lochte yet? She’s the sister of Ryan Lochte, who’s been making headlines for winning all those medals in the 2012 Summer Olympics. She’s also totally comfortable with using racial slurs like “chink.”