I was shocked, I was angered, I tried to find the real purpose of this “piece,” but then I was just plain offended.

Here are excerpts of Mr. Stein’s eloquently written reflection of his hometown, after being invaded by “dot heads:”

“For a while, we assumed all Indians were geniuses. Then, in the 1980s, the doctors and engineers brought over their merchant cousins, and we were no longer so sure about the genius thing. In the 1990s, the not-as-brilliant merchants brought their even-less-bright cousins, and we started to understand why India is so damn poor.”

“Eventually, there were enough Indians in Edison to change the culture. At which point my townsfolk started calling the new Edisonians “dot heads.” … In retrospect, I question just how good our schools were if “dot heads” was the best racist insult we could come up with for a group of people whose gods have multiple arms and an elephant nose.”

First of all, that’s “Gods,” not “gods.”

Second of all, this is the highest degree of editorial recklessness. Sure, I believe in the freedom of speech as strong as the next Berkeley-born-vegan-liberal-hippie –all of which I am, proudly — but this kind of tone and language is not acceptable just because you are a ‘journalist’ for TIME Magazine, and are reflecting on how your town has changed, for the better or the worse.

What if Mr. Stein took the word “Indian” and replaced it with “Mexican?” Would he be as brave to make such bold statements as, “we started to realize why Mexico is so damn poor?”

Obviously many people are not happy with this ‘article’ either: Google Joel Stein, and this shows up in his Wikipedia:

Joel’s latest Tweet reads: “Didn’t meant to insult Indians with my column this week. Also stupidly assumed their emails would follow that Gandhi non-violence thing.”

Doesn’t really sound like an apology.

So what’s the moral of the story? THINK BEFORE YOU WRITE. Asian Americans, as polite and quiet as some may think we are, also have feelings — and we also have a voice. And Joel Stein’s attempts be funny ends up looking like a major league jackass.

After stumbling through some Tivo suggestions, I found this new show on The CW called Fly Girls. Hot flight attendants living under one roof! Sweet!  Asian chick in the picture — double sweet!

It was an interesting show, with the vibe of The Hills on MTV, a very dramatic styled “reality” (questionable?). The show follows the life of 5 young women who leave behind their normal lives to pursue working for Virgin America Airlines as Flight Attendants.

Of course, the Chinese-Vietnamese American, Louise, had a sobby back-story about how her Asian family had dreamed of her growing up to become a nurse. We are later introduced to her older sister, Yung, who is the epitome of the stereotypical concerned Asian elder who does not approve of the life of glitz and glamour over the fundamental Asian-American dream of going to school, becoming a nurse, and being apart of the well assimilated Asian American collective/model minority.

What made me look twice was the sparse use of Vietnamese when the two enter a Vietnamese restaurant here in Hollywood. The awe-inspiring two-liner translated to: “What’s the house special — is it the fish?” OOOhhh, how exotic!

But in all seriousness, It raised a few points in my mind: A) That’s probably the most Vietnamese a regular viewer of The CW has ever heard before, B) Aww man, here we go picking at the model-minority thing again, and C) Damn- sounds like my older siblings…

When I thought back at when I told my parents that I didn’t want to be a doctor (…or lawyer… or engineer) and wanted to work in Television instead, they almost passed out. My dad asked me [seriously concerned for life] “But, how will you live?”

Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling is not easy, and we are the most important generation of Asian Americans yet; how we stand up to our families to find our true paths in life, will affect the types of jobs we can get, how often we are portrayed in media as something other than “the good, obedient ones”, and how future Asian Americans will be able to live in a world where we too can become explorers, journalist, television producers, and heck- even flight attendants!

So, the tip of the captain’s hat to you, Louise — thanks for being you. Unless, its just in the script.

“I don’t know what planet you come from, but to me, you’re a perfect ten!” That would be my pathetic pick-up line if I were to stumble across Battlestar Galactica bombshell Grace Park. Gentlemen — and ladies — drop what you are doing, and run (don’t walk!) to your local news stand and pick up the November issue of Maxim! (Have you left yet?)

Glorious, glorious ‘neathage graces this months cover of Maxim, as Battlestar hotties Tricia Helfer and Grace Park show off their bodies of work.

Although both women are exceptionally hot, its great to see Grace Park — of Korean descent, born in Los Angeles and raised in Canada — scorching the cover and giving a hilarious interview revealing secrets of the new Battlestar Galactica telefilm coming to DVD and TV, and her personal life, alongside co-actress Helfer. In the interview Park went on to say… wait, forget the interview for now… you need to see these pics!

So what if Park and Helfer are playing super sexy dangerous Cylon robots, out to destroy the human race? With hotties like these, I’m beginning to question if sovereign human life is even worth it anymore. I’ll take you to my leader, any day! (Okay, so my pick-up lines need some work. I get it.)

FRIDAY BONUS! Check out this smoking video from the November cover shoot!

Maxim November Covershoot, Youtube

I cried. Like a little girl. It was like the moon landing for us — finally, a president is directly speaking out to me and my people — a president celebrates Diwali in The White House!

This weekend I made the trek back to The Bay Area where I grew up, to celebrate the Hindu New Year, Diwali. Diwali is a celebration of lights, and marks the triumph of good over evil, and is celebrated with great fanfare by Hindus, Jains, Sikhs, and some Buddhists, around the world.

All through the weekend I received phone calls and texts from inspired friends and families wishing me Diwali wishes, and gushing over the news that Obama was the first president ever to celebrate Diwali in The White House. (It started in the Bush era, in 2003, but President Bush never personally took part in the celebration, nor was it celebrated within the main White House walls.) The President lead a small ceremony which included an invocation by a Hindu priest, and a ceremonial lighting of the Diya (lamp, symbolizing the brightness of truth and knowledge over darkness and ignorance), and had this to say:

”This coming Saturday, Hindus, Jains, Sikhs and some Buddhists, here in America and around the world, will celebrate this holiday by lighting Diyas, or lamps, which symbolize the victory of light over darkness, and knowledge over ignorance. And while this is a time of rejoicing, it’s also a time for reflection, when we remember those who are less fortunate and renew our commitment to reach out to those in need.”

He later went on to address the people of the fore mentioned faiths, in a special video message, and continued to wish everyone a ‘Sal Mubaraq’ which is Hindi for Happy New Year.

This, of course, is a part of the trend which President Obama has started, by being involved personally with holidays and festivals that are shared amongst the many faiths and cultures that makes up the great diversity in America; this includes his recent messages and galas for both the people of the Jewish faiths for Rosh Hashanah, and of the Muslim faith during Ramadan and Eid.

In addition, this great ceremony culminated with the joyous event of the President re-establishing the President’s advisory committee and White House initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (which was created under Clinton, but later died under Bush.)

In the end, I will never forget the faces of my family as we stood around the computer screen, and watched The President speak to us… to acknowledge us, and to let the world know that we too are just as American as any! I know I will tell my children, and hopefully children’s children, of the day when Diwali was celebrated in all of America. Thanks again Mister President, and Happy Diwali.

Jay Sean has also earned the title of being Cash Money Records first recording artist to secure the #1 spot in the charts, according to NewsWire’s account of a Universal Republic release. Stay tuned for more information and story as the Billboard Charts officially become available tomorrow.

Undoubtedly, fads come and go — I’m currently trying to weather this whole ‘Vampire Thing,’ jeez — and in the fast paced world of media, things become in in a blink of the eye.

This is always seen in the world of film: the late nineties/early 2000’s we saw a huge influx of martial arts movies from China (Crouching Tiger, Hero, House of Daggers), followed by a wave of interest in Americanizing Japanese horror films (The Ring, The Grudge, One Missed Call, etc). But now Hollywood has jumped onto the Bollywood train, and it seems like the train won’t be stopping any time soon, thanks to the success of Slumdog Millionaire.

All my life I have loved Bollywood — being an ABCD (American Born Cultured Desi), I grew up learning to love the magical, musical, and sometimes cheesy world of Bollywood; as I grew up in the suburbs of San Francisco, enjoying my favorite Hollywood flicks, I’ve wondered, “why cant we ever be in movies? Why aren’t there ever any Indians on the screen?”

So why am I complaining? Because it’s becoming too much. It’s flattering, really — but the fallout from Slumdog Millionaire has gone in an annoying direction. It seems like every gym in LA has some kind of ‘Bollywood Cardio’ class claiming to help you lose weight while doing the famous ‘Jai Ho’ subway dance; cheesy Indian stereotypes are appearing on TV shows (see Psych: Season 4: “Bollywood Homicide”); and tons of Hollywood directors and actors are pining to pair up with Bollywood heroes for a piece of the action, when for years Bollywood was laughed at. (You know Bollywood is too hot for its own good when resident lady-slayer Gerard Butler tries to get a piece of the action.)

It’s obvious that Slumdog was a huge success — it won eight out of its ten nominated Academy Awards, including Best Picture — won tons of accolades at film festivals around the world, and generated record breaking buzz for a low budget independent film, grossing over $360 million worldwide. However the South Asian Diaspora has many qualms with this film and the subsequent Bollywood fever, and it all feels a little bit too un-comfortable, too cheesy, too… fake.

My biggest question then is, what happens when this Bollywood fever dies out? Will we return to the stereotypes, misnomers, and the Apu’s from The Simpsons? Will the vibrant culture, sounds, and flavors of South Asia be labeled as a ‘fad’ and be pushed aside, shelved until the next big Hollywood whim?

Although I didn’t really care for Slumdog Millionaire as a film — yeah, I said it — I guess for now it’s exciting to see a glistening of our culture out there on the world’s stage. Hopefully this ‘fad’ develops into a richer integration; an integration drawing the masses deeper into the culture, away from the sexy hip gyrating of Bollywood step dance, towards the artful moves and mastery of Kathak or Bharatanatym; away from the fervid beats and bubble gum lyrics of ‘Jai Ho,’ and into the entrancing sounds of the ancient sitar of Ravi Shankar; and just maybe, it might get the Bollywood cardio crowds of West LA to learn some real Bhangra so they can ‘balle balle’ to the beat of a culture that offers the world more pulse, quake, shiver, and swing than we can even imagine. And that’s my final answer.