The Beauty Department’s Asian Beauty Focus Falls Short

Posted on August 16, 2011 by Moye

I have an unhealthy obsession with Lauren “LC” Conrad of The Hills and Laguna Beach fame (probably from watching marathons of her shows on MTV and the fact that her voice always gets weirdly hoarse every time she gets upset….how do I even know this??) so I was happy to read her latest online venture, The Beauty Department. The blog features Lauren and her two pretty make-up artist friends who prove that they know how to look prettier than you ever will be by sharing their secrets on make-up, hair care and beauty inspirations. Maybe I’m sadistic, but it’s really fun reading about girls who include curling irons and false eyelashes in their daily morning routine.

Excuse me while I go all white girl on you, but like OMG. If you love to dream about all things feminine and conditioning your hair with homemade olive oil treatments, then this is the best site ever. They also occasionally feature Jamie Chung as their make-up model, and while I did not quite appreciate her performance in Sucker Punch, it is nice to see a fellow Asian girl included in the beauty clique. (Will they let me in?? Please??)

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Posted in Beauty, Lifestyles | 12 Comments

POP 88 #50 – Special Non-Stop FemBOTmix

Posted on August 15, 2011 by Xxxtine

This is my first time using Ableton for a Non-stop mix. You’d think beat matching software would be easier (PLo balked when I told him I was about to go back to Garageband. *thehorror!thehorror!* Really, I just need more time to practice.) While I don’t have much of an excuse for my absence between podcasts, let’s just say that I’ve finally found some juice to keep me going for at least 50 more episodes.

Apart from this being my special 50th episode non-stop FemBOTmix, this is also a tribute to all the fan remixers out there who have such passion in creating music whether or not someone is listening. All the tracks you hear can be found on Youtube or on the DJ’s respective sites.

Don’t forget to:
Follow the Twitter: @Popcast88
Like: Facebook Fan Page

Also it would be greatly appreciated if you could write a review or rate the podcast over at iTunes. It’ll help us alot.

Let me know what you think by leaving a comment at POPcast88.com or let me know how you feel by using the MoodThingy.

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Posted in Entertainment, Music, POP 88 | 3 Comments

Height Differentials Between Eastern and Western-born Asians

Posted on August 15, 2011 by Guest Writer

By Sheldon

A few weeks ago, I blogged about The New Visibility of Asian Athletes and suggested that Asian parents should allow their children to deviate from studying and piano playing to develop their athleticism. Little did I know, shortly after I would take a summer physiology class and learn in depth about the physical benefits of exercising from a young age, not only on the development of muscle and motor control but also height.

I began to think about my Asian-American friends who I grew up with in the Midwest. Among my closest friends, four are 6’2” and above, one is 5’9” and another is 5’11”. Realizing that the sample size is extremely small, I tried to find more height comparisons among Asians born in different places.

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Posted in Education, Family, Food & Drink, Health, Lifestyles | 7 Comments

China’s Poorly Translated English Signs Lead To Laughs

Posted on August 15, 2011 by John

I caught this Marketplace radio piece on In China, signs translated into English baffle. There’s always a good laugh on how poorly translated Chinese into English can be really funny, as an example: ‘The Chinese Ethnic Culture Park’ being translated into ‘Racist Park.’

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Obsessed British Student Lengthens Tongue To Speak Korean

Posted on August 15, 2011 by Mike Saechao

I’ve read a lot of things about obsession. Obsession with celebrities, obsession with eating disorders, obsession with video games and so forth, but I’ve never heard of an obsession so extreme that the person will modify their bodies to be closer to it, like Rhiannon Brooksbank-Jones, a British student who had her tongue lengthened to speak her biggest obsession, Korean.

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Posted in Lifestyles, WTF | Tagged , , , | 15 Comments

Disney Looking to Acquire Asian Characters

Posted on August 12, 2011 by Guest Writer

Via 8Asians reader Halls: “While Disney is no stranger to the Asian market, it seems as though they are looking to further expand by acquiring Asian characters and/or stories. While speaking of Disney’s expansion in Asia during a recent investor call, CEO Bob Iger said that they would continue “to buy either new characters or businesses that are capable of creating great characters and great stories.” The article goes on to mention that they are hoping to expand to Asia by “adding a Disney twist to some of those stories.” My take – Disney already has partnerships with Asian studios, Studio Ghibli being one of the more notable ones, and a lot of Disney properties are based on existing legends, fairy tales, and short stories from all over. It’ll be interesting to see how this translates to the American audience.”

Posted in (simple), Entertainment, Movies | 1 Comment

Is New York Ready For Balut? (Maybe.)

Posted on August 12, 2011 by Efren

From the Atlantic Wire comes a report that a new Filipino restaurant in New York City, Maharlika, is offering the infamous delicacy balut, the boiled slightly developed duck egg. To his credit, Adam Martin, the author of the piece sums it up precisely: “[it’s] the embryonic egg dish popular in the Philippines and elsewhere in Southeast Asia but reviled pretty much everywhere else.” Curiously, he also states that it’s impossible to find in the US, though I’ve seen it since I was a little kid 30+ years ago growing up in the San Francisco South Bay in various Southeast Asian and Asian groceries.

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Posted in Food & Drink, New York | 7 Comments

30 Minutes or Less: Aziz Ansari & Jesse Eisenberg on Point Break & Improv

Posted on August 12, 2011 by Dino-Ray

In July, Aziz Ansari and Jesse Eisenberg served up slices of pizza at Goathill Pizza in San Francisco’s Potrero Hill neighborhood in an effort to connect with their fans and, more importantly, to promote their comedy heist movie, 30 Minutes or Less. In it, Jesse plays Nick, pizza delivery guy (hence the promo manual labor) and Aziz plays his best bud Chet. They find themselves in a sticky situation when Nick is kidnapped by two amateur hour criminals (played by Danny McBride and Nick Swardson) and they strap a bomb to him and is forced to rob a bank or else he gets — you guessed it — he gets blown to mulch. He solicits the help of his smart-ass BFF (that would be Chet) and they try to do their best to execute a plan through absurd hijinks.

After their pizza pushing, the two sit with at a table in the back of Goathill Pizza with a small herd of journalists — me being one of them. As we all get settled in and place our recorders in front of them, Aziz begins his playful attack on one of the journalists who doesn’t put a recorder on the table.

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Posted in Entertainment, Movies | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

The Top Filipina, Malaysian and Indian All-Girl Pop Groups on YouTube, Part 1

Posted on August 12, 2011 by Guest Writer

A variation of this piece was originally written for AsiansOnYouTube and has been reposted here with permission.

By AsiansOnYouTube

You can say that the all-girl pop group phenomenon began in Japan and was perfected by the Koreans and copied by the Taiwanese. But has the phenomenon spread to others parts of Asia? Watching these videos, I would say abso-freaking-lutely! Read my list, after the jump.

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Posted in Entertainment, Music | 4 Comments

SF Supervisor Jane Kim Gets Asked Why She’s Not Married

Posted on August 12, 2011 by Ernie

Via SFist: Jane Kim is a San Francisco City Supervisor. She is also a single, 30-something Korean American, which only means one thing: awkward relationship status questions from old Asian people! From the Examiner: “While the mayor and supervisor talked to residents and merchants on 16th Street [during a campaign event], a Chinese shopkeeper at Sam’s Shoe Services asked Supervisor Kim why she isn’t married.” Sure, it’s enough to mortify news reporters, but to single Asian people under the age of 35, it’s the equivalent of asking “How much money do you make,” “Have you gained weight?” or “You’re not gay, are you?” Which means: totally acceptable things to ask to a complete stranger. Aaah, I love my people.

Posted in (simple), Dating, Politics, San Francisco Bay Area | 1 Comment

A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas Trailer

Posted on August 12, 2011 by Moye

Don’t judge me, but I’m super excited for A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas. It does feel a little odd to be watching a trailer with Christmas bells and music in the middle of summer, but I’m glad to see John Cho and Kal Penn back in action together. One day, I will also get in action with John Cho. Wait, did I really just type that? This is awkward. The film will be in 3D and it looks like the writers had fun with the gimmick, with some claymation thrown in for extra fun. A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas hits theaters on November 4 and I hope to read Dino-Ray’s review all about it.

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Canadian Wongs Earn Their Own Coat of Arms

Posted on August 11, 2011 by Ernie

Sure, the last names of Chinese people might go back for centuries and have our names dictated by weird poems that no one remembers, but what we don’t have is one of those cool coat of arms like Europeans. Well, worry no more if you are part of the Canadian branch of the Wong family, where their coat of arms have been unveiled: A panda and a polar bear holding a shield of a dragon and a phoenix resting on Canadian maple leaves. All of these Asian animals are to casually remind you these are a family of Wongs you’re dealing with, rather than a MacClaine or O’Connor, eh?

And while this coat of arms may be a little bit, uhm, off — “wong” literally means “yellow,” of which there are none. Don’t hate: I just wish there was heraldry for the Hsiung clan, except I know our coat of arms would just be of a family fighting.

Posted in Family, Lifestyles, WTF | 13 Comments