Vote for J.J. for ‘Beachbody Challenge’ – First Asian Male Finalist!

Posted on June 3, 2021 by John

My friend JJ asked me to help spread the word on voting for him for the “Beachbody Challenge”:

“Hi! I’m JJ. I’m the first Asian guy to ever make it to the Finals of the Beachbody Challenge, from the company behind some famous work-out programs like P90X and Insanity. Throughout this past year, Asian Americans have been subject to numerous hate crimes and blamed for the COVID pandemic. At the same time, we’ve celebrated Asian representation in film and media. I’m taking this opportunity to contribute to our community and pledging to donate $25,000 to Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAJC) (https://www.advancingjustice-aajc.org/) if I win this challenge. The Final round is based on public voting between 6/1 and 6/8 at BeachbodyChallenge.com. During this 8 day period, you get to cast a vote for each gender once a day. Whether you vote all 8 days or just once, I hope you can vote for me (JJ Lee) and spread the word! Thanks for your time!”

It has been pretty amazing to see JJ transform himself from someone who wasn’t exactly that fit … to a lean mean fitness machine:

Personally, if I was going to win $25,000, I’m not sure that I’d donate it all to a non-profit, but given all the Asian hate out there, Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAJC) is definitely a worthy recepient.

You can vote for him here – once a day until Tuesday, June 8th, at 12pm Pacific Time. Good luck JJ!

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8 reasons to move ‘In The Heights’ to the top of your movie list

Posted on June 1, 2021 by Decerry Donato

In the Heights, Lin Manuel Miranda’s adaptation of his broadway musical, hits the big screen this June.

Here are 8 reasons to move it to the top of your movie list:

  1. Music 

In The Heights is jam-packed with musical numbers that will make you want to get up and dance! Every scene in this film includes elements of different beats, transitioning into full-fledged dance numbers before you know it. Bopping your head, tapping your toes, or snapping your fingers—this film will get your body moving, as Lin drew inspiration from Latin music and his love for 90s hip hop. It’s an incredible experience that you don’t want to miss!

  1. Attention to detail!

This film is truly a work of art. The attention to detail makes this movie come alive. Whether it’s the sweat dripping off of the characters faces, or the sound of the subway train passing through the city, In The Heights is filled with many details making us feel like we’re home.

  1. Lighting

The impact lighting has on this film is quintessential. It’s such a huge component and I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention it. Every scene in this film plays with lighting in so many ways and there is no repetition. Despite some scenes sett in the dark, the lighting illuminates the screen.

  1. Cast & Crew

The cast list alone should sway you to watch this film: Anthony Ramos, Cory Hawkins, Jimmy Smitts, Dascha Polanco, Olga Merediz, and the list goes on. The coveted Lin Manuel Miranda, creator of Hamilton also makes several appearances in the film! Jon M. Chu, known for directing Crazy Rich Asians, also takes this film to new heights.

  1. Universal Themes 

While the film has its humor, In The Heights grapples with heavy themes that will hit home to many marginalized communities. This film discusses immigration, feelings of where home is, feelings of “am I letting down my family?,” finding community, and having big dreams, all of which audience members can relate to.

  1. The Matriarch 

Abuela Claudia is the matriarchal figure in the film. Everyone will be able to relate to this character because they either have an abuela or grandma, or know of someone in their community who’s just like abuela Claudia. She’s the one you go to for advice, for consolement or support. She’s the heart and soul of the community and you really see this throughout the film.

  1. Representation Matters 

Run, do not walk to your nearest theatre on June 11! The film really shines bright in the fact that everyone who took part in this project was a person of color. When I sat down with the cast, they all were vocal about their pride in how diverse the cast and crew are.

“Finally here is this movie that is going to be so important for this new generation and the old generation too. They are going to be able to see themselves and have pride in who they are that we are part of the American fabric and we are here. It’s a perfect movie for representation.” – Olga Merediz

  1. It’s a REAL story

There are so many characters in the film that you, the audience member, can relate to. It isn’t some far-fetched story—it’s all real.

 

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H.A.G.S. (Have A Good Summer), a short documentary by Sean Wang

Posted on May 28, 2021 by jozjozjoz

I stumbled upon Sean Wang’s short documentary ‘H.A.G.S.’ an opinion piece in the New York Times (with support from the Sundance Institute) and although it was supposed to be about “adulthood,” it turned out to be much more meaningful and nuanced.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by sean s. wang | 王湘聖 (@seanswang)

In this 9 minute piece primarily using pictures from his middle school yearbook and the audio of phone calls with his friends from that era, the now-26-year-old filmmaker touches on many subjects including friendship, memories, self-reflection, hopes, fears, and dreams. The filmmaker and the subjects of the film are from Fremont, California, an area with a large community of immigrants (and, ahem, Asian Americans) so this is reflected in the subjects who are featured.

But what hit me as a fellow Taiwanese American and child of immigrants were the nods to their parents, and how their parents’ sacrifices made their American Dreams possible.

In fact, Sean says in the New York Times op-ed about his parents:

Maybe that’s the single greatest privilege of my life — because of my parents’ sacrifice, my biggest challenges lie in navigating my sense of identity, fulfillment and the pursuit of my own dream of being a filmmaker, the sort of dream they never had the luxury of having.

This (along with Facebook’s lovely “Hey! Look How Old You’ve Gotten!” reminder that I’d shared this 12 years ago) reminded me of the “100 Passionate People” project by TaiwaneseAmerican.org in 2009 (the year after Sean and his friends were in middle school). In it, I’d said:

My parents and grandparents are the greatest influences of my life. Their love and passion for Taiwan is instilled deeply within me, even though I was born and raised in America. As a 2nd generation Taiwanese American, I feel greatly indebted to my parents and grandparents for all the sacrifices they made so that we could grow up in a land of opportunity and freedom that did not exist in Taiwan.

Sacrifice is a common theme for many immigrants and it’s indelibly part of the survival mechanism for people struggling for “security, survival, and assimilation” in a country that isn’t necessarily welcoming of those from abroad.

In the film, the filmmaker says that the yearbook is a time capsule and his friends marvel at how quickly time passes and wonder what the 40-year-old versions of themselves will think about their mid-20s selves. As someone who can look back at my mid-20s with more than a decade having passed, all I can say is that the time passes in the blink of an eye and it moves even faster, the older you get.

I’m glad that Sean and his friends shared their personal stories and that Sean made this (video) time capsule of this moment in their young adulthoods. I hope that he does an update for us in another 15 years because I’m rooting for them all: Danial, Way, Fahad, Sohrab, Karina, Terilyn, and Sean. I look forward to following Sean’s career, and I’m eager to see his star rising with more films and creative works, but also I hope he is able to pursue “purpose, equality, and belonging,” while creating a wonderful life for himself.

Posted in 8mm Film Review, Movies, San Francisco Bay Area, The Arts | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

“Racist, Sexist Boy” by the Linda Lindas: A Song for the Asian American Pandemic Experience

Posted on May 27, 2021 by Jeff

A little while before we went into lockdown, a boy in my class came up to me and said that his dad told him to stay away from Chinese people. After I told him that I was Chinese, he backed away from me. Eloise and I wrote this song based on that experience. – Mila de la Garza of The Linda Lindas

I first heard of the Linda Lindas while listening to the radio – the DJ mentioned this up and coming band by that name.  I made a mental note that they had an interesting name, and then I was surprised to see them mentioned on Angry Asian Man for this LA Times article about the group and their song that had gone viral, Racist, Sexist Boy.  When I listened to how Mila de la Garza introduced the song, I was saddened that kids have had to deal with racism but was blown away by their musical reaction.  Pulitzer winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen called this a song we need right now.

The Linda Lindas have been building momentum for some time.  They wrote and performed a song on the Claudia Kishi Club documentary short on Netflix.   They have played at the Hollywood Palladium, which got them noticed by Amy Poehler, who put them in her film MOXiE.

The Linda Lindas were recently signed to a recording contract by Epitaph Records.

(h/t:  Angry Asian Man)

Posted in Discrimination, Entertainment, Music | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Vancouver Canada experiencing the most anti-Asian hate incidents in North America

Posted on May 24, 2021 by Jeff

Data source: CSUSB Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism

I would have thought that New York or San Francisco would be experiencing the most anti-Asian hate incidents in North America, but the most heavily Asian large city in Canada, Vancouver, has seen the most incidents by far.  Vancouver is 42% percent Asian, and the large influx of Asians, many of who buy some of the most expensive properties in the area contribute to making Vancouver the second most unaffordable city in the world, has been a source of friction.  The pandemic has brought some of the latent anger to be expressed more overtly.

In a way, it makes sense that Vancouver would be an anti-Asian hot spot.  Professor Robert Pape and his students at the Chicago Project for Security and Threats  have analyzed the characteristics of the Capital Hill insurrectionists.  A major characteristic is that many of them are from areas where the white percentage of the population is declining.  Vancouver would fit that bill, and would additionally include tremendous gains in the power and influence of Asians.  Pape’s work talks about “fear of white replacement” and the growing possibility of “lone wolf attacks against minorities.”  Looks like that prediction is already here.

Some notes on the data:

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8Books Review: Counting Down with You by Tashie Bhuiyan

Posted on May 18, 2021 by Lily

Tashie Bhuiyan’s debut novel Counting Down with You is a heartwarming YA novel about Bengali teen Karina Ahmed and 28 life-changing days.

When Karina’s parents go back to Bangladesh for a month, she starts tutoring bad boy Ace Clyde. Before she knows it, she’s been roped into a scheme pretending to be his girlfriend (seriously on her parent’s no-no list). Hilarity, hijinks, and heart ensue.

We see Karina struggling with anxiety, conflicted over the weight of her parent’s expectations (they want her to be a doctor, she wants to be an English major but also wants to please her parents — hmm, sound familiar to anyone?), and figuring out whether, if, and how to put her own happiness first. And then of course there’s romance. But as charming as Karina and Ace’s blossoming relationship is, what I maybe loved most were Karina’s relationship with her Dadu (grandmother) and her two best friends Nandini and Cora. They all try to uplift and support, even when things go awry. And ultimately the big decision is not about Ace, it’s about Karina and her future. It’s an entirely charming and enjoyable read.

I want to leave you with a line from the author’s note at the beginning of the book which is as swoon-worthy as the song Ace writes for Karina: “Counting Down with You is the story of my heart, and it was written as a love letter to young brown girls.”

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Lola’s Work: An Animated StoryCorps Feature

Posted on May 11, 2021 by Jeff

I was moved by this story about a devoted grandmother, which was featured on NPR and StoryCorps, and now StoryCorps has turned it into a featured animated story!   It also features some pictures painted by her and her grandson of the stories of her, such as the one below called Blue Beach, Lingayen. I like how those distant memories are captured – perhaps I thought that this one was more touching since my own visit to Lingayen is also becoming a distant memory.

As I mentioned before in other posts about StoryCorps, it’s a great way to capture the stories of our friends, family, and elders before they fade away forever.  Even better if you can capture their voices telling those stories themselves.  I have not seen any Filipino American stories animated before this one.   Only a few stories get to be animated, but it is definitely worth the effort to do those recordings.

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Asian American Commercial Watch: Andrew Yang for Mayor of NYC: ‘Hope Is on the Way’

Posted on May 7, 2021 by John

Back in January, former Democratic presidential candidate announced his candidacy for the Mayor of New York City. I was pre-occupied with personal matters at the time, so I didn’t blog about it. The mayoral primary election is less than two months – June 22nd. This will be the first New York City mayoral election primaries to use ranked-choice (up to five ranks) and instant-runoff voting (as opposed to the plurality voting of previous primaries).

Since Yang’s announcement, in the few polls released, Yang has been leading except for a more recent one, as all the candidates have been attacking the front runner.

I’m hoping Yang makes it through the primary because I think it would be fantastic if we had an Asian American Mayor of the largest U.S. city in the United States. It would be a fantastic platform for Yang to highlight that Asian Americans are just like any other American and can be civic leaders and inspire and encourage Asian Americans to get engaged in civic life, if only to get more Asian Americans to vote.

 

Posted in 8Series, Asian American Commercial Watch, Local, New York, Politics | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

Asian American Commercial Watch: A CODA Story

Posted on May 3, 2021 by Jeff

I first saw this commercial during the 2021 Academy Awards, which seems entirely appropriate given the increased visibility of Asian American’s during the year’s awards.  Tony Lee, a lead design at Google Brand Studios, talks about his experiences growing up and as a CODA – a child of deaf adults and the importance of communications with the during the pandemic.  Like many Asian American children, he had to translate for his parents, but in his case, the language he used was sign language.

I loved this commercial for a number of reasons.  It highlighted the humanity of Asian Americans – something that has been ignored by many during the pandemic.  It showed multiple generations of an Asian American family and highlighted the isolating consequences of COVID-19.  Finally, it exposed Asian American ties to other communities, like the deaf community.

If you like this commercial, you might also want to check out this one – not Asian American strictly, but still very engaging.

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San Jose to Add Delano Manongs Park, named for Filipino American Farm Workers

Posted on April 29, 2021 by Jeff

The City of San Jose is adding a new park called Delano Manongs Park, honoring the Delano Manong farm workers, key players in the founding of the United Farm workers and the Delano Grape strike.  According to this City of San Jose presentation, the park will include a children’s playground, a gathering plaza, an open sporting lawn,
benches and seating, and landmark signage.   The park location at the corner of Gimelli Way and Beechnut Drive – not far from where I live and close to where I would buy pandesal.

I am happy to see these Filipino pioneers honored in this way.  It is also great to see more park space open up – I think that the pandemic has shown how important it is to have parks and open pace around us.  For more information on the Delano Manongs, you can see an older post of mine on the subject which refers to this documentary The Delano Manongs: Forgotten Heroes of the UFW.  The Delano grape strike is also talked about in the Asian American documentary that was shown on PBS.

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Asian Rapper DESTROYS Model Minority Myth

Posted on April 27, 2021 by John

I saw this rap on Facebook recently and was shocked that this was published last July 2020 and had not gone viral (as I last saw it had less than 1,200 views). ‘Matt R. Fact‘ does a brilliant job of summarizing Asian Americans’ history of suffering discrimination and the origins and perpetuation of the ‘Model Minority’ Myth in a 5:47 rap/music video:

“Did you know the “model minority myth” about Asians being a uniformly successful and historically accepted ethnic group isn’t true? Did you know this myth is also a tool to perpetuate and justify racism towards other minority groups? Watch this video to learn why, and see the myth be debunked (and perhaps for the first time in rap form). Share it if you like it!

As far as I’m concerned, every Asian American, let alone, American, needs to watch this rap video to educate themselves a little bit! I’m just so impressed as how much ‘Matt R. Fact’ crams into his rap and how he’s able to rap it so well. I hope you share it and make the video viral!

I’m going to have to check out his other videos on YouTube.

 

Posted in Current Events, Discrimination, Entertainment, Music | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Asian Americans raise Visibility at the 2021 Academy Awards

Posted on April 26, 2021 by Jeff

Asian Americans became increasingly visible at the 2021 Academy awards, with Chloe Zhao getting Best Director and winning Best Picture for Nomadland.  Youn Yuh-jung won best supporting actress for her role in Minari.  H.E.R. won an award for best song “Fight for You” from Judas and the Black Messiah.  Steven Yeun was a presenter and was nominated for best actor.  Zhao is the first woman of color to win the Best Director award.

This was significant progress from the 2015 Academy Awards low of Chris Rock making Asian math jokes with Asian children as props, but as Dino Ray Ramos points out, let’s celebrate the wins but realize that there is still room for improvement.

I am looking forward to Zhao’s upcoming Marvel movie, The Eternals, coming out later this year.  Steven Yeun is currently voicing a lead character in Amazon’s animated series, Invincible.

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

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment