Fight on MUNI Bus Captured on YouTube

Posted on October 14, 2009 by phil

I may have been disappointed after watching Kimbo Slice fight on The Ultimate Fighter, but I didn’t have to wait long to watch another fight — this news segment on a fight between an Asian and Black woman on a MUNI bus in San Francisco. [EDITORS NOTE: This is a censored version of the YouTube fight — the original version is here.]

Apparently, the Chinese lady tells people on the bus that all she wanted to do was sit down, but the other lady refuses to move her bag from the other seat and does not let the Chinese lady sit down. (Ironically, the first thing I thought of was Rosa Parks.) An argument breaks out, with the Black woman woman throwing the first punch and the Asian woman retaliating — unleashing fists pounding on the head and drop kicks! All this over a seat? I’ve had to use public transportation on a everyday basis before, and I can understand that it can be uncomfortable sitting next to strangers, but if I ever felt like I didn’t want to have to sit next to anyone, I would of have simply stood up and gave my seat away.

I don’t know what’s worse –the fight or other people actually not reporting the fight. It had to take another Asian lady to break up the two women, while another man yells to the Chinese lady in the fight, “BEAT HER! BEAT HER!” According to the news and other people who have commented about this video, there’s already been numerous fights on the bus including fights that involved the bus drivers; even the man who uploaded the video mentions that he was previously attacked on the bus as well.

For those who just want to laugh at all this, there’s been several video responses by Youtubers that you can check out:  Chonny portraying the Chinese lady and responding to the fight, Peter Chao warning people not to mess with old Chinese ladies, Yahsoldier1’s video explaining how people of color use slang, and AdrienChen625’s response featuring “hitmanbreakeroftheye” singing to BOOM BOOM POW.  

Posted in (featured), San Francisco Bay Area, WTF | 7 Comments

Asian-American MBAs Look for Work Overseas

Posted on October 14, 2009 by Tim

1574R-02777BIn our economic meltdown in the U.S. it turns out it’s harder to get a job if you’re a graduating MBA than it used to be. Apparently this is driving some Asian Americans and U.S.- educated Asians to consider opportunities outside the U.S., specifically in China, India, and other Asian countries.

I often wished I had been able to take the route of working overseas after my MBA, but instead I took the easy choice and ended up working here in the U.S. Working overseas would certainly have given me a different life experience and one that I’m sure would have reflected positively on my resume. But I’m also not sure I would have wanted to feel like I was being forced into that decision, like many are today because of the economic situation.

Voice of America News reported that New York City is warning about a projected loss of 46,000 financial jobs and a loss of hundreds of thousands more jobs that depend on Wall Street by 2010. Those numbers should be enough to make any graduating MBA student nervous. Since our economic troubles aren’t a new phenomenon, it should be no surprise that China, India, and other Asian countries have already seen an upsurge of highly educated returnees. According to the Chinese government, the number of returnees increased by 55 percent in the last year. What is surprising, is the numbers at this education level. We’ve all seen the reports of immigrant workers returning to their home country due to the poor economy. This article on MBAs looking for work overseas just goes to show that the recession is touching people across the entire workforce spectrum.

Posted in Business, Education | 1 Comment

Giveaway: Books From LOLCats, GraphJam and FailBlog

Posted on October 14, 2009 by Guest Writer

ichc2graphjamFailblog

UPDATE: Congrats to our winners, YvesPaul and Kenny! They were randomly chosen from all the haiku entries submitted. Missed your chance? Enter the next giveaway, when, uhm, we have one again.

We’ve blogged about the LOLcats guys a couple of times — since their humble beginning as a way for an Asian American couple in Hawaii to send funny photographs of cats and walruses with captions about cheezburgers and buckits, it has since become a media empire, spawning a book deal and a couple of other additional humor sites. And guess what? Those sites have book deals too. And guess who has a couple of those books to give away to you, the 8Asians reader? That’s right, us. Freeh bukkz, we haz em.

We have two sets of books to give away this week — each set will contain the following books: How to Take Over Teh Wurld: A LOLcat Guide 2 Winning, as well Graph Out Loud: Music. Movies. Graphs. Awesome and Fail Nation: A Visual Romp Through the World of Epic Fails, the new book counterparts of GraphJam and FailBlog, respectively. All you have to do is submit a haiku that uses the phrase “lol” or “FAIL” in the comments section — we’ll pick two haikus and send the books over.

Hurry, the deadline to enter is: Monday, October 19th 2009 at 11:59 pm PST. TWO lucky winners will be selected and contacted on Tuesday morning.

Rules for entering:
1) Please be in the US or Canada. Sorry, we will not be shipping anywhere else.
2) Regular contributors to 8Asians and their immediate family members are not eligible to win. Who is deemed a “regular contribution” will be at the sole discretion of the Editors of 8Asians.

Prize courtesy of: The Cheezburger Network.

Posted in Entertainment, Promotions | 8 Comments

George Takei and Brad Altman to be on Newlywed Game

Posted on October 13, 2009 by Efren

George Takei, most well known for being Sulu in the original Star Trek, and currently for being a prominent activist for queer rights and in the Asian American community, will be competing with his partner on the Newlywed Game, a first for same-sex couples on the show made famous in the 1960s where newly married couples were quizzed on how well they knew each other.

Even though George and his partner, Brad Altman, have been together for over 20 years, he noted that there are things that he never noticed in his partner until he studied his partner’s actions. (Seriously. There were things that I never noticed about my now-ex for years when we were together, like his penchant for using his large stuffed animals he bought for me to represent giant monsters when he went to play Dungeons & Dragons with his buddies. But I digress.)

But in all seriousness, the portrayal of Takei and Altman as just a normal married couple on television is something that I wouldn’t even fathom even 10 years ago.   It says volumes of how accepted same-sex couples have become in such a short amount of time. ‘Bout damn time, I think.

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

The Asian Grandmother’s Cookbook

Posted on October 13, 2009 by Tim

asiangrandmotherFor many Asian Americans self-identity starts with family and food. The food aspect typically involves memories and celebrations around traditional foods, quite often cooked up in the family home by a grandmother, great auntie, or other relative. This month, a new cookbook was just released, The Asian Grandmother’s Cookbook by Pat Tanumihardja.

The cookbook is discussed in a recent blog on BookDragon. It’s revealed that, Ms. Tanumihardja “interviewed, cooked with, and connected with grandmothers, mothers, aunties” who shared recipes with origins in China, Japan, Korea, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Thailand. “Regardless of where in Asia they come from,” writes Tanumihardja in the book’s introduction, herself of Chinese/Indonesian descent by way of Singapore then Seattle, “these recipes represent a universal theme – they tell the story of our immigrant past.”

For immigrants to the U.S., these traditional foods inevitably have become our comfort foods as we grow older. But how many of us actually know how to prepare many of the foods we are happiest to be eating? “Just when did the restaurant become the keeper of our Asian food heritage?” Tanumihardja questions in her cookbook. “Whatever the reason, modern times are making Asian home cooking a lost art … and many of the new generation of Asian Americans are now ignorant of these skills.” I’m certainly in this category and rely heavily on the restaurants in the Chinese community here in the San Francisco Bay Area to fill my cravings for traditional home cooked Chinese food.

So if you’re looking to find new inspiration to learn how to make your favorite Asian dish, or looking for a present for someone you know would appreciate a cookbook full of culture, stories and tradition, here’s a gift you can give just in time for the holidays.

Posted in Family, Food & Drink, Reviews | 2 Comments

Ana Julaton Joins Manny Pacquiao as Another Filipino Boxing Champion

Posted on October 12, 2009 by Jeff
Ana Julaton with fellow boxer Glenn Donaire
Flickr Photo Credit Matt Ortega

Manny Pacquiao isn’t the only Filipino boxing champion.  On September 12, Ana “The Hurricane” Julaton won the IBA Super Bantamweight championship (122 lbs) by defeating Kelsey “the Road Warrior” Jeffries.   We have written before about female Asian boxers defying stereotypes, but “The Hurricane” not only defies stereotypes but proves that she can be the best at what is typically thought of as a male sport. Her match at the HP Arena in San Jose is said to be the first time a female bout was featured as an IBA main event.

Julaton lives in the Filipino American enclave of Daly City, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. In this article, she cites the influence of Bruce Lee as an inspiration:

“I wasn’t sure where I fit in; I didn’t know who I was.  I found some kind of purpose I guess, in seeing a successful Chinese American like Bruce Lee.”

His influence lead her not only to learn Taekwondo and become a boxer, but also to embrace her own Filipino-American heritage.

Another thing she has in common with Manny Pacquiao is the hall of fame trainer Freddie Roach.  With excellent people like Roach behind her, Ana “the Hurricane” Julaton will be making an impact for some time to come.

Posted in Local, San Francisco Bay Area, Sports | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Taiwanese Indie-Pop Band WonFu to Tour the West Coast

Posted on October 11, 2009 by Ernie

Even though my parents came to the US from Taiwan in the 70s, I’m not a fan of Taiwanese pop music; maybe it’s because so much of it seem to come from Boy Bands from mainland China or consist of numbingly slow love ballads with videos of forlorn looking couples looking sad at each other in some random-ass wheat field. (Seriously, why are there so many Taiwanese ballad music videos of someone standing in a field? They have buildings, right?)

But this music video by Taiwanese indie-pop band WonFu — not to be confused with Asian American product company Wong Fu Productions — I can get behind, mostly because it takes all of that bubble-gum cheeriness that Taiwanese people love so much and puts it behind a bassline; imagine the catchy hooks of Puffy AmiYumi put through the wringer of a Taiwanese variety show, goofy sound effects and all. If you think they’re good enough to catch live, they’ll be touring cities and venues up and down the West Coast, including Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and schools like Cal Berkeley and UCLA.

Posted in Music, San Francisco Bay Area, Southern California | 9 Comments

Asian American Medical Hazard: Kawasaki Disease

Posted on October 11, 2009 by Jeff

Pediatrician Dr. Wolffe Nadoolman was puzzled by the symptoms shown by a 18 month old toddler of Asian descent.  The whites of the boy’s eyes were pink, yet there was no crusting or discharge that is typical of conjunctivitus (pink-eye).   He ran a low grade fever for five days.  What could the problem be?  As this New York Times article later reveals, the toddler had Kawasaki Disease.

(Flickr photo credit: FrankZoe)

Kawasaki disease is an inflammation of the middle size arteries that occurs in children.  This inflammation can affect many areas, but the most serious and lasting problems happen in the heart’s arteries, where aneurysms can lead to heart attacks, even in young children.  Common symptoms are a prolonged fever with pink eyes or pink lips, such as shown by this baby.  It most commonly occurs in children of Japanese descent.  Most children completely recover from the disease, which is treated with aspirin and Gamma Globulin.  Long lasting complications, when they occur, are typically heart problems caused by damage to coronary arteries.

Oddly enough, while Kawasaki disease happens more often to those of Asian ancestry, Americans of all ethnic groups are getting it.  It tends to happen more in groups with higher socio-economic status.   John Travolta’s son Jett, who died earlier this year, had the disease when he was 15 months old.  There is some speculation that environment factors, such as carpet cleaners, are responsible for this increase, and there is also some theories that an infectious agent is responsible, as the disease often occurs in outbreaks and tends to be seasonal during late winter and early spring.

Hat tip to Tim

Posted in Asian American Medical Hazard, Health, Lifestyles | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Events this Week: 10th Annual San Diego Asian Film Festival

Posted on October 10, 2009 by Ernie

To get your event blogged about on 8Asians, join our social network!

  • 10th Annual San Diego Asian Film Festival10th Annual San Diego Asian Film Festival – The San Diego Asian Film Festival is an annual event of the San Diego Asian Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting and promoting the diverse Pan Asian experience through the media arts. We’ve been around since 2000, premiering films from around the world. Our emphasis is on Asian American cinema, but we also showcase international films, along with shorts, animation, experimental films and music videos. Along with films, patrons will be able to meet and speak with filmmakers and actors, enjoy meaningful discussions, and enjoy nightly parties. (October 15, 2009 to October 29, 2009, San Diego)
Posted in (simple), Local, Southern California | Leave a comment

Comedian Joe Wong: Pretty Damn Funny

Posted on October 10, 2009 by John

joe_wong_and_meWe’ve previously blogged about Joe Wong ‘s nationally televised debut on The Late Show with David Letterman. Earlier this week, I got a chance to see him perform live in San Francisco, and he was HILARIOUS, and unlike his Letterman appearance, not hesitant or nervous at all. He did have some “ethnic humor” during his act, but didn’t depend or use it as a crutch. Joe is originally from China and came to the United States for graduate school, and uses his background for comedic purposes, but is not totally dependent on it.

He did joke about about Six Flag’s ad and then subsequently try to reproduce the ridiculous ad. He joked about how his love of karaoke was ruined when William Hung appeared on American Idol, and whenever he got on a karaoke stage, people would yell, “Sing” and wondered how people knew his middle name. But one of his funniest joke was towards the very end of his set, referring to his first sexual experience, with a play on words and a reference to Darth Vader; he describes his humor as a “play on logic,” and I would definitely agree with that. Joe’s jokes can be subtle, but as he progressed through the set, he definitely had some down right hilarious jokes. (The alcohol didn’t hurt either.)

Good things are happening for Joe Wong — he mentioned he had a part in the recently released movie, The Invention of Lying (as Man #2…) and next year, he’ll be performing at The White House Radio & Television Correspondents dinner. If you want to keep up with what Joe Wong is up to, definitely check out his website and sign up for his email list. I thought that the opening acts of Edwin Li and Hari Kondabolu were pretty good too. I thought Hari was very talent and definitely liked his pacing and edgy humor.


Posted in Entertainment, Observations | 3 Comments

SF: Papalote to Offer Special Chicken Adobo Burritos for Typhoon Ondoy Benefit

Posted on October 9, 2009 by Rosemary

ChickenAdoboBurritoIt’s common in most metropolitan areas for one culture’s food to be crossed into another, and when it’s for a good cause, all the better. The Fulton street location of popular burrito chain Papalote will be serving Mexipino — that’s Mexican-Filipino — goodness for TONIGHT ONLY, combining Chicken Adobo with Garlic Fried Rice, topping it off with tomato slices and wrapping it in a tortilla. Restaurant owner Miguel Escobedo — Mr. E amongst his DJ circle of friends — will donate 30 percent of all sales to help support the victims of Tropical Storm Ketsana (aka Ondoy) in the Philippines. It’s handheld comfort food, and it’s also going towards a good cause. I was fortunate enough to partake in the taste testing this past Tuesday evening and was floored by how good this burrito was; it tastes the way my mom makes it.

Posted in Food & Drink, San Francisco Bay Area | 6 Comments

Protests Against New “Geisha” Bar in Oakland

Posted on October 8, 2009 by Moye

geisha-dogFolks at Asian Pacific Americans for Progress (APAP) are reporting that a bunch of APA activists are upset at the Oakland Planning Commission for approving a permit for a new bar in Chinatown to be titled “Geisha”, stating that the name invokes violent and derogatory stereotypes against Asian women. The campaign is headed by Diana Pei Wu, Jenn Pae, Angelica Jongco, Xiaojing Wang, and Jen Mei Wu.

No, I’m not kidding you. Aside from the heavy cultural significance of the word, the leaders of this protest also cite that giving the bar with such a name would help support sexual harassment, mental illness, and a negative economic impact with its indirect support for the sex trade and/or pornography. Oh yeah, and don’t forget that rapist in the area who was targeting Asian women. Wait, what? These are all related?

I hate to be the one to say this, but I can’t help think these folks are overreacting in this situation, and wrongly defining the history of Japanese geisha. They were dancing and musical entertainers, and nowhere did violence and overt sexuality come to play in their formal occupation. No, geishas aren’t prostitutes. Maybe some of them were but hey, it’s the oldest job in the world.  If anything, they should be focusing their outrage on two Asian American businessmen with a tired and unoriginal idea for a new bar, or at least ask why someone would want to go to a Geisha bar in the heart of Chinatown. Wrong culture, people.

Also, what does the NorCal rapist have to do with this? Did he have a geisha fetish or something and this bar is his one chance to finally hang out in the open? I don’t see the connection.

It’s good to see politically active Asian Americans keeping an eye out for their community but I’m finding it hard to support a group who base their protests on a narrow, sensational definition of a single word, especially when it directly affects two men bringing more business to Chinatown.

PS. And I will say that I used to live down the street from the Geisha House in Hollywood; while I disliked the name, never once did I experience a down turn in the civic quality of life. All of that was caused by the Hummer driving douchebags who would congregate in the neighborhood.

(h/t: spamfriedrice)

Posted in (featured), Business, Discrimination, San Francisco Bay Area | Tagged , , , , , , , | 21 Comments