LA Times: O.C. official ‘insulted’ by letter from Chinese government

Posted on January 5, 2008 by John

As I “reported” on New Year’s day on “Activists fail to stir opposition to China’s [Rose Bowl Parade] float,” The Los Angeles Times reports this week (1/3/07) on “O.C. (Orange County) official ‘insulted’ by letter from Chinese government“:

Continue reading →

Posted in Current Events, Observations, Politics | 4 Comments

Chinese and Americans See Things Differently

Posted on January 5, 2008 by Lily Huang

I refer to this article all the time, so even though it’s a few years old, I thought I’d post it. It says that East Asian culture puts more emphasis on context- and therefore a person of this culture is more likely look around and consider the environment.

In the research study, experimenters had people look at photographs of single focal objects against complex backgrounds- such as a fighter jet flying over a mountainous landscape or a tiger by a stream in a forest. They found that the Chinese students (psychology subjects are always broke students) moved their eyes more between the object and its background. The U.S. students looked more immediately and mostly at the object of the photo.

Basically I use this article to explain why I look around the room when I’m in a café instead of at the person opposite me. It’s because I’m Asian! I am of an Asian culture and it makes me contextual.

On a related note, I pay better attention when I’m not looking at the person. This is cultural as well- whether or not you look at the person when you speak to them or listen to them. Some people will think you’re not paying attention to them if you don’t look at them- they’ll actually tell you to look at them, or they’ll wait until you look at them. But ironically that may be when you are least capable of listening.

Posted in Observations | 26 Comments

Tila Tequila…again?

Posted on January 5, 2008 by Efren

So fresh from her show being the most watched show on MTV, Tila Tequila just agreed to do a second season of her show, A Shot At Love.

But as it turns out, the winner of the first season, Bobby Banhart, never had a chance after the show ended, as there are now conflicting reports that the romance was over before it began. Tila claims that Bobby dumped her, and Bobby says that Tila (or anyone else on the show, for that matter) never gave him her contact info so that they could start really dating. Click here for the news story.

Honestly, I was hoping that she would’ve picked Dani myself, but personally it seemed like picking the guy was a smart career choice as her choosing the woman, particularly a butch one, would’ve probably set more tongues wagging and caused a drop in her popularity.

I’m hoping that if there is a next show to include some hot Asian butches a la Jenny Shimizu, or some Asian femmes to rock her world, or even some Asian guys on the show?! Sheesh! Click here if you’re interested in being part of the (ahem) action and on the show’s second season.

Posted in Entertainment, WTF | Tagged , , | 20 Comments

Fundraiser Hsu to spend 3 years in Calif. prison

Posted on January 4, 2008 by John

http://i.l.cnn.net/cnn/2008/POLITICS/01/04/democratic.fundraiser.ap/art.normon.hsu.gi.jpgAs previously covered in my earlier postings, WSJ:’60s Figure Says He Financed Donor [Norman] Hsu, [Norman Hsu] Clinton Donor Fails to Appear in Court Again, WSJ: [Norman Hsu] How a Business Flop Became Political Force, I’ve been following the very long and twisted story of Norman Hsu. It looks like his journey is starting to end, as reported by Associated Press in “Fundraiser Hsu to spend 3 years in Calif. prison“:

“REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – A judge on Friday sentenced disgraced political donor Norman Hsu to three years in state prison after rejecting the one-time Democratic rainmaker’s bid to throw out a 16-year-old fraud conviction. Hsu’s lawyers had asked Superior Court Judge Stephen Hall to dismiss his 1992 no-contest plea, arguing his right to a speedy trial was violated because authorities weren’t actively pursuing him during his years as a fugitive. They could easily have arrested Hsu, his lawyers argued, at one of the fundraisers he hosted in California for prominent local politicians. Hsu also faces federal fraud charges in New York.”

I’m not sure if this conviction covers his most recent ponzi scheme, but more likely his past misdeads in the early 90s, where he fled and later re-emerged and became a major Democratic bundler and fundraiser.

Posted in Current Events, Politics | Leave a comment

Shuffled on Boston Progress Radio

Posted on January 4, 2008 by Xxxtine

I’ve been shuffled! …

Well, the good folks over at Boston Progress Radio – which is an space for Asian American artists to stretch their stuff – recently invited me to partake in their new column Shuffled!

Click here to see what random songs popped out of my iPod!

Much thanks go out to my video iPod for working as it should and Eugene who had to cut me down from 8 songs to 6 – *sigh … do you think Chae Yeon will ever forgive me? *runs and cries*

Posted in Entertainment, POP 88 | 2 Comments

Public School Reformer Michelle Rhee

Posted on January 4, 2008 by Mike

Say you have a classroom of rambunctious second-graders and a bumblebee buzzes in, causing even more of a ruckus. Kids are screaming and jumping on desks and everything. What do you do?

Eat the bee.

Um, whut?

One day a bumblebee got into the classroom and the students were more out of control than ever. The daughter of Korean immigrants wasn’t about to let a bunch of rowdy 8-year-olds trample her aspirations to get them to learn. When the bee landed on [Michelle] Rhee’s desk, she swatted it, popped it in her mouth and gulped it down. For the first time, it seemed, her students were quiet. After that day they paid more attention, even if they were just waiting to see what she’d do next. “The kids were, like, ‘Oh, my God, she’s crazy! Who is this woman?’ ” Rhee says.

If that’s what it takes to get kids’ attention nowadays, I’m sure glad I’m not a teacher. (Can you just imagine… the crunchy wings, the hairy legs, the sharp stinger… ouch!) And I’m sure glad someone with such gusto is working towards public school reforms.

Michelle Rhee is Washington D.C.’s newest Chancellor, after being appointed by Mayor Adrian Fenty. This 37-year old, Cornell & Harvard graduate, divorced mother of two is apparently a controversial choice because:

That’s quite a list. So what does she have going for her?

  • Rhee founded The New Teacher Project, a national non-profit organization which partners with high-need school districts to recruit and train new teachers
  • Rhee’s restructuring is aimed at creating “a central administration that is more receptive and responsive when dealing with parents, teachers and principals”
  • Rhee is direct and honest with parents, teachers and principals alike
  • Rhee is not afraid to stir the waters and get on people’s nerves

Personally, I believe the current public school systems are in serious need of reforms. And someone who has the gusto to cut through all the convoluted old school bureaucracy (no pun intended) would be perfect for the job.

Is Michelle Rhee the right person for the job? Newsweek Magazine thinks so. Their end-of-year issue profiled several up and coming personalities that are likely to make news in 2008; Michelle Rhee made the list.

Here’s to 2008 and Rhee’s success!

Posted in Current Events | 4 Comments

Golden Poop Charms

Posted on January 4, 2008 by Nicole

Golden poop cell phone charmLeave it to the new kid on the block (yours truly) to bring down this venerable site with a blog entry about, well, golden poop. This little tidbit went around the gadget blogs about a couple years ago, but let’s face it — golden poop never gets old. See, the Japanese think these little tiny pieces of golden poop (shaped to look eerily like soft serve ice cream) bring good fortune, and are sold at shrines all over the country. And since the Japanese have a thing for cell phone charms (you know, those dangly things that some people hang on their cell phones), it only made sense that someone somewhere came up with the golden poop cell phone charm. Genius! It has since sold millions of units, and is quite possibly the most popular cell phone strap in Japan. They even have golden poop stamps! Oh, the magic and wonder of the golden poop.

I was a little perplexed at this golden poop worship by the Japanese, and decided to do a little more searching around. According to this Japan Times article:

The product you saw is called Kin no Unko (The Golden Poo), a name that plays on the fact that the Japanese word for poop (unko) starts with the same “oon” sound as a completely unrelated word that means “luck.” Japanese enjoy this kind of pun — traditional storytelling is full of them — which may help explain why more than 2.5 million of the lucky little loads have sold in the last seven years.

And apparently, the golden poop phenomenon only came around in 1999, which isn’t that long ago. But as the article goes on to explain, “there is a long history of poo-related worship in Japan”:

“There are more gods in the Shinto religion than it is possible to count, and they reside just about everywhere, inhabiting natural things like trees, rocks and waterfalls,” he said. “Bodily functions are very important — think what a problem it would be if a person couldn’t defecate or urinate properly — so it’s natural that people worshipped deities linked to these functions.”

Despite myself, I had to laugh. I thought back to my childhood, and remembered a few Chinese cartoons and comic strips that clearly showed drawings of poop, and I wondered if this so-called “poop worship” is an East Asian thing in general. Maybe Asians are more accepting of bodily functions than more Westernized cultures?

Regardless, I have to admit that these tiny little shiny poop charms are kinda cute. Hey, they even have one in a catcher’s mitt! That said, I probably won’t want to have these things hanging from my cell phone. How about you?

Posted in WTF | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Barack Obama Wins Iowa Democratic Caucus

Posted on January 3, 2008 by Bo

I assume that most everyone has already read that Barack Obama won the Iowa Democratic caucus tonight, the first step towards winning the party nomination… and then possibly the White House. Depending on your political leanings you may either be overjoyed or disappointed by this news.

Regardless of your views on the war in Iraq, health care, terrorism, the economy, gun control, and social values I hope everyone views Obama’s win as a singular landmark moment for all people of color in the US. For the first time in the nations 220+ year history we have a viable presidential candidate that is a racial minority! For the first time people have raised their hands and said “Good leadership is not the sole providence of old white men.” – and it actually made a difference. Having an emblem of capable, competent, inspirational leadership that looks like the multi-cultural/multi-racial country we have become can only help to boost all people of color with leadership aspirations.

How amazing would it be to look back on this day 50 years from now and say it was the watershed moment when the country began to shed its color coded politics and its unconscious favoritism of the status quo. There are currently only 12 women, 1 Asian-American, and 6 African-Americans leading Fortune 500 companies. Furthermore, Asian-Americans hold only 1.5% of Fortune 500 corporate board seats. Hopefully, this new definition of leadership will help boost these numbers.

A girl can hope can’t she?

Posted in Current Events, Observations, Politics | 18 Comments

Rickmond Wong: the rock star of ramen

Posted on January 3, 2008 by John

The Los Angeles Times does an interesting profile of Chinese-American Rickmond Wong and his love of Japanese ramen noodles and his food blog / website on ramen, “Rameniac” in the article (1/2/07), “He’s the rock star of ramen“:

“Wong’s website, www.rameniac.com, is a lively compendium of all things ramen, one of the best of the food sites by single-topic fanatics. There is an in-depth discussion of Japan’s regional styles of ramen (22, according to Wong). There are reviews of ramen restaurants. There are reviews of packaged ramen. There are even videos of ramen being made and slurped. There is a forum for discussing ramen and ramen-related issues. Wong says that he eats ramen several times a week when he’s at home in Los Angeles and that he’ll slurp almost nonstop when he visits Japan. “Last year I ate 18 bowls of ramen in 14 days,” he says. “I came back and ate only salads for a month. But while I was there I had to get my ramen.” Next year’s vacation is already planned. “I’m going to bicycle across Japan eating ramen,” he says.” … A mop-topped 33-year-old who was born and raised in the San Gabriel Valley, Wong is the child of Cantonese immigrants. He works as a Web designer for Universal Studios and, with a partner has just started Qio, a clothing store on Pico Boulevard in West Los Angeles dedicated to Japanese street fashion.”

I quite like ramen myself (and noodles / pasta in general), and live not too far from two ramen noodle places in Mountain View, California – Maru ichi and Ryowa – both excellent choices if you are on Castro Street and are craving ramen.

And a quick YouTube search on the keyword “ramen”, provided me a link to this educational and entertaining video backgrounder on ramen in Japan in “Life In Tokyo: Vlog #23 Ramen.“

Posted in Food & Drink | Leave a comment

Lucy Liu in ABC’s Cashmere Mafia

Posted on January 2, 2008 by John

While surfing the web, I came across ABC’s new show that is premiering in January, Cashmere Mafia, co-starting Lucy Liu:

“Four ambitious, sexy women who have been best friends since business school, Mia, Zoe, Juliet and Caitlin, try to have it all. They aren’t just powerful and intelligent as singular executive sensations in a man’s world; they’ve bonded into a formidable unit — a female “boys’ club” — to support and counsel each other through good times and bad. How better to climb up the corporate ladder than with your buddies at your side?”

Lucy Liu plays Mia Mason, “a sexy, competitive woman in the publishing field” who is being pitted against her fiancé for a key promotion. Cashmere Mafia is being positioned as “Sex and the City” meets “CNBC” – promoted as “from the creator of Sex and the City.” It’ll be interesting to see how her character Mia is portrayed (and I can imagine already the comments that will be posted based on the TV promo already…)

Personally, since I went to business school, I’m curious as to see how the show portrays work-life balance for professional women, especially those trying to raise a family. There are already enough television dramas on medicine (ER, Grey’s Anatomy), crime (Law & Order, CSI everywhere), and law (Boston Legal, L.A. Law in the 80s). I guess there is The Office, but that’s more of a comedy sitcom than a drama

Here is a Cashmere Mafia promo on YouTube:

I really liked Lucy Liu in Kill Bill, Volume 1, as well as when she was in Alley McBeal (though I am sure there are many who disliked her portrayal as a “dragon lady.)”

Posted in Entertainment, Observations | 7 Comments

Activists fail to stir opposition to China’s [Rose Bowl Parade] float

Posted on January 1, 2008 by John

http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2007-12/34493402.jpgHappy New Year! Hopefully all of you have fully recovered from your night of debauchery as you get your latest fix of 8Asians.com. Traditionally, on January 1st, there is the annual Rose Bowl Parade in Pasadena, California. A few days ago, The Los Angeles Times reported on human rights activists trying protest and prevent a float celebrating the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in the article (12/30/07) “Activists fail to stir opposition to China’s float“:

“At the heart of the issue is a float celebrating China’s first Olympic Games — apropos, tournament officials say, because the upcoming parade’s theme is “Passport to the World’s Celebrations.” Backers say China’s government had no role in building the float, and that it was paid for by Pasadena-based label maker Avery Dennison Corp. and a coalition of Chinese American business people and philanthropists”

According to the article, there hasn’t been much support for protesting or preventing this float in the parade. Even those in the Taiwanese community are not supporting the cause:

“Even local supporters of independence for Taiwan — who rarely miss a chance to condemn China’s government — have largely stayed out of the parade debate. Some Taiwan activists will hand out fliers at the parade. But after much debate among community leaders, they decided it was too risky to criticize the float because it had such broad backing among local Chinese, some of whom they rely on for support. “If we come out and protest this float in public, we may anger many Chinese people in L.A.,” said a leading local Taiwanese activist who wanted to remain anonymous because of the sensitivity of the internal debate. “They consider the Beijing Olympics a point of pride. We don’t want a war between the Chinese and Taiwanese in L.A.”

As well intentioned the efforts of the human rights activists are, given the fact that the Chinese government has no role in funding or participating in the Rose Parade or the float, I can see the lack of enthusiasm for the activists.

Posted in Current Events, Observations, Politics | 5 Comments

New Year’s Eve with Kōhaku

Posted on December 31, 2007 by jozjozjoz

As a kid, most of my New Year’s Eve memories involved having dinner (hot pot) at my grandparents home with the extended family and close friends. After dinner, the adults would drink tea (or sake) and sit around the table while talking. In the background, the TV would be blaring TV from NHK Japan: Kōhaku Uta Gassen or the Red White Song Battle (or Song Contest or Song Festival).

My family is from Taiwan, but due to the history of Japanese colonization there, my grandparents and parents learned to speak (and read/write) Japanese. So my personal New Year’s memories are a mix of Taiwanese and Japanese… with the Japanese coming from Kōhaku.

According to Wikipedia:

Kōhaku Uta Gassen, more commonly known as simply Kōhaku, is an annual music show on the New Year’s Eve produced by Japanese public broadcaster NHK and broadcast on both television and radio, nationally and internationally by NHK’s networks and some overseas (mainly cable) broadcasters which bought the program. The show ends shortly before midnight (when NHK switches to a frenzy of “Happy New Year” greetings from around the nation).

Literally “Red and White Song Battle,” the program divides the most popular music artists of the year into competing teams of red and white. The “red” team or akagumi is composed of all female artists (or groups with female vocals), while the “white” team or shirogumi is all male (or groups with male vocals). The honor of performing on Kōhaku is strictly by invitation, so only the most successful J-Pop artists and enka singers can perform. In addition to the actual music performances, the costumes, hair-styles, makeup, dancing, and lighting are also important. Even today, a performance on Kōhaku is said to be a big highlight in a singer’s career because of the show’s large reach.

While I don’t keep up with J-pop or really anything Japanese for most of the year, I always like to turn on the TV and have some Red White Song battling on to make it feel like New Year’s Eve with my family. And on the final night of 2007, I am happy to be staying in J-Town in SF with Kōhaku on the TV while waiting to meet some good friends from 8Asians for dinner.

May you ring in the New Year happily and safely!

Posted in Entertainment | 19 Comments