Asian American Commercial Watch: Eddie Huang: Sprite Obey Your Thirst™

Posted on April 8, 2016 by John

AACW_Eddie_Huang_Sprite

While watching a March Madness basketball game, I saw this Sprite commercial with Eddie Huang (for some reason Sprite isn’t making the commercial embeddable):

“Eddie Huang knows there’s no substitute for the classic lemon-lime. Keep it fresh at http://www.sprite.com. #ObeyYourThirst”

AACW_Eddie_Huang_Sprite_entreprenur

YouTube has said that this commercial was uploaded on Jan 27, 2016 (with over 5M views as of this writing), but this is the first I’ve seen of the commercial. You would think that they’d run this commercial during Fresh Off the Boat?

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‘Fresh off the Boat’ Episode Review: “Jessica Place”

Posted on April 6, 2016 by Mitchell K. Dwyer

Fresh Off the Boat, Season 2, Episode 19: “Jessica Place”
Original airdate April 5, 2016.

fotb_s02_e19 (1)Microsynopsis: Jessica gets into a homeowners’ association conflict with Deirdre when, hoping to make her life more like Melrose Place, she installs an above-ground pool for her family. Emery loses his temper when Eddie cheats at a breath-holding contest in the pool, leading Eddie to advise him not keep everything bottled up.

Good: This show gets stupid-stupid sometimes, but this Melrose tribute is kind of smart-stupid. Not only are the stylistic choices reminiscent of the 90s primetime soap (which I admit I never watched; I was a 90210 guy), but the writers use the device to develop Honey’s character as less secure in her relationship with Jessica than she’s appeared so far, and to humanize the previously cartoonish Deirdre, whose confession in the show’s final minutes gives her some understandable motivation for her meanness to Honey. It seems unlikely to expect Deirdre to become pleasant, and I don’t think we want her to, but it’s nice to give her a little bit of depth, which will make the acting better.

fotb_s02_e19 (4)Bad: There are a few moments that don’t ring true. Honey not knowing the name of her step-daughter’s mother makes no sense at all. And while Emery’s first explosion is pretty good, the rest of his outbursts are not well acted. It also feels a little strange that Emery has this psycho side to him. We’ve already had some psycho-ness with Evan this season, and now we’ve got some from Emery. It’s not a good trend.

FOB moment: Jessica, addicted to Melrose Place, is so unfamiliar with American television that she doesn’t know about the summer hiatus.

Soundtrack flashback: Ah. I don’t know how accurate the Melrose Place theme music or soundtrack music is in this episode, but it’s close if it’s not the actual music. That’s all I’ve got.

Final grade, this episode: I said earlier this season that Forrest Wheeler is emerging as the best actor of the three Huang sons, but Hudson Yang in the past few episodes has really grown into his character’s skin. He’s been the better actor lately, and it’s nice to see. Constance Wu and Randall Park continue to be the strength of the show, pulling off some great comedic acting that I find unusual in primetime sitcoms nowadays. It’s a silly, fun episode. B.

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8Books Review: “Serve the People” by Karen Ishizuka

Posted on April 5, 2016 by Lily

ServeThePeople

Serve the People: Making Asian America in the Long Sixties highlights the stories and voices of activists who spearheaded the Asian American movement of the 1960s. Complicated, multi-pronged, and geographically diverse, the movement marked a profound political and social shift for Asian America, indeed, its very existence as a concept. Written by Karen Ishizuka, herself a member of the movement if not in her own words a pioneer, Serve the People offers a full narrative. It ranges from differing reasons why individuals became politically aware and active to community programs, political organizing, and arts, and ends with reflections and perspectives on those who participated in the Asian American movement and what this history means for our future.

Drawing extensively from her own interviews, Ishizuka tries to provide an inside view of the movement and its participants. Personal stories are central, though historical context and broader commentary weave throughout as well. The end result is a bit of a hodgepodge. If perhaps disorganized, the content at its core remains compelling for any interested in political activism and the Asian American movement.

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ICYMI: Silicon Valley Comic Con 2016 – Recap & Review

Posted on April 4, 2016 by John

2016_03_19_Back_to_the_Future_Panel_Silicon_Valley_Comic_Con_2016

Back this March – Friday, March 18th to Sunday, March 20th, I had the good fortune of being able to attend the first ever Silicon Valley Comic Con. I’ve always wanted to go to Comic Con in San Diego, but it seems that year-after-year, tickets for the conference get harder and harder to get. I had only heard about the event a few weeks prior to the show – applied for a press pass online, and shortly afterwards, received confirmation for press credentials.

The idea of Silicon Valley Comic Con was first conceived by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak:

“Silicon Valley Comic Con will be a show unlike any other, as we bring together the best in technology and entertainment all under one gigantic roof,” Wozniak wrote on the convention’s official page. “There are lots of fans like me in San Francisco and the Valley, and I’m excited to finally have a Comic Con with our very own flavor. When I was growing up it was hard to be a geek. It definitely wasn’t cool back then, but I am happy that things have changed because now being a geek, or being different is cool. And Silicon Valley Comic Con celebrates being a geek!””

What got me really excited was the fact that there was going to be a “Back to the Future” (BTTF) panel with Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, and Lea Thompson. BTTF is one of my all time favorite movies, so I was pretty excited to possibly attend.

I was able to attend all three days, but not all day – Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday afternoon. Overall, I had a great time – though I thought the convention hall was a bit crowded and the event could have been a bit more organized (the organizers were aiming for 30,000 attendees but announced after the conference that there were over 60,000 attendees over the three days), but hiccups were to be expected since this was the first ever Silicon Valley Comic Con. Overall, I had a blast and look forward to attending Silicon Valley Comic Con 2017!

Here’s my brief recap…

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Asian American Commercial Watch: McDonald’s “Flavor Guy”

Posted on April 1, 2016 by John

https://youtu.be/ihVJsQKA-OM

In this recent McDonald’s commercial, we have two Asian American actors being briefly highlighted as the fast food chain tries to promote it’s latest offering on a wider scale: flavored coffees. The actors in the commercial are Danny Cho (who did an awesome Kim Jong Il impression in this faux eHarmony commercial):

AACW_McDonalds_Flavors_Guy_Danny_Cho

And actress Joy Regullano:

AACW_McDonalds_Flavors_Guy_Joy_Regullano

who I mostly know for her YouTube video ‘White Fetish‘ and ‘White Fetish 2.‘

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‘Fresh off the Boat’ Episode Review: “Week in Review”

Posted on March 30, 2016 by Mitchell K. Dwyer

Fresh Off the Boat, Season 2, Episode 18: “Week in Review”
Original airdate March 29, 2016.

fotb_s02e18 (1)Microsynopsis: Eddie and Evan come home from school with lice, messing up the carefully planned week Jessica and Louis have outlined. Louis starts out as Mr. Full Partner, but when things get lousier, he leaves Jessica to shoulder the burden alone. The house must be deloused, which keeps Eddie home from school, forcing him to miss the faculty vs. students basketball game, with pizza and homework on the line.

Good: Emery’s hair toss in slow-mo after he says, “Wait; how come I don’t have lice? I mean, how do you not want to be up in this?” is funny. I like the Jessica-Honey scenes, and the scene with all three boys on the front lawn.

fotb_s02e18 (2)Bad: All the grown-ups in Eddie’s school are idiots. This continues to baffle me.

FOB moment: “We didn’t come to this country so our son could get lice!”

Soundtrack flashback: A terrific 72 seconds of “Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik” by Outkast (1994; with N-words edited out). “I Got 5 on It” by Luniz (1995, curiously including the lyrics “Grab your 40 let’s get keyed,” “Messing with that Indo weed,” and “Til the joint be burning my hand”).

Final grade, this episode: It’s a nice, pleasant episode without much character development. Not much to find fault with, but not especially memorable. B.

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8Books Review: “The Queen of the Night” by Alexander Chee

Posted on March 29, 2016 by Lily

Queen of the NightAlexander Chee’s long-awaited second novel, The Queen of the Night, is luscious and captivating and please read it. Perhaps I am biased, and I will tell you why in a minute, but this is the rare book I considered not finishing before publishing this review (fear not traditionalists, I did read the whole thing). Chee’s writing is lyrical and beautiful and poetic, without feeling obtuse. It alone makes this a worthwhile read. The central character and narrator, who has named herself Lilliet Berne, is ever compelling and as the layers of her character and life story unveiled, increasingly so.

Basic story. Set in the nineteenth century France, the novel follows Lilliet, an opera singer with a rare voice made for singing the most devastating roles. When she is offered the chance to premiere a role — every opera singer’s path to immortality — she discovers that it is based on hidden parts of her past, long kept secret. She takes readers on a journey through her transformations. Orphan, courtesan, mute, servant, lover, rival… Circling Lilliet is a cast of historical characters including Napoleon II and Verdi and intricate details delicately laid before us by Chee. At its center, love and loss.

I cannot understate how enthralling Chee’s narrative is, as you almost melt into his words and this story, so compellingly crafted and executed. I knew in the middle that this was a book worth reading, even if the ending disappointed, it wouldn’t matter. So I almost wrote this review then. Honestly, I’m not sure how different it would have been. I’m equally enamored having taken the whirlwind journey towards the end.

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The Most Important Video You’ll See Today

Posted on March 28, 2016 by Koji Steven Sakai

8A-2016-03-RonDellumsThis is a video I believe every Asian American–heck, every American–should see. In it, the Honorable Ron Dellums from Oakland gave one of the most stirring speeches about the effects of the taking of Japanese Americans had on people outside of the Japanese American community. No matter how times I watch it, I tear up when I hear him describing his crying out when his best friend was taken away.

During this time of fear, hatred, and violence toward the Muslim, Arab, and Sikh American communities, it is important that we keep the unconstitutional incarceration of more than 120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II–including my family–in the forefront of our minds and not let it happen to anyone in our country ever again.

Follow me at @ksakai1.

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Asian American Commercial Watch: #StayAmazing: Balancing With Rocky Byun

Posted on March 25, 2016 by John

https://youtu.be/PkwzAUBijW0

To be honest, before this Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott commercial, I had never heard of Rocky Byun:

AACW_Rocky_Byun“Making gravity his friend, Nam Seok Byun (also known as “Rocky”) has learned to balance a range of items, large and small, right on top of each other! This man from South Korea has been practicing for 9 years, understanding physics to determine the center of gravity of objects in order to make them balance perfectly.”

This commercial was uploaded back on October 15th, 2014, but I had only seen it recently. You can see his incredible balancing videos on his YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/balanceace/videos

 

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Remembering Prolific and Pioneering Asian American Studies Scholar Don Nakanishi

Posted on March 24, 2016 by Guest Writer

8A-2016-03-DonNakanishi_UCLA

By Dr. Dawn Lee Tu

On Monday, March 21st, the field of Asian American Studies suffered a tremendous loss. Don Nakanishi, Professor Emeritus at the UCLA Asian American Studies Center, passed away at the age of 66. Nakanishi was a beloved, respected and pioneering scholar in the field and spent over four decades combined teaching Asian American Studies, providing national leadership in developing and advancing the field of Asian American Studies and Ethnic Relations Scholarship, and serving as the Center Director.

A prolific writer, and influential scholar and teacher, Nakanishi’s faculty profile describes his body of work that includes over 100 articles, books, and reports on Asian Pacific American political and education research. The profile indicates, “He was the first to demonstrate that Asian Americans, despite their high group levels of education and income that are usually associated with active political participation, had very low levels of voter registration and voting.”

Nakanishi’s record of service includes being a former president of the Association of Asian American Studies, a co-founder and publisher of Amerasia Journal that has been publishing Asian American Studies scholarship since 1971, and a co-founder of AAPI Nexus: Asian American and Pacific Islander Policy, Practice, and Community Research. He was appointed by President Bill Clinton to the Civil Liberties Public Education Fund Board of Directors that is credited for the issuing a national apology and issuing reparations for the 120,000 Japanese Americans incarcerated during World War II. Nakanishi served on numerous boards of directors including Poverty and Race Research Action Council, the Simon Wiesenthal Museum of Tolerance, and the Asian American Justice Center.

Nakanishi mentored countless undergraduate and graduate students, and as word spread about his passing, many took to social media to share their sadness for the passing of their mentor and colleague. Dr. Cheryl Matias, Assistant Professor in the School of Education and Human Development at the University of Colorado at Denver, reflected, “Don was a kind of mentor who said few words but felt fully embraced.” Dr. Oiyan Poon, Assistant Professor in Higher Education at Loyola University Chicago, shared how he “masterfully mentored with a fierce heart for social justice and bridge building.”

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‘Fresh off the Boat’ Episode Review: “Doing it Right”

Posted on March 23, 2016 by Mitchell K. Dwyer

Fresh Off the Boat, Season 2, Episode 17: “Doing it Right”
Original airdate March 22, 2016.

HUDSON YANGMicrosynopsis: Jessica gets into an argument with the mother of Evan’s best friend, resulting in Evan’s being disinvited. With supreme effort, she forces herself to apologize, but Evan’s invitation is not reinstated, and Jessica learns that Evan is the real problem. Louis’s obsession of the week is the upcoming North Orlando Chili Cook-Off, for which he enlists Eddie as his apprentice. When Eddie gets frustrated by Louis’s unwillingness to consider his suggestions, he enters the cook-off on his own.

Good: Jessica flying off the handle is funny, but Jessica humbling herself as she apologizes is hilarious. This is a strong Jessica episode, and Evan gets a rare shot at central plot. The subplot is surprisingly cute, too. There’s something about Eddie’s tweener status that suits Hudson Yang well: his undisguised, sincere admiration for his father is sweet, and it gives the show a credibility that lots of family shows struggle to earn. Oh, and the episode’s teaser is stilly, stupid, and pretty funny. And oh yeah: this young actor who plays Trent is really growing on me. He’s not a bad actor.

RANDALL PARK, FORREST WHEELER, CONSTANCE WU, HUDSON YANG, IAN CHENBad: Marvin’s downfall at the chili cook-off is lazy writing.

FOB moment: Jessica is displeased with Evan’s A+ on a test until she realizes it’s really an A++.

Soundtrack flashback: “Exhale (Shoop Shoop)” by Whitney Houston (1995). “Race Against Time” by Public Enemy (1994) (heck yeah).

Final grade, this episode: It’s funny, and both plots are really sweet. B+.

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8Questions: Daniel Henney of ‘Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders’ (Part 2)

Posted on March 22, 2016 by Guest Writer

By Dawn Lee Tu

Please see part 1 of my interview with Daniel Henney, of CBS’s Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders, in which Henney discusses his connection with the character he plays, and shares his thoughts on opportunities for Asian American actors.

Now that you’ve had a chance to do both, do you prefer TV or film projects better?  Why?

Photo: Kharen Hill / ABC Studios

Photo: Kharen Hill / ABC Studios

I like both, to be honest with you. When I have time, I like film but the problem is that (film) generally takes you away from your family and home for two to three months at a time. It’s hard. One of things I’ve liked about working on (CMBB) is that you get to shoot in Los Angeles. I get to sleep in my own bed every night, spend time with my friends, take my dog for a walk, and sometimes she gets to come to the set with me, which is great. When I’m on a movie, I’m sort of off the grid for a while which is tough sometimes. God forbid something happens to your family and it’s hard to get home. Sometimes it’s hard to communicate because it’s different time zones. Movies are fun and sometimes there is a romantic element to film, but TV is not a bad gig.

I’ve noticed you’ve been involved in small fashion projects such as your sunglasses line and your tote bag. Are those passion projects of yours? Will you be doing more of those kinds of projects?

I definitely hope so. It’s been something we’ve been playing around with, mostly in Asia. We’re trying to get some traction in China as well as Korea but it’s a delicate market over there. But once it picks up, once you get something that’s great, it generally does quite well. Living in Korea for years and years, I’ve had a lot of ideas come to my mind, (such as) help improve the Asian male fashion sense with denim or footwear. So as my career progresses hopefully I’ll be able to create a bigger platform, have more reach, and do more things.

Many of your fans are eagerly waiting for you to appear in more leading roles.  Are you still interested in landing a leading role or are you more looking for interesting and challenging roles?

It’s more fun to do interesting, challenging. I don’t get a lot of those because I’m seen as more as a leading guy, especially in Asia. So even here in the States it’s been more of that lately, it’s been more of a leading guy kind of thing. I do gravitate towards trying things. I just had a role come in to me, I don’t know if I’m going to do it. It’s playing some sort of robot in a post-apocalyptic world. How cool would that be? I’m trying stuff like that out. So hopefully I get to do some of that stuff in the future, like I’m not complaining where I’m at, I’m very happy where I’m at right now.
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