Webseries: “2 Girls | 1 Asian”

Posted on August 7, 2014 by 8AsiansNews

8A-2014-08-08-2Girls1AsianHalf-Asian best friends Caela and Kelliye have the perfect apartment, the perfect boyfriends, and auditions for the part of a lifetime.

All that is about to change.

This female- and minority-driven dramedy follows the girls as they sort through boy troubles, career trials, financial woes, and the social muck of being “ethnically ambiguous” in the arts.

Ultimately 2 Girls | 1 Asian tells the story of two girls who value their friendship above all else.

From Kelly Colburn + Kaela Mei-Shing Garvin:

2 Girls | 1 Asian is devoted to diversity, gender equality, and tackling topics that aren’t readily addressed in mainstream entertainment today. Our series passes the Bechdel test, presents characters outside of Asian-American stereotypes, and features young independent artists of all races, backgrounds and disciplines–including the musicians whose songs we showcase weekly on our soundtrack. As an independently-produced small webseries (we produced the entire first season over 25 days of filming for under $3000!), we are maintaining a devoted fan base. With your help, we would love to expand that number and share our series with the world.

Posted in Comedy, Entertainment | Leave a comment

LuckyRice Kicks off Food Month Gluttony

Posted on August 6, 2014 by Guest Writer

1407280236950By Ken Choy

How many Asian Food nights do we need?

Well, there can never be enough, according to LuckyRice Festival founder Danielle Chang. “Asian food is everyday grub,” Chang says.

Getting a jump start on the major foodie events in August—LA Food and Wine Fest and LA Times The Taste occur near the end of the month— LuckyRice comes to Los Angeles for the first time ever. And the organizers follow that up with a San Francisco event just after Labor Day.

So Californians no longer have to trek to Vegas to get LuckyRice. And who better to usher in the fest than Chef Sang Yoon, that hunky Top Chef Masters star and owner of Lukshon and Father’s Office. No word on what he’ll bring—Yoon brought savory Dan Dan noodles to The Taste and LAFW last year, not tastings of his famous burger which was voted the country’s best by both Esquire and the Today show. But there’s more than enough to excite your palette. Everyone’s favorite Starry Kitchen will be there along with Katsuya, Phorage, Bling Bling Dumplings, RockSugar, Fluff Ice, Hamasaku, Dirty Habit, and E+O Asian Kitchen just to name a few.

Oh, and there will be cocktails, Asahi beer, wine, and Bruce Cost Ginger Ales, a handmade take on the standard beverage.

The Hollywood event is August 7 at Create in Hollywood, starting at 7PM. VIP Tickets are also available.

8A-2014-08-07-LuckyRiceLA

Posted in Food & Drink, Southern California | Leave a comment

San Francisco’s Tech Boom Squeezing Out Chinese American Small Businesses

Posted on August 5, 2014 by Jeff

InnerRichmondClementWhile we’ve written about how Filipinos have been affected by the San Francisco Tech boom, this story from Boom (summarized here by New America Media), talks about the effects of the boom on small Chinese American businesses like these on Clement street.  I liked how in addition to talking about broad trends, it talks about individuals like Big Sister, who despite crowds eating at her restaurant, is closing her Geary Street restaurant and moving to Daly City.  “Too expensive, losing too much money,” she says.

The Boom story also talks about how years ago, some San Franciscans worry about their city being transformed into a Chinese city as large ethnic Chinese areas emerged in areas like the Richmond and the Sunset.  Ironically, as buyers from China purchase real estate, Chinese Americans are being squeezed out.  For more stories like Big Sister’s, look at the Boom Article (it’s more detailed than the New America Media summary).

(Photo Credit unclelam, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported)

Posted in Business, Current Events, Discrimination, Real Estate | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

San Francisco Nearly Devoid of Asians (According to ‘Dawn of the Planet of the Apes’)

Posted on August 4, 2014 by Guest Writer
Photo credit: David James - TM and © 2014 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Not for sale or duplication.

DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES (left to right) Kirk Acevedo, Keri Russell, Jason Clarke, Kodi Smit-McPhee and Enrique Murciano.

Photo credit: David James – TM and © 2014 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Not for sale or duplication.

8A-2014-08-04-dawn-of-the-planet-of-the-apes-DPA_Group_Bridge_VER_C_SRGB_rgb

By Leeland Lee

Recently, in between scenes of apes wreaking havoc throughout the streets of San Francisco, I played a game I often play whenever I feel bored at the movies: spot the Asian actor or actress.

From the start, I suspected this would be no easy task. Certainly, none of the main human characters were Asian. And, to my knowledge, none of apes were, either. But how about the extras, the nameless faces in the crowd?

I spotted exactly one. A male with long black hair and, shockingly, glasses. One Asian person in the entire movie, a movie that’s supposedly set in a city that’s currently about 33% Asian, according to the latest statistics from Wikipedia.

So what happened to all the Asian people? I began devising elaborate theories. Perhaps they lacked the key resistance gene for simian virus and were decimated by disease. Perhaps they had been run out of town by a gang of predominantly white Silicon Valley yuppies. Perhaps they had fled to Fremont.

In any case, whoever made this movie certainly spared no expense turning San Francisco into a haven of post-apocalyptic CGI porn. In one scene, apes are swinging from the cables of a rotted Golden Gate Bridge. In another, the main characters escape into an abandoned BART station. There’s even a scene showing the tunnel on Stockton Street, along with the shuttered storefronts of the Asian massage parlors that, like weeds, currently line its entrance. Now that’s attention to detail!

But there’s only one tiny little problem: They left out all the Asian people!

Sadly, in scene after scene, the only Homo sapiens who seem to inhabit San Francisco are a bunch of feckless hipsters who are either busy putting on their sad faces or partying it up in some abandoned warehouse, as they are apt to do.

And that lone Asian guy? He’s quietly standing in the background, where Asians, historically and metaphorically, have always seemed to stand. Always receded, always just outside of the frame.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Leeland Lee has previously written for 8Asians.com about Apple factories in America

Posted in Movies | 8 Comments

8$: The Nomadic Family Project

Posted on August 3, 2014 by jozjozjoz

8$ is a series which occasionally highlights interesting crowdfunding projects. Every day, the 8Asians team is inundated by many worthy pitches. We are unable to highlight every one that comes our way, or even the ones we might individually support. The projects selected for 8$ are not endorsements by 8Asians. (To be considered for 8$, we highly suggest you not harass the writers or the editors of 8Asians.)

8A-2014-08-03-TheNomadicFamilyProject

WHO: Angela Tabora and Erin Lim, filmmakers of The Nomadic Family Project: the story of the ups and downs in almost 4 years of non-stop budget travel across 15 countries. The Nomadic Family has lived among the locals in the jungles of Ecuador, pushed their limits on a 16 day trek in the Himalayas, and settled down among the gorgeous beaches of Goa, India.

WHAT: Kickstarter project: The Nomadic Family Project (Part 2: The Final Stretch)

In addition to the 100+ hours of personal footage from the family, our crew followed them on their biggest challenge yet, the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal! It was a 16 day trek through the Himalayas to the 10th highest mountain in the world! Next we followed them to India, where they settled down amongst the beautiful beaches of Goa for some well earned downtime. But the story isn’t over! After traveling for more than 38 months through 16 countries, the family has just returned home. That means we’re headed to Israel to capture how they adjust to life within four walls.

WHEN: Deadline to contribute is Wednesday, August 6, 2014 (4:34pm PDT).

WHY:
Why $25,000:

Although we are asking for $25,000, if we raised $30,000, that would not only make our film that much better, and completed quicker, it will also help us get The Nomadic Family to the US for our film premieres in LA and SF, so we can have a live Q&A and they can meet all of our beautiful supporters! (trust me, you want to meet them, they are AMAZING).

Typically, a film of this nature would require at least a 6 figure budget, and a 10 person crew (and that’s still considered bare bones). So far, we’ve accomplished what we have with $15,000 and a crew of 3. In short, we’re good at making our money and our resources stretch! What we earn this time around will go towards:

-Final Filming: shoot in Israel with our crew of 3 (travel costs + minimal on the ground expenses)
-Post Production (transferring footage, editing, etc.)
-Entry fees for the film into festivals across the US and Israel
-Legal fees, distribution

Posted in 8$, Family, Movies | Leave a comment

Asian American Commercial Watch: ‘Maggie’ & Samsung Experience Shop — Touch, Try, and Play

Posted on August 1, 2014 by John

http://youtu.be/-kx1MZ-ddS4

Maggie_Samsung_Krista_Marie_YuThanks to an 8asians’ reader, we came across this Samsung commercial starring Krista Marie Yu as ‘Maggie,’ a kind of socially clueless but technologically curious millennial trying to check out Samsung products in all the wrong settings. What’s interesting is that in this commercial, there are also a few other Asian Americans in the storyline, including actor Rich Ceraulo as a student in the library and Jessica Blythe Kemejuk  as a Best Buy / Samsung Experience Shop employee.

I know the Samsung Experience store-within-a-store has been great deal for Best Buy, but I wonder if it’s helped Samsung at all compete against Apple and it’s Apple stores. Whether the Samsung Experience Shops are helping Samsung or not, it’s great that Samsung is highlighting more and more Asian Americans in its television campaigns, since when I can remember with the launch of their “The Next Big Thing is Already Here” campaign with Vince Foster (who was also in another recent Samsung ad).

Posted in Entertainment, Technology, TV | 1 Comment

8 Questions for Ken Fong of “The Ken Fong Project”

Posted on July 31, 2014 by Tim

photo (1)I was fortunate enough to meet Ken Fong of the Ken Fong Project this year during the V3con digital media conference in Los Angeles on June 20-21, 2014. Ken was part of the panel titled “Secrets Online: Topics that are Taboo in Real Life”, where the panelists tackled the issue of writing about things one would not normally talk about in general conversation. Ken passed along an interesting piece of advice, to beware, that if you’re willing to talk about a taboo topic online, you may become the go to person and spokesperson for that issue.

Ken Fong is a moderate Baptist pastor and subject of the documentary “The Ken Fong Project”. The documentary covers his journey as he reconciles his beliefs with the way gays and lesbians are being treated by his community. He has compared the way gays and lesbians are treated with the way Jesus was treated by the hyper-religious Jews in biblical times.

Additional information about the documentary is relayed in the video below:

The initial round of funding for the documentary was completed through Indiegogo, but the documentary team will be looking for additional funding in the near future to help with costs of completing the film.

Ken was gracious enough to agree to an 8Questions interview on 8Asians, and the result is after the jump.

Continue reading →

Posted in 8Questions, APA Faith Matters, APA Spotlight, LGBT, Religion, Southern California | 1 Comment

Affirmative Action Alternatives and their Effects on Asian Americans

Posted on July 30, 2014 by Jeff

Sather_GateWith the tabling of SCA5, the Fisher vs University of Texas decision, and the lawsuit over admissions to New York’s selective high schools, non-race based alternatives to diversifying campuses are increasingly being discussed. Some of these discussions, like this one on the book “The Future of Affirmative Action:  New Paths to Higher Education Diversity after Fisher v. University of Texas”, this one on place as a better emphasis than race, and this paper on affirmative action alternatives, hardly mention Asian Americans.   What are the effect of these affirmative action alternatives on Asian Americans? Better yet, how will Asian Americans react?

Continue reading →

Posted in Current Events, Discrimination, Education | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Sullivan & Son Episode Review: “Luck of the Half-Irish”

Posted on July 29, 2014 by Mitchell K. Dwyer

Season 3, Episode 5 (originally aired July 15): “Luck of the Half-Irish”?

sullivan_3_5_1Microsynopsis: NASCAR racer Brad Keselowski returns for a second guest-star appearance, winning his first race in months after sitting on a barstool in Sullivan & Son. The patrons (old and new) are convinced that the stool must be lucky, so Ok Cha begins charging people for the privilege of sitting upon it. Steve tries to convince everyone, to no avail, that there is no such thing as manipulating luck.

Good: There’s plenty of Melanie, who gets to wear a pair of Jimmy Choos. That’s about it.

sullivan_3_5_2Bad: While there’s not much about this episode that’s very good, there’s not much that’s very bad. I could do with fewer guest stars, but I’ve been complaining about that since last season.

Hapa moment: The title of this episode is its most hapa moment.

Overall: This episode is so forgettable that when I watched it the second time several days later, I remembered none of it from the first time except a joke Melanie makes about who gives her the expensive shoes.

Final grade, this episode: C minus.

Posted in TV | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

YouTube: Anna Akana’s ‘How to put on your face’

Posted on July 28, 2014 by John

Anna_Akana_IMDB_photoI saw this video posted earlier this month on Facebook by someone by budding self-described actress, director, writer Anna Akana and recently saw that The Huffington Post had picked it up. Although I’m a guy, I liked the message that Akana is delivering – that beauty is both outside *and* inside. The YouTube video has over 1.4 million views now!

If you’re starting off in Hollywood (or entertainment in general), it definitely makes sense to develop an audience on YouTube and in social media. The still precocious musician Taylor Swift wrote had some interesting insights when she wrote an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal recently on the future of the music industry, which I think is applicable to entertainment overall:

 “A friend of mine, who is an actress, told me that when the casting for her recent movie came down to two actresses, the casting director chose the actress with more Twitter followers. I see this becoming a trend in the music industry. For me, this dates back to 2005 when I walked into my first record-label meetings, explaining to them that I had been communicating directly with my fans on this new site called Myspace. In the future, artists will get record deals because they have fans—not the other way around.”

Looks like Akana is hitting all the social media channels with YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, and her own website, and on her resume, even lists the number of followers:

Anna_Akana_social_media_followers

She of course, has an IMDB, but not famous (or infamous) enough I guess to have a Wikipedia entry yet and it doesn’t look like she’s on LinkedIn. It’ll be interesting to see if she can achieve mainstream success through her social media efforts or make a living off of YouTube, like KevJumba, Ryan Higa and Michelle Phan. Although I live in Silicon Valley, I don’t make it to LA that often, but would be interesting to meet her in person one day (I’m sure the degrees of separation are small), especially now that she’s declared herself single. 🙂

 

Posted in Beauty, Entertainment, Health, Health and Beauty, Lifestyles, Southern California | Leave a comment

The Fung Brothers: My VLT Photo Contest

Posted on July 25, 2014 by jozjozjoz

8A-2014-07-25-VLT_FungBro-1[9]YouTube sensations, the Fung Brothers, are at it again with a hilarious and heartwarming glimpse into the struggles of young Asians growing up in immigrant households. Four different scenarios (including one starring the Fung Bros, themselves) depict the battles young Asians face while pursuing what they love to do. The Fung Brothers hope its message can empower today’s Asian youth.

8A-2014-07-25-VLT_FungBro-2[8]With catchy lyrics, the Fung Brothers new video makes a play on the acronym V.L.T. The recurring theme is that there is Very Little Time to pursue one’s passion. VLT also happens to stand for Vita Lemon Tea, a beverage from Vitasoy. The beverage maker is running a photo contest concurrently with the Fung Brothers video launch. Submit a photo that showcases your own VLT.

Submission period is July 25 to August 22, 2014. You can enter multiple ways – through the myvltcontest.com website, facebook/myvltcontest, and via Instagram and Twitter with #myVLTcontest. All qualified entries are eligible to win two roundtrip air tickets to Hong Kong! After each week, the photo with the most votes wins a year’s supply of Vita Lemon Tea.

Editors Note: This is a sponsored post.

Posted in Entertainment, Promotions | Leave a comment

8$: ’99 Histories’ from Artists at Play

Posted on July 25, 2014 by jozjozjoz

8$ is a series which occasionally highlights interesting crowdfunding projects. Every day, the 8Asians team is inundated by many worthy pitches. We are unable to highlight every one that comes our way, or even the ones we might individually support. The projects selected for 8$ are not endorsements by 8Asians. (To be considered for 8$, we highly suggest you not harass the writers or the editors of 8Asians.)

8A-2014-07-25-ArtistsAtPlay

WHO: Artists at Play.
“Artists at Play is a theatre-producing collective of Asian American creative professionals in the Los Angeles area.”

WHAT: Indiegogo project: L.A. premiere of 99 Histories by playwright Julia Cho

This year we proudly present 99 Histories, a story about the bonds between mothers, daughters, and sisters. Written back in 2002, the first major play from acclaimed playwright Julia Cho revolves around Eunice, a Korean American former cello prodigy, who comes home pregnant and unmarried, and tries to mend her relationship with her mother. Haunted by violent memories, Eunice must confront her ghosts before she can move forward. In this riveting and poignant drama of memory, legacy and home, what is remembered might be made up, and the only homelands that seem to exist are imaginary.

WHEN: Deadline to contribute is TODAY, Friday, July 25, 2014 (11:59pm PT).

WHY:
About the Indiegogo:

99 Histories will have a 3-week run at The Lounge Theater in September 2014. Our fundraising goal is $7,000, which will cover venue rental and rehearsal fees as well as stipends for artistic and technical personnel.

L.A. theatre colleagues have set forth a challenge to producers across the city to increase actors’ wages. Actors’ Equity, the union representing theatre actors, currently requires most companies to pay a minimum of $7 to $25 per performance. Yes, you read that right. This year, Artists at Play hopes to increase the stipends that we pay our actors as a show of appreciation for the work they do and to better value all that they give us onstage.

Artists at Play envisions a Los Angeles community where Asian Americans are recognized as both theatre-makers and theatre-goers. Our productions represent a new generation of voices in American theatre that transcend the label of “Asian American” or “minority.” Your support for 99 Histories and Artists at Play will help promote more diversity and inclusion of Asian American artists and stories in the local theatre landscape.

With our new show, we are proud to further contribute to the Los Angeles theatre community as we strive to create entertaining and challenging work that is accessible to anyone and everyone. Please note that through the fiscal sponsorship provided by Fractured Atlas, donations are tax-deductible.

Posted in 8$, Nonprofit, Southern California, The Arts | Leave a comment