I'm Gonna Blog More Next Year...Well You Know...

Thursday, December 19, 2019

Why do I still blog up here?

Honestly - it's kind of like, if I stop, if I put it down - in some ways - it just means defeat.

So I'll march on, even if it may not be the same as when I started out.

Because it still matters--and if I stop believing that, if I forget that one voice can still make a difference, if I forget the reasons why this space even existed in the first place--

I don't just lose, but I succumb to the forces around me that try to tell me what to believe, what to think, what matters, and what is deemed as a voice of action and change.

In that way it's like why not just Whitewash myself, lay down, and peacefully massage my golden and lovely Asian American ballsack while speaking incoherently (and sure, I may do that latter part anyway, but that's beside the point).

All right.

That's it--just needed a quick workout to you know - work it all out.

R.I.P big WOWO. Thanks For The Memories

Thursday, December 19, 2019

This post is a little late, but I wanted to make sure and give a shout out to big WOWO for all the years of blogging, and adding a voice and a space that in a lot of ways is what blogging is all about. Unlike this blog, big WOWO was really about creating a community of voices through its comments. The dialogue at times sparked conversations across multiple blogs, sometimes this one, and no matter what--agree or disagree--it provided another avenue to explore Asian America outside of the mainstream and for that I was, and am, thankful for the space that was filled.

To be honest I just learned about the closing--going gently into the night--I hadn't made my rounds in a bit and in the blink of an eye--it was gone--just a headline from a last post I never got to read.

In that way, other blogs have shut down--YOMYOMF, A Fistful of Soundtracks, Militant's before them all, and now (or recently if you may) big WOWO.

All a part of the Asian American blogosphere that embraced who were are, what we've been through, and where we're still going--no matter what you may think about the merits of the blogosphere in a world of social media.

At the same time, I do feel like we're getting short changed in some ways from this trend that is happening to blogs closing down: The files are gone, the domains are redirected (for some not all), and I feel like we're losing not just some great content--but a piece of history--these opinions, discussions, great writing, journalism in its most naked form, voices that have had no place in the eyes of mainstream media.

Out of all of them above, only AFOS has its blog posts still available (and check out Accidental Star Trek Cosplay).

One out of four.

All that content lost (and yes, you can hit the wayway but, it's not quite the same you know?).

I get it though - everyone has their reasons - but I still can't help but feel what I feel about - just that I wish there was another way.

So R.I.P big WOWO--thanks for the time and the space.

3X: Random Asian American Goodness In Time For The Holidays

Tuesday, December 17, 2019

It's the Holidays and regardless of whether or not impeachment actually happens--I'm not going full on Grinch just yet (I'm going to wait to see what Santa got for me first)--so in the meantime, here are some heart-warming and positive stories as we enter the holidays.

Braille Institute Wakes Up RRN



Honestly. I'm just gonna ask what the fuck you do for the Holidays besides wish for shit you don't need, and then point you to the band Run River North who partnered up with the Braille Institute and taught kids how to play instruments, inspiring and fueling their creative talents. You?

Andrew Yang Is The Only POC And Asian American Who Made The Final Cut



I still have issues with his MATH. I still have issues with some of his stereotyping of the Asian American community. I still have issues. But--it doesn't take away the fact that Yang has done what no other Asian American has done up to this point. In that way, it is kind of, just a little bit, of an Asian American Christmas miracle. We can still do without the math though. We have computers to take care of that.

Little Fires Make Big Fires



Hulu just released the trailer a few days ago for their original miniseries "Little Fires Everywhere" based on Celeste Ng's 2017 bestseller of the same name. In a stark comparison, nothing here on this blog will ever get turned into a miniseries by Hulu. Or Apple. Or Disney+ (and WTF if Disney+ anyway?). It's good to be Ng.






Ken Watanabe, Octavia Spencer, Monsters, Cookies, And My Questions On Roles People Play (Obviously Spoilers)

Tuesday, November 26, 2019



Sometimes you just don't always get a chance to see the movies you want to see, or as strange as it sounds, when you have the time, you may not actually be in the mood to see the film you've been wanting to see. It's like that same oddity of when you have the time to travel you may not have the money to, or when you have the money, you don't have the time (and yes, we all make decisions and live with our consequences but this is a post on movies, so just go with it).

And then you have those times, where you're just lounging around and happen to catch a film because it's playing on the TV and you're kind of interested, a little lazy, and you start watching movies you never set out to do.

Down the rabbit hole you go.

Recently this happened to me with Godzilla: King of the Monsters and Blumhouse's Ma and while I finished them, I just have to ask some questions and make some observations.

Both of the films have their flaws, and in a lot of ways, while I may watch them if they're on again, let me say they're no Little (and this was another film which I just happened to catch...because I was lazy...and it was really funny--and make sure to see Thalia Tran in the upcoming NBC show "Council of Dads" who'll be dealing with life as an adoptee).

The brief overview


So let's just get this part out of the way. Both movies in their own way had something to offer, even if it was just a few morsels of goodness in comparison to what they could have been. I enjoyed the fight scenes in Godzilla. I like Ziyi Zhang. Ma looked like it could scare me and it was coming from Blumhouse. Octavia Spencer had some great moments.

If finishing a movie says something, I at least feel like I did a little more than mumble my way through a soliloquy.

Moving on...

Q + A


From a character standpoint G:KOTM wasn't great. We all know this. And yes, we should expect more. But with these remakes, versus something like Shin Godzilla, I'm just not expecting much.

But wholly bucker fatman--WTF was with Watanabe's Dr. Serizawa? I truly feel, he just took a backseat to every White person there and he actually--no fucking lie--had this really nice dialogue about Godzilla, and then the main White Guy, Kyle Chandler, asked him if he just made it up (or something close to that) and Watanabe was like "...got it from a fortune cookie".

A FUCKING FORTUNE COOKIE. HOW THE FUCK DOES THAT HAPPEN?

And what makes this worse is that according to Cinemablend, Watanabe actually changed a line from being spoken in English to Japanese.

So he changes the line to Japanese, because sure, I can see it too - why would he speak in English when he's ready to sacrifice his life, having a heart to heart with the big G?

I'd change that too.

But he didn't think to change the line about a fortune cookie? Was it because he was already taking the CHINKY BACKSEAT to all the White People already so why care about a CHINKY FORTUNE COOKIE REFERENCE?

And no one else thought this was an issue when they did the reading either? Vera Farmiga, Bradley Whitford, O'Shea Jackson Jr.?

No one?

I'm not trying to deny all the good of Watanabe, but maybe I shouldn't be surprised either because he was in Isle of The Dogs too right (because we can all forget "The Last Samurai")?

Didn't that dog turn out to be White in the end?

And Then Ma

I feel like this could have been a lot more interesting--but it wasn't done by Jordan Peele, it was from Tate Taylor, you know--from The Help. And other people have talked about this already--this isn't quite new, but in some ways I'm more mad at this film because I felt like it could have given me something a lot more meatier from a race standpoint, but instead, it goes like this:

The White Girl of one of the mothers, who back in the day helped completely humiliate Spencer's Ma sexually (and I don't know if they can call that rape, but if you think about it, maybe there's a case for something like that and at the very least sexual misconduct)---

Well - this White Girl, at the end of the movie, stabs Ma after a struggle. Even after she finds out her mom did do something to completely humiliate Ma back in high school, where Ma was I think the only Black girl there (although the daughter didn't know the extent of the humiliation).

Ma's Black daughter can be seen getting away from the evil that is Ma, and hugging the White Girl's White Mom, while the house is burning up in flames.

What happens to Ma?

She goes up in the bedroom where she's tortured her White high-school crush and lays down beside him (because he's either dead or very close) and then we see the house burning from high-above.

And that's how it ends.

Ma could have killed everyone in the name of revenge. Her daughter could have tried to understand and help out even if she knew her "Ma" was crazy.

But instead, the White People didn't understand when the Black person they DEMORALIZED had wanted some type of revenge and closure (because of the racist sexual "prank" they pulled on her).

The Black woman abandoned her daughter.

The Black woman put it all on the line for the White Guy (and her first marriage--presumably to a Black man--didn't work out).

I mean--how was I supposed to feel? Happy and content?

That would be a no.

If a movie can be compared to a meal and a dining experience, I'll just say that neither movie made me feel satiated.

If anything, it was like all I got for dinner was a soggy fortune cookie.

2365-6397 Review (In Full)

Monday, October 14, 2019

While I posted this up on Twitter - wanted to make an sure and post up here on the blog as well (it needed a workout).

Ivy Lin. APIA Filmmaker. Shown at places like MOCA and festivals here in the U.S. and recently in Seoul, South Korea--hoping to see this get picked up by some APIA festivals.

2365-6397 Review

Ivy Lin’s short film “2365 6397” is an archive of Taipei’s city streets and neighborhood stores, a backdrop for the filmmaker’s own story of her move to the U.S., marriage and divorce, the passing of her father, and how an already small family dealt with loss between two countries.

A mostly split screened endeavor, with Lin largely behind the camera, she juxtaposes (and sometimes meshes together) 1999 through 2018 Taipei--a deliberate cadence to her storytelling and unfolding of intimate familial moments for the viewer--a slow drawl illuminated by the city she’s captured, the dueling images a metronome for the audience and herself to follow.

It’s a fitting way to remind us about the dualities of life, sometimes in opposition, and other times simply a measure of passing moments: crossroads or ennui.

In “2365 6397”, filmmaker Ivy Lin adds to her already impressive vault of films which have been shown at festivals around the country and abroad, except this time with a more intimate and pointed view at her own life and that of her parents, resounding in an engaging and sublime experience in documentary memoir.

Here's the link to the trailer - https://vimeo.com/333401140?fbclid=IwAR0QT6b-iCyekhOcgdhohv9pJY_UgIt8yft8ESXEKu9-effN3diEa0VEI3c. It's a little bit more of a teaser than a trailer per se, but gives insight into the full short itself at least from a visual standpoint.

Militant. I've Been Thinking About You.

Tuesday, September 10, 2019

Hey Militant,

I was thinking about you last night and decided I should write you out an update. I figure while you might be seeing it all from wherever you are (and I figured you'd like that cause who knows where you ended up xD), you're probably busy writing, getting to know the answers to really big questions that we can only hope to understand, and doing what people do after they've left this place (chasing beautiful things perhaps?).

So honestly--we're still in the shadows--things are changing no doubt, we're getting some exposure, but we're still there--the unpolished ones. The survivalists. The foul-mouthed. The dirty.

We're under-represented.

I'm not saying things haven't moved, and I'm not saying I don't do what I have to do and sometimes that involves the polish--but like everything else--it'll wear off--and it's kind of like we talked about in the past - where's our representation? The fallen, the corrupt, the ones w/o all the connections, the ones who have to hustle it out day in and day out to make it work (or at least that's how it feels, but data-wise I think I can still say that).

In that way, honestly--I miss your voice and what you had to say, and that piece of a larger whole--standing together even at opposite ends, individuals just representing from their own side--in that way, I still miss even just the idea of you.

Because that was something.

I think I'm writing this to you too because man--as far as I think I've come in ways--it still feels like an uphill battle. It's like I can suit it up, chat the chatter, walk the walk, but in the end, it's like I'm walking up the hill with 100lbs of meat on my back with a stench that grows deeper each day--and I don't know if I've gotten used to it.

As far as we've come, we aren't. The brown SE Asian American man, still has to take it. In all my years professionally, and I'm supposed to be in my prime, I've really only seen a handful of us reach at least some rung in the ladder, and sometimes when that happens--it's all a wash. They're the outliers. I've noticed that White Folks--they're happy to do the professional dance with Asians from different countries, and obviously to a certain extent us--but there's a difference.

It's kind of the same thing over and over--speak your mind, do the same things the WF's do--and they don't know how to deal with it.

They're afraid and scared if those Brown men are smarter, quicker, or simply more determined than their privileged-got-too-used-to-control-even-though-they-got-lazy selfs. I've actually seen some of the worst of the worst lately and it's taken me for a ride.

And there's still the ladder of Brown versus Brown. Asian versus Asian.

Probably didn't catch this as you wander and chill--but this Korean guy filed a lawsuit because he said he wasn't getting promoted because he wasn't Indian American. The model is still out there to divide and conquer. Off-shores and outsourcing. Professional caste systems. Fear and Visas to keep the rungs hung as they are...

.....

But onto other things--I became a dad--can you believe that shit? It's crazy. Married, daughter, step-kids. A family man in some ways. And honestly--I never knew how much I'd love someone that looks like me--how much I can't help but want to make sure she's a strong, wonderful, smart, and determined Asian American girl who grows up to be an amazing Asian American woman. I get scared though too--am I being too hard, am I being too soft. Does my inter-generational trauma, born out of the war in Vietnam and all the subsequent aftermath, that need to survive--what will she have to deal with? Will it make her harder than she needs to be? I worry too that I don't get the time I need with her. I feel guilty sometimes. But I have to grind, and I can't lose myself either--self shamed guilt wrapped up in the selfishness of creating a little human.

Sometimes I still feel like I don't know where I'll land. Like I'm close but I'll die not close enough, and I wonder how I'll impart that to my daughter.

And then I know I'm still who I am.

I cope.

I still love to get lost among the trees. I still love the feeling of not sleeping, my body feeling the rush.

I'm still dirty.

I still love to fuck.

And I know that I'm still broken--that piece of the Vietnamese diaspora that an individual of the community still knows, even if 3rd gen+, the piece of pieces, the aftermaths, different for each individual, but the pain in the collective still there, no matter how far we come and go.

I still love all the things that made me who I was and who I am--

and I try to reconcile that with trying to be polished.

Because I'm also cognizant of what it means to be an Asian American Brown Vietnamese SE dad--that perception alone I don't care about--but for my daughter--I have to polish it up some days.

But maybe I'm getting old too...

because I'm okay with that too,

even if I can still be out of control.

A dog still knows its master right?

It still heels when needed. When it feels suffocated. When deep down, it knows it needs to survive, because it still wants to play when it can.

Is this the dichotomy of being who were are?

But I'm building...it's slow...it's small, but in a lot of ways that's all I care about--those little ripples for the community and myself even though I still talk about us being in the shadows--I don't mind the shadows--but I also wonder about the perception and the reality for us as a whole--what I already talked about.

But I can only do so much right?

Resist In Peace,
Adam

Are Asian American Men Still Getting The Shaft Post Crazy Rich Asians?

Tuesday, September 03, 2019

I don't want to start the all too familiar war of Asian American men versus Asian American women - but - I do have to wonder if post CRA - Asian American men - at least visually and from an artistic standpoint - aren't getting their due.

Think about all the movies coming out with some hype featuring Asian American men.

And those NOT NAMED KEANU (because let's face it - as much as we love us some KR - he's an outlier).

Tell me.

And I'm talking mainstream.

Like HOW THE FUCK does Randall Park and John Cho not get more play?

Is there actually going to be an Asian Teen Heartthrob in To All The Boys Part Gazillion?

And can you name me an Asian American MALE actor getting as much play as The Wu and the AWKWA?

And - no - don't read into that last statement that they don't deserve it.

But can you do it?

I highly fucking doubt it.

An Open Letter To Trump Supporters

Tuesday, September 03, 2019

Dear Trump Supporters,

Listen - I understand - you feel like we just don't hear you.

You feel like we don't understand your plight.

You need jobs.

You need a home.

And immigrants, POC, Asian Americans - like myself - are just taking it all away.

And you don't feel like you have any power.

Because the numbers are against you.

So you needed a proxy.

Someone to lift your voice of oppression to the masses.

So you could be heard.

So you could go back to days where Asian Americans couldn't testify against White People in court.

To those days, when Asian Americans couldn't marry a White Person.

To those days when you could just use Asian Americans and other immigrants and POC to get what you needed, because you deserved it.

Because no one was worth was much as a White Person - and why would they, no matter what they accomplished, no matter how hard they worked, no matter what they did - they should never be as much as a White Person right?

And when no one is worth as much as a White Person, it just hasn't made sense to you that your voice has been trampled upon.

That you were silenced.

That no one was giving you, your due.

I get it.

It's the same reason I want him out. It's the same reason I want us to take a step backward and go back to the Obama days, when at least it looked like we had a chance.

I get it.

I really do.

So These 2 White Guys From MN Created A Vietnamese Heroine?

Tuesday, September 03, 2019



While I'm late coming to the book release party for "SHOOT THE BASTARDS" - because apparently that happened this summer in June...

Here's the setup from the article down at twincities.com

When her good friend goes missing in South Africa while exploring rhino-horn poaching and international smuggling, Crys gets an assignment from National Geographic to pick up where her friend’s last email came from and continue reporting on this dangerous trade.

Nguyen travels from South Africa to Mozambique to Vietnam, never knowing whom she can trust among the government officials and rhino-protection groups she meets. What she does learn is that there is mountains of money to be made with these horns, and men of several nationalities won’t hesitate to kill anyone who interferes

Is there anything inherently wrong with this plot - not really I guess (however I wouldn't trust any government official - least of all one from the Trump administration) - but, you know - it's just - I mean - and no - I haven't read the book - but...

DO WHITE PEOPLE HAVE TO TAKE EVERYTHING?

Why not a new heroine called SUZY FROM ALABAMA?

Why's she Viet?

Can WHITE PEOPLE IN MN NAME ME 5 VIET AUTHORS NOT ALREADY NAMED BAO PHI?

Does that make sense? Most non-Viet people in MN probably can't name me 5 Vietnamese American authors, but yet there's a celebration of a book (small or large I DON'T CARE) written by two White Guys, with a Vietnamese heroine?

It just feels incongruent to me.

And I get it - writers write. Art is art. Fiction is friction is fucktion.

BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH.

But isn't there also the tenet "WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW"?

Even if it's still fiction? Even if it's still made up?

Don't you still have to have that base?

I mean why choose a Vietnamese woman?

Does someone have a Viet wife? Maybe an adopted grandkid? Did they give money to the overseas coin tappers to help save the children and the people? And these books are to honor the Viet people?

I'm not trying to be a dick - that's legit (because maybe I'm just getting soft in the prime of my life) - but again - it just feels incongruous.

It's like when you were a kid and you accidentally peed down your leg.

You knew it wasn't right. You did it anyway. And it did feel good to get it out.

But it still wasn't right...

Why I Didn't See Hobbs And Shaw In The Theaters...Yes It's Mostly Because Of Han...

Wednesday, August 07, 2019



I can't help but say to myself over and over that I want films with POC and members of the APIA community to do well. I feel like if I said "Well - who really cares" that would go against everything I stand for...however, it doesn't always mean that I'll actually go see the film...because I still have to want to actually see the film.

And honestly...I just didn't want to see this bad enough to go out and see it in the theater. If it comes out on HBO or Netflix, or there's a disc floating around that happens to land in my player - well - yeah - I'll watch it.

But I just couldn't get myself to go - and the real reason - if I'm really honest with myself is, well...



Some people love the mythology of Star Wars, The Avengers, Superman, DC Heroes - et al. - and while I myself aren't as deeply embedded into that realm as others - I get it.

For me? My lore and film mythology I follow...one of them is The Fast And The Furious. Say what you want, but I've grown attached to the characters, the stories, and the lore.

Not only are the films good and demand that, but it was also the connection of Asian American director Justin Lin, his hand in the franchise - bringing it back to life - and doing it with the too often maligned "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift".

It wasn't just the film - but the Asian American representation behind the scenes and in front of the camera.

Say what you will - but that meant a lot - it sill does.

So when Han died and Shaw later came on to the team - for whatever capacity it was - it just didn't sit right. Sure we watched it, and I thought he'd get his comeuppance...but you know - it didn't happen. And I guess in some ways I thought it would come later - so I was okay with at least what initially happened in the film series.

But the internal fighting, the need for a spin-off - it all just felt....unlike "family" - especially when you consider the actual death of Paul Walker.

I mean - can you desecrate a franchise more then creating a spin-off starring the villain that killed off one of the main family members of the series?

I would get it if he was still a villain - but now I have to root for him in a spin-off?

And yeah - I understand DJ is APIA - and I feel really bad for Idris because they could have put him in a real F & F film - but I just couldn't get past it.

And I Know It's Not Whitewashing But...

Say what you will...but we've all (or at least many) have made the joke about Jason Statham being the White Guy who gets the Asian woman in some of his past films (and I still will never get past Shu Qi...) - or even recently in "The Meg" - somehow he's the only one who can save the world and somehow gets the affections of Li Bingbing. And I know how that sounds - and Asian women, you do you - but when we're looking off screen at the way Asian American and Asian men have been portrayed in Hollywood - there's some truth we get to speak about this.

And we have.

So I can't help but honestly feel a little jaded that Han dies (well at least for now because he's coming back MF's), and his White killer gets a spin-off.

That alone just didn't sit right with me...

Add to it that DJ, who let's say it too - decided to take "family business" and take it public - and kind of said "screw you family", was starring in the spin-off - I mean - that didn't help it either. F & F helped build his film career.

And yes - you can call me petty for thinking all of this - but I can't help it.

It's what I feel.

Long Posts Going Forward....?

Wednesday, August 07, 2019

Well - it's been some time since I last made a post here - I think in part because I've been a little busy but also because I've also been doing some more on twitter and I thought to myself that maybe I should start saving posts on the blog for longer posts - or at least more in-depth posts than I am doing on twitter. But I do have to say that I am having a decent time making organic posts on twitter, versus posting here, and then having those go to twitter.

Which will still happen.

But - I think I'm going to save the blog, at least that's my thought now, for longer meatier posts.

I'm not exactly sure if that will happen (or if I'll stick to that doctrine of blog), but maybe...

That's at least my thought.

And then I don't know how many per month - maybe just a few - maybe more - honestly now that I've written that, I wonder if it will actually be true.

We'll see.

And we're moving now...

“Always Be My Maybe” Is Getting a TON OF PRESS. Here's Why And I'll Start With A Quote.

Friday, May 24, 2019



Here's a quote from Indiewire:

If “Crazy Rich Asians” proved movies with Asian American leads could rock the box office, “Always Be My Maybe” is about to do the same thing for Netflix movies. The new romantic comedy stars Ali Wong and Randall Park as two estranged childhood friends who reunite in adulthood, rekindling an old flame that never quite got to burn bright. With these two beloved comedy stars at the helm, “Fresh Off the Boat” creator Nahnatchka Khan in the director’s chair, a hilarious Keanu Reeves cameo, and a title riffing on the greatest Mariah Carey song of all time — “Always Be My Maybe” will soon be part of you indefinitely.

While I disagree that CRA "proved" movies with Asian American leads could rock the box office - because I think there's a lot to that statement because there was already proof of it and in other ways it did happen but wasn't as talked about it (and I'm talking about leads versus an all Asian/Asian American cast) - versus it coming to a very specific head in the way CRA did and the money it made - I do agree it was though, a watershed moment, because people outside of the APIA community were finally ready to embrace and talk about race and ethnicity in a very different way - and accept it on a different level.

I think “Always Be My Maybe” is in that same vein. We've always had great actors and actresses - but it's been whether or not people accepted them. When they do - and they are - now people will actually give us our fair shot - and let's be honest - “Always Be My Maybe” looks MF AMAZING. If you like ROMCOMS - and I DO - you know this is a great movie.

10-15 years ago this could have been made (forgetting about certain references) - but wouldn't have been received like this.

It's about timing.

Everything's about timing.

So yeah - that's a piece of this.

And Ali Wong and Randall Park look awesome as fuck in this.

Can't forget about them...the actual actors...and director...Nahnatchka Khan.

I guess they have a little something to do with it too...

But still a lot about timing....well you know what I mean...just watch this MF on Netflix on May 31, 2019.

And yes - it also has Keanu Reeves, Daniel Dae Kim, Michelle Buteau, Vivian Bang, Karan Soni, Charlyne Yi, James Saito, Lyrics Born, and Susan Park in it.

Did You Do Anything For APAH MONTH? Anything?

Friday, May 24, 2019

Seriously what did you do?

I tweeted, represented my people. I've even done three blog posts - two of them shitty for sure - but still posted. I backed an Asian American Kickstarter project.

I thought about backing another (but didn't but only because I had to choose between that and a happy meal and I choose the happy meal).

Did you at least GET NAKED?

Rub yourself with Asian American stuff? And no I don't know what stuff you should be rubbing yourself with.

No you probably didn't.

And yes - this is all this post is fuckers.

And you know by fuckers it means I think you're really really sweet.

Do something - anything - for this month.

Because it's dedicated to us.

Fuckers.

#APAHM For This Month - Again - Be Naked

Wednesday, May 01, 2019

While running around yelling "HAN LIVES YOU FUCKERS!!!!!".

F & F is the only mythical lore I love?

Not completely true but you get the picture...

Be naked. Yell. Believe in the lore you love.

Nadya Okamoto + Leading the Menstrual Movement

Wednesday, May 01, 2019



https://www.instyle.com/celebrity/badass-women-nadya-okamoto-period

Nadya Okamoto started a nonprofit, got into Harvard, ran for public office, and wrote a book — and she’s barely 21 years old. “I never feel like I am doing enough,” Okamoto tells InStyle. “Every night when I go to sleep, I always feel like I can be doing more to reconcile the privilege I have in this world and doing more to fight for equity.”

Yet, when Okamoto describes her teen years, the word “privilege” doesn’t spring to mind. In high school her family didn’t have a permanent home of their own, and it took Okamoto two hours to get to school. During her commute she had to change buses, and this is where she met women living in homeless shelters in the area. She started talking to some of them and discovered that in addition to the obvious — not being able to afford food, health care, or a place to live — they also couldn’t afford sanitary products for their periods. As a result they had to use toilet paper, cotton balls, socks, paper grocery bags, or even cardboard in lieu of pads and tampons. Resorting to these unsanitary methods carries all kinds of health risks, says Okamoto, “anything ranging from skin irritation to something more serious like toxic shock syndrome.”

I feel shame for all I haven't done....

I Was In The Motherlands So I Have An Excuse?

Monday, April 29, 2019

If you've noticed - but you probably haven't.

I've been away. No blogs. No tweets.

If you would be nice you'd say I was on a little vacation break.

If you weren't you'd say I'm just a shitty blogger (wait, didn't I use that in my last post title?).

Either is fine with me.

And now onto your regular White Washed TV.

Damn I'm A Shitty Blogger This Month (AKA So Here's Some News)

Monday, March 18, 2019

Well, since I haven't been blogging much this month--can I blame that on fake news and Trump?--instead I give you the news of people better than me.

Reappropriate - Oakland Unified School District Votes to Cut Program Serving Asian American and Pacific Islander Students

With reporting from Reappropriate intern V. Huynh.

“Today is a historic day in the city of Oakland where teachers, educators are united with parents, students, and we are demanding that we have schools that our students deserve here in the city of Oakland,” said Keith Brown, President of the Oakland Education Association last month at a gathering of over 3,000 educators, students, and parents at Frank Ogawa Plaza in Oakland. The activists represented over 87 schools in the Oakland United School District (OUSD), and later marched to OUSD headquarters chanting phrases like “Education Not Incorporation” and “Invest in Equity”.

The educators were marching to demand better wages, better support for students, and the better allocation of educational resources to schools who share histories of disproportionate funding and attention. Pithily put: This one’s about the kids.
National Review - Wesley Yang’s Asian-American Experience
Yang’s The Souls of Yellow Folk articulates the struggles of a ‘model minority.’

The word “coolie” comes to us from a Chinese term for “bitter labor,” and in Park Avenue law firms to this day there is an assumption that the heirs of these immigrants are the ones to be given the grunt work. White people in the same firms, says law professor and writer Tim Wu, manage to float above that, to seem like officers rather than cannon fodder, managers rather than minions. Guess who gets promoted to partner and who doesn’t? “The loudest duck gets shot,” is a Chinese proverb. “The nail that sticks out gets hammered down” is a Japanese analogue. In English, we say, “The squeaky wheel gets the grease.”
As the Harvard Admissions Case Nears a Decision, Hear From 2 Asian-American Students on Opposite Sides
Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA), a group led by conservative anti-affirmative action activist Edward Blum, has alleged that Harvard discriminates against Asian-American students by holding them to a higher standard than other racial groups. SFFA lawyers have focused on a statistical analysis showing that Asian-American applicants on average were given a lower “personal rating” by Harvard’s admissions office than applicants of other races. Harvard has said that analysis is flawed and has denied it discriminates, arguing that race-conscious admissions policies are necessary to maintain a diverse student body.
8 Badass Asian-Americans We Can't Overlook This Women's History Month
Not only do Asian-American women have to contend with the glass ceiling, but we also have to worry about the “bamboo ceiling”: an invisible barrier that systematically keeps Asians out of leadership positions in spite of success in the workplace and in school. Below ― to mark Women’s History Month ― we give props to eight Asian-American pioneers who became heroines in their respective fields. This is by no means a comprehensive list, so feel free to share who would have made your list in the comments.
Head of Warner Bros. Resigns Over Alleged Quid-Pro-Quo Relationship With Actress
On Monday, Warner Bros. announced that chairman and CEO Kevin Tsujihara, the first Asian American man to run a major Hollywood Studio, had resigned amidst an investigation into alleged misconduct. The news follows a report in the Hollywood Reporter last week featuring leaked text messages dating back to 2013, allegedly sent between Tsujihara and actress Charlotte Kirk. The messages seem to show Tsujihara offering to help with her career while the two had a sexual relationship.
GenAPA hosts cultural show ‘Technicolor: Vivid Past. Vibrant Future.
On Friday night, about 200 University of Michigan students, families and alums lined the halls of the Michigan League eager to enter the Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre for the annual Generation Asian/Pacific American’s cultural performance. The event, advertised to be the largest Pan-Asian cultural show in the Midwest, has been a tradition of GenAPA since the group’s founding in 1995.

Asian Women On Asian Women Who Color Their Hair Blond...

Wednesday, February 27, 2019

I'm just going to break this one down because I feel like it should be broken down, even if not all the way, because I just have to roll this one up and smoke it - even if I come back to it later on ('cause sometimes you just have to save a little).

Maybe I'm wrong and generalizing on this one but I feel like Asian women, on Asian women, can sometimes be the harshest of the harsh, on Asian women.

I'm not saying that's wrong - because of anyone gets to be harsh on Asian women, it's Asian women - I'm just saying.

Sometimes I do hear the "Why does she have to be blond? Why's she trying to have the White Woman hair? Why can't she just be who she is?"--and I'll concede that at times, I can ask this question myself - but honestly - only in some cases, and usually, only after I hear an Asian woman comment on it.

My take is that White Women get to color their hair all the time. Why can't Asian women color their hair too?

Just because it's blond does that mean it has to be bad?

I mean I get it too and I love the beautiful black and brown hair of my people, and I understand the ropes of colonization we must unwrap ourselves from, but sometimes, I feel like the hair color is just a little difference.

Sometimes a rock is just a rock.

I like pink and red too btw - or steaks, or tips.

And--is it okay for an Asian woman, to like a White Woman's style, and emit portions of that, or make it their own?

Is it being colonized?

Or is it appreciation?

Or - does it have nothing to do with them anyway?

I should also say - you hear Asian guys rap on this (myself included) - so it does cross over - and then that gets me thinking about how I don't hear the same criticism of Asian guys who do a little blond in their hair, and that begs the question of why do we question one more than the other?

Hmmm....more to think about.

3X DUMBFOUNDEAD (Cafe Bleu)

Tuesday, February 26, 2019

A little behind putting these up - but you know - just vibe...





Daylight (Music And Music): Year of the OX - Seven Rings (TRAKTIVIST Radio mashup), G2 - I Don't Know (feat. Lyricks)

Tuesday, February 26, 2019

Year of the OX - Seven Rings (TRAKTIVIST Radio mashup)




G2 - I Don't Know (feat. Lyricks)


Some Awesome Videos From Vietnam's WeChoice Awards

Tuesday, February 19, 2019

While there can always be some rumblings whenever you have any awards show - this year was pretty good. Here're some of videos of some of the musical numbers.

So.Good.





I Still Feel Like Jeremy Lin Doesn't Get As Much Respect Because He's Asian

Wednesday, February 13, 2019

Listen - I get it - his Brooklyn days were more of a "could a" - we'll never know what might have been - injuries and two years later though - he's playing pretty damn good and now he's going to a contender.

And he's getting paid - $13 million this season - so I'm not saying he's not getting his due and in that way he gets respect - I'm not saying he doesn't.

I just feel like he'd get more respect if he wasn't Asian American - and no I don't want him to not be Asian American - because we want our people there - but I'm just saying that even now, even though he's proved himself and been just like a lot of players, who've had an injury (although not plagued) - his career isn't unlike a lot of good players - it's just the case of an Asian American man having to do twice as much to get the same amount of respect.

It gets tiring.

Housecleaning: Twas Tweeted

Tuesday, January 29, 2019

Some general housecleaning...as I end up tweeting a little more organically versus sending out links (which I'll still do) I still want to archive that content versus just on twittersphere, even if just embedded content (that can still go away), so every week or so, I'll look to make a post with the weeks tweets (or maybe 2 weeks...cause I'm lazy).

Variety's Review Of "The Farewell"

Monday, January 28, 2019

From Variety on the recently picked up film "The Farewell":

Lulu Wang’s “The Farewell” begins with the words “Based on an actual lie,” which is a pretty funny way to present a true story about how the Chinese-American filmmaker’s family decided to spare their grandmother a terminal diagnosis. They don’t want to spoil the limited time she has left, and so they conspire to carry on as if everything’s normal — except that each of them is saddened by the news, and so they engineer a plan to throw a fake wedding celebration for one of her grandsons in China, allowing everyone to say their goodbyes together. And so, what began as a small lie — “a good lie,” in the doctor’s words — snowballs into a much more elaborate deception [...]

But “The Farewell” doesn’t aim for the kind of big laughs a film such as “The Big Sick” strives to inspire, not does it lean quite so heavily into its more tearjerky elements. Frankly, there are a hundred ways that Wang could have spun this into a more broadly appealing mainstream comedy, and yet she prefers to play it closer in tone to an independent drama like Ang Lee’s “The Wedding Banquet” — which also involved staging a fake nuptial feast in order to keep relatives in the dark, albeit for far different reasons.

I'll definitely have to check this out when I can as I hear it got a standing ovation and stars some great people in it including Awkwafina, Tzi Ma, Diana Lin.

Listen to the Silence: Asian American Activism

Monday, January 28, 2019

Over 400 people attended this year’s Listen to the Silence (LTS) summit, a conference focused on issues facing the Asian American community, on Saturday. Hosted by The Stanford Asian American Student Association (AASA), this year’s conference focused on leaving its attendees with tangible ways to enact change in their communities. Now in its twenty-fourth year, LTS is one of the largest college Asian American conferences in the United States.

A day-long event featuring speakers, panelists, workshops and a concert, LTS brings together undergraduate students, high schoolers, community organizations and educators. This year’s LTS was themed “Avenues to Activism: A Collective Call to Action” and drew students from UC San Diego, UC Santa Cruz, Santa Clara University, other universities and local high schools.

Read about the conference more here.

Community Comes Out In Support Of Seaport Buffet After Deadly Attacks

Monday, January 28, 2019

I'm not trying to be callous, but I would think the local community SHOULD come out after three people were bludgeoned with a hammer and killed (the two men in critical condition ended up dying days later).

People should show support when a White Man killed THREE ASIAN AMERICAN MEN because HE BELIEVED IN STEREOTYPES.

But where does this go?

What happens next? I know it's too soon to ask that question in some ways, but how do we change the mindsets so this doesn't happen again?

Can we?

I don't know.

Up North: Asian Canadian Told To Go Back To Her Fucking Coutry

Monday, January 28, 2019



Hmmmm - apparently if you park your car as an Asian woman, you get told to go back to your fucking country.

How quaint huh?

On Jan. 21, Lisa La was heading to the Sobeys on 50 Street and 23 Avenue in south Edmonton. She backed her small car into an empty parking space as another vehicle pulled into the empty space behind her. As she got out of her car, she noticed the man was still sitting in his vehicle. She went into the store to do her shopping. When she came back out about 15 minutes later, she found a note under her windshield. It read, “Back to your f***ing country Asian.” “I must have pissed him off by parking in that spot because he was intending to drive through and use it,” she said. But who’s to know?

Good Reads: “AAPI Women Lead” Takes Back AAPI Womxn’s Identity with #ImReady2018

Monday, January 28, 2019

http://reappropriate.co/2019/01/aapi-women-lead-takes-back-aapi-womxns-identity-with-imready2018/

What does Asian American feminism and then feminism as a whole mean to both of you?

Connie: We’ve been taught to be very appreciative to be here, but that doesn’t mean we don’t get to resist fucked up things. For example, we’re supposed to be appreciative that our parents took care of us, but if they’re abusive, I’m not going to take the abuse. I’m going to fight back.

Jenny: A lot of the women that we’ve met don’t even recognize their own power or even acknowledge that they come from the legacies of kings and queens.

Connie: They forget because it’s so traumatic to remember. And the reality is: trauma will always catch up to you. So you should sit with it and take its reins when you can. I think because we’re immigrants, we’re busy just trying to make ends meet. It’s so difficult to feel as though we have the capacity to feel powerful in this country or this world because we’re busy surviving. But survival should also mean claiming our positions, claiming who we are, claiming our history, and claiming our power.

Claiming who we are has to be a part of it. When you see all these white acupuncturists — that shit is Chinese as fuck! Like, hold up! We’re going to reclaim acupuncture! You see yoga classes, or these crystals shop, or a Korean spa — all of these things are from Asian cultures; and yet somehow we’ve become removed from that as a part of how we’re surviving trauma. It’s about reclaiming things that are so trendy; yet, they’re ours.

Jenny: We have to recognize that those things are ours. We have to move that to the forefront and take it back.

Connie: We also have to think about what’s happening in Vietnam now, and to wish for more. We don’t just have to be grateful for our histories; we also are upset about slavery, about genocide, about ongoing anti-immigration stuff.

Celine: Feminism as a whole is a bare minimum of cognizance that I think we’re obligated to have. I think we’re obligated to do emotional labor for others and the world and just work for others. It just seems really toxic to not do that.

Feminism means constantly challenging and changing and actively breaking down all the implicit and toxic understandings you have. I’s constantly working to change yourself so that you impact others more equitably. It’s always working, and it’s knowing you can’t be doing anything else. But it’s also all self-love at the same time. It’s healing to others. It’s a commitment to being your best self. I think that’s how I hold it.

Read it in full @ http://reappropriate.co/2019/01/aapi-women-lead-takes-back-aapi-womxns-identity-with-imready2018/

Accidental Star Trek Cosplay + Re: The YOMYOMF Blog

Wednesday, January 23, 2019

As I still haven't done my own write-up of the YOMYOMF blog (it's on my docket), below is a link and a couple paragraphs from Jimmy J. Aquino who gives an overview of the blog, his likes, dislikes, and ultimately the closing of the site. While I can't subscribe to everything he says about it (I liked a lot of the later content and especially some of the more feministy POVs--but I also don't mind listicles xD and I do wish the content was still up) it's still a good read, and I wonder how come I haven't seen more posts on the closing--because it definitely gave voice to a lot of great people.

http://accidentalstartrekcosplay.tumblr.com/post/182036709742/a-prada-sweater-model-left-a-soong-android

Nobody who follows this Tumblr blog will give a shit, but in mildly sad news, the Asian American online content studio YOMYOMF (You Offend Me You Offend My Family)—whose blog was the only site that gave a plug to Accidental Star Trek Cosplay—shut down its blog. The staffers at YOMYOMF (pronounced “yawm-yawm-eff”), who nicknamed themselves the Offenders, said farewell to the blog’s readers at the end of an eventful year that, as Vulture writer E. Alex Jung noted, saw Asian American art coming into its own.

YOMYOMF was founded in the late 2000s by Star Trek Beyond director Justin Lin to promote his 2007 indie movie Finishing the Game, an alternate-history mockumentary about a ’70s casting call for the next Bruce Lee. (The blog’s name comes from a frequently repeated line during Finishing the Game’s kung fu flick audition scenes.) It evolved into an often enjoyable blog full of posts from the likes of Tony Award winner David Henry Hwang; occasional insights into being an Asian American actor that were written by performers Lin frequently casts in his movies, particularly Roger Fan and Sung Kang, who was concise in his words just like Han, his Fast and the Furious alter ego; and great pieces about film, screenwriting and racism against Asians by filmmaker Quentin Lee and playwright Philip W. Chung, who co-wrote “Seconds,” an episode of Lois & Clark’s much-maligned Clone Lois arc in 1996, and the 2015 Vicki Zhao comedy Hollywood Adventures.

3X: Monstar (AKA V-Pop Is The New K-Pop)

Monday, January 21, 2019






The MAGA Kids Did What They Did To Nathan Phillips Regardless Of Anyone Else And ALL The Other Videos

Monday, January 21, 2019

I don't condone what the other group was spouting - I've seen all the videos - but in every single way it's a completely different area I was NEVER FOCUSED ON.

It was about the MAGA kids and their dealing - and Nicky boy's dealing, with Nathan Phillips and the other people in his group.

Does the group of people from the BHI change anything about the narrative?

About what we already know what happened?

No.

Nothing changes.

Getting in a fight on a way to a murder doesn't make the murder go away.

But we all know what's going on - we know it because we've seen it before.

It's not the White Kids' fault because they were just defending themselves, and it's the same narrative of every racist White Person: We were just defending ourselves, making sure our "community" is okay. It's just an app about the "neighborhood."

Fuck. You.

People can defend these little MAGA kids all they want - and don't think the older race pimps and structures don't know what they're doing.

Get a kid to do your dirty work.

Have them pass that hate in a bathroom 24 hours later.

So they get caught?

What's the worst that can happen? Emboldens the base...


Fuck. You.

Asian Australian Doesn't Win But People Love It?

Monday, January 21, 2019

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-10-27/asian-food-fine-dining-good-food-guide-gourmet-traveller/10427934

Every year the Gourmet Traveller and The Good Food Guide, two of Australia's most influential food publications, announce a chef of the year. The awards recognise creativity, technique and those individuals pushing the boundaries of their industry.

Since 2013, every winner has been white. It's a similar story in Australia's restaurant awards. Most restaurants awarded a hat by the Good Food Guide or a star by Gourmet Traveller have white head chefs and white owners.

Even among the Asian restaurants that received hats in the Good Food Guide released this month, 48 per cent had white head chefs and 60 per cent had white owners.

Truths To Know: Nathan Phillips

Sunday, January 20, 2019



Also make sure and visit Heavy.com to make sure and read a longer and more in-depth article on Nathan Phillips.

WTF: People Are Defending The MAGA White Kids Who Tried To Fuck With Nathan Phillips? We All Know That Stare...

Sunday, January 20, 2019



Are you fucking kidding me?

If you're a POC, immigrant - anyone else who isn't a White Male - who's been taunted or threatened or who's had racially charged language thrown your way by White People - you know that stare that kid is giving.

It's not a "I was enjoying everything I mean no harm stare".

That's the stare of a little racist MF with racist MF parents (apparently he was innocent as can be and meant absolutely no harm).

But if you say that you're just some left wing nut who's furthering fake news!

Well - call me a left wing nut who's furthering fake news...

In REAL FAKE NEWS - I'm sorry - let's just call it what it is - real op-ed news of the racist right - you have this site giving some awesome misdirection quoting and writing:

"We are an all-male school that loves to get hyped up," said this student. "And as we have done for years prior, we decided to do some cheers to pass time. In the midst of our cheers, we were approached by a group of adults led by Nathan Phillips, with Phillips beating his drum. They forced their way to the center of our group. We initially thought this was a cultural display since he was beating along to our cheers and so we clapped to the beat." According to this student, the smiling student was grinning because he was enjoying the music, but eventually became confused, along with everyone else. (Indeed, multiple people can be heard to shout, "what is going on?")

Again - are fucking kidding me?

This is why we can't have nice things.

Because racist people support racist people.

Trailers Of Awesome: John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum

Friday, January 18, 2019



More action.

More killing.

WTF.

Halle Berry!

Fuck yes!

And of course....a dog.

P.S. - And a horse!

Lana Condor On The Tonight Show

Friday, January 18, 2019

Probably Already Heard But For Posterity: It's A Sequel (AKA To All The Boys)

Friday, January 18, 2019



I wonder if she'll get an Asian guy in the sequel?

WTF: Hasan Minhaj Banned In Saudi Arabia. With Help From @Netflix. You Worthless Censoring Fuckers.

Friday, January 18, 2019

A little late - but I think the title of my post pretty much sums it up.

https://variety.com/2019/tv/news/netflix-saudi-arabia-pulls-episode-patriot-act-hasan-minhaj-1203097580/

Netflix yanked an episode of “Patriot Act With Hasan Minhaj” in Saudi Arabia after the government there leveled a legal threat over a segment in which the comedian criticizes U.S. ties to the regime and ridicules Saudi attempts to explain the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Netflix defended their decision by citing legal local laws, blah blah blah.

Give a Brown Man a show but then you ...

P.S. Fuck You #Newsweek For Ranking Woody Allen's 20 Best Movies - Bury Him.

Wednesday, January 16, 2019

https://www.newsweek.com/woody-allen-best-movies-annie-hall-manhattan-hannah-and-her-sisters-1290340

Assholes.

#SurvivingWoodAllen: That Needs To Happen (AKA Do Asian Girls Matter?)

Wednesday, January 16, 2019

I get it - sex, power, knowing one's body, etc., etc., etc., what's the age of consent in the U.S. and in other countries (isn't Canada 16?)--all play into the arguments.

And while I may not subscribe to all those sides of those arguments - definitely with sex, let's make sure we aren't siding on the side of puritanism--hey I get that part because dirty sex is dirty sex.

But Woody Allen?

His adopted daughter?

We're not talking about sex between two consenting adults-and we never have.

I argue, as I always have, that because she was Asian (and then secondarily also adopted) - she didn't matter.

No one gave - and no one gives - a shit about her.

White men have been pillaging girls and women of color for centuries.

And no one gave a shit about them.

So what's the difference right?

And yes - I have gone into all this in detail before - this is a gut post.

Kiss my ass MF's.

Polygon's 20 Best Films Born From The Asian Diaspora

Tuesday, January 15, 2019



From writer Siddhant Adlakha:

The task of exploring “Asianness” in cinema falls on a variety of shoulders. In America, “Asian” usually means you’re Chinese or Japanese, or occasionally Korean, regardless of where in East Asia you’re from. In the U.K., it means you’re Indian or Pakistani. In reality, it’s a much wider umbrella, yet at the same time, a reductive pigeonhole. Such is the burden of post-colonial identity, the idea that even as filmmakers, one’s outlook as an immigrant — or as the child or grandchild of immigrants — must, at once, adhere to certain ideas of what constitutes “Asian” while simultaneously transcending them.

“You are not Asian; you are Other,” I remember being told as a teen in Mumbai, India, Asia, while filling out an SAT form. At the time I was called this thing, this “Other” — a mere category on paper that now feels insidious — I hadn’t even made my way to America to study yet, and I was already feeling an imposed contortion on my identity. But to what degree, I wonder, do I or my American-born cousins overlap with what is largely described as Asian-American culture? We work with the language (and within the boxes) prescribed by a white, English-speaking status quo, and whether we want to or not, our work in media constitutes a tapestry of what it means to be Asian in the rest of the world. And what a year it was to make a film that would inevitably be brought under the label of Asian, regardless of intent.

In America, “Asian August” was a watershed moment, wherein the teen rom-com To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, the Kevin Kwan adaptation Crazy Rich Asians and the screen-life thriller Searching were simultaneously on screens. Yet America’s year of Asian excellence arguably began in January: Cathy Yan’s yet-unreleased Dead Pigs made waves at Sundance, leading to her being tapped to direct DC’s Birds of Prey; Chloé Zhao’s monumental Native American Western The Rider finally hit screens in April, and she was subsequently hired to make Marvel movie The Eternals. In June, Chinese-Canadian empty-nest-syndrome short Bao by Domee Shi was seen by audiences worldwide before Incredibles 2, leading to her being hired for her first feature. Chinese-American Dave Callaham is all set to write Marvel’s Shang-Chi. And while superhero movies are by no means the only indicator of cinematic success, they’re a barometer of the ways in which Hollywood is slowly but surely widening its scope.

Read the full list @ https://www.polygon.com/2018/12/20/18139166/best-asian-movies-filmmakers-2018?fbclid=IwAR0xtlaRhQDmZbIDzgtho-QlUu71aNQ2bXuJWwsv-hiY4_TDd3MQhWlzpRQ

R. Kelly Is Off The Playlist (AKA Surviving R. Kelly AKA That Was Needed)

Monday, January 14, 2019



The relationship someone has with music and film, the arts - and themselves and their lives - it can be complicated. It's personal. One of the questions brought up early in literature is whether you should disassociate the author's personal life - know nothing about them - before reading their works. That this will influence you and how you see them.

It permeates outside the sphere of literature as well.

In this case--specific to the music of R. Kelly, or for instance in the case of Woody Allen in film, I don't think you can. I don't think those two questions are quantitatively the same.

One just holds more weight than the other.

Watching "Surviving R. Kelly"--I just can't forget about the person, and only live with the artist. I can't.

And I've been guilty of using the "Well...I don't really listen to him anymore, it's just those old 'classics'. And I never watched the film, I heard both parties said it wasn't them." and I think like others in a lot of communities--and thinking about the relationship to the projects, people, the films, the churches, the pop culture--we did turn a blind eye at worst, or at best claimed not having all the knowledge giving benefit of the doubt, and maybe at times saying "Trying to bring another man of color down..."

And that could be steeped in culture, community, faith, race, structures that already existed because of all of them combined. Listening to all the interviews in "Surviving R. Kelly" you can draw the lines and connect the points.

It's that much harder--and I'll say impossible, to refute anything as rumor or conjecture.

I just can't have it.

And it is complicated--those are some songs from the soundtrack of my and many other people's lives...when life is good you hold on to all of it because you don't know if it happens again. You don't know what the next day holds. So you keep a piece of that memory. That vibe. Because it may soothe you later on.

But when it really comes down to it--should that take precedence?

In the end, I should be able to choose the safety and well being of Black Girls and Black Women easily over the songs of R. Kelly.

I should be able to say no to a system that in some ways values the lives of Women of Color as less then those of White Women.

And there're other songs.

Other memories.

Just like there are other movies and other films to take my time versus a Woody Allen movie, there are other songs to take my time other than R. Kelly's.

"Surviving R. Kelly" was needed. It shed light on so much that someone like myself didn't know (and I say that in a somber way because I still knew enough). I didn't know he hung out at high schools and malls like that. I didn't know he was even married or that he had kids. Or what his wife went through. Or that the girl in the video was that young (I thought she was older/of age when it all happened and I didn't follow everything at those times--at least that's my memory now). Or that to this day he's still a predator, legal or not. All of these stories, all of these conversations, it's almost so mind boggling how truly long it has been able to go on for (and is still going on in different permutations)--but that's also what the documentary did--it delved into the deep relationships we have with music and art, those who make it, and how it affects us on a very personal level and the reasons "why".

I wish I had come to this conclusion earlier.

That somehow I would have paid more attention, that I didn't gloss over the court cases.

That I didn't try to X out the bad with the good and give benefit of the doubt, thereby sanctioning his actions for a good vibe--even though there's more to that statement, when boiled down that's what it is.

That I didn't give myself excuses.

But I am here now and I think that's important, and I think it's important as an Asian American POC that if I think about other stands I take--how can I not stand where I am now?

Retro Interviews: Publisher Nghi Huynh

Tuesday, January 08, 2019


Interview with Nghi Huynh, Asian American Press from Peter B. Myers on Vimeo.

It's That Time: The 100 AZNS List Of 2018!

Tuesday, January 08, 2019



Just like for 2017 - it's time for the list of awesome 100 AZNS for 2018!

In case you needed refreshing on where this list came from and why it was created here's the mission (from the inaugural season in 2017).

100 AZNS is here to document and showcase the immense talents, creativity, and leadership among Asian-Americans [...] Heavily influenced by The Root 100, 100 AZNS was born out of initial skepticism that enough Asian-Americans could even fill a list. The result was the compilation of a wildly long list of many hundreds. The following represents only a selection of many who are putting in the work, livin their best lives, and inspiring positive change. Congratulations to this year's 100!!

Created & Designed by Leah Nichols
Contributors: Vicky Chao, Elisa Gyotoku, Suejean Kim, Lindsay Meyer, Binh Nguyen, Maddie Raffel, Andrew Stenson, Diana Wu

This year - for 2018 - here's a little more from creator and designer (and award winning filmmaker) Leah Nichols from "Notes from 100 AZNs":

100 AZNs reclaims “Asian American” on our own terms. The widespread dissociation from “Asian American” on an individual level is a subconscious f*ck you to the uninspiring, at best, and dangerous, at worst, dominant narrative about Asian American identity. White supremacy’s historic perversion of “Asian American” lumps together all Asian subcultures in order to encourage a pro-model minority/anti-Black agenda as well as further inequality between East Asians and Southeast Asians. Overshadowed is the initial intentions of “Asian American” set by Chinese, Filipinx and Japanese students to unify Asians across subcultures during anti-Vietnam War and Civil Rights Movement organizing. Similar to the first call in 1968, this is a time for pan-Asian solidarity.

For the full read go to the Medium post.

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THOSE ON THE 2018 100 AZNS LIST

Take it in. Feel honored. And definitely check out the official page here where you can download the PDF in full and view some other great info.

Sweet!

I Want More: Theater Mu And Its Split With Its Artistic Director Randy Reyes

Monday, January 07, 2019



First, here's the text from the message from their site:

Dear Theater Mu Community,
From its inception, Theater Mu has been dedicated to producing performances born of arts, equity, and justice from the heart of the Asian American experience. We aspire to celebrate and empower Asian Americans through theater. In doing so, Theater Mu is committed to maintaining a welcoming and equitable environment.

A few months ago, Theater Mu received complaints about its artistic director. While our investigation into the matter did not find that any unlawful conduct occurred, we discovered conduct that did not reflect the culture we strive to achieve at Mu and did not reflect the high standards to which we hold Mu leadership. After reflection, the board has concluded that Mu must end his employment with the organization. We are grateful for all that he has brought to Mu over the years, and are disappointed that it has come to this conclusion.

Theater Mu remains, more than ever, dedicated to its mission, to the Asian American actor’s community, and to the Asian American community in the Twin Cities. Though this is a difficult and disappointing time, we believe that Theater Mu has the ability to learn, grow, and change from this experience. We hope to have the opportunity to demonstrate this over the next few months.

Sincerely,

Theater Mu Board of Directors
board@theatermu.org

I can understand the reasoning with some things needing to be "behind the scenes" and go from there. What people don't know, they don't know, and in a lot of cases - they don't need to know.

It's none of their business.

And I can relate in that way, especially if there are "skirmishes" in the community (whatever portions of those communities you belong too), or everyone wants to save some face (and I think everyone gets that from an Asian perspective).

Keep it on the DL (or as much as you can) and move on.

I get it.

I understand the need for privacy in some cases.

I understand that less is more and sometimes that's better.

But...

In this case though - I just feel like, the statement they put out, it leaves too much open to question - and I think you can ask questions on both sides.

Who were the complaints from?

What were they?

What was the conduct that did not reflect the culture Mu strove to achieve and did not reflect the high standards to which they held Mu leadership?

I think it's fair game to ask those questions - and note I don't know Randy Reyes personally per se - even though we are located in the same city. I have met him (1-2 times), and I did do an interview with him, and have seen plays that he's directed/starred in (I think maybe two). At the same time, I've also been to Theater Mu. I've seen plays there. I've met founder Rick Shiomi (1-2 times). We talked for a bit about myself possibly being on a media committee they were thinking about having (albeit nothing came out of that).

So in that way I don't have skin in this game. I'm not pulling for one or the other.

In that way - from an outsider's POV - I feel like both have done good things for the AAPI community and I feel like - in this era - it just leaves too much open up to question.

On both sides.

If one can ask themselves - as they will - what type of complaints there were against Randy Reyes (which could be all over the board) it's fair to ask if the culture at Mu played any part in allowing that conduct - doesn't it?

Was there an internal investigation into the organization itself, after the investigation into their own artistic director?

And who did the investigation?

Was it external or internal?

For a company like Theater Mu - which is a non-profit who gets tax breaks and donations and is a visible organization and community player - versus say a smaller group or one just getting started, etc. - I feel like it should be more transparent because it has a responsibility to do so (and I can certainly be taken to task for thinking size/reach, etc. plays a part in what gets disclosed).

But In The End

Maybe it's better this way for everyone.

Maybe it's okay to not say anything so Reyes can defend himself in private and move on in his career.

Maybe it's okay to not say anything so Mu can move forward and people can keep donating to their organization.

Maybe it's okay to not say anything so it can all get pushed under the rug for the sake of the Asian American community so that the community can move forward, because it's the Asian American community, and an organization in the Midwest, and why make anything harder than it needs to be?

YES! Sandra Oh WINS Best Performance By An Actress In A Television Series Drama (AKA KILLING IT)

Sunday, January 06, 2019



How do you follow up being the first Asian American woman to host the the Golden Globes?

Oh yeah....

Just win Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series ― Drama for your show "Killing Eve".

DROP.THE.MIC.AND.CROWN.THE.QUEEN.

The GOAT: Sandra Oh Takes On "Ghost In The Shell" And "Aloha" In Golden Globes Opener

Sunday, January 06, 2019

I loved the fact that Sandra Oh took on Ghost In The Shell And Aloha - and the whitewashing of Asian roles.

"Crazy Rich Asians is the first studio film with an Asian American lead since 'Ghost in the Shell' and 'Aloha.'"

My jaw literally dropped.

And what makes it even more AMAZING is that Emma Stone was on the stage fairly quickly afterwards presenting.



Thankfully - someone on twitter got it all - even Emma Stone in the crowd saying "I'm Sorry!"




R.I.P: YOMYOMF BLOG (Part 1)

Saturday, January 05, 2019



In Text

2019 will represent new beginnings for YOMYOMF. One of the changes we'll be making is the closing down of our daily blog. YOMYOMF was born from the blog and in the decade since we've launched, we've continued to grow including launching the YOMYOMF Network as part of the YouTube Original Channels program, the Interpretations Film Initiative, and many other projects that encompass both traditional and new media.

Those projects have continued to grow (we recently announced two of them: FAMILY STYLE, our Asian food series for Warner Bros/Stage 13, and our first theatrical feature, MOONSHADOW, which goes into production shortly) and we have over two dozen other active projects. The decision to shut down the blog wasn't an easy one, but we ultimately made it because we want to put all of our focus towards producing content which will help take our mission to support Asian American and other underrepresented communities to the next level. We have ambitious plans for the future and 2019 is the perfect time to kick things off.

If you aren't already, please follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to keep up with our future projects and activities. As always, thank you for your support. We'll have some exciting announcements coming up in 2019 (and beyond) and we hope you'll join us on this next phase of the journey as part of our YOMYOMF family.

More Posts/Later Posts

While the site notice went up (as well as on FB) end of NY - I actually missed it myself until last night/this morning about a week later.

Definitely a lot more to say - so much goodness - and an end of an era - but - I'm also working on making sure I get all of the articles/posts I had written as well (close...maybe about 3 more...).

6 Days Left: Help Make Radical Cram School Season 2!!!!

Thursday, January 03, 2019



If you saw the first season (and isn't it great that you can say "season") - help fund SEASON 2!

They are less than $6K away from their goal and there's about a week left for the fundraising campaign.

Do it!!!

After a successful first season, we’re ready to make more progressive, heartfelt, humorous content for kids! Season 2 of Radical Cram School tackles even bigger issues our children must navigate: consent, gun violence, undocumented immigration, emasculation, and civic participation. We'll create content to encourage young Asian Americans to be allies to social movements like Black Lives Matters and the fight for Gender Justice. We'll take a deeper dive into understanding hate crimes and discrimination with a focus on Islamophobia and kids with (dis)abilities. We'll create content that includes the experiences of South Asians kids; and we'll create content for Asian American boys to be aware of toxic masculinity and learn how to radically support girls and women. We also will invite children who didn’t get represented in Season 1 in our future episodes: Muslim kids and kids with (dis)abilities to share the multiple intersections involving Asian American identity.

More music videos! More puppets! More Aunties, Uncles, and non-gender conforming mentors! We'll keep our fun, colorful aesthetic and add some new surprises! Plus, our curriculum will be meticulously developed with co-producer, Dr. Theodore Chao, Professor of Education at Ohio State University, and his team of early childhood educators.

Help us make a revolutionary web series. Help us make Season 2 of Radical Cram School a reality.

Check out the campaign for SEASON 2 in full at Seed And Spark and help make the production a reality!

Between Festivities, I Missed Andrew Zimmern Is Gone From The Travel Channel

Thursday, January 03, 2019

https://pagesix.com/2018/12/28/tv-chef-in-hot-water-after-horsesh-t-chinese-food-diss/?_ga=2.142497525.611216046.1546087941-336153284.1515845990

“Bizarre Foods” host Andrew Zimmern has been axed from prime time on the Travel Channel amid the controversy over his assertion that Chinese food in the Midwest is being served in “horses - - t restaurants.”

The celebrity chef’s “Bizarre Foods” juggernaut franchise and sister show, “The Zimmern List,” have been bumped by network owner Discovery, Inc. into a graveyard rotation slot on Saturday mornings to run their course, Page Six has confirmed.

Filming has stopped on both shows midseason, sources tell us, and is not expected to continue further.

The move comes after the James Beard Award-winning chef offended the Asian-American community in comments to promote his Midwestern Chinese restaurant chain by saying: “I think I’m saving the souls of all the people from having to dine at these horses - - t restaurants masquerading as Chinese food that are in the Midwest.”

See ya!

Kpop January 2019 Releases + Soompi Poll

Wednesday, January 02, 2019

Check out - https://www.soompi.com/article/1286343wpp/january-comebacks-debuts-way for all the new K-Pop singles coming out in the beginning of 2019 as well as all the results from their new release poll.

Top 5 results from their poll.

Which January release are you the most excited about?

iKON 24.18%


ASTRO 19.38%


Chungha 11.7%


GFRIEND 11.31%


Apink 8.09%