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I saw the craptastic movie Mamma Mia a few weekends ago…(which I highly recommend as long as you leave your good taste & bad manners at the door). Abba songs, Colin Firth wearing a spiked a dog collar, Meryl Streep singing, Christine Baranski in a cougar-licious role seducing a young man, sparkling Greek coastlines, what could not be fabulous about this movie?
What I certainly didn’t expect, however, was that I could swear I spotted an Asian in the ensemble… I saw her once, in the bachelorette (or “hen”) party scene show in the photo. I stayed for the credits to see who it could potentially have been that I saw briefly on the screen — my best guess is that it is Rebecca Lee. I was impressed, for a large Hollywood movie, the cast was pretty diverse (at least among the ensemble).
Did anyone else see the Asian actress in the movie? I didn’t imagine it, did I?
No Comments | Posted in: Movies
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Behold, the illustration work of Brooklyn based James Blagden. Lest you bandwagon jumping commenters start freaking out over the above illustration about how Asians are “nerdy and retarded,” Blagden has a series of similar illustrations that highlight the stereotypes of everyone, used for ironic purposes in only the way that hipsters from Brooklyn can be ironic. (And if by “Everyone” you mean White people, Black people and Mexicans. They get their own illustration, apparently.)
That said, I’m strangely proud that our people have a whole font we can rally behind.
2 Comments | Posted in: Discrimination, The Arts
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I caught this piece on the radio on NPR while driving home on Japanese-American, Haley Ishimatsu in “Calif. Teen Is Olympic Medal Hopeful”
“One of the best U.S. prospects for a gold medal in diving is 15-year-old Haley Ishimatsu. She’s 4 feet 9 inches tall and 83 pounds. Isimatsu is being mentored by potential Olympic teammate and U.S. diving legend Laura Wilkinson.”
What is most amazing is that Ishimatsu only took up diving about 4 years ago, mostly because her older sister was already a championship diver. She is one of only three female divers to perform a back 3 1/2 pike - one of the most difficult dives for a man or woman. Ishimatsu is the 2nd youngest American Olympian - the youngest being her partner Mary Beth Dunnichay in synchronized diving (I didn’t even know that event existed?!?!). For most of her childhood, she was mostly into gymnastics.
In doing some more research on the web, I came across an The Indianapolis Star’s piece on “Fascinating family history for Olympic diver Ishimatsu,” that Ishimatsu is a 4th generation Japanese-American, her grandparents were Japanese internees during World War II in Jerome, Arkansas and Gila, Arizona and her relatives emigrated from Hiroshima. Ishimatsu relocated to Indianapolis with her father to be close to the USA Diving’s national training center. The family’s home is in Seal Beach, Calif.
I’m sure all parents of young Olympians sacrifice a lot for their kids - but I wonder, if in stereotypical fashion, whether or not Asian American Olympian parents put more pressure and have higher expectations? To be honest, my parents never really pushed any athletic activities on my brother and I - though in retrospect, I wish they had, to build up a lifelong habit of exercise for staying healthy.
No Comments | Posted in: Sports
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So Hubbycakes and I got back from a spontaneous outing to the Lee Neighborhood Theater in the outer Richmond this evening for some brain fluff movie fun times.
“What should we go see?”
“I dunno, Mongol?”
“Eh, too much subtitling and thinking, I think.”
“Lookie — this review here calls the Mummy “dumb, but fun.”
“Kinda like your ex?”
“Zing.”
So, with tickets in hand we stumbled into the extra dark theater, found our seats and got treated to, well, The Mummy’s “dumb, but fun.”
This film is the third in the Mummy series starring Brendon Fraser and, as anticipated, showcased great action, superb CGI and some really cool sets that would give you the willies if it weren’t so obvious that it’ll be franchised into a Disney roller coaster ride in the next year or so.
The premise, plot, and characters were pretty straightforward and easy to digest. Jet Li’s the bad guy emperor, cursed dead by Michelle Yeoh (The good witch with access to Shangri La). Brendon Fraser accidentally raises the dead, and all hell breaks loose. Somewhere in there, there are some pretty bad ass yetis, good guys beat bad guys, the end. In fact, the only really big surprise is that they replaced Rachel Weisz — Evie in the first two Mummy films — with Maria Bello.
So I give it a B.
Oh, and another note, just like in New Jack City, Russel Wong dies in the first 5 minutes.
No Comments | Posted in: Discrimination, Movies
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With less than a week to go until the 2008 Beijing Olympics, I was wondering when I was going to come across this kind of article, as I had read in Sunday’s San Jose Mercury News’s “For Chinese-Americans, Beijing Olympics bring mixed emotions“:
“…Chinese-American views on the 29th Olympiad in Beijing often depend on where their families came from. Did they immigrate from the mainland? Or from Hong Kong or Taiwan? Or were their families part of the centuries-old diaspora that scattered Chinese across Asia - in places such as Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand and the Malay Peninsula? Their attitudes also depend on whether their families came to America as traditional immigrants or political refugees. Some do business in China, while others have linked up with U.S. human rights groups to protest political and religious persecution there. Attitudes toward the Olympics also reflect the arc of Chinese-American politics since 1989, when the world was riveted and then horrified by the events in Tiananmen Square. As China in the past two decades has gone from international pariah to economic superstar, the country’s critics have had to soften their tactics.”
As a Taiwanese-American, I am certainly not a fan many of China’s many official policies, most notably China’s consideration of Taiwan as a rogue state that it considers as part of China politically, and has stated many times that it would take Taiwan by military force if Taiwan ever officially declared itself independent.
However, most Taiwanese-Americans I think would consider themselves “Chinese” (in the “Han Chinese” ethnic sense) as well as much of Taiwan’s culture is rooted in China and most descendants can trace their ancestry to Fujian province during immigration in the 16th century. So it is with certain ethnic pride that the 2008 Olympics will be held in China. As I have blogged before, you can be anti-People’s Republic of China (the government) and still be pro-China - for the people, the culture and the country.
No Comments | Posted in: Current Events, Observations, Politics, Sports
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Congrats to Helen Jo for being promoted to deputy chief of the Los Angeles County Fire Department - Jo is the first - the first woman and the first Asian American to achieve such a rank for the fire department. Talk about breaking barriers! From the Los Angeles Times:
“Jo, who assumed her new position in April, joined the Fire Department in 1998 as a budget officer and became chief of the financial management division in 2002. During her tenure in that division, the department’s budget grew from $500 million to more than $910 million, she said… Jo emigrated with her family from Korea to Los Angeles when she was 4 1/2. She grew up in Koreatown and joined the county’s Auditor-Controller Department 20 years ago after studying finance and accounting at USC. She said that despite the obstacles facing female and minority workers, she has always been confident in her abilities and performance.”
As I have blogged before, when I first moved to California from the East Coast, it was a real shocker to see Asian American police officers or fire fighters. In San Francisco, the head of the police department is Heather Fong. And although she’s not Asian American, Joanne Hayes-White is the Chief of the San Francisco Fire Department - making San Francisco the largest urban fire department in the world with a female chief. It’s nice to see traditional barriers being broken!
No Comments | Posted in: Current Events, Observations
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Sunday August 24th and Tuesday August 26th
Colorado AAPI Democrats
Asian Pacific Americans for Progress
DNC Vice Chair U.S. Representative Mike Honda (CA-15)
Obama for America AAPI Vote Team
INVITE YOU TO
WHAT: AAPI Colorado Summit at the Democratic Convention
WHEN: Sunday August 24, 2008
12:00 PM - 4:30 PM
WHERE: Colorado Convention Center,
700 14th Street, Downtown Denver
WHY:
* Build upon the activism of AAPIs in the Democratic Party
* Learn from local and national AAPI leaders
* Network with people from Colorado and across the country
WHO: Anyone who is interested in taking action and affecting change
Also, on Tuesday August 26th from 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM, Asian Pacific Americans for Progress will be sponsoring an “Asian American Grassroots Strategy Session with Special Guest Congressman Mike Honda.” Come join us for this brainstorming session to be held at the Convention Center.
Please email Apafp@apaforprogress.org for more information or to RSVP. You can also stay in touch by joining our facebook group at: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2295577919
No Comments | Posted in: Announcements, Politics
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Neat online store that sells asian type clothing apparel in a fun sort of way. Shoyu-Concepts has been nice enough to extend a promotion to all 8Asians readers. When you visit their site and put in the promotional code:
They’ll take 10% off your order. And I have to say that some of the designs are pretty cute. Would be interesting if there could be a push for self-designed shirts or maybe a submission of designs (hint hint) but we’ll see what Shoyu-Concepts will be willing to do in the future. Who knows, maybe even an 8A shirt. For now, stop by and take a look and perhaps pick up one of those cute panda shirts.
No Comments | Posted in: Promotions
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