The Working APA Actor: Jimmy Wong

The Working APA Actor is a bi-monthly interview of Asian Pacific Islander American actors in the entertainment world, whether it be theater, film, television, the internet, or commercials. It is an inside look at these actors exploring their passion in their craft and how they balance their personal lives with their work. But more importantly, this column is dedicated to knowing these busy actors a little better as individuals.

Jimmy Wong needs no better introduction than this: he is one of the few artists who instead of posting a video expressing their outrage over Alexandra Wallace’s rant on Asians in the library, went the more creative route (perhaps THE most creative route) with his truly original and hilarious song known simply as the “Ching Chong song.” As such, YouTubers could also check out his amazing covers (my favorite being Britney Spear’s “Till the World Ends”) as well as his other original content . You all know him as an amazingly talented and extremely funny musician but did you know that he’s an actor as well? You didn’t, did you?

Well, move over Rover, and let Jimmy take over!

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Naming My Unborn Child: Tojo Sakai

Will and  Mommy
I am going to name my unborn child Tojo Sakai. My first generation mom thinks it’s not only stupid but a bad idea. Of course, this is the same parent who told me that I shouldn’t try to grow a mullet. Obviously, she’s an unreliable advice giver and possibly criminally insane.

An informal poll of my friends tells me that they don’t care if I named my kid Mussolini. “It’s your kid,” one of them told me, “You can do anything you want. It’s not like you’re going to name my children.” I beg to differ. I would like a say in the naming of their children. I have so many good ones already picked out; it would be a shame not to use them on their offspring. Let’s see, I like Tupac (like the rapper) and Kazuo if it’s a boy, and Skyy (like the vodka) and Kaori if it’s a girl. And part of me thinks there should be a Koji Junior. Would it be too unusual to name a friend’s kid after me? I don’t think so.

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Posted in Family | 23 Comments

8Asians Talk About: Their Best Pick-Up Lines

2/13: Chocolate
Our internal e-mail lists have us discussing all kinds of stuff: Asian American identity, representation in the media, the experiences of activism in an academia setting and its progression as we transition to the working, adult world. And sometimes, we talk about what our best pick-up lines would be, inspired by Mochi Magazine’s Forever Young: Youth issue.

Moye: What are the best pick-up lines you’ve heard or used (successfully)?

Edward: On Saturday, several friends and I conducted a social experiment where we just said the line “Hi, my name is ______. You’re really cute/beautiful. What’s your number?” It worked for me pretty well once (the two others had bf’s, and the 4th one was under 18 so no go).

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Posted in Dating, Lifestyles, TalkAbout | 1 Comment

Gulf Between Koreans and Blacks “As Wide As It Was Two Decades Ago”

Korea Daily in Oakland has carried a report on the current state of relations between the Korean, Latino and black communities. According to the report, despite efforts following the riots to build solidarity between blacks and Koreans, the gulf between the two communities remains as wide as it was two decades ago. Meanwhile, relations between Koreans and Latinos have grown considerable in recent years, according to the report, particularly in the economic sphere. A large number of Korean-owned businesses now rely on labor from within the Latino community, while a growing number of Koreans and Latinos are beginning to learn one another’s language.”

Posted in (simple), Discrimination, Southern California | 1 Comment

Margaret Cho Portrays Kim Jung-Il on 30 Rock

In the most recent episode of 30 Rock, comedian and actress Margaret Cho guest stars as the crazy and idiosyncratic North Korean dictator Kim Jung-Il who has taken Jack Donaghy’s wife Avery hostage while she is on assignment in Asia for CNBC.

I could tell during the episode that the actor was a woman, but couldn’t tell who was playing Kim since Cho was wearing sun glasses during the whole episode. Only until the end of the episode did I see the credits at the end that Cho played Kim. I thought she did a great and hilarious job but the funniest portrayal of Kim was in the movie, Team America: World Police, where the puppet Kim sings “I’m So Lonely,” though Danny Cho’s portrayal of Kim in his spoof of an eHarmony ad is pretty great, too.

 

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The Hunger Games Finally Casts An Asian!

It looks like the Gods of The Hunger Games have answered my blog prayers: according to The Hunger Games Facebook page, they have cast martial artist/actor Chris Mark as a “Tribute Boy” in the highly anticipated film adaptation.

Seeing as how I have named myself as the official 8Asians.com “Hunger Games Ambassador of Goodwill” I felt that I need to keep everyone (whether you care or not) in the loop about casting updates of the next young adult novel-turned-tween movie franchise. Since Twilight and Harry Potter are bowing out of the pop culture forefront soon, this new series is going to be the next big thing to eclipse all of them (pun intended).

Sure, Chris Mark’s role as “Tribute Boy” is a very generic role (probably the equivalent of being a bit player in Scream) but this is very exciting news. It also shows the power of blogging. I am SURE my blog post about “No Asians Cast in ‘The Hunger Games’ Film” had EVERYTHING to do with Chris Mark being cast in what will be the most AWESOME movie of 2012. And to that I say, “You’re welcome Chris Mark.”

Posted in Books, Entertainment, Movies | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

7 Awesome Collegiate Asian American Acapella Groups

This piece was originally written for AsiansOnYouTube and has been reposted here with permission.

By AsiansOnYouTube

What do you get when you have Asians who love to sing a capella with Asians that are well represented at US institutions of higher learning? College Asian American Acapella Groups! Here are seven awesome collegiate Asian a capella groups on YouTube worth checking out, after the jump.
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Posted in Entertainment, Music | 3 Comments

Fast Five Review: Fast But Not That Furious

This week, the fifth installment of the automobile frenzy franchise Fast and the Furious opens in theaters. Supposedly, it is so cool that they dropped the “furious” and simply called it Fast Five.

The movie brings us back to the original trifecta of Fast & Furious alums: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker and Jordana Brewster. Director Justin Lin picks the story up where he left off with Fast & Furious. Brian (Walker) and Mia (Brewster)–who are now a happy couple–have managed to break Dominic Toretto (Diesel) free from a life in prison. As a result, they are on the run from the law with Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson), a hardcore, super-rigid cop with biceps the size of canned hams, leading the hunt–and he is hell-bent on claiming the scalp of Dominic.

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Posted in Entertainment, Movies, Reviews | Tagged , | 3 Comments

A Crash Course on the Peoples of Zhong Guo* In Response To Craigslist Ad

Angry Asian Man reported on this Craigslist personal ad (which has since been removed):

puzzled disabled lady (Alhambra, CA)
Date: 2011-04-17, 5:35PM PDT

Doing business and have a new relative that is Chinese. I’ve lived in Alhambra since 1993, and I totally don’t get them. Willing to take you to dinner, if you can give me a crash course on Chinese people. Please no men, just another woman and we’ll meet in a public place. I have a pretty open schedule except for Easter and Wednesday, all day.

Some of the noble peoples of Zhong Guo* were offended or at the very least thought unkind thoughts of our dear Puzzled Disabled Lady from Alhambra. Aw come on now. The Chinese people are quite difficult “to get,” especially since Westerners think the Chinese are one giant glob of human race homogeny when really they are comprised of many ethnic groups, have a crazy long history of changing borderlines, currently have two forms of the Chinese written language (simplified and traditional), and a daunting many more forms of spoken languages all of which are referred colloquially and confusingly as “Chinese.” To date, not everybody even agrees on what parts are “China” and what parts are not. So it’s natural to be puzzled. That’s lesson one of Professor Akrypti’s crash course: Chinese people themselves are puzzled by who they are, so do not worry if you are too.

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Posted in Discrimination, History, Observations | 2 Comments

Links: Japanese Radiation Project, Chinese American Weddings, Celebrity Plastic Surgeons, Puppies!

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The Daily Show’s Olivia Munn Investigates Tiger Mom

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
Tiger Mothering
www.thedailyshow.com
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Whether you love or hate author and Yale law professor Amy Chua, better known as ‘Tiger Mom,” she’s definitely become a cultural icon, and has recently even made it on The 2011 TIME 100! (Pretty crazy huh?)

The other night, The Daily Show’s Olivia Munn does quite an entertaining “investigative” piece on being raised by a “Tiger Mom” by interviewing her actual mom and contrasting child rearing philosophy versus traditional “Western” child raising methods with author Christine Carter of Raising Happiness and Ellen Dosick Kaufman of Empowering Your Indigo Children.

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Posted in Comedy, Current Events, Education, Entertainment, TV | 3 Comments