Huntr/X Live Performance: KPop Demon Hunter Singers to perform on the Tonight Show

Posted on October 1, 2025 by Jeff

A Huntr/X Live Performance? The fictional group from KPop Demon Hunters will perform on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. This is the first time that the singers doing Rumi, Mira, and Zooey musical voices (Ejae, Audrey Nuna, and Rei Ami, respectively) will perform live together. The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon made the above promo video for the October 7 show.

I really looking forward to this Huntr/X live performance. Billboard put out a video of the three singers eating Korean food in New York. I thought it funny that they actually act like and resemble the characters they sing for!

To reiterate, the performance will be on October 7. The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon airs at 11:35 PM/10:35 Central on NBC.

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Taiwan’s Official Oscar Submission: Left-Handed Girl

Posted on September 29, 2025 by John

Left-Handed Girl movie poster

Taiwan is submitting the film Left-Handed Girl‘ as its official submission for the Oscars for “Best International Feature Film”:

“Mere months after sweeping the 97th Academy Awards with “Anora,” Sean Baker is making a tangential return to the Oscar race. The auteur co-wrote and edited “Left-Handed Girl,” the solo debut of his “Take Out” co-director Shih-Ching Tsou, which has been selected as Taiwan’s official Oscar submission.

Like “Take Out,” “Left-Handed Girl” is set in the restaurant industry, following a mother-daughter-daughter relationship in Taipei as the family attempts to open a food business. An official synopsis for the film reads: “A single mother and her two daughters return to Taipei after several years of living in the countryside to open a stand at a buzzing night market. Each in their way will have to adapt to this new environment to make ends meet and maintain the family unity. But when their traditional grandfather forbids his youngest left-handed granddaughter from using her ‘devil hand,’ generations of family secrets begin to unravel.””

I recently came across the trailer on YouTube, which I have embedded above.

I’m very interested to see this film. I know a cousin of mine is left-handed, but when he was growing up, my aunt made him use his right hand. In many parts of Asia, it’s a big taboo to be left-handed, which I find personally quite irrational. In a quick Google search, I came across this study: Why are there (almost) no left-handers in China?.

Left-Handed Girl will be shown in select theatres November 14.  It will stream on Netflix beginning November 28.

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Jeremy Lin Opens Up on Why He Retired and What Comes Next – Aconic Podcast EP22

Posted on September 23, 2025 by John

As I had blogged earlier this month, former professional basketball player Jeremy Lin retired from professional basketball after spending over a decade in the NBA and playing overseas in Asia. I had a chance to watch a live recording podcast interview with The Aconic Podcast. Episode 22, Jeremy Lin Opens Up: Why he Retired and What Comes Next,  is finally live, and it is definitely worth listening to or watching:

“Just days before announcing his retirement, Jeremy Lin sat down with the Aconic Podcast for his final interview as an active player. In this candid conversation, Jeremy opens up about the decision to step away from basketball, the questions he wrestled with, and what might come next.

He shares raw reflections on purpose, impact, and faith, asking himself, “Am I really living up to who I said I wanted to be?” Jeremy discusses whether his greatest contribution now lies off the court, using the resources and platform he’s built to serve others, especially marginalized youth through his Foundation.

For the first time, Jeremy reveals how he struggled to balance on court demands with being fully present for his off-court mission, and why he believes “mental health is more important than Kumon.”

This exclusive conversation offers an unfiltered look into the mindset behind one of the most impactful decisions of his life and the possibilities for his future beyond the game.
Subscribe for more exclusive interviews with leaders and icons.”

I was really surprised at how candid Lin was. I also learned that he is now a father.

Jeremy Lin Opens Up: Why he Retired and What Comes Next - Podcast video taping

At the time of the interview, Lin hadn’t announced his official retirement but he speculated on his decision. Also, it was really interesting to hear from Lin the strong influence by his mother on him, as well as the mental health struggles he had to overcome – especially living up to the hype of LINSANITY. Watching or listening to the Jeremy Lin Opens Up: Why he Retired and What Comes Next podcast is definitely worth watching.

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Golden State Valkyries’ Natalie Nakase Wins WNBA Coach of the Year Award

Posted on September 19, 2025 by John


Thursday was a bitter sweet night for Golden State Valkyries’. The first Asian American coach in the WNBA, Natalie Nakase wins WNBA Coach of the Year as many predicted! That’s an amazing milestone for a first-time head coach for an expansion team:

“Golden State Valkyries head coach Natalie Nakase has been named the 2025 State Street Investment Management SPY WNBA Coach of the Year, the WNBA announced today. She has earned the honor in her first season as a WNBA head coach.

Nakase received 53 of 72 votes from a national panel of sportswriters and broadcasters. Atlanta Dream head coach Karl Smesko finished in second place with 15 votes. Las Vegas Aces head coach Becky Hammon and Minnesota Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve tied for third place with two votes each.

With Nakase leading the way, Golden State set the WNBA record for victories by an expansion team in its first season with 23. The Valkyries (23-21) also became the first team to qualify for the WNBA Playoffs presented by Google in its inaugural season.

After a 2-5 start to the season, Golden State won seven of its next nine games. That 7-2 stretch led to Nakase being honored as the WNBA Coach of the Month for June. As the Valkyries competed for a playoff spot in the final weeks of the season, Nakase guided them to winning streaks of four games from Aug. 9-15 and five games from Aug. 24 – Sept. 4.

Under Nakase, the Valkyries held opponents to league lows of 76.3 points per game and 40.5% shooting from the field. On offense, Golden State made a WNBA-high 9.7 three-pointers per game. Among Valkyries players, guard Veronica Burton won the 2025 Kia WNBA Most Improved Player Award and forward Kayla Thornton was selected to the AT&T WNBA All-Star Game for the first time.

Nakase was hired as the Valkyries’ head coach in October 2024 after serving three seasons as an Aces assistant coach. She helped Las Vegas win back-to-back WNBA championships in 2022 and 2023. Before her stint with the Aces, Nakase spent 10 seasons with the Los Angeles Clippers, finishing her tenure as an assistant coach.”

Photo credit: Eric Wong specially for 8Asians

The Valkyries’ Veronica Burton also won Most Improved Player of the Year. Some credit should to Nakase also for that win.

Unfortunately after the ceremony, the Golden State Valkyries played the 2nd playoff game (being down 0-1 in a best of 3 series) in San Jose and lost to the Minnesota Lynx in a nailbiter in the 4th quarter. The Valkyries led by double digits for most of the first three quarters):

“For three quarters, it was potent. Coaxing the best out of the Valkyries, rattling the WNBA’s No. 1 seed. After losing by 29 points in Game 1 at Minnesota, Golden State needed a home-court advantage.

It was almost enough. The Valkyries nearly had a new pinnacle for their storybook season.

But Minnesota found another gear, like a team on a championship mission. The Lynx scored the first 11 points of the fourth quarter, snatching all the momentum and introducing the Valkyries to postseason pressure. Golden State’s 17-point lead crumbled into a 75-74 Game 2 defeat and elimination from the postseason.”

Additionally, it’s unfortunate but fan favorite Kaitlyn Chen didn’t get any playing time.

During the press conference, Nakase put the game loss and playoff elimination into perspective. The Golden State Valkyries had an amazing season, doing something that has never been done, a record number of wins for an expansion team as well as making the playoffs. They sold out every home game.

Nakase thanked the fans as well as the media for making their inaugural season a special one.

When one reflects on the many challenges of the Golden State Valkyries, including the injury of their top three players, it’s remarkable what they were able to achieve. I think that the Valkyries can only get better from here, with Nakase leading the way.

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San Francisco Chinese-American Voters recall Supervisor Joel Engardio

Posted on September 18, 2025 by Jeff


With Sunset District residents angered by his support of the closing of San Francisco’s Great Highway, a special election held in San Francisco saw Chinese-American voters recall Supervisor Joel Engardio. This was somewhat surprising. When we first reported on the recall effort, local political pundits did not think it had much of a chance. The recall’s opponents raised $824,000 while proponents raised over $250,000.

The Great Highway isn’t going to reopen anytime soon – you can see Sunset Dunes Park in the picture above. Much of the road was going to erode anyway. Despite that, 65% of the voters felt that Engardio had to go for not representing them. Engardio is the first San Francisco Supervisor to ever be recalled.  Mayor Dan Lurie will appointment a replacement. Given upcoming conflict over housing rezoning, it will be a politically tricky position to fill.

(photo credit: BriefEdits licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license..)

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A Short Review: Ayo Check up (Jeremy Lin Executive Producer)

Posted on September 15, 2025 by Jeff

Ayo Check Up, a short film from Nathan Xia and executive producer Jeremy LinI was curious to see this short when I learned that Jeremy Lin produced it. Ayo, Check Up tells the story of two men playing a basketball game that becomes much more than just a basketball game. I liked it enough to share it with you all.

Nathan Xia wrote and acts in Ayo, Check Up a, but he isn’t the main protagonist.  Yes, Asian Americans can write about more than just Asian American themes and characters! His short takes off in unexpected directions, some of which reminded me a lot of Everything Everywhere all at Once. I had some trouble believing the motivations of a few of the actions of the characters, but overall I like it enough to recommended it.

While Jeremy Lin has retired from playing professional basketball, part of the legacy that he is building is backing films featuring Asian Americans. I just learned that he executive produced the documentary Home Court in addition to this short. Ayo, Check Up was presented on the Omeleto YouTube channel by the Asian American website Next Shark. Omeleto is a channel of excellent shorts. One could fall through the rabbit hole of this channel and spend all day looking at shorts! I am planning to share a number of their shorts on the future.

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Tejasvi Manoj is TIME Magazine’s 2025 Kid of the Year

Posted on September 12, 2025 by Jeff

Tejasvi Manoj is Time Magazine's 2025 Kid of the YearTejasvi Manoj is TIME Magazine’s 2025 Kid of the Year!  The high school senior has created a web site to help seniors avoid online fraud. Her grandfather was almost scammed by someone pretending to be her uncle requesting money to pay off a debt. After that incident, she began researching about these scams. Manoj created Shield Seniors as a result.

Both of her parents work in IT. A neighbor, Aarathi Rajamanickam, works with software and cybersecurity and has mentored Manoj on her project.  While the web site is still in private preview mode, Manoj gives talks on cybersecurity at places like older adult communities.

As I mentioned, Shield Seniors is in private preview mode. It uses an AI engine to evaluate e-mail or webpages and gives a rating on whether the e-mail or webpage is a scam.  She says it has 95% accuracy.

I was pleasantly surprised to see Texas Governor Ken Abbott give Tesjavi Manoj a shout out on X:

Congratulations to Tejasvi Manoj!

(photo credit:  Zerb Mellish for TIME)

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Natalie Nakase a strong WNBA Coach of the Year Candidate as Valkyries make the Playoffs

Posted on September 8, 2025 by Jeff

Natalie Nakase a strong WNBA Coach of the Year CandidateThe Golden State Valkyries have clinched a playoff spot in the WNBA playoffs. They are the first WNBA expansion to ever do that in their first year. This accomplishment makes head coach Natalie Nakase a strong WNBA Coach of the Year candidate.

Nakase had to overcome a lot of obstacles to reach this point. She developed a group of players who had never played together into a cohesive unit. Veteran player Kayla Thornton grew into an all-star but got injured and is out for the rest of the season. Nakase lead the team into the playoffs anyway. Moreover, the Valkyries have sold out all of their home games and are a franchise valued at $500 million.

As of the time of this writing, the Valkyries are the sixth seed in the WNBA playoffs. Oddly enough, the Valkyries are so new that they cannot play their first playoff game at home in Chase Center.  Instead, their first playoff game will be at SAP center in San Jose.  The WNBA playoffs begin on September 14. Regardless if the Valkyries make it past the first round, their performance this season makes Natalie Nakase a strong WNBA Coach of the Year candidate.

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8Books Review: Being Mortal

Posted on September 5, 2025 by Jeff

Being Mortal book coverI learned about Atul Gawande’s Being Mortal in a roundabout way. John and I receive a lot of marketing materials about Asian American movies and media in general. One of those movies is Good Fortune directed and starting Aziz Ansari. He was working on another movie called Being Mortal when its studio suspended it. Ansari then moved on to Good Fortune. The suspended movie was based on a book. When I read what the book was about, I found it immediately relevant to me so I decided to check it out. Here is a quick review of Atul Gawande’s book, Being Mortal.

Overview

Although the Being Mortal film was planned to be a comedy drama, the book is serious non-fiction about how American medicine and society treats/maltreats the dying.  It looks at the problems of institutions like nursing homes and end of life care. As an Asian American, Gawande, has a unique viewpoint on caring for the elderly.  He talks about how in traditional cultures, the old were cared for by family. While this may sound great, he also points out, from experiences in his own family and others, that this can be a source of great stress. My own experience can attest to that point, having lived in a multi-generational Asian household. Gawande looks, to his credit, often looks at both sides of issues like this through out the book. He points out not just the problems of modern nursing homes but also the even worse institutions that they replaced.

Recommendations

I heartily recommend this book. Being Mortal is particularly relevant in a time of Medicaid cuts and an aging population. The books Outlive by Peter Attia and When Breath becomes Air make excellent companions to it.  Outlive talks about goals to set for the last part of one’s life and how to become fit enough to reach those goals. Being Mortal points out that no one can escape death and what to consider when one is at the end of one’s health span. When Breath Becomes Air talks about one Asian American doctor’s experience at the end of his life.

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Jeremy Lin Retires After 15 Years as a Professional Basketball Player

Posted on September 1, 2025 by John

Jeremy Lin Retires Instagram postIn modern Asian American history, there is one name that stands apart – Jeremy Lin. For a brief moment in time, Jeremy Lin is the Asian American unicorn that captured the hearts and minds of Americans everywhere. Taiwanese American professional basketball player Jeremy Lin had been playing professionally overseas the past few years, and prior to that, in the NBA. He became one of the most known AMERICANS during his breakout NBA performance known as “LINSANITY.” Just learned that Jeremy Lin retires from 15 years as a professional basketball player, announced Saturday night on Instagram.

“As athletes, we are always aware that the possibility of retirement is never far away. I’ve spent my 15 year career knowing that one day I would have to walk away, and yet actually saying goodbye to basketball today has been the hardest decision I’ve ever made.

It’s been the honor of a lifetime to compete against the fiercest competitors under the brightest lights and to challenge what the world thought was possible for someone who looks like me. I’ve lived out my wildest childhood dreams to play in front of fans all around the world. I will forever be the kid who felt fully alive everytime I touched a basketball.

So many people have sacrificed and poured into my journey, more than I could ever repay. Thank you all for believing in me, for walking with me, for celebrating my highs and picking me up in my lows. This is a ride I never wanted to end but I know it’s time. I will forever miss playing basketball in front of you all but our time will go beyond just playing. Here’s to what’s ahead.

Love you all ❤️”

As The New York Times reported:

“Jeremy Lin may have never won a ring for the New York Knicks. And his star turn at Madison Square Garden lasted mere months. But in that stretch, his electric play propelled a moribund team into the playoffs, rejuvenated bored fans and started a craze: “Linsanity.”

On Saturday, Lin’s career came to an end. The journeyman, who spent 15 years on N.B.A. teams and in leagues in Asia, announced his retirement from professional basketball on his Instagram account.

The unlikely star, a walk-on at Harvard who went undrafted, outshined the league’s biggest names in 2012. Few had heard of Lin, a bench player who joined the N.B.A. in 2010, when the Knicks picked him up a year later. And even fewer expected him to stand out.

…
The improbable starter led the team on a seven-game winning streak and averaged 22 points a game before the All-Star break. Madison Square Garden was alive again, brimming with the usual fans, like Spike Lee, and the casual fans, many of whom had lost faith in the perpetual losers.
…
As Lin’s jerseys sold out and the Knicks dominated sports headlines, fans and commentators began to describe the mania surrounding him as Linsanity.

With the Lakers, led by Kobe Bryant, set to play at Madison Square Garden, Bryant — never shy about taunting opponents — weighed in on the frenzy. “Who is this kid?” the five-time champion said on the eve of the matchup.

The next night, Lin dropped 38 points on Bryant in a stunning Knicks win. D’Antoni, the coach, later remembered Lin coming up to him after the win and saying, I guess Kobe knows my name now.

Harvey Araton, a Times columnist, mused the next day that Lin was “the Knicks’ grandest stroke of fortune” since signing Knicks legend Patrick Ewing in 1985. One fan, The Times reported, said he had not seen a mood like the one Lin inspired since 1955, when he first started attending games.

By the time Lin led his team to victory over Bryant’s Lakers, he had already become a New York icon and had inspired a new generation of young Asian American basketball fans. His status as a role model, he would later say, took him years to embrace.”

 

Continue reading →

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Ruth Asawa Art Walk and other Related News

Posted on August 29, 2025 by Jeff

Books on Ruth AsawaThe Ruth Asawa Retrospective at SFMOMA’s last day is September 2. Before it closes, I thought I would highlight a few events and news articles about Ruth Asawa Art that may get you to see her work if you haven’t seen it.

If you can’t make it to the Ruth Asawa Retrospective, it will open in New York in October and next year in Spain and Switzerland.

(h/t: John)

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Asian American Commercial Watch: McCain Foods’ “Bring the family together fast with Quick Cook Fries”

Posted on August 28, 2025 by John

McCain Foods USA Quick Cook Fries commercialI was watching a KPop Demon Hunters‘ ‘Golden‘ music reaction video when this commercial streamed. It shows a normal American family that happens to be Asian American. They are enjoying McCain Foods USA’s Quick Cook Fries together. McCain Foods is a multinational company founded and headquartered in Canada.

The tag line of the commercial: McCain Quick Cook Fries – Together is Golden. When I heard that last line, I thought what a perfect commercial placement for the song Golden! Here is a shorter version of the commercial. 

The commercial reminded me of my favorite Target commercial which I saw way back in the fall of 2009 – almost 16 years ago! 

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