Instant Yang

This may be the most ludicrous New York Times Op-Ed I've read in years: Sell out Taiwan in exchange for China forgiving $1.1 trillion in debt!

2011-11-12T12:44:00.001-05:00

There are dozens of initiatives President Obama could undertake to strengthen our economic security. Here is one: He should enter into closed-door negotiations with Chinese leaders to write off the $1.14 trillion of American debt currently held by China in exchange for a deal to end American military assistance and arms sales to Taiwan and terminate the current United States-Taiwan defense arrangement by 2015.

This would be a most precious prize to the cautious men in Beijing, one they would give dearly to achieve. After all, our relationship with Taiwan, as revised in 1979, is a vestige of the cold war.

Wow. As if abandoning our allies and strategic commitments without cause or explanation weren't abhorrent enough, to suggest doing so in exchange for cash fundamentally demeans our country's values and ideals. (Imagine if he'd suggested selling Israel in exchange for a trillion in free oil?)

Ironically, the writer, Paul Kane, is an Iraq War vet. Thanks for your service, Mr. Kane, but you learned the wrong lesson from that misguided adventure....which will have cost us three times your bargain-label price for Taiwan by the time we finally leave.

James Fallows's equally aghast take here: Is This NYT Op-Ed a Joke? Selling Taiwan to the Bankers of Beijing—The Atlantic

And, of course, the Taiwanese animators of NMA:

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

WCCO-TV's idiotic "Chinatown market sells dog meat" story: Reporter and news director need to come clean

2011-11-10T09:42:00.001-05:00

[[posterous-content:pid___0]]

So you've probably already heard about the rickperryian antics of reporter James Schugel, of CBS Minneapolis affiliate WCCO. If not, here's a quick recap: He conducted an exclusive investigation on how Minnesota dogs were being sent to New York Chinatown for consumption as meat. The heart of his report — an interview with a worker at Dak Cheong Market, where the dogs were allegedly being shipped, in which the worker apparently admitted over the phone to selling "dog meat." "Dogs...for people to eat?" Schugel asked. "Um, yeah. We sell many kinds of meat," responded the worker, in halting English.

(It should be noted that this conversation occurred after Schugel had sent his undercover "I-Team" crew to New York, where they investigated the premises with a hidden camera and (naturally) found no trace of dogs being consumed, butchered or sold.)

Now, those of you who are familiar with Chinese accents already know what's going on here. Yep, the worker was saying that they sold "duck" meat — ducks, "not for pets, but for eating." Because what kind of an idiot would go to a butcher shop to buy a pet?

But that didn't stop Schugel and WCCO from highlighting the piece as a major story both on broadcast and on the web — until the real story came out and the station hastily pulled the online stream. The Asian American Journalists Association's Minnesota chapter has asked the station and reporter for an apology and explanation; none has so far been forthcoming.

As usual, there's a much bigger concern here than just a single erroneous report. This is a case of a journalist going into a story with a clear agenda in mind: He wanted to uncover proof of dogs being eaten by Chinese people. Probably not because of any desire to slander Chinese; to give him the benefit of the doubt, he was likely motivated by the desire to "break" a big and shocking story. But the rationale for Schugel's lack of appropriate journalistic skepticism is moot. The fact is, when an initial — and expensive — foray didn't obtain the evidence he wanted, he pushed until he got support for the conclusion that would generate the most reaction.

Did he consult with experts in Chinese culture, cuisine or immigrant communities? Doesn't seem like it. And given the obvious likelihood that a language barrier would exist between the Kansas City, MO-raised Schugel and his prospective source, did he seek out the services of a translator to communicate in his over-the-phone interview? Nope.

It's a no-brainer to point out that a station with reasonable diversity at all levels of the newsroom would probably have an Asian American individual capable of raising questions about both Schugel's reporting and conclusions before he and the station embarrassed themselves so badly.

But really, all it would have taken here is for a news director to engage a garden-variety B.S. detector: Even assuming a Chinese market were illegally importing dogs from another state to sell as meat, would they be idiotic enough to admit it, matter of factly, over the phone to a non-Chinese stranger?

(It should be noted that, despite numerous rumors and unfounded allegations, no one's ever found a legit case of dogs being butchered and sold or served in the U.S. as meat. Really. Never. Here's a column I wrote about it, years ago: Putting On the Dog)

Schugel needs to be suspended from the investigative beat, and WCCO news director Mike Caputa — who was promoted to that position just this June — needs to go on the record explaining why the decision was made to air this story, given its massive holes. And let me be clear — this isn't a race thing, it's a journalism thing. Bad reporting needs to be censured, regardless of what its subject is.

That said, when bad reporting contributes to racial slanders that have (ahem) dogged a community since the dawn of immigration, and when it threatens the livelihood of innocent immigrant businessmen and workers (not just in New York, but in every Chinatown in the nation), the repercussions need to be real, and they need to be redressed quickly and publicly.

WCCO's failure to do so is the biggest embarrassment of all.

Sidenote: While WCCO's fast fingers have pulled the original report off the web, the Taiwanese animators over at NMA-TV have been equally quick to fill the hole. Here's their take on the debacle:

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

All the snark in one place!: My CNBC GOPDebate liveblog transcript

2011-11-10T08:23:00.001-05:00

0 0 1 762 4349 Jindomedia 36 10 5101 14.0 Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE

So you may or may not know that I've been liveblogging the GOP Debates for WNYC's "It's a Free Country" as their Pop & Politics correspondent. In practice, this has meant pounding beers while watching the cavalcade of insanity that passes for the GOP candidates slate, and doing my best to simultaneously peck out snide commentary.

Anyway, with just a few thousand more debates left in this cycle, I've decided to start posting transcripts of my posts (here's a transcript of the actual debate itself, which was hosted by CNBC and titled "Your Money, Your Vote" — hilarious that CNBC misspelled its own anchor's name as "John Hardwood," you totes know that's his porn name, right people?) The highlights of last night's debate: 1. Jon Huntsman's back, did anyone miss him? 2. Herman Cain calling Nancy Pelosi "Princess Nancy" 3. Rick Perry #epicfail.

And now, your debate, in 60 seconds.

The debate's about to begin! My fearless predictions on the top three GOP debate ideas to fix the economy: 1—Cut taxes 2—End Medicare/Social Security 3—Ban abortion.

Oops—the numbering got messed up. Should be 9—Cut taxes 9—End Medicare/Social Security 9—Ban abortion

Uh...was that Food Network's Alton Brown being interviewed as an expert for this debate?

Ha! @BorowitzReport GOP Debate Preview: Michele Bachmann will say that from the moment an egg is fertilized, it has the right to own a gun

Huntsman's back! I totally feel like he should be standing there behind a cardboard box

"Just like 60 minutes is an hour, a dollar is a dollar." #CainsFirmGraspOnObvious

Romney takes a sideswipe at Newt? "I've been married to the same woman for 42 years"

Rick Perry looks intensely focused on the five inches in front of his forehead.

Did Perry just call for the breakup of the banks? Like Newt did, earlier today?

The 40% corporate tax rate is driving jobs out of the country? How does Bachmann explain the huge percentage of companies that pay 0% taxes?

Santorum's 0% taxes for manufacturing makes zero sense. Banks will start setting up basketweaving divisions.

Whoa—the question. Maria B. raises Cain's lady problems: "Why should the U.S. people hire a president with character issues?"

Cain: "And if you'd like to talk about this later, Maria, in private..."

Now a question on Occupy Wall Street. 76% of Americans believe that the economy tilts toward the wealthy.

And Huntsman gets his first question, and answers: I want to be president of the 99%. And the 1%.

Newt: "Occupy Wall Street doesn't have a clue about history". Unlike the Tea Party, which is at least costume-appropriate.

Santorum wants to drill the Marcellus Shale while training coal miners how to program in C++. Or something.

Cain says 999! Everybody drink.

Bachmann: "Freedom should cost at least $10 for every taxpayer, the cost of 2 Happy Meals." It's tax policy via Groupon!

Romney: "Allow this economy to reboot." Romney to America: CTRL ALT DELETE

Newt plays the DeNiro card: You askin' me?

All of a sudden, all the GOP candidates are in favor of breaking up the big banks. Did a check not clear?

Perry's solution to the healthcare crisis: "I guarantee we'll solve it, and we'll save a ton of money."

Calling Minority Leader Pelosi "Princess Nancy," huh? Cain's just really racking up the gender credibility here

Uh, Newt—Romney said MEDICARE, not MEDICAID should be sent to the states. Medicaid is already run by the states.

Michelle wondering where promised cost savings are from "Obamacare," which will not exist until 2014. #JustgohomealreadyMichelle

I really, really wish Romney would just say "we need to repeal Obamacare and replace it with Romneycare"

Romney stumbles like a drunken sailor all around question related to individual mandate.

RT @benschwartzy: Cain campaign now issuing statement that Pelosi is a "troubled woman" who asked to be called "Princess Nancy."”

Tied for face you most just feel like slapping: Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich

Romney did not want to remind audience that he collaborated with Ted Kennedy on his healthcare plan. Ha.

"We must have a president who puts the country in front of getting elected" And Romney disqualifies entire Republican field in one swoop

Perry forgets what department he's going to eliminate. "Education, Commerce...uh..." Wow. #EndofLineforPerry

Props to Ron Paul for trying to give Perry hints, though. "EPA?" "No...it's not the EPA."

Gingrich calls for privatizing Social Security, e.g. putting it in the hands of the same people who brought us the global economic meltdown

Bachmann has no idea what she's talking about, demographically OR economically, when she's talking about SocSecurity.

Huntsman: Obama sucks as a leader. See, a good leader wouldn't hire backstabbing weasels for key positions in his administration

Paul: "Pay for college the way you pay for cellphones!" Um...have the provider give it to you for free with a 2-year subscription?

Perry will "stand up for the young people" by getting rid of the federal student loan program. Our hero, saving kids from debt

Oh here's the "China sucks" portion of the debate.

And Cain's answer to winning! vs. China? 999. Like it is to everything. #NounVerband999

Romney: I'll crack down on China—those cheaters! I'll label them. And then they'll copy the labels and sell 'em at half price.

Newt cites Boston Consulting while standing right next to Bain alum Romney. Getting him back for his wife remark.

Romney's position on China is reminiscent of Reagan's joke "I've just signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever."

And now pit boss Jim Cramer is reading a quote about the markets being a casino....

I think that if Jim Cramer traded some of his medication for some of Rick Perry's, both would be better off.

If I'm running the GOP debates, it's 3 frontrunners I'd reduce the field to: Romney, Cain & the um, who's the third one there? Um...oops.

That's it! Until the next one...good night, everyone!

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

PARENTS: Isn't this the most brilliant freakin' meal idea you've ever seen? Your pint-sized Ferran Adria will swoon. #hotdoghetti

2011-10-05T10:05:00.001-04:00

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

Inclement weather, but great seats, & #CCSabathia pitching a great game! #GoYanks!!!

2011-07-26T21:18:00.001-04:00

See the full gallery on Posterous

But, sigh, just lost the no-no... :(

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

MY MASTER LIST OF ASIAN AMERICAN POP MUSIC: A Spotify playlist in progress. As of 7/26/11—3031 tracks by over 190 artists (click for list and links!)

2011-07-25T14:49:00.001-04:00

Name of Playlist: "Asian American Means Awesome"

As of July 25, 2011

Number of Tracks: 3031

Number of Artists: Over 190

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

David Sedaris thinks Chinese people (and food) are repulsive, which makes me sad, because I used to like David Sedaris.

2011-07-22T01:02:00.001-04:00

What do you do when a literary idol decides to take a huge metaphorical dump on the culture and civilization from whence your ancestors emerged? I'm not sure I've figured out the answer to that question yet. Because master mock-and-droller David Sedaris, who's unequivocally one of the great essayists of our time and a personal favorite of mine, has chosen to take his parodic talent and point it at China, its people and its food. Except the piece he's written for the U.K.'s Guardian newspaper is less amusing than it is venomous, xenophobic and dissipated.

Which, to be fair, describes many of his genuinely funny essays as well.

The difference, I think, is that in his adventures in France, Japan and, well, Raleigh, North Carolina, he is usually as self-deprecating as he is other-; he comes off as a general, equal-opportunity misanthrope in the classic Molièrean vein. He also actually bothers to create human characters and enliven them with dialogue, and often wit — they become his comic foils, or he theirs, in a widening outspiral of mannered absurdity.

Not so here. Sedaris announces from the outset that he dislikes Chinese food — "I'll eat it if the alternative means starving" — and thinks of visiting China itself as an unpleasant prospect: "'I have to go to China.' I told people this in the way I might say, 'I need to insulate my crawl space' or, 'I've got to get these moles looked at.' That's the way it felt, though. Like a chore."

But he goes anyway, after spending a week in vastly more civilized (but no less exotic) Tokyo — which he describes as sublime, delicate, and sanitary. And then, China. China, as described by Sedaris, is a land of phlegm-hawking savages who eat animals that no right thinking person would consume, and eat parts of those animals that no sane person would consider, preparing and presenting them in the most foul and revolting fashion possible. Also, Chinese people shit everywhere, they practically bathe in the stuff, and of course they have no problem eating shit, or at least things that eat shit.

In fact, shit, in its many forms — stinking, floating, abandoned, stepped in or, in his mind, coyly tucked into entrees — ends up being the closest thing Sedaris finds to be the satirical counter his prose always seeks out. He and shit engage in a kind of capoiera-like combat ballet throughout the 2700-odd word piece (though mucus and urine do occasionally enter the fray); by the middle of the piece, Sedaris's preoccupation has become less shocking than annoying, and by its final throes, less annoying than tedious. (He's brilliantly noted before that "Shit is the tofu of cursing and can be molded to whichever condition the speaker desires"; the larding-up of his narrative here with shit references points to what this essay really is, e.g., bulk filler with limited taste and nutritional value.)

So look, David: Chinese people eat weird food. There is a saying that "Chinese will eat anything with its back to the sky," and another that says "Chinese will eat anything with legs but a table and anything with wings but an airplane." These are Chinese sayings, I might point out — a sign that Chinese aren't exactly unaware that the "delicacies" that send prim Westerners off to their fainting couches are a little off the beaten path. But Chinese are far from the only culture that eats weird food, and fuck, given that you're from North Carolina, have you looked at what American Southerners traditionally eat? No? Chitlins! Possum! Muskrat! Bull testicles! Oh wait, you're from suburban Raleigh, so probably not, given that most of the more exotic dishes in Southern cuisine, like in most culinary traditions, was the offspring of necessity — invention midwived by destitution. If you're hungry enough, rodents will start to look tasty, as will chicken claws, stray innards and balls. And once you've eaten them long enough, all these things evolve into nostalgic signifiers — especially after you've pulled yourself out of poverty. They go from things you have to eat all the time to things you choose to eat once in a while, to remind yourself you don't have to eat them all the time anymore.

And this is what's truly ugly about your piece, David: For someone who's spent a lot of your career puncturing middle-class aspiration and self-delusion, your essay is unpleasantly blind to the fact that all of China is just a few generations removed from dire, desperate want, and that many people, like the peasant family you had such a bad experience sharing a meal with, continue to subsist on an annual income that's a tiny fraction of what a sophisticated awesome American literary superstar like you loses in his sofa. In a country of 1.3 billion people, even having braised pig's stomach to occasionally go with your daily rice is a fucking luxury.

But you should note: Those 1.3 billion people has a standard of living that's skyrocketing upward. They're crawling up and out of the economic muck, while we seem determined to drag ourselves down into it. And more and more of them are learning English and traveling abroad and reading international newspapers like the Guardian. So, just sayin': The next time you're eating at a fancy New York restaurant near a table of tourists from Shanghai...maybe you shouldn't turn your back on your Coke.

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

Also, bad journalism may cause ignorance? Fisking "MSG May Cause Weight Gain—Chinese Food Worse Than McDonald's"

2011-07-18T11:47:00.001-04:00

Nothing irritates me quite so much in lifestyle journalism than the breathless Consumption Red Alert feature — that "investigative health reporting" staple in which a statistics-blind editorialist takes a survey or study out of context, misinterprets or inappropriately frames its conclusions, and backs it up with irrelevant quotes and facts or deliberate distortions in order to warn of some terrifying phenomenon. This article is a prime example. As Simone Walters writes for FYILiving: OH NOES MSG MAY CAUSE WEIGHT GAIN! CHINESE FOOD "WORSE THAN MCDONALD'S !"

How many ways can I rip this article a new one? Let's go line by line:

"Many items on a typical Chinese food restaurant menu are more than 1,000 calories. That’s half your caloric intake per day in just one meal": First of all, you're not talking about Chinese food, you're talking about Chinese American food — takeout stuff that bears the same resemblance to "typical" Chinese food as McRibs do to, well, ribs. But even giving Walters the benefit of the doubt here, Chinese food is not meant to be single-serving by definition. It's eaten family style, which means a few containers should serve four people. Only Americans embrace a one-dish-per-person concept for Chinese food, but I suppose the headline "Typical Manner in Which Americans Eat Fake Chinese Food May Cause Weight Gain" doesn't really grab pageviews, does it?
"According to a recently published study, MSG (monosodium glutamate), a flavor enhancer most often associated with Chinese food, may also contribute to weight gain.": First of all, MSG is in virtually every processed, packaged food, under names like glutacyl, autolyzed yeast extract, calcium caseinate, sodium caseinate, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, textured vegetable protein, plant protein extract and yeast extract. And while Chinese (and Japanese, and Koreans, and many Southeast Asians) have used it as a seasoning for centuries, the quantity usually used is minimal — it's a finisher, not a primary taste ingredient. There's usually less MSG in even crappy Chin-eez™ takeout than there is in Cheetos, for crying out loud. (Note: Link is to an MSG hysteria site.)
"The study measured the dietary MSG intake of 10,095 Chinese adults in order to determine if there was an association between MSG intake and obesity. The study found that participants who consumed the most MSG were 28 percent more likely to be overweight compared to those who consumed the least amount of MSG.": The first rule of Statistics Fight Club? Don't talk about Statistics Fight Club. The second rule? "Correlation does not imply causation." Repeat after me: CORRELATION DOES NOT IMPLY CAUSATION. There may well be an "association" between MSG intake and obesity, but is it because obese people eat more crappy junk food that contains MSG, or is it because MSG causes obesity?
It gets worse. In FYILiving's own reporting on the study, linked to by Walters, "A survey in the 1990s estimated an average intake of 580 mg/d [of MSG[ for the general population in the United Kingdom. It was, however, two-folds higher in Japan and Korea." The U.K. is 28th on Forbes's list of the fattest countries in the world; Korea is 123rd and Japan is is 163rd. So does this imply that MSG consumption prevents obesity? Nope. But that would be an equally valid (that is to say, invalid) conclusion based on the evidence cited by FYILiving.
But again, the study itself doesn't suggest that MSG causes obesity — merely that high levels of MSG in the diet of some Chinese consumers is associated with obesity. Now, let's consider what this means. The study was performed in China — an emerging market undergoing a rapid and wholesale societal transformation, in which a rise in affluence is an enormous factor and changing diet is a significant outcome. Given that MSG is in nearly all processed foods, and consumption of processed foods in emerging markets is directly correlated with rising household income, wouldn't it be more likely that the study was measuring the degree to which wealthy people in China can afford to eat junk food? Because, in direct contradiction to Simone Walters' ultimate conclusion, the less affluent people in that study are more likely to be eating Chinese food (as opposed to Western food) — not less. Chinese food is what Chinese people eat when they can't afford McRibs. And in China, as in most emerging markets, chronic obesity is positively correlated with household income (note: PDF link to Youfa Wang's seminal work on Chinese obesity and socioeconomic status).
The final kicker? "A major limitation of this study was regarding the accuracy of the MSG measurement. Like other food additives the intake of monosodium glutamate was difficult to measure accurately. The fact that only a few people had a high body mass index made it inconvenient to establish a straightforward link between obesity and MSG consumption.": In short, the study was drastically flawed in both input and outcome, and the fundamental characteristics of the pool used for research made it "inconvenient" to establish the very conclusion Simone Walters is asserting in blaring headline font in her article. So, move along, nothing to see here, people, but thanks for the clickthrough.
It would be remiss of me not to suggest how one might actually design a study to test a direct causative link between MSG consumption and obesity, so here goes: Take several groups of healthy adults of similar age and body mass index but diverse racial/ethnic background; make one a control group given a healthy but otherwise unrestricted diet (e.g., eat as much as you want), and give the other ones an identical diet, except add MSG to their dishes in varying controlled dosages. Keep them on their diets for six months. If there's more weight gain among the MSG groups than the control group, you have a good case for correlation. if there's a scalable effect (e.g. groups consuming more MSG had greater weight gain) then you have a good case for causation. Is that so hard, people?

I should note that I saw this article on the website of the Wall Street Journal and clicked on it mistakenly thinking it was actual WSJ content. It's not — it's "sponsor content," which nevertheless appears in the same presentation format and font as actual WSJ articles, but represents fodder from "the OneSpot Content Exchange, a paid-distribution network of sponsors" whose "publishers have paid to have their links appear."

Whether it's a good idea for the Journal to be renting out its diminishing credibility to content farmers is a blogpost for another day.

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

Ah, what might have been: @CNN's SpitzerWeiner—Politics Exposed.

2011-07-06T21:48:00.001-04:00

A girl can dream.

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

Ballmer and Jobs #2: Under Development.

2011-07-01T18:40:00.001-04:00

Further adventures of the dynamic duo.

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

Ballmer and Jobs #1: I haz seen the future WAP WAP WAP

2011-06-30T16:14:00.001-04:00

They deserve some actual adventures, don't they?

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

Photoshopped this little mashup for my gadget-fan friends out there: Ballmer and Jobs (With apologies to Bill Watterson!)

2011-06-29T12:31:00.001-04:00

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

Don't miss this Special Kondabolu Brothers Bonus Xtra Feature: The smart, funny stuff that got edited out of my column

2011-06-17T12:03:00.001-04:00

See the full gallery on Posterous

The vicissitudes of deadlines and the hard, cold reality of editing meant that a late set of responses to emailed questions by the Brothers Kondabolu ended up on the figurative cutting room floor of my column this week (San Francisco Chronicle: Asian Pop—All Brown Everything) — which is too bad, because the stuff they sent is smart and funny and edgier than the stuff my editor left in. So here's a loop of bonus material from the Brothers K, Hari (the standup comic) and Ashok (a.k.a. Dapwell, hypeman for the incredibly awesome alt-hop group Das Racist, which if you don't know you should, and you will). Note to all, especially those living in Brooklyn or hell, the greater New York area: The Bros. Kondabolu are planning MINORITYFEST 2011, a sequel to their wildly successful monster comedy plus rap plus knowledge palooza of 2009 — exact date and lineup to be announced. Sometime this winter though.

[Light editing for grammar and clarity, of both questions and responses]

Right before I had to leave our interview [at Dub Pies in Brooklyn's Windsor Terrace — check 'em out, mmm pies] I was about to ask some questions about politics. So here are some questions about politics:

I feel like for artists of other races (e.g. white, black, and yes Latino), politics is expected as being part of the territory of their art. They get involved in Initiatives and advocate Causes, they support candidates, they urge people not just to vote, but to vote on specific issues in specific ways -- and it's all good. But no one seems to expect Asian artists or performers to be politically active, and certainly not to be vocally, openly politically active. Why do you think that is?

Hari: If there is an expectation of artists of other races to be political, I think it's a minimal one. I think there's more of an overwhelming sense of staying away from having any firm opinions on the world and avoiding controversy that is political in nature, and could affect you from getting future work. If there truly is less of an expectation for Asian artists to be political, maybe it's because the assumption is that "we've had it good here." It's that whole "model minority" thing. Obviously, the term "Asian" is very broad and we know there are a lot of lower-income folks and newer Asian immigrants — many undocumented — who are struggling. I will say there has been a lot of political art by Asians post-9/11, especially amongst brown Asians, and that's exciting.

Ashok: I think one of the most useful aspects is our visibility to the general public. Growing up there weren't very many "entertainers" who were South Asian/brown in general. Our politics (Das Racist and Hari's) are, I feel, fairly straightforward and oft-repeated. The band definitely trades in generating simplified political rhetoric and engages in messaging as well. We're often labeled as being racially ambiguous even though me and Himanshu are both Indian and Victor is Afro-Cuban and White (and oft confused for an Indian).

Have either of you ever had anyone (like a manager or prospective employer or booker or even a fan) ask you to tone it down? Has anyone ever suggested you'd go farther if you stopped being so obsessed with the race thing, or the Asian thing, or the Indian thing? You know, just let it go, get along to go along?

Hari: As long as you're successful, people leave you alone for the most part. I mean, random people say nonsense at shows or online every now and then. I have a decent amount of support within the industry, and the folks who may not like what I'm doing may not say anything because what I'm doing seems to be working. However, I'm sure there are opportunities I'm not getting because I do what I do. Doesn't really matter what people say to my face, if I lose out on things.

Ashok: No, they're scared of us. A few people have called our politics simple-minded and divisive, which they often are.

Do people ever call you racist for pointing out racism? Sorry, that's more of a personal bitchpoint of mine. Because I get that all the time. But do they?

Ashok: Yes, "reverse racism." Sometimes they are right, because referring to chunks of people as "white" is fairly meaningless — but often useful.

Hari — you worked on immigrant rights issues, and of course we're probably in the most horrendously xenophobic period of American history since World War II. What do you think is behind this resurgent fear/hate of immigrants? What's your take on Arizona, Alabama, Georgia?

Hari: People see their neighborhoods changing and they don't like it. They see change in language and culture and a struggling economy and they are looking for people to blame. People are always easier to blame than complicated policies.

Ashok — you guys, that is, Das Racist, did shows in Arizona...was that weird? Did you guys discuss not performing in Arizona (because of, you know, the hate)?

Ashok: Briefly, Victor's sister Vida lies out there so we decided to do it anyway (Tucson and Phoenix). We were going to actually read statistics and snippets of politically charged pro-immigration speech, but decided to scrap the plan when the Phoenix audience was predominantly Mexican. The Tucson audience as well was quite mixed, but there we still stuck with some "Fuck Jan Brewer" type stuff. Not particularly useful, but hey.

Have either of you guys encountered racist/anti-brown types, either while on the road, performing, or in your personal life?

Hari: Definitely in my personal life, and occasionally on the road. Usually people in the audience will yell random garbage or whisper something racist on stage so only I can hear it. There is also lots of well-intentioned, condescending racism too, as well as straight up stupid shit like asking me yoga or Indian food or telling me about a trip to India they want to make. I've experienced the great diversity of racism that the U.S. has to offer!

Ashok: Not really. People who come to see us know what they're getting for the most part. Victor beat up a man wearing blackface in Rome and he beat up a dude wearing an afro wig in Birmingham, Alabama.

It does seem that South Asians have been much more prominent in government/politics recently — President Obama has appointed many Desis to his cabinet and to high office (<cough>Kalpen Modi</cough>). Do you ascribe this to anything in particular? I mean, Chinese parents tell their kids not to get involved in politics...dunno if that's the case for Indian parents too.

Hari: I can't speak for all Indian people — obviously, I am one human....but our parents were not like that. Our paternal grandfather was a politician back in Southern India, and I have a political background. I interned for then-Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton back in 2003, and have worked at various nonprofit organizations. Our parents were concerned with us getting hurt, and sure there was the fear of potentially losing work opportunities, but I think they are proud of who we are and that we stand up for ourselves. My parents are fighters, in their own way. They don't just take crap from people and though they are not "activists," they do things that create opportunities for other people and are quite open-minded. My mom is the "cool aunty."

Also, there are now TWO Indian governors, and both of them are crazy right-wing evangelical crazies. Can you explain this? Please? Seriously, WTF?

Hari: Both are educated Christians who are easy to digest. They only scare hardcore racists.

Ashok: Oh, Nimrata and Piyush? Human garbage, hopefully they get hit by cars.

Ashok — I thought it was hilarious when you said that Victor [Vasquez, Das Racist's Kool A.D.] used to get mistaken for Sikh on the street, because given that the other two of you are Indian, he must get mistaken as Desi all the time anyway. Does he embrace his honorary Indian status?

Ashok: He thinks it's humorous but he'll always correct people unless he feels like fucking with them.

Hari — While watching your other YouTube clips, I stumbled across the channel for WorldCompass, in which you address some pretty serious stuff, in serious fashion. Badass, man! I particularly liked your take on white guilt vs. racism. Can you tell me about the project and how you got involved in it?

Hari: Kavita Pillay contacted me from WGBH in Boston saying that they were starting a new initiative with PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting that involved a greater web presence and they wanted videobloggers. It's not something I'd really experimented with, but I was excited to try. They provided me with a great platform to do it, and it's been an overall success. I'm definitely self-conscious about the piece,s and wish they were stronger, even though the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. I've even heard some of the videos have been used in various high school, college and grad school classrooms. The best in this field is Jay Smooth of "Ill Doctrine." He's the standard by which any thoughtful videoblogger/ essayist is judged. (At least in my opinion.) [Ed.: Mine too!]

I think Ashok mentioned Third World unity in passing (in relation to an organization at Stuy, I think?)...but here's a serious question: Do you think brown unity is truly possible? If so, what's it rooted in and where is it going?

Hari: That's too big a question for the Kondabolu Brothers to answer if you are talking about geopolitics. If you are talking in the U.S., then another generation or two of young ,educated brown people growing up together will help create that end. The South Asian disapora is not a unified one. It's very much split by nationality, class, caste, religion, geography and language. However, you already see some unity in this newer generation with the growth of "South Asian" organizations in politics and business. That identity is one we've tried to empower and build off of. Especially after 9/11, there was some great cross-community organizing around it and that's a start.

Hari — we talked about the (relative) preponderance of Indians in comedy recently; can you think of any other reasons, besides the ones we talked about, why Indians are breaking out in the humor space? Is Indian culture inherently funny? I feel like Chinese people are not really that funny by nature. At least not in a way that anyone else can comprehend. Maybe it's just me

Hari: I'd first stay away with anything that involves "by nature." It's basically that educated brown kids now have the ability to waste the educations and opportunities their immigrant parents worked so hard to pay for.

Ashok: Agreed!

Half kidding, half-serious bonus questions: Is Brown the New Black?

Ashok: Nope.

What can brown do for you?

Ashok: "Sing and dance," literally and figuratively in both our cases. HA! But also punch you if you're in blackface and have sex with your white daughters!

Das Racist's RELAX drops August 30th on Greedhead Records. And yes! Minorityfest 2011 will be happening this winter!

[Kondabolu Bros. out!]

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

From the Badvertising Files: Crispin Porter, king of gimmicks, asks you to watch TV for Whoppers

2011-06-17T11:18:00.001-04:00

Outgoing Burger King agency Crispin Porter Bogusky's last campaign for the grease hut is so very crispinporter (adj., "gimmicky"; "Saw XXII was so crispinporter, I had trouble suspending disbelief long enough to vomit into my popcorn"): They're asking people to watch DirecTV's Channel 111, which shows nothing but a rotating Whopper 24/7. If you can watch for five minutes straight, pressing buttons like a lab rat on cue to prove your eyes are on the screen at all times, you get a coupon for a free Whopper. Keep watching, keep earning free Whoppers.

I often feel like Crispin Porter creates these campaigns purely as promotion-by-proxy efforts to generate publicity, and not to actually drive product sales or enhance brand value. Because behaviorally, stunts like this make you associate the product with unpleasant experiences. You may do it for the free Whopper, but it probably makes you less likely to buy a Whopper ever again.

Especially after you've tasted the Whopper.

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

Today's Apple's WWDC Keynote: The PC Is Dead, Long Live the Cloud, Digital Amnesty for Pirates—Ahoy!

2011-06-06T18:22:00.001-04:00

Didn't tune into today's Apple keynote? Fear not — here are the paradigm-shifting takeaways Steve Jobs wants you to embrace and understand, in handy bullet-point form!:

The next wave of computing isn't going to be device-centric, application-centric, document-centric or even user-centric — it'll be experience-centric. At least of Lion is the template for the next wave of computing, which is what Apple assumes (Redmond, start your photocopiers):
- Gesture-based interfaces, animations and physics-based interactive elements make you feel like you're working directly on your content or media
- Applications are full-screen and "immersive," rather than locked into windows and sitting on faux desktops —all of the administrative and operational stuff disappear offscreen and surface only when the OS decides you need or want it
- "Saving" of files is automated and iterative (you can scroll back in time to past versions of files/documents to undo edits, retrieve deleted stuff, restore changes, etc. — like Time Capsule except at the document level)
- But "saving" may be antiquated anyway, because Apple is pushing "stop and resume" as the new default — when you move your attention away from an app all of the stuff is frozen in a persistent snapshot, and when you return, you come back to exactly the same state as you left it
- This "pick up where you left off" idea doesn't just apply over time — with Apple's new cloud-based infrastructure, it also applies across devices (at least for those applications that are cloudsmart). This means that if you're working on something on your Mac in, say, Pages (Apple's MSWord equivalent), all of your changes are synced with the cloud. Go to your iPad, fire up Pages and you can Resume your work on that exactly where you left off. Leave your iPad at home, and you can open up and Resume your work on your iPhone. (The same is true for playing media — freeze on the Mac, pick it up on the iPad or iPhone or Apple TV where you left off. The goal is anytime, anywhere computing with a consistent but device-appropriate experience.
This is all just context for the larger paradigm shift that Apple is decreeing, which is that the PC is dead — or at least demoted to "just another device," as opposed to the "hub of your digital life" (their old slogan). The PC, as Jobs famously said in the last keynote, is like a truck. It's a heavy-duty info-mover that's not really necessary for 90% of the things we do today, especially with so much computing power sitting out in data centers and accessible via the persistent wireless Internet. We still need to fire it up for some things, but we really don't need to dock to it anymore — that's just annoying. Instead, the cloud is the center of digital everythingness now.
- You no longer need to tether to a computer to activate new iDevices — turn them on, connect them to the Internet, identify yourself and all of your stuff (apps, media, files, prefs, etc.) will stream down to your new gadget automagically.
- You also don't need to tether in order to do iOS upgrades — those will also stream down wirelessly to you and update on their own (uh, hopefully only if you ask for them? <<jailbreakers beware>>
- It's not just activation — it's also syncing, which will take place in the background across all of your Apple platforms, from the Mac to the iPhone and iPad to Apple TV, via the magic of iCloud — allowing not just the stop-and-resume behavior mentioned above, but also consistent media access everywhere. If you have an app, movie, song or other piece of media on one device, you now have it on all of your authorized devices (up to 10) — and any changes you make are reflected everywhere. It's like DropBox, but for your whole damn digital life.
- Discs are dead, too. Lion, like iOS, is a downloadable release (4GB) that you get through the Mac App Store. If you must have physical media, you're getting a USB stick. Seriously, does anyone still use discs for anything other than coasters?
The big announcement, of course, is iCloud. And it *is* big. It's the thing that enables all of the background syncing to all devices, doing what Exchange does for Outlook (syncing email, messages, calendaring, contacts), but also what Google Music Beta and Amazon's Cloud Drive do for music and other media, with a couple of very big differences.
- It syncs photos, music, books, movies, apps, documents, preferences and application data, making all of it available to all of your devices in updated form at all times
- It backs up all of your mobile stuff to the cloud — so you can restore wirelessly rather than having to restore from your computer if your device crashes or needs total resetting, or, again, if you get a new device
- IT'S NOT A STREAMING SERVICE. It's a meta-download service — if you want something on your authorized iDevice that you already own, you click on it and it downloads to that device. Once it's on that device, you can listen to or watch it as many times as you want, delete it, redownload it, etc. at will. Rationale: 1.) streaming eats up bandwidth like no tomorrow — so why not cache it locally if it's something you'll be consuming again and again; 2.) streaming only works when you're in wireless range. Syncing lets you listen on your local device even when you're off the grid.
- You can upload/sync whatever you want if it's on your computer and in iTunes (whatever the origin — ripped, torrented, etc.). However, to avoid the hours, days or weeks of uploading that syncing a 32GB music collection may require, you can use something called iTunes Match, which for $25 will scan your iTunes collection and automatically make available 256K (e.g., ultra high-fidelity), DRM-free copies of the songs that Apple has access to available in your iCloud — no uploading. If they don't have it, you can still upload it and it's treated the same as everything else. Here's the amazing thing: THIS IS BASICALLY PIRATE AMNESTY. You may have 100GB of downloaded music, but use this backdoor and for $25, it'll all be replaced with legal, DRM-free tracks that you can listen to on all your devices. Once that happens, you're beyond the reach of Big Music. And this is not a subscription service, either — it's DRM-free music, so they can't rake it back; it's a one-time $25 payment to indemnify you from RIAA prosecution. Not bad, for all of you who've been reared on fr33 d0wnl04dz!

There's a lot more stuff in there, but these are the big things — and they point to some bigger ones ahead. I would watch Apple TV very closely…as I predict that all of this iCloud stuff is poised to impact the living room in a huge way very soon.

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

My Thoughts on Wesley Yang's NYMag Feature "Asian Like Me": What a Long, Strange Trip

2011-05-09T10:18:00.001-04:00

Hey look, another volley in the unending culture wars over Tiger Mom! This one, "Asian Like Me" (or, as it's titled in the interior, "Paper Tiger") is written by Wesley Yang — no relation, as far as I know, he's of the Korean branch of the clan. It's on the cover of this week's New York magazine. And it's a very strange article.

There are pieces of it I agree with, but it's wrapped in so much self-indulgence and reconstituted and redirected self-pity that those useful and interesting bits end up bobbing in the prose like drowning castaways.

I guess this is how I'd respond: The counterposition to being a good little Tiger Cub isn't a defiantly proud lack of success. And celebrating your inability to engage with the world and its rules doesn't automatically make you a genius—in some cases, it just makes you a misanthropic asshole.

Paragraphs like this:

"I wanted what James Baldwin sought as a writer—'a power which outlasts kingdoms.' Anything short of that seemed a humiliating compromise. I would become an aristocrat of the spirit, who prides himself on his incompetence in the middling tasks that are the world’s business. Who does not seek after material gain. Who is his own law."

Makes me feel like the author doesn't really understand the context of James Baldwin's writing...or, for that matter, his own. Especially since his cultural analysis of the Tiger Mom phenomenon has the same lack of examination of class that Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother does, only from the other side.

You see, plenty of people go to Rutgers not because they're seeking to become "aristocrats of the spirit" — free of Ivy bullshit and Tiger parent hyperexpectation — but because it's one of the top 50 or so colleges in the world (ranked ahead of Brown in the most recent Academic Ranking of World Universities) and because it's affordable...if they're paying for their own education.

My wife, for instance.

Her parents didn't even go to high school, immigrated to the U.S. with nothing but debt in their pockets, and ran a series of restaurants with middling success, which she and her brothers toiled at throughout their teen and young adult years.

Although her parents had neither the desire nor the resources to send her to college, she saved her money from multiple part-time jobs and ended up being the first person in her family to ever get a university degree — then went on to get her Masters at Duke, also on her own dime. My in-laws — God love them — are the inverse of Tiger parents; all they ever wanted was for Heather to get married and have kids and not work as damned hard as they had to all their lives. Well, two out of three ain't bad, I guess....

Anyway, my point is that the interesting things Wesley Yang has to say in this article end up getting suffocated by his solipsism. A dead giveaway is his failure to interview any Asian American women for the story — which, perhaps, is due in part to his embrace of the that sexual success can be conflated with financial/professional/ontological success.

The two don't necessarily go hand in hand, man.

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

FM+D&D? I'm in love: "Roll a D6"

2011-05-05T11:15:00.001-04:00

SO GEEKY. SO SO BRILLIANT.

FAR EAST MOVEMENT PARODY

"People rollin' dice/I'm a wizard..."

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

#TechFAIL: Methinks this ad campaign will prove to be a mistake for our pals up north at RIM.

2011-05-02T11:01:00.001-04:00

Marketing 101: Don't throw down a gauntlet unless you have a product that can back it up, or you'll get a cinder block in the face. Nearly every single review I've seen of the Playbook has implied, bluntly, that "amateur hour" apparently is just beginning, and RIM is the emcee.

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

It's ANGRY DAY. Show your love to Phil Yu and AngryAsianMan.com for 10 amazing years!

2011-04-30T09:50:00.001-04:00

So today's the day Phil Yu is officially celebrating a full decade of writing AngryAsianMan.com, the blog that's become the hub of online Asian America. If like me, you depend on Phil and AAM for daily (or even hourly) updates on our community's constantly shifting landscape, show your love by changing your profile pic to the AAM@10 one illustrating this post — especially if, also like me, you can't make it to his party tonight! And if you want to read more about Phil, here's a revealing interview I was privileged to do with him for KOREAM Magazine (whose perpatetic and utterly awesome editrix, Kai Ma, has just shipped her last issue, as she makes her way out to Hong Kong...safe travels and good times, Kai!)

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

Amazing 1956 comic from William F. Wu's "Asian images" comic book collection at NYU: THE YELLOW CLAW

2011-03-30T10:40:00.001-04:00

A little bit of news: I've been asked to curate the first-ever exhibition of the incredible comic book collection of science fiction author William F. Wu for New York University's Fales Library — Wu has samples of nearly every comic containing Asian images published between the years of 1947 and 1986, and has donated his archive to Fales! The show goes up in May, so there's a ton of research work (e.g., poring over comics) to be done between then and now. Well, in the course of that research, I came across this comic published by Atlas (which would later engender mighty Marvel): The first edition of The Yellow Claw, by EC Comics great Al Feldstein and artist Joe Maneely, published in October 1956. It's incredible in several ways: First, because it incorporates virtually every standing stereotype of Asians within its pages, depicted with amazing grotesquerie. Second, because it also introduces perhaps the first-ever Asian American pulp hero and protagonist: Jimmy Woo, Chinese American FBI agent, nemesis to the evil would-be conqueror (and Fu Manchu manquee) Yellow Claw. Woo also has an ongoing flirtation with the Claw's grandniece, Suwan, who pines for the dashing agent but also has lotus-like loyalty unto death toward her grand-uncle. Truly amazing stuff...and it's just the tip of the iceberg of this collection. I promise you, the exhibition is going to be a must-see.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

Just finished moderating a fantastic panel at SXSW: E-Race—Anonymity, Avatarization and the Virtualization of Identity

2011-03-13T14:03:00.001-04:00

I can't say enough about the panelists, W. James Au (author of The Making of Second Life) and Lisa Nakamura (director of Asian American Studies at U. of Illinois–Urbana, Champaign and editor of Digitizing Race and CyberTypes) — they were prepared, incredibly knowledgable and, yes, funny as hell. Our conversation began with a reassessment of the nature and definition of race, followed by James's exploration of race and identity in the world of avatars and Lisa's discussion of racism as mediated by (and exacerbated by) technology. Brazilian bodythieves on Second Life, how black sellers on Craigslist get offered puppies for iPods, the genocide of female dwarves in Lineage II, trolling for lulz on TechCrunch — the conversation went numerous places but all of them were directly germane to the topic, which had implications and dimensions that neither the audience nor the panelists were fully aware of until we started talking.

Our PowerPoint presentation is available below, as is the awesome Visual Notes doodle created by Heather Willems of ImageThink on behalf of Ogilvy (which selected certain panels — the coolest ones, ahem — for visualization in this graphical outline medium. I'll link the podcast when it's available as well. It's a must-listen, if I do say so myself!

erace_final.pdf Download this file

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

The real reason Mubarak decided to resign

2011-02-11T12:33:00.001-05:00

To: [redacted]@yahoo.com

From: Hosni Bumarak

Date: Friday, January 14, 2011, 2:41 PM

Subject: re: Will Someone Prove To Me Not All Egyptian Men Look Like the Frog-Headed God Kuk?

Hi,

Hope I'm no Kek. :) I'm a very fit fun classy guy.

Live in the Cairo area. 6ft 190lbs brown/brown.. work in government. I promise not to disappoint.

Sent via Blackberry on Mobinil

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

AOL buys Huffington Post for $315 million; estimated fair enterprise value of Washington Post? $200 million

2011-02-07T12:36:00.001-05:00

This just in: AOL, continuing to pursue its rollup strategy of aggregating all of the biggest (and/or loudest) brands in online content, has just agreed to purchase the Huffington Post for a staggering $315 million, of which $300 million is estimated to be in cash.

Let's set aside whether that price is a reasonable one for a site that's largely driven by transcribed celebrity rants and and 24-point headlines (topping 150-word capsule paraphrases of other people's reporting), not to mention an army of the blogworld's most vicious anonymous commentrolls. The fact is, HuffPo has found a formula that its readers find irresistible — all 26 million of them, which Comscore estimates puts them second in traffic for online "newspapers," after only the New York Times.

What's amazing about this purchase price is how it values online news content versus traditional news content. Based on an analysis by Seeking Alpha's Ben Comston in November 11, 2010, the fair enterprise value of the newspaper operations of the Washington Post — HuffPo's staid semi-namesake — is just over $200 million...only 2/3rds of what AOL just paid, almost entirely in cash, for HuffPo.

Here's Comston's breakdown of the WaPo Company's total value, by business category:

Newspaper Publishing: $203.8 million

Broadcasting: $881.38 million

Cable Television: $2,197.66 million

Education: $1,031.51 million

Cash, Marketable Securities, and Investments in Affiliates Net of Debt and Deferred Taxes: $635.062 million

In case you were wondering, that billion-plus "Education" segment represents the company's ownership of test-prep giant Stanley Kaplan. Yes, Stanley Kaplan alone is five times as valuable as the paper of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein.

Sign of the times, eh?

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

Rest in peace, Tura Luna Pascual Yamaguchi—better known as cult movie superstar Tura Satana

2011-02-06T23:06:00.001-05:00

Any fan of cult movies will have seen Russ Meyer's over-the-top classic Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! — and if you have, you can't unremember Tura Satana's brain-bending portrayal of murderous go-go girl Varla (or the cavernous cleavage that led mammophile Meyer to cast her). But Satana's mostly overlooked real life story is as shocking and indelible as the plots of the exploitation flicks that made her famous. Born Tura Luna Pascual Yamaguchi in Hokkaidō, Japan, the daughter of a Japanese-Filipino silent film actor and a circus performer of Cheyenne Indian and Scots-Irish heritage, she moved with her parents to the U.S. before World War II, during which her family was interned at Manzanar.

After the war, the Yamaguchis moved to Chicago, where Tura experienced constant racist and sexist harassment due to her Asian features and precociously voluptuous body. An excellent student, while walking home from school one day, she was raped by a gang of five men — who escaped prosecution due to bribery of the local judge. Tura subsequently studied aikido and karate — the marital arts moves she shows in Faster Pussycat! are real — and over the next decade and a half, tracked down each of her attackers and brutally punished them, having vowed to get her revenge.

As a teenager, she was sent to reform school, where she became the head of a brawling, leather-clad girl-gang. At 13, her parents pushed her into an unwanted marriage with 17-year-old John Satana, which ended in less than a year, with Tura escaping to Los Angeles, where a fake ID enabled her to find employment as a nude model (even posing for a set of 3-D stereoscopic nude photography sessions for silent screen comedy superstar Harold Lloyd). She returned to Chicago and at 17, began a career as a go-go dancer, then as a queen of the burlesque circuit, during which she dated Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley, the latter of whom even proposed to her (she turned him down).

A few years later, at 19, she became pregnant with her first child, Kalani. She worked bit roles in TV and film, before being discovered by Myers and cast in Faster Pussycat! in 1965, at the age of 27. Though she would never work with Myers again, she consolidated her exploitation queen status under another director, psychotronic auteur Ted V. Mikels. She starred in two of Mikels' most memorable movies — The Astro-Zombies (1969) and The Doll Squad (1974) — but, after making Doll Squad in 1973, she was shot by an ex-lover, and decided to leave showbiz, finding work as a nurse and then an L.A.P.D. dispatcher, where she met the man who would be her husband until his death in 2000, retired police officer Endel Jurman.

She and Jurman married in 1981; that same year, she was in a serious car accident that broke her back, forcing her to undergo over 17 operations during the next two years.

In 2001, Tura made her return to the screen for friend and patron Mikels' Astro-Zombies remake. By that time, the world had thoroughly rediscovered Tura and embraced her as an alt-feminist icon. When she died on February 4 of heart failure in Reno, Nevada, she and her longtime manager Siouxzan Perry were in the process of raising funds for a documentary on Tura's epic, kick-ass life, called TURA! The Documentary. A teaser trailer can be seen here.

She was 72. She will be missed.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

This is just bizarre. Why is Yahoo showing up as "Anshika Packers & Movers" on Alexa?

2011-01-19T07:01:00.001-05:00

See and download the full gallery on posterous

This doesn't do wonders for the already questionable credibility of Alexa. Or the already questionable credibility of Yahoo. However, it did make me immediately think of 30 Rock and the awesome revelations of GE's corporate flowchart (PDF link). Maybe — unbeknownst to us all — Yahoo has already found the white knight (er...brown knight?) it needs to save its shrinking bacon.

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

Someone please explain this: Why does Facebook search continue to blow with the gale force of a thousand Katrinas?

2011-01-19T00:43:00.001-05:00

How is it even possible that the biggest social network — and second biggest site of any kind — in the world still doesn't have any kind of reasonably useful, or at least minimally non-crappy, search function?

My airing of grievances!

You can find new friends easily, but it's nearly impossible to find/sort/filter your *existing* ones. (Even finding the tools for social sorting is challenging — why do you have to go to Edit Friends to search through your friends? Totally nonintuitive.)
You can search for posts, but not comments. And the post results you get are sorted by time, not relevance. And there's no way of organizing the results, or even seeing more than a handful without paging through many painstaking "More Results" clicks.
There's no "Advanced" search allowing you to search just certain kinds of information (friends only, all site, content only, search by date, etc., or to use Boolean search and/or regular expressions)
There's no way of searching questions, images, or requests, and there's no way of searching just within your news feed.
You can't save searches, you can't search within searches, you can't do tabbed searches, you can't create feeds out of searches (which would make "News Feed" MUCH more valuable)

But hell, I could add to this list all day.

The bottom line is that Facebook is where we voluntarily put a ton of useful information, most of which is not visible and thus not searchable by the tool we use to sort the rest of our global information — Google. Which means that uploading content to Facebook is to consign it to a kind of grey hole — not entirely inaccessible, but not much easier to extract it back from than, say, trying to find lost documents by rooting through a dumpster.

Assuming that Google was too much of a potential competitor to strike a deal with, why not at least integrate technology from Microsoft, whose Bing "decision engine" is at least running a distant second to the search giant?

Given that Microsoft bought a chunk of Facebook in 2007 and signed a deal to sell Facebook's banner ads, why didn't the two companies make some kind of technology deal to help Facebook internal search not suck then? Search results would generate even more opportunities for ad placement — a win-win, it would seem, for the two companies, and add a win for us, the beleaguered users.

Oddly, Facebook seems much more concerned with external search (its so-called "Open Graph Search" initiative) than internal. Frankly, I have zero interest in using Facebook to find things that are not on Facebook. I do have a big, vested interest in using Facebook to find things that ARE on Facebook — since there is essentially no other way to find those things. Given how big FB is and how much dark matter there is in there, this should absolutely be a top priority for Zuck and Co. — it's embarrassing and broken at this point, and I'm being extremely polite.

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

Forget Tiger Mom. The real evil genius here is Foxy Grandpa.

2011-01-18T18:28:00.001-05:00

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

HOLY COW. Prez Obama to appoint Pete Rouse to replace Rahm—first Asian American White House Chief of Staff!

2010-09-30T18:11:00.001-04:00

The White House announced that Special Advisor to the President Pete Rouse, a consummate behind-the-scenes player who joined then-Senator Barack Obama as his senatorial Chief of Staff in 2004, will replace tough-talking, hard-charging Rahm Emmanuel when the latter leaves to run for Mayor of Chicago this week. Rouse is the son of Irving Rouse and Mary Mikami, nisei daughter of immigrants George and Mine Mikami.

While Rouse has not emphasized his Asian American roots during his political career, neither has he denied them — and given that his mother grew up speaking only Japanese, and his maternal grandparents were interned during the War, he certainly has critical narratives of the Asian American experience deeply embedded in his personal history.

Of course, you could say the same about his boss: I've written before (rather controversially) that Barack Obama, might well be considered the first Asian American president for similar reasons — Asian American narratives are wound into throughout his life story. More evidence for Obama's quasi-Asian American (Quasian?) identity: His clear comfort with and respect for Asian Americans as colleagues and key teammembers...like, for instance, Pete Rouse.

Asian Pop: Could Obama be the first Asian American president?

Profile of Pete Rouse

Archival Pictures of Pete Rouse's maternal family

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

The things you miss when you're in China. Mike + Tina = STRONG ASIAN FUSION

2010-09-30T02:51:00.001-04:00

Wow. So, I'd hoped to write in the 'Gate about the premiere of Glee along with HI-Five but ran out of space, since my editor limits my column to a measly 2000 or so words (aheh). The rationale was the much-anticipated appearance of Fil-Pop idolette Charice on the show — though based on the direction the premiere took, it looks like her role is going to be at most "recurring," sadly.

But something much bigger dropped in the season opener — a plot twist that, though played mostly for laughs, could quite possibly be a historic one for the representation of Asians on primetime TV. Yep, I'm talking about the sudden and totally unexpected Mike x Tina relationship — otherwise known as Chang Squared, or MiTi, or Mina, or whatever convention the relentless 'shipper brigades on the web use to convey cutesy coupledom, wishful or otherwise, among fictional characters.

I know some people may have found some aspects of the blossoming of their love offensive (they met at Asian Camp, where they were teaching technologically advanced Asian children how to appreciate the arts!), but have we ever — ever — ever seen an actual pairing of Asian Americans as a romantic couple on a sitcom in the past? I'm not referring to one-shots or old marrieds here, but young, ongoing characters in a primetime comedy, meeting cute and being lovey-dovey?

As with most advances in recent television diversity, I think it all began with Lost — in this case, Jin and Sun; old marrieds, yes, but very much a romantic couple. Heroes then had James Kyson Lee's Ando and Eriko Tamura's Kimiko.

But those were both dramas. Sitcoms, for better and for worse, are still America's teevee standard, setting the bar for normal; for instance, I'd argue that the turning of the tide toward acceptance of LGBTs in middle America was ultimately the portrayal of gay characters in a funny and favorable light in Will and Grace.

So now: Mike and Tina. Asian and Other Asian. Will it last? Will they get some real screen time? We can only hope. At the least, the pairing has made for some deftly hilarious jokes about, with and yes, at the expense of Asian stereotypes, in a way that I think manages to humanize the Asian American condition. I'll 'ship to that.

(And I had to LOL to: "The Asian community is very tight")

Hmm, maybe there's a column in this after all...

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

Thoughts on the one-man/one-woman show genre — and my take on Michelle Krusiec's MADE IN TAIWAN and Natalie Kim's YO GIRL!

2010-09-11T18:47:00.001-04:00

I have to admit — I'm not a fan of the one-man/woman show genre; they tend to feel self-indulgent and solipsistic, and I guess that's part of their charm to connoisseurs.

But I'll make a set of exceptions to this rule: If a performer has the level of confidence and self-awareness required to command the stage without turning it into a pathos-drenched therapy couch; a story that would simply be worth telling in any form, from literary nonfiction to cocktail conversation; and the talent to inhabit multiple personas seamlessly and persuasively — well, what you end up watching isn't a one-person show, but a kind of magic trick.

What I'm saying is that I know it's a high standard, but for me, I'm not interested in seeing a show of this type that doesn't make me saying "Wow!" on the way out.

Fortunately, the 1M/1W shows I've seen have mostly fit that category. As a member of the dot-com walking wounded, I greatly enjoyed Mike Daisey's 21 Dog Years: Doing Time @ Amazon.com.

I was blown away by Yisrael Campbell's Circumcise Me, about his multistage conversion from atheist goy to observant Jew and finally to full Orthodoxy. (But I also admit to being something of a Judeophile, fascinated in the religion, its cultural traditions and its long and deep history.)

But I generally found the late Spaulding Gray's stuff to be insufferable, have never been a fan of Eric Bogosian, and even feel John Leguizamo's shtick is hit and miss at best.

That said, I was riveted by my friend Natalie Kim's 1WS, which I saw in an early incarnation, running back to back with a fellow actress's monologue under the joint bill Yo Hot Mamas!. Her deftly performed narrative explored her identity as a Korean adoptee, and how that identity was shaped by her relationships with her three moms — her adoptive mom, her stepmom (after her parents divorced and remarried), and her birth mom — and it was hilarious, gripping and heartfelt.

It was also the first half of a bill without intermissions, which meant I had no choice but to sit through her colleague's piece about female sexuality at midlife — which I found stultifying in all of the worst ways one-person theater can be stultifying. On the one hand, the companion piece made Natalie's piece shine even brighter by contrast. On the other, it was a deadweight way to end the evening, and I desperately considered trying to escape during the second monologue — even though bolting would have meant physically crossing the actual performance space. Thankfully, Natalie has retooled and expanded her piece, renaming it Yo Girl! and ditching the anchor of her former stage partner. Her show just returned from a celebrated run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and with any luck the new remix will get a fresh production here Stateside sometime soon — it deserves to be seen, a lot.

In fact, if she does feel the need to do her show in repertory, there'd be no better fit than to hook up with Michelle Krusiec, whose 1WS Made in Taiwan I saw last night at the Lucille Lortel Theater in the West Village. Michelle, also an adoptee, similarly tasks herself with exploring the mom-daughter nexus, though she has somewhat fewer moms than Natalie. Just one, in fact — but the mom in question is as vivid a character as I've seen embodied on stage in recent memory.

Krusiec's chameleonic slippage between her own persona and that of her adoptive mother, not to mention her much-abused Polish adoptive father and her mother's gargoylesque friends, is a jaw-dropping act of transformation; the show does have its overwrought moments, but they don't dominate what is otherwise an emotionally balanced, brilliantly written and wonderfully performed 85 minutes of theater. My only quibble: The title of the play is almost a non-sequitur: The show addresses Krusiec's birth (and abandonment, and adoption) in Taiwan in its first few minutes, then never mentions it again. The rest of the 80 minutes of the play take place in and around Krusiec's suburban hometown in Virginia, and focus on the exquisite disaster of her relationship with her mom — a story that's in turns touching, tragic, hilarious and horrific. One wonders why Krusiec didn't give her work a name that better reflects its core themes and tensions; this is a show that anyone who's been a mother or a daughter, or had a mother or daughter, should see, whether you're Taiwanese or not.

Made in Taiwan has three days worth of encore performances left; buy tickets here, though they're likely to go fast. And as for Yo Girl!, well, watch this space.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

SPECULATION: Why Apple's new "iTunes Social Network" Ping is the REAL "monster under the bed" of yesterday's Music Event

2010-09-02T02:08:00.001-04:00

So, I finally and belatedly watched the Apple Music Stevenote. Here's my topline: New iPods; new AppleTV. Stream is the new sync. Rent is the new buy. Also, anyone who thinks the App Store isn't coming to AppleTV in a soft refresh is just being all crazy (once they solve for screen size/controls, that is—my bet: an add-on AppleTV TouchRemote, $59; or just use your iPod Touch/Nano or iPhone with a free downloadable app.)

And then there's Ping. And Ping...could be big.

In fact, I think Ping really might be the monster under the bed of this keynote. Everyone keeps talking about this as some kind of iTunes-limited “canned-socnet-in-an-app,” but they forget that there are very clear signals that Apple’s moving iTunes to the cloud and web sometime in the not so distant future.

Which means that Ping might well end up being a lot more than Apple’s saying it is.

Imagine, if you will, Ping going from just a “social network about music” to being a “social network about ________” (fill in the blanks with music, TV, film, apps — anything that Apple currently pushes through iTunes). That’s an obvious next step.

Now imagine Apple builds a cloudy iOS, in response to Google’s Chrome OS — but rather than being an OS that hosts a browser, it would be the *browser hosting the OS*. (Presumably this would be Safari only.)

iCloudOS would run iOS apps INSIDE the browser. Which would also allow for the rumored convergence of MacOS and iOS—iOS runs inside the browser of MacOS, no funky confusion with switching or bootloading or virtualization or whatnot.

Meanwhile, iCloudOS would also by definition run iOS apps inside Ping....creating a totally new way of distributing apps: The Social Network IS the iTunes Store.

Say I like something, I pimp it to my friends, they demo it in their browser, they buy it with a click, they can play it both in-browser and on all of their iOS devices — iPod Touch, iPhone, AppleTV, etc. And obviously, Apple's social gaming network GameCenter and Ping would then converge as well, allowing you to track ranks, broadcast your achievements or matchmake games across Ping — with players who are playing in-browser or on any iOS device.

IS THIS NOT HUGE?

Maybe it's crazy.

But it could be the future. You read it here first.

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

Space for 'Rents: Gotham staycation suggestions—Brooklyn Bridge Park and Governor's Island

2010-07-06T21:52:00.001-04:00

[Fellow familyites: Here's the first in what will hopefully be an ongoing series of posts with advice and opinions on parental matters. Not that I'm an authority or anything, but has that ever stopped a blogger from advising or opining? Rhetorical question.]

Given the economy, it's just not practical getting away for more than one family vacation a year. (Ours is going to be in France! More on that later.) So finding free kid-friendly fun — ideally within bicycle distance of our Park Slope pad — is at a premium during the long, hot summer. Over the past week, we checked out two new New York City parks that didn't just meet the bill —they frankly blew our minds.

The first and closest is the still-in-development Brooklyn Bridge Park, which is coming into focus on the waterfront in Downtown Brooklyn near Brooklyn Heights. They're unveiling the park pier by pier, with just a few of the planned attractions ready for public consumption to date — but even those are already awesome: A playground that's an exercise in geometrical concepts, with three of the biggest and coolest slides we've seen (certainly cooler than anything else in a city playground), and a water park that includes all kinds of sprinklers, water flumes, pumping stations and splash ponds — aqua bliss, for anyone under the age of 12 (and, you know, a few of us who are over, though you have to have an under-12 kid to get in). Here's a quick video tour:

Download now or watch on posterous

Quadcycling_on_Governors_Island.MOV (4176 KB)

Still to come — a tidal splash pool that'll allow swimming and clambering on rocks, presumably in river water so your hygiene mileage may vary, and a sand beach that will offer an urban alternative to driving out to Jones, South, or Coney Island / Brighton, etc.

The other curiously awesome new municipal outdoor leisure facility (park doesn't quite do it justice): The brand-new Governors Island. Now, you might not think GI is particularly accessible, as it's, you know, an island. But free ferries from both Manhattan and Brooklyn make biking to the waterlocked destination a breeze. And once you get there, it's gorgeous — with lovely paths around and through the island interior, a bike rental service that offers cruisers, tandems and quadricicles, a beach (courtesy of the Water Taxi Beach people, though as a result it's somewhat infested with beer-pong types), some beautiful public art — and unbeatable views. Plus, there's currently an incredibly cool free minigolf course, with each hole a sculpture created by an emerging artist in the FIGMENT arts program. It's up and available through October.

Download now or watch on posterous

OneBrooklynBridgePark.mov (32748 KB)

Bottom line: If you're stuck in the city for the hot months, you could do worse — and in fact, would be hard pressed to do better — than these two bold and beautiful new city institutions. They're so awesome, in fact, that my wife was moved to incredulously wonder: "They're slashing school budgets and laying off teachers, but they have the budget for this?"

Uh. Point well taken. Enjoy 'em while you can.

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

Fun with Washable Markers: EVIL BABY and KID KAT

2010-07-02T14:01:00.001-04:00

Daddy was bored while Mommy was at yoga....

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

Column Catch-Up Time: Belle Yang's FORGET SORROW, Daniel Dae Kim and the end of LOST, and the poisoning of political discourse

2010-06-30T00:02:00.001-04:00

I'd hoped to stay current on a, um, more current basis with the archiving of Asian Pop, my San Francisco Chronicle/SFGate column, on this personal blog, but as usual that's proven to be something of a quixotic quest. So, here I am catching up with six weeks worth all at once — three columns, each of which deserves its own space.

Back on May 19, I interviewed the wonderful Belle Yang on the occasion of the publication of her latest book and first graphic novel, Forget Sorrow — a truly luminous book, and well worth reading by any fan of great comics, or simply great stories. She's found her metier with graphic fiction, and I hope she never looks back. I brought the book with me to the Shanghai World Expo, which proved to be an ideal (and ironic) place to peruse it.

Remembering to forget

At the World Expo in Shanghai, Jeff Yang reads author Belle Yang's new graphic novel, "Forget Sorrow," and considers China's desire to edit its past as it writes its future

Then on June 3, I spoke with Daniel Dae Kim, one of the best reasons to watch the show Lost (though Jin-centric episodes were too far and few between), and almost certainly one of the best reasons to watch the forthcoming Hawaii Five-O remake. (Another, naturally, is Grace Park.)

ASIAN POP: The book of Daniel

Daniel Dae Kim can't get the island thing out of his system. After six groundbreaking years as a castaway on "Lost," he's now poised to join CBS's fresh take on the classic cop-show Hawaii Five-O."

Finally, two weeks ago, on June 17, I wrote a column that explored the ugly ways that extremist rhetoricians — like Fox News host Glenn Beck — have pushed the edges of what passes for "mainstream" dialogue further out into the fringe, with potentially devastating results for those on the margins ... like immigrants.

Bust your windows

Jeff Yang watches and reads Glenn Beck, and becomes afraid. Very afraid.

That catches me up, but you know how these things work — new ones come down the chute every two weeks! My next column looks at the upcoming slate of Asian-pop-related summer blockbusters (led by the in-theaters-now "Karate Kid" remake) — with a little help from my bloggish friends — and it lands tomorrow. So keep your eyes peeled...

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

Holy crap, the rumors of early delivery are true: A glorious man in purple just brought me my #iPhone4!!

2010-06-23T11:05:00.001-04:00

This is incredible. For all of the screwiness of Pre-Order Day, a day that will live in infamy, particularly for AT&T, I don't think I've ever had a tech/consumer-electronics company overdeliver (literally) on a promise of on-time arrival before. I'm usually happy if I just get what I ordered, it wasn't broken in shipping, and the manuals are in a language I can actually read. (Not that I ever read manuals.) But...wow. The device is gorgeous — far more gorgeous than the pics I snapped with my now primordial-seeming 3GS can render.

The only problem I'm facing is whether to activate it now, or wait for a week or so...I'm traveling shortly and I need a reliable phone on the road, so I'm inclined to avoid any issues I encounter with the phone or its spanking new iOS 4 software. But that's torture. Me carrying this thing around and not using it is like Lindsay Lohan going to an MTV Movie Awards Afterparty while wearing her court-ordered Breathalyzer ankle bracelet. Oh wait, she did that. Damn.

See the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

Best movie promo item ever, or worst? My son just brought home Karate Kid 2.0 CHOPSTICKS—complete with Jaden Smith silhouette

2010-06-22T22:04:00.001-04:00

So, today was martial arts flick propaganda day at my son Hudson's Tae Kwon Do class, and he came home loaded with movie gimmes: Posters for The Last Airbender (which, despite my explanations as to why he shouldn't, he's still desperate to watch), Aang lick-n-stick tattoos, and his most prized favor of all: a set of Karate Kid 2.0 promo chopsticks, in the kid-friendly pincer grip style, adorned with the high-kicking Jaden Smith silhouette that serves as the new movie's logo.

At first, I was nonplussed. Chopsticks? REALLY? Next to fortune cookies and take-out boxes, aren't these just about the most cliche things you can give away for a movie that has anything to do with Chinese culture?

Then I remembered that chopsticks have an integral role in TKK, even in this remade version — the whole "catch a fly" thing, you dig? So I'd say it's fair to give the film and its promo squad a pass...just this time.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

The Naked Cowboy sues The Naked Cowgirl for trademark violation. WHERE DO YOU STAND ON THIS, ELENA KAGAN?

2010-06-22T19:57:00.001-04:00

So, Times Square fixture The Naked Cowboy (née Robert Burck) is suing his cross-gendered imitator "The Naked Cowgirl" (probably not née Sandy Kane) for trademark violation. (It's not his first tort of the sort: For someone who eschews suits, he's remarkably litigious, having filed for $6 million against M&M for biting on his tip in an ad campaign.) The awesome thing is that he now offers "franchises" to anyone willing to pay him $5000 a year or $500 a month for the license to be naked and a cowboy. Which is awesome.

Lawyerly types--what are the limitations of IP rights here? Is the Naked part what's protectable? (Probably not—I'm looking at you, Jamie Oliver) Would I be safe if I hit the Forty Deuce as The Nude Cowdude? What if I went Eastern rather than Western—The Nekkid Ninja? Or is the protection related to TNC's trade dress (er, trade undress)? Help me out here, esquires!

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

WOO HOO! Just got this alert that my iPhone4 has shipped and will arrive by June 23!

2010-06-21T11:25:00.001-04:00

Straight out of Shenzhen and into my sweaty hands.

I'm not going to defend myself against the charge of "fanboy" here :) Hell, the hair is standing up on the back of my neck....

Will post an unboxing when I get it — sadly, that may not be until June 24, as I'm headed to D.C. early on the 23rd. Sigh.

Posted via web from OriginalSpin

My latest ASIAN POP column, THE ROBOTECH MASTER: Carl Macek, RIP

2010-05-10T17:33:00.001-04:00

My latest column is a look back at the career of Carl Macek — perhaps the most important animation figure you haven't heard about, if you're not an old-school anime fan, that is. But Macek's contributions to the medium are huge and multifacted; he was the cofounder of SPUMCO, Ren & Stimpy creator's John Kricfalusi; with Jerry Beck, he launched Streamline Pictures, the first company to distribute Japanese animation theatrically in the U.S., and the vehicle by which classic works like Akira, My Neighbor Totoro, Castle of Cagliostro, and Kiki's Delivery Service first came to America. And, of course, he created the epic space odyssey Robotech, controversially melding together three different anime series under a wholly new plot to create something original and different. Rest in peace, Carl.

I got this column out the door just as I was running for my flight to Singapore, en route to the Asian Festival of Children's Content (where I was a featured speaker on a few panels) and then to Shanghai, for a day of back to back to back meetings and a half-day at the frenzied EPCOT-on-steroids known as the Shanghai World Expo. In next week's ASIAN POP column, I'll talk about what I saw and did there....

ASIAN POP: The 'Robotech' master

By Jeff Yang, Special to SF Gate

Thursday, May 6, 2010

There's a certain basket of phrases used to describe those individuals whose life's work leads to the launch, not of mere products or brands, but entire industries and worldviews. They're "passionate," "perfectionist," "controversial"; they're "willing to step on toes" and "do whatever it takes" to materialize their grand visions. This past weekend, friends, family and admirers gathered at a church in Southern California to honor the memory of a man who epitomized such words, and whose impact on American pop culture was in its own way as profound as any figure in his generation: Carl Macek.

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

Relieving the backlog of recent ASIAN POP columns: REMAKING THE GODS, on Greg Pak, godmaker

2010-05-10T16:37:00.001-04:00

Globe-trotting travel, and all of the annoyances leading up to globe-trotting travel (e.g., getting visas, dealing with passport trolls), have had me squonked for the past month, so I'm late, late, late in posting a few of my recent columns to the ol' blog. Here's the first — an interview I've been wanting to do for a while, with an old friend and a creative role model of mine, Greg Pak. The trigger for writing this? The revelation that Greg's coolest character creation, boy genius Amadeus Cho, is finally getting his own title — albeit briefly. With an epic story arc coming to a close in Greg and Fred Van Lente's INCREDIBLE HERCULES — one that ends with the demigod a little worse for the wear, as in dead-ish — his friend and partner Cho ascends to the vacant role of Prince of Power, in the miniseries THE HEROIC AGE: PRINCE OF POWER. Anyway, even as Greece suffers the comeuppance of its fiscal hubris, Greg talks about gods and heroes and why the pantheon of the future might look a little more like the rest of us. Read on!

ASIAN POP: Remaking the gods

By Jeff Yang, Special to SF Gate

Thursday, April 22, 2010

In writer Greg Pak's latest comic book series, god -- one of them, anyway -- is dead, and a Korean American teen must take his place.

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

My latest San Francisco Chronicle column: ASIAN, EH? A trip to Vancouver for a look at race, ethnicity and Asian identity in Canada

2010-04-07T17:35:00.001-04:00

This week's Asian Pop was inspired by my weeklong trip to the Pacific Northwest, occasioned by my elder son's public school spring break. The whole fam went — Hudson, age 6, Skyler, age 2, and my wife Heather (age unspecified) — making it our first long-distance, multi-city tour with the full band. We hit Victoria and Vancouver, BC, then Seattle, WA, traveling by plane, bus, ferry and car between the various stops and venues. It was exhilarating and fun, but also exhausting and probably, from a pragmatic perspective, a mistake, since the kids are still not back on the right time zone, while Heather and I both managed to catch hacking-through-the-night type colds. Yay.

That said, I met some incredible folks in Vancouver, continental North America's most Asian city, starting with Alden Habacon and his team from Schema Mag. It's easily one of the most interesting Asian [North] American media vehicles out there, and definitely worth reading regularly.

Alden also introduced me to Kevin Li, creator and producer behind Vancouver's AZN Lifestyles TV series (reminiscent of Stir, the old show I created for KTSF and Comcast, but a wholly self-started enterprise that's found a broadcast niche on CityTV, Canada's most widely-available over-the-air independent television system); Barbara Lee, the founder and president of the Vancouver Asian Film Festival; Joyce Lam, founder and artistic director of the Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre company; and Hanna Cho, a social researcher and former fellow of Canada's Asia Pacific Foundation, who shared some terrific background on the forces that have shaped Asian Canadian identity as a distinct construct from Asian American identity.

And synchronicitously — ran into him in an elevator! — I met Al-Riaz Adatia, a successful entrepreneur and social activist of Indian Canadian heritage (by way of Uganda), who divides his time between Vancouver and San Francisco. Those of you who recall the dot-com era (and haven't blocked it from your memories) might know him as one of the founders of Sonique, the second most popular MP3 player of the era, after Justin Frankel's WinAMP. Al-Riaz sold Sonique to Lycos for a nice piece of change, and has since then run and invested in a string of businesses, while pursuing his interests in global development work...and dirt bike racing.

He shared with me some really interesting insights on the social and political roots of Canada's pluralistic society (as well as its dark underbelly), while also giving me an introduction to the Ismaili Muslim faith; led by their spiritual leader the Aga Khan, Ismailis are a unique branch of Shia Islam distinguished by their outward-facing philanthropic activities, many of which are related to encouraging understanding and acceptance among different cultures, races and religions.

Which is in part why the Aga Khan has had a special admiration for Canada, one of the few countries in the world that has embedded the idea of multiculturalism into its very Constitution — he has launched a well-funded and thriving subsidiary of the faith's global development network in Vancouver, the Aga Khan Foundation Canada, and the Global Centre for Pluralism in Ottawa. Anyway, meeting Al-Riaz was terrific, not least because he in turn also introduced me to the vivacious and sharp-witted Cora Mau, a radio personality and North American publicity manager for Turkey's Mavi Jeans.

And somehow we still had time to visit museums, climb redwoods, hunt for whales, eat far too much food, and connect with a bunch of great old friends. So, hard to say the trip wasn't successful, even if it's nearly broken us physically and emotionally in the process.

Some pics of the family below — at the Vancouver Aquarium (slightly 'Shopped, of course), and at various other BC landmarks. But check out the column! Even if, or especially if, you know nothing about Canada and its unique racial and ethnic history.

ASIAN POP: Asian, Eh?

Jeff Yang heads to Vancouver, the most Asian city in continental North America -- just ahead of San Francisco -- to compare and contrast Asian Canadian and Asian American identity

Vancouver, BC—What do these notable Asian Americans have in common: actors Keanu Reeves (The Matrix), Kristin Kreuk (Smallville) and Sandra Oh (Grey's Anatomy); comedian Russell Peters; World Wrestling Entertainment RAW diva Gail Kim; Avon CEO Andrea Jung; professor and First Brother-in-Law Konrad Ng?

The answer? All of them are actually Asian Canadian.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2010/04/07/apop040710.DTL

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

What I ate today in Vancouver: Terimayo, Okonomi and Oroshi Japadogs—yes, all three. Je n'ai pas de regrets

2010-03-30T03:48:00.001-04:00

Forget the Winter Olympics. The real reason to come to Vancouver, BC is to purchase your streetside ticket to Asian fusion Wiener Wonderland in the form of a Japadog, which sounds like an offensive term for a Shiba Inu but is actually Noriki Tamura's portmanteau word for "Japanese hot dog," and probably trademarked. Because that's what the adman-turned-sidewalk vendor sells, from his cart on the corner of Burrard and Smithe, right here in the Jewel of the North, where I'm vacationing with the family. I had the all-beef Terimayo (teriyaki sauce, Japanese mayonnaise and shredded dried seaweed, plus a hint of wasabi), the Orishi (bratwurst with grated daikon, scallions and sweet soy) and the piled-high Okonimi (a frankfurter version of the classic Kansai-area treat, okonomiyaki: Kurobuta pork sausage, mayo, fried cabbage, bonito flakes, and okonomiyaki sauce). All insanely delicious.

However, word has it that soon I may not have to drag the kids out to the Van if we want to consume buns of bodacious, bonito-flake laden bliss: Japadog is apparently coming to New York. I sense a deathmatch brewing between New York's own Korean kings of schwing, New York Hot Dog and Coffee (home of the Bulgogi Hot Dog!) and this tasty new intruder—it's Apolo Anton Ohno all over again. Can't we (of East Asia) just all get along?

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

Coming soon to this space...the full transcript of my interview with Keni Styles, porn's only straight Asian male superstar

2010-03-24T17:42:00.001-04:00

Still working on cleaning it up, but here's a placeholder; I'll post the transcript when my latest Asian Pop column is up. This week, I explore race, porn, and the politics of penis size, and talk to Keni and the always hilarious Roger Fan, of "Better Luck Tomorrow" and "Finishing the Game" fame, who got his start starring in and cowriting/coproducing Gene Rhee's awesome pseudo-documentary "The Quest for Length." Which is about penises. I guess I'll have to write about boobies next.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

Joe Biden—in all your candor, you found the magic words for this moment in history, and I love ya for it! (Also, this cartoon :) )

2010-03-23T20:05:00.001-04:00

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

How to make "Twilight" work for guys, too: Just...add...ZOMBIES. Seriously, tell me you wouldn't watch this, dudes [pic]

2010-03-20T19:48:00.001-04:00

Like any other red-blooded Y-chromosome-bearing male-type person, I find the Twilight series to be a gut-wrenchingly awful piece of teen-hormone-drenched dreck. This doesn't mean it's totally unsalvageable. All you need is an epilogue after Breaking Dawn, the "final" book in the series (Stephanie Meyer has claimed it's the last of the line, but anyone who knows publishing or Hollywood knows that a bestselling series, like a vampire, can never truly be put to rest). Hell, even Meyer's incomprehensibly huge fan base agrees that Dawn was shite.

The epilogue would involve...zombies. Yes. The real walking dead. And the undead horde would eat Edward's pasty face, and Jacob's hairy butt, and daintily gorge on some Bella for dessert. So, a happy ending!

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

From the unfortunate headline dept. I suspect it's at least figuratively true, tho

2010-03-13T11:06:00.001-05:00

Posted via web from OriginalSpin

My latest San Francisco Chronicle column: What color is my avatar? On race, stereotypes and videogames

2010-03-11T10:19:00.001-05:00

This week's Asian Pop looks at a topic inspired by the reawakening of my love for the awesomest fighting-game franchise of all time, Street Fighter II (and its dozens of digital descendants). With my son having chosen tae kwon do as an afterschool activity (and subsequently, engaging in "practice" at home, wreaking havoc on furniture, his baby brother and the dog), I introduced him to the game hoping to discourage indoor sparring in our somewhat cramped apartment.

That, in turn, led me to consider the lack of diversity in the world of videogames — which, despite their rising influence in popular culture still largely fail to incorporate nonwhite protagonists (and, for that matter, non-male). Although Asians are moderately well represented, that's primarily due to the fact that Japan is such a key source of gaming innovation; Asian Americans are almost completely absent from the videogame landscape. (This, by the way, is the subject of a panel, "Social Justice and Videogames," at SXSW on March 16, organized by Latoya Peterson of Racialicious and featuring always awesome videogame vet N'gai Croal and game designer and feminist blogger Naomi Clark. Here's the piece, in which I spoke with Latoya, N'gai, Game Informer editor Matt Kato, and my friend and Secret Identities co-editor Parry Shen (who lends his voice to the upcoming Hong Kong-based thrillride of a game, True Crime, coming from Activision in October). Game on. Check it out!

ASIAN POP: What color is my avatar?

This year, my wife and I gave our big-boy-first-grader son Hudson the right to pick his own afterschool activities, and, not surprisingly, he chose the one most likely to result in domestic mayhem: Tae kwon do.
In a more disciplined soul, martial arts might be a means to achieve focus and inner calm; for Hudson, it's mostly been a new way to menace the dog....

http://orsp.in/bf05d8

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

This from the Public Archive of the Instant Yang mailblog. Go to: http://www.ouatic.com/mojomail/mojo.pl to get Instant Yang straight to your inbox every two weeks:

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE TEXAS BOARD OF ED: Has Tom Ratliff defeated ultra-right creationist Don McLeroy?

2010-03-03T08:48:00.001-05:00

[Breaking news. The Texas Tribune is reporting McLeroy has lost.]
So, moderate Republican Tom Ratliff holds a narrow lead over incumbent ultra-right creationist Don McLeroy in the critically important Texas State Board of Education race! Non-crazy Republicans have coalesced with Democrats to support Ratliff's candidacy over McLeroy, one of the staunchest drivers of the Texas SBoE's massive politicization and shift away from rational, objective educational standards.

Why should anyone from outside of Texas care? Here's the deal: Texas has overwhelming, outsized influence over textbook publishing. Which means standards set by Texas's SBoE reshape content and editorial slant for the entire nation—because publishers don't print one set of textbooks for Texas and another for the rest of the world.

McLeroy has been hyperaggressive in pushing "Intelligent Design" theory and has repeatedly stated to the press that the Earth is just a few thousand years old.

In 2009, he said this about his stance on public-school history textbook evaluation: "We are a Christian nation founded on Christian principles: The way I evaluate history textbooks is first I see how they cover Christianity and Israel. Then I see how they treat Ronald Reagan—he needs to get credit for saving the world from communism and for the good economy over the last twenty years because he lowered taxes.”

Awesome—that's just what I want my public-schooled kids to learn!
Why don't we just rewrite the Pledge of Allegiance while we're at it?: "We pledge allegiance to the Ron, and the fundamentalist, tax-cutting principles for which He stands...." (Note to Republicans who went ballistic over spurious charges of President Obama "indoctrinating" schoolkids with a televised speech on the importance of education—I do not hear your outrage. And the mocking of Obama as "The One" is laughable given the degree to which the Right fetishizes Reagan; it's like they want to expand the Holy Trinity to a Quartet—Father, Son, Holy Spirit, and The Gipper.)

Finally, let's not forget this McLeroy winner: "What good does it do to put a Chinese story in an English book?" he said. "So you really don't want Chinese books with a bunch of crazy Chinese words in them."

Well, if we want to understand and be competitive with the biggest, fastest growing nation on Earth—which holds the majority of America's foreign debt—maybe we do? Because, you know, China is learning English at a staggering rate. The biggest English-speaking population on Earth is currently in India.

The second biggest is in China. (And China's catching up—by some counts, it may even already be in first place.)
The U.S., meanwhile, is third.

And our ability to speak, read and write our native tongue is getting worse, as the misspelled, grammatically erratic signs at Tea Party rallies and in online comments demonstrate.

You can thank politicians like Don McLeroy for that, too.

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

This from the Public Archive of the Instant Yang mailblog. Go to: http://www.ouatic.com/mojomail/mojo.pl to get Instant Yang straight to your inbox every two weeks:

MORE ON MY "ROGER EBERT MOMENT" WITH MARGARET CHO—Her POV on the incident, from her book

2010-03-02T17:51:00.001-05:00

The full story is here. But holy crap, here's an addendum....
I forgot that Margaret wrote a book version of I'M THE ONE THAT I WANT.

Well, just now, reminded by a friend, I just did a "Look Inside!" search through the book at Amazon using the keyword "critic."
If you do that and go to page 129-130, you'll read the incident from her perspective...which is virtually word for word the same as how I described it. Only this time, from her point of view...and she twists the knife a little, too. (I've attached a screengrab of the relevant

Ahh....sorry Margaret. I'd love to think a decade or so of time passed means it's all water under the bridge.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

This from the Public Archive of the Instant Yang mailblog. Go to: http://www.ouatic.com/mojomail/mojo.pl to get Instant Yang straight to your inbox every two weeks:

My Roger Ebert-Will Lietch-esque Story; or, Margaret Cho and me

2010-03-02T00:07:00.001-05:00

A couple of people have posted this story by "Deadspin" editor Will Leitch in feeds I follow or sent it to me directly, including N'Gai Croal and Nelson Wang. It's worth a read—moving and wistful, and heartfelt, I think.
The funny thing is, I have a story that's similar in ways, regarding Margaret Cho. I was TV critic for the Village Voice at the time, having just been entrusted with that role by Jeff Salamon, one of the editors whom I credit most in shaping my writerly voice (the others being Andy Hsiao, who's probably the most important individual in my journalistic career, a role model and great friend, and Lisa Kennedy, a tough, smart editor who simply pushed me to be better at every turn).

In addition to writing for the Voice, I was also working—unpaid, like everyone at the time—on A. Magazine, the Asian American periodical I, Bill Yao, Amy Chu and Sandi Kim had founded after graduating from college. To keep the magazine afloat, we'd throw fundraising events; one of them was a showcase for a comedian who was a fast-rising star in standup, but hadn't yet taken the step to "household name" status—Margaret Cho.

After wowing the crowd with her set, an ecstatic Margaret made the first public announcement that she'd been given the opportunity every standup hopes against hope for, the chance to star in her own prime-time TV show...a sitcom to be called All-American Girl.

Well, all of us were as happy as she was. This was a tremendous, staggering breakthrough for the whole Asian American community—one small step for Cho, one giant leap for Asiankind, that sort of thing. It could, we thought, only be good for Our People.

A few months later, the first buzz started to emerge about the show—troubling whispers that the show was just...not very good. And with every trickle of early rumor, my heart sank further. And that's when I received the assignment I'd secretly been dreading. I was asked to review All-American Girl in my capacity as TV critic for the Voice.

I tried to gently dodge the bullet, suggesting that I might be in a compromised position—knowing Margaret personally, and considering her a friend. And my editor pushed me, suggesting that professionalism as a critic demands that you rise above the personal, to judge things on their merits. Afterall, criticism is a landscape of the subjective, in which everyone by definition has preferences and passions and entanglements.

I think when you're young, and you're challenged by people you deeply respect to say SOMETHING, to find your voice, to slide hard, you can end up going too far. I wanted to prove I could be objectively critical, even ruthless; I ended up writing a scathing, witty—or what I thought was witty—piece that mercilessly ripped the show apart as a star vehicle whose miscasting and bad decisionmaking started with the star and radiated outwards. Because, even setting aside the concerns some in the community had of how Asians were being depicted, the show took everything that made Margaret funny, and stripped it of its brilliant, serrated edge. It was Family Ties, if the show focused on Tina Yothers rather than Michael J. Fox.

The next day, Margaret called me, and said she'd heard my review was in the paper. She asked me to fax it to her. Which I did, with a cover letter that tried to soften it, contextualize it.

She never called me back.
From then on, I heard that Margaret told people that she felt like the lack of support from her community was heartbreaking, but the betrayal by people she "knew and respected" was sickening—and that more than anything, she blamed those people for the network's yanking away support for the show. Shortly thereafter, the show was canceled. Margaret went into a personal spiral toward self-destruction, and there hasn't been a sitcom written around an Asian American star ever since.

It was over half a decade before we talked again, Margaret had gone through rehab, and come out of it with a revised set of priorities and a fresh handle on her career. She had a brand new one-woman show out, I'm the One That I Want, and I organized a big group to go see it when it came to New York. The centerpiece of the show was a grueling recap of her horrendous experience with All-American Girl, in front of the cameras and behind the scenes. And when she got to the part when she talked about being stabbed in the back by a certain TV critic of her acquaintance—no names named—I sank down in my seat...swallowing hard.

Margaret's gone on to a fascinating career, as a blogger and a performance artist and a burlesque diva and a reality TV star, among many other things. She's found her calling, her zone, and every interaction we've had since then has been terrific. But reading Lietch's piece reminded me: As journalists, and especially for those of us who are cultural critics, we have a responsibility to more than just the story on the page, and certainly to more than our own careers. Ripples as they spread can build into tsunamis. We can inspire and provide hope, and we can hurt and destroy.

Professionalism, as much as anything else, means knowing our limits, and taking responsibility for the fact that words have power, and wielding them has consequences.

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

This from the Public Archive of the Instant Yang mailblog. Go to: http://www.ouatic.com/mojomail/mojo.pl to get Instant Yang straight to your inbox every two weeks:

From the WTF? User Reviews Dept.—Coleman FishPen: "After I bought mine we were taken to court by the IRS..."

2010-03-01T09:00:00.001-05:00

I stumbled across a deal on the Coleman FishPen — it's a fish and a pen! No it's not. It's a fishing rod that's the size of a pen — at an online bargain site, and even though I'm not much of a fisherman, for $6.99 it seemed like it might be worth springing for a couple for the kids. Scanning through the user reviews on the page revealed your typical set of grammatically challenged, excessively hyperbolic reviews that seem to have been written by Borat — like:
[Five Stars]
I would recommend this to anyone that has been on a trip and could not take their full tackle with them. It full-fills the need for "I wish I had a fishing pole with me"
...and...

[Five Stars]
This is a fun little item to have ready if the urge to fish overwhelms you
...and...
[Five Stars]
This is a beautiful gift. You must have it for fun.
...and...
[One Star]
Buying Coleman Fishpen was cheating.Thought it was good, but nothing was working . I wasted my money for this. Even not able to return my item, because , for new piece again i have to bare shipping which is the cost of new Coleman FishPen. So i kept my Coleman FishPen in trash . i haven't used not even one day.

...and...
[One Star]
The absolute worst $8.99 I have ever spent in my life. If I was coleman I would be ashamed to print my logo on a garbage product like this wanna be fishing pole. I am usually loyal to coleman on everything from tents to aluminum water bottles, but I will never purchase another item that coleman endorces. Besides the reel being junk and not functioning right the rod snapped in half the first cast due to a little resistance from grass on my lawn(I just cut my grass 2 days ago). Whatever you do, DO NOT buy this product unless you like giving your money away. Coleman, stick to camping not fishing.

[NOTE: Why are you trying to catch fish on your lawn?]
...and...
[Five Stars]
Heck of a lot of fun. I use it in the house to play with the cat

[NOTE: When cat fishing, anything under 12" from nose to tip of tail is undersized and should be thrown back]
Then I came across this:
[Five Stars]
This was awesome. We took it to the lake and caught two 15 lb bass using spinner bait. My wife said she is going to order one after we get the house sold because after I bought mine we were taken to court by the IRS because we havent paid our taxes. So were probably selling the boat and will have some extra mone freed up to get us another coleman FishPen. Wish we could have been on the lake more often, than we would never had seen that letter in the mail about having our house taken from us. Which is fine because uncle Bill might let us have the spare bed room. Did I just write all this? Im sorry, this pole was fantastic and I would let walmart have a shot at selling these puppies. I worked for Walmart in the 80's when real men were allowed to strut their stuff. Now im just working as a plummmer back home. Work will pick up as will this pen if i could get me some bait to head to the lake with. I love this pen.

Seriously, that's got to be a trollpost, right? Still, nicely played, Mr. Faux Coleman FishPen Tax Resister Troll...nicely played.

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

This from the Public Archive of the Instant Yang mailblog. Go to: http://www.ouatic.com/mojomail/mojo.pl to get Instant Yang straight to your inbox every two weeks:

Hate-O-Rama: Welcome to My Tea Party—analyzing the comments on my column on Asians and Jews

2010-02-26T14:49:00.001-05:00

It's been interesting but more than a bit icky wading through the cesspit of comments that have been posted to my Asian Pop column this week, but I felt it was worth analyzing simply to better understand the source of the inchoate rage.
I have to admit I'm still confused as to what set off this particular hatebomb—there are already more comments on this piece than on any piece I've ever written, other than the one on interracial relationships, which perhaps isn't entirely surprising. What is surprising is that, as best I can tell, over 90% of the comments are from people who are neither Asian nor Jewish. The demographics and mindsets of the commenters, however, can be extrapolated from their threads of other comments to SFGate, their self-selected handles, and their avatar icons.
They seem to mostly be white, and angry at minorities and immigrants. From their comment threads, they generally frequent articles that mention people of color gone wrong, and pile on the Schadenfreude, and articles that celebrate minority achievement or success and attack them for stealing opportunities from "real Americans" e.g., white non-immigrants. Also:

They do not like Barack Obama, or liberals. Handles like libsrbad, sfrepublican and takebacksfnow are common, and more than a few have avatars depicting President Obama in unsettling Photoshop collages

They are fast to accuse others (people of color in particular) of racism without explaining the rationale, but also freely spout statements that invoke stereotypes and outright hatred of other races

They're really angry when any American subgroup asserts its right to have some kind of identity, whether it's an ethnicity, a religion or a race. Nothing presses their button more than invoking the idea that "Asians" have something in common, or share a political or cultural past and future

And, oh yes, they don't like reading. Many also comment about how long the piece was and how as a result they couldn't finish or even begin it (but that didn't stop them from posting their opinions anyway). (On this they have a point. I'll be writing shorter and less ambitious pieces going forward.)

In short, this column seems to have spontaneously generated its own Tea Party protest—whether due to someone crossposting it on a site or list frequented by people of that ilk, or because the title and topic served as some kind of irresistible bait to those who are nativist by nature and, openly or secretly, hostile towards those who are different from themselves.
What's fascinating is that this piece wasn't particularly ideology-driven—it took what I thought was a fairly centrist and balanced look at the very complicated issues related to admissions and preference or exclusion by race and ethnicity, and quoted people on both sides of the aisle, so to speak.

The Asian/Jewish comparison was the lead-in because, as I noted throughout the article in quoting other writers, it's a constantly repeated meme whenever the topic of education comes up in the media. In fact, my column was meant to interrogate whether the comparison is appropriate or useful, not to reinforce the meme (as anyone who actually read it would realize)—but most people from the title alone seemed to have concluded that I was embracing the comparison, and that that, somehow, was racist and/or offensive.
(Also note: Unlike many of the commenters, who freely voiced ugly caricatures about stinginess, driving ability and yes, genital size, the article focused on shared experiences and cultural values—things frequently noted by observers of and from both sets of communities.)
Anyway, I've plucked some choice comments from the sludgepile and organized them into categories. There are so many that have been deleted as violating the SFGate terms of service that this is actually a heavily elided selection—the worst and most horrible ones are long since gone. (Spelling and grammar preserved, even at its most erratic.)
FROM THE "THIS ARTICLE SUCKS" DEPT. (with no explanation as to why)

uncommon13 2/25/2010 3:04:35 PM
Jeff yang is a good boot-licker. He may get the Oscar,Grammy,Nobel and few other awards from Europe and Israel. Good thinking, Jeff, on how to make millions and perhaps billions. You found the right way.
citycitizen 2/25/2010 12:33:00 PM
Thank you Mr. Yangstein for such an insightful article....not.
takebacksfnow 2/25/2010 10:13:42 AM
What a piece of crap journalism....I don't even no where to begin on how screwed up this article is...
sfgiantpoet 2/25/2010 8:03:20 AM
kokc eyed idea, off root stocks? nooooo... jews are Gods chosen, asians are not, per the bible. also, they sooooo different looking... asians are classically buddhist . they are on opposite sides of the world. new jews, asians? i dont see no minorrahs in the windows, and i have yet to find dragons lighting up the night at hannukah. why does the chron let this guy print this up? why, cause he guilt tripped the editor into it. YES they ARE!
cadetpep 2/25/2010 1:30:48 AM
I don't care what credentials you have Mr. Yang, you and I both know you are one of those weird writers that us "normal" asian people look at and think "Damn he is one weird guy". Asian or not, after reading your garbage of an article I ask you this question, "Don't you have -ANY-thing better to write about? COME ON, MAN".
nativesf67 2/25/2010 12:15:34 AM
This article is an insult to every Jew in America and across the globe. Sorry Mr. Asian you are no Jew.
riceandegg 2/25/2010 12:12:21 AM
The Asian author degrades himself and his race by writing this piece of junk.
strukhoff 2/24/2010 11:45:30 PM
What a stupid, offensive article.
Cityscapex5 2/24/2010 11:43:20 PM
Stupidest article ever.....not even sure where to begin.
daosbox 2/24/2010 10:26:29 PM
Jeff, I didn't finish reading this article. But this is probably the dumbest article I've ever read on SFGATE. If you made a comparison between Asians and Mexicans, I would have probably read a little bit more.
sonofmark77 2/24/2010 10:23:53 PM
are jews the new asians, are mexicans the new blacks, are gays the new gypsies?? stupidest story i've read in a long time by far. how does this get past an editor's desk at the Chronicle is just stupefying
clizown 2/24/2010 9:57:36 PM
This is the most absurd piece of copy in the modern history of Bay Area journalism.
laylalayla415 2/24/2010 10:39:07 PM
Kudos to clizown who summed up best. This article reminds of the crappy reporting provided by Asian Week. I think the author of this article owes everyone 10 minutes of our lives back. And yes, we need a lobotomy for even wasting our time for clicking the link. Oh wait, maybe in our defense we were looking for bone-crushing news worthy articles....oh wait that's another news outlet.....
nonunion 2/24/2010 10:37:46 PM
Take this crap article down. Stupidest thing I have ever read.
eurodisco 2/24/2010 10:30:54 PM
Jeff, show this article to an Asian and every likely they say, "are you stupid?"
straightarrow 2/24/2010 10:56:08 PM
This stupid article is a piece of crap and SFGATE should be ashamed to put this garbage on the website. The writer need to have his head examined.
FROM THE "MINORITIES ARE RACIST"/"LIBERALS ARE RACIST"/"JEFF YANG IS RACIST"' DEPT.

bayareasam 2/25/2010 5:44:59 PM
The anti asian sentiments expressed here by the self-professed left wing-nuts is sickening. And it's typical of the hypocrisy of the radlibs.
noneleft 2/26/2010 2:03:37 AM
So, old white money buys their way in to the best colleges. Under performing minorities get freebies, and the best students (his folks) get the leftovers. I can understand why the guy is whining. Touchy subject, guess he had to be a little round about in how he posed his complaint. Bringing the whole Jewish thing up.
libsrbad 2/26/2010 6:03:21 AM
Progressives are anti-semetic. Plain and simple.
payme 2/26/2010 8:40:44 AM
If I read another story about how bad the Asians have it because they are soooo smart, I don't know what I'm going to do. What a self-serving piece of crap. Gag!!
xspotsters 2/26/2010 8:34:14 AM
If there was a "report abuse" button for articles, this one would surely be gone. The racial stereotypes presented by the author of this diatribe are disgusting.
oaktownhomie 2/26/2010 12:50:57 AM
After re-reading, I've decided the Chron needs to issue an apology. It is outrageously racist in many ways.
sfgatefan411 2/25/2010 12:42:08 PM
I would never call somebody a "new jew" because that's anti-semitic in it of itself. What is wrong with you Yang? Do you also sit around with your friends calling each other the "N-Word" also? Stop trying to rob other cultures of their image. Embrace the image you already have or come up with a new one. Your baggy clothes don't fool me. You ain't OG. And stop writing such wordy articles. They tend to drag on and on and on . . . I couldn't get through even half of it.
olesya71 2/25/2010 9:48:54 AM
what's the ... ? Who allows to publish this stuff? This is the most prejudice and stereotyping crap I had ever read in my 12 years being in the United States.
mackroe 2/25/2010 8:51:12 AM
If you mean it by identifying Asians as a successful, educated, and wealthly racial class that suddenly becomes overly neurotic and thinks everyone is out to get them then yes. Well at least you are.
icysurfer 2/25/2010 8:15:10 AM
Guess what, the title of the piece is - in and of itself - racism.
sonofsf 2/25/2010 12:17:18 AM
McCoveyCove, I disagree, they are not all just Americans - they Are Asian first, as they like to remind us
McCoveyCove 2/24/2010 11:58:40 PM
Yang, they are all just Americans, you dense, elitist asian s.o.b.
Newshound1 2/24/2010 11:07:45 PM
OK, SFGate censors--how could you let this article get by you?
It takes a whole let less for one of your readers/ commenters to be censored than the veritable avalanche of sensitive, politically incorrect racial/religious stuff that was in this article. You have been caught with your flagrant double standards at play. It's OK for your writers, but not for your readers to make such comments. Physician, heal thyself!!
potatotrappist 2/24/2010 10:56:44 PM
We all have obstacles to overcome, individual & familial & cultural & racial issues. We all have links to Asian cultures and Jewish culture. At best, the writer is pandering to weak stale stereotypes, at worst he's bargaining for privilege.
fishfry 2/24/2010 10:21:58 PM
What a pile of racist crock. Why did you print this?
ilikebeer 2/24/2010 10:16:37 PM
Pardon my french, but this comes across as blatant stereo-typing and down right racist. And I agree with Cliztown....an absurd and bizarre piece of 'journalism' - if you can call it that. I am offended and can't believe someone actually authored this garbage.
mysixcents 2/25/2010 1:29:48 AM
This article is simply offensive and stupid. It is offensive for every group that is not Asian or Jewish. February is Black History Month. An article about how the African-American community is being displaced from the Southeast part of San Francisco by other certain ethnic groups would have been more appropriate.

beenhere 2/26/2010 9:06:49 AM
When you make it back to human, give me a call. Anyone "white" who wrote this would be jailed.

FROM THE "ASIANS ARE HOT" DEPT.
gregj46 2/25/2010 3:19:50 PM
You hardly ever see cauc girls marrying Chinese guys, But you see tons of Chinese girls marrying Caucasian guys. You know why? It's the smartest thing they can do.
bayrider 2/25/2010 12:32:55 PM
I have personally known Americans of Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Korean, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Laotian etc origins. It is beyond ignorant to to refer to these individuals collectively as 'Asians'. The various cultures have almost nothing in common and have fought bitterly amongst themselves for centuries. My wife is of Japanese and Guamanian (Pacific Islander) parentage. We laugh when people ask my wife what 'nationality' she is. This writer is almost as clueless as that.
under_dog 2/25/2010 12:20:21 AM
Asians and Jews: Stereotyped as being cheapskates; push their kids to be doctors and lawyers; are successful in business; came to this country at a disadvantage, discriminated against, but rose above and kicked butt. Both have pretty daughters
silom6x 2/25/2010 7:52:05 AM
@clizown: I totally agree. As a gay man who has a special affinity for Asian men, I KNOW that at least physically Asians and Jews are nowhere alike. As for the cultural aspects, people will make up anything to make their point about this or that, most of it being hogwash.
xab3000 2/25/2010 7:06:57 AM
"Jewish culture promotes questioning, intellectual engagement, assertiveness (espec. in women), standing up for truth, speaking out when things are not right, looking out for the underdog, civic engagement. Asians are not the new jews." Writing as a Jew, I find the para above that someone posted obnoxious and ignorant. An long passage could easily be written to rip that para apart. It would also be easy to write about the wonderful and common individual and social traits Asians are noted for possessing. As a Jewish man, I would prefer to marry an Asian American woman rather than an American Jewish woman for many reasons. That of course is my personal statement and not a factual one for others.
manwithoutastar 2/25/2010 5:24:06 AM
Asian chicks are hot! (This article was way too long.)
ianto39 2/24/2010 11:56:19 PM
Maybe Mr. Yang explains the Asian girl White guy thing. [NOTE: I think this one is implying that I reflect the generally unappealing nature of Asian men, and thus, that explains why Asian women find white guys more attractive]
oskie 2/24/2010 11:27:52 PM
Jewish guy + Asian gal = sweet, happy Hanukkah love. Asian guy + Jewish Gal ... only happens in Bizarroworld.
jqthegreat 2/24/2010 11:26:42 PM
I still want to know why asian girls are wanted by all men, but asian guys don't get the same lovin from women of most ethnicities.
FROM THE "GENERALLY OFFENSIVE STATEMENTS ABOUT ASIANS/JEWS" DEPT.

mc5595 2/25/2010 12:02:25 PM
WHAT DRIVEL....WHAAAAA! Can you believe this crap. If Asians are all smart enough to go to Harvard but aren't being let in, then why are there multi-generational families in Chinatown? Why are people living there for decades? Surely their super intelligent kids are all doctors etc and can afford to get their Moms/Dads/Grandparents out of there?
PWZ 2/25/2010 11:11:44 AM
I would not call Asians new jews, but old jews.
poppawheelie 2/25/2010 11:10:09 AM
No sweetnsour pork for you Choyberg.
sfrepublican 2/25/2010 10:51:23 AM
Jews are good drivers, just noticing.
Sad_Fran_Native 2/25/2010 9:21:32 AM
I don't see any jewish grandparents stealing my recycling in the middle of the night. The jewish immigrants of my era always tried to fit into the culture they fled to while keping their cultural idenity.
mrbobj 2/25/2010 9:02:38 AM
Whites are the new Mexicans, I think I'll go to the gov. with my hand out that way they can pander to me...
sfrepublican 2/25/2010 8:46:12 AM
I only see one thing,my Jewish neighbor take pride in his house and landscaping all my Chinese neighbors do not and it lowers all of our property values as well as our quality of life .
mayorSunset 2/25/2010 8:08:46 AM
I think it would have been better if they just called this, "Asians, the other white meat."
peroba1 2/25/2010 8:01:08 AM
ya, they're both cheap [NOTE: this person's icon is a "PROHIBITED" symbol across Obama's face]
kfyu7 2/25/2010 2:47:05 AM
You people be careful with what you say! The anti-defamation league will call the Mossad, and the Mossad will summon the Red Army to get you. This subject is closely monitored, by Bronstein and Keller, et al.
che818 2/25/2010 2:06:18 AM
I totally agree. Right now asians are always pushing for US intervention in the middle east and blind support for Israel. If you disagree with an asian on any issue they call you an "anti-asianite"
buzzman 2/25/2010 2:03:56 AM
No. Asians don't talk enough, and don't have the sense of humor either.
mysixcents 2/25/2010 1:33:07 AM
And no Asians are not the new Jews. Jews got soul and are great artists. Jews gave us intellectuals. Jews gave us artists. Jews gave us Einstein. What has the Asian community contributed to the world. They are so cheap and that they don't even contribute to the local economy.
govknitwhitman 2/25/2010 1:29:44 AM
Goldman Sachs is a piller of humanity and their raw intellect has used non Jews interest free money to skirt the crisis it helped create and wallow in massive gains while Americans ate dirt last year. Its not the interest free money they pour into the unseen black market wall street driving stocks higher as the peasants lose their IRA's its their sharp buisness sense and crisply directed social network.
gulpttub 2/25/2010 1:23:29 AM
If this is such an issue then wouldn't the 2 countries be the greatest places on earth and thus never need to immigrate elsewhere ?
delbipman 2/25/2010 12:42:10 AM
All this hoopla I find amusing. Stereotypes can be true, that's why they exist. That aside, what about the unfortunate downtrodden, under served blacks. Lets throw some more money at their problems. That should fix it. Come on asians, pony up, you're the only ones who seem to ignore them and get away with it.
bayrider 2/25/2010 12:41:51 AM
This is 'article' is overly long and I can tell from the absurd title that it is not even worth the time required to read it. My theory is that Asians are the new Mexicans. Car thieves who can't drive!
valleyswede 2/24/2010 10:41:32 PM
It's not Asians. It's Chinese. Living in a high immigrant, high wealth area, I am in contact with many high achieving people of different cultures. The Chinese are not like Europeans. Neither are the Japanese, but generally I find Euro's would aspire to the Japanese ideal. The Chinese ideal was formed through years of stunted social oppression, and quite frankly, they aren't quite right in the head. I'd put them in the third world camp with oil enriched Sunni's. (not Shiah's). It's not racial. It's cultural. I like Japanese a lot. Not a fan of Chinese at all. They don't aspire to norms of US values.
dorsalfinish 2/24/2010 10:41:24 PM
Vanderbilt has it right. Jews like to talk and talking is good for a classroom environment, where the Asian kids are quiet, waiting for someone to tell them what the correct thing to say is.
thinkagain2 2/24/2010 10:27:14 PM
The comparison doesn't seem to hold up. Jewish people came from a rich cultural background, and made great achievements in entertainment. Asians will always be boring -- just go to the sunset.
Fun, eh? I think I'll regularly present some of the tidbits from my mailbag, just to archive this stuff for posterity. And to show that even in a market that's one-third Asian American and known for progressive politics and diversity in outlook, we have a long, long way to go.

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

This from the Public Archive of the Instant Yang mailblog. Go to: http://www.ouatic.com/mojomail/mojo.pl to get Instant Yang straight to your inbox every two weeks:

My latest SF Chron column—The Asian-Jewish connection: Is it kosher to call Asians the "new Jews"? (The haters are out in force.)

2010-02-25T01:58:00.001-05:00

Image: Jews from one of China's ancient capitals, Kaifeng (in Henan), reading the Torah
Wow. I suspected the article might be provocative just because of its subject matter, but my latest San Francisco Chronicle column, "The Asian-Jewish Connection," has brought the most overwhelming tide of vitriol I've seen in five years of writing "Asian Pop." And yes, quite a lot of it is racist and/or anti-Semitic in varying degrees, but it goes beyond that -- a lot of people are simply enraged at the article for no clear reason at all.
The piece begins with a brief look at the oft-repeated comparison between Asians and Jews, but then focuses in on the topic of school admissions, comparing the arcs that the two communities have faced; I cite Dan Golden's The Price of Admission and Jerome Karabel's The Chosen, both of them must-read books (and not particularly controversial in their scathing indictments of the system), and I interview people on both sides of the larger affirmative action debate.

I also talk to James Chen, the proprietor of a unique college consulting firm, Asian Advantage, that purports to help Asian Americans "level the playing field" -- essentially by being less Asian, or at least stereotypically Asian.

Oh, and I point to a very interesting exhibition, "The Jews in Modern China," that was unveiled yesterday at San Francisco's Presidio.

All in all, though, I'm a little dumbfounded at the roiling hate in the comments -- as you might guess, almost all from people who are clearly neither Asian nor Jewish. But read it for yourself, I guess.

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

This from the Public Archive of the Instant Yang mailblog. Go to: http://www.ouatic.com/mojomail/mojo.pl to get Instant Yang straight to your inbox every two weeks:

Dry earwax? It's an Asian thing.

2010-02-10T15:10:00.001-05:00

Via my friend Kate Muhl and the New York Times, I'm now aware that:

I'm apparently related to some guy who looks like Jesse Ventura pulling a racist Asian caricature-face,

My dry earwax is race-based, and
I have EDAR. Which sounds as if it should be like gaydar, only for consumer electronics. A very Asian trait, I suppose. (It's actually a gene complex that codes for thick hair.)

NYT: Whole Genome of Ancient Human Is Decoded
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/11/science/11genome.html

The dry vs. wet earwax thing is interesting. Apparently, it was discovered back in 2006, and has been used extensively to map out migration patterns and stuff. According to LiveScience:

LiveScience: Is Your Earwax Wet or Dry?

http://www.livescience.com/health/060129_ear_wax.html

Wet earwax is believed to have uses in insect trapping, self-cleaning, and prevention of dryness in the external auditory canal of the ear. It also produces an odor and causes sweating, which may play a role as a pheromone. The usefulness of dry earwax, however, is not well understood. Researchers believe it may have originated to prevent less odor and sweating, a possible adaptation to the cold climate that the population is believed to have lived in.

So, uh, primitive wet-earwax Africans and Caucasians used their ears to...trap insects? And maybe to attract mates pheromonically? Awesome!

Note that the Times has been on this earwax thing since the beginning:

NYT: Japanese Scientists Identify Ear Wax Gene
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/29/science/29cnd-ear.html

A nugget from that groundbreaking January 29, 2006 Times report:

Earwax type and armpit odor are correlated, since populations with dry earwax, such as those of East Asia, tend to sweat less and have little or no body odor, whereas the wet earwax populations of Africa and Europe sweat more and so may have greater body odor. Several Asian features, such as small nostrils and the fold of fat above the eyelid, are conjectured to be adaptations to the cold. Less sweating, the Japanese authors suggest, may be another adaptation to the cold climate in which the ancestors of East Asian peoples are thought to have lived.

It's all making me a lot happier about how this whole Asian body thing works. Less stank, check. Dry earwax, check. All good!

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

This from the Public Archive of the Instant Yang mailblog. Go to: http://www.ouatic.com/mojomail/mojo.pl to get Instant Yang straight to your inbox every two weeks:

My latest San Francisco Chronicle column: With Lunar New Year looming, a look at the subtle links between food and memory

2010-02-10T12:31:00.001-05:00

My son's first-grade class is studying bread, so by proxy, the whole family is studying bread. But the assignment he came home with to find and bake a favorite family bread recipe--and have us, his parents, share the childhood memories that the process inspired--had us stumped. That's because as red-blooded Asian American children of immigrants, neither my wife nor I, nor any of our extended kin, grew up baking bread, and thus, had neither memories nor recipes to share. That prompted me to look at some of the foods that Asian Americans do associate with childhood, and that trigger the same rush of nostalgia as the odor of baking bread. For further insights, I spoke with journalist Andrew Lam, whose book "East Eats West" will be out from Heyday Books this fall; Cheryl Tan, whose own book "A Tiger in the Kitchen" is being published by Hyperion next June; Lauryn Chun, founder of Mother-in-Law Kimchi; my foodie friend Wendy Chan (whose daughter Veronica has a terrific blog about global cuilnary treats, worldtotable.com); and University of Guelph professor Massimo Marcone, a food scientist and gustatory adventurer, and author of the book "Acquired Tastes." Check it out!

ASIAN POP: NOT BREAD ALONE
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2010/02/10/apop021010.DTL

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

This from the Public Archive of the Instant Yang mailblog. Go to: http://www.ouatic.com/mojomail/mojo.pl to get Instant Yang straight to your inbox every two weeks:

Not Bread Alone: Recipes for foods that make you remember the good old days -- even if they weren't so good

2010-02-09T20:33:00.001-05:00

My column this week is about the aromatic, intoxicating and often, seductively simple foods that make us flash back to the past -- our "madeleine moment" foods, if you will.

Given the subject of this column, I'd be remiss if I didn't include recipes to go along with the dishes mentioned above, and fortunately, the people I spoke with were delighted to share the ways to prepare their favorite feasts. That includes my son Hudson, who not only contributed his own Pumpkin-Cranberry Bread recipe below, but also this hilarious step-by-step video on how to make it. (Okay, so, I helped him a little with the video.)
Hudson Yang's Pumpkin Cranberry Bread
Says Hudson: It's tasty and nutritious! Make sure you have plenty of "all-porpoise flour" and "pumpkin bread stuff" before you start!
Watch the Video:

Ingredients
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice (SUBSTITUTION: 2 tablespoons cinnamon)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 cups white sugar
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup canned cranberry sauce
1 cup chopped walnuts (OPTIONAL)
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour 2 9x5 inch loaf pans (or 4 mini loaf pans).
2. In a mixing bowl, combine flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder and salt.
3. Combine eggs, sugar, pumpkin and oil in small mixing bowl, beat until just blended. Stir the wet mixture into the dry with a wooden spoon until batter is just moistened. Fold the cranberries and walnuts into the batter. Spoon the batter into the prepared loaf pans.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 50 to 60 minutes. (If using mini loaf pans, begin checking bread after 25 minutes.)
Serves: 14
Andrea Nguyen's Trout and Orange Peel Simmered in Caramel Sauce
Andrew Lam swears by Andrea Nguyen's cookbooks and website, and notes that this dish, while it uses trout, is very similar to the catfish in caramel dish that he grew up with; simply substitute the latter fish for the former.

Ingredients
1 (1 1/2 to 1 3/4 pound) whole catfish, trimmed of fins and cut into 1-inch steaks (keep or discard the head)
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons Caramel Sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce
Peel of 1/2 orange or tangelo, cut into 1/4-inch-wide, 2-inch-long strips
2 tablespoons canola oil
1/2 small yellow onion, thinly sliced
Directions
1. In a saucepan, combine the fish with the peppercorns, salt, caramel sauce and fish sauce, coating the fish well. Set aside for 15 minutes to marinate.
2. Add the peel, oil, and onion to the saucepan. Gently stir thing so that these seasonings are well distributed.
3. Bring to a simmer over medium high heat. Cover, reduce the heat to simmer gently, and cook for 10 minutes to allow the flavors to combine. Uncover, add water to just cover the fish. Replace the lid and simmer for 30 minutes. Uncover and adjust the heat, as necessary, to maintain a gentle simmer for about 15 minutes, or until the liquid level has reduced by half.
4. Turn off the heat, taste, and make any flavor adjustments before serving. When making in advance, partially cover with the lid, and allow to cool completely before refrigerating. Reheat over medium or medium-low heat, adding a little water to facilitate things, as necessary. Enjoy with lots of rice.
Serves: 4-6 along with 2 or 3 other dishes
Mother-in-Law's Spicy Kimchi Tacos
While this dish is hardly a traditional one, it's a recipe that Lauryn Chun points to as evidence of kimchi's incredible versatility. Check it out!
Ingredients
1 lb. pork loin
Sauce for pork:
1/2 cup of olive oil
1 tbsp. soy sauce
2 tbsp. mirin
3 peeled garlic cloves
1 tbsp. whole grain mustard
1/2 cup of chopped Mother-in-Law Kimchi
2 tbsp. diced jalapeno
fresh cilantro
lime wedges
Soft corn tortillas
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine ingredients for sauce and pork loin in an ovenproof pot (e.g., Le Creuset)
3. Roast pork in oven covered for 1 1/2 hours.
4. Remove pork and chop into bite size pieces, suitable for tacos.
5. Heat soft corn tortillas in skillet over medium heat.
6. Plate taco with chopped pork, Mother-in-Law Kimchi and other garnishes.
Wendy Chan's Lohan Jai
(This Lohan Jai recipe has become a generational link for Chan's family; after she moved to the U.S., she missed the dish so much that she had her father send her the recipe, and she still treasures the handwritten original. Since then, she's shared the dish and the recipe with her daughters, who never met their maternal grandfather. It's one of the things that led her daughter Veronica to explore cuisine for herself—she's even launched a terrific blog, worldtotable.com.
Ingredients
2 ozs. dried black wood ear mushrooms (rehydrate by soaking in water for one hour)
2 ozs. dried lily flowers (rehydrate by soaking in water for one hour or more until soft)
3 ozs. dried shitake mushrooms (soak until soft)
1 oz. dried black moss (soak for 1/2 hour)
2 ozs. gingko nuts (canned or fresh, shelled)
2 ozs. bamboo shoot tips
3 sticks of fried bean curd stick (soak until soft)
1 medium Chinese cabbage (long and narrow variety)
2 cubes of red fermented tofu (or marinated preserved bean curd cubes)
2 tsp. fermented tofu sauce (from jar)
2 tsp. peanut oil (or other vegetable oil)
8 pieces of Japanese dried premium grade oysters (soak in water for one hour until soft -- omit this ingredient if you wish to keep the dish vegetarian. If using, save the water!)
Directions
1. Rinse lily flowers and remove hard tips.
2. Rinse and remove stems of shitake mushrooms, then slice into smaller pieces if desired.
3. Cut hard tips off of wood ear mushrooms.
4. Chop long cabbage into one-inch cylinders. Shake the leaves loose in a colander, wash and drain.
5. Cut rehydrated bean curd sticks to about 1 inch in length.
6. Drain gingko nuts, set aside.
7. Blanch bamboo shoot tips, drain and set aside.
8. In a hot deep pot, add peanut oil, add fermented tofu and stir, breaking the cubes into a paste.
9. Add dried lily flowers, black wood ear mushrooms, shitake mushrooms, moss, oysters, gingko nuts, bamboo shoot tips. Mix well.
10. Turn heat down and add the fermented tofu sauce (from the jar containing the red fermented tofu), and about 1/2 cup of water.
11. Stir regularly to make sure the vegetables are not sticking to the bottom of the pot.
12. If using oysters, strain the saved oyster water to remove any impurities. Add to the pot of cooking vegetables.
13. In a separate wok, heat and saute the Chinese cabbage until soft.
14. After cooking the vegetables for 20 minutes, add the fried bean stick pieces and the cooked Chinese cabbage to the pot.
15. Keep cooking over low heat for another 30 minutes.
Serves: 6-8 people, when eaten with steamed rice.

Enjoy!

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

This from the Public Archive of the Instant Yang mailblog. Go to: http://www.ouatic.com/mojomail/mojo.pl to get Instant Yang straight to your inbox every two weeks:

Think iCarly's "HELLSHEEP" ad was nuts? New Orleans has the best political ads EVAR. Not surprisingly.

2010-02-04T11:51:00.001-05:00

Seriously, the city that gave us Bourbon Street boobflashing and Mardi Gras and Anne Rice, among other bizarre phenomena, is also home of the most amazingly crazy campaign commercials ever. These are all ads for this year's local races. And they're all running on, like, real TV and everything. In reverse order of WTF????:

#3: James Perry for Mayor: "<EXPLETIVE DELETED>"

#2: John Georges for Mayor: "PLEASE PET THE DOG"

and finally...
#1: Dr. Dwight McKenna for Coroner

The last one is like a gold standard for over-the-top. Hell, it approaches LBJ's "Daisy" ad for over-the-topness, when one considers that the good doctor is running for coroner. FOR CORONER!

NOLA pols don't play games.

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

This from the Public Archive of the Instant Yang mailblog. Go to: http://www.ouatic.com/mojomail/mojo.pl to get Instant Yang straight to your inbox every two weeks:

Hm, someone figured out geeks represent a huge market for porn/porn-related activities! SF burlesque hits NY via @billyao

2010-02-04T09:05:00.001-05:00

http://www.toplessrobot.com/2010/02/science_fiction_sexy_feature.php

I wonder why there isn't more adult entertainment aimed at the 12TB-o'-pr0n d0wnl04d3z crowd? Seems like the gwank (geek-wank) space is underserved...there's a big opportunity out there for:

WoW-themed B&D
LARP strumpets, doxies, harlots and courtesans

TransGenders (more than meets the eye!)
Robosexual swap meets (like key parties, only with PGP keys)
Open-source smut (GNUTube?)

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

This from the Public Archive of the Instant Yang mailblog. Go to: http://www.ouatic.com/mojomail/mojo.pl to get Instant Yang straight to your inbox every two weeks:

So...Republicans are pigs that wish they were sheep? But—not KILLER SHEEP from HELL? iCarly's baaaa-d ad #FAILorina #worst candidate ever

2010-02-04T07:58:00.001-05:00

If you haven't seen the latest ridiculous ad from Carlyfornia targeting her opponent Tom Campbell as an FCINO ("Fiscal Conservative In Name Only"), it's almost worth trying to sit through it. Warning: It's viral. As in, it'll make you queasy and give you a headache. I thought Democrats had locked up a monopoly on terrible, terrible candidates, but apparently the GOP is giving us a run for our money.

Give up, iCarly. At this point you're just running for Senator from the Great State of Meme.

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

This from the Public Archive of the Instant Yang mailblog. Go to: http://www.ouatic.com/mojomail/mojo.pl to get Instant Yang straight to your inbox every two weeks:

COOKIN' WITH HUDSON Eps. 1—Pumpkin-Cranberry Bread: 6-year-old Hudson Yang's celeb-chef debut on YouTube :)

2010-02-01T16:13:00.001-05:00

Watch as the newest celeb chef on the block, Hudson Yang (age 6), cooks up a tasty, easy-to-make pumpkin-cranberry bread. Delicious and nutritious—even Hudson's two-year-old brother Skyler gives it a thumbs up!

(Seriously, this bread turned out awesome.)
RECIPE:
Yield: 14 servings
INGREDIENTS:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice (SUBSTITUTION: 2 tablespoons cinnamon)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 cups white sugar
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup canned cranberry sauce
1 cup chopped walnuts (OPTIONAL)
DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour 2 9x5 inch loaf pans (or 4 mini loaf pans).
2. In a mixing bowl, combine flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder and salt.
3. Combine eggs, sugar, pumpkin and oil in small mixing bowl, beat until just blended. Stir the wet mixture into the dry with a wooden spoon until batter is just moistened. Fold the cranberries and walnuts into the batter. Spoon the batter into the prepared loaf pans.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 50 to 60 minutes. (If using mini loaf pans, begin checking bread after 25 minutes.)
Nutritional Information:
Per Serving—Calories: 360 | Total Fat: 14.5g | Cholesterol: 30mg

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

This from the Public Archive of the Instant Yang mailblog. Go to: http://www.ouatic.com/mojomail/mojo.pl to get Instant Yang straight to your inbox every two weeks:

Professor Obama schools 'em all: Haven't seen this vid of the Prez's one-hour Q&A at the GOP Caucus Retreat? MUST SEE. Smart. Mature. Devastating. Awesome.

2010-01-29T23:46:00.001-05:00

This is why we voted for you, Mr. President. Talk straight, be candid, demonstrate that you're the adult in the room—and blow away the insidious insinuations and B.S. talking points. But as you admit: Talk is just the beginning.

Let's get healthcare done. Get us out of the wars that are spilling our blood and draining our treasure. Jobs, immigration, carbon control, civil rights. The time for hope is over. The time for change is now.

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

This from the Public Archive of the Instant Yang mailblog. Go to: http://www.ouatic.com/mojomail/mojo.pl to get Instant Yang straight to your inbox every two weeks:

The SOTU Liveblog Transcript—also visit the "official" post of this at http://bit.ly/sotublog

2010-01-27T23:41:00.001-05:00

You can also replay this in the CoverItLive window. But head over to APAforProgress.org to read and comment on the official Liveblog Transcript post. Thanks to the 38 official liveblog participants we had, who submitted 140 comments during the l'blog!

8:54—Jeff Yang: Nancy just bunged the old Donkey Kong hammer to call the peanut gallery to order...

8:55—Jeff Yang: Wolf Blitzer: "He's not going to have a chastened attitude like Clinton was..." Well, the Dems didn't lose either house of Congress, and Obama hasn't stained any dresses, so...

8:58—Jeff Yang: I'd cheer for her too. I'm cheering for her pearls. Ohh...

8:58—[Comment From S. Birdie]: Peanut Gallery...sad but true....

8:58—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: A lot of cheering for Justice Sotomayor and the First Lady.

8:58—Jeff Yang: I can't help it, I'm a dead sucker for Lady Numero Uno.

9:00—Jeff Yang: The GOP has promised not to throw shoes tonight.

9:00—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: * snaps * to Secretary Chu.

9:02—Jeff Yang: I'm surprised they're not having Scott Brown deliver the GOP response...

9:04—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: Better than Bobby Jindal right?

9:04—Jeff Yang: That's a mighty low bar to be setting, Erin...

9:04—[Comment From S. Birdie]: Have they promised to not shout back at the President in the middle of his speech? *crickets*

9:04—Jeff Yang: Yeah, if we can keep the GOP from delivering their response DURING the speech, we're probably ahead here

9:05—Jeff Yang: GSteph apparently said over on ABC that Michelle's purple dress is a "centrist gesture." UGH

9:06—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: Lol it was a joke Jeff.

9:06—Jeff Yang: Heh, I know, Erin :) AND IT BEGINS!

9:07—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: They're starting super late btw...and I wish this feed was a little bit faster.

9:07—[Comment From S. Birdie]: This is why I'm watching this on C-SPAN

9:07—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: Wow, GSteph really said that? I just think that any woman on the Hill wears bright colors and stands out from the sea of black and blue suits.

9:07—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: P.S. First Lady's guestlist for SOTU is very interesting, a lot of young folks (like 18 years old).

9:08—Jeff Yang: Well, Harry Reid's wearing a purple tie, too. That better not represent surrender, Harry.

9:09—Jeff Yang: I can't get over how much Chief Justice Roberts reminds me of Gary Sinise, circa Forrest Gump.

9:09—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: @Jeff Yang. Reid's vying for support from a lot of AAPIs btw.

9:09—Jeff Yang: @Erin: Do we like purple? :)

9:09—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: Actually there's a LOT of purple the women are wearing up there (Michelle). Very interesting 'show of bi-partisanship'...lol I don't like purple much, I just think it's interesting that folks pointed it out.

9:10—Jeff Yang: And Madame Speaker's in lavender, and Joe has a purple tie too. Uh...is this related to Obama speaking out against DADT maybe?

9:10—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: @Jeff Yang. Actually come to think of it, Pelosi is wearing purple too...interesting coordination isn't it?

9:11—[Comment From S. Birdie]: Okay enough with the clapping. On with the speech!

9:11—Jeff Yang: On the right side of the aisle, the clapping does not match the facial expressions.

9:12—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: @ Jeff Yang. Those were my first thoughts initially, before you mentioned the blue+red party thing.

9:14—[Comment From S. Birdie]: I wondering how many Republicans will get caught paying more attention to the blackberries than actually paying attention to the speech this time?

9:15—Jeff Yang: Obama comes out hard and dark. This is going to have to turn tight to be an uplifty speech.

9:15—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: @ S. Birdie. Trust me last year in Congress during floor speeches there would be members (of both parties) that bring their iPhones/BlackBerries to the floor while they spoke, I wouldn't be surprised.

9:17—Jeff Yang: Okay, the turn to hope. and a standing O. Let's hope that's not sarcastic applause on the right there.

9:17—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: @ Jeff Yang. I heard that his speech was supposed to be slightly apologetic, but 'not that he was the one to blame, but one to take the responsibility'..think it was in the NYT. Yes, hard to sound 'uplifty' like his other speeches.

9:18—Jeff Yang: He's trying, though. Yeah, we'd like a gov't that matches our decency. Or maybe one that just gets off its ass and enacts some of the agenda we voted it in for? I'm looking at you, Senate.

9:18—Jeff Yang: Is that what unifies us as a nation? Hatred of the bank bailout?

9:18—Jeff Yang: Goldman Sachs loved it!

9:19—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: Wow he just admitted to hating the bank bailout!

9:19—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: He wants to admit mistakes that were made?

9:19—[Comment From S. Birdie]: So did JP Morgan Chase!

9:20—Jeff Yang: Here's his clawback on the banks proposal.

9:20—Jeff Yang: I wanna hear some numbers. And some hard regulatory proposals.

9:21—Jeff Yang: The Republicans don't seem to be applauding, as the Prez notes :)

9:22—Jeff Yang: Love that reaction shot on the right...

9:22—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: Cutting taxes

9:22—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: I thought some Republicans clapped when he mentioned cutting taxes.

9:22—Jeff Yang: I think he thought he'd get a little more enthusiasm from the drown-the-govt-in-a-bathtub crowd

9:23—Jeff Yang: Ah, the stimulus bill. Not, apparently, a bipartisan love fest for that one...

9:23—[Comment From S. Birdie]: I would like to hear about more jobs concerning infrastructure (sp?)

9:24—Jeff Yang: Problem with the stimulus: The states took a lot of the money to pay for stuff they couldn't afford because of their own mismanagement. And too much of it was tax cuts, rather than spending.

9:25—Jeff Yang: Jobs...our number one focus! New jobs bill tonight!

9:25—Jeff Yang: To be honest, when he said "Jobs," I thought he was about to trot Steve out to introduce the iPad 2.0. Now that might get some applause...

9:25—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: Yay jobs bill! Hm..wonder how immigration reform will fit into this.

9:25—[Comment From S. Birdie]: Jobs Bill, hopefully he goes into detail about it

9:26—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: P.S. There's a White House Conference call with immigrant rights leaders on the SOTU tomorrow night to talk about how it immigrant rights fits into the mix.

9:26—Jeff Yang: I'm worried that immigration is going to get caught in the populist crossfire. When people focus on "jobs," and then hear "immigrants," they think, "that's why we're losing jobs."

9:26—[Comment From S. Birdie]: OT: iPad just looks like a very large iPhone/Kindle combo. I have no use for that.

9:27—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: Side comment: Hmm...Obama's tie looks red and what other stripey color?

9:27—Jeff Yang: ObamaTie: Red and kind of a sizzling whitey-pink

9:27—Jeff Yang: Tax cuts! Everybody dance

9:27—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: @Jeff Yang. Right, I know, that's why folks need myths dispelled to show how immigrants actually contribute to the economy, it's an investment. Look at Silicon Valley for example...there are some of your AAPI folks.

9:28—Jeff Yang: "Yeah, why can't we have the fastest trains?" That's what Amtrak Joe is thinking

9:28—[Comment From S. Birdie]: He should have said "new plants in the U.S."

9:29—Jeff Yang: So far, this sounds like rebates and tax cuts...what about investment?

9:29—[Comment From S. Birdie]: I would love high speed rail in the Midwest (I live in Wisconsin)

9:29—Jeff Yang: @S Birdie: Milwaukee? Madison?

9:30—Jeff Yang: Okay, here's where the investment part comes in? Please? Education maybe?

9:30—[Comment From S. Birdie]: Milwaukee

9:30—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: I'm afraid when I hear "American" jobs that outsourcing gets all mixed up with immigrant rights and then there's a ton of anti-immigrant sentiment.

9:31—Jeff Yang: @Erin yeah, me too. Especially now that (ulp) we own much of the auto industry.

9:31—Jeff Yang: The domestic auto industry.

9:32—Jeff Yang: Obama's setting us up against China and India--kind of playing a jingo card here...not sure I like it.

9:32—[Comment From A. Wan]: well, there's your education

9:32—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: Oh crap, here's comes CHINA AND INDIA.

9:32—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: Model minority myth ....

9:32—Jeff Yang: @Erin: Yup.

9:33—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: There go TOYOTA lemons.

9:33—[Comment From S. Birdie]: Financial reform: SILENCE wow

9:33—[Comment From Gina C.]: Trains! more railways, yes... it's about time... I do want to see more investments in our country's infrastructure. Amtrak.. not a huge fan, way too expensive. We need more options.

9:33—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: wonders what Kalpen would say right now...

9:33—Jeff Yang: @Erin, heh

9:34—[Comment From S. Birdie]: What's his definition of "real Financial reform"?

9:35—Jeff Yang: @Birdie Good question. Organic, free-range financial reform? Not from concentrate?

9:35—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: Hey Jeff, the Executive Order on the White House Commission for AAPIs was a good speech...I just wonder how we're going to connection transnational politics/international policy/foreign affairs without going Wen Ho Lee on AAPI folks.

9:36—Jeff Yang: @Erin Seriously, one of the biggest tensions we face as AAPIs right now is the pivot from multiculturalism to globalism, and how that changes the dynamics in our communities.

9:36—[Comment From S. Birdie]: free range financial reform is what got us in this mess

9:36—Jeff Yang: @Birdie: LOL

9:37—Jeff Yang: I know there are some who disagree with the OVERWHELMING SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE. Nice way to put it :)

9:37—Jeff Yang: But then, it's back to USA USA USA again. I guess that's what the red-meat guys need to hear.

9:37—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: Okay so jobs, financial reform, energy...it's 9:38PM right now (the speech is supposed to be over an hour), and I don't think I'm going to hear the word "immigrant" once, unless Joe Wilson is saying something racist.

9:37—[Comment From Keith Chow]: is it me, or does obama seem a little snarky tonight?

9:38—Jeff Yang: @Keith: He needs MORE SNARK. He needs to go full snark ahead on these toolboxes.

9:38—Jeff Yang: Snark is a renewable resource. It's sustainable.

9:39—Jeff Yang: The "free trade equals U.S. jobs" thing seems to be confusing the caucus.

9:39—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: California solar panels?...hmm sounds better than the nuclear power plant idea that was thrown around in CA State Senate last year. Now if only the CA legislature could get their act together...

9:40—Jeff Yang: We broke through the stalemate between left and right? News to me.

9:40—Jeff Yang: I don't think we've even broken through the stalemate between left and left.

9:40—[Comment From S. Birdie]: That's like asking the U.S. Senate to act like adults Erin...

9:41—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: education yay...why does it always end up sounding like model minority myth when folks talk about it?

9:41—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: @ S. Birdie - LOL for real...

9:42—Jeff Yang: No more subsidies to banks for student loans. $10K tax credit for tuition. Double dip! Banks suck, give money to families!

9:42—Jeff Yang: In the United States of America, no one should go broke because they decided to go to college. Or because they got sick. Or were fired when their jobs moved overseas....

9:42—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: Hooray for SAFRA! I do public service, count me in Obama.

9:43—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: P.S. Frank Chong (former President of Laney College) is in Dept. of Education for helping community colleges.

9:43—[Comment From Keith Chow]: can i get my student loan debt forgiven too? is this policy retroactive?

9:44—Jeff Yang: HEALTHCARE FINALLY

9:44—Jeff Yang: But still...HEALTH INSURANCE reform, not HEALTHCARE???

9:44—Jeff Yang: "Let's clear a few things up..."

9:44—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: @Jeff Yang. Idealistic rhetoric right? We gotta instill hope after the 'dark' language you spoke of earlier that he opened with.

9:44—[Comment From Keith Chow]: what channel are you watching?

9:44—[Comment From Keith Chow]: you're like a good 45 secs ahead of me dude

9:45—Jeff Yang: @Keith: CNN, man. CSPAN good too.

9:45—Jeff Yang: Maybe you have some kind of profanity delay on your channel?

9:45—[Comment From S. Birdie]: I really wish he'd stop with the Asian country model of education comparison. I realize that math and science is important but I wish he would emphasize a more balanced approach.

9:45—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: C-SPAN? What's faster bc I think even the NYT's feed is faster.

9:46—Jeff Yang: Hat tip to Michelle, why isn't she smiling? She doesn't want the attention?

9:46—Jeff Yang: "She gets embarrassed..." :)

9:46—[Comment From Keith Chow]: nevermind, my DVR was 30 secs behind the live feed

9:46—[Comment From S. Birdie]: LOL at Mrs. Obama not wanting to stand up

9:46—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: * snaps * to S. Birdie, I concur. That's why I mentioned MMM (Model Minority Myth yet again...)...this whole paradigm.

9:46—Jeff Yang: SLIDE HARD, O. Yes, HCR will REDUCE the budget deficit!

9:47—Jeff Yang: And here he is, taking his lumps. But put that behind, hammer it out right now loud and clear: GET THIS DONE.

9:47—Jeff Yang: I will not walk away from these Americans, and neither should the people in this chamber, and look, the 'Pubs rise too!

9:48—Jeff Yang: As you said, Keith--the snark flag is on :)

9:48—[Comment From kevin cheung]: i think the education system needs to change to more of an individual track based and more on charter like schools

9:48—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: lobbying and horsetrading..what everybody seems to hate. If you're a broke nonprofit representing nonprofits, how are we 'bad' lobbyists. Horsetrading takes out values we care about. I guess I'd rather be a lobbyist for my community if my Member is hearing me out.

9:49—[Comment From S. Birdie]: If he don't just say "if you all don't collectively get your shit together and pass this damn bill, you will get ZERO help from me come reelection time."

9:49—Jeff Yang: Amen, Birdie, Amen.

9:51—Jeff Yang: Nice: $3 trillion deficit—"all this was before I walked in this door."

9:51—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: Dang we're hella broke. -Bay Area native.

9:51—[Comment From S. Birdie]: Is he working his way towards the spending freeze?

9:51—Jeff Yang: @Birdie, yeah. And maybe reviving that stupid bipartisan committee thing.

9:51—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: @ S. Birdie. Looks like it.

9:52—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: @Jeff Yang. Hence the purple uniform.

9:52—Jeff Yang: Ugghhhhh.

9:52—Jeff Yang: "Like any cash strapped family..." So, no summer camp for the kids this year, dad?

9:52—[Comment From S. Birdie]: Why? Is he still not convinced that the default Republican stance is "No"?

9:52—[Comment From Keith Chow]: he should address the spending freeze part of the speech using the dumbass puns of schwarzenegger's mr. freeze from "batman & robin"

9:53—Jeff Yang: Yeah, that worked for Ahnold, didn't it :P

9:53—Jeff Yang: Gregg/Conrad--TWO ROCKS TIED TOGETHER DON'T FLOAT

9:54—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: @Keith Chow. LOL. Why can't Governator ever balance the budget...CA leg is tough like Congress overall. * sigh * I cry for my state and my country. Idk what this will do for his approval ratings.

9:54—Jeff Yang: The congress overwhelmingly voted this down, no? Why is everyone standing and clapping?

9:55—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: Yay for surplus in the '90s (Thx Bill).

9:55—Jeff Yang: PAYGO is like trying to repair a torn pair of pants with a chainsaw instead of a needle

9:56—Jeff Yang: Heh. Another dig at Bush. I do think Plouffe is helping O flip the script quite nicely.

9:56—[Comment From S. Birdie]: I'll be silent for a bit. I'm helping my daughter with her homework.

9:56—Jeff Yang: @Birdie: Our education subsidy dollars at work :)

9:57—Jeff Yang: The problem with the refrain "Give us the government we deserve" is that I'm afraid that's exactly what we have right now.

9:58—Jeff Yang: I mean, let's face it: As a nation, we're pretty bad at this whole democracy thing.

9:58—Jeff Yang: Better than most countries, but still pretty bad. And getting worse.

9:58—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: Plouffe wouldn't answer my question on immigration at an event recently...he kinda dodged it well (like any good politician would) with every other excuse that there are millions of other important issues. What's the Chican@/Latin@ and AAPI voter constituency going to do if he doesn't do something this year? But then again, mid-term elections are the excuse we hear to keep waiting for CIR (Comp. Immigration Reform) to pass during this term.

9:59—Jeff Yang: True—and Plouffe isn't a politician but a political operative, so he's dodgier than most. But seriously, we need someone who'll push O to speak it clean and loud, and Plouffe is it.

10:00—Jeff Yang: O's tossing a bone to Ole Man McCain there, with the earmarks on websites thing.

10:00—Jeff Yang: McCain's like, "Yep, put 'em on *all* the Internets!"

10:00—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: Obama and his speechwriters are amazing.

10:01—Jeff Yang: Obama's putting a tack in GOP obstructionism. (And Dem inertia.) Good.

10:02—Jeff Yang: You know...I guess it's refreshing to hear a politician actually talk about how effed up things are structurally, rather than targeting individuals, institutions or a partisan side.

10:02—[Comment From S. Birdie]: All done now

10:03—Jeff Yang: @Birdie: That was fast.

10:03—Jeff Yang: "I know you can't wait," LOL

10:03—[Comment From S. Birdie]: LOL wow he called them out

10:03—[Comment From Keith Chow]: god damn

10:03—[Comment From S. Birdie]: I was not expecting that

10:03—[Comment From Keith Chow]: Please Barack, don't hurt 'em!

10:04—Jeff Yang: Let's put aside the schoolyard taunts about who's tough...love it.

10:04—[Comment From S. Birdie]: Oh the little one was confused on some grammar homework. She had most of it done.

10:05—Jeff Yang: Yeah, O, OWN THIS. You are the SECURITY PRESIDENT, as opposed to George "W IS FOR WAR PRESIDENT" Bush.

10:06—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: Bipartisanship. Yup, he's admitting mistakes on what healthcare looked like (lack of bipartisanship).

10:06—Jeff Yang: We will have all of our combat troops out of Iraq by end of August...how about paramilitary contractors?

10:07—Jeff Yang: DADT, I feel it coming

10:07—Jeff Yang: Maybe it's the accent on "ALL" of our men and women? I guess he'll do something about GI Bill, Veteran's Hospitals etc. first.

10:08—[Comment From S. Birdie]: My brother is in Iraq right now. Good news is he might be home in August; bad news is he might be going to Afghanistan next

10:08—Jeff Yang: @Birdie: Crap. That...sucks.

10:08—Jeff Yang: Man, Michelle really isn't looking happy tonight.

10:09—Jeff Yang: @Birdie: Prayers go with your brother. Hope he comes home, all the way home, and stays, very very soon.

10:09—[Comment From S. Birdie]: She's probably still mad that this speech is so long and it has taken away from family time considerably

10:10—Jeff Yang: @Birdie: The kids have gotta be asleep by now. School day tomorrow :)

10:10—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: Did folks hear Obama on an interview recently that he'd rather be a good one-term President than a 'mediocre' two term president?

10:10—[Comment From S. Birdie]: Thank you Jeff

10:11—Jeff Yang: @Erin: Yeah. The problem is, what if you end up being a mediocre one term president? That's why O has to go hard through 2010. Throw bipartisanship out the window and get stuff done.

10:11—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: @ S. Birdie - also sorry to hear that, I pray that they come home safe.

10:11—[Comment From S. Birdie]: He has said that multiple times Erin

10:11—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: @ Jeff Yang. How hard is it to stay happy when you got the weight of the world on your shoulders? Tough man.

10:12—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: @ S. Birdie. Ah I guess I've only heard it recently.

10:13—Jeff Yang: Obama's so good when he's talking. If only the conviction and commitment he puts into his words could transform into action—and I'm not blaming him solely, we have a broken, broken system.

10:13—Jeff Yang: DADT coming up soon, gotta be. He's talking civil rights. Treating everyone fairly. Hate crimes.

10:14—Jeff Yang: AND THERE IT IS.

10:14—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: so 'illegal' immigrants would be seen as those who don't 'abide' by the law and wouldn't be protected...sigh.

10:14—[Comment From Keith Chow]: you called it, dude

10:14—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: @ Jeff Yang. WOW. He said it!

10:14—Jeff Yang: Again--he has to get it done. And it'll be hard. But at least he said it.

10:14—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: Thank you for Matthew Shepard Act and Lily Ledbetter Act.

10:14—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM!!!

10:14—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: FINALLY.

10:15—Jeff Yang: Yeah, but what's "immigration reform"? That's one of those fuzzy phrases that has as much danger as promise embedded in it.

10:15—[Comment From S. Birdie]: DADT reeks. I don't care if you're gay, straight, whatever. If you want to serve, then you should be free to do so.

10:15—Jeff Yang: Seriously. It's like, "I want to put MY LIFE AT RISK out of love for my country"—why should your love for anyone else prevent you from doing that?

10:16—Jeff Yang: I wonder what Bernanke and Geithner think in their heads when O is calling out wealthy, fat-cat bankers like this. Are they all squirmy?

10:16—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: @ Jeff Yang. I concur, but folks were speculating last year at Inauguration hoping he'd say something. It's just good to know that these issues are under his radar, it's been frustrating for folks who work on this stuff that have been feeling as if nothing is moving in Congress. I concur, CIR means SO many things, we'll see how it plays out before and after mid-term elections.

10:17—Jeff Yang: Huh...O giving a mea culpa. It's noisy, messy, complicated. Shades of Bush's "This job is hard!" But more sincere.

10:17—[Comment From S. Birdie]: I would hope that when soldiers are in the middle of a fight, whether or not someone is gay is the last damn thing on their minds

10:18—[Comment From Keith Chow]: here's the big mystery: how's the pasty, white guy (the new va gov. ugh.) gonna screw up the repub reponse tonight?

10:18—[Comment From S. Birdie]: Jeff that's because he actually DOES the job!

10:19—Jeff Yang: @Birdie: But who's gonna clear all the brush? That brush don't clear itself!

10:20—Jeff Yang: You know, O, I don't think that those chants of "USA USA USA" necessarily speak to the best part of us as Americans.

10:20—[Comment From S. Birdie]: The President has a talent of making the Republican response look stupid before the person making it even says one word.

10:20—[Comment From S. Birdie]: The brush? All those migrant workers his estate hired is gonna do it....

10:21—Jeff Yang: @Birdie: True enough. But the GOP has an equal talent of putting the most talentless of its number up there as a human lightning rod, so, there you go.

10:22—Jeff Yang: I'll stick it out thru the GOP response here...assuming it doesn't go another 70 minutes :)

10:24—Jeff Yang: "We don't quit, I don't quit"—sure, all good. But "not quitting" doesn't get you a raise and a promotion at work. Let's go back to "grab a mop"!

10:24—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: If he really carries out stuff for LGBTiQQA communities, immigrant rights etc. etc. with everything else in ONE TERM, I will be amazed.

10:24—[Comment From S. Birdie]: You're a better person than me, I have to turn the channel for fear of harming my TV

10:24—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: @Jeff Yang. The GOP could go on forever with rebuttals...like a filibuster...

10:24—Jeff Yang: @Erin, yeah, well, they'll filibuster anything. I think they filibustered someone in the gallery who was just asking for directions to the men's room.

10:25—Jeff Yang: Was it just me, or did someone mutter something about "Jersey Shore" into the mike just before they cut away on CNN? Heh.

10:28—[Comment From Keith Chow]: Chris Matthews just now: "i forgot he was black for an hour." wtf?

10:28—[Comment From S. Birdie]: The Dems should make them honestly go through a filibuster once, on primetime TV, just so the public can see who is gumming up the works

10:29—Jeff Yang: @Keith: Yeah, that's a WTF moment all right. Or maybe a Harry Reid moment?

10:30—[Comment From S. Birdie]: *claps* Nice job Chris! He has earned the Bama of the Week award!

10:30—[Comment From S. Birdie]: that was snark by the way

10:30—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: @Keith Chow. He really said that...gawd.

10:31—Jeff Yang: Man, I can see the puppet strings on this guy

10:32—Jeff Yang: I want to know who the black woman and Asian man he has standing behind him are.

10:32—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: Dang I campaigned against this guy in VA...sigh Deeds.

10:32—Jeff Yang: Deeds was a terrible candidate. He and Martha Coakley should be case studies for future generations of Dems.

10:33—Jeff Yang: "Today the federal government is simply trying to do too much." Let's let Americans go to hell! At least the poor ones—they'll barely notice anyway, right?

10:35—Jeff Yang: So, the GOP wants bipartisanship, but also don't want anything O does to succeed. I do not think that word means what you think it means.

10:35—Jeff Yang: Is it a rule now that every GOP response MUST have an embedded URL?

10:36—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: "We want results, not rhetoric" right...what deficit did we have as a result of the GOP?

10:36—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: Freezing discretionary spending is a SMALL step? Hmm...when did the last Administration do that (limit govt) with war spending....

10:36—[Comment From Keith Chow]: so embarrassed to be a native Virginian right now.

10:36—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: Did he really just say we have the best medical system in the world? I wonder if he's been to France, Canada, uh somewhere else other than here??

10:36—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: Norway?

10:36—[Comment From S. Birdie]: Well state and local governments aren't capable to fill in gaps in most of the country. Shouldn't the federal government step up to the plate then?

10:36—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: I think it's interesting that they place a Black woman and and Asian man in the background of this filming.

10:37—[Comment From S. Birdie]: Bipartisanship to a Republican means "do it my way."

10:37—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: @Keith Chow. It's okay, I'm a native Californian in MD now and I'm embarrassed for the Governator and our budget issues...

10:38—Jeff Yang: I think they put the people of color behind the VA-Guv to make his whiteness pop more. It's like he's embossed.

10:38—[Comment From S. Birdie]: One Black woman and one Asian man is not gonna convince the people of color in this country that you speak for them as well as the "Real Americans"

10:38—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: Interesting choice of words with his saying "by HER work ethic, not HER zip code" and I know he wasn't very pro-women.

10:39—Jeff Yang: Man, this guy is a turd. When will GOPers admit that Bush did EXACTLY THE SAME THING in the SAME SCENARIO with Mr. Shoebomber?

10:39—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: @ S. Birdie. I concur, I'm worried bout POC folks that join GOP bc they see the image...I'm just worry when any POC turns R in general...

10:40—Jeff Yang: Y'know what scares me? I think the Republicans think this guy is their next star—a prez candidate in waiting...RoboGOP.

10:40—[Comment From Keith Chow]: well, I know my whole fam in VA has been hardcore repubs for decades

10:40—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: Overregulation? Seriously?! It's a lack of regulation that got us into this mess! *ahem* sub-prime lending ring a bell anyone?

10:41—Jeff Yang: Asian dude is still bobbleheading.

10:41—[Comment From S. Birdie]: They thought that about Gov. Jindal too...

10:41—[Comment From Edward Hong]: I'm beginning to like my VA a l'il less now...

10:42—Jeff Yang: Yes, but this guy, he's, you know, not "not white." So he's mainstream.

10:42—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: @Jeff Yang. I was waiting for someone to say that if I didn't. He hella nods at like everything.

10:42—[Comment From Keith Chow]: 757 in the house!

10:43—[Comment From Edward Hong]: oh shoot Keith, you're from VA as well?

10:43—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: his speech was hella shorter than Obama's, but this R could not hold my attention for more than 5 seconds but to critique everything he said.

10:43—[Comment From Keith Chow]: Brian Williams just called out the Benetton ad in the SOTU response

10:44—Jeff Yang: @Keith: yeah, you could hardly miss it. It looked like they Photoshopped those guys into the back there.

10:47—[Comment From S. Birdie]: LOL Brian Williams has his moments

10:47—[Comment From Erin Pangilinan]: Now watching Rachel Maddow, when does this chat end?

10:47—[Comment From Keith Chow]: @edward: yup. went to ODU even.

10:47—Jeff Yang: Okay, guys, chat's done :) Thanks for participating, and I hope to see you next time there's some kind of significant national political event. American Idol finals, maybe? (kidding)

10:48—Jeff Yang: I'll repost the full transcript in the blog. Take care!

Posted via web from OriginalSpin

This from the Public Archive of the Instant Yang mailblog. Go to: http://www.ouatic.com/mojomail/mojo.pl to get Instant Yang straight to your inbox every two weeks:

Liveblogging tonight's State of the Union address (here and at APAforProgress.org)

2010-01-27T17:09:00.001-05:00

State of the Union Address

I'll be liveblogging tonight's SOTU on behalf of APAforProgress.org, but since I'll be doing it via CoverItLive, you do have the option to use this window to the l'blog here as well. But the final recap will go up on APAforProgress first, and there'll probably be other people doing much the same thing over there. And anyway, APAP is a cool and important organization that you should check out and support regardless.

So go and join me there.

Posted via web from OriginalSpin

This from the Public Archive of the Instant Yang mailblog. Go to: http://www.ouatic.com/mojomail/mojo.pl to get Instant Yang straight to your inbox every two weeks:

My latest San Francisco Chronicle column: Harvard's Jeremy Lin, whites-only basketball, and the pride and peril of "rooting for the race"

2010-01-27T07:14:00.001-05:00

So my latest column's up on SFGate, and it tangles with the light and dark side of cheering for "your people" to succeed. It's been a part of sports ever since the first inter-tribal competition took place between Neanderthals—on some level, it's instinctive to want members of your ethnicity, nationality or other affinity group to beat the living tar out of the other guys. But when does that cross the line? These days, it seems, the answer is: All too often—and too easily, as can be seen in the example of the new "All-American Basketball Alliance," a proposed whites-only basketball league being formed by an Atlanta-based sports promoter, Don "Moose" Lewis. I talk to Lewis, to a group of Asian American superfans, and (too briefly!) to Asian American hoops wunderkind Jeremy Lin, to explore the line between community connection and controversy.
Bonus extra: The full transcript of the race and sports "virtual roundtable" featuring 11 of the most passionate Asian American sports lovers I know—up at my personal blog, Originalspin!

Posted via email from OriginalSpin

This from the Public Archive of the Instant Yang mailblog. Go to: http://www.ouatic.com/mojomail/mojo.pl to get Instant Yang straight to your inbox every two weeks:

Instant Yang

This may be the most ludicrous New York Times Op-Ed I've read in years: Sell out Taiwan in exchange for China forgiving $1.1 trillion in debt!

WCCO-TV's idiotic "Chinatown market sells dog meat" story: Reporter and news director need to come clean

All the snark in one place!: My CNBC GOPDebate liveblog transcript

PARENTS: Isn't this the most brilliant freakin' meal idea you've ever seen? Your pint-sized Ferran Adria will swoon. #hotdoghetti

Inclement weather, but great seats, & #CCSabathia pitching a great game! #GoYanks!!!

MY MASTER LIST OF ASIAN AMERICAN POP MUSIC: A Spotify playlist in progress. As of 7/26/11—3031 tracks by over 190 artists (click for list and links!)

David Sedaris thinks Chinese people (and food) are repulsive, which makes me sad, because I used to like David Sedaris.

Also, bad journalism may cause ignorance? Fisking "MSG May Cause Weight Gain—Chinese Food Worse Than McDonald's"

Ah, what might have been: @CNN's SpitzerWeiner—Politics Exposed.

Ballmer and Jobs #2: Under Development.

Ballmer and Jobs #1: I haz seen the future WAP WAP WAP

Photoshopped this little mashup for my gadget-fan friends out there: Ballmer and Jobs (With apologies to Bill Watterson!)

Don't miss this Special Kondabolu Brothers Bonus Xtra Feature: The smart, funny stuff that got edited out of my column

From the Badvertising Files: Crispin Porter, king of gimmicks, asks you to watch TV for Whoppers

Today's Apple's WWDC Keynote: The PC Is Dead, Long Live the Cloud, Digital Amnesty for Pirates—Ahoy!

My Thoughts on Wesley Yang's NYMag Feature "Asian Like Me": What a Long, Strange Trip

FM+D&D? I'm in love: "Roll a D6"

#TechFAIL: Methinks this ad campaign will prove to be a mistake for our pals up north at RIM.

It's ANGRY DAY. Show your love to Phil Yu and AngryAsianMan.com for 10 amazing years!

Amazing 1956 comic from William F. Wu's "Asian images" comic book collection at NYU: THE YELLOW CLAW

Just finished moderating a fantastic panel at SXSW: E-Race—Anonymity, Avatarization and the Virtualization of Identity

The real reason Mubarak decided to resign

AOL buys Huffington Post for $315 million; estimated fair enterprise value of *Washington* Post? $200 million

Rest in peace, Tura Luna Pascual Yamaguchi—better known as cult movie superstar Tura Satana

This is just bizarre. Why is Yahoo showing up as "Anshika Packers & Movers" on Alexa?

Someone please explain this: Why does Facebook search continue to blow with the gale force of a thousand Katrinas?

Forget Tiger Mom. The real evil genius here is Foxy Grandpa.

HOLY COW. Prez Obama to appoint Pete Rouse to replace Rahm—first *Asian American* White House Chief of Staff!

The things you miss when you're in China. Mike + Tina = STRONG ASIAN FUSION

Thoughts on the one-man/one-woman show genre — and my take on Michelle Krusiec's MADE IN TAIWAN and Natalie Kim's YO GIRL!

SPECULATION: Why Apple's new "iTunes Social Network" Ping is the REAL "monster under the bed" of yesterday's Music Event

Space for 'Rents: Gotham staycation suggestions—Brooklyn Bridge Park and Governor's Island

Fun with Washable Markers: EVIL BABY and KID KAT

Column Catch-Up Time: Belle Yang's FORGET SORROW, Daniel Dae Kim and the end of LOST, and the poisoning of political discourse

Holy crap, the rumors of early delivery are true: A glorious man in purple just brought me my #iPhone4!!

Best movie promo item ever, or worst? My son just brought home Karate Kid 2.0 CHOPSTICKS—complete with Jaden Smith silhouette

The Naked Cowboy sues The Naked Cowgirl for trademark violation. WHERE DO YOU STAND ON THIS, ELENA KAGAN?

WOO HOO! Just got this alert that my iPhone4 has shipped and will arrive by June 23!

My latest ASIAN POP column, THE ROBOTECH MASTER: Carl Macek, RIP

Relieving the backlog of recent ASIAN POP columns: REMAKING THE GODS, on Greg Pak, godmaker

My latest San Francisco Chronicle column: ASIAN, EH? A trip to Vancouver for a look at race, ethnicity and Asian identity in Canada

What I ate today in Vancouver: Terimayo, Okonomi and Oroshi Japadogs—yes, all three. Je n'ai pas de regrets

Coming soon to this space...the full transcript of my interview with Keni Styles, porn's only straight Asian male superstar

Joe Biden—in all your candor, you found the magic words for this moment in history, and I love ya for it! (Also, this cartoon :) )

How to make "Twilight" work for guys, too: Just...add...ZOMBIES. Seriously, tell me you wouldn't watch this, dudes [pic]

From the unfortunate headline dept. I suspect it's at least figuratively true, tho

My latest San Francisco Chronicle column: What color is my avatar? On race, stereotypes and videogames

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE TEXAS BOARD OF ED: Has Tom Ratliff defeated ultra-right creationist Don McLeroy?

MORE ON MY "ROGER EBERT MOMENT" WITH MARGARET CHO—Her POV on the incident, from her book

My Roger Ebert-Will Lietch-esque Story; or, Margaret Cho and me

From the WTF? User Reviews Dept.—Coleman FishPen: "After I bought mine we were taken to court by the IRS..."

Hate-O-Rama: Welcome to My Tea Party—analyzing the comments on my column on Asians and Jews

My latest SF Chron column—The Asian-Jewish connection: Is it kosher to call Asians the "new Jews"? (The haters are out in force.)

Dry earwax? It's an Asian thing.

My latest San Francisco Chronicle column: With Lunar New Year looming, a look at the subtle links between food and memory

Not Bread Alone: Recipes for foods that make you remember the good old days -- even if they weren't so good

Think iCarly's "HELLSHEEP" ad was nuts? New Orleans has the best political ads EVAR. Not surprisingly.

Hm, someone figured out geeks represent a huge market for porn/porn-related activities! SF burlesque hits NY via @billyao

So...Republicans are pigs that wish they were sheep? But—not KILLER SHEEP from HELL? iCarly's baaaa-d ad #FAILorina #worst candidate ever

COOKIN' WITH HUDSON Eps. 1—Pumpkin-Cranberry Bread: 6-year-old Hudson Yang's celeb-chef debut on YouTube :)

Professor Obama schools 'em all: Haven't seen this vid of the Prez's one-hour Q&A at the GOP Caucus Retreat? MUST SEE. Smart. Mature. Devastating. Awesome.

The SOTU Liveblog Transcript—also visit the "official" post of this at http://bit.ly/sotublog

Liveblogging tonight's State of the Union address (here and at APAforProgress.org)

My latest San Francisco Chronicle column: Harvard's Jeremy Lin, whites-only basketball, and the pride and peril of "rooting for the race"

AOL buys Huffington Post for $315 million; estimated fair enterprise value of Washington Post? $200 million

HOLY COW. Prez Obama to appoint Pete Rouse to replace Rahm—first Asian American White House Chief of Staff!