And although the plethora of versions (and legal battles) of the popular ‘Korean Zombie’ t-shirt could make your head spin, the Korean Zombie himself recommends you get one here.
Hey ladies and gents! Do you have a vagina? Care about someone with a vagina? Then this is relevant to you. In a climate where women’s rights and agency over how to care for our own bodies is under attack by wealthy white men, we need a production like the Asian Pacific American Vagina Monologues.
Because it goes beyond traditional feminism — it’s about asserting and reaffirming our power as women of color, as sisters, as human beings. Which is why — as many times as you may have read or seen Eve Ensler’s classic — there still needs to be a space for us to make the production our own and give it new life with APA voices.
As stated by the women behind the APA Vagina Monologues:
This landmark theatrical performance profiles the intimate stories of women impacted by sexual assault, war, and pain, but also lifts celebratory perspectives on sexual self-discovery, empowerment, and love.
The APA Vagina Monologues is more than just a show. It’s about igniting change, raising the issues of Asian Pacific American women, and ending violence (of all forms) against women everywhere.
So what more reason do you need? Get your tix for the Thursday May 17th show at San Francisco’s historic Castro Theatre here. And psssttt…we hear the coveted Yellow Peril Dildo will also be up for silent auction at the event!
You can throw all the gadgets you want into a UC Berkeley dormroom. In the end though, its the same damn room and furniture we used 14 years ago and the same shit 40 years before us. That being said, this is pretty slick, especially PARTY MODE with AVICII on blast.
Today’s Bitchin’ Haiku is inspired by Masafumi Nagasaki, a 76-year-old Japanese hermit who decided to give the middle finger to society by spending his golden years on a deserted island tanning his hot cross peepaw buns:
Since the Asian Americans behind this blog don’t know shit about Japanese pop culture, this guest post is brought to you by special J/K Pop correspondent, lace front-wearin’ Sakura fashion model, and BCB Affirmative Action Fellow, Reese Umbaugh aka Bishie Reesie.
Beginning today, all of downtown Seattle will be flanked by cosplayers, otakus, and tons and tons of adults in Pokémon costumes. That’s right: It’s Sakura-Con weekend. For those unfamiliar, Sakura-Con is Seattle’s annual three-day anime convention held at the cavernous Washington State Convention & Trade Cener. Programming includes panels on everything from voice acting to Japanese cooking, RPG and tabletop gaming, fashion shows (more on that in a later post!), and J-pop concerts.
Much like my previous post on K-pop, I’d like to take a moment in honor of Sakura-Con weekend and share with you my 5 favorite J-pop bands, in no particular order:
Stereopony:
If you are a fan of anime, there’s a damn good chance that you’ve heard a song by Stereopony. They basically have the anime theme song market on lockdown, having done theme songs for Gundam, Bleach, and Darker Than Black. They’re also note-worthy for being an all-female rock band, which makes them instantly badass. If you’re into it and heading to Sakura-Con then you’re in luck! Stereopony will be performing tonight at 6:30PM. Not able to make it? Good news, they’re also live-streaming the show. More info here.
The Pillows:
Man, I love me some Pillows. I remember being in high school and spending a hefty chunk of change to import this record from Japan. I’d blast it in my car on full volume with my windows down and other kids would stare me down. I finally saw The Pillows live in a shitty Seattle venue last fall and they blew my face off.
Perfume:
Originally formed in 2001, Perfume has slowly taken over the Japanese pop world. Recently signing on with Universal in order to release their music internationally, the girls seem poised for worldwide success. Fun Fact about Perfume: They formed the group themselves as teenagers, without being put together by a record company. This video stands as one of my favorites of all time.
Shonen Knife:
The song above is called “I Am a Cat”. That is all.
The Seatbelts:
Less a band and more a force of nature, The Seatbelts is composed of over a dozen members and helmed by the musical Goddess of anime: Yoko Kanno. Nothing makes me want to run in the opposite direction quite like the words “jazz band”, but The Seatbelts are so much more than that. They span genres, have songs in multiple languages, and make some of the craziest music I have ever heard.
Just got this tumblr site Born Asian sent my way. I’m not too sure what the overarching theme is here, but I heart .gifs and I heart Asians, so there we go. Some of the entries are questionable, but the best content includes plenty of Gaysian shade and Mom side-eye…
A preview of the much-anticipated Broadway production of Newsies recently aired on Good Morning America...and there’s an Asian dude, who gets considerable stage time! (Apparently there was a mixed Asian actor in the original movie — Kevin Alexander Stea — who played “Swifty the Rake”. I wish people still had names like that).
Newsies has a special place in American musical history, and in the hearts of many ladies of…a certain age. While many girls migrated to New York in the ’00s chasing Sex And The City fever dreams, me and my best buds were hitching our wagons to a brighter star: Newsies. We knew the words to every song and had no hesitation busting out a multi-part “King of New York” on the 6 train or screaming out “The Delancey Bwuddas!” when approaching the Lower East Side.
We shopped voraciously for newsboy caps and dessed as a gang of Newsies for Halloween — on multiple occasions — including that one year in Boston I spotted the one other guy at the bar also dressed as a Newsie and was convinced we were soul mates until his girlfriend the sexy nurse crippled me with her death stare. My Newsie friends were there to soothe my broken heart by whispering: Well, dat’s da foist thing ya gotta learn – headlines don’t sell papes. Newsies sell papes.
Which is why, even if I feel nothing could ever measure up to the original, I still plan to shell out a ridiculous amount of money to see grown ass men in short pants twirl around on papes. Especially that Asian newsie with the juicy butt.
For SooJooBa and Char Char (who recognized Kevin Alexander Stea as a Madonna dance captain and cast member of Naked Guys Singing. Yowza!)
Hey bummas, we’se got work to do! Since when did you become me mudda?
Check out Jezebel‘s excellent take on Newsies here.
Let’s be real — sentiments are sometimes best expressed through sweet, sweet poetry (or in our case, we’re too lazy to compose a fully formed sentence).
Whether you prefer the lyric stylings of John Keats, Staceyann Chin, or Flo Rida, we hope that you will appreciate BCB’s newest attempt to wax poetic on the goingson of the day. We present: Bitchin’ Haikus (no rhyming necessary)!
For the first edition of Bitchin’ Haikus, we were moved to verse by George Takei’s glorious “Happy Dance”, which he performed after a successful fundraising campaign for Allegiance, his new play about Japanese Internment. Lo, Behold!
Takei’s Happy Dance The Hubby May Not Approve Rest of world screams: WERK!
Add your own Takei Happy Dance-inspired haiku in the comments section!
For all my SEA brothers and sisters out there looking to support some movies during the Center for Asian American Media’s film festival going on from March 8-18, I have my top 3 picked out for your convenience. One is about BcB favorite Anh Joseph Cao’s journey from getting elected to the House, repping NOLA, and heading up to DC. The appropriately named Mr. Cao Goes to Washington. The second is a b-boy movie called Among B-Boys (you know BcB likes them b-boys and b-girls) about the intersection between the Hmong community and the world of b-boying. Seriously, is there any other topic better than that? The last is The Crumbles, a movie about an indie rock band that includes, without exaggeration, one of the most beautiful Vietnamese American actresses I have ever seen, Teresa Michelle Lee.
2012 LOS ANGELES ASIAN PACIFIC FILM FESTIVAL PRESENTED BY VISUAL COMMUNICATIONS
Southern California’s Largest Asian Film Festival Runs May 10 – 20, 2012, Will Present 188 Films From Over 20 Countries Featuring World Premieres, Sneak Previews; Showcasing Documentaries and Narratives Focusing on the Voices of Asian Americans and Asian Peoples from Around the World.
MAY 10 – 20, 2012 28th LOS ANGELES ASIAN PACIFIC FILM FESTIVAL A VISUAL COMMUNICATIONS PRODUCTION www.vconline.org/festival
Bookish Bitchin
Its gonna be hard as hell to write a review of a book like this without spoilers. So let me just say this book has gently nestled its way into my Murakami top 3, just under Wind Up Bird Chronicles and barely inching above Norwegian Wood. This means a lot cause I'm a fanatic over his ish and spend way too much money on multiple copies of his books... If you're a veteran Murakami reader, you'll love how long this book is. More time before the Murakami-withdrawal hits. You'll also like hearing from a female protagonist for the first time. If this is your first Murakami book, I'd read one of his books with less magical realism first, After Dark or Kafka on the Shore then move up to 1Q84 about 3-4 books later. Also, you might wanna buy the digital version (although the US hardcopy is a sight to behold) cause this book be phat!
