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.
Did you guys know 8Asians has a social network at my.8asians.com? We’ve had a community site for a while, but we’re going to be emphasizing the community site over the next couple of weeks as well. And what better way to kick off this blatant cross-promotion than highlighting one of our more active members? Stephen is from New York City, is one of the team members behind GreenSoul Shoes and is a self-proclaimed “conscientious, well educated, purpose driven, risk taking, problem solving, highly motivated, disciplined, optimistic truth seeker.” He has a blog of his own and recently started one of the more popular threads on our forums: Who is your Asian Hero?
Each year in May, the Taiwanese American Federation of Northern California hosts the San Francisco Taiwanese American Cultural Festival in Union Square. Participants can watch performances by cultural groups from Taiwan and local Taiwanese American musicians, eat Taiwanese snacks, watch masters at work in the arts & crafts area, sample traditional Taiwanese tea, and learn more about Taiwan.
Last year, 5000 participants came to the Taiwanese American Cultural Festival. Ten Drums from Taiwan as well as local Taiwanese Americans musicians performed on stage. Members of the North American Taiwanese Women’s Association shared the traditions of Taiwanese tea. Popular Taiwanese snacks such as cotton candy and shaved ice were sold at the event.
Union Square, San Francisco
Saturday, May 9th
10AM – 6PM Event details here
“Join us that day with performances by an aboriginal tribe and Hakka performers, all coming directly from Taiwan. We will also have performances by local Taiwanese American musicians.
And finally, don’t forget to stop by to get some of the famed Taiwanese snacks and drinks!”
I was reading this MercuryNews.com article about how online dating working for some Asian Californians and that they had to start their own matchmaking service to get things going, my first thought was to say, Hey, whatever works for you. But the lady that started the Asian matchmaking services says this little soundbite that kind of bothers me:
“Most Asian men feel they couldn’t handle Caucasian women,” she says. “In most Asian families, the man is in charge. Here it’s equal.”
Seriously? She must be of the “older generation” since I’ve never felt this way. I’ve never had an inferiority complex with Caucasian women; who hasn’t grow up in a nuclear family in our generation? Granted, I’m a rarity, given that I’m in an Asian Male/White Female (AMWF) relationship and tying the knot next month. But this Ma didn’t realize that there are niche markets for dating and it’s growing strong, even here in the South where the Asian population couldn’t dare compare with the west coast.
Take for example, AZNLover.com — a website created in 2004 with the tag line of: “Asian males – and the women who love them.” I’ve been browsing the site since Jeff Yang’s article in the San Francisco Chronicle, and they truly contradict what Ma thinks of the dating scene for Asian men with non-Asian females. Here in North Carolina, the likelihood of bumping into AMWF interracial couples are slim; if the Asian male is a recent immigrant? Even less; yet, at the last NAAAP meeting I attended, I met two other mixed couples breaking those odds. In one meeting. How crazy is that? I should have bought a lotto ticket that night.
Here’s what I’m getting at — in the United States, even the rural areas — we are starting to see more of the AMXF couples — interracial couples with Asian males. And that makes me happy to know that I won’t have to deal with the entire “most Asian men feel they couldn’t handle white women” mindset for too long. Hate to break it to Ma, but if a guy has an inferiority complex with dating women and not treating them equal, the Asian thing is the least of his concerns.
Growing up I’ve always look for Asian American musicians and performers, simply because they were Asian American. So I would look at people like David Tao, Jin, or others andwhen that wasn’t enough, I would try to find little local performers.
It’s especially fun and rewarding for me to see these little grassroots movements and performances, like the Far*East Movement, Epik High, and Kollaboration, expand into something this big and wonderful. Two shows in May/June…
First, FM and Epik High along with Kero One, Myk are holding four shows across America – in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Seattle, over two weekends in May. Far*East Movement is out to promote their album Animal, and its subsequent single “Girls on the Dancefloor” which is on fire out here in Los Angeles, recently reaching the number 1 spot on Power 106’s Top 7 at 7 with DJ Felli Fel. Korean Hip Hop sensation Epik High is pushing their newly released album “Map the Soul”, a stellar celebration of independent and international hip hop.
Second, KollaborationNY was recently announced and they just released their rendition of Ne-Yo’s “Closer” which I absolutely LOVE! I personally have never heard of any of the performers save Magnetic North, who did a video with WongFu for their song Drift Away a couple of years a back. Still, that video has me both excited (for new and upcoming talent; especially G*LEE) and sad (in that I can’t attend). The show is on June 27th at NYU Skirball Center and I fully anticipate it to grow in terms of performers and production before then. If it is anything close to the Kollaboration held here in LA earlier this year, it will definitely be worth checking out.
The HOT DOCS International Documentary Film Festival is currently in full swing in Toronto from now till May 10th. I’ve always loved watching documentaries because of the diversity of perspective and opinions on topic ranging from trivial to the provocative and controversial. This year, they shine a spotlight on documentaries made from South Korean documentary filmmakers in a programme called Made In South Korea, so check those out if you get a chance.
This is the last of 3 part. Click here for Part 1 and Part 2.
THE SOUNDS OF INSECTS: RECORD OF A MUMMY
Dir: Peter Liechti – Germany
A man is found starved to death along with his detailed journal of his last days leading up to it in THE SOUND OF INSECTS: RECORD OF A MUMMY. It’s a really dark and chilling look into the motivation of self-starvation. While it was interesting, because of the nature-only imagery it was tedious to sit through excerpts of the daily account of the man’s journal.
THE RED CHAPEL – Dir: Mads Brugger – Denmark
In a bold attempt to expose the North Korea in its perpetuating lies, Mads Burgger, a Danish journalist under the guise of a manager of a Danish-Korean comedy duo in THE RED CHAPEL. What’s more interesting is one of the actors of the Danish-Korean comedy duo, Jacob Hossell is a spastic and is clearly physically handicapped – whom, out of his control becomes a sort of spectacle propaganda for North Korea.
LAUGHOLOGY – Dir: Albert Nerenberg – Canada
In the seriousness of world crisis, director Albert Nerenberg attempts to find his laugh in LAUGHOLOGY. It’s an amusing look into a human reaction that comes very naturally, and it’s interesting to note that no one really has attempted to breakdown laughter’s motivation or its reason. There are laugh clubs, laugh gurus and laugh doctors around the world helping people rediscover laughter in their lives. The documentary is a hoot to watch.
THE KOREAN WEDDING CHEST – Dir: Ulrike Ottinger – Germany
A look into the rituals and traditions of old and new wedding ceremonies in South Korea in KOREAN WEDDING CHEST. The chest itself contains many symbolic elements the groom prepares to present to the family of the bride. The fly-on-the-wall structure works very well to capture the grandeur of both traditional and modern ceremonies while not over explaining its meaning in the gesture.
CHILDREN OF GOD – Dir: Yi Seung-Jun – Nepal, South Korea
The ritual of releasing the dead into heaven are business as usual for the impoverished children who live along the Bagmati River in Nepal in CHILDREN OF GOD. While family mourn the loss of their loved ones, the kids harvest the offerings of money, gold, clothing and jewels to the gods. Their seemingly amoral acts are countered by stories of whom they’re benefiting from. And somehow, Nepalese hiphop freestyle still seems to make its way to their free time.
And now a word about the Made In South Korea programme.
Betty Brown: “Really, Just Change Your Name” – “… calling Betty Brown racist for this is ridiculous and a cheap shot. It looks to me like she’s making an honest attempt to try to educate herself on what’s a tricky topic.” – Kai, from the comments
What Yao Ming Not Dunking Tells Us About Asian Culture – “…he isn’t aggressive enough. He passes too often. He doesn’t demand the ball when the game is on the line. He doesn’t dominate a game the way Shaq does. And … this explanation is that it’s usually followed up with, he isn’t aggressive enough because he’s Chinese.”
The meeting will cover topics including: why have only a handful of Asians have reached the highest corporate levels; the reasons behind their under representation on corporate boards and senior executive levels; what executive skills are required in large, complex organizations; and what companies are doing to develop and retain their best employees, including Asian employees.
2008 corporate reports have found that while Asians represented over 23% of the Bay Area population, they comprise only 5.5% of the Board members and 9.3% of the executive officers in the 25 largest companies with headquarters in the Bay Area. Furthermore, fourteen of these companies had no Asian board members and eight had no Asian corporate officers. Even in Silicon Valley, where Asians are over 30% of the population, Asians were only 9.7% of the corporate officer population. Top Bay Area companies Chevron, McKesson, the Gap and Symantec reported no Asians as board members or corporate officers in 2008.
The meeting is open to the public, with a 6pm Registration, followed by the panel discussion and reception. The ticket price for Asia Society/Ascend/event partner members is $10; Non-members $15; Students/Seniors $5. To register you can call: 415 421 8706.
For 1 to choose which of these 3 prolific & outstanding Asian Pacific American arts production events I would want to see the most would be akin to a sugar-crazed child being asked to choose one piece of candy in a candy store! I have been voluntarily supporting ALL 3 organizations for many, many years & want to see all 3 events, plus I am a female, a minority, a widow, over 50 & am part of that large group of working Americans unable to find a decent full-time job in their respective professions – how many more discriminatory groups do I need to belong to so I capture your sympathies? Therefore … choose me!
I wish we had more free tickets to giveaway, but please check out the event websites as there are (generally) lower priced tickets such as previews, matinees, and “Pay What You Can” performances.
The art piece itself came from a descendant of a French general who was at the Summer Palace. The Chinese government also protested this sale, as they did the auction of the zodiac bronze animal heads from the Summer Palace, which 8asians covered in an earlier blog post.
The Chinese government also failed to stop this auction. While this auction doesn’t feature as highly visible art pieces as the animal heads, it does put another thorn in French – Chinese relations.
Unless you have been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard of Bernie Madoff, the investment management firm owner who was convicted of operating a $50 billion Ponzi scheme that has been called the largest investor fraud ever committed by a single person.
But you may not have heard of Danny Pang, a smaller-scale, Asian American version of Bernie Madoff as reported in mid-April in the Wall Street Journal who was being investigated and — for a while — couldn’t be found:
“Mr. Pang’s résumé depicts a glittering success story: a Taiwanese immigrant who earned an M.B.A., worked on Wall Street and now heads a $4 billion investment fund … But both Mr. Pang’s past and his business may not be quite as they appear. The university from which he says he has an M.B.A. and another degree says it has no record of either. Morgan Stanley, where Mr. Pang’s bio says he was a senior vice president and senior high-tech merger adviser, says it can find no record it ever employed him… A former president of the firm Mr. Pang heads — Private Equity Management Group Inc. in Irvine, Calif. — says Mr. Pang told him in 2007 that part of the enterprise involved a Ponzi scheme. The executive also alleges that Mr. Pang improperly used some of investors’ cash for the firm’s benefit and once told him to deceive investors with a fake insurance policy. And at a venture-capital firm where Mr. Pang worked earlier, the CEO says he fired Mr. Pang for stealing $3 million from an escrow account in June 1997.”
I’ve seen my share of web series (though I’ve avoided popular shows like The Guild because, I don’t know, I can’t be too hip, right?) and unless they’ve got some huge name or company attached, they’ve mostly consisted of bad acting, and low quality production. But the multitude of online shows have always featured super awesome creativity, and I love to watch how aspiring writers, directors and producers have taken their careers into their own hands by putting their original works up on the Internet. If anyone denies that this new genre of story-telling lacks value, then they’re looking in the wrong direction.
So meet Lumina, an upcoming web series from Jennifer Thym who seems to combine super awesome creativity with some super awesome sets, actors and production value in a super awesome Hong Kong. The trailer is a bit unclear as to what exactly the show is about (whoa, there’s a guy in a mirror?), but their website summarizes the premise nicely:
Lumina Wong is beautiful but works far too much; although she lives in a city of millions, she still feels lonely and isolated. Late one night, Lumina has a chance encounter with Ryder Lee, a handsome young man from another world that she can see in mirrors and darkened window reflections. She revels in the fantasy relationship until mirrorspy Eben Sanchez comes into her life, warning her of the treacheries of the people of the Dark Realm. Soon Lumina must choose between the safety of the world she knows and the deadly allure of the unknown.
Is this a thrilling new Asian horror story or a dark fantasy? Maybe both? This ain’t no Memoirs of an Online Geisha, people! I don’t know anything about cinematography, but the trailer featured some pretty crazy shots…and some hot actors. Woot!
The series premieres this summer and stars Juju Chan and Michael Chan.
The HOT DOCS International Documentary Film Festival kicks off in Toronto this coming Thursday, April 30th and runs till May 10th. I’ve always loved watching documentaries because of the diversity of perspective and opinions on topic ranging from trivial to the provocative and controversial. This year, they shine a spotlight on documentaries made from South Korean documentary filmmakers in a programme called Made In South Korea, so check those out if you get a chance.
This is Part 2 of 3. Part 1 can be found here: Click
YES MEN FIX THE WORLD
– Dir. Andy Bichlbaum, Mike Bonanno – FRANCE, UK USA
Outrageous political pranksters, Andy and Mike want to fix the world – a noble yet seemingly impossible task in YES MEN FIX THE WORLD. It’s no surprise the world is built on the foundation of capitalism and greed that skirts from the corporate responsibility of human life. The documentary starts with the 20th anniversary of the world’s most disastrous chemical accident that cost the livelihoods of the people of Bhopal, India. In an elaborate scheme we follow their journey of holding corporate greed responsible for their actions. Funny, entertaining and insightfully filled with hope.
CAT LADIES – Dir. Christie Callan-Jones – Canada
Following the lives for 4 women from varying backgrounds, the documentary tries to breakdown the motivations for their penchant for acquiring cats in CAT LADIES. What started off in an off-beat quirky atmosphere slowly deteriorates as they expose the loss and loneliness mixed with the feeling of unconditional love from their feline companions. It’s also rather heartbreaking to see the ones those who want to break their cycle and those who are delusional in thinking they’re doing the right thing.
WATERLIFE – Dir: Kevin McMahon – Canada
Explore the beauty of the Great Lakes matched with industries toxicity in WATERLIFE. Stories around the shores and ports of the Great Lakes tell us that the water is disappearing. It’s quite unsettling to watch that many little comforts of home are at a cost to water consumption. Not exactly an eye-opener but a good look at what progress has cost nature over time.
SOULWAX: PART OF THE WEEKEND NEVER DIES –
Dir: Soam Farahmand – UK
Go on tour for a year with Soulwax as they play a show all over the world that last for about 8 hours starting the electro-punk band Soulwax and ending with its own afterparty spun by 2 Many Djs. For fans of electro dance punk, this is a MUST watch.
BASTION OF SIN – Dir: Thomas Lauterbach – Germany
A theatre director crafts a play from the personal stories of amateur actresses of Turkish descent in BASTION OF SIN. The story focuses on Aymel, a head scarf wearing Muslim woman who has agreed to take part in the director’s project. Her inner conflict with tradition and faith crash against her fellow actor’s free spiritedness. It’s interesting to watch Aymel as she has to come to terms … and ultimately respect and tolerate other’s views, perspectives and values.
And now a word about about their Late Night Screenings where you can catch the screening of SOULWAX.
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Did you guys know 8Asians has a social network at my.8asians.com? We’ve had a community site for a while, but we’re going to be emphasizing the community site over the next couple of weeks as well. And what better way to kick off this blatant cross-promotion than highlighting one of our more active members? Stephen is from New York City, is one of the team members behind GreenSoul Shoes and is a self-proclaimed “conscientious, well educated, purpose driven, risk taking, problem solving, highly motivated, disciplined, optimistic truth seeker.” He has a blog of his own and recently started one of the more popular threads on our forums: Who is your Asian Hero? 
Each year in May, the Taiwanese American Federation of Northern California hosts the 
The question of Asians in executive row is the topic of an 
It happened again, 
Unless you have been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard of 
