Closing Destroy & Rebuild - MaSir's Last Words

I didn't think this day would come so soon, but now seems like the perfect time for me to close down my blog. I'd been thinking about doing this for such a long time and now seems better than ever to do so simply because I need to refocus my priorities on other things.

To my readers out there, I appreciate you visiting and giving my blog a chance. What started out as an experiment to improve upon my writing skills, or lack of skills I should say, turned into a place where I could share my experiences, opinions and deepest emotions on Asian-American issues.

With all of the griping that I'd done in the past, I hope there was also something positive in which you were able to gain from Destroy & Rebuild. This became a place for me to vent and share my how I see things through the lenses of an Asian-American male along with hearing the viewpoints of the readers who commented on this blog. I appreciate you sharing them with me.

To my Asian-American brothers and sisters out there, keep fighting and keep the faith when it comes to pursuing your dreams. As my dad once told me after I left college, "Son, as long as I'd like for you to live a certain way, do what makes you happy. Remember. This is your life."

K-Pop Group BIG BANG Will Dominate World Music

This next blog is dedicated to BIG BANG. The other Asian male group putting all Asian males on the map. The rising popularity of BIG BANG is unprecedented. They just made a massive jump on the Billboard Social 50 charts moving up from 36 to 12 in one week. Amazing. Check out one of my favorite videos they released not too long ago called Bad Boy.

Every one of you should check out BIG BANG. This K-Pop group consists of five raw, unadulterated talented artists. Seriously. I'm not just saying this, because I'm biased.  I'm saying this because these guys have more style and flavor than many of the artists here in the states *ahem*...Bieber. You know the streets are talkin' when even Swizz Beats talks about wanting to work with the group.

You can argue with me all you want how K-Pop sounds manufactured, well guess what? What about all the crap that's been coming out on the radio for the past decade? Bitches, hoes, clubbing, cars, money. Yes. Great. What else? I'm not saying all radio music is bad, nor am I saying even that kind of music is bad, but let's not pretend like America is Oh-So-Original when it clearly isn't.

What I like about BIG BANG is that they serve as a good role model for Asian-American males. "But they're not even American", you say. It doesn't matter. They bring a fresh, new Asian male image to the forefront of people's minds which is what I'm trying to get at. In addition, they're very hard-working, masculine, stylish, creative, pump out great music and rock it with uncontested swagger. Most importantly, they capture the hearts of the ladies, and who wouldn't want to emulate any of those characteristics? I saw an ad online for their new Monster video on YouTube and stumbled across all these "Reaction Videos". I had no idea they had such a far-reaching fan-base non-Asian fanbase. It's pretty freakin' nuts. Who would've thought that a boy band from Asia would make girls worldwide squeal like this?

There's More To It Than Scholastics

My heart goes out to this kid Jerry Liu. I've never even met the guy, but I know or have met a lot of guys like him. One of them in fact was me during my younger days.

I found this video a few weeks back and meant to share it with you earlier, but didn't know how to approach it without offending or ridiculing the guy. Take a look here if you're interested (he's restricted video embedding).

First off, I give Jerry props for putting himself out there in the public sphere like that on YouTube. It's not easy by any means. I'd also like to give props to his mother for being so supportive of her son. I've heard of other dismal stories about Chinese mothers raising their sons into becoming average frustrated chumps, but luckily his mom seems very supportive of him and does what a moms should do - listen.

I posted a comment on one of Jerry's videos asking him what the point of the whole "Would you ever date an Asian-American male?" section was about, but he removed my comment. My intention wasn't to impart ill will on Jerry, but rather help him see that the way he and many other Asian American guys carry themselves is only reinforcing the very negative stereotypes we all condemn. To be quite honest, I didn't see much of a difference between Jerry and the Asian male characters in the referenced films. Did you? Don't get me wrong. It's not a bad thing to be nerdy and intelligent. Frankly, I think it's awesome BUT...

...herein lies the problem...

True Tales of a Pickup

After reading through some of the comments from my last blog furnished by guest blogger DL, I became angry. Yes, angry. And you want to know why? I'll tell you why. Because there are way too many Asian-American guys out there that whine about the interracial dating imbalance over and over again and even after all of the stories that I've heard and shared with my readers, some of them just don't get it.

NON-ASIAN GIRLS DO LIKE YOU! Here's an excerpt DL shared with me.

Here's an excerpt from a white girl's blog I found yesterday too:  "I'd love to walk down the street with my crush and not have the entire block watch us as we go by, or to go watch a movie where the main couple is just like us. 

To be honest I’m severely jealous of WM/AF couples. They’re so accepted. White guys can assume Asian girls like them and visa versa. Asian guys NEVER assume I like them. 

I think its ridiculous that ANYONE should feel like its impossible for an entire race of women not to like them, or several races for that matter but sadly the Asian guys I've asked have told me they assume White girls dont like them, so they stick to Asian girls. I just really hope there are Asian guys who don't buy into this too."

Apparently there are. I've been there. Believe me. I've been in your shoes. Frustrated. Distraught. Hopeless. Overcome with feelings of despair. Guess what? That shit ain't gonna get you laid son! The old adage states that one should look at the glass as half full instead of half empty. Okay, so in the case of Asian-American men, perhaps we should look at the class only a quarter full. The point is, look at the positive. It's easier said than done, but the focus should be on the doing.

Last night, I decided to go out with my main Wing and hit a few bars and talk to some non-Asian girls. As a warm up, we walk into this mini-club and approach an exclusive group of filipino chicks. I didn't get any responsiveness from any of the ladies, but hey not a big deal. Usually I dig filipinas, but these ones were hella ghetto. Not my cup of tea anyway. If there's one thing I cannot stand it's glorified, ghetto Asians.

We move on and go after the real targets. Non-Asians. That was the goal. So the first two non-Asian girls we see, a black and white chick sitting in a booth, we approach and join them. Complete strangers, fairly attractive. Not supermodels, but not ugly ducklings either. He takes the white, I take the black and we attack.

We both work it. My buddy is fighting through 20 minutes of conversation with this girl who is showing ZERO interest. In fact she gives him some dirty looks and frowns, but he is a fucking soldier. His persistance overcomes any of her resistance and by the end of the engagement we both get numbers and dates for next week. Luckily, the black girl I was working on was a lot more receptive to my advances and hotter. I didn't have it too tough. I just did what most frustrated Asian-American guys aren't doing - going up and talking to women. Stereotyped shattered. Mission accomplished.

That wasn't so hard now was it?