Workplace Lingo

Posted in Awesomeness, WTF?! with tags , , , , , on February 10, 2010 by aznheartthrob

Its no surprise to anyone that AzN is new to the Non-Profit game. And with any new profession, comes an entirely new set of lingo. Granted, this stuff applies to most professions, especially ones that use terms like: strategy, workplan, campaign plan, and influence stakeholders… a lot (and I mean A LOT). So we’re talking advocacy, lobbying, advertising, whatevers.

The infamous THREE LEGGED STOOL of WONDER!

The infamous THREE LEGGED STOOL of WONDER

I had one term dropped on me just the other day: “Inside/Outside”, as in, working an angle from the inside while also bringing in folks from the outside to help? Confusing? Yes. There’s more? Of course. Check these out (courtesy of Cbruhs) and let me know what you think any of them mean. A few definitions (accompanied by our own interpretations) will follow next week, unless it’s too much of a heavylift (oops, did I just give the first one away?). And please, add your own to the lingo list!

heavylift
lightlift
toolkit
meta
trigger
low hanging fruit
landscape
echo chamber
boosters
blue sky it
inside the beltway
deep dive
leverage
sea change
dashboard
30,000 ft.
bandwidth
wrangler
look at the whole animal
big bucket
brick and mortar
metrics
seamless
scalability
shore up
circle back
value-add
circle the wagons
run it up the flagpole
ducks in a row
verbiage
peel the onion
brain dump
eat the whole elephant in one bite
fully cooked
moving target
dial it back
friendraising
link tank
soup to nuts
build the boat the right way
the needle has moved
put your arms around it
use the carrot
into the weeds
apples to apples
above the fray
bird-dog
unpack
kitchen cabinet

Leave A Comment »

The Philippine’s Deadliest Croon

Posted in DANGER! with tags , , , , , on February 9, 2010 by Cbruhs

Bad karaoke can feel like an assault on your senses, but who knew that it can actually lead to assault in the first degree?

This NY Times article reports that so many fights and even homicides have occurred in the Philippines over Sinatra’s beloved karaoke songs (one ditty in particular: “My Way”), that it merits its own crime category: ” My Way Killings”.

Croon at your own risk

Photo by Jes Aenar for the NYT

The story attributes this phenomena to several possibilities:  “a natural byproduct of the country’s culture of violence, drinking and machismo” (this passes for journalism?!), to the lyrics of the song itself, to Filipinos’ “lower tolerance for bad singing” and violations of karaoke etiquette.

And karaoke-induced violence is not limited to the Philippines — there are recorded cases in Malaysia, Thailand, and Seattle, where a woman criticized and then punched a man for singing Coldplay’s “Yellow” (I swear it wasn’t me, I only throw dem ‘bows if someone effs up “Baby Got Back”).

Now I know ya’ll Pilipinas/os take your karaoke very seriously, and I’m sure there’s endless riffs that can be made about magic mics and your Tito’s BBQ last summer etc. etc., which I’ll leave for the comments section. But what’s even more interesting is the way in which they’ve effectively and creatively dealt with the tension — with gay men as karaoke buffers — using humor and neutrality to diffuse potential scuffles. Maybe karaoke joints could also take a pointer on musical harmony from those MJ prison dancers…

Leave A Comment »

Complex’s Top 50 Most Racist Films of All-Time

Posted in please! with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 9, 2010 by aznheartthrob

Although I didn’t agree with their choice of Bottle Rocket at #49 (its not THAT trashy, is it?), I definitely agree with Complex’s Top 50 Most Racist Movies You Didn’t Think Were Racist: Numero 1: Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

Also props to Complex for finding the little known racist gems like Gremlins (the darker the Gizmo, the deeper the roots), Romeo Must Die (Not even ONE kiss Aliyah?!), Dragonball Evolution (THANK YOU!),  Gung Ho (I didn’t even know this movie EXISTED, but now I GOTTA watch it just for Gedde Watanabe alone), 21 (THANK YOU AGAIN!), Avatar The Last Samurai (duh.), True Lies (finally, this is the first time I’ve seen this movie called out on its racist terrorist shit), Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (sorry ShortRound), Song of the South (there’s NO WAY Disney is still selling this movie), Transformer 2 (Skids and Mudflaps ruined this movie for me, but then Megan Fox made it all better), and Sixteen Candles (sucks to be you Gedde Watanabe, you seem to always pop up more than once in any of these lists). But most of my props go to Complex for calling out Rob Schneider for ALL of his movies cause he’s somewhat racially ambiguous (he’s a bit Filipino) and therefore plays everybody’s stereotype:

8. Every Rob Schneider Movie
Year: 1963 (birth)-present

Adam Sandler’s bit-part-playin’ buddy is a modern minstrel who has played (and played out) Chinese (I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry), Hawaiians (50 First Dates), Arabs (You Don’t Mess with the Zohan), and Native Americans (Bedtime Stories). He’s argued that it’s OK because he has a little Filipino in him (ayo!) and because he just happened to be the actor best suited to mock a people. We argue, “Fuck you, Rob.”

Leave A Comment »

Asian Americans One of Most Liberal Ethnic Groups in US

Posted in Awesomeness with tags , , , , , on February 8, 2010 by Cbruhs

A recent Gallup poll reports that Asian Americans are:

Generally more Democratic and considerably less conservative than the rest of the U.S. population. In 2009, 61% of Asian-Americans leaned toward the Democrats, as compared to 49% of the total population.”

Only 24% of Asian-Americans lean Republican. 31% of Asian-Americans are liberal (compared to 21% of all Americans), 46% are moderate (compared to 36% of all Americans) and 21% are conservative (compared to 40% of all Americans).

So fuck those Crash and Joy Luck Club stereotypes that all Asian Americans are socially conservative, ideologically close-minded, cantankerous traditionalists who only look out for themselves and hate gays and pretty much everyone else. Most of us are left-leaning progressives…even radical revolutionaries. And that don’t just apply to the Cal grads — but includes me and you…yo momma and your cuzin’ too.

And don’t forget our legacies in the Civil Rights, Third World, and AsAm Movements.  With Asian Americans the 2nd fastest growing minority in the US (the fastest in SoCal) — and projected to double in size between 1990 and 2010 — ya’ll better turn out to vote and the Repubes better run for the hills.

Leave A Comment »

A Moment of Zen with AzN: Thunder-Thunder-Thunder-Thundercats!

Posted in Appropriation with tags , on February 7, 2010 by aznheartthrob

People will be doing this ish up until a movie is finally made.

Thanks KiDJaundice.

1 Comment »

ABDC Season 5: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Posted in Awesomeness, Bitch please! with tags , , , , , , on February 6, 2010 by aznheartthrob

The Good: French-Canadian Vietnamese Thien-Linh “TL” Truong from Blueprint Cru.

TL is second from the left. duh.

The Bad: MTV misspelling TL’s name:

Not how you spell Thien-Linh Truong

And the Ugly: Legendary Seven’s Black Chinaman logo:

Only E-Knock can find a way to simultaneously offend two different races with one logo.

Leave A Comment »

Kristin Kreuk on Chuck. Boyhood Dreams Come True

Posted in Awesomeness with tags , , , , on February 6, 2010 by aznheartthrob

Although Smallville started sucking the last, ohhh, 5 years, one thing remained constant: the hotness of Kristin Kreuk. I couldn’t stand her in the arms of Lex Luther (hell, I couldn’t stand her in the arms of Clark Kent either), so I stopped watching despite Lois Lang also being almost as hot. But KK went on to better things (yes, I gave a RAVING review of Chung Li: The Street Fighter Story, cause they just don’t make em like they used to now that Seagal and Van Damme are irreverent). Now this Vancouver native is finally leaving her Chinese Canadian roots and REALLY entering Hollywood by showing up in a cameo on Chuck (Smallville was filmed in Vancouver. nerds). So check her out here while Hulu still has her episodes up. And maybe now that she’s actually physically in California my chances of wifeying the KK jump from 0.000002% to 0.00001%.

AzN doesn't like her in the arms of Chuck either.

Leave A Comment »

Friday Fuckery: Extreme Makeover-Chinese Jessica Alba Edition

Posted in Bitch please!, Friday Fuckery, WTF?!, booshit, fucktards with tags , , , on February 5, 2010 by Cbruhs

After leaving her boyfriend, a 21-year-old woman in China wants to undergo extensive plastic surgery to look just like Jessica “Don’t call me a Latina!” Alba. Apparently the guy was obsessed with all things Alba, and this is her last-ditch attempt to win him back (is it just me or does she already look a lot like her?).

I don’t think I need to explain why this one is filed under Friday Fuckery and Bitch, please! Even the director of the Shanghai Time Plastic Surgery Hospital said: “…if she wants to totally look like Jessica Alba, I would think she is still not confident of herself and that she needs to solve this problem psychologically.”

A Chinese girl who wants to look like a Latina who wants to look like a white girl. Well, they do already have some things in common: A desire to look like an entirely different race and an aversity towards breaking things off with douchey men.

But to really be like Jess, homeslice needs to blame her “puffy lips” and obesity on her ethnic side, cultivate a penchant for fugly sweaters,  reinforce ugly stereotypes about her people, and get a platinum blonde dye job (not just a wig honey!) that is totally inconsistent with her skin tone and features. Also, play an airhead sexdoll in (sometimes racist) shitrag flicks like The Love Guru and Into The Blue (both nominated for a Worst Actress Razzie Award).

But unlike Alba, I recommend this chick STAY broke up with the dicktard… although a swift reunion of her foot with his nuts would be acceptable. Cbruhs Breakup Guide 101 out.

1 Comment »

Black History Month Tribute to the 1968 Olympics

Posted in Awesomeness with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 4, 2010 by aznheartthrob

Just a friendly reminder to y’all that February is Black History Month. One of BcB’s favorite blogs, P is for Props had a tribute to the 1968 Olympics’ heroics of Tommie Smith and John Carlos on the medal podium. If you’re interested in the history behind the statement, come down to sunny San Jose to visit the SJSU campus where a statue of Smith and Carlos (both products of SJSU’s “Speed City” track team, coached by Lloyd (Bud) Winter) was built in 2005. Its been a long time coming…

1 Comment »

Gay Dating Website’s Super Bowl Ad Determined Too Gay for TV

Posted in Bitch please! with tags , , , , , on February 4, 2010 by aznheartthrob

For those of you enjoying the Colts vs Saints Super Bowl Sunday excitement this weekend (I’m talking about the ads, cause it was pretty obvious who the final teams would be), take a look at this ad for mancrunch.com, a Canadian-based gay male dating website. Their ad was rejected by CBS for “financial reasons”. But we all know the reason why it was rejected by the network: cause its not ABC/cause the gay dudes are rocking Vikings and Packers jerseys cause it was too gay for America.

CBS, do you really think America is not ready for something like this? You can show two women fighting each other, ripping clothes off in a Budweiser ad, but you can’t show two guys who are barely making out? Coming from a network who’s best actor, two-time Emmy nominee Neil Patrick Harris in How I Met Your Mother, is openly gay, I find it hypocritical and just plain unfair that you have a double standard that’s there to please Middle America. I’ll be sure to peep the commercials you DO approve to see what kind of ish you think American can handle.

Leave A Comment »

Next Entries »