8Asians is a collaborative online publication that features original, diverse commentary by Asians from around the world on issues that affect our community. Established 2006.
You’ve got The Big Bang Theory. Chuck. Doctor Who. All featuring skinny nerds who get the girl (or in the case of Doctor Who, the “companion”). So why are more and more Asian guys in the UK* bulking up on steroids? Beats me.
According to the BBC, one needle exchange center saw the number of Asian customers jump from 5% to between 25 and 30%. Most of them use the centers to take steroids. One of them, a guy named Abu, has been using them for eight years. He says he wants “the six-pack, the biceps and the big calves.” What happened to good old-fashioned weight-lifting and running? And what about the whole impotence thing? What good is a great body if it means you end up shooting blanks?
To the skinny Asian guys out there, I assure you, chemical-free is a very attractive attribute. Even if you wear glasses and quote Star Trek.
* Keep in mind, in the UK, “Asian” refers to those of South Asian origin, like Indians and Pakistanis.
From the Philippine Daily Enquirer comes news that Filipinos are among the biggest spenders in the US, second only to Indians, and spending an average of $88.6 billion in goods and services annually. I knew those magic mikes and giant forks and spoons on the walls were worth something. (Oh, joke lang.)
Agree or not about his different points about a lack of support from other Asian Americans or what offended him or didn’t; he also brings up outright hate from other Asian Americans, accusing him of not setting a good example. It’s something that I’ve received myself — hell, a commenter on another blog publicly called me a shame to Asians for not being completely militant. (I was also called “abjected,” never mind that the word is technically a verb and not an adjective. Whatever.)
I call it the Yul Kwon syndrome — that Asian Americans are so bitter about proper representation in the mainstream media that any type of role or image that doesn’t exemplify perfection gets torn apart by the Asian American community as being a bad example. But here’s the thing; we can’t all have chiseled jaws, six-pack abs, become a master strategist on Survivor and win a million dollars like Yul Kwon did. There’s an issue of not seeing any of us on television, and I don’t hate on him for being so involved with the Asian community post-Survivor win, but if all we saw was 10,000 versions of Yul Kwon, I would be starving myself the same way thirteen year old girls starve themselves looking at issues of Cosmopolitan. And that ain’t right, either. So what’s the fine line?
Unless you’ve been sleeping under a rock, this past week was the Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, potentially the first Hispanic American Supreme Court justice. Republican senators were questioning Sotomayor and taking a lot of her “controversial” comments of “Wise Latina” out of context, despite the fact that Republican appointed nominees such as Justice Alito have made similar comments in the past about how one’s background and upbringing shapes one’s views in life (no duh. Humans are not robots.)
This got me to thinking about what kind of confirmation hearing we would see if an Asian American was nominated to the Supreme Court and what “biases” would be projected on that nominee, which is why I thought Colbert’s segment was brilliant. Cobert asked:
“In America, white is neutral … The personal backgrounds [of Supreme Court justices] had nothing to do with the all neutral [white] court’s decision that it was legal to send Japanese Americans to internment camps in 1942. Imagine how the life experiences of an Asian judge would have sullied that neutrality.”
Yes, imagine indeed if there was a Japanese American Supreme Court justice in 1944 when Korematsu v. United States was decided, which validated the United States government of interning Japanese Americans. Cobert’s comments also reminded me of an earlier posting of mine where all Americans, including Asian Americans, subconsciously expect business leaders to be white. Let’s hope that if an Asian American is nominated to the Supreme Court, that nominee will be given more respect during the nomination process.
Most of us have read articles from The Onion, the organization that publishes fake news stories with a satirical spin. But did you know there is a Chinese version of The Onion?
A quick peek at today’s homepage reveals headlines like “Nothing At All Happens To 28 Tibetan Protesters, Their Families” and “Potato-Faced Youngster Lauded for Memorizing Primitive 26-Character Alphabet.” I don’t know why Caucasians are called “potato-faced” — I’ve never heard that term before — but the article pokes fun at how differently Chinese and Americans view education. I’ve always considered English to be a difficult language to learn, but I guess compared to Chinese, it’s laughably easy.
Although the U.S. is not represented in the medal rankings, Taiwan (competing as Chinese Taipei) is currently ranked #2 behind Russia with four gold medals. (See current medal standings)
One of the most interesting parts of these games is the main venue itself: World Games Stadium, which was designed by famed Japanese architect Toyo Ito.
Aside from being solar-powered, this stadium is green because of bio-diversity, forestation, water conservation and energy saving of buildings. Other interesting facts:
1.The photoelectric cells allow 30% of total sunlight through, therefore delivering a real-time weather change to audience
2. Reduction of CO2 Production Sunlight electricity generation reduces 0.53kg CO2 per 1kwh, as compared with traditional method. In this project, the generation capacity is 1000kw and annual generation is 1.1 million kwh. Base on these figures, the total reduction of CO2 discharge is 583,000 kg (equivalent to CO2 reduction capacity of the green lands).
3. Avoid Daytime Peak Hour Consumption of Power As one kwh costs 3 Taiwan dollars, and power generation are available 3 hours everyday, 3000 kwh can be generated in a single day, and 10,000 Taiwan dollars can be saved.
4. Photoelectric Conversion for Outdoor Facilities Photoelectric conversion can be applied to road lamps, scenic spot illumination and information indication.
Not only is this stadium being lauded for being “green,” but the architectural sensibilities are being admired for its “humanity.” I believe it will be looked upon as a model for future sporting arenas to be functional, beautiful and environmentally-friendly, as well. And, it’s totally going on my “must-visit” list for a future trip to Taiwan.
A friend of mine from business school just co-founded her new business and launched the website My Panda Paws, a great idea that others might be interested in. Started by two Chinese American moms who were born overseas married to “Chinese school dropout husbands” and have five young boys between the two them, they wanted to find products to help teach Chinese and connect their children with their heritage:
“My Panda Paws is determined to bring some Chinese into your family! We carry a large selection of high quality childrens books, DVDs, arts and crafts, and other related products to help you educate your children about the language and culture. We pick the BEST of the best products to make it easier for you and your children, and many of our products feature characters and subjects that you are already familiar with. Whether you are looking for something for yourself, or a gift for a birthday party or a baby shower, we are sure you will be more than satisfied.”
I’m not a parent nor do I have any children, but I do have quite a few Taiwanese and Chinese American friends who are parents and instantly saw the potential market need for such a site. Even in the Bay Area, I’m not sure where one might find a large selection of Chinese language learning materials, let alone outside of California.
As a kid, I had to go to Chinese school – usually Saturday mornings and then later, Sunday mornings when we went to a different school. I used to hate going to Chinese school because I would miss Saturday morning cartoons, have to wake up early and drive 30 to 45 minutes to the Chinese school. And to be honest, the classes were boring and having to memorize Chinese characters was quite arduous and challenging. I’d often rely on “bo-po-mo-fo” to be able to properly pronounce and “read” the Chinese characters associated with the phonetics. Any additional resources for kids are definitely helpful.
You can use the coupon code “paws” for a 15% discount, which is good until 8/15.
Ocean in the 1970s. The white croaker, which became popular in local Asian markets and restaurants, doesn’t metabolize these chemicals like other fish and thus is a hazard to humans who consume them. White croakers caught off the Palos Verdes peninsula and a number of other Southern California locations should not be eaten. You can’t tell a contaminated white croaker from a clean one without testing. While there are projects underway to seal the contaminated sites, that process will take many years to complete. It will also be many years after that for the white croakers to become less contaminated.
Officials are encouraging Asian Americans to use only filets of fish and when cooking, to steam them, which makes toxin laden fat drip out. They are also discouraging Asian Americans from using fish heads in their soup, as a way of reducing chemical exposure. While I think it is laudable that the Fish and Game Department is considering Asian cultural processes and Asian America subsistence fishing as part of their work, that last part seems somehow wrong to me. I like fish heads in soup! They add a lot of flavor and are not wasted [quick aside – did anyone else’s parents get free fish heads from grocery stores? My mother laments that there is so much demand from Asians that they charge for fish heads these days]. I suppose officials could also encourage some of the vegetarian traditions that are present in a number of Asian cultures, but I’d venture that would be unpopular with certain industries and government departments.
You can check out the official California warnings and recommendations for eating California fish. I find the specificity of the warnings to be amazing (and somewhat suspicious). For example, you should eat only one white croaker caught off of the ocean side of the Long Beach/Los Angeles breaker water per month, but don’t any white croakers caught in the Long Beach/Los Angeles harbor.
APAture Comics Kickoff – Interested in participating in APAture 2009’s Comics and Craft Expo? Come and join our kickoff meetup on Saturday, July 18. We’re inviting the members of BAAU (Bay Area Artists Unite), who publish the annual co-op comics and art anthology “BAAU Down”. (7/18, San Francisco: More info here.)
Asian American International Film Festival – The Asian American International Film Festival is the first and longest running festival in the country devoted to showcasing films created by media artists of Asian descent and about the Asian community. This year, AAIFF will present a showcase of original feature films, short films, documentaries, and other works by artists from throughout the world. (7/23-7/26, New York: More info here.)
It seems like Los Angeles has a charity event or fund raising party every other weekend and all of them seem pretty interesting, but it gets pretty difficult to head out to all of them after awhile and they get washed into the background… So, really quickly, a shout out to two events.
The first is a fund raiser gala for the Asian Pacific Community Fund, which will honor California State Assemblyman Mike Eng and also the Edison Chinese Connection. Interestingly enough, Assemblyman Eng is the husband of recently elected congresswoman Judy Chu, which John just posted about . The event will be held on July 23rd at the Grammy Museum Terrace at L.A. Live at 6:30pm. APCF is an organization that is “focused on enhancing the lives of Asian Pacific Islanders throughout Los Angeles County.” It is a great cause to support, so head on out! Visit their website for more information.
The second event is “The Party” hosted by the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center (JACCC) and TN KAT, an event celebrating Asian American art and music. There will be multiple performances by a bunch of guests, but just to name a couple.. Jane Lui, Kiwi, and Shin Kawasaki will be performing. It’s on Saturday, July 18th from 5:00 Pm to 11:00PM at the JACCC Plaza in Little Tokyo (244 S. San Pedro). I will (hopefully, if time allows) be heading out, so drop a comment if you’re interested as well. I’d be happy to listen to any criticisms or comments about my posts, discuss anything you think I might be interested in, or just meet new people and say hi. Click here to purchase tickets.
Back in May, Dr. Judy Chu lead the congested field of candidates in a special election for the recently vacated California 32nd District Congressional seat, setting up a run-off election amongst the leading Democratic, Republican and Libertarian candidates. On election night, Dr. Judy Chu overwhelmingly defeated her opponent (as expected in the heavily Democratic district):
“With 173 of 209 precincts reporting Tuesday night, Chu had 14,115 votes, or 62 percent. She was trailed by her cousin by marriage, Republican Betty Chu, with 7,355 votes, or 32 percent. “I’m really proud and honored and humbled to have such an overwhelming vote,” Chu told The Associated Press from her victory party in Covina.”
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I thought geeks were in.
A friend of mine from business school just co-founded her new business and launched the website 
Back in May
Asian American Commercial Watch: Liberty Mutual Insurance’s ‘First Word | Truth Tellers’
In a Post-Apocalyptic Zombie World, Asian American Man Gets White Girl
Who Is The Asian Woman Sitting Courtside At Lakers Home Games?
Asian Guys and that One Long Pinky Fingernail
Review of Netflix Japan’s “Our Secret Diary”
Internet Page Reveals How to Talk Dirty in Tagalog
San Francisco International Film Festival Premiere of ‘Isle Child’: Review and post-screening Q&A
The Difference Between Internment Camps and Concentration Camps