The New Visibility of Asian Athletes

Posted on July 8, 2011 by Guest Writer


By Sheldon

The year was 2002 and the Houston Rockets had just announced they would select Yao Ming as the number one overall pick of the NBA draft. I was ecstatic. At the time, I was a middle school student and remember trying to find every opportunity to follow Yao Ming’s career.

My family didn’t have cable television back then, so instead I tried to stream the games live onto my computer– even if it meant downloading virus and spyware filled programs. When I finally found a live broadcast of the game, I usually ended up staring at a pixelated screen and the words “buffering” for hours.

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Posted in Family, Sports | 15 Comments

Every Night I Die World Premiere in Washington, DC

Posted on July 8, 2011 by Edward

It gives me enormous pleasure to introduce to you all the world premiere of Every Night I Die at the Capital Fringe Festival, a play written by Amanda Andrei and directed by Francis Tanglao-Aguas. It’s not everyday that I can brag about my college friends and these two have played a crucial role in defining my Asian American identity and my decision to be an actor.

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Posted in Entertainment, The Arts | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Are You Here For Your Citizenship?

Posted on July 8, 2011 by John

I was at the San Francisco Passport Agency a few months ago fot a last minute passport renewal. While I was waiting I was watching TV in the waiting area which happened to be tuned into CNN. The breaking news of the day happened to be President Obama’s release of his long form birth certificate as well as pseudo-presidential hopeful Donald Trump trumpeting how proud he was of himself for making the president release his long form birth certificate.

I was commenting to a white couple how ridiculous the whole ‘birther’ movement was, what a waste of time for Obama to address the issue, and how that it was even more ridiculous that Trump was getting all this free airtime on the issue. The couple agreed, and we kind of moved on to the topic of Trump’s reality TV show The Apprentice, as well as other reality TV shows – the only one I really watch these days is The Amazing Race.

Then out of the blue, the man asks me, “What are you here for? Are you here get your [U.S.] citizenship?”

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Posted in Discrimination, Observations, Politics, San Francisco Bay Area | 8 Comments

Effective Immediately: 8Asians New Commenting Policy

Posted on July 8, 2011 by Ernie

Over the past couple of months the discussion on this blog have been lively and intense on a variety of topics about entertainment, politics and identity issues. More than 90% percent of the conversation has been welcome. But a recent string of comments have proved downright nasty; more concerning to me is the dialogue that has included personal attacks against particular individuals and groups of people. More importantly, many people writing these comments hide behind anonymous screen handles and avatars that don’t show their identity.

This changes today.

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Posted in Announcements, Meta | 27 Comments

FIFA Bans Two North Korean Women From Women’s World Cup

Posted on July 8, 2011 by Mihee

From CNN: FIFA bans two North Korean women for failing a dope test. According to the article, “Jong Sun Song and Sim Pok Jong were prevented from playing in the tournament being held in Germany prior to their team’s Group C tie against Colombia in Bochum yesterday…FIFA said in a statement that adverse ‘analytical findings’ were present in ‘A’ samples collected in two anti-doping tests conducted after the team’s previous matches.” With all losses and one 0-0 tie with Colombia, perhaps these NK women got desperate. Or maybe they were too young with  five teenagers in their starting lineup to keep up with the more experienced players of the other teams. Or maybe their coach is crazy with his crazy stories about why they lost to the U.S. Whatever the case may be…it’s kind of sad to me. The cards seemed to be stacked against them this year (and maybe always), and this, of course, doesn’t help the world’s view of them.

Posted in (simple), Sports | Leave a comment

Asian American Commercial Watch: MasterCard with Sonya Thomas & Takeru Kobayashi

Posted on July 8, 2011 by John

In doing some more research on Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas recently, I came across this hilarious old 2007 MasterCard commercial featuring both Thomas and Takeru Kobayashi, coincidentally bumping into each other at a convenience store check out counter and having an ad hoc hot dog eating contest.

I think the commercial does a brilliant job of highlighting the contactless technology of MasterCard’s PayPass. I thought the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon inspired background music was actually appropriate to highlight the battle-like intensity and focus of both Thomas and Kobayashi, as opposed to McDonald’s selection of music for their McCafe frozen strawberry lemonade commercial.

Posted in Entertainment, TV | 4 Comments

Visual Communications Armed with a Camera Fellowship Now Accepting Applications

Posted on July 7, 2011 by jozjozjoz

Visual Communications is now accepting applications for its 10th annual “Armed With a Camera Fellowship to foster the education, training and professional development of up-and-coming Asian Pacific American filmmakers. The fellowship is open to filmmakers under 30-years-old of Asian Pacific descent and aims to cultivate a new generation of Asian Pacific American Filmmakers. South Asian, Southeast Asian and women filmmakers are strongly encouraged to apply. From November 2011 to March 2012 Visual Communications will provide the support and resources for ten fellows to each to create a five-minute digital video. More information and applications are available at online; applications are due July 29, 2011.

Posted in (simple), Entertainment, Movies | Leave a comment

Dealing With Asian Name Calling & Bullying

Posted on July 7, 2011 by Tim

My daughter is only 5 years old and recently completed her first year of formal schooling, her year in kindergarten. Throughout the year, I could tell she was having more and more difficulty at school. In the mornings, she didn’t want me to leave when I dropped her off, and she just didn’t seem as excited about going as in the beginning of the year. We already knew she wasn’t going to attend the same school for first grade as she did for kindergarten, and when we told her, she seemed relieved.

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Posted in Discrimination, Education, Observations | 41 Comments

Twitter Giveaway: ‘Harry Potter 7’ Marathon in Orange County, CA & Prize Pack

Posted on July 7, 2011 by jozjozjoz

UPDATE 7/13/2011: Congrats to our winner @puhpuhpattyy who will be seeing the Harry Potter 7 Marathon with 3 friends and be receiving a Harry Potter 7 T-shirt, hat, keychain, and Official Poster. Congrats also to our 5 runner ups: @weird_f00d, @chchar0, @shuckiduck, @kimiye, and @Russellfung who will receive the Harry Potter T-shirt & Official Poster!

It all ends here… Harry Potter fans. One of the most highly anticipated Hollywood films is Part 2 of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (aka HP7 Part 2).

“The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches … born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies … and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not … and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives … the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies …”
—Prophecy made to Albus Dumbledore by Sybill Trelawney

The movie opens Friday, 7/15/2011 which means people are going to be anxiously awaiting midnight screenings (the night of Thursday, 7/14) to be the first to see HP7, Part 2. But what about Part 1? If you’re anything like me, you want to see Part 1 & 2 together and while you can absolutely watch Part 1 on DVD and race over to the theater, how much fun would it be to watch them together as a marathon? That’s right, a special Invitation Only Harry Potter 7 Marathon will be held in Orange, CA and 8Asians has tickets!

Do you have a gripe with anyone? Call them out and win tickets for you and three of your friends to watch both parts of the final Harry Potter movie in one night! If you’re not in the Greater L.A. area, you can still enter to win the Runner Up prize of a t-shirt and an official poster. It all ends here… Read on!

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Posted in Entertainment, Movies, Promotions, Southern California | 9 Comments

Golden State Warrior Jeremy Lin Reflects On First Year

Posted on July 7, 2011 by John

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3JuWNGvylA

With the NBA season over and the NBA draft completed just over a week ago, Golden State Warrior Jeremy Lin reflects back on his past year on his ups and downs in the NBA and D-League – from being initially un-drafted, to playing in the summer league, to be picked up by the Warriors to playing throughout the season. Check out Lin’s recent Bay Area talk at a church discussing how his faith has helped him along his basketball career.

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APA Spotlight: Do Kim, President, K.W. Lee Center for Leadership

Posted on July 7, 2011 by Koji Steven Sakai

APA Spotlight is a weekly interview of Asian Pacific Islander Americans (APIA) community leaders. It is a spotlight on individuals who have dedicated their careers to issues surrounding the APIA community with the goal of bringing much deserved recognition to their work and cause(s).

In addition to being the President of the K.W. Lee Center for Leadership, Do Kim is a civil rights attorney at the Law Offices of Do Kim, specializing in employment discrimination, harassment, retaliation, police/prison abuse, and international human rights.

Before he began his own law firm, Do worked as a civil rights attorney at Schonbrun, DeSimone, Seplow, Harris & Hoffman.

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Posted in APA Spotlight, Community, Southern California | 1 Comment

No More Underboob for Vietnamese Cafes

Posted on July 7, 2011 by sachi

Unfortunately for Garden Grove, CA residents, no longer can they enjoy their iced coffee served by nearly naked women. The Vietnamese “lingerie cafes” in Garden Grove, CA have been under fire recently for their scantily-clad waitresses, but now they will face new restrictions on just how far those waitresses can go. The new ordinance, put into effect last Friday, demanded that the women at the 37 cafes dress positively modestly: they were told to “cover up butt cracks, pubic regions, and breasts from the ‘top of the areola down.'” In addition, the ordinance banned smoking, arcade games, and tinted windows at the establishments themselves.

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Posted in Current Events, Food & Drink, Local | 37 Comments