Archive for asia

A Southeast Asian’s Guide to the 30th CAAM Film Festival

Posted in Awesomeness with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 7, 2012 by aznheartthrob

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.

Peep the trailers here:

Mr. Cao Goes to Washington:

Among B-Boys:

The Crumbles:

 

Race and Jeremy Lin: A Compilation of the Best Articles This Month

Posted in Awesomeness with tags , , , , , , , , , , , on February 21, 2012 by aznheartthrob

There are a lot of Jeremy Lin articles out there. And by a lot, I mean A LOT. I was going to write about how we’ve followed his game from the Harvard v Santa Clara U match up with his parents all wearing We Believe shirts sitting in front row and the whole arena (which seats 2 people) chanting “Over-rated” to the time we saw his first play in a Warriors uniform (2 steals!). But instead, I decided to take all the articles I found the most relevant and interesting and wrap them up Christmas Eve-style for your viewing pleasure. I especially liked the ones sent to me by my friends who do not follow sports. So a few of these go deep into racial theory, which is still very new to me. So read these, and skip all the superfluousness ones about “Chink in the Armor” and enjoy. And if you need a quick primer to the Jeremy Lin Show (or basketball in general), check out this Linfographic and I promise you that will be the one and only Lin Pun I use:

Linfographic: Jeremy Lin’s journey, illustrated

Linsanity: There Goes the Neighborhood by Rembert Browne of Grantland

Asian Men Can Jump by Gish Jen of The New York Times

Will Lin-sanity tame Tiger Moms? by Jeff Yang of The New York Daily News

‘We Don’t Have Anything to Call Our Own Yet’: Jeremy Lin and Narratives of Achievement Among People of Color by Ryan Davis, Negro Sunshine (People of Color Organize)

Why Jeremy Lin Matters: Asian Male Image in the Media by Ky Phong Paul Tran of New America Media

But easily my favorite is the SNL opening last week that pointed out the double standard that the media has enjoyed when it comes to being political correct for African American athletes while totally disregarding Asian American ones. GO SNL: Saturday Night Live.

Asia to Americans.

Posted in All Class with tags on February 13, 2012 by aznheartthrob

I’m from “Cemetery” and most of my friends are from “Supermarket”, “Samsung” and “Rice Dolls”.

Sh!t My Asian Dad and Your Asian Dad and Everyone’s Asian Dad Says

Posted in Awesomeness with tags , , , , , on January 26, 2012 by aznheartthrob

The irony of writing this post is that I’m at a random cafe in Cupertino right now and just ran into my friend Craig’s Asian Dad. Said hi to him and he said all kinds of sh!t that you can see in this:

Just how accurate is this? and is the dad Vietnamese or Chinese? Yes, yes, and yes is all I can say.

Asians are Real Humans Too

Posted in Barf Me Out, Bitch please! with tags , , , , , , , , , , on January 17, 2012 by aznheartthrob

What is it with Swedes and fetishizing Asians? First it was Lizbeth’s girlfriend in Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and now its Real Human, the Swedish knockoff of NBC’s Beautiful People. We get it, she’s a robot that’ll be great raising kids AND great in bed for pops. BEST lines from the trailer:

Dad: Relax, it can shop, do dishes!
Moms: Its a sex toy!!

(later that night)

Dad: Its past your bedtime, Tobbe.

Classic Swedish cinema. Did I tell you how my friends just came back from Stockholm and were physically accosted everywhere they went for being Asian? YAY SWEDEN!

Stop Bad Hollywood Films Before They Are Conceived

Posted in Appropriation, AUDACITY with tags , , , , , , , , , on December 15, 2011 by aznheartthrob

I guess there’s something called The Black List? It rates all the best scripts just optioned by studios to be green lit into Hollywood shit movies.  Why am I talking about this? Cause I think Asian America wasn’t able to react to the Last Samurais and Avatars fast enough to kill the eggs before the chicken hatched (or is it the other way around??). So I propose we start with the scripts! Right when they’re bought by the major Hollywood studios and churned into The Hangover 2. Where to begin… in no particular order, from the 2011 Black List of scripts coming to a big screen near you:

“The Outsider” by Andrew Baldwin

In post-World War II Japan, an American former prisoner of war rises in the yakuza.

(Agency: Creative Artists Agency — Jay Baker, John Garvey, Manager: Anonymous Content — Bard Dorros, David Kanter, Producers: Linson Entertainment for Warner Bros.)

Seriously? Is this going to happen? First it was Dances with Wolves, then it was Last Samurai and then Avatar. And now this? When will Hollywood stop with A-White-Guy-can-do-anything-a-person-of-color-can-do-better story line. I get it. The White man can kill ninjas and mate with their tails better than a yellow/brown/blue person can. But seriously? A P.O.W. becomes a Yakuza? Its even hard for a JAPANESE person to get into the Yakuza. You think the “American” former prisoner is going to be an ABC or a Filipino guy? HELL NO. He’ll be Ryan Gosling. PLUS, I guess this movie has already been made with that dude from The Road.

“Bad Words” by Andrew Dodge

The bastard child of the organizer of the national spelling bee gets his revenge by finding a loophole and attempting to win the bee as an adult, only to find friendship in a young Indian contestant.

(Agency: UTA — Carolyn Sivitz, Manager: Fourth Floor Productions — Jeff Silver, Producers: MXN and Darko Productions)

Can we see our South Asian folks as anything other than spelling bee champs or telecom workers from Outsourced or Outsourced (and how did they make a show AND a movie with the same title and same plot?!). There’s no way this can be better than Rocket Science. Only more racist. Don’t try it. UNLESS the lead character is Chinese or Pakistani. But then Middle American heads will exploded.

“Home by Christmas — Bob Hope in Korea” by Ben Schwartz

Young Larry Gelbart goes on tour with his idol Bob Hope in the middle of the Korean War and learns the true price of heroism.

(Agency: The Nethercott Agency — Gayla Nethercott, Producer: Jon Shestack Productions)

I just want to be an extra in this movie cause somewhere in the San Gabriel Mountains or Temecula will be used as a stand-in for Korea and I want to be there with a bunch of KAs from LA in war uniforms going through bootcamp. Who am I kidding, they’ll be using Filipino and Vietnamese extras too. Watch out for Ryan Gosling in make-up as Bob Hope. Or he can play Larry Gelbert. Or a Korean drill sergeant. Or anything he damn well pleases to play!

“Django Unchained” by Quentin Tarantino

A freed slave named Django is trained as a bounty hunter by a German dentist named Schultz, and the two men set out to find Django’s enslaved wife.

(Agency: WME — Mike Simpson, Producers: Weinstein Co. producing for a co-release between Weinstein and Sony Pictures)

If there’s two things I’ve learned from Quentin Tarantino from everything he’s done lately, its that he likes to exploit Black folks (its OK cause there’s a cool film noir word for these types of movies: Blaxploitation) and he likes killing Germans on screen. As long as he stays away from David Carradine as a karate master and Lucy Liu as a Japanese geisha/ninja, I’m cool with it. Sorry everyone else! Every race of itself!

I’m such a hater. I know. So what movies AM I looking forward to? Peep the following movies. I purposely didn’t include ALL the zombie movies I wanna see cause that’s a whole other post and would be a never-ending blog post.

“Maggie” by John Scott 3

As a “walking dead” virus spreads across the country, a farm family helps their eldest daughter come to terms with her infection as she slowly becomes a flesh-eating zombie.

(Agency: Creative Artists Agency: Billy Hawkins, Dan Rabinow, Manager: Trevor Kaufman, Producer: Pierre-Ange Le Pogam)

One word: Zombies. They’re the new hipster rom-dramedy.

“Flarsky” by Daniel Sterling

A political journalist courts his old babysitter, who is now the secretary of State.

(Agency: UTA — Julien Thuan, Producers: Point Grey Pictures)

What? I just wanna see this cause in 13 words the writer set up a crazy ass plot. Peep Ryan Gosling as the political journalist. With Ashley Judd as the Secretary of State. Or the other way around if you apply the right make-up.

So what have we learned from all this? Hollywood is racist and Ryan Gosling can play anyone anywhere. If he puts his mind into it.

Tay Ba Lo’ing Through Viet Nam 2.0

Posted in AUDACITY, Creeptastic, white ppl booshit with tags , , , on September 5, 2011 by aznheartthrob

In the old days before youtube, vimeo, HD DSLRs and iMovie, you (and by you I mean European tourist with a big ass bag travelling through Asia) would pass through Viet Nam and be done with it. What happens in Viet Nam stays in Viet Nam. These Tay Ba Lo’s, which translates to Westerner with a big ass bag, would be everywhere and anywhere. Bangkok, Hanoi, Hong Kong. Passing through. Sometimes they were good folks, sometimes they were assholes, but mostly they were Australian. So why am I blabbering on about these folks? Cause I don’t think I’ve ever really enjoyed their presence in any of the countries I’ve ever been too. They were always drinking way to much, or not understanding something someone was saying, bargaining 2 cents off something worth 50 cents, or taking pictures of people without their permission. And now, with the invention of DSLRs that take some sick ass HD video and vimeo, followed up by a Macbook with iMovie installed, everyone can be Francis Ford Coppola filming the infamous Me Love You scene in Apocalypse Now. Which means this whole blog post is a very long explanation of why I’m part mesmerized and part annoyed by this video:

If your first thought while watching that video were any of the following:

  • Oh shit those girls are HOT!
  • Oh shit that food looks good!
  • Oh shit that shit is exotic!
  • Oh shit, that song is straight out of a Gilles Peterson compilation!
Then you’re most likely the 80% of the view count who don’t really understand what Asia really is about. Maybe its because I’m old or I’ve lost the flame to care enough to get angry. But mostly I just think its because I’m going to be doing the same thing in Scandinavia this year, so maybe you can call it reverse racism or a payback for Colonialism. I’ll probably even lay a sweet Sigur Ros track on my video and take some nice candid shots of blue eyed/blonde haired girls eating fermented shark. revenge.

Reel Asian Int’l Film Festival in TDOT

Posted in Awesomeness with tags , , , on November 9, 2010 by aznheartthrob

The 14th Annual Reel Asian International Film Festival is hitting up Toronto from November 9-15. I wouldn’t normally advertise an Asian American Film Festival out of the blue like this, but I will so happen to be in Toronto this weekend. So if you’re in town, let’s meet up at the closing night party. Its $5 CANADIAN. Which is practically FREE in US dollars, right AMERICA?!

Au Revoir Taipei Trailer (Reel Asian 2010 Official Selection) – This shit looks good enough to be a KOREAN FILM!:

The Incredibly Asian Grandma

Posted in Bitch please! with tags , , , , , on April 29, 2010 by aznheartthrob

Courtesy of Ally Chandler, an aspiring actress (or so it seems), comes the adventures of The Incredibly Asian Grandma. Why is she incredibly Asian? Nothing really special, I guess AllyCat seems to think she’s hella Asian. But I know a busload of grandmas taking the San Jose to Thunder Valley gambling bus that would think otherwise… Cause I don’t think she’s incredibly Asian as much as Ally is unincredibly Asian… Either way, this grandma is the real!

Mickey Rourke as Genghis Khan. SERIOUSLY.

Posted in Bitch please!, Uncategorized with tags , , , , , , , on April 28, 2010 by aznheartthrob

This shit got me so angry, I need to flip the KANYE WEST FONT ON. SERIOUSLY? MICKEY FUCKING ROURKE AS GENGHIS KHAN? CAN HOLLYWOOD PICK ANYBODY WORSE THEN MICKEY FUCKING ROURKE TO PLAY THE BADASS MONGOL RULER? I GUESS MICKEY ROONEY WASN’T AVAILABLE TO DO ANOTHER YELLOWFACE ROLE? HE’S ALIVE YOU KNOW, JUST READY TO POUNCE ON SOMETHING LIKE THIS CAUSE BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S WASN’T ENOUGH! BUT COME ON! MICKEY ROURKE!?!

YOU THINK DOOD LOOKS OKAY IN THAT PICTURE? I’VE SEEN THE MF’ER IN PERSON AT HAZE IN THE ARIA HOTEL IN VEGAS CUTTING IN LINE WITH SOME ANOREXIC MODEL. I LOOKED HIM IN THE FACE AND THOUGHT, “WHY IS THIS MUSCLED OUT DUDE WEARING A SAGGING SILICON MASK OF MICKEY ROURKE?” UNTIL I REALIZED IT WAS MICKEY F’N ROURKE. BUT SERIOUSLY, WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT FROM HOLLYWOOD NOWADAYS. BETWEEN JAKE GYLLENHAAL PLAYING A PERSIAN TO ALL THE DRAGONBALL Z/LAST AIRBENDER CRAP, THIS SHIT WILL ALWAYS HAPPEN. WHAT’S ALSO GREAT IS THIS GENGHIS KHAN MOVIE IS COMING FROM THE GUY THAT DIRECTED RED DAWN. THANKS DOUCHEBAG!

BOOOOOOOOOOYYYYYYYCCCCCCOOOOOTTTTTTT! BOYCOTT THIS SHIT LIKE A CAN OF DOLPHIN KILLING TUNA  BOUGHT FROM A WHOLE FOODS IN ARIZONA.

Thanks to IB via current.com for the scoop.

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