July DVD Releases

A quick post on some DVD's that will be coming your way during the rest of the July:

1. John Chu's Step Up 2 The Streets comes out on the 15th.
2. Aaron Yoo and Liza Lapira's movie 21 starts shipping on the 22nd.
3. Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay (standard and two-disc edition) smokes its way in on the 29th.

Maybe, One Day, Who Knows When, Bruce Will Get His Museum

Who knows when it will actually happen, but at least they're still talking about it - even if it seems like it might never get off the ground:

Bruce Lee, the legendary kung-fu icon would surely have found a more direct and forceful route to sorting out his problems of heritage. The house in which he lived in Hong Kong's Kowloon Tong district has become the focus of a tussle between the territory's famously hands-off government, martial arts fans around the world and a billionaire businessman Yu Panglin. After an outcry, Yu withdrew his plans to sell the HK$100 million ($12.8 million) two-story house that Lee lived in for several years until his death in 1973 and affectionately called "the crow's nest." Fans protested, fearing that the place would be torn down to release its valuable land. Instead, Yu advanced plans to turn the place, currently being used as a 'love hotel,' into a Lee museum, but last week the government said that it will not provide any money for the venture.

A statue is great. But a museum would be even better.

Read the full article here.

Brittany Ishibashi Gets Imaginary

While you can't really blame me for not knowing about this (because it's been out for about a month - but am I really supposed to be that up on my webisodes of a show called Imaginary Bitches, and the episode with Brittany Ishibashi called A Spiritual Bitch-Bath) - Ishibashi is pretty funny in the clip playing a new-age psycho, which has received about 1,000,000 views already.



While Brittany Ishibashi may not be a household name yet, she has had a nice string of work in a lot of television shows including CSI, Nip/Tuck, and The Office and most recently in the CW show a couple of months back Supernatural (you can read an interview with her here).

And household name or not, sometimes it's great just to know Asian Americans are being able to get character work (and sometimes character actors have the longest shelf-life).

NewsBytes

News you can use from the last few days:

Upheaval Among New York’s Voting Blocs

More than 38,000 of the 110,000 voters added to registration rolls between 2004 and 2007 were identified as Russian, Korean, Chinese or Muslim — a group made up primarily of immigrants from South Asian countries like India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Cho Goes Reality

An outspoken, sometimes shocking comedianne with docile parents and a colorful inner circle, with bumps along her standup career. It could be "Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List," but it's a new VH1 show about Margaret Cho.

The comedienne sais her "Cho Show" goes beyond that.

"I love Kathy Griffin's show. She's a very, very good friend of mine. I actually was just in it," Cho told a session at press tours. "But she's very different from me in that she's white." Presenting a Korean family as well as an assistant who is a wisecracking little person, gives it a twist.

Milestone for Asian American Students Enrollment Shifts at Va. Magnet School

Asian American students will outnumber white classmates for the first time in the freshman class at the region's most prestigious public magnet school this fall

At Quincy's large Kam Man, a new American melting pot has a distinctly Chinese taste

"You've probably never seen this before," says Wu, the manager, pointing to one of a score of green vegetables not seen in mainline supermarkets. The swimming shrimp also catch the eye. Even the Chinese takeout food challenges the familiar with offerings such as "spicy stoma" (pig stomach) and chicken feet.

Such are the choices at Kam Man Market, said to be the largest Asian supermarket in New England. Food and condiments from many Asian cultures (Korean and Japanese, to Cambodian and Thai) are represented. Throw in some Hispanic and Caribbean canned goods, a dash of Indian cuisine, and a few requisite American staples, and you've got a classic American melting pot, Chinese-style.

José Can You See?

All my life I have been acutely aware of the fact that though I am American, I am Asian- American. Vietnamese- American, to be exact. I’ve always realized that my cultural background has certainly had a strong influence. After all, how American American could I be? I attended the #1 party school and never drank one beer.

Energy war: India and China face off in Central Asia

Call it a diplomatic fandango. Heavy-duty Chinese bulldozers groan day and night, building motorable roads that will connect towns with cities in Kazakhstan. In the countryside, Russian engineers are busy putting new cables on newly-erected towers to put a fresh spark into the rusty, unreliable electrical grid.

On the streets of Tashkent and Dushanbe, Bollywood numbers incite local people to break into impromptu jigs. And in the war-torn dustbowls of Afghanistan, American workers are building schools and hospitals in the middle of non-stop gunfire. The Indians are doing the same, at the risk of their lives. This is the soft side of the story — efforts to woo the Central Asian republics with humanitarian charm.

Vietnamese group gives grants to local nonprofits

The Union of Vietnamese Student Associations of Southern California, the organizer of the annual Tet Festival in Garden Grove, announced this week that it gave out about $106,000 to 96 community organizations in southern California.

Oakland Pays Out $2 Million For Officer Richard Valerga Sexually Harassing Asian American Women

While you couldn't be happier for the settlement which is awarding the 16 Asian American women $2 million dollars who were groped and sexually harassed by former police officer Richard Valerga in 2004 and 2005 (and who knows how many others that he harassed while he was in uniform) - this just should never have happened in the first place:

The city of Oakland is expected to pay out $2 million to settle a lawsuit by 16 women who said they were groped or sexually harassed by a police officer who pulled them over for no good reason [...]

In the suit, the women -- all Asian-American -- claimed that former Officer Richard Valerga pulled them over in 2004 or 2005 in Oakland's Fruitvale district, then would then touch or sexually harass them.

The city of Oakland had previously paid $190,000 to two other women to settle claims involving Valerga.

In every way possible, you have to just stop and pause, and be in complete awe of these exceptional Asian American women who stepped forward - because they didn't have too - because no one in their right mind would have blamed them if they wouldn't have come forward.

But they did.

And for that - because they did - every single one of us is better off because of it.

Jesse Tam and the Seattle Rotary

I've never joined a rotary club in my life, for some odd reason I've just never had the inclination to do so - but that won't stop me from making a post on it or Jesse Tam who is the first Asian American (and person of color) to be a district governor of the Seattle Rotary:

Tam is not only the first Asian American to be selected for this position, he is the first person of color. Seattle Rotary in particular has a reputation for being progressive, or "rebellious," as Tam puts it. In 1987, the club, along with one other in California, brought forth a lawsuit challenging the exclusion of women. The case was taken all the way up to the Supreme Court, where the "males only" membership requirement was struck down.

The year-long position will also require extensive "training, correspondent study, lectures and even tests," according to Tam.

Read more at the Northwest Asian Weekly.

DVD: CJ7

Hmmm....I caught the Stephen Chow flick CJ7 and to be honest, it wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either - and I know it was more of a kid flick, but I'd probably pass it up if I were you unless you really had to see the latest Stephen Chow flick, or you've caught the Kitty Zhang Yuqi buzz (I think Jump will be more up my alley).

But I do have to admit - I'd really like a CJ7 myself - because who doesn't want a cute alien dog thing that has somewhat magical powers, or something like that...

Just Another Reason Not To Vote For McCain

No matter what you believe politically, can you honestly say this is what you want your President to sound like?



Vote McCain: Because killing brown people is just so damn funny.

See It: Seven Days

So I finally got a chance to sit down and take in the SK thriller Seven Days (which snagged Kim Yun-jin her Best Actress Award) and without a doubt, it was worth the wait. It was so good I'm even doing a semi-real review of the flick.

Flashy And Cool

I like to think that sometimes you can tell a good movie from the opening credits, especially in an action thriller. My thinking is that if the production/editing team takes the time to actually setup the movie in style and tone in the begining, that the rest of the movie will follow suit - and while it's not an exact science - Seven Days stayed true to that pattern. From the colors to the camera angles, to the soundtrack, everything just fit - it kept the pace moving like it should - and I didn't mind what I call the "flash burst" editing or the sometimes handheld look - to me it helped make it feel like I was more in the movie, versus being a passive watcher in a lot of ways.

You're A Thespian

Two things stuck out about the acting in the movie for me: One is that Kim Yun-jin really played the part well - from the emotional to the physical portions of the role, it was easy to see how she got the Best Actress Award - in a nutshell - she just kicked ass in the role. The second is that I don't think you can really go wrong with Oh Kwang-rok. He's just so - distinct.

A Twist Is A Twist Is A Twist

Actually that's not always the case - sometimes the twist you have at the end of a movie you can see a mile away and instead of "gotcha" it's really "we couldn't think of anything better" - but in Seven Days you really can't see it coming.

And On Another Note

Just for the record - if they don't have Kim Yun-jin in the U.S. remake of this film I'm going to be ultra-pissed - because there's absolutely no reason not to have her starring in the remake. She knows the role, she's got a built in fan base both here and abroad (and you know people would see the U.S. film not to just compare the movies, but also how she plays in each of them), and obviously - she speaks "fluent English" (so if that's an issue, it's not an issue at all). The only way I can see them not giving the role to her would be if they decided an Asian woman couldn't hold it down on the big screen in a lead role in big budget action thriller for U.S. audiences - and if that happens - OMG - I'm going to go off like I've probably never gone off before.

Nothing Says The Olympics Like 200,000 Cheerleaders

So I happened to stumble across an article at Yahoo News on the 200,000 cheerleaders that are being put together for the Beijing Olympics (and some will be dancers and acrobats for a select squad of 400) and I had a plethora of thoughts including the following:

• Cheerleaders with nunchucks? You don't see that in the NBA.
• That's some really frizzy blond hair.
• I wonder a little bit about the Elite 400 - was someone afraid that the other 199,600 other cheerleaders wouldn't be able to get the job done?
  
• When I read quotes like "Everyone knows cheerleading is a Western activity, but we hope we can find a Chinese way to do it [and] show the world," says He He, who sports long, dyed-red hair and a sparkly belly-button ring. and "They're a lot like Americans -- they use pompoms, they do flips," says 20-year-old Patriot dancer Corie Mae Callaluca, every bit the picture of the stereotypical cheerleader with long blonde hair and blue eyes. -- I think to myself that this is pretty cool, because in a lot of ways people think of the cheerleader, an All-American Girl archetype, as mostly being blond and blue-eyed -- not really Asian. So showing the world that Asian women can cheer with the best of them can be a good thing, and maybe in some ways (especially here in the U.S.) it can help re-define what an All-American really is on some level (even if you think in a superficial way).
  
• I could really be grasping for straws on that last point but just go with it for now.
  
• Just an FYI that the majority of the 200,000 cheerleaders are retired civil servants and have never shaken a pom pom in their life - and it's not just women - it's dudes too.
  
• Men have the right to be a part of the Cheerocracy.

And because you wanted to know more - I'll give it to you here, here, and here.

Asian American Donor Program Volunteers Needed

Caught this from the hapihour.org site, and if you can make it down and donate some time - it's definitely for a good cause.

Here's the reprint from the original post:

Here’s a list of AADP’s upcoming drives. We’d love any volunteer help, so if anyone’s able to help, please let us know! There is another potential venue where we can hold a drive at, depending on volunteer availability. (Southern Alameda County Buddhist Betsuin Bazaar) on the same weekend. We have the AADP staff, let us know if anyone wants to head it up.

July 12, 2008 (Saturday)
San Jose Obon Festival (at least 5 [English-speakers welcome] volunteers to help flyer)
At the San Jose Buddhist Church Betsuin
640 North 5th street
12noon – 5pm
Asia

99 Ranch, McCarthy (Chinese speaking volunteers needed)
338 Barber Ln
Milpitas, CA 95035
12noon – 4pm
Ruby

July 13, 2008 (Sunday)
San Jose Obon Festival (at least 5 [English-speakers welcome] volunteers to help flyer)
At the San Jose Buddhist Church Betsuin
640 North 5th street
12noon – 5pm
Asia

San Jose Holy Martyrs Church (1-2 Korean speakers needed)
531 E.Weddell Dr., Sunnyvale, CA 94089
(drive in honor of Jisong Im)
10am – 1pm
Glenna

Grand Century Mall, San Jose (Vietnamese Speaking volunteers needed)
1001 Story Road, San Jose, CA
12noon – 4pm
Annie

July 20, 2008 (Sunday)
Mountain View Obon Festival
575 N. Shoreline Blvd., Mountain View, CA
12noon – 4pm
Glenna or Annie

CONTACT
Asia Blume
Recruitment Director
Asian American Donor Program
510-568-3700 ext. 100
asia@aadp.org

For more on the Asian American Donor Program check out their site here.

Soon they'll be everywhere

While you might read Disgrasian, now you can hear them online talking about the blog, how they started it, some of the new things they're doing - and of course - Tila Tequila. Listen to it down at KPFA.org.

Film: No Regret

While it's received some exposure on the film festival circuit in '07 and '08, the indie movie No Regret, which was released in South Korea in late 2006 (and set a new SK box office record for an independent film) is getting its U.S. release in LA and New York starting July 25th.

The film directed by Leesong Hee-Il (starring Lee Young-Hoon and Lee Han), has garnered some great reviews and has even been compared to Wong Kar-Wai's Happy Together and Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain.

Here's the synopsis:

The plot revolves around Sumin, an orphan who comes to Seoul to study art design. While supporting himself by working a factory job by day and driving cars for the rich by night, he comes to the attention of Jaemin, a young man from a rich but conservative background. When Sumin learns that he is spared from a layoff at the factory by Jaemin, whose family owns the business, he volunteers to quit himself rather than be seen as favoured by the boss’s son. Now unable to support himself, he soon finds himself working as a prostitute in a gay bar. Jaemin, however, is determined to find Sumin once more and win his heart. He ultimately succeeds, but the lovers’ bliss is short-lived when Jaemin’s family starts to intervene. The film is then propelled toward a powerful and unexpected climax that will shock some, but also surprise and touch others.

View the trailer below:



For more go to IMDB or the official U.S. site.

I Kind Of Care: Big Brother, Angie Swindell, and Julie Chen

Angie Swindell

I was reading about Korean American Angie Swindell who is going to be on this season of Big Brother and it occurred to me that for some odd reason it really doesn't matter to me how long Julie Chen has actually been hosting the show, or that she's probably the only Asian American that I can think of right now that's actually hosted a reality T.V. show for this long, and I think it really has to do with the fact that it's because the show she's been hosting is Big Brother.

I mean it's not like she's hosting Survivor or The Amazing Race - it's not even Dancing With The Stars - it's Big Brother - and while I think in some ways I should care, I don't know if I really can even if she did have the nickname Chenbot and does CBS' The Early Show.

To be honest, I don't even care enough to post a picture of Julie Chen for this post when normally if it was anyone else for any other show I would.

And while I think in some way I should feel guilty for that, I just can't seem to muster up enough guilt to really care.

Anyway - here's some more info on Angie Swindell who'll be on that show starting July 13th:

Age: 29
Hometown: Orlando, FL via Virginia Beach, VA
Occupation: Pharmaceutical Sales Representative
Marital Status: Single

Angie is a smart and sexy, Korean-American tomboy who can mix it up with the best of them. She is a recent divorcee who is happy to be single again.

Angie graduated from the University of Florida with a Bachelor's Degree in Advertising and is currently working in pharmaceutical sales. She has a good relationship with her parents who have been married for almost 30 years though she thinks her dad understands her better than her mother. She is a devoted sister to her mentally disabled brother. Angie is very protective of him and stands up against anyone who makes fun of her brother.

She describes herself as wild, entertaining and funny and loves to hang out with friends. Her favorite activities are working out, socializing, boating and traveling - basically anything that's fun to do. She is proud that she was the Guinness-chugging champion for women at Irish Kevin's bar in Key West. She enjoys watching college football and is a dyed in the wool Gators fan. She's also crazy about her miniature Dachshund whose name is Dixie.

Angie's ideal romantic partner is an alpha male, confident and muscular. She prefers dark hair, likes tattoos and has a few herself. She really wants to be with a guy's guy. That said, she's a romantic at heart and her favorite movie is "The Notebook."

Her birth date is July 2, 1979.

Dat Phan Goes To Rome

Screenshot from When In Rome from DatPhan.com

So I was thinking to myself "I wonder what Dat Phan has been up too" (because occasionally things like that pop into my head) so I checked out his site and apparently he's going to be in a new movie called When in Rome. Not quite sure how big his role is going to be - or what it actually entails - but it's good to see him getting some gigs.

I'm just crossing my fingers and hoping for the best.

Easy Listening: Laugh Away, Summer Song

The video quality isn't great, but the vibe is pretty cool. Check out Laugh Away and Summer Song by YUI.



h/t kpopjpop

Kenny Eng On iTunes Soon

If anything can brighten your day a little it's music - and I just got some cool news from Kenny Eng that his CD will be up and running pretty soon on iTunes and Rhapsody - so make sure to check out his site down at http://www.myspace.com/kennyeng for more information on the release.

EEOC News

It's been a while since I checked in with the EEOC to see what companies have landed themselves in hot water - and have had to pay up for it as well - so here's a few stories from the last couple of months:

Tavern On The Green To Pay $2.2 Million For Harassment Of Females, Blacks, Hispanics

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) today announced the settlement of a harassment and retaliation lawsuit under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act against Tavern on the Green, a landmark restaurant located in Central Park in New York City, for $2.2 million and significant remedial relief.

The EEOC charged in the case that Tavern on the Green engaged in severe and pervasive sexual, racial, and national origin harassment of female, black, and Hispanic employees. The sexual harassment included graphic comments and demands for various sex acts, as well as groping of women’s buttocks and breasts. The racial and national origin harassment included epithets toward black and Hispanic employees and ridiculing Hispanics for their accents. The restaurant also retaliated against employees for refusing to consent to and/or objecting to the harassment, according to the EEOC.

EEOC Settles Sex Bias Case With State Corrections Department For Almost $1 Million

The New York State Department of Correctional Services will pay nearly $1 million to settle a sex discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, the two offices announced today. The EEOC and the United States had charged the Corrections Department with violating federal law by providing inferior benefits to female employees on maternity leave.

EEOC Settles Case Involving Discharge Of Seven Middle Eastern Crew Members From The Cruise Ship Pride Of Aloha

In its lawsuit, filed in 2006 under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the EEOC alleged that NCL America discharged seven Middle Eastern crew members from various positions on the cruise ship “Pride of Aloha.” NCL America denied that it had acted improperly against these crew members in agreeing to resolve the lawsuit.

As part of the two year consent decree resolving the case, NCL America agrees to pay the crew members $485,000. With respect to the injunctive relief, NCL America further agrees, among other things, to revise its policies to ensure a workplace that promotes equal employment opportunity, to hire an EEO consultant, and to provide training to its managers and employees on the company’s equal employment policy and complaint procedure.

Yong Hui Zhang Dies At 24

As cynical as I can be at times, this story about Yong Hui Zhang who was carjacked, abducted, and killed on his way making deliveries still makes absolutely no sense to me, and I have to wonder how many people just think of an Asian American man who they see delivering food as just a throwaway piece of meat - that he doesn't matter - that he's nothing more than that. Even looking at the article that's linked up - they don't even use his real name in the headline - they just say "Chinese-food delivery driver murdered".

Here's what's happened:

A Chinese-food delivery driver missing since Thursday night following an apparent violent abduction in Fredericksburg, has been found murdered, according to the Fredericksburg Police Department.

Two abduction suspects, Jermaine Montgomery, 34, and his girlfriend Marcey White, 36, were arrested at a Wal-Mart in Franklin at about 5 p.m. on Saturday, according to police, who indicated that the investigation from there led to officers discovering the body of the delivery driver, Yong Hui Zhang, in nearby Sussex County [...]

Zhang, 24, left his parents’ China Express Restaurant at about 9:20 p.m. on Thursday night to make three deliveries. When Zhang had not returned to the restaurant, located at 1500 Jefferson Davis Hwy. in Fredericksburg, by closing time, his family called the police.

When officers went to 202 Charles St. — one of the delivery sites — they discovered evidence that indicated a crime was committed, including a large amount of blood. They also found a shoe believed to belong to Zhang.

According to the police, Zhang was presumed to be "gravely injured or incapacitated."

If anything, at least they were caught - but I'm sure that's not really any sort of consolation to his family.

Film: That Asian Thing lands at the Independent Features Film Festival

In a recent post I was talking about Jonald Reyes' documentary That Asian Thing, which centers around a portion of Chicago Asian Americans and Asian American identity, and word has it that it's now got a slot at the Independent Features Film Festival -- so make sure to check it out if you're down there and support a new Asian American documentary and filmmaker.

Here are some links and info I received:

The Independent Features Film Festival: http://www.independentfeatures.com/

Tribeca Cinemas (for info on the theater): http://www.tribecacinemas.com/

To buy tickets ("That Asian Thing" - July 27th @ 12:30 pm): https://tickets.tribecafilm.com/online/default.asp?brand=cinemas

Our main website with future info to be posted regarding an after screening get together: http://www.thatasianthing.com/

Updated 9:00PM: That Asian Thing Is Showing At the Independent Features Film Festival at the Tribeca Cinema (not the Tribeca Film Festival)