Category Archives: 8Series

8Books Review: “Nothing Ever Dies” by Viet Thanh Nguyen

The second book out from author Viet Thanh Nguyen, Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam and the Memory of War, is a sharp non-fiction work that deals in the theoretical world of remembrance, forgetting, humanity, and its lack. Nguyen is much in the news … Continue reading

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Indiegogo: Before Tinder, there was the Taiwan Love Boat

There’s a new Indigogo fundraising for a documentary about the “Love Boat” – titled “Before Tinder, there was the Taiwan Love Boat”– asking for contributions of $20 to $5,000, with various levels of rewards for your level of contribution. And … Continue reading

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8Books: Congrats to Viet Thanh Nguyen on his Pulitzer!

So many congratulations to Viet Thanh Nguyen who just won the Pulitzer Price in fiction for his debut novel, The Sympathizer! I was jumping up and down in my office chair when I saw the news yesterday. I devoured this book last … Continue reading

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Asian American Commercial Watch: Taco Bell’s The Internet is Talking & George Takei

https://youtu.be/ePisqWLV6ZA I remember seeing actor and activist in the beginning if this Taco Bell television commercial campaign for it’s quesalupa’s I think starting around during the Super Bowl. But I think this is the first commercial with Takei being the … Continue reading

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8Books: “Have They Run Out of White Poets Yet?” by Franny Choi

I’m giving Franny Choi the post title because of her amazing poem responding to the latest in a long string of poems by white people that shouldn’t have been published. Calvin Trillin’s poem “Have They Run Out of Provinces Yet?” ran … Continue reading

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

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” YouTube … Continue reading

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

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 … Continue reading

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

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 … Continue reading

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

Alexander 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 … Continue reading

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

https://youtu.be/PkwzAUBijW0 To be honest, before this Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott commercial, I had never heard of Rocky Byun: “Making gravity his friend, Nam Seok Byun (also known as “Rocky”) has learned to balance a range of items, large … Continue reading

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Asian American Commercial Watch: Kohl’s Oscar Commercial: The Duchess

https://youtu.be/pP9jwF914ao I saw Kohl’s Oscar themed commercials during this year’s Oscars. One of the commercials had an Asian American Mom & daughter: “On Sunday night, we got to see the other three ads that accompany that one, featuring other acceptance speeches … Continue reading

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Asian American Commercial Watch: Google’s Android: Monotune

https://youtu.be/xLhJIFC8xkY During this year’s Grammys, Google debuted a new Android commercial called “Monotune”: “A piano has 88 keys. Each one is different. But what if they were all the same? To find out, we took apart a piano and reengineered … Continue reading

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