Get your Cho on: Margaret Cho’s campaign

Posted on July 13, 2011 by Mike Saechao

She’s at it again. No, not Britney. Margaret Cho! The Drop Dead Diva star is launching a campaign promoting her album, Cho Dependent and donating 20% of the proceeds to Immediate Justice, a human rights charity. However, this campaign focuses on encouraging and empowering the liberation of young women and queer colored people.

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Posted in Comedy, Entertainment, LGBT, Music, Promotions | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Jason Li, Angry Asian Vancouver Hockey Fan Rioter Offers Video Apology

Posted on July 12, 2011 by Ernie

Jason Li, a previously blogged about Vancouver hockey fan rioter has apologized through YouTube about his involvement in the Vancouver hockey riots. If the reaction has been anything like the comments on his YouTube page, let’s just say there’s not going to be any water under any bridges for a good long time.

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“The House of Suh” To Broadcast Nationally on MSNBC

Posted on July 12, 2011 by sachi

The documentary The House of Suh, like many good mystery books, begins with a murder. The film follows the Suh family, piecing through the motives which led Catherine Suh to hire her own brother, Andrew, to shoot her fiance. If you didn’t get a chance to watch this chilling documentary at a film festival or university screening, now is your chance to catch it on TV. Last year, director Iris Shim and producer Gerry Kim released the documentary to various film festivals in North America. XXXTine spoke with Iris about the film, and now it will be shown nationally on MSNBC. Tune in Sunday, July 17th at 10pm EST.

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Slant Book Review: Timothy Wang’s Debut Novel

Posted on July 12, 2011 by Mike Saechao

Timothy Wang’s debut novel Slant is about a gay Chinese boy growing up in America. As I was reading along, I found myself constantly laughing and relating to almost every page.

Wang tackles the issues that Asians and Asian Americans experience growing up. These issues are obvious and honest. We’ve all been there, the confusion of growing up different from what society mainly consist of, the self-loathe of our culture because we were watching shows that didn’t have culture, things that the majority population can’t seem to understand.

Culture and identity is huge nowadays. Up until now, people are just starting to realize that there is a lot more to what they surround themselves with.

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Posted in Books, Entertainment, Family, LGBT, Lifestyles | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

The United States Vs. Takaichi Sakai: Crimes, Part 1 of 5

Posted on July 12, 2011 by Koji Steven Sakai

He burned sensitive files while working for a foreign government. He said that he was not willing to fight for the United States and would not give up his allegiance to a foreign power during a time of war. He renounced his American citizenship. Who was this enemy of the United States?

He was my grandfather on my dad’s side. Having died before I was born, he was and has always been an enigma to me. My Aunt doesn’t remember her father being anti-American. To her, he was a true patriot. Any suggestion otherwise doesn’t fit in with how she chooses to remember him.

Based on his actions though, most would call him a traitor. I want to believe, like my Aunt, that he was a “good” American and that he was forced to make decisions that only made him look disloyal.

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Posted in Discrimination, History | 12 Comments

Irvine, California Mayor Sukhee Kang Running for Congress

Posted on July 12, 2011 by John

Current Irvine, California Mayor Sukhee Kang (Democrat) has joined the congested race for Congress, which will take place November 2012, for a California district that is expected to represent much of coastal Orange County, a Republican-dominated area. However, race and ethnicity may play a factor in his favor, even if registered voters are 43 percent Republican and 29 percent Democrat, 23 percent decline-to-state:

Nonetheless, the first-generation Korean immigrant might benefit from Irvine’s burgeoning population of Asian-Americans, who make up about 40 percent of city residents.

Though I wonder how many of those Asian Americans are registered voters. I would never vote for any candidate solely on race or ethnicity, especially if I strongly disagree with most of their policies – and these days, I disagree with most Republicans’ policies (ie. If a Taiwanese American George W. Bush ran for president, that candidate definitely would not get my vote).

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Posted in Current Events, Local, Politics, Southern California | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Spike Lee To Direct Oldboy Remake

Posted on July 11, 2011 by Moye

Look, another Asian remake confirmed! From Deadline Hollywood: “Mandate Pictures just announced that Spike Lee will direct Oldboy, a remake of the cult 2003 South Korean film directed by Park Chan-wook that won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival.” Though I still question the need to redo Park Chan-wook’s classic film, here’s to hoping Spike Lee will be able to translate the thrilling action and dark characters from the original.

Posted in (simple), Entertainment, Movies | 2 Comments

Tim Burton’s All Asian American Hansel & Gretel Film

Posted on July 11, 2011 by tinabot

So everyone in L.A. has been visiting our beloved Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) to see the latest blockbuster art exhibit featuring the art of director Tim Burton. Appropriately, this exhibit will be on display until Halloween 2011. Over the July 4th weekend, I was able to stop by the exhibit and enjoy with childish delight Burton’s amazing private collection of his own art. They even had on display all of the original figurines used in The Nightmare Before Christmas, my all-time favorite.

I was totally geeking out and chuckling as I enjoyed all of his awesome drawings and sculptures when I came across a live-action film playing continuously. It was clearly a creepy rendition of the Hansel and Gretel fairy tale with an all Asian cast. The film looked old, like from the 1970’s. Intrigued, I sat down and watched the film, thinking, “Did Tim Burton make a film in Asia?” Then I quickly noticed  that all the actors were speaking with pristine, un-dubbed American English and realized it was an all Asian American cast.

It turns out Burton had made the film for Disney in the early 80’s, which aired on Halloween night 1983 and then disappeared for over two decades before being shown again at art galleries in recent years. Apparently, Burton was really into Japanese culture at the time, and this film has an all Japanese American cast.  The film footage can’t be found on online, so it looks like the only way to see this totally Asian American casted Tim Burton film right now is at LACMA. Definitely worth it.

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

Boppers, The Fresh Generation & Asian American Teens

Posted on July 11, 2011 by Jeff

“I don’t want to go to the Great Mall – it’s bopperville!”

The Daughter said that when I told her that we were going shopping. “Bopperville?”  I thought.  “What is a bopper?”  I had no idea what she was talking about, so my kids tried to explain boppers to me in terms of what these teens wear and do.

“They like to wear Stussy shirts.”
“They walk around with giant cameras.”
“They hang out with ukuleles.”

Hanging out playing the ukulele?  What?

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Posted in Family, Fashion, Lifestyles | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

1 Out Of 10 Foreign U.S. Home Buyers From China

Posted on July 11, 2011 by Tim

With the U.S. Economy on the skids and the housing market going nowhere fast, it seems there might be a savior for American home owners who are desperate to sell. In many markets, home prices have declined significantly, and low prices would indicate there’s a buying opportunity for bargain hunters. Leave it to the Chinese to pick up on that fact and step in to buy up the bargains in both the luxury and investment property markets. According to a a survey by the National Association of Realtors, Chinese buyers accounted for 9 per cent of foreign home purchases in the years ending March 2010 and March 2011. That’s a big increase from just 5 per cent in 2009. It just leaves me wondering when Americans will realize there’s bargains to be had in the housing market too.

Posted in (simple), Current Events, Real Estate | 3 Comments

Asian American Commercial Watch: Aasif Mandvi in Taco Bell’s “Spend Less Summer”

Posted on July 11, 2011 by John

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gzvjV2A3bY

I caught this commercial during the NBA Finals with The Daily Show’s Aasif Mandvi as Mr. Responsibility. Mandvi will be playing a re-occurring role in Taco Bell’s summer promotion of “Spend Less Summer,” a campaign that runs through Aug. 13.

Posted in Entertainment, TV | 1 Comment