In a related post - also see Constance Wu in "The Feels".
Please support my film @thefeelsmovie (starring @ConstanceWu & @angelatrimbur) via @kickstarter! #thefeels #orgasms https://t.co/zOnrAlSrqk
— Jenée LaMarque (@jeneelamarque) May 16, 2017
Honestly - I'm not exactly sure what this means:
🐱I'm a cat in this, help the kickstarter to see me as a cat. A jellicle cat. @EastSidersTV eastsiderstv's video https://t.co/6AGbxyJMc8
— Constance Wu (@ConstanceWu) May 18, 2017
I've never watched the Hulu series "Difficult People" and I didn't hear about this a couple months back (because I live under a rock soiled by an infant) but I may have to start watching seeing as how John Cho is cast in season three set for this summer.
Produced by Universal Cable Productions, Difficult People stars Julie Klausner and Billy Eichner as two besties living in New York City whose typical, irreverent behavior lands them in some very awkward situations. Cho will play Todd in a multi-episode arc. Billy (Eichner) has finally met his romantic match with Todd, his first real boyfriend – an advertising executive who’s as much of a dick as Billy and Julie (Klausner). Billy and Todd connect after neither of them backs down from a prank war, and season 3 follows the pair as Billy has to navigate “couple” things, having only had Julie has a soul mate previously. Also starring are Andrea Martin as Marilyn, James Urbaniak as Arthur, and Cole Escola as Matthew, with Gabourey Sidibe as Denise, Derrick Baskin as Nate and Shakina Nayfack as Lola.
If you like Taeyon.
If you don't I can't really help you.
While you may not be able to make it out to Paris for this - this does sound like a great event and it's free.
The Library is pleased to present a collective reading and presentation called "She Who Has No Master(s)" showcasing nine women writers of Vietnamese descent, now located in the U.S. and France, who will come together and read from a collective project exploring themes such as displacement, silence, memory and trauma, repercussions of war and colonialism. The writing collective consists of acclaimed and award-winning authors and academics encompassing a range of literary disciplines, including fiction, poetry, nonfiction, performance, and criticism.
The event will begin with a brief introductory statement by 2016 Pulitzer Prize winner, Viet Thanh Nguyen. The first half of the reading presentation will include a multi-voiced poetic reading of new collaborative work by the nine women writers of the collective. The second part of the event will be an individual reading by Anna Moi, author of The Butterfly's Venom (Le Venin du Papillon), recently nominated for the Ouest-France Prize. The event will close with an audience Q&A.
Angie Chau is the author of Quiet As They Come, which Publisher's Weekly described as "serenely stirring stories," and has been adopted into U.S. high school and university curriculum. She is a member of the San Francisco's Writers' Grotto.
Lan Duong is associate professor in media and cultural studies at UC Riverside. Her most recent work is the award-winning anthology Southeast Asian Women in the Diaspora: Troubling Borders in Literature and Art. Duong is also a poet and has been published widely.
Anna Moi migrated to France and then back to Vietnam, where she stayed for 22 years. She is the author of eight books, most recently a French/English work entitled The Butterfly's Venom.
Hoa Nguyen is the author of four books of poetry, including her most recent, Violet Energy Ingots, which was selected as one of the top ten poetry books in 2016 by Publisher's Weekly. Nguyen teaches at Ryerson University, University of Miami, and Bard College.
Thao P. Nguyen has been writing and performing solo shows since 2007. Her first one-woman show, Fortunate Daughter, was one of the Top 10 Bay Area Plays of 2013 by KQED. Her second solo show, WHITE POWER: A Comedy, debuted in 2016.
Isabelle Thuy Pelaud is professor of Asian American studies at SFSU and author of This Is All I Choose To Tell: History and Hybridity in Vietnamese American Literature. She is the founder and co-director of the Diasporic Vietnamese Artists Network (DVAN).
Aimee Phan is author of the collection We Should Never Meet and the book The Reeducation of Cherry Truong. She has been awarded fellowships and residencies by the National Endowment for the Arts, among others. Phan chairs the Writing and Literature Program at California College of the Arts.
Dao Strom is the author of Grass Roof, Tin Roof and The Gentle Order of Girls and Boys. She is the recipient of the 2016 Creative Capital Artist Award, along with other awards from the Oregon Arts Commission, National Endowment for the Arts, Regional Arts & Culture Council, among others.
Julie Thi Underhill works in essay, poetry, film/video, photography, performance, and fine arts. Her publications include Troubling Borders: An Anthology of Art and Literature by Southeast Asian Women in the Diaspora, Veterans of Peace, Veterans of War, and Takin' It To The Streets, among others.
I'm liking the logo at the end of the video (I can see that on a shirt - wait - is it?).
He's definitely coming out with a lot more music and with a lot of different artists - and an evolution since this track from 2010 featuring him, Jay Park, and Clara C.
Good to see him continuing to do his thing as he has been over the years and getting his audience stronger.
While I can say that all posts are personal in some way simply because I'm the one editing what goes on here - this one is more personal in part because I just wish I could find more Tofu Riot from Jiny Ung, or see anything new - because I haven't been able to find much out since '15, and while I may have some snail mail from a previous interaction, nothing online - and I love my Viet Am artists and I'm hoping to get another project to showcase at least a few more of them off the ground.
Because we deserve that.
Awesome Viet Am artists doing their thing and providing as many lanes for them to drive in as possible.
Vinnie Banh is becoming one of my favorite skaters because he's one of those skaters on the rise who's doing some great tricks including this one clip of him doing a hardflip off a fairly steep drop. I think they actually call this one the Braille Death Drop - and sure, it's not like he's doing El Toro and spare me any thoughts on the Braille crew versus someone like the Primitive crew and what a real skater is - but do you want to fall off this drop?
Most likely that answer is no.
As I said in an earlier post, since this is APIA month and it is my 10th year anniversary for blogging (the month, as I started in May), I thought I'd go on a quest to see if I can make 250 posts in 24 hours, which will be 150 more than the last time I went on a similar quest in 2015. Overall the impetus is just that I like to try and do things I haven't done before, I have been a little bit of a slacker on the post front, and it's my way to give something back to the APIA blogger landscape.
Because that's what this is.
My thought is that I'll have some longer posts, some shorter posts, some thought pieces, resources, and of course some very non-provocative and bland ones (because at some point I do plan on posting about the lint between my toes) and at the end of the day I'll just have to hold myself accountable because I'm not doing 250 tweets in 24 hours. At the same time I'm not going to post outside of my normal bounds - which can sometimes be a video with some links and a description (or even just a quick few words) - but posts aren't always just about the text, and I never post up everything I encounter having to do with our APIA community. I'll also be keeping track of these in an Excel spreadsheet so I can make a quick index page out of it as well, so I'll have some extra time spent there, and going over the list seeing what I have and have not posted up on (easier to manage at 100 but 250 is a little different).
So at some point I may just not make it.
But I'll give it a try (because in some ways I feel like if I can't find 250 things to post on from the APIA/Asian community, in addition to other topics, than that's my issue).
While I post with hyperbole, and sometimes I just can't help but be impassioned about some things, and since I have to fill up a decent number of posts - I'm sure I'll be my normal self which can't help but use some colorful language with things I disagree or have issues with and because I feel like it needs some calling out, or another POV via different language. I may not go to some places that I was thinking about as I was wondering about what could I post on - but who knows either - because for the most part, with exception to some things that are just naturally in my head and a few other items, there's really no set list of subjects or posts I've already worked out for X percentage, and nothing written already.
May the Motherland have mercy on my soul.
Time To Press Start. Stop Procrastinating
I started this blog to put out another voice in the APIA blogosphere. To hype, showcase, archive, and sometimes give a different lens from my perspective as an Asian American, and when all is said and done, I hope this, like my posts and blog overall, does justice to that impetus.
Okay - time to really get this thing going.
Start.
P.S.
Time for quest start is 2:30.
I started working when I was 12 (under the table) as a scraper - scraping off the food before it went to the dishwashers - and slowly worked my way up to doing pots and pans and dishes and then on to busing tables and finally waiting tables. I don't know if customers irked me to the extent that I wanted to throw coffee in their face (that was a surprise in the trailer) - but some days you did have to just bite your tongue.
If you've ever worked in the restaurant/food service industry - well - this might be for you.
And they got some awards.
And you can watch the entire season on Vimeo now.
On May 4, 2017, Wait Crimes was awarded the 2017 Independent Filmmakers Showcase Film Festival winner for Best Web Series. The Los Angeles-based festival featured more than 180 films. The entire season of Wait Crimes will be released on the Vimeo platform on Thursday, May 18, 2017.
Delving into the inner world of the hospitality industry, Wait Crimes–through raw and no-holds barred, pull-back-the-curtain scenes–highlights when the service industry has had enough and how they boldly confront difficult and high maintenance customers who act like idiots.
Created by Virginia Tran (barista), directed by Caleb King (bar manager), written and produced by Darius De La Cruz (server), Stephanie Mazariego (caterer) and cinematography by Marcus Johannes, this new, dark standalone comedy series was conceived by a group of restaurant industry workers and television insiders.
"Every restaurant job I’ve ever had had the same customer issues,” said Virginia Tran, the executive producer of the series. “We hustled really hard and used what was available to us as restaurant workers to tell our story. It's been such a wild ride with so many amazing favors from people who believed in us. It feels as though Wait Crimes is bigger than all three of us now. The win is for all of us."
And you all know what I'm talking about here.
I like Fresh and all - it's funny - but I liked Dr. Ken because it was farther along from a multi-generational standpoint.
Again - love Fresh - but it's also a fish out of water type of story and Dr. Ken was just some people living in a city, doing their jobs, and raising some kids.
And they were Asian American.
Goodbye for now.
Maybe they'll resurrect you along with Selfie.
P.S.S
Yeah - I know - it's a long shot.
While I can't say I've been blogging up a storm lately (especially last month while on vacation) and the math can be circumspect - because there's that lost year of 2013 - I'm still around here doing this thing called blogging.
2007-2017.
10 years.
6489 Posts (including this one).
I've met some great people. I've learned, absorbed, and just loved so much from our APIA community and beyond in part because of this blog - and I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who's ever been a supporter of not necessarily me and my blogging but of the individual blogger and the individual voices that make up our community. It's important.
For those that have been reading throughout the years though, even if here and there, checking in every so often, and have supported what I try and do here - that actually does mean something. I really do appreciate it. I've never set out to be the biggest and baddest blogger or to move on up in the food chain in that way - because I've never been mainstream - and the fact that I can still get the word out here, that I can become an archive, that people still find it - I'm okay with that and I still stand by the impetus for why I started this blog - to put out another voice from the APIA community and to hype our community in the ways that I can (here and in other projects, some of which have started simply because of blogging).
To everyone in our community who's doing what they do - pushing our voices, our communities, our issues, representing us, giving knowledge, or creating those spaces to listen and learn online and on the ground - keep doing what you're doing and light the way.
250 Posts. 24 Hours
Since I can't help but feel like I've also been a little bit of a slacker lately and overall this year, and I am calling this month my 10 year start month/anniversary, I thought I'd do something fun again like in 2015 when I decided to blog 100 posts in 24 hours except this time around I'll give 250 a shot. I'm not exactly sure on the time, but definitely this weekend - either starting Friday night or Saturday morning exactly at midnight.
P.S.
No kidding a store actually printed that out for me.
While I can't make it to the Mnet America panel with DDK and Arden Cho (to name a couple) as well as the APAH reception afterwards - this sounds like a great time.
Be well.
Prosper.
Check out Mnet America.
You're probably one of the millions that has already seen this - but just in case you haven't.
And a little with the Chainsmokers.
This is my anthem today.
A Couple More Tracks
Love that hook - nah nah nah nah nah...it's just so good.
I do like her more soulful songs.
I like the pop - but it has to be specific to her. It can't be cookie cutter.
This one definitely has a bit of both.
K-Soul.
Writer, Poet, Community Organizer and Activist Bao Phi will be releasing his second book of poetry Thousand Star Hotel, on Coffee House Press, and in conjunction will be looking to tour the book via a Kickstarter campaign. Definitely can't wait for the second book to come out which can be pre-ordered here.
From the Kickstarter campaign:
About this project
My second book of poems, Thousand Star Hotel, will be released by Coffee House Press on July 4, 2017. It is a resistance to being continually and violently erased, as all Asian Americans are, as well as a history for a future version of my daughter. It is meant to be both a reflection for those who have been historically marginalized as well as a window for those who have been less so.
Why write THOUSAND STAR HOTEL?
I didn’t really write personal poems until I became a father. When the nurse asked, “has anyone in your family been traumatized by war?”, a switch was flipped in me. Of course we had. But the idea of passing that trauma on to my daughter had not been real to me until then. If something should happen to me, my daughter would miss out on half of who she was. Though I was just a baby and don’t remember the traumatic handful of days fleeing to this country, I was fortunate to be raised in a family that shared those details with me. And growing up in Phillips, I didn’t miss a moment of what it meant to be raised as a Vietnamese refugee, an outsider no one wanted, in Minneapolis’s largest, poorest, and most racially diverse neighborhood.
The American education system is already lousy when it comes to Asian American history – we might get a “Chinese New Year” day, if we’re lucky, and that’s about it. Let alone history about the Vietnamese. Most people’s education about Vietnamese Americans come from the intensely problematic white fantasy Miss Saigon, now resurrected on Broadway. While I would never try to position myself as “authentic” or speaking for an entire group of people, it is a core principle of my work that I challenge and explode racist notions of Vietnamese and Asian Americans. Poetry is the best tool I have in this endeavor, a tool I’ve refined over decades of dedication to my craft, and it’s a tool I deeply love.
Why take THOUSAND STAR HOTEL on tour?
As a longtime spoken word artist and touring poet, the best way to spread word of my book is through my readings and performances. I’m at a crossroads in my career where I am published by a nonprofit press but no longer considered ‘emerging’; it is challenging to procure funds to tour, and as a single co-parent with a full time job, knocking a tour out with nonstop driving and sleeping on couches is not an option.
Help me take THOUSAND STAR HOTEL to:
Los Angeles
San Francisco
Portland
Seattle
Boston
New York
Washington, DC
Houston
What are people saying about THOUSAND STAR HOTEL?
“The many fans of Bao Phi will be thrilled by this book. New readers will be seduced by his trademark blend of passion, politics, and poetry. His poems alternate between the profane and the provocative as they deal with war and history, love and heartbreak, the inner city and the inner self. A powerful read, a gutsy writer.” —Viet Thanh Nguyen, author of The Sympathizer
“Bao Phi’s Thousand Star Hotel is a vividly inward look at an Asian American experience that never flinches from the hard realizations of humanity. Bao ties generations together at his personal crossroad of fatherhood and lets the reader see, feel, and hear the electricity of his renowned stage performance blossoming on the page. Bao’s poems haunt our collective American psyche until a ‘new region of the tongue is discovered’ that lets us know what ‘tastes like the middle of the crosshairs of a drone bomber / tastes like science concocting survival.’”—Tyehimba Jess, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Olio
“Bao Phi’s Thousand Star Hotel echoes the fire in his earlier work, which skewers racism and class with the precision of a skilled chef. Yet, when Phi splits open the vulnerable and humbling moments of love, childhood, and fatherhood, he creates a body of satisfying, poignant poems that create moments of quiet introspection like diners hushed by the first bites of an anticipated meal. Bao Phi carries an honest, powerful voice, and he is not afraid to look into the boiling pots of his past or the roiling violence in America and abroad.”—Tara Betts, author of Break the Habit
Risks and challenges
Anyone who has been on a long road trip knows that things occasionally go wrong. A plane gets oversold or delayed, our place to crash one night could fall through, or a family emergency could come up. I will do my absolute best to honor all the rewards should we reach our goal, but if circumstances beyond my control should arise, I may need to work with you to creatively fulfill those goals.
I have yet to secure dates and locations for many of those cities, but as a touring spoken word artist with over two decades of experience booking and managing my own career, I am confident I can get it done.
Sometimes when I've had random conversations with White People sometimes it seems like nothing is good enough for them and you just can't seem to appease them and it's just funny to me how some days Asian Americans and other POC just can't manage to move the needle.
Some examples of White People might say when someone who isn't white says something about what they've done (and yes...this happens internally in groups as well - but we're talking about White People).
Someone: I just ran an awesome 5K race! My first time!
White Person: I did a triathlon last year after we vacationed in the Grand Caymans. I had a personal trainer. They were awesome.
Someone: Woohoo! I just got an awesome job making twice of my last job!
White Person: Hopefully you won't get fired. You're sure that's what they're paying you?
Someone: Just got a new car - love it!
White Person: Didn't want to buy American huh? Well I guess the Asians make decent cars even if they're not made in our country.
Someone: It actually is...
White Person: What did you say?
Someone: OMG - I love them! So gorgeous!
White Person: What are they mixed?
Cho said she was partially drawn to acting because she was unhappy there was nobody she felt she could relate to in the media. Growing up, she said she felt ugly and alienated as an Asian because the only beauty standards she saw on television celebrated women who were white with blonde hair and blue eyes.
Speaking about the recent controversy of Scarlett Johansson being cast as the Japanese female lead in “Ghost in the Shell,” Cho said executives often don’t choose Asian-American actors because they are concerned about ratings.
Again as in years past this is the month to get naked and walk out in public because it's our month.
Sure - everyday should be our month and sure - we wouldn't even have a month if it wouldn't be for this racist as country we call America of which I still love...most days...unless it's racist as fuck...which it actually can be a lot...so let's just scratch that last part and just say.
Happy our month to us because we know...
Yeah...we know.
Just thought I'd bring it back a decade+.
The New Classics.
