Asian-American Journalist Asks for CEO’s Assistant, Gets Asked If Delivering Food Instead

Posted on August 10, 2009 by Ernie

I’ll just let Minneapolis-based Star Tribune Thomas Lee do the talking on this one: “I went to Fridley to interview the president of a large manufacturing company. I arrived a few minutes before noon and told the receptionist at the front desk I was looking for the president’s executive assistant. ‘Oh. Are you delivering food?’ she asked. Oh, no, she didn’t! […] I was wearing a dress shirt, black slacks and black dress shoes. True, I was sporting a backpack and sunglasses, but how many food delivery guys whip out kung pao chicken from a Gap bag?” I don’t know, Thomas; maybe it was a really classy Chinese restaurant. Oh no she di’int, indeed. (h/t: @rohnjaymiller)

Posted in (simple), Discrimination, WTF | 3 Comments

The Summer of Ken Jeong

Posted on August 10, 2009 by John

The other night, I caught actor/doctor Ken Jeong on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. It only seemed like a few months ago I saw Ken in The Hangover and I thought the movie was hilarious, although I have second thoughts about how Ken’s role in that movie portrays Asian Americans. Well, Ken is in another movie this summer The Goods: Live Hard. Sell Hard, opening on August 14th.

Ken always seems to be a bit hyper when on late night television, so it boggles my mind to think that he used to be a physician – he must have really restrained himself when he was practicing. Now that Ken is a full-time actor, he’s making the most of his success and apparently will be one of the main characters in NBC’s new series this fall titled, Community. Best of luck to Ken!

Posted in Entertainment, Observations | 3 Comments

Belated but not forgotten Ba-Ba Day

Posted on August 9, 2009 by jozjozjoz

UPDATE: OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOPS… this was meant for my personal blog. But it’s here now, and rather than deleting it, I hope you all had a happy 8/8, even if you don’t celebrate “Ba-Ba Day.” (Please file this under “Joz sucks” or just “FAIL.” Sorry, Ernie!)

Originally written 8/8/07:

8/8 (Eight-Eight in Mandarin is pronounced “ba-ba.” Father in Mandarin is also pronounced “ba-ba”) is Father’s Day in Taiwan. Even though we refer to him as “Dad” in English, 95% of the time, we called him “Ba-Ba.” Usually, my Dad would be in Taiwan at this time of year, so I would have to remember to call him on 8/7 so I could wish him a happy Ba-Ba Day on the right day.

Happy Ba-Ba Day, Dad.

We miss you.

Dad & Joz - 10-04-2007

I originally couldn’t remember where this picture was taken. I knew that it was taken on October 7, 2004, and thanks to my blog, I was able to go back figure out the context of this photo. I think this was taken in Rowland Heights, just before my Dad was going to get on to a shuttle bus that would have taken him to LAX to board a flight back to Taiwan.

Posted in WTF | Tagged | 5 Comments

Giveaway: Ping Pong Playa DVD, Personally Autographed by Jimmy Tsai!

Posted on August 8, 2009 by jozjozjoz

UPDATE: Comments are closed and the winner is being contacted… announcement to follow in the next couple of days!

Those of you who can’t take advantage of our Asian American Arts Stimulus Package 2 giveaway, pay attention on how you can score a free goodie from 8Asians!

Lily and I both blogged about how much we enjoyed Ping Pong Playa and if you didn’t heed our advice to watch it at your local film fest, or if you weren’t able to see it for some other reason, now you have no excuse!

Ping Pong Playa is out on DVD, BluRay and Amazon VOD. Even better yet, Angry Asian Man tipped us off to an Amazon sale on indie DVDs so the PPP DVD is only $5.99 (regularly $14.98) for a limited time. I say you should buy a copy to lock in your awesome deal and then enter our 8Asians giveaway… if you win, gift your original DVD to a friend!

What you could win from 8Asians: one Ping Pong Playa DVD with a PERSONALIZED AUTOGRAPH by PPP star Jimmy Tsai! I will also provide photographs of Jimmy signing your DVD for you!

How do you enter?
Simply leave a short comment stating why you want to be chosen as the winner for the DVD. “I haven’t seen it yet” is totally acceptable! (Be sure to use the email address you’d like to be contacted at if you’re the winner. I will contact you to ask you what you want your personalization to be!)

Hurry, the deadline to enter is: Wednesday, August 12 at 11:59 pm (Pacific Time)
One lucky winner will be randomly selected and contacted on Thursday morning.

Rules for entering:
1) Please be in the US or Canada. Sorry, I will not be shipping anywhere else!
2) Please be ready with your personalization request by Thursday if I email you. And don’t be rude or crude in your personalization request; if I deem it offensive, I will give it to someone else.
3) Contributors to 8Asians and their immediate family members are not eligible to win.

Prize courtesy of: 8Asians with special thanks to Jimmy Tsai.

Posted in Entertainment, Movies, Promotions, Reviews, Sports | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 49 Comments

Marie Claire Declares Asian Women as The New Trophy Wives

Posted on August 8, 2009 by jozjozjoz

I was just sent this link from Marie Claire entitled The New Trophy Wives: Asian Women and the subhead reads: “Rupert Murdoch has one. So do financiers Vivi Nevo and Bruce Wasserstein. Why are the West’s most powerful men coupling up with younger Asian women?”

“Not another white guy asian girl article,” I thought to myself. I kept reading…

Call it the Woody Allen Effect. When the venerable director scandalously left Mia Farrow for her adopted daughter, South Korean-born Soon-Yi Previn—35 years his junior—he may as well have sent out a press release: Asian-girl fantasy trumps that of Hollywood royalty!

Not two years after they tied the knot, media baron Rupert Murdoch walked down the aisle with fresh-faced Wendi Deng—17 days after finalizing his divorce from his second wife. Then, CBS head Leslie Moonves wed TV news anchor Julie Chen; Oscar winner Nicolas Cage married half-his-age third wife Alice Kim; billionaire George Soros coupled up with violinist Jennifer Chun; and producer Brian Grazer courted concert pianist Chau-Giang Thi Nguyen. Add the nuptials of investment magnate Bruce Wasserstein to fourth wife Angela Chao and the pending vows between venture capitalist Vivi Nevo and Chinese actress Ziyi Zhang, and we’ve got a curious cultural ripple.

Were these tycoons consciously courting Asian babes? Do any of them qualify for the unnerving “yellow fever” or “rice king” moniker? It’s unsavory to think so. But after two or three failed attempts at domestic bliss with women of like background and age, these heavy hitters sought out something different. Something they had likely fetishized.

Enter the doll-faced Asian sylph on the arm of a silver-haired Western suit. (Hello, mail-order bride!) The excruciating colonial stereotypes—Asian women as submissive, domestic, hypersexual—are obviously nothing new. But decades after The World of Suzie Wong hit drive-ins and more than 20 years since David Bowie’s “China Girl” topped the music charts, why are we still indulging them? [full story]

The “Woody Allen Effect?” You mean HE’S the one to blame for this? [/sarcasm]

The article — written by Ying Chu — rehashes a lot of issues that have already been dissected, skewered, and critiqued in countless other publications (fetishization, in particular), but she also cites that globalization as a key reason that “bigwigs [sic] seek Asians.”

Consider that, stateside, Mandarin classes have spiked 200 percent over the past five years (apparently, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was an early adopter; he taught Mandarin classes in his Dartmouth days), and China has claimed status as the world’s top export nation. In Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell theorizes that Asian kids’ intrinsic work ethic makes them outsmart American kids in math. (In the latest Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development international education survey, Taiwanese students were tops in math, while the U.S. placed 35th.) It’s as though these Western men are hungry for a piece of that mystical Eastern formula. As such, Asians (in addition to African orphans) are hot commodities right about now—status symbols as prized as a private Gulfstream jet or a museum wing bearing your name (neither of which goes so well with a frumpy, aging first wife).

I have a bunch of different reactions to this oft-debated topic. I find Chu’s flagrant mentions of stereotypes (mail-order bride) to be annoying. And I think it’s pretty funny that Chu refers to all these “accomplished Asian women” throughout the article as simply “trophies,” “foxy,” and being “more than exotic arm candy.” By stating as fact that these Asian women are status symbols and commodities, Chu, on one hand, tries to dispell a myth — but she uses the other to confirm it.

But I figured rather than making too many of my own observations, I’d just put it out there for critique and commentary by our readers. Surprisingly, as of this posting, no one has commented at Marie Claire’s site. But over at The Frisky, a post entitled “Asian Trophy Wives”: A Label We Could Do Without is already up, and I couldn’t agree more with that headline.

h/t: @iancollins via Twitter and @GuyKawasaki: How about Asian husbands as trophies?

Flickr photo credit: ©Rubenstein, photographer Martyna Borkowski; used under Creative Commons License

Posted in (featured), Entertainment, Family, Lifestyles, Observations, WTF | Tagged , , , , , | 71 Comments

8 Questions for The Adobo Hobo

Posted on August 7, 2009 by Ernie

Compared to cities like Singapore, Taipei or even North American cities like New York and Toronto, San Francisco’s street vendor food scene is barely existent, unless you count the bacon-wrapped Hot Dog lady when stumbling out of bars in the Mission at two in the morning. Thanks in part to twitter — and maybe a faint nod to the twittering Kogi BBQ truck in LA — we’re beginning to see signs of life of street food in San Francisco, even if it means we have to be glued to technology to find it. Along with the vendors such as the Magic Curry Cart, Creme Brulee Guy and Sexy Soup Lady comes Jason, otherwise known as The Adobo Hobo; I was able to get a serving of chicken adobo at Dolores Park and ask him some questions.

“The Adobo Hobo?” How did that come about?
That started a week and a half ago, one Friday night. Amy [who manages TAH’s communication channels] came up with idea of starting a food cart, and we didn’t know what kind of product we would put out there. I brought up adobo since it was pretty simple and a lot of people are familiar with it. Her boyfriend — my roommate — came up with the name “The Adobo Hobo” … we picked up the cart and things just picked up there.

How did the whole idea of twittering the location beforehand come into play?
Amy and [her boyfriend] are a couple of foodies, checking out different places to eat. She’s been following the street vendors on twitter and decided it may be a good opportunity to do it as well.

Where are you from?
I live in Hayward; I’m from the East Bay – I grew up in San Lorenzo, Alemeda and Oakland. I might try to do something in the East Bay [down the line], but it’s a lot more street vendor friendly in San Francisco.

Do you have much experience with the street food scene? Or at least, eating street food?
There’s been a lot of street carts coming out. For years and years I’ve been going to the taco trucks in Oakland and getting burritos in the middle night or in two in the morning after drinking. [There’s the] bacon-wrapped hot dog lady and the creme brulee guy is pretty good as well. There’s been some communication between the vendors [via twitter]; they’re pretty welcoming [and they say] they’re glad I’m out there.

To be honest, not a lot of non-Asian people know about adobo is, or do they? Do people look at you all crazy and go “wait, isn’t that some Spanish thing?”
A lot of people will come by and say “oh yeah, chicken adobo,” and if they don’t know, I just say it’s Filipino comfort food. If they like it, they’re welcome to have it … if I get looks, it’s more for curious looks than for disgusted ones.

Since the Dolores Park or the Mission — where you’ve been serving food — isn’t exactly Daly City, what are some of the questions you get about the food? And have you changed your family recipe any to cater to the crazy hipsters?
Just a little bit. I made it a little bit healthier – I’m not going to say it’s totally healthy – low sodium soy sauce and I skin the chicken skin off before cooking it, which may be the most tedious part, skimming the fat off.

From the business perspective: How much of this pure money business versus a hobby, versus a way to just get some Asian food up in this?
Right now the main thing is getting the food out there in the scene — this is just for fun and a hobby; it’s not really a business, but it can turn into something, you know?  [Amy, who’s on the interview as well, jumps in here.] We’re all realistic that this isn’t going to last forever, and costs are really lenient but we’re having a lot of fun with this. Especially with the health department requiring people to purchase permits there may be some sort of crackdown, but we’re just trying to ride this out, I guess.

True or false: There’s never such thing as too much garlic.
When it looks like you have too much, throw in a little more, I say.

Posted in 8Questions, Food & Drink, San Francisco Bay Area | 2 Comments

Thoughts on the 64th Anniversary of the Hiroshima Bombings

Posted on August 7, 2009 by John

hiroshimaI was reminded today via the Los Angeles Times web site that today is the 64th anniversary of the atomic bombing on Hiroshima. Having always been interested in the subject ever since I did a term paper on the topic, I was able to visit Hiroshima back in 1994 on the anniversary date, which was quite an experience.

There is nothing quite like seeing the remains of  an “atomic bomb dome” building — the most famous of the few buildings left standing within the one and a quarter mile radius of the blast area — fenced off standing still in time with modern Hiroshima in the backdrop, or when I visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and seeing a brick wall with the faint outline of a human shadow burned into the wall or a watch frozen stopped in time as the bomb went off.

In a recent poll that the Times referenced, 2,400 registered voters were asked, “Do you think the United States did the right thing or the wrong thing by dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki?” Not surprisingly, the results varried based on their age, gender, ethnicity and political groundings:

“Seventy-three percent of voters older than 55 approved of the decision, and only 50% of voters ages 18 to 34 approved. Seventy-four percent of Republicans said the bombings were a good idea, and 49% of Democrats said so. Seventy-two percent of men approved and 51% of women agreed. The poll found that only 34% of black voters and 44% of Latino voters supported the bombs, although pollsters cautioned that those numbers may not be representative because the polling sample was smaller for those groups.”

Given the circumstances and concern for a land invasion of Japan and the past ferocity of Japanese soldiers on such islands as Iwo Jima, I’m not surprised that the military decision to use the atomic bomb on Japan was made. And no doubt, had the atomic bomb had been tested before the defeat of Germany had happened, the bomb would have been dropped on Germany. Americans don’t also realize that it was important for the United States to drop the bomb to demonstrate to Soviet Union our power, as they were increasingly seen as a post-war threat. But then again, maybe that just help accelerate the Cold War and the concept of Mutual Assured Destruction.

I also had the opportunity on the same trip to visit Nagasaki, the second Japanese city bombed on August 9th. After visiting both Hiroshima and Nagasaki, you really get the sense that if those two small atomic bombs had reaked such damage and post-bomb harm through radiation sickness, that you would never want to have atomic or nuclear weapons ever used again. Let’s hope the United States — or any other country for that matter — will never come to that.

Posted in Current Events, Observations, Politics | 3 Comments

Events This Week: Pageants and Fashion Shows in SF, Plays in LA

Posted on August 7, 2009 by Guest Writer

  • The 24th Annual Miss Asian America Pageant – the Miss Asian America Pageant has been the premier event in Asian American community for the past two decades and the longest running Asian American pageant in the United States. $35 for reserved seating. (8/8, San Francisco: More info here.)
  • APAture Runway III – Be the first to experience fresh and eclectic collections from ten up-and-coming fashion designers at APAture Runway III, featuring LA-based eco-couture designer Linda Wong of The Battalion. All proceeds benefit KSW’s 11th annual APAture, a multidisciplinary arts festival of emerging Asian Pacific American artists. $10-$20 sliding scale. (8/8, San Francisco: More info here.)
  • Lodestone Theatre Ensemble presents: CLOSER THAN EVER – An all Asian American revival of CLOSER THAN EVER, the classic 1989 musical revue which won the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Off-Broadway Musical and was nominated for multiple Drama Desk Awards. This is the second mainstage production of Lodestone’s tenth and final “Beginnings and Endings” season. $20 general admission. (8/8-8/30, Los Angeles: More info here.)
Posted in (simple), Local, San Francisco Bay Area, Southern California | 1 Comment

Los Angeles Giveaway: Asian American Arts Stimulus Package 2!

Posted on August 7, 2009 by jozjozjoz

UPDATE: We have a winner!

Back in May, during Asian Pacific Islander (API) Heritage Month, 8Asians partnered with 3 awesome L.A. arts organizations to bring you the incredibly popular first Asian American Arts Stimulus Package.

Since so many folks were so eager to get their hands on this, we’re doing it again… one lucky winner who will be the recipient of a pair of tickets to THREE amazing events in the L.A. area for the Asian American Arts Stimulus Package 2! In addition to East West Players and Lodestone Theatre Ensemble, who are again providing tickets to their new productions, we also have 18 Mighty Mountain Warriors in the fray, as well! Check it out!

18mmw-bowdowntoyourasianmasters1) 18 Mighty Mountain Warriors: Bow Down to Your Asian Masters! An ALL NEW World Premiere!
Runs July 31 – August 23, 2009 (Thurs., Fri., Sat., & Sun. @ 8pm)

It’s the Asian Century. Be prepared to show obedience to your new Asian masters. 18mmw will show you how. We have ways of making you laugh! You will bow down…with laughter. We will torture you…with laughter! You will shiver with…oh, you get the picture.

Starring: Junko Goda, Michael Chih Ming Hornbuckle, Kevin Ocampo, Diana Toshiko, Greg Watanabe, and Peter J.Wong.

Brand New Theatrical Sketches including: David Carradine and Bruce Lee debate “Kung Fu” in the afterlife, The 18 MMW News Show, How to serve your new Asian masters properly, The Dick Cheney Show with special guest Sarah Palin, Meat is murder! So is…vegetarianism, I dated a Zombie, and more!

  • What you could win from 18 Mighty Mountain Warriors: two tickets to any available show (except closing weekend)

    • lodestone_closerthanever2) Lodestone Theatre Ensemble: Closer Than Ever
    Runs August 8 – August 30, 2009 (8:00PM Thurs-Sat; 2:00PM Sun)

    A musical revue in two acts with words by Richard Maltby, Jr. and music by David Shire; Directed by Chil Kong; Music Direction by Akira Nakano

    The acclaimed musical revue about life, love and all the doors in between… Starring: Sharline Liu, DT Matias, Blythe Matsui, Paul Nakauchi, Erin Quill, EJ Arriola, Jully Lee, Jiehae Park, & Miley Yamamoto

    An all Asian American revival of CLOSER THAN EVER, the classic 1989 musical revue which won the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Off-Broadway Musical and was nominated for multiple Drama Desk Awards. CLOSER THAN EVER features self-contained songs which deal with such diverse topics as aging, mid-life crisis, second marriages and unrequited love. This is the second mainstage production of Lodestone’s tenth and final “Beginnings and Endings” season.

  • What you could win from Lodestone Theatre Ensemble: two tickets to any available show (except opening night)

    • EWP_Art3) East West Players: Art, A Tony Award Winning Broadway Play!
    Art By Yasmina Reza; Traslated by Christopher Hamton; Directed by Alberto Issac
    Runs September 10 – October 11, 2009

    Imagine: A 4′ x 5′ white canvas, painted with fine white diagonal lines. Is this art? Serge believes it is and is willing to pay 200 grand for it. When Marc flat out laughs at the ridiculousness of the situation, a third party is brought in for an objective opinion. Yvan agrees with both. When three opinions clash, three friendships are put to the test. At the breaking point, Serge hands Marc a felt tip pen and dares him: “Go On.”

  • What you could win from East West Players: two tickets to any available show (except opening night)

    • That’s right! The lucky winner wins a pair of tickets to ALL THREE events!

    How do you enter?
    Simply leave a short comment stating which one of these events interest you most and why. (Be sure to use the email address you’d like to be contacted at if you’re the winner.)

    Hurry, the deadline to enter is: Wednesday, August 12 at 12 noon (Pacific Time)
    One lucky winner will be randomly selected and contacted on Wednesday afternoon.

    Rules for entering:
    1) Please be in the Los Angeles area (or willing to travel to LA on your own dime) and serious about using all these tickets; if you’re too busy to use these, please don’t take them away from someone who will!
    2) Tickets are non-transferrable; they are good for you and a guest.
    3) Contributors to 8Asians and their immediate family members are not eligible to win.

    Prizes courtesy of: 18 Mighty Mountain Warriors, Lodestone Theatre Ensemble, and East West Players. Thanks to all the orgs which are providing free tickets to 8Asians readers, and especially Phil Chung for his help with this.

    Posted in Entertainment, Local, Promotions, Southern California, The Arts | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 17 Comments

    John Hughes, Creator of Long Duk Dong, Dead of Heart Attack

    Posted on August 6, 2009 by Ernie

    John Hughes is dead of a heart attack. And while yes, Hughes was a director, producer and writer of a lot of awesome movies in the 1980’s like The Breakfast Club and single-handedly put Molly Ringwald on everybody’s radars, consider this thought, paraphrased from twitter user @wafflesgirls: Without John Hughes, there is no Long Duk Dong. And without Long Duk Dong, there is no longer a free pass to laugh at racist jokes for 90 minutes.

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

    Symbols of the Asian-American Dream

    Posted on August 6, 2009 by Tim

    WY002903Asians who come to the U.S. as children of less affluent parents tend to view some objects or things as a represention of having attained the American dream. A Southeast Indian friend of mine, eYeks, reminded me of this in a recent blog article of his, where he talks about when he was younger in India, and just having a phone line was a representation of attaining wealth and affluency. He does go on to discuss how owning a phone instead of leasing one (if you’re old enough to remember) changed that definition for him, and how finally today he’s come full circle by owning not only the phone, the phone lines in his home, but also his own dialtone.

    There was also a time in American history when having a piano in your home meant class, affluency, and a sure sign your family had succeeded in achieving the American dream. When I was younger, I visited wealthier Asian homes, and the centerpiece was always the piano in the living room. (Please no comments about Asian stereotypes and playing piano.) In my family, we didn’t own a piano in our home when I was a child, and I never got to take piano lessons. But my parents did eventually buy a piano some time after I left for college. Personally, I have never felt a need to have a piano in my home. So, it was a surprise when my spouse announced this week that we were buying a piano for our house. Sure enough there was a 1964 Gulbransen piano in our den one afternoon after I got home from work. I guess we’ve finally achieved the American dream.

    Some time in the early 1990’s, bamboo floors became the sign of affluence in Asian homes. I remember walking into a home in Danville, CA owned by a friend of my moms in 1993, and how the gleaming bamboo floor monopolized the conversation. Back then they were rare to see in a home, and bamboo flooring was hard to find. Today, bamboo floors are pretty common and the right choice for “green” families.

    In today’s growing economic melting pot, it’s harder to say if there’s anything like a phone line or piano that defines having made it to the American dream. It seems like almost everything is affordable to any class, if they truly want it. If there’s some other symbol of the Asian-American dream you’ve always had, please share it, and whether you’ve been able to attain it.

    Posted in Ask an Asian, Family, Lifestyles | 3 Comments

    The Newest Wedding Photography Trend in Asia: Creepy, Miniature Brides

    Posted on August 5, 2009 by Ernie

    Asian American women, do you hate being objectified? If so, you’re not going to be so thrilled at the hottest wedding photo trend in China and Korea, which is to take pictures of the couple with the bride shrunk in Photoshop and put into totally adorable poses: miniature bride in the hands of the groom, miniature bride sitting on the shoulders of the groom, miniature bride suffocated sleeping in a tiny jewelry box. (No photos of a bride amputated and put into a box exist, at least not yet.) So is this adorable, or completely creepy? (h/t: Laura)

    Posted in (simple), Lifestyles, WTF | 6 Comments