Bai Ling Reveals Sexual Abuse In Chinese Army

Posted on July 6, 2011 by Moye

Bai Ling is back on TV with Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew and now she’s opening up about being sexually abused while in the People’s Liberation Army: “She was pressed to have sex with her superiors, with one encounter leading to pregnancy and an abortion under an assumed name, Bai said, adding that other women serving with her in Tibet were also forced into sex and regularly plied with alcohol. Bai stressed that she blames individual officers and not the Chinese government for events that have haunted her life and work.” [H/T Marissa]

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Is Cindy Chang America’s Got Talent’s Scapegoat?

Posted on July 6, 2011 by Guest Writer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGdzxxr-O9o

By Ken

The web is being torn up by Cindy Chang from America’s Got Talent.  She wowed the judges with her goofy laugh with snort in tow and a huge operatic voice.  Singing Puccini’s “O Mio Babbino Caro” from Gianni Schicchi, Chang moved the audience and even Piers Morgan to a standing ovation and cheers for “Cindy!” And now they’re trying to take her down.

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Posted in Entertainment, Music, TV | 2 Comments

Extraordinary Chambers at Geffen Playhouse Review

Posted on July 6, 2011 by Edward

Expectations were high with Extraordinary Chambers, a play written by David Wiener and directed by Pam MacKinnon. Starring Francois Chau, Mather Zickel, Marin Hinkle, Greg Watanabe, and Kimiko Gelman, the play opened at the Geffen Playhouse on June 1st and ever since then I have been hearing rave reviews from fellow Asian American colleagues who have seen this show. But when it comes to theater, I usually discredit what I hear from anyone since critiques are not to be taken as word of gospel until you actually see it for yourself. So after a few weeks, I decided to finally check it out and watched the Saturday matinee performance before it closed.

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Korean Graphic Novel Movie Adaptation Priest Crowned “Movie Flop of 2011”

Posted on July 6, 2011 by Ernie

It’s official — Priest, Min Woo Hyung’s graphic novel turned Hollywood film was announced one of the “Top Biggest Movie Flops of 2011 (So Far)” dictated by Yahoo! Movies: “The supernatural action film, based on the Korean graphic novel, was the most expensive movie ever made by Screen Gems, costing $60 million to produce. It earned $29.1 million domestically, but made up some ground overseas, where it earned $46 million.” But hey, at least it made a profit.

Posted in (simple), Entertainment, Movies | 3 Comments

Tippi Hedren Responsible for Vietnamese Nail Salons

Posted on July 6, 2011 by jozjozjoz


I had always wondered why– of all industries that a group of people could get into– it was the manicure business which Vietnamese Americans seemed to dominate, at least in California. In 2008, I read an article by L.A. Times reporter My-Thuan Tran entitled “A mix of luck, polish: Vietnamese dominance of the manicure trade started with the help of a U.S. star,” attributing the Vietnamese nail trade to actress Tippi Hedren, otherwise known as “that lady from Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds.”

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Posted in Beauty, Business, Lifestyles | 2 Comments

Asian American Commercial Watch: GoToMeeting.com

Posted on July 6, 2011 by John

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bt0R2b0sxdU

This GoToMeeting.com commercial by Citrix is an ensemble piece where an Asian American woman has a “great idea” and needs to collaborate with her colleagues virtually (much like we do here at 8Asians.com!). In the past, I think I’ve used WebEx and Adobe Connect for web conferencing for work. Personally, I use Skype the most often when I need just to video conference with a friend. We definitely live in amazing times!

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Do Asian White Supremacists Exist?

Posted on July 5, 2011 by Koji Steven Sakai

Every couple of weeks I Google “Asian White Supremacist” because I’m always hoping to find an Asian white supremacist to interview. The world is so big and there are so many messed up people, there has to be at least one Asian white supremacist out there. Or at least I can hope.

Usually when I search “Asian White Supremacist” Google spits back two types of sites: racist websites/groups that spew anti-Asian rants or groups fighting those websites/hate groups. That’s why I was surprised when I read about a supposed Asian White Supremacist who got in trouble in Central Coast California.

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Posted in Current Events, Discrimination | 32 Comments

Sonya Thomas Wins Nathan’s Famous Women’s Hot Dog Eating Contest

Posted on July 5, 2011 by John

For the first time ever, Nathan’s Famous’ annual July 4th hot dog eating contest had a women’s division competition. Korean American Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas made history by eating 40 hot dogs in 10 minutes, beating out her past main rival, Juliet Lee (who ate 29 hot dogs) and winning $10,000 and the “pink belt.”

“I’m thirsty, but I’m happy,” she said. “This year they have a women’s division so I have a champion’s belt. But I competed with the men and I didn’t have a chance to get a belt. Now I have a chance to get a pink belt so I’m very happy about that.”

Thomas has competed competitively with the men in the annual contest, but with a growing number of women entering competitive eating, Nathan’s apparently thought there was a good opportunity to expand and promote the ‘sport.’ I was just disappointed that ESPN didn’t broadcast the women’s event – not even via Internet streaming! But apparently CNN covered the event.

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Posted in Current Events, Food & Drink | 5 Comments

DUDE WTF ASIA: Japan’s Creepy Dental Training Robot

Posted on July 5, 2011 by Moye

Feeling a little too refreshed from a good night’s rest? Looking to add a little nightmarish action to your sleep schedule? Need some extra motivation to floss at night? Then check out Japan’s “Showa Hanako 2,” a realistic dental training robot made from the same synthetic material as those lifelike Japanese sex dolls. Don’t get the wrong idea, though. This robot allows students to refine their techniques of drilling sharp objects into teeth before moving onto human patients (as opposed to allowing lonely people to refine their techniques of…nevermind). This revolutionary robot also lets people like me who absolutely hate anything dentist or teeth related to lie awake at night, haunted by the creepy, vacant stares of Hanako faces with wobbly, slack-jawed smiles. Seriously, if one ever crawls out of a well a la Ringu, I will  refuse to sleep without the lights on for the next five years.

Posted in DUDE WTF ASIA, Health, WTF | 6 Comments

Jose Vargas and Michelle Rhee Share Views On Illegal Immigrants

Posted on July 5, 2011 by Mihee

On ABC This Week, Christiane Amanpour gathered a compelling group to discuss the longstanding controversy of immigration, which included Jose Vargas. “Vargas was joined on the panel by former Florida Senator Mel Martinez, former chancellor for the District of Columbia Public School system Michelle Rhee, and ABC News’ George Will – many of whom argued that the shortage of highly-skilled laborers demands a more inclusive immigration approach.” Vargas’ recent self-disclosure about his status is an example of our broken immigration system, and I agree with Mayor Bloomberg, “the lack of comprehensive immigration reform [is] national suicide.” It was interesting to hear an approach to this issue from different perspectives, particularly Michelle Rhee’s position and experience in education. I imagine that as this next presidential campaign gathers more and more steam this issue will stoke the fire even more.

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Tekken Movie Review

Posted on July 5, 2011 by tinabot

Tekken has to be my favorite arcade game has to be  with its full-body motion sensor, even if I did get pwned big time by an 8-year-old kid back in the late 90s as a college student. I’m not a hardcore gamer, and I am not really into fighting games despite my love for martial arts, but out of all the fighting games, Tekken has definitely been my all time favorite.

I finally got my Blu-ray copy of the live-action feature film, Tekken. The film was released over a year ago in theaters, but was distributed in theaters internationally and not stateside. The Blu-ray and DVD, however, will be available July 19, 2011. Read my review after the jump.

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Posted in Entertainment, Movies, Video Games | 4 Comments

San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee’s Unofficial Mayoral Campaigns

Posted on July 4, 2011 by John

Current Mayor Ed Lee was appointed as Mayor of San Francisco back in January to fill the vacancy for departing Mayor Gavin Newsom – as he became  Lt. Governor of California. Part of the political maneuvering for Lee’s appointment was the promise that Lee would not run for mayor in the special election to be held this November 2011. Despite his pledge, the popular mayor’s supporters are waging a campaign for him to run:

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Posted in Current Events, Local, Politics, San Francisco Bay Area | 1 Comment