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I know some of my fellow 8Asians writers like America’s Next Dance Crew…I know “hip hop” is popular, and break dancing is much more sexier and grittier than ballroom dancing right now, but I’m going to still stick to my favorite TV dance show: Dancing with the Stars! How exciting, that Kristi Yamaguchi is on as a contestant this season.
I wanted to be just like Kristi when I was young, watching her win her gold medal on TV in 1991…and how, I want to be just like her again! She rocks it on the dance floor. The video clip above, is my favorite dance of hers so far, while she has trouble “shakin’ her booty” in rehearsal, she gets over her shyness and brings it on during the performance. Can I also say, dancing with Mark Ballas can’t be too difficult, either! He is a great teacher (getting her to loosen up, making her laugh) and the steps he creates for her are amazing to showcase her ability.
Kristi has been the highest scorer since Week 1 of the season (it is currently going onto Week 5 tomorrow). Co-contestant Jason, finally caught up with her in a tie last week, for a (in my opinion), a too-generous score that made him tie with Kristi this week. (And yes, I know he’s hot). The thing is, in order to win, the public has to vote for Kristi in order to win…which makes people think that a guy will most likely win every season because it is mainly women/gay men who watch the show and vote. Maksim, a pro-dancer from last season, has claimed publicly that a woman cannot win Dancing with the Stars because it is mainly women who vote, and as soon as a male contestant goes topless or shows some skin, it’s all over for the female contestants.
Can we help Kristi win this season? Let’s help support an Asian contestant on the show! Watch tomorrow evening and vote!
Vote for Kristi & Mark!
800-86834-11 (800-VOTE4-11) Text-in code 3411
Do you have trouble shaking your booty on the dance floor? With my ballet training, I admit I have a bit of trouble salsa dancing (but definitely doesn’t stop me from trying!!), but if you have trouble, or if you can definitely shake your thang, share!
8 Comments | Posted in: Entertainment, Sports
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A common stereotype amongst Asian-Americans, and I am sure specifically Chinese-Americans, is that we play ping-ping (or more properly named, table tennis) and we are good at it. Well, apparently, we are. The Wall Street Journal reports that the top table tennis players in the world are of Chinese decent - including the U.S. Olympic table tennis team:
“The best American and Canadian table-tennis players squared off here last weekend for a chance to represent their country this summer at the Beijing Olympics. Only one of the eight American players was of non-Asian descent. All but three were born in China. Six of the eight Canadians also here vying for Olympic berths were either born in China or of Chinese descent. China’s superpower status in table tennis has created a prickly problem for the sport: Nearly all the world’s most competitive players are Chinese. And that has made for a lot of mixed feelings. Since China has so many top players, many in recent years have changed citizenship in order to play for national teams elsewhere. Most countries — like the U.S. where many think of ping pong as a game played in the basement on rainy days — are glad to have players who will give them a chance in international competition. The downside: Teams full of Chinese players undermine already scant local fan support and, according to some, the development of home-grown talent.”
Table tennis has been an Olympic sport since 1988. Essentially, many international competitions (including the Olympics_ turn out to be Chinese players playing another Chinese player (either of Chinese decent or former Chinese citizenship). However, table tennis’s origins are not from China, but from England in the 1880s.
This is such an issue that the International Table Tennis Federation has passed a rule requiring Chinese to wait before playing for a new country. Those between 18 and 20 must reside in their adopted country for seven years before they can compete at certain international events (not applicable to the Olympics). Those 21 and older can never become eligible! That’s crazy.
I guess the stereotype of Chinese and Chinese-Americans being good at table tennis is only reinforced by international competition. Too bad table tennis in the United States is just not as popular and recognized as tennis. (The last famous Asian-American tennis player I remember was Michael Chang.)
No Comments | Posted in: Current Events, Observations, Sports
11 Comments
A funny thing occurred in the comment section regarding the previous blog post on Asian parents making their kids play musical instruments; a tangent topic was brought up about taking their kids out for sports teams. From Eddy:
…do APA parents ever force their kids to play sports the way Caucausian parents do? (It’s a generalization, I know.) While being forced to learn how to play a musical instrument seems pretty common, I don’t usually hear about the same thing when it come to sports.
To which asiandragon replied:
Many parents on the West Coast especially those in the second and third generation ones in Asian areas like the Bay Area, LA / Orange County and Sacramento tend to encourage their kids to participate in sports (Asian basketball leagues, martial arts and golf).
My parents actually encouraged participation in sports like track and basketball and the fighting arts instead of music. My mom didn’t want me to get my butt kicked by the white racists in my school.
Basketball leagues. I do remember Japanese American friends signing up for that growing up.
It’s funny, because now that I think about it - my parents DID sign me up for something physical; kung-fu lessons every Sunday with this retired guy at some shady park in Berkeley. I was NOT an in-shape kid growing up so the thought of doing anything physically? Fuck that, I would rather be penetrated through an ocular cavity. Actually, I think I tried once, and my parents threw their hands up at my dramatic tirade and let me quit. But basketball or soccer is definitely something more Americanized parents would agree to. And I’m not sure how I feel about that.
How about you?
(Photo apologies: Berkeley Ohtani Basketball Program)
11 Comments | Posted in: Observations, Sports
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If you haven’t heard, NBA Houston Rockets’ basketball player Yao Ming injured his left foot, as report in “China Holds Breath for Yao“:
“Amid pollution, traffic and human rights concerns, Beijing is facing a new Olympic threat: Yao Ming’s left foot. Chinese basketball fans, bloggers and multinational corporations Wednesday all expressed their condolences to Mr. Yao, the 27-year-old, 7 ft. 6 in. superstar center, who announced Tuesday in the U.S. that a stress fracture in his foot would prevent him from finishing the season with the National Basketball Association’s Houston Rockets. While doctors say he requires only about four months of recovery, Mr. Yao’s ability to perform in China’s vaunted Olympics this August is in question. The Chinese national basketball team wasn’t expected to win a medal at the Games, but hopes were high that Mr. Yao, China’s most famous athlete, would be the public face of the nation’s Olympic pageant. The Xinmin Evening News, a Shanghai daily, ran the headline “National Treasure Injured,” using a Chinese phrase usually reserved for pandas, China’s beloved national animal.”
As you may or may not know, Yao Ming is probably China’s most well known Chinese athlete in America, if not the world. Yao has been a boom for the NBA as the NBA has tried to attract literally hundreds of millions of mainland Chinese as fans of the American sport. Yao endorses and is the pitchman for Reebok International, Coca-Cola Co. and Visa International Inc. Let’s hope for Yao’s quick recovery. If you don’t know much about Yao Ming, there is a pretty good documentary that I’ve seen on him following Yao in his first year in the NBA titled, “The Year of the Yao.” On a side note, do any of you know of an Asian American swho plays for the NBA, or for college basketball (as March Madness is coming up soon…)
7 Comments | Posted in: Current Events, Observations, Sports
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In a completely unrelated post, 8Asian readers have been weighing in on the SalesGenie.com ads which aired during yesterday’s Super Bowl. As such, I thought I should give the topic its own post.
The basic consensus seems to be that two of the cartoon ads by SalesGenie were offensive to Asians.
The first one, which aired during the First Quarter, is called “The Worst Salesman” and features a sales boss yelling at his sales employee Ramesh (presumably of South Asian descent) for not generating enough sales. Ramesh, in an “Indian” (South Asian-type) accent, mentions that he has seven kids, and he goes to the SalesGenie website and generates 100 new leads, makes a bunch of sales, makes Employee of the Year and accepts his award from him boss with his wife and seven kids standing beside him.
Here’s the ad, if you’d like to watch it for yourself:
The second ad, called “Peddling Pandas,” aired during the second quarter. The cartoon features a pair of pandas, who own Ling Ling’s Bamboo Furniture Shack. The signage for the store is in a nice typical “chopstick” style font and the pandas speak with bad “Chinese” accents. They need help selling their bamboo furniture, so they call a panda sales genie for help. The sales genie panda has no such Asian accent, by the way. The results are so wonderful that six months later, the pair of pandas now run Ling Ling’s Bamboo Furniture EMPORIUM and the owners can take their convertible and their pair of baby pandas to the see the bears at the zoo.
So the question I had was WHAT AD AGENCY WROTE THIS CRAP!?
The answer is: NO AGENCY DID.
According to an article published in late December 2007, “Salesgenie.com Ready to Reclaim Crown as Super Bowl’s ‘Worst Ad’ Champion” the copywriter and creator of the concepts for these ads were none other than Vinod (Vin) Gupta, the founder of SalesGenie.
For the record, Mr. Gupta is of Indian descent, hailing from Uttar Pradesh.
So for everyone who is up in arms and asking “Who could be this insensitive and racist?”
The answer is: one of our own is responsible for this.
I don’t even know where to begin my personal commentary on these ads, so I’ll just say this racist or not, these ads are definitely stupid.
I guess some people will do anything to make a sale.
And, as the angryasianman says…
The worst part is, the company was apparently trying to make these commercials the worst Super Bowl ads possible: Salesgenie.com Ready to Reclaim Crown as Super Bowl’s ‘Worst Ad’ Champion. They succeeded. And here’s the sad truth: any sort of controversy these ads stir up will likely just give more publicity to a no-name company that nobody ever gave a crap about in the first place. We can’t win.
I want to hear what you have to say on this…
UPDATE: More coverage:
BlogCritics
Salon
Jason Calacanis
Conde Nast Portfolio
New York Times/The Board
UPDATE on 2/5/08: OCA disappointed with negative imagery in Super Bowl ads
41 Comments | Posted in: Current Events, Discrimination, Entertainment, Observations, Sports
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Happy Birthday Bruce Lee!
I remember running home from grade school to watch Fist of Fury, Way of the Dragon, and Game of Death as a kid. Then I’d daydream about being a kung fu master and practice my moves on my little brother. Hwah! Hwah! Hwaaah!
Bruce Lee would be 67 years old today. He was born in San Francisco, CA, then raised in Hong Kong, where he learned Chinese martial arts and started making Hong Kong martial arts films.
He also attended the University of Washington from 1960-1963, where he majored in drama major and took some philosophy classes, while working at Ruby Chow’s restaurant (on Broadway and Jefferson). It was here that he met his future wife, Linda Emery.
The students of UW are holding a rally to support a Bruce Lee memorial today, from Noon-1:00pm on the campus’ Red Square. The memorial would include a statue of Bruce Lee, which “could potentially be the best statue ever.” Heh. (BTW, the photo featured here is the statue of Bruce Lee in Hong Kong).
I wasn’t able to find any celebratory events for Bruce Lee in San Francisco though. So in lieu of that, here’s my birthday song to the master:
Happy birthday to you,
You have awesome kung fu,
You totally kicked Chuck Norris’ ass,
And Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s too!
Happy Birthday Bruce Lee!
(Hat tip: George Kelly)
(Photo credit: Sandy Leung)
4 Comments | Posted in: Current Events, Sports
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National past times are going international. The NFL has a Dolphins/Giants game on today being played in London. The NBA is playing a few preseason (aka practice) games overseas. Of key interest is China. People paid upwards of $550 per ticket. To put it in perspective, that can buy you 551 bootleg dvds.
["King" Lebron James and Billy "the soldier"]
$550 for a preseason game. Wow. It goes to show you the NBA’s popularity. And with over a billion people strong, that’s a huge fan base. I wouldn’t be surprised if in the near future, an Asian offshoot league forms and the winner of that league plays the winner of our pro league here in the States. Sort of akin to the current “conferences”. A logistical nightmare, I’m sure. But never underestimate the power and motivation of money.
Of course from a country that gives us Gushi jeans, Lenny Vuitton handbags and Starbox coffee, referring to this new league as part of the NBA (National Basketball Associaiton) would be in poor taste. They’d have to call it the National Basket-Ball Association, or something. The NBBA. The extra “B” is good luck because B’s look like 8’s. Perfect.
Post script - The funniest thing is the young fan in the article who calls himself “MC Hotdog“. I’m guessing he said it in Chinese and then it was translated to English. The closest thing I can think of to hotdogs are Chinese sausages. ‘MC Chinese Sausage’. (If you said it in Chinese, it’s funny.)
3 Comments | Posted in: Sports
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We’re in week 2 of the NFL football season and I’ve discovered the cultural sensitivity of one particular NFL team. I’m a Niner fan since birth, but I’ll have to give props to the Oakland Raiders for this one. I can see it now, a sea of silver and black face painted fans saying, Ano ba! Raiders! The Oakland Raiders website seeks to expand its fanbase to native Tagalog speaking fans. I originally found the article on Philippinenews.com. You can take a look at the Tagalog website here.:
The addition of a Tagalog version to the website is very relevant in terms of representing Filipino culture and shows the organization’s dedication to a burgeoning Filipino population in both the Bay Area and the region of Southern California
Next time you’re in the Bay Area and you head to a Raiders game, ask the vendor selling hot dogs for lumpia or pancit instead. And if you’re lucky you might even get balut! Now if only the Niners were just as forward thinking, I’d be all over it! P.S. The Raiders organization is also culturally sensitive to Japanese fans too!
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