Asian American Commercial Watch: Hornitos Tequila

Posted on June 30, 2011 by John

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7IN99jU2go

One of our readers passed along this funny commercial for Hornitos Tequila, featuring a very a horny hot brunette Jen who confesses missing fellow not-as-hot classmate Don Chao in geometry class. Don doesn’t recall Jen being in geometry; Jane mentions she was shy in that class. At the end of the brief commercial, we’re all surprised to find out that Jen was in the class, but not as a student! Maybe it’s the tequila at work – I love Hornitos’ tag line – “Purer than one’s intentions.” Kind of appropriate for the product as well as a little disconcerting when you think about it.

I’ve been to three reunions in my life thus far and unfortunately, I can’t say that I’ve been surprised by the revelation of a secret crush at any of them, let alone a former teacher or professor!

[Hat tip to Halls]

Posted in Entertainment, Food & Drink, TV | Leave a comment

The Bachelorette Takes Their Suitors to Taiwan

Posted on June 29, 2011 by Ernie

http://www.hulu.com/watch/253918/the-bachelorette-ashley-is-amazed-by-taiwan

Awww, isn’t this cute? ABC’s dating reality show The Bachelorette could have taken Bachelorette Ashley and her suitors to Paris or the Caribbean, but the show decided to take them to Taiwan instead. Taiwan! I know! Attached is an outtake of the show where the Bachelorette, host and suitors gush over Taiwan for a minute and a half. It’s an outtake, because it’s a minute and a half of gushing over a country, instead of people gushing over each other or Ashley sobbing on her bed because it’s so hard to love so many guys at once and like only choose one. Also, they probably needed to produce a package to impress the Taiwan Tourism Bureau.

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Posted in Entertainment, TV | 27 Comments

Hawaii’s Ledward Kaapana Honored As One of Nation’s Top Artists

Posted on June 29, 2011 by sachi

From the Honolulu Star-Advertiser: “Hawaii slack key guitar and ukulele musician Ledward Kaapana was named as a 2011 National Heritage Fellowship recipient, the nation’s highest honor in folk and traditional arts… Kaapana, who grew up in Kalapana on the Big Island but now lives in Kaneohe, was recognized for entertaining audiences for more than 40 years. He learned music from his mother, Mama Tina Kaapana and an uncle, Fred Punahoa.” Now that the Grammy’s have dropped the Hawaiian Music category, it’s nice to know that some people still appreciate this type of music.

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

What Asian American Kids Watch on TV: Disney Channel’s A.N.T. Farm

Posted on June 29, 2011 by Jeff

I saw Number Two Son watching A.N.T. Farm on the Disney Channel, about a group of brilliant middle school students who go to a San Francisco high school.  They are part of a gifted program for students who have “Advanced Natural Talents.”  Usually in this series, I write about the cool Asian American things that my kids find on TV or on the Internet.  What I found with my son this time was a show with a stunning lack of Asian Americans.

Given that San Francisco is a city with more than 30% of the population being Asian American and that Lowell High School, an academic magnet high school in the city, is more than 50% Asian, it seems weird that none of main characters or recurring characters are Asian American.  Sure, there are a few in the background, but nothing like I would expect from a San Francisco high school.  Ironically, the main character is named “Chyna” and is played by actress China Anne McClain.

Posted in Entertainment, TV, WTF | Tagged , , | 15 Comments

Study Concludes APA Students Are “Not Monolithically Successful”

Posted on June 29, 2011 by Ernie

From the Chronicle of Higher Education: “Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders are, as a whole, not as well educated and financially successful as prevailing stereotypes often suggest, according to the preliminary findings of a report released on Monday. […] In fact, nearly half of all Asian-American and Pacific Islander students attend community colleges, and many of their ethnic groups have some of the lowest high-school-graduation and college-degree-attainment rates in the United States.” In other news, the sky is blue.

Posted in (simple), Education, Observations | 14 Comments

House Committee on Foreign Affairs & “Why Taiwan Matters”

Posted on June 28, 2011 by John

On June 16th, the House of Representatives’ Committee on Foreign Affairs conducted a full committee hearing on “Why Taiwan Matters.” Unlike most issues in Congress, supporting Taiwan is not a partisan issue – both Democrats and Republicans support Taiwan and there are open repeated efforts to sell to Taiwan advanced weapons for Taiwan to defend herself:

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Posted in Current Events, Politics | 15 Comments

Sunoh! Tell Me Sister, Dictee & More Reviews From The 3rd NAATF Weekend

Posted on June 28, 2011 by Edward

Over the past two days on June 24th and 25th, I had a chance to check out six of the numerous performances (much thanks to Ami Patel for providing the hookup) at the 3rd National Asian American Theater Festival in Los Angeles, including Sunoh! Tell Me Sister, Dictee, Ten Reasons Why I’d Be a Bad Porn Star,Archipelago, Pull, and Encounter. Read my honest reviews of each of these performances after the cut.

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Posted in Entertainment, Local, Southern California, The Arts | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Asian Belly Buttons: Are You An Innie or Outie?

Posted on June 28, 2011 by Koji Steven Sakai

My wife and I are expecting a child at the end of the year. We’ve started to discuss things like what type of crib we want to buy, whether we should circumcise or not, and what kind of college they should go to when they turn 10. The one question that my wife and I hadn’t discussed was innie or outie belly button. So I asked her, what do we want?
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Posted in Health | 13 Comments

PINK DOT-Singapore Supports the Freedom to Love

Posted on June 28, 2011 by Mike Saechao

PINK DOT is an annual event in Singapore that allows the LGBT community to come together in open air and be proud of who they are. Think of a miniature gay pride event in pink but without all the craziness that occurs in local areas. This video makes me think of the organization PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbian and Gay) who support the well-being of homosexuality, though instead of having a board meeting, this meeting is out in public.

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Posted in Discrimination, LGBT | 8 Comments

Is San Jose’s Japantown Becoming Hawaiitown?

Posted on June 27, 2011 by Jeff

I live close to San Jose’s Japantown, and I have been getting takeout from there for many years.  During that time, I have seen the Soko hardware store (pictured left) closed down and converted to a number of shops.  One of those shops is Sonny’s Place Hawaiian store which has a large studio area for the Hālau Nā Wai Ola Hula School.  Some of the space became The Ukulele Source.  Near one of my family’s favorite Japanese restaurants, the Hukilau opened.  I didn’t think that anyone else noticed this Hawaiian influx, but when AAA Via Magazine arrived in the mail, the article called “Honolulu?  San Jose!” shows that someone else did. Continue reading →

Posted in Food & Drink, Local, Observations, San Francisco Bay Area | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

Taiwanese Food Blogger Fined For Bad Review

Posted on June 27, 2011 by Moye

Think twice before posting that bad review on Yelp–at least, if you’re in Taiwan (and if they have a version of Yelp there). Liu, a Taiwanese food blogger, found her dish at a restaurant so unsatisfactory that she wrote what the owner believed was a slanderous review and filed charges. The judges agreed: “Liu wrote that the restaurant served food that was too salty, the place was unsanitary because there were cockroaches and that the owner was a ‘bully…The High Court found that Liu’s criticism about cockroaches in the restaurant to be a narration of facts, not intentional slander. However, the judge also ruled that Liu should not have criticized all the restaurant’s food as too salty because she only had one dish on her single visit.”

Posted in (simple), Current Events, Food & Drink | 2 Comments