Hello Monday. It was a long weekend filled with Hyphen events and appearances. First, thanks to those who stopped by to talk to us Saturday at the Asian American Music Conference, where Audrey was holding down the fort, and the Independent Press Association conference, where I spoke on a panel about niche readership. One thing that was brought up during a discussion at the latter was that some magazines have friendster profiles to help keep in touch with their readers and announce events. Hyphen is one such magazine, so if you want to be our friendster, just look us up! We always love hearing from readers. (If you do a search, our first name is Hyphen, last name is Magazine.)
Continue reading "Hot 97 Still in the Hot Seat"
Posted by melissa at 2:51 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBack (0)
... in all the wrong places? Me too. *Sigh*. I'll never forget my confusion when I discovered that driving slowly past single men walking down the street and propositioning them loudly out the window was considered culturally inappropriate. How am I supposed to meet men now?
Continue reading "Looking for Love ..."
Posted by jacqueline.huang at 1:28 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
I got the most recent issue of Entertainment Weekly for this week. It's one of my "guilty pleasure" magazine reads, that I actually have a subscription for.
Continue reading "I <3 Entertainment Weekly"
Posted by Audrey at 5:43 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
When it rains, it pours: These next few weeks will be a shit storm of Hyphen happenings coming your way! This week has been all about relentless e-tag and phone-tag, trying to set up speaking engagements and locking down details for events. (And I'm only talking February, here. March is something else altogether.)
As far as interviews and public speaking go, I've been pretty hands off thus far because I've been so burdened by other publisher duties. Having to sit and prepare talking points and psyche myself out to be on good behavior in public just wasn't a priority in 2004. However, next month I throw caution to the wind and, as one of the leaders of your beloved rag, shall do my share of public speaking. I shall also leave the comfort of my home (default Hyphen office) and party with the kiddies (staff) for a good cause.
Continue reading "Come See About Us"
Posted by Audrey at 2:56 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
You've probably heard of it by now, but if not, the latest in racist "shock" radio news is the universally offensive "Tsunami Song" which was airing on NYC's Hot 97 for the past few weeks. Check out some of the lyrics:
"You could hear the screaming chinks and no one was safe from the wave
There were Africans drowning, little Chinamen swept away
You could hear god laughing, 'swim you bitches swim'
So now you're screwed, it's the Tsunami
You better run or kiss your ass away, go find your mommy
I just saw her float by, a tree went through her head
and now the children will be sold to child slavery..."
Listen to the song, which pretty much speaks for itself. Or listen to the clip of the Hot 97 morning show in which Asian American co-host Miss Info is slammed for voicing her objection to the song.
Hot 97 has since issued a lame apology, but you can also sign an online petition or contact any one of the station's sponsors.
Posted by Lisa at 6:13 PM | Comments (25) | TrackBack (0)
I share an office here at work, and like all office-sharers, Jane (not her real name) and I share a lot of laughs. She reads out quotes from Martin of the Simpsons ("Miss Hoover, my worm went in my mouth so i ate it.") prints out the 2005 David Hasselhoff calendar, and plays an eclectic collection of music that alternatively soothes, grates, and entertains.
Recently she pulled out the Neil Diamond. I've alway thought of Neil Diamond as sappy music played by lonely women in their fifties, but I don't pay attention to such things. Now, listening to the lyrics, I've learned the Neil is a bigoted ass.
Continue reading "Is Racism Funny?"
Posted by jennifer at 2:55 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0)
Sorry to bust in on your day, Mel, but I missed this one last week:
A Minneapolis-based Nazi group was posting fliers last week with pictures of the slain Wisconsin hunters and a caption asking if "diversity" was worth even one American life. Scary, since I usually trust my fellow humans to reject the rhetoric of the extremists, but in these times ... I don't know. Read more here.
Posted by jacqueline.huang at 4:36 PM | Comments (10) | TrackBack (0)
I go to the post office quite often -- at least once a week. If you've subscribed in the last 6 months, I'm the one who most likely mailed your magazine. I send them out in small batches because a) they're heavy and I carry them by hand with me to work (a good 20 minute walk) and visit the post office during my lunch break and b) I don't want the postal workers at the counter to hate me for bringing in so much stuff because they have to press all these buttons on the machine just to calculate the postage for one item at a certain rate.
Continue reading "$8.88 Stamps"
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The world is a vampire.
Continue reading "Random "Super Adobe" dementia lawsuit exchange"
Posted by jacqueline.huang at 11:43 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Sorry to hooride on your day to blog, Todd, but I couldn't get my airport wireless to connect to the Internet last night. (Sometimes I wish I hadn't done the Mac "switch.")
While I was in San Diego with my extended family for the holidays, my younger cousins hipped me to a "new term" that I hadn't heard before: "Asian Persuasion." It's a "nicer" sounding version of "Yellow Fever," I suppose. (Well, I much prefer it to "Asian-izing" other words like "UrbanizAzn," etc.)
Upon my return home to the Bay Area, I read an email that Big Brother Todd sent me ("Get in touch with your inner Karizma Kapoor!") with a link to this Bollywood "finishing school" type deal, and it made me wonder if my new "obsession" with Bollywood constitutes a "South Asian Persuasion?"
Continue reading "South Asian Persuasion"
Posted by Audrey at 12:39 PM | Comments (30) | TrackBack (0)
Got some new karaoke CDs in the mail. I have a pretty decent Pioneer setup that runs CD-G’s and DVDs. We don’t mess with the DVD’s—CD-G is the way to go. More selection, better sound and no wack videos.
I go in spurts when supplementing my collection (now 50+ deep, cripes!). I’ll get on an R&B jag, or think I’d really like to try that New Radicals song. Lately I’ve been trying to boost my ‘80s collection and I found a disc that had Joe Jackson (“Look Sharp,” “Steppin’ Out”), The Clash (“Train in Vain,” “London Calling”), Thompson Twins, Oingo Boingo, and, the key acquisition: ABC’s “The Look of Love.” How did it go? Let’s just say my throat is wrecked. One of the funnest parts about singing “The Look of Love” is when it heads into the spoken word part: “My friends they tell me, Marlin (sic) maybe someday you’ll find true love. I saaaay maybe. There must be a solution to the one thing, the one thing…” And it ends with a Tom Jones-like pelvic thrust. “LOOK! OF! LOVE!” Crazy.
Continue reading "This is How it Feels"
Posted by jacqueline.huang at 12:05 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
When I was growing up, I was a total bookworm. I preferred reading to sports, to playing piano, to watching TV. Hell, I preferred reading over talking. In the 5th grade I belonged to the Name That Book club (which is exactly what it sounds like) and we would compete against teams from other schools. They would ask a question like, "In which book does the character such and such do such and such?" Whoever raises her hand first and answers the question correctly scores a point for the team. It was so easy. I remember around this time there were often promotions at Pizza Hut where you got a star for every book you read and after you earned 10 stars, you got a free personal pizza. Also really easy. I skipped class in the 5th grade once. Guess where they found me? In the school library.
Continue reading "Bookworms, Rejoice! Newbery Award Goes to AA Author"
Posted by melissa at 1:31 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Anybody catch "Iron Chef America" the other night? Not to be confused with the short-lived William Shatner Iron Chef USA, Iron Chef America aims to remake it right.
The iron chefs are Bobby Flay, Mario Batali and Wolfgang Puck. The episode I watched, "Battle Spiny Lobster" pitted Mario Batali against Japan's longtime Iron Chef Japanese, Masaharu Morimoto.
Watching the show made me wonder, even in this day and age, if something as elemental as "delicious food" can be considered universal. Or, to put it simply, I think the deck was stacked against our Asian guy.
Continue reading "The New Iron Chef"
Posted by jennifer at 1:41 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
Ah, the joys of non-Asian family. At Christmas dinner this year my Uncle X (clearly not his real name) asked me if we named our magazine "Hyphen" because we wanted to create a special hyphenated identity for ourselves - in essence make ourselves special rather than just assimilate into the mainstream like good Americans. In his defense, he *is* a thousand years old and he *did* use to work for the CIA. Wait, that's not really in his defense, is it?
Continue reading "Unfortunate Philadelphia Asian American Representative Not Shutting Up Yet"
Posted by jacqueline.huang at 10:55 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (1)
Ah, vacation is almost over. No longer will I be subjected to the horrid radio music my cousins think is "hip-hop" and "dancehall." (Sorry, I don't like Nelly or reggaeton.) I was about to have an Orlando Jones (in Drumline) moment... Sigh.
Did any of you, by chance, get to read Oliver Wang's article about hip-hop and politics in yesterday's SF Bay Guardian? I've been having deja vu all week. After reading Oliver's article, I was nostalgic for the days when wearing my Hip-hop Badge was a big declaration for me. I've been experiencing flashbacks of all the changes that cycled and re-cycled (for me) up til now.
Continue reading "Stealth Activism on the Decline"
Posted by Audrey at 11:59 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)
"Kosuke," I asked on my recent trip to Nagano, "I don't understand Japanese relationships. I speak Japanese, but I think there's a whole level of communication that I'm missing."
I'd been asking him about his girlfriend and hoping he could shed some light on the Japanese mating ritual. Recently I've been starting to doubt the veracity of Japanese dramas in their depiction of romance, which is my main source of info on the subject.
"If a Japanese person has something to say," Kosuke said, indicating it with a fist, "they'll never just say it. They'll give a lot of hints around it," he stamped his other fist in the air around the first. "That way they'll be understood without having to actually say it."
Continue reading "On Japanese Inscrutability"
Posted by jennifer at 11:45 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Me and Josh, the Editor & Publisher of Heeb while we were setting up for the
Hyphen vs Heeb Table Tennis Tussle on December 10th.
We weren't even posing for this picture. Ping pong, drinks, karaoke. All in all, a very good night. Thanks to everyone who came out to the event. More photos to come. Your Hyphen staff is also planning a new event for February. Cough. Once we get well that is. Like Claire, I'm also sick. Seems like half the staff has been sick since December. Well anyway, we promise a fun event in February. Stay tuned.
Posted by melissa at 3:33 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
One more reason to hate the holidays -- and I suspect this is probably the main reason, though people rarely articulate it as such -- is that everyone's life must come to a halt for three weeks, willy, nilly, or chilly. Doesn't matter if you observe any holidays at all; everyone else does, and you'll find it hard to play ball -- or even catch -- without someone on the other end wearing a mitt. So basically, you get to twiddle your fingers for nearly a month, while your pet projects go as sour as the produce in your fridge.
Continue reading "Catching Up On News"
Posted by jacqueline.huang at 7:15 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
For lunch today, I had some leftover shrimp alfredo and for a special treat, I walked down to the red-sauce Italian restaurant and bought an order of garlic bread. I say “special treat” because I’m the type that bleeds garlic fumes after eating just the slightest bit. Now this restaurant is notorious for giving too much and they don’t skimp. So I binged hard, plowing through the order, mopping up the last drips of creamy parmesan sauce. Now I’m resting in a nice comatose state, garlic fumes seeping out of my pores and into my coworker’s airspace.
Continue reading "Your Breath Is Hot"
Posted by jacqueline.huang at 2:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
I am still in Southern California (I get a longer "vacation" from Hyphen land just for the fact that spring semester for me doesn't start til January 24th), preparing for my older brother's wedding next weekend. Although I'm still sick, I'm slowly recovering and getting back into Work Mode.
As I've been in the San Diego area the past few weeks, I've been getting to know my way around Bonita, National City, Chula Vista and the Paradise Hills part of San Diego. The first thing any outsider will notice is how Filipino it is here. It makes me wonder if there are more Filipinos here than in Daly City!
This part of San Diego is just as hill-y as Daly City, so the only noticeable difference is that Daly City has rice cooker fog and San Diego has a plethora of tropical greenery (kalamansi, banana and palm trees) that would not survive the Bay Area winters.
Continue reading "Daly City vs San Diego"
Posted by Audrey at 12:18 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Why are radio DJs always doing dumb racist things on air? This incident took place on Power 99 RM in Philly. Let me guess, they're going to say it was just a joke and hey, don't you Asians have a sense of humor?
Posted by melissa at 10:13 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
So, I'm kind of addicted to Alias. Well, I guess there's no such thing as "kind of addicted." I'm not the only Hyphen staffer who watches this show religiously. Jennifer Garner's a spy. Boyfriend's a spy. Dad's a spy. Mom's a spy. What's not to love? We usually have our editorial meetings on Wednesday nights, but now that Alias is on Wednesday nights, well, we might have to move our meetings.
I went over to another Hyphen editor's house last night to watch the 2-hour season premiere. It was a weird episode. Actually, it was lame. The plot sucked. What's that? The big top secret that left us hanging at the end of last season is that your daddy killed your mommy? That's it? We also noticed that almost all the commercials were for watching your weight and aimed at women.
Continue reading "Rick Yune, Modern Day Samurai"
Posted by melissa at 1:25 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
A friend of Bob Hsiang --a Hyphen Advisory Board member-- was in Phuket during the tsunami. Here's Brenda Sunoo's firsthand account of what happened.
Continue reading "A Tsunami Survivor in Phuket Tells her Story"
Posted by jennifer at 6:22 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Ever since I read Papillon, the story of a French thief sent to an island prison, I've saved a particular kind of compassion for people sentenced to live behind bars. Particularly when so many stories are of continuing injustice, of the wrongly accused or the overly punished. Such is the story of David Wong.
Continue reading "The U.S. Government Does the Wrong Thing, Yet Again"
Posted by jennifer at 7:25 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Longtime Congressman Bob Matsui of Sacramento died Saturday night after entering the hospital Dec. 24 with pneumonia. His family said he had been diagnosed several months ago with a rare and often fatal form of bone marrow cancer.
Matsui, a Japanese American, was interned as an infant during World War II. He had represented a district in California's capital city since 1978 in the House of Representatives. The country has lost a tireless public servant.
Posted by harry at 5:33 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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