Megumi Yamamoto: Lost Hiker Rescued, Then Killed in Helicopter Crash

Posted on June 11, 2009 by jozjozjoz

megumi-yamamotoVarious New Mexico news sources are reporting the deaths of a hiker and helicopter pilot who lost their lives in a chopper crash. Megumi Yamamoto and her boyfriend were hiking on Tuesday when they became separated and lost. A call to 911 led to a large ground search and the launch of the helicopter. Her boyfriend made it to safety but spent the night helping search and rescue teams.

Overnight, it was reported that Megumi was picked up by the helicopter, but the chopper disappeared shortly after the pick up. In the morning, Blackhawk choppers were sent to search for the helicopter; they soon found the wreckage of the crash with the bodies of the hiker and the pilot.

State police have confirmed that hiker Megumi Yamamoto and pilot Sgt. Andy Tingwall have been found dead. Officials said earlier Thursday that they feared university student Yamamoto did not survive the crash Tuesday night. The chopper had just rescued Yamamoto, who had been on a hiking trip, when it hit the side of a mountain. The third person aboard, state police officer Wesley Cox, managed to reach safety Wednesday. [full story]

The survivor, Wesley Cox, walked more than a mile to safety with a crushed leg and a broken back. Yamamoto, a University of New Mexico physics doctoral student from Tokyo, was confirmed dead earlier Thursday after rescuers reached the bodies.

There’s something so sad about this story, knowing that Megumi was rescued, only to be killed shortly in a helicopter crash a few minutes later. Condolences to the loved ones of both victims.

*not the Megumi Yamamoto of anime fame

Photo courtesy: KRQE.com

Posted in Current Events | Leave a comment

This Week: Film Festivals in LA, Eating and Drinking in SF

Posted on June 11, 2009 by Guest Writer

(Want to promote your Asian American event? Add your event to our social network; events added may be blogged about on 8Asians.)

Posted in Local, Meta, San Francisco Bay Area, Southern California | Leave a comment

The Hangover’s Ken Jeong

Posted on June 11, 2009 by John

Ernie had previously blogged about Asian American doctor AND actor Ken Jeong when he first appeared in the comedy hit Knocked Up; Ken has been making the rounds lately and was most recently on Jimmy Kimmel Live promoting The Hangover, where he plays an angry gay crime boss.

Over this past weekend, I got an email from my high school friend Gordon — who isn’t Asian — who saw The Hangover and wrote: “I think 8Asians needs to call for a community boycott of The Hangover, which had the worst Asian stereotyping in years.  It was uncomfortable to watch.” I sent that comment out to our internal 8Asians email list and someone who saw the film replied:

“I saw the movie last night, but I didn’t really find it offensive because they didn’t really make any outright Asian jokes, especially since he was pretty funny in it. He plays a gay Chinese gangster in Vegas, so he has an accent in it, but they certainly didn’t play up anything else about it. It could have been a lot worse.”

AngryAsianMan.com picks up on this on-going “controversy” and provides a nice roundup of Ken’s character “Mr. Chow” and his offensive stereotypical portrayal of Asians and gays. The movie has been getting pretty fantastic reviews so far, so I’m definitely inclined to see the movie.

The Los Angeles Times recently had a nice profile on Ken, who has put his medical career on hold to pursue his career in acting, similar to the doctor who put his medical career on hold to do MacRumors.com full-time. Ken’s wife is a doctor as well, so I guess if the acting gig doesn’t work out in the short-term, his wife can support the family in the mean time.

Had I known that I could have been a doctor AND actor, maybe I would have gone to medical school (And, you know, be able to act.)

Posted in Current Events, Entertainment, Movies, Observations | 8 Comments

Filipino Debuts, Cotillions and Mantillions

Posted on June 11, 2009 by Jeff

“I WANT A COTILLION!!”

If The Daughter is anything, she definitely is NOT subtle. What’s a cotillion, also known as a debut? For Filipinos, it’s a  coming out party for girls, similar to a quinceanera but for eighteen year old girls. These affairs can be extremely elaborate, with choreographed dances, a big reception, formal wear and relatives coming from long distances.  They can cost as much as a wedding. Gene Cajayon made one of my favorite Asian-American movies called The Debut about the events during the day of one such cotillion. But in this article from the San Francisco Chronicle, Cajayon says he is not a fan of the debut as held in the US:

“It comes from the Spanish Eurocentric point of view and there sometimes isn’t anything indigenously Filipino in the ball.”

He also adds that Filipino-American parents are sometimes pressured into having them even if they can’t afford them.

This dad in particular rejects the idea of a debut as I think about impending college costs, but The Daughter will say things like “I’m your only daughter!” or “D. is having one and her family doesn’t have a lot of money.” I’m not sure where she got this idea of a debut in her head as she has never been to one, but it’s probably a combination of going to her classmates’ quinceaneras and the pernicious influence of MTV’s My Supersweet 16 (how I hate that show!)  I’m curious, do other Asian cultures have these kind of events?

Something new to me is a Mantillion: the male equivalent of a debut or a cotillion for the more metrosexual kind of Filipino guy. With any luck, Number One Son and Number Two Son won’t get any ideas.

(Flickr photo credit: ‘El Photo)

Posted in Family, Lifestyles | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

LOLcats: a New Yorker Caption Contest for the Masses

Posted on June 10, 2009 by Lily Huang

lolcats1LOLcats is, in simple terms, a website that has pictures of cats with funny captions. If you haven’t seen the site, go now because seeing it is better than any explanation.

The owner of the site, Ben Huh, spoke at the Asian American Writers’ Workshop last night. It was a reminder that even a deceptively simple concept such as “zany pictures of cats” needs the right infrastructure and a million factors in the right place in order to grow and have a foothold in the wide, woolly web.

LOLcats began when someone received a picture of a grey kitty looking up in a tutu, with the words “I can has cheezburger?” He thought it was so funny that he bought the domain name icanhascheezburger.com, put the picture on it, and sent it to all his friends. His friends started emailing him pictures to add to the site. LOLcats was born.

Or was it? It might have died there, like a million funny things your friends do or say- but one of those friends happened to be Ben Huh. He bought the site a few months later and grew it into the site it is today. LOLcats is often cited as an example of a “meme,” a term borrowed from linguistics that is now used to refer to a catchy idea that spreads through the internet.

If there was one central or recurring idea during the talk, it was that a meme is user-driven. Huh made this distinction and adjusted people’s views several times. Are you afraid of AOL or some large, powerful company taking your idea? No, because these things never start from the top-down. They are driven from the bottom-up by users and fans. How do you promote a blog? You don’t, you create value and that builds your personal credibility and keeps people coming back. People who know you, “power users” and avid fans tell people about the blog. How do you kill a meme? You try to control it and say what it is or what it can and cannot be. You have to let your users tell you what it is and what they want it to be.

Huh notes that he doesn’t take the pictures, write the captions, or even choose which ones make it onto the site (a voting system does that). He simply created a place where a community could form and where people enjoy it and have fun. Concisely, his goal is “to entertain people for five minutes a day.”

LOLcats has been written up on 8asians and referenced in countless articles. The book based on the website has been on the New York Times bestseller list. But a quick poll of my own friends revealed none who had heard of it. As popular as it currently is, LOLcats has room to grow and continue.

Posted in Entertainment | 1 Comment

Debbie Lee on The Next Food Network Star

Posted on June 10, 2009 by Ernie

You know what channel you don’t see a lot of Asian Americans on? The Food Network. For all the Chinese restaurants, pho houses, sushi bars and Korean BBQ joints that Americans love eat at, there hasn’t been a regular Asian-American host on the New York based food channel since Ming Tsai moved to PBS and the channel changed focus from chef hosts to talking heads with catch phrases like “BAM” and “EVOO.”

Enter Debbie Lee, a Korean American contestant on the Food Network’s reality competition show, The Next Food Network Star. Citing her food as “Korean with a Soulful Edge,” Debbie grew up eating southern food but has “gone through a learning curve,” learning to make Korean food from a Grandmother that doesn’t speak English. Like guest blogger Kimberly who grew up in the South, both struggled with their self-identity in a region of the US where growing up Asian can be more of a challenge.

Now, let’s hope the food matches her stories. We know that kalbi taco’s can be delicious; let’s hope kimchee fried chicken is just as good.

Posted in Entertainment, Food & Drink | 11 Comments

Asian American Whiz Kid: Moshe Kai Cavalin, 11-year-old college grad

Posted on June 10, 2009 by jozjozjoz

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Add this guy to the list of people to watch! Moshe Kai Cavalin, the only son of an Israeli father and a Taiwanese mother, is graduating from East L.A. College with an Astrophysics degree, and 4.0 GPA (naturally!). That’s not all. Aside from all his academic achievements, Moshe is an award-winning martial artist, and he plays the piano, too.

Although it would seem like he fits the Model Minority stereotype to a T, I’d argue that it’s still very rare to find someone so accomplished at such a young age, with such a great personality and outlook on life. (Also, he says he’s not into video games, which is the opposite of 95% of all the Asian guys I know.)

I’m glad I’m not 11 years old anymore, because I’m sure my Mom would be comparing me to him and I would be feeling like a loser for only being in the sixth grade.

Congratulations and happy graduation, Moshe!

(Photo Courtesy: MSNBC)

Posted in Education, Southern California | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Strike An Asian Pose!

Posted on June 9, 2009 by Moye

asianposesPeople always mock Asians for their predictable peace sign pose in photographs, but we always knew there was much more to smiling in front of the cameras. I mean, there’s the fist bump to the face, the cute hand heart shape and the special OMG hand gesture, as seen in the picture.

I don’t know why we do this crap, but I think it stems from the whole kawaii culture of making sure we look as adorable as possible. Or maybe it’s just genetics, because I often find myself inexplicably doing the same thing any time I have to pose for a picture. I can’t help it, it’s just fun. I don’t know if it’s cute but hey, leave me alone.

Cute Asian Girl Obsessed blogger Steve has opened up Asian Poses, a new site dedicated to documenting all the kawaii Asian girls who love to strike various hand poses in their professional photographs. Someone please tell me Steve is an Asian dude, cause otherwise I’m going to have to jump him for his obvious Asian fetish.

Posted in Fashion | 13 Comments

Asians Behaving Badly: Japanese American Woman Sues Because Crunch Berries Aren’t Real Berries

Posted on June 9, 2009 by Efren

Got this link from SFGate and Lowering the Bar, where a judge recently threw out a lawsuit by a Janine Sugawara from San Diego because she believed that the Cap’n Crunch cereal Crunch Berries contained actual fruit called crunch berries.

According to the blog posts, Sugawara admitted that close inspection of the box stated that the “crunch berries” weren’t actual berries, and the box itself states that it only contains cereal and never states that it contains anything called a “crunch berry”, nor could she explain why in the four years it took to file the claim that she couldn’t figure out that Crunch Berries contained no berries.

This wasn’t the first time that she had done this. Apparently, Sugawara had filed a similar suit against Kellogg’s Froot Loops because Froot Loops didn’t contain real, um, froot.

I fully expect her to file a suit against Nabisco’s Cheese Nips or Nestle’s Nips candy because they don’t contain… well, never mind.

Posted in Food & Drink, WTF | 13 Comments

Postcards from the Asian American Edge

Posted on June 8, 2009 by Moye

zpostmimi28Asians (or at least, me) is no stranger to the popular PostSecret cards that are revealed every Sunday. I’ve mentioned this before, but as fun as it is reading the angsty secrets of complete strangers from around the country, I’ve always had a small issue with its unintentional white washed outlook on life.

I will give them the credit that their race-related postcards always open up discussion on racism (invisible, institutionalized, reverse or whatever) that is sorely needed, even if it’s inside your head. But there’s always the feeling that these voices are coming from a clear non-minority perspective. Hey, I seriously doubt an Asian person would secretly be terrified of Chinese people. Or Japanese businessmen. Or Asian people in general.

So what to do as an Asian American with a burning secret to share with the world? You can go ahead and mail your postcard to Frank and hope for the best, or email your work to PostMimi, a new blog that focuses on the unique Asian experience in America.

The project just got started, but it already provides a refreshing perspective of our community by opening up questions about our own racial identity, sharing multiple cultures and how we perceive others within our race. If anything, the blog reveals our own struggles over social issues as minority Americans — we know we’re not the model minority and we’ve got our share of secrets, too.

Posted in Lifestyles | 2 Comments

Art talks about Dana in eHarmony Ad

Posted on June 8, 2009 by John

I’ve blogged about eHarmony commercials before — well, a spoof of one at least — and while flipping through the channels again, I came across this real eHarmony ad. I was pleasantly surprised to see an Asian American man being profiled, and even more surprised to discover that his wife happened to be white. More often than not in television commercials, for mixed raced couples with an Asian, you usually see the white male with Asian female, much less an Asian American couple.

Posted in Entertainment, Observations | 5 Comments

An Asian-American in the Music Business: Interview with Ryan Buendia (Part 2)

Posted on June 8, 2009 by Jeff

In the first part of my interview with Ryan Buendia, we talked mostly about his work as a producer.  In this second part, we discuss his experiences as a DJ, a turntablist, and an artist known as Replay.  We cover such topics as working with the Fingerbangerz crew, making music for the Jabbawockeez, and dealing with the effects of bootlegging and piracy on his work.

How did you get into DJing?
Ryan Buendia: I got into Djing by being around hip hop. I was into all the elements of hip hop, whether it be art, dancing, or rapping. I loved every aspect of it.

What is the last set of work that you put out?

Ryan Buendia: The last mix I put out was this year with my crew the Fingerbangerz.  We made it available for free download at www.myspace.com. Search for “The Bangerz” Its called the “Music Machine Mixtape.”

Any new plans with the Fingerbangerz?

Ryan Buendia: We’re are working on a new Album. You could find our last album on
I-Tunes titled “VI.R.US” We also been developing a partnership with
Will.i.am‘s new website www.dipdive.com.   We have our own channel on
this site, and you could learn more about us on there.

Any other new work coming out?

Ryan Buendia: I have two songs coming out on Kelis‘s new album. One song on Kid
Cudi‘s upcoming album. And a song on Downtown Records recording artist
Kid Sister‘s new album. Very excited.

How did you connect with the Jabbawockeez?

Ryan Buendia: The Jabbawockeez have been our (Fingerbangerz) brother crew before
they became famous. We did their music ever since 2003, which ended up
helping to develop their current style of dance.

How does piracy and bootlegging affect you and your sales?

Ryan Buendia: For major label work as a Producer, it affects us a great deal. But
this dayand age, it actually helps out my Dj career. The biggest dj’s
out now became famous through there remixes, which masses of people
downloaded.

Where you have performed in the world?

Ryan Buendia: I’ve performed in Hawaii, Miami, Las Vegas, New York, Taiwan,
Philippines, and all over California.

Any kids on the horizon?  I think your parents would like some “apo” (grandchildren).

Ryan Buendia: The only kids I have on the horizon are these three songs on the next
Black Eyed Peas album titled “The E.N.D.” Buy it June 9th 2009, or
better yet, buy the Pre-order of the Deluxe edition on Target.com
now!!!

Posted in Entertainment, Music | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments