I know some of y'all are tired of looking at the guy above from Issue 7. But take one last look. Cause he's a winner. Hyphen took home a first place prize for Best Cover at the Independent Press Association's annual convention this weekend! By prize, I mean bragging rights (no trophies were handed out).
We debated a lot of images and ideas for the cover of The Body Issue, but in the end it was Stef's friend in Jennifer's bathtub in a shot by Seng. A winning combination, clearly.
I'm especially psyched that the winning cover featured a cute Asian American man cause let's face it: the Asian man gets no love in mainstream media.
After our win, we met up with our friends from Heeb for some serious karaoke. All in all, a good weekend.
Posted by Melissa at 12:21 AM | Comments (6)
I know some of y'all are tired of looking at the guy above from Issue 7. But take one last look. Cause he's a winner. Hyphen took home a first place prize for Best Cover at the Independent Press Association's annual convention this weekend! By prize, I mean bragging rights (no trophies were handed out).
We debated a lot of images and ideas for the cover of The Body Issue, but in the end it was Stef's friend in Jennifer's bathtub in a shot by Seng. A winning combination, clearly.
I'm especially psyched that the winning cover featured a cute Asian American man cause let's face it: the Asian man gets no love in mainstream media.
After our win, we met up with our friends from Heeb for some serious karaoke. All in all, a good weekend.
Posted by Melissa at 12:21 AM | Comments (6)
I know some of y'all are tired of looking at the guy above from Issue 7. But take one last look. Cause he's a winner. Hyphen took home a first place prize for Best Cover at the Independent Press Association's annual convention this weekend! By prize, I mean bragging rights (no trophies were handed out).
We debated a lot of images and ideas for the cover of The Body Issue, but in the end it was Stef's friend in Jennifer's bathtub in a shot by Seng. A winning combination, clearly.
I'm especially psyched that the winning cover featured a cute Asian American man cause let's face it: the Asian man gets no love in mainstream media.
After our win, we met up with our friends from Heeb for some serious karaoke. All in all, a good weekend.
Posted by Melissa at 12:21 AM | Comments (6)
Please note there are two people posting on this blog entry. On January 30, Melissa posted:
Happy Lunar New Year.
Not to start off the year on a bad note, but here we go again with radio personalities who think it's funny to make racist comments on the air.
Last Tuesday on Adam Corolla's radio show, he and his sidekick were commenting on the Asian Excellence Awards, put on by AZN TV. They claimed they had a clip of an award being presented on the show, which ended up being two guys saying nothing but "ching-chong" for 52 seconds.
I'm not going to go into the whole thing (it's the same old same old.) For more details, I direct you to Angry Asian Man, who always does an excellent job at chronicling these things. My inbox has been filling up with press releases from APA orgs denouncing Carolla.
This isn't much of a shocker. I mean come on, just look at Carolla. Not to pass judgment on people based on how they look, but I'm sorry, he just looks like he would say something dumb and juvenile. Which is purposeful, I think. He's marketed as a beer-drinking, ball-scratching guy's guy. Plus, he was terribly annoying on Loveline.
Now, before someone comes here and posts, "It's a joke, lighten up," let me just say something: Who cares if it's a joke, it's NOT FUNNY. Saying, "Ha ha, I was just joking" does not make it not racist. And it does not make it automatically funny either. As a joke, it sucks. I mean, come on, it wasn't funny on the playground in elementary school and it's not funny now. Grow up, people.
On February 1, Harry posted:
I received an email that includes a link to an audio clip of the show in question. The audio took a while to download for me, but take a listen.
I've said before that there's a fine line between what's offensive and funny when it comes to racial or ethnic humor. I think most reasonable people would agree that this lands on the offensive side. And would he get away with this if he did something similar with another racial group, say African Americans?
Here is the Adam Corolla clip with the "Ching Chongs" and the Asian Excellence Awards
Here's a news brief about it on United Press International.
Click here to read the letter from Karen Narasaki of the Asian American Justice Center
Contact information for the show:
Adam Carolla: adam@adamcarolla.com
Dave Dameshek: dave@adamcarolla.com
Rachel Perry: rachel@adamcarolla.com
Ozzie Castillo: ozzie@adamcarolla.com
CBS RADIO
1515 Broadway
New York, NY 10036
212-846-3939
Joel Hollander
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, CBS Radio
212-846-3939
joel.hollander@infinitybroadcasting.com
Dana L. McClintock
Senior Vice President, CBS Communications Group
212-975-1077
dlmcclintock@cbs.com
Posted by Melissa at 3:10 PM | Comments (47)
Please note there are two people posting on this blog entry. On January 30, Melissa posted:
Happy Lunar New Year.
Not to start off the year on a bad note, but here we go again with radio personalities who think it's funny to make racist comments on the air.
Last Tuesday on Adam Corolla's radio show, he and his sidekick were commenting on the Asian Excellence Awards, put on by AZN TV. They claimed they had a clip of an award being presented on the show, which ended up being two guys saying nothing but "ching-chong" for 52 seconds.
I'm not going to go into the whole thing (it's the same old same old.) For more details, I direct you to Angry Asian Man, who always does an excellent job at chronicling these things. My inbox has been filling up with press releases from APA orgs denouncing Carolla.
This isn't much of a shocker. I mean come on, just look at Carolla. Not to pass judgment on people based on how they look, but I'm sorry, he just looks like he would say something dumb and juvenile. Which is purposeful, I think. He's marketed as a beer-drinking, ball-scratching guy's guy. Plus, he was terribly annoying on Loveline.
Now, before someone comes here and posts, "It's a joke, lighten up," let me just say something: Who cares if it's a joke, it's NOT FUNNY. Saying, "Ha ha, I was just joking" does not make it not racist. And it does not make it automatically funny either. As a joke, it sucks. I mean, come on, it wasn't funny on the playground in elementary school and it's not funny now. Grow up, people.
On February 1, Harry posted:
I received an email that includes a link to an audio clip of the show in question. The audio took a while to download for me, but take a listen.
I've said before that there's a fine line between what's offensive and funny when it comes to racial or ethnic humor. I think most reasonable people would agree that this lands on the offensive side. And would he get away with this if he did something similar with another racial group, say African Americans?
Here is the Adam Corolla clip with the "Ching Chongs" and the Asian Excellence Awards
Here's a news brief about it on United Press International.
Click here to read the letter from Karen Narasaki of the Asian American Justice Center
Contact information for the show:
Adam Carolla: adam@adamcarolla.com
Dave Dameshek: dave@adamcarolla.com
Rachel Perry: rachel@adamcarolla.com
Ozzie Castillo: ozzie@adamcarolla.com
CBS RADIO
1515 Broadway
New York, NY 10036
212-846-3939
Joel Hollander
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, CBS Radio
212-846-3939
joel.hollander@infinitybroadcasting.com
Dana L. McClintock
Senior Vice President, CBS Communications Group
212-975-1077
dlmcclintock@cbs.com
Posted by Melissa at 3:10 PM | Comments (47)
Please note there are two people posting on this blog entry. On January 30, Melissa posted:
Happy Lunar New Year.
Not to start off the year on a bad note, but here we go again with radio personalities who think it's funny to make racist comments on the air.
Last Tuesday on Adam Corolla's radio show, he and his sidekick were commenting on the Asian Excellence Awards, put on by AZN TV. They claimed they had a clip of an award being presented on the show, which ended up being two guys saying nothing but "ching-chong" for 52 seconds.
I'm not going to go into the whole thing (it's the same old same old.) For more details, I direct you to Angry Asian Man, who always does an excellent job at chronicling these things. My inbox has been filling up with press releases from APA orgs denouncing Carolla.
This isn't much of a shocker. I mean come on, just look at Carolla. Not to pass judgment on people based on how they look, but I'm sorry, he just looks like he would say something dumb and juvenile. Which is purposeful, I think. He's marketed as a beer-drinking, ball-scratching guy's guy. Plus, he was terribly annoying on Loveline.
Now, before someone comes here and posts, "It's a joke, lighten up," let me just say something: Who cares if it's a joke, it's NOT FUNNY. Saying, "Ha ha, I was just joking" does not make it not racist. And it does not make it automatically funny either. As a joke, it sucks. I mean, come on, it wasn't funny on the playground in elementary school and it's not funny now. Grow up, people.
On February 1, Harry posted:
I received an email that includes a link to an audio clip of the show in question. The audio took a while to download for me, but take a listen.
I've said before that there's a fine line between what's offensive and funny when it comes to racial or ethnic humor. I think most reasonable people would agree that this lands on the offensive side. And would he get away with this if he did something similar with another racial group, say African Americans?
Here is the Adam Corolla clip with the "Ching Chongs" and the Asian Excellence Awards
Here's a news brief about it on United Press International.
Click here to read the letter from Karen Narasaki of the Asian American Justice Center
Contact information for the show:
Adam Carolla: adam@adamcarolla.com
Dave Dameshek: dave@adamcarolla.com
Rachel Perry: rachel@adamcarolla.com
Ozzie Castillo: ozzie@adamcarolla.com
CBS RADIO
1515 Broadway
New York, NY 10036
212-846-3939
Joel Hollander
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, CBS Radio
212-846-3939
joel.hollander@infinitybroadcasting.com
Dana L. McClintock
Senior Vice President, CBS Communications Group
212-975-1077
dlmcclintock@cbs.com
Posted by Melissa at 3:10 PM | Comments (47)
Just got back from the Independent Press Association's 10th annual conference where erin, Ben and I represented. It's always great to meet folks from other indie magazines. There's lots of networking, and a schedule full of workshops to sit in on about topics like how to increase circulation, how to create good covers, how to market online, and so on. It's nice to be in a room full of people who go through the same struggles you do creating non-corporate, non-mainstream media -- people who've decided to take things into their own hands.
You come away with all sorts of stats and tidbits of information, like how many letters it takes to get someone to renew, or how many new magazines fail in their first year (3 out of 4). The experience has been both inspiring and daunting. Sometimes, I'll think, "That's a good idea, we should try that." The wheels start turning in my head and I imagine how I can apply all that I'm learning to make Hyphen a better publication -- and a better-run business. But sometimes it's overwhelming to hear about things that we should be doing that we're not. There's so much to do that we've not even gotten to! And we don't have the manpower as a volunteer-run organization to currently pursue them. I can go from feeling full of promise to feeling dejected all in the matter of minutes. I guess this is no different from how I usually feel about Hyphen; it's just more compressed.
Such a crazy business.
Anyway, on to another topic. The Northwest Asian American Film Festival kicked off last night. Lots of good stuff, so check out their schedule if you're in the Seattle area.
And another film related announcement: I am now accepting entries for the shorts film festival that I curate in Houston each May. This will be the 6th year for Slant: Bold Asian American images. Click here for the Call For Entries.
Posted by Melissa at 8:42 PM | Comments (4)
Just got back from the Independent Press Association's 10th annual conference where erin, Ben and I represented. It's always great to meet folks from other indie magazines. There's lots of networking, and a schedule full of workshops to sit in on about topics like how to increase circulation, how to create good covers, how to market online, and so on. It's nice to be in a room full of people who go through the same struggles you do creating non-corporate, non-mainstream media -- people who've decided to take things into their own hands.
You come away with all sorts of stats and tidbits of information, like how many letters it takes to get someone to renew, or how many new magazines fail in their first year (3 out of 4). The experience has been both inspiring and daunting. Sometimes, I'll think, "That's a good idea, we should try that." The wheels start turning in my head and I imagine how I can apply all that I'm learning to make Hyphen a better publication -- and a better-run business. But sometimes it's overwhelming to hear about things that we should be doing that we're not. There's so much to do that we've not even gotten to! And we don't have the manpower as a volunteer-run organization to currently pursue them. I can go from feeling full of promise to feeling dejected all in the matter of minutes. I guess this is no different from how I usually feel about Hyphen; it's just more compressed.
Such a crazy business.
Anyway, on to another topic. The Northwest Asian American Film Festival kicked off last night. Lots of good stuff, so check out their schedule if you're in the Seattle area.
And another film related announcement: I am now accepting entries for the shorts film festival that I curate in Houston each May. This will be the 6th year for Slant: Bold Asian American images. Click here for the Call For Entries.
Posted by Melissa at 8:42 PM | Comments (4)
Just got back from the Independent Press Association's 10th annual conference where erin, Ben and I represented. It's always great to meet folks from other indie magazines. There's lots of networking, and a schedule full of workshops to sit in on about topics like how to increase circulation, how to create good covers, how to market online, and so on. It's nice to be in a room full of people who go through the same struggles you do creating non-corporate, non-mainstream media -- people who've decided to take things into their own hands.
You come away with all sorts of stats and tidbits of information, like how many letters it takes to get someone to renew, or how many new magazines fail in their first year (3 out of 4). The experience has been both inspiring and daunting. Sometimes, I'll think, "That's a good idea, we should try that." The wheels start turning in my head and I imagine how I can apply all that I'm learning to make Hyphen a better publication -- and a better-run business. But sometimes it's overwhelming to hear about things that we should be doing that we're not. There's so much to do that we've not even gotten to! And we don't have the manpower as a volunteer-run organization to currently pursue them. I can go from feeling full of promise to feeling dejected all in the matter of minutes. I guess this is no different from how I usually feel about Hyphen; it's just more compressed.
Such a crazy business.
Anyway, on to another topic. The Northwest Asian American Film Festival kicked off last night. Lots of good stuff, so check out their schedule if you're in the Seattle area.
And another film related announcement: I am now accepting entries for the shorts film festival that I curate in Houston each May. This will be the 6th year for Slant: Bold Asian American images. Click here for the Call For Entries.
Posted by Melissa at 8:42 PM | Comments (4)
A couple of us (Mike, Stef and I) went to a press screening of Annapolis yesterday. Yay for press screenings! But neither of them wants to blog, so i'm doing a composite commentary -- gleaned from our standing-around review after the movie.
So if we had to describe Justin Lin's first movie after Better Luck Tomorrow in two words, they'd be "safe" and "mainstream." We marvelled at what a solid choice in Hollywood vehicles he made: a Disney film that combines military and sports heroics, with the budget it takes to make the formula work. Watching it reminded me of an article I read in the NY Times a couple months back, where a critic bemoaned the lack of real blazing failures in cinema lately -- because the lack of really ambitious failures also reflects the lack of really ambitious successes. The major studios have honed the process down to a fair science: good money pays for respectable writing, respectable acting, respectable camera work, etc. And everything happens on cue: the audience laughs where they're supposed to laugh, at gently funny lines; sighs where they're supposed to sigh, at measured moments of emotional catharsis...
Annapolis was that movie. No risk-taking, just irrefutable evidence that Justin Lin can make as mainstream a boy-movie (with some romance for the ladies), as the next white guy in Hollywood.
And we (as in, Stef, Mike and I) don't begrudge him that, actually. A man's gotta make a living, and we like him too much (on the strength of BLT) to want to see him fail. So Justin, do what you have to, to make sure that (another?) Asian American male director gets a real firm foothold in the industry. But, as Donald Young from the Center for Asian American Media (sponsors of the SF International AsAm Film Festival), mused at the last Third Thursdays panel -- can't say we don't plug our friends -- here's to hoping he doesn't go the way of Ang Lee and Wayne Wang, who both started in AsAm cinema, and then when they made it, never looked back. (All for the amazing thing that is Brokeback Mountain, by the way -- but could we mix it up a little? Take another chance on an AsAm movie now and then, since money is no longer an obstacle?)
So here's to hoping that, one day, not too long from now, Justin Lin takes a risk again, and a risk on us.
In the meantime, we're just going to have to sit here and wonder how the man who made BLT managed to follow it up with a movie in which the One and Only Asian Character is a Model Minority of the purest distillation. Loo (played by Roger Fan of BLT -- Daric Loo, there, it so happens) rocks calculus but won't share his answers, rats out his roommate for not following orders to a T, is told "You know how you're gonna die, Loo? Friendly fire" (as a joke, and it's funny, but then in that moment after, more than a little disturbing), is all arrogant and polished but then goes down like a sucker -- and then becomes the Asian sidekick. Hmm.
On the whole, the movie is very cautious in its racial representations -- works hard not to cross any lines. (Which makes the tired Model Minority rehash all the more baffling.) But in the end, the AsAm bit isn't even interesting enough to get worked up about really. So I'm going to hold out for that Justin Lin movie one day where he gives us some more Asian American characters interesting enough for some folks to get pissed about -- and for folks like us to really love.
Posted by erin at 6:30 PM | Comments (4)
A couple of us (Mike, Stef and I) went to a press screening of Annapolis yesterday. Yay for press screenings! But neither of them wants to blog, so i'm doing a composite commentary -- gleaned from our standing-around review after the movie.
So if we had to describe Justin Lin's first movie after Better Luck Tomorrow in two words, they'd be "safe" and "mainstream." We marvelled at what a solid choice in Hollywood vehicles he made: a Disney film that combines military and sports heroics, with the budget it takes to make the formula work. Watching it reminded me of an article I read in the NY Times a couple months back, where a critic bemoaned the lack of real blazing failures in cinema lately -- because the lack of really ambitious failures also reflects the lack of really ambitious successes. The major studios have honed the process down to a fair science: good money pays for respectable writing, respectable acting, respectable camera work, etc. And everything happens on cue: the audience laughs where they're supposed to laugh, at gently funny lines; sighs where they're supposed to sigh, at measured moments of emotional catharsis...
Annapolis was that movie. No risk-taking, just irrefutable evidence that Justin Lin can make as mainstream a boy-movie (with some romance for the ladies), as the next white guy in Hollywood.
And we (as in, Stef, Mike and I) don't begrudge him that, actually. A man's gotta make a living, and we like him too much (on the strength of BLT) to want to see him fail. So Justin, do what you have to, to make sure that (another?) Asian American male director gets a real firm foothold in the industry. But, as Donald Young from the Center for Asian American Media (sponsors of the SF International AsAm Film Festival), mused at the last Third Thursdays panel -- can't say we don't plug our friends -- here's to hoping he doesn't go the way of Ang Lee and Wayne Wang, who both started in AsAm cinema, and then when they made it, never looked back. (All for the amazing thing that is Brokeback Mountain, by the way -- but could we mix it up a little? Take another chance on an AsAm movie now and then, since money is no longer an obstacle?)
So here's to hoping that, one day, not too long from now, Justin Lin takes a risk again, and a risk on us.
In the meantime, we're just going to have to sit here and wonder how the man who made BLT managed to follow it up with a movie in which the One and Only Asian Character is a Model Minority of the purest distillation. Loo (played by Roger Fan of BLT -- Daric Loo, there, it so happens) rocks calculus but won't share his answers, rats out his roommate for not following orders to a T, is told "You know how you're gonna die, Loo? Friendly fire" (as a joke, and it's funny, but then in that moment after, more than a little disturbing), is all arrogant and polished but then goes down like a sucker -- and then becomes the Asian sidekick. Hmm.
On the whole, the movie is very cautious in its racial representations -- works hard not to cross any lines. (Which makes the tired Model Minority rehash all the more baffling.) But in the end, the AsAm bit isn't even interesting enough to get worked up about really. So I'm going to hold out for that Justin Lin movie one day where he gives us some more Asian American characters interesting enough for some folks to get pissed about -- and for folks like us to really love.
Posted by erin at 6:30 PM | Comments (4)
A couple of us (Mike, Stef and I) went to a press screening of Annapolis yesterday. Yay for press screenings! But neither of them wants to blog, so i'm doing a composite commentary -- gleaned from our standing-around review after the movie.
So if we had to describe Justin Lin's first movie after Better Luck Tomorrow in two words, they'd be "safe" and "mainstream." We marvelled at what a solid choice in Hollywood vehicles he made: a Disney film that combines military and sports heroics, with the budget it takes to make the formula work. Watching it reminded me of an article I read in the NY Times a couple months back, where a critic bemoaned the lack of real blazing failures in cinema lately -- because the lack of really ambitious failures also reflects the lack of really ambitious successes. The major studios have honed the process down to a fair science: good money pays for respectable writing, respectable acting, respectable camera work, etc. And everything happens on cue: the audience laughs where they're supposed to laugh, at gently funny lines; sighs where they're supposed to sigh, at measured moments of emotional catharsis...
Annapolis was that movie. No risk-taking, just irrefutable evidence that Justin Lin can make as mainstream a boy-movie (with some romance for the ladies), as the next white guy in Hollywood.
And we (as in, Stef, Mike and I) don't begrudge him that, actually. A man's gotta make a living, and we like him too much (on the strength of BLT) to want to see him fail. So Justin, do what you have to, to make sure that (another?) Asian American male director gets a real firm foothold in the industry. But, as Donald Young from the Center for Asian American Media (sponsors of the SF International AsAm Film Festival), mused at the last Third Thursdays panel -- can't say we don't plug our friends -- here's to hoping he doesn't go the way of Ang Lee and Wayne Wang, who both started in AsAm cinema, and then when they made it, never looked back. (All for the amazing thing that is Brokeback Mountain, by the way -- but could we mix it up a little? Take another chance on an AsAm movie now and then, since money is no longer an obstacle?)
So here's to hoping that, one day, not too long from now, Justin Lin takes a risk again, and a risk on us.
In the meantime, we're just going to have to sit here and wonder how the man who made BLT managed to follow it up with a movie in which the One and Only Asian Character is a Model Minority of the purest distillation. Loo (played by Roger Fan of BLT -- Daric Loo, there, it so happens) rocks calculus but won't share his answers, rats out his roommate for not following orders to a T, is told "You know how you're gonna die, Loo? Friendly fire" (as a joke, and it's funny, but then in that moment after, more than a little disturbing), is all arrogant and polished but then goes down like a sucker -- and then becomes the Asian sidekick. Hmm.
On the whole, the movie is very cautious in its racial representations -- works hard not to cross any lines. (Which makes the tired Model Minority rehash all the more baffling.) But in the end, the AsAm bit isn't even interesting enough to get worked up about really. So I'm going to hold out for that Justin Lin movie one day where he gives us some more Asian American characters interesting enough for some folks to get pissed about -- and for folks like us to really love.
Posted by erin at 6:30 PM | Comments (4)
photo by Miko Lim
photo by Ejen Chuang
So, you might be wondering, what is in this new issue of Hyphen? Why a girl with a fish in her mouth? Why is her hair wet? What's up with that?
Well, here's a peek at the table of contents:
FEATURES
Remodeling the Minority: The prospects for Vietnamese Americans in a “new” New Orleans.
By Wendy Cheng
Girl, Interrupted: In Koreatown, the newest matchmakers are pretty-boys with headsets and a firm grip.
By Kai Ma
Ninety Degree Angle: Has Robert Sarmast found the island of Atlantis, or has he lost perspective?
By Monica Lam
Marvi Lacar: Exploring relative realities.
REDUX | Another Look at Media
Surf’s Up: Angry Asian Man tours the Asian American blogsphere.
By Phil Yu
Looking For Love: Where else would you search but the Internet?
By Harry Mok
F.O.B. | Front of the Book
Hero or Villain? Some APAs in the limelight may be equally loveable and loathsome.
By Momo Chang
Hero or Villain?—The Goods: Are these Asian goods any good?
By Rudy Beredo
The Cook With A Gun: On Jack Shirai’s life and death in the Spanish Civil War.
By Rocky Choi
My Little China Doll: Searching for ourselves at the toy store.
By Han Pham
RECIPE | HOW TO
So You Wanna Be a Ninja?
By Ryan Furtado
GIFTED & TALENTED | The Arts
Candy All the Time: The incarnations of Bow Wow Wow’s Annabella Lwin.
By Russell Reza-Khaliq Gonzaga
Armed with a Camera: Stories of a post-9/11 America, as captured by a Sikh American.
By Neelanjana Banerjee
A Writing Life: Conversations with R. Zamora Linmark.
By Marianne Villanueva
LITERATURE
What We Can Get Away With
Fiction by Lara Stapleton
Posted by Melissa at 10:14 AM | Comments (1)
photo by Miko Lim
photo by Ejen Chuang
So, you might be wondering, what is in this new issue of Hyphen? Why a girl with a fish in her mouth? Why is her hair wet? What's up with that?
Well, here's a peek at the table of contents:
FEATURES
Remodeling the Minority: The prospects for Vietnamese Americans in a “new” New Orleans.
By Wendy Cheng
Girl, Interrupted: In Koreatown, the newest matchmakers are pretty-boys with headsets and a firm grip.
By Kai Ma
Ninety Degree Angle: Has Robert Sarmast found the island of Atlantis, or has he lost perspective?
By Monica Lam
Marvi Lacar: Exploring relative realities.
REDUX | Another Look at Media
Surf’s Up: Angry Asian Man tours the Asian American blogsphere.
By Phil Yu
Looking For Love: Where else would you search but the Internet?
By Harry Mok
F.O.B. | Front of the Book
Hero or Villain? Some APAs in the limelight may be equally loveable and loathsome.
By Momo Chang
Hero or Villain?—The Goods: Are these Asian goods any good?
By Rudy Beredo
The Cook With A Gun: On Jack Shirai’s life and death in the Spanish Civil War.
By Rocky Choi
My Little China Doll: Searching for ourselves at the toy store.
By Han Pham
RECIPE | HOW TO
So You Wanna Be a Ninja?
By Ryan Furtado
GIFTED & TALENTED | The Arts
Candy All the Time: The incarnations of Bow Wow Wow’s Annabella Lwin.
By Russell Reza-Khaliq Gonzaga
Armed with a Camera: Stories of a post-9/11 America, as captured by a Sikh American.
By Neelanjana Banerjee
A Writing Life: Conversations with R. Zamora Linmark.
By Marianne Villanueva
LITERATURE
What We Can Get Away With
Fiction by Lara Stapleton
Posted by Melissa at 10:14 AM | Comments (1)
photo by Miko Lim
photo by Ejen Chuang
So, you might be wondering, what is in this new issue of Hyphen? Why a girl with a fish in her mouth? Why is her hair wet? What's up with that?
Well, here's a peek at the table of contents:
FEATURES
Remodeling the Minority: The prospects for Vietnamese Americans in a new New Orleans.
By Wendy Cheng
Girl, Interrupted: In Koreatown, the newest matchmakers are pretty-boys with headsets and a firm grip.
By Kai Ma
Ninety Degree Angle: Has Robert Sarmast found the island of Atlantis, or has he lost perspective?
By Monica Lam
Marvi Lacar: Exploring relative realities.
REDUX | Another Look at Media
Surfs Up: Angry Asian Man tours the Asian American blogsphere.
By Phil Yu
Looking For Love: Where else would you search but the Internet?
By Harry Mok
F.O.B. | Front of the Book
Hero or Villain? Some APAs in the limelight may be equally loveable and loathsome.
By Momo Chang
Hero or Villain?The Goods: Are these Asian goods any good?
By Rudy Beredo
The Cook With A Gun: On Jack Shirais life and death in the Spanish Civil War.
By Rocky Choi
My Little China Doll: Searching for ourselves at the toy store.
By Han Pham
RECIPE | HOW TO
So You Wanna Be a Ninja?
By Ryan Furtado
GIFTED & TALENTED | The Arts
Candy All the Time: The incarnations of Bow Wow Wows Annabella Lwin.
By Russell Reza-Khaliq Gonzaga
Armed with a Camera: Stories of a post-9/11 America, as captured by a Sikh American.
By Neelanjana Banerjee
A Writing Life: Conversations with R. Zamora Linmark.
By Marianne Villanueva
LITERATURE
What We Can Get Away With
Fiction by Lara Stapleton
Posted by Melissa at 10:14 AM | Comments (1)
Is it just me or does it seem like you and me and everyone we know - Asian Americans, in particular - love the show, Lost?
I say "me" in a very general sense, since I've only watched 1/2 an episode of the show, mostly because I'm not much of a TV-consumer.
So in my totally unscientific, anecdotal study of my friends, bloggers and random people I engage in conversation with on the street - I've observed that people feel pretty passionate about this show.
Of course, it could be the fact that it is one of the most popular shows right now. I am told the writing is good. Plus, there are fans galore, Asian American or not.
But it's also one of the few shows in mainstream USA that portrays a man and woman of Asian descent (Korean, in this case) AS A COUPLE. And there is Naveen Andrews, who is South Asian (he plays an Iraqi).
There seems to be a little more diversity in terms of current TV couples - Grey's Anatomy also comes to mind. Sandra Oh's character is with a black guy, which we'd blogged about a while back. (the show's writer is African American, I am told).
How many of you watch Lost?
Posted by momo at 9:08 AM | Comments (14)
Is it just me or does it seem like you and me and everyone we know - Asian Americans, in particular - love the show, Lost?
I say "me" in a very general sense, since I've only watched 1/2 an episode of the show, mostly because I'm not much of a TV-consumer.
So in my totally unscientific, anecdotal study of my friends, bloggers and random people I engage in conversation with on the street - I've observed that people feel pretty passionate about this show.
Of course, it could be the fact that it is one of the most popular shows right now. I am told the writing is good. Plus, there are fans galore, Asian American or not.
But it's also one of the few shows in mainstream USA that portrays a man and woman of Asian descent (Korean, in this case) AS A COUPLE. And there is Naveen Andrews, who is South Asian (he plays an Iraqi).
There seems to be a little more diversity in terms of current TV couples - Grey's Anatomy also comes to mind. Sandra Oh's character is with a black guy, which we'd blogged about a while back. (the show's writer is African American, I am told).
How many of you watch Lost?
Posted by momo at 9:08 AM | Comments (14)
Is it just me or does it seem like you and me and everyone we know - Asian Americans, in particular - love the show, Lost?
I say "me" in a very general sense, since I've only watched 1/2 an episode of the show, mostly because I'm not much of a TV-consumer.
So in my totally unscientific, anecdotal study of my friends, bloggers and random people I engage in conversation with on the street - I've observed that people feel pretty passionate about this show.
Of course, it could be the fact that it is one of the most popular shows right now. I am told the writing is good. Plus, there are fans galore, Asian American or not.
But it's also one of the few shows in mainstream USA that portrays a man and woman of Asian descent (Korean, in this case) AS A COUPLE. And there is Naveen Andrews, who is South Asian (he plays an Iraqi).
There seems to be a little more diversity in terms of current TV couples - Grey's Anatomy also comes to mind. Sandra Oh's character is with a black guy, which we'd blogged about a while back. (the show's writer is African American, I am told).
How many of you watch Lost?
Posted by momo at 9:08 AM | Comments (14)
This story, Out of the Closet, But Still Under Cover, ran in the SF Chron books section yesterday. The review on Covering by Kenji Yoshino, was written by Sandip Roy (a Hyphen advisory board member and sometimes contributing writer).
Covering is what you do when you've come out but tone it down in some circumstances. The example Roy gives is you go to a family gathering and you bring your significant other, but you're careful not to show any affection with each other. And covering is not just a gay thing, but something that anyone might feel they have to engage in. The examples Roy cites are "whether it's Ramon Estévez becoming Martin Sheen or Margaret Thatcher using a voice coach to lower the timbre of her voice, or Franklin Roosevelt hiding his wheelchair behind a desk before Cabinet meetings, everyone covers."
Whoa, Margaret Thatcher used a voice coach? I totally missed that one.
Yoshino's argument is that this may seem like a small, innocous thing, but it's actually an assault on civil rights.
Roy writes: But Yoshino argues convincingly in this book, part luminous, moving memoir, part cogent, level-headed treatise, that covering is going to become more and more a civil rights issue as the nation (and the nation's courts) struggle with an increasingly multiethnic America. There is a weariness (and a wariness) about identity politics in a country spawning new identities every day. From a legal standpoint it has meant courts are increasingly veering toward protecting only the immutable aspects of identity.
I find this idea interesting, that when one person can't fully be him or herself 100%, that this decreases the well being and rights of everyone.
Click here to see the book on Amazon.
Posted by Melissa at 1:25 PM | Comments (0)
This story, Out of the Closet, But Still Under Cover, ran in the SF Chron books section yesterday. The review on Covering by Kenji Yoshino, was written by Sandip Roy (a Hyphen advisory board member and sometimes contributing writer).
Covering is what you do when you've come out but tone it down in some circumstances. The example Roy gives is you go to a family gathering and you bring your significant other, but you're careful not to show any affection with each other. And covering is not just a gay thing, but something that anyone might feel they have to engage in. The examples Roy cites are "whether it's Ramon Estévez becoming Martin Sheen or Margaret Thatcher using a voice coach to lower the timbre of her voice, or Franklin Roosevelt hiding his wheelchair behind a desk before Cabinet meetings, everyone covers."
Whoa, Margaret Thatcher used a voice coach? I totally missed that one.
Yoshino's argument is that this may seem like a small, innocous thing, but it's actually an assault on civil rights.
Roy writes: But Yoshino argues convincingly in this book, part luminous, moving memoir, part cogent, level-headed treatise, that covering is going to become more and more a civil rights issue as the nation (and the nation's courts) struggle with an increasingly multiethnic America. There is a weariness (and a wariness) about identity politics in a country spawning new identities every day. From a legal standpoint it has meant courts are increasingly veering toward protecting only the immutable aspects of identity.
I find this idea interesting, that when one person can't fully be him or herself 100%, that this decreases the well being and rights of everyone.
Click here to see the book on Amazon.
Posted by Melissa at 1:25 PM | Comments (0)
This story, Out of the Closet, But Still Under Cover, ran in the SF Chron books section yesterday. The review on Covering by Kenji Yoshino, was written by Sandip Roy (a Hyphen advisory board member and sometimes contributing writer).
Covering is what you do when you've come out but tone it down in some circumstances. The example Roy gives is you go to a family gathering and you bring your significant other, but you're careful not to show any affection with each other. And covering is not just a gay thing, but something that anyone might feel they have to engage in. The examples Roy cites are "whether it's Ramon Estvez becoming Martin Sheen or Margaret Thatcher using a voice coach to lower the timbre of her voice, or Franklin Roosevelt hiding his wheelchair behind a desk before Cabinet meetings, everyone covers."
Whoa, Margaret Thatcher used a voice coach? I totally missed that one.
Yoshino's argument is that this may seem like a small, innocous thing, but it's actually an assault on civil rights.
Roy writes: But Yoshino argues convincingly in this book, part luminous, moving memoir, part cogent, level-headed treatise, that covering is going to become more and more a civil rights issue as the nation (and the nation's courts) struggle with an increasingly multiethnic America. There is a weariness (and a wariness) about identity politics in a country spawning new identities every day. From a legal standpoint it has meant courts are increasingly veering toward protecting only the immutable aspects of identity.
I find this idea interesting, that when one person can't fully be him or herself 100%, that this decreases the well being and rights of everyone.
Click here to see the book on Amazon.
Posted by Melissa at 1:25 PM | Comments (0)
Here's a Los Angeles Times story about how the Huntington Library in San Marino, an institution built on the backs of Chinese laborers during the 1800s, is financing its new Chinese Garden with donations from Chinese Americans that its founder would have considered servants and "not equal socially at all."
Kind of interesting, and OK, there are a lot of Chinese in San Garbriel Valley, a point overdone in mainstream media at times.
I'm also annoyed when ever guanxi is mentioned in a story about Chinese business practices, or in this case fundraising. The story says that "fundraising in the Chinese community relied heavily on guanxi, or the connections of the person asking for money." Duh. Isn't that the foundation for how people do business, no matter what race or ethnicity they are?
I can see how if you're an American company trying to do business in China that having guanxi would be important for outsiders trying to break into a new market. But again, isn't that true for any business anywhere?
I think this concept of guanxi is overused and becoming a stereotype.
Posted by harry at 7:31 PM | Comments (3)
Here's a Los Angeles Times story about how the Huntington Library in San Marino, an institution built on the backs of Chinese laborers during the 1800s, is financing its new Chinese Garden with donations from Chinese Americans that its founder would have considered servants and "not equal socially at all."
Kind of interesting, and OK, there are a lot of Chinese in San Garbriel Valley, a point overdone in mainstream media at times.
I'm also annoyed when ever guanxi is mentioned in a story about Chinese business practices, or in this case fundraising. The story says that "fundraising in the Chinese community relied heavily on guanxi, or the connections of the person asking for money." Duh. Isn't that the foundation for how people do business, no matter what race or ethnicity they are?
I can see how if you're an American company trying to do business in China that having guanxi would be important for outsiders trying to break into a new market. But again, isn't that true for any business anywhere?
I think this concept of guanxi is overused and becoming a stereotype.
Posted by harry at 7:31 PM | Comments (3)
Here's a Los Angeles Times story about how the Huntington Library in San Marino, an institution built on the backs of Chinese laborers during the 1800s, is financing its new Chinese Garden with donations from Chinese Americans that its founder would have considered servants and "not equal socially at all."
Kind of interesting, and OK, there are a lot of Chinese in San Garbriel Valley, a point overdone in mainstream media at times.
I'm also annoyed when ever guanxi is mentioned in a story about Chinese business practices, or in this case fundraising. The story says that "fundraising in the Chinese community relied heavily on guanxi, or the connections of the person asking for money." Duh. Isn't that the foundation for how people do business, no matter what race or ethnicity they are?
I can see how if you're an American company trying to do business in China that having guanxi would be important for outsiders trying to break into a new market. But again, isn't that true for any business anywhere?
I think this concept of guanxi is overused and becoming a stereotype.
Posted by harry at 7:31 PM | Comments (3)
Oh Sandra. You're the best. When you win a Golden Globe you get lost on your way to the stage and forget everyone's name too.
And Diana Eng, we're sad to see you got booted from Project Runway. But we love that our friends at Poplicks have found your blog where you say things like "I've decided that being asain is like having really big breasts. It attracts guys, but for all the wrong reasons. Being asain with really big breasts must suck."
And hey Russell Peters, you must be awesome. I haven't seen you yet, but everyone keeps telling me about how funny you are. Makes me wish I had cable.
OK, I better get back to my day job, but don't forget, the Hyphen crew is going to be out tonight at Third Thursdays where I'll be speaking on a panel about Asian American media. We'll have the latest issue with us if you want to check it out.
Also, if you didn't know and you care about these sorts of things, Hyphen is on myspace and friendster, and we'd like for you to be our friend. Search for us. First name is Hyphen. Last name is magazine.
Posted by Melissa at 11:25 AM | Comments (1)
Oh Sandra. You're the best. When you win a Golden Globe you get lost on your way to the stage and forget everyone's name too.
And Diana Eng, we're sad to see you got booted from Project Runway. But we love that our friends at Poplicks have found your blog where you say things like "I've decided that being asain is like having really big breasts. It attracts guys, but for all the wrong reasons. Being asain with really big breasts must suck."
And hey Russell Peters, you must be awesome. I haven't seen you yet, but everyone keeps telling me about how funny you are. Makes me wish I had cable.
OK, I better get back to my day job, but don't forget, the Hyphen crew is going to be out tonight at Third Thursdays where I'll be speaking on a panel about Asian American media. We'll have the latest issue with us if you want to check it out.
Also, if you didn't know and you care about these sorts of things, Hyphen is on myspace and friendster, and we'd like for you to be our friend. Search for us. First name is Hyphen. Last name is magazine.
Posted by Melissa at 11:25 AM | Comments (1)
Oh Sandra. You're the best. When you win a Golden Globe you get lost on your way to the stage and forget everyone's name too.
And Diana Eng, we're sad to see you got booted from Project Runway. But we love that our friends at Poplicks have found your blog where you say things like "I've decided that being asain is like having really big breasts. It attracts guys, but for all the wrong reasons. Being asain with really big breasts must suck."
And hey Russell Peters, you must be awesome. I haven't seen you yet, but everyone keeps telling me about how funny you are. Makes me wish I had cable.
OK, I better get back to my day job, but don't forget, the Hyphen crew is going to be out tonight at Third Thursdays where I'll be speaking on a panel about Asian American media. We'll have the latest issue with us if you want to check it out.
Also, if you didn't know and you care about these sorts of things, Hyphen is on myspace and friendster, and we'd like for you to be our friend. Search for us. First name is Hyphen. Last name is magazine.
Posted by Melissa at 11:25 AM | Comments (1)
Hey, self promotion time! I'll be speaking at a panel this Thursday at Third Thursdays—the monthly dinner series about Asian American community issues.
The title of the program is "The Asians are Coming" (which comes from a Beau Sia poem) and is about Asian American media in the internet age. Here's a brief description:
Bloggers and artists can now create content online on their own terms—in a cheap, easy, and unprecedented fashion. But are the same online trends also responsible for the steady decline of traditional media?
Robynn Takayama, an independent radio producer and Donald Young from the Center for Asian American Media will also be on the panel with me.
The great thing about Third Thursdays is that there's food involved. You listen to the speakers, then break up into discussion groups over dinner, then reconvene at the end.
Here're the details:
Thursday, January 19, 2006
7:00-9:30pm
Japanese Cultural & Community Center
1840 Sutter Street
San Francisco, CA 94115
$5 to $20 suggested donation, depending on type of meal
For more info and to RSVP, visit here.
Posted by Melissa at 4:39 PM | Comments (5)
Hey, self promotion time! I'll be speaking at a panel this Thursday at Third Thursdays—the monthly dinner series about Asian American community issues.
The title of the program is "The Asians are Coming" (which comes from a Beau Sia poem) and is about Asian American media in the internet age. Here's a brief description:
Bloggers and artists can now create content online on their own terms—in a cheap, easy, and unprecedented fashion. But are the same online trends also responsible for the steady decline of traditional media?
Robynn Takayama, an independent radio producer and Donald Young from the Center for Asian American Media will also be on the panel with me.
The great thing about Third Thursdays is that there's food involved. You listen to the speakers, then break up into discussion groups over dinner, then reconvene at the end.
Here're the details:
Thursday, January 19, 2006
7:00-9:30pm
Japanese Cultural & Community Center
1840 Sutter Street
San Francisco, CA 94115
$5 to $20 suggested donation, depending on type of meal
For more info and to RSVP, visit here.
Posted by Melissa at 4:39 PM | Comments (5)
Hey, self promotion time! I'll be speaking at a panel this Thursday at Third Thursdaysthe monthly dinner series about Asian American community issues.
The title of the program is "The Asians are Coming" (which comes from a Beau Sia poem) and is about Asian American media in the internet age. Here's a brief description:
Bloggers and artists can now create content online on their own termsin a cheap, easy, and unprecedented fashion. But are the same online trends also responsible for the steady decline of traditional media?
Robynn Takayama, an independent radio producer and Donald Young from the Center for Asian American Media will also be on the panel with me.
The great thing about Third Thursdays is that there's food involved. You listen to the speakers, then break up into discussion groups over dinner, then reconvene at the end.
Here're the details:
Thursday, January 19, 2006
7:00-9:30pm
Japanese Cultural & Community Center
1840 Sutter Street
San Francisco, CA 94115
$5 to $20 suggested donation, depending on type of meal
For more info and to RSVP, visit here.
Posted by Melissa at 4:39 PM | Comments (5)
As San Francisco's Japantown turns 100, will it survive much longer? This story says there used to be 40 of them before World War II. Now there are only 3 left: in SF, San Jose and LA. SF's J-town is a mere 4 blocks these days. Sad.
On an unrelated note, I was watching TV the other day and saw this dumb beer commercial. Has anyone seen it? A martial arts master with a long beard (of course), teaches a white dude -- through rigorous discipline and punishment ala Kill Bill --how to pour Bud Light. Damn, can't I watch TV without some annoying image/stereotype? Apparently not.
Posted by Melissa at 11:14 PM | Comments (3)
As San Francisco's Japantown turns 100, will it survive much longer? This story says there used to be 40 of them before World War II. Now there are only 3 left: in SF, San Jose and LA. SF's J-town is a mere 4 blocks these days. Sad.
On an unrelated note, I was watching TV the other day and saw this dumb beer commercial. Has anyone seen it? A martial arts master with a long beard (of course), teaches a white dude -- through rigorous discipline and punishment ala Kill Bill --how to pour Bud Light. Damn, can't I watch TV without some annoying image/stereotype? Apparently not.
Posted by Melissa at 11:14 PM | Comments (3)
As San Francisco's Japantown turns 100, will it survive much longer? This story says there used to be 40 of them before World War II. Now there are only 3 left: in SF, San Jose and LA. SF's J-town is a mere 4 blocks these days. Sad.
On an unrelated note, I was watching TV the other day and saw this dumb beer commercial. Has anyone seen it? A martial arts master with a long beard (of course), teaches a white dude -- through rigorous discipline and punishment ala Kill Bill --how to pour Bud Light. Damn, can't I watch TV without some annoying image/stereotype? Apparently not.
Posted by Melissa at 11:14 PM | Comments (3)
Remember Hyphen's feature on Asian Americans and growing obesity rates in issue 7? The New York Times just put out its own story on the topic, concentrating on skyrocketing diabetes rates among recent Chinese immigrants in Queens, as well as the fast-food indulgence of kids in the community.
Regardless of the cheesy "East Meets West" headline, this article is pretty damn depressing, also because it points out the huge disparities in the public versus private school system (eight-minute recess? no gym class?) as well as the Pavlovian responses of kids to TV consumerism--says 10-year-old Tim Wong, "I see the new items on television and I want them." I guess I grew up in a similar situation: my family almost always ate Chinese or Filipino dishes at home, so eating crappy Burger King or McDonald's was an incredible treat for me. I would beg my mom to buy me Happy Meals. My adult stomach wants to retch every time I smell fast food fries, though.
East Meets West, A