What Asian-American Kids Watch on the Internet

By Jeff | Friday, June 25, 2010

“Is that Kina Grannis?”
“You know who Kina Grannis is?”

The Daughter was looking at a video of Kina Grannis, and she was really surprised I knew her. She was surprised not only because most teenagers think that their parents don’t know anything, but also because she didn’t think I would know about an artist that wasn’t so mainstream. I was surprised (pleasantly) too. When I was a kid, there were no Asian-American musicians or performers that we could watch, or at least none that we would want to be caught watching or listening to. Now I find my own kids are looking at Asian and Asian-American artists without any pushing or lectures about being Asian-American from their Dad. That being the case, I thought I’d provide brief snapshot of the kind of things that some Asian-American kids (mine) are looking at on the Internet. I can’t say that they are representative of all Asian-American kids, but for the most part, they hear about these from their friends who are Asian-American.

A few days ago I saw The Daughter looking at local indie band April Chase, a local (to San Jose) band that one of her friends pointed out to her. I like their music and have never heard of them before. Guess I should read ChannelAPA more!

Number One Son watches K-Pop videos like this one from Super Junior:

He says that he and some of his friends try to copy their dance moves. I should put Number One Son onto Pop88, although as he is a teenager, I think he might just go and do the opposite. He recently has been spending time looking at videos of Naruto manga like this one. That’s right, he watches videos of books! I suppose I should be happy that he is at least reading something.

Number Two son tends to just watch Pokemon videos. That’s pretty much all he does that’s Asian or Asian-American on the Internet, but I’ll keep track of what he (and his siblings look at), and I may do another update if I see them watching anything particularly interesting.

| Posted in Family, Lifestyles, Local, Music, San Francisco Bay Area, Technology | 2 Comments

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Preorder Stairwells with Kina Grannis

By Ben | Wednesday, February 17, 2010

It’s been while since my interview with Kina Grannis, about three years now me thinks, and it’s been a long ride. But the wait is finally over with a fabulous album coming out called “Stairwells” after winning the Interscope contract and then leaving the label later on to become an independent. This album blends the well known voice of Kina with what I couldn’t really describe from the preview songs except for a style kind of like John Mayer. Maybe I’m just crazy but this album is probably one of her most polished yet and is already looking to be a hit.

What’s even more fun about this is that if you pre-order “Stairwells” before February 23rd, you’ll get your copy signed. And apparently she’s been spending many hours signing these babies if that’s any indication of where this album is going already. If you’ve never heard of her music, I would suggest you check out the official music video of Valentine above and entice your eardrums to those lovely vocals and gentle strumming of the acoustic guitar.

Beautiful stuff. Really.

| Posted in Music | 1 Comment

Shopping With GASP!

The Top 10 Marketers to Asian Americans

By Jeff | Friday, January 29, 2010

One of the few things that I look forward to when I have to go to my Wells Fargo bank branch is looking at the photo murals there. On one wall are long ago scenes of Chinatowns and also pictures of the Filipino farm workers from the 1920s and 1930s. Wells Fargo also has a history blog from their archivists, which occasionally covers Asian American history. As it sponsors a blog featuring Asian American history and with an ad that shows Asian American couples as regular folks, Wells Fargo is not surprisingly on an Ad Age list of the top 10 marketers to Asian Americans.

3630907566 3b4b4d42c9 o The Top 10 Marketers to Asian Americans

(Flickr photo credit: webchicken)

Other top marketers on the list are Toyota, JC Penney and McDonalds. Toyota has been a sponsor of the San Francisco Asian American Film Festival. JC Penney had a marketing effort targeting Asian Americans, where they commissioned a wonderful little song by David Choi and Kina Grannis. The McDonalds ad on the left is on a bus in San Francisco, and McDonald’s also has a web site targeted at Asian Americans – www.myinspirasian.com.

I wouldn’t necessarily buy a product just because they show Asian Americans or use a language that’s familiar to me (my Asian BMI doesn’t need any Big Macs), but doing so does get me to notice, which is half the battle in advertising. Finally, it’s good to see a top 10 list, especially compared to advertisers on the bottom end such as KFC or Salesgenie.com.

| Posted in Business | 2 Comments

Kina Grannis and David Choi’s “My Time With You”

By Ben | Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Cute little song by Kina Grannis and David Choi. This collaboration seems like it was done for a JCPenney marketing campaign on Xanga called, “Get That Look“. What’s great about this is that if you follow the link on the campaign, on the right side if you click on Kina, you can actually download the mp3 of the song. And if you enter the contest, you might actually get a shot at winning a $400 gift card. Nice.

Definitely one of those perk-me-up type songs to keep your week going.

| Posted in Music | 6 Comments

Conversation with Kina Grannis

By Ben | Monday, March 24, 2008

Conversation with Kina Grannis Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (4598)

A while back, I got the chance to interview the lovely Kina Grannis, on behalf of 8Asians. She is one of Interscope’s newest artists ever since winning the Dorito’s Crash the Superbowl contest. The conversation itself covers everything from some background history, to how the Japanese culture effected both her and her sisters, to what’s coming up with her musical career.

I must apologize for the crackling of the recording since it seemed that the buffering didn’t completely set up yet before I had started. Novice sound tech on my part. Fortunately for me, she was very easy to talk to and we had a great conversation. We’ll probably catch up later with her to see where everything is going in her life.

Photo Credit: (Tim Monzon)

| Posted in Entertainment, Music | 7 Comments

Help Kina! – Part Deux

By Ben | Monday, January 7, 2008

Remember how Kina Grannis was looking to cross the semi-finals? Well she has and it’s now down to three. So until January 27th, each day, there’s a vote. While you might be voting already, she’s got the look and voice to take it all the way. Hopefully the rest of 8A thinks so too.

Oh and by the way? I did make sure that her eyes aren’t closed in this video.

| Posted in Entertainment, Music | No Comments

Help Kina Grannis get to the Super Bowl

By Ben | Saturday, December 29, 2007

Kina Grannis is a beautiful half Japanese musician/songwriter based out of Austin, Texas. I only just heard of her today and I’m already madly in love with her voice. A little late to the game, hopefully the last umph move to get 8A readers to listen to her songs and perhaps help her win the Dorito’s Crash the Super Bowl contest where the winner will get a contract with Interscope Records, and have a sixty second music video aired during the Super Bowl.The song above is actually a cover of I Will Follow You Into the Dark by Death Cab for Cutie but it’s actually my current favorite rendition of it. This round of voting ends on 12/31/2007, and if she makes the final round, then that begins 1/7/2008 where three artists will compete for the final stage. She also has a site covering the two weeks that the voting has been going on for this contest at Two Weeks for Kina.

If the amazing sounds of her voice win you over like they did myself, definitely head over to her site or iTunes and grab the couple of albums that have been produced. You won’t regret it.

| Posted in Entertainment | 12 Comments