tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82329200495469305382024-03-18T00:47:44.404-07:00Destroy To RebuildAsian American Outreach Blogger MaSir...Destroying The Negative To Rebuild The PositiveMaSirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17112263977105108306noreply@blogger.comBlogger140125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8232920049546930538.post-23801504215116576372013-04-27T18:07:00.000-07:002013-04-27T18:07:59.191-07:00PROMposals In StyleIts that time of year where the fellas in high school ask out the girlfriends' or the girl of their high school dreams to prom. Sad to say, I actually never went to my high school prom (its a long story), but thanks to YouTube I now can live vicariously through others who had 10x more guts than I did, like these fellas who proposed in STYLE. This takes more than just <i>Pokemon</i> balls to propose in this matter. This takes balls of fury! Check it out.<br />
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Check out Terry ask out this chick to prom in front of everyone during lunch time <i>Pokemon</i> style.<br />
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This guy sings Bruno Mars, <i>Marry You, </i>with some funny altered lyrics. He should've practiced a little more on the vocals. Nonetheless, a commendable effort!<br />
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And my favorite, the Three Asian Musketeers demonstrating moxy with this dance proposal. Shit, I'd even go with 'em if I were a chick.<br />
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With that, I wish all the dudes out there the best of luck on their PROMposals!<br />
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MaSirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17112263977105108306noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8232920049546930538.post-37063881826642492982013-04-14T23:35:00.002-07:002013-04-14T23:39:17.290-07:00What's Up With Guys And Their Asian Fetishes?This was too bad for me to pass up. And when I say "bad" I mean Michael Jackson <i>Bad.</i> You know, how he looked really bad toward the end of his life? Saw this by way of <a href="http://blog.angryasianman.com/" target="_blank">Angry Asian Man's blog</a> and was in a bit of shock. These guys must be competing for the offensive douchbaggery award of the year.<br />
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For example, here's one that's doubly offensive to both Asian women and men. <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/hnigatu/10-ridiculously-offensive-things-people-tell-asian-women-on" target="_blank">Racist much</a>?</div>
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Look, I didn't think guys out there who fetishize over Asian women were this audaciously bigoted. I mean sure, I know there are guys out there who love Asian women just because they're Asian but never could I even remotely conceive this is the kind of stuff they have to go through. Wow!</div>
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As my dad once told me, there's two sides with every coin. Being an Asian woman, and a beautiful one at that, its a gift and a curse. Sure, you're bound to receive attention, but also a ton of bad attention. I really don't know what's worse...being predisposed as an asexual beta or this? Not only do you have guys who just want to sleep with you, but now you have a swarm of envious, non-Asian females who despise you because your "Asianness" is stealing male marketshare. <span style="font-size: large;">Damn</span>.</div>
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MaSirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17112263977105108306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8232920049546930538.post-41635176810266591902013-03-29T19:29:00.003-07:002013-03-29T19:30:35.969-07:00Anna Kendrick joins K-Pop group F(x)Anna Kendrick, the American actress from movies like <i>Twilight</i> and <i>Up In The Air</i>, has recently joined the K-Pop girl group F(x)...well sorta. Check out this short sketch I found on the website <a href="http://www.funnyordie.com/" target="_blank">Funny Or Die</a> where she tries out for F(x), learns the choreo and lyrics for Electric Shock as well. Now that is blog worthy. You know if there's one thing that'll get me back on the blogosphere its going to be K-Pop, my guilty pleasure.<br />
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<a href="http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/78b1d27dab/anna-kendrick-goes-k-pop-with-f-x" title="from Anna Kendrick, f(x), Nick Wiger, Andy Maxwell, darcycarden, Funny Or Die, JasonCarden, Won Lee, FODfm, and Juliet Seniff">Anna Kendrick goes K-Pop with F(x)</a> from <a href="http://www.funnyordie.com/anna_kendrick">Anna Kendrick</a> <iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" src="http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?app_id=138711277798&href=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.funnyordie.com%2Fvideos%2F78b1d27dab%2Fanna-kendrick-goes-k-pop-with-f-x&send=false&layout=button_count&width=150&show_faces=false&action=like&height=21" style="border: none; height: 21px; overflow: hidden; vertical-align: middle; width: 90px;"></iframe>
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MaSirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17112263977105108306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8232920049546930538.post-91716811818890669652013-02-26T23:13:00.002-08:002013-02-26T23:17:52.944-08:00NY Times Celebrates A Vietnamese American MarriageRandom thought. Vietnamese women are hot. Then again, I'm biased. I've had a lot of crushes on Vietnamese girls while growing up.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Source: NY Times. </i>Caroline and Daniel's Wedding Celebration</td></tr>
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Okay, so that's not what this article in the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/10/fashion/weddings/caroline-nguyen-and-daniel-gien-vows.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0&ref=weddings" target="_blank">NY Times</a> is about, but it is about a Vietnamese American couple who recently got married. Meet Caroline Trang Nguyen and Daniel Gien, two successful Vietnamese American Ivy Leaguers holding some prestigious occupations working for Washington. If they have children, their kids are going to be ridiculously smart.<br />
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Besides having a story that celebrates the melding of two similar Asian cultures, I also like the fact that the article highlights how Caroline was wondering why Daniel hadn't asked her out. I'm pretty sure she gave him all kinds of visual and verbal cues indicating her interest in him. She even went a step further and made it strikingly obvious by asking her brother to invite Daniel to hang out with them. How cool is that? Either he didn't pick up on them or he really was just too busy with his work. The good news is, he made a move!</div>
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Sometimes I wonder how many times a girl me sent some kind of implicit cue that she was interested which I was unable to detect. If it was blatantly obvious, I'd try to avoid it by playing dumb. "What...I had no idea she was interested in me!" But then again, there are other times where I'd say the exact same thing and actually meant it. "Seriously, I had no idea. I would've totally asked her out! SHIT!" </div>
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Females will often times demo their interest indirectly by using subtle gestures:<br />
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<li>Pushing their hair back to expose just one ear</li>
<li>Twirling their hair with their fingers</li>
<li>Laughing at every damn thing you say as if you were comedian</li>
<li>Slapping you in the shoulder pretending to be upset with you</li>
<li>Feel free to add to the list...</li>
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I've talked about this with plenty of different women and it always boils down to the same response. Women don't want to make it too obvious that they like you because they don't want to appear like they're desperate. It lowers their desirability index and it can give the false impression that they're too easy. Thus, they resort to these kinds of cues which once upon a time clueless guys like me have to figure out. Yes, guys too like challenges no matter how hot she is. </div>
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MaSirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17112263977105108306noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8232920049546930538.post-2651113535563898922013-02-13T09:39:00.001-08:002013-02-13T09:40:04.264-08:00Aziatix Signs With Cash Money Records<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I caught the flu bug several days ago and have been immobile for several days now. So with that, I wanted to share this fantastic news which I will keep terse. The Asian American trio Aziatix has signed on with Cash Money Records. And Cash Money did they get. The group landed a $11.3 million deal with the label who has a slew of household rap artists such as Lil Wayne, Nicky Minaj and Drake.<br />
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For those of you who haven't heard any of their music, its pretty good. Check out this music video for their song "Go". Its a hot track.<br />
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This is a huge milestone for AA as it is one of the key indicators that America is beginning to except the fact that musicians aren't just black and white. After the proven popularity of Far East Movement, Cash Money has made a very lucrative investment in the AA group as they not only can they cater to an English speaking audience, but can also woo the hearts and minds of the Asian people. </div>
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Funny how I was just paying homage to their founder Jae Chong who started his own Hip Hop/R&B group <a href="http://destroytorebuild.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-1990s-spawned-modern-asian-american.html%20Done" target="_blank">Solid</a>. Chong, also their producer, probably went into this project looking specifically to find overlooked AA talent by regular A&R talent hunters. This can be inferred by this work with producing other Asian acts such as Coco Lee, Kim Gum Mo, Shin Seung Hoon, Stanley Huang, Nicky Lee and even JYJ for all you K-Pop lovers out there. And this is why it is so important for AA to have community so we can bond with one another and network to advance ourselves in society, to be a better AA and demonstrate to the world that we are multidimensional and multitalented individuals.</div>
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You can read up more on Aziatix <a href="http://www.aziatix.com/about/" target="_blank">here</a>. </div>
MaSirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17112263977105108306noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8232920049546930538.post-90487495955221867752013-02-08T10:09:00.001-08:002013-02-09T08:40:18.571-08:00An Excerpt From Christopher J. Dorner's ManifestoIts all over the news now. Christopher J. Dorner, a former police officer, is on a deadly rampage taking his revenge out on the LAPD for allegedly being vilified and wrongfully terminated. Initially, I thought the guy was total a whack job until I read his <a href="http://hiphopandpolitics.wordpress.com/2013/02/07/uncensored-manifesto-from-retired-lapd-officer-christopher-dorner/" target="_blank">manifesto</a>. I really feel for the guy and even more so after reading this passage.<br />
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<i style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial, 'Lucida Sans Unicode', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">Journalist, I want you to investigate every location I resided in growing up. Find any incidents where I was ever accused of being a bully. You won’t, because it doesn’t exist. It’s not in my DNA. Never was. I was the only black kid in each of my elementary school classes from first grade to seventh grade in junior high and any instances where I was disciplined for fighting was in response to fellow students provoking common childhood schoolyard fights, or calling me a nigger or other derogatory racial names. I grew up in neighborhoods where blacks make up less than 1%. My first recollection of racism was in the first grade at Norwalk Christian elementary school in Norwalk, CA. A fellow student, Jim Armstrong if I can recall, called me a nigger on the playground. My response was swift and non-lethal. I struck him fast and hard with a punch an kick. He cried and reported it to a teacher. The teacher reported it to the principal. The principal swatted Jim for using a derogatory word toward me. He then for some unknown reason swatted me for striking Jim in response to him calling me a nigger. He stated as good Christians we are to turn the other cheek as Jesus did. Problem is, I’m not a fucking Christian and that old book, made of fiction and limited non-fiction, called the bible, never once stated Jesus was called a nigger. How dare you swat me for standing up for my rights for demanding that I be treated as a equal human being. That day I made a life decision that i will not tolerate racial derogatory terms spoken to me. Unfortunately I was swatted multiple times for the same exact reason up until junior high. Terminating me for telling the truth of a caucasian officer kicking a mentally ill man is disgusting. Don’t ever call me a fucking bully.</i></blockquote>
First off, I do not condone violence. I've never been a violent person nor someone who bullies those who I see as weaker or different. Like Michael Jackson said, "Paul, I think I told you, I'm a lover not a fighter." I embrace the differences that God has blessed us with. It is a gift from the heavens to give us variety like 31 flavors. This excerpt from Dorner's manifesto however, is something I believe all Asian-Americans or recent immigrants, regardless of ethnicity, should abide by when facing racial insults or mockery. Its just uncalled for. If we're friends, that's one thing, but if I don't even know you and you're spewing out racial epithets, then you deserve a critical beat down. As human beings we cannot change that aspect of our physical appearance. In case you might have forgotten, we are born this way and it is completely immutable so why even take it there?<br />
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As a child, I was made fun of for being Asian on too many occasions. At one point, I had internalized all sorts of resentment and borderline hatred for not being born white. I'd get those sickening gestures every Asian person is all too familiar with of pulling back the eyes, clapping both hands together, bowing and following up with the ridiculing "me so sorry" line. Whenever I heard the words "chink", "jap" or "gook", it made me cringe and over time, my blood boil also. But because my parents raised me not to get into fights because I could get suspended from school, I avoided them at all costs. I believe this is huge parenting mistake. If someone calls your child any of those racial slurs they deserved to get fucked up. It's called self-respect. In fact, the perpetrator is giving your son or daughter the green light. "Please punch my fucking lights out...PLEASE!"<br />
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Now that I'm an adult, its not so easy to get into a physical altercation and walk away without any risk of serious repercussions. Who knows who's strapped? Who knows who'll snap? Dorner is an example of a law abiding citizen gone astray. As much as Dorner should be punished for his retaliatory actions, we should also use this tragedy to invoke and promote a healthy dialogue as to how we can be more accepting of other people and take a positive stand against this sort of thing.<br />
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I feel for Dorner, the law abiding police officers and the innocent bystanders who've fallen victim to this horrible tragedy. May God Bless Us All.<br />
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<i style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial, 'Lucida Sans Unicode', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">"Sometimes humans feel a need to prove they are the dominant race of a species and they inadvertently take kindness for weakness from another individual. You chose wrong." </i><br />
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<i style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial, 'Lucida Sans Unicode', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">-Christopher Dorner</i><br />
<br />MaSirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17112263977105108306noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8232920049546930538.post-38843007550631959012013-02-06T02:18:00.002-08:002013-02-06T23:58:49.946-08:00The 1990s Spawned Modern Asian-American CultureOne of my readers sent me a letter with respect to a blog I posted on dealing with my identity crisis as an Asian-American. I guess it really resonated with him which gives me mixed feelings, but before I go into that, here's his message,<br />
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<i>I was reading this post, <a href="http://destroytorebuild.blogspot.com/2010/01/identity-crisis-for-asian-american.html" target="_blank">Identity Crisis For An Asian-American</a>. </i></blockquote>
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<i>Your K-12 experience was very much like mine. The main difference is that I visited China at age 11 and after that I was always very aware of my identity and part of me never wanted to integrate, to this day. </i></blockquote>
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<i>Do you think there is really such a thing as an Asian-American identity?</i> </blockquote>
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<i>When I try to talk about this with my Asian-American friends, they say they just think of themselves as individuals with no racial identity, or they have an identity but they don't care much about it, the portrayal of Asian men in the media doesn't frustrate them. I don't understand how they can be nonchalant as obviously being Asian has shaped their entire life from start until adulthood. </i></blockquote>
On the one hand, I'm glad to see that I wasn't alone in feeling this way, isolated and confused at times as to how I fit in this predominately white society, but on the other, I'm sad that America still has a long way to go before it becomes much more integrated to reflect the often mischaracterization of a true "melting pot". I still think it's a salad bowl at best outside of California.<br />
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Hell, even our next door neighbor, "Oh Canada!" is more of a melting pot than the U.S. I haven't been to every Canadian city, but I believe my personal experience and sample size (a biased one I reckon) is large enough that it exhausts the majority of the country that allows me to come to that conclusion.<br />
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Getting back to the question of whether or not I think there is such a thing as an Asian-American identity...I would have to say I think there is. Asian-American culture is still fairly nascent, but I would contend that our history is punctuated with a distinct AA identity that spawned from the 1990s. You might ask me, "Oh yeah, like what?<br />
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<a name='more'></a>Take for instance three notable examples. For those of you born in the '90s, you're probably too young to remember what I'm about to describe below, but walk with me down memory lane anyway.<br />
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The Jeans</h3>
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That was probably the first time I ever saw a pack of AA teenagers all dressing with a similar style - the unforgettable baggy style. Yes, it was the double X-Large sized jeans with the <b>stapled bottoms</b> and if the brand was JNCO, you were fucking hip and rich, because those things cost a whopping $50. One can easily spend $100 on a pair of jeans today, but when taking into consideration inflation and the fact that most teenagers, myself included, were broke as a bum, having $50 to throw around on som jeans meant that you were <i>ballin'</i>. Or, you did what I did and rotated your two or three pairs of jeans with your friends because you didn't want to be caught dead wearing the same clothes twice in the same week.<br />
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The Hair</h3>
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It didn't matter what kind of Asian you were. Filipino, Vietnamese, Chinese, Cambodian, Korean, Laotian, Thai, etc. As an Asian dude, you had one of four types of hairstyles to choose from during this New Jack era: the flaptop, slicked back, parted halfway down the middle or the shaved head with two lonely strands of brown or blonde bangs.<br />
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I really wish I had a picture to show you, but unfortunately (or should I say fortunately), I can't find anything online, nor am I inclined to dig up old polaroids and show you. But just to prove a point, I think these oldschool K-Pop videos by Solid (above) and Uptown (below) serve as the perfect examples. Both groups comprised members who were born and raised American and crossed over to making music in their other tongue because as we all know, mainstream America wasn't nearly as progressive as it is today with the likes of Far East Movement or even MC Jin. And even those two are anomalies in this day and age.<br />
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Before you go on to argue with me, YES, I KNOW...but we're all influenced by black culture. They are the inventors of practically every genre of American music. </div>
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The Car</h3>
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Last, but definitely not least, how can anyone deny Asian-Americans of introducing the import showoff culture to the rest of America while reinventing street racing along with it? While most non-Asian teenagers were fixing up their Fords, Chevys or Cadillacs, it was the AA youth that birthed and popularized the hobby of fixing up Japanese cars. (Hyundai was still a laughing stock of a car company). Even AAs joked around with colleges like UC Irvine, once known as "University of Civics and Integras". From the image to the right its quite obvious I was only into the import lifestyle for the cars, not the hideous chicks.<br />
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By the time "The Fast and the Furious" hit the theaters, Hollywood was almost a decade behind, and if you were like my friends and me, then you probably thought to yourself after watching the original trailer, "How they are going to make a movie with a bunch of rice rockets and not have any rice eaters?" Thank God Justin Lin has been directing the last few FF movies and at least advocated for Sung Kang to play a significant role in the series!<br />
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Despite these examples taken from the '90s, there are some Asian-Americans out there who don't care about an AA community. Perhaps racism doesn't bother them because they don't place their ethnicity as core to who they are. I have a few friends who are like this and they see themselves as unique individuals. I think it's the right approach and a healthy way of thinking to break free from the conformity of racially charged stereotypes. I struggle with this myself even to this day but less and less as I get older. To say such things might seem antithetical to the spirit of my blog, but the overall point I'm trying to make is this.<br />
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Though we all have similar ethnic traits such as our hair color, love for noodles and rice along with a penchant for math, kung-fu and fobby accents, we are all unique. Ask Bill O'Reilly. He learned this the hard way. So if you can laugh at the ignorance fueling racism and look past the bullshit, then go right ahead and make your own breakthroughs. And if you want to destroy that kind of negativity in order to rebuild a stage for a brighter spotlight, then keep on Asian brothers and sisters.<br />
<br />MaSirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17112263977105108306noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8232920049546930538.post-82787582249667300832013-01-29T21:04:00.000-08:002013-01-29T21:18:54.175-08:00Kevin Tsujihara, The 1st Asian American To Run A Major Hollywood Studio<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Okay, I'm late to the party on this one, but I had to blog about it regardless since it is a Jeremy Lin like watershed moment for Asian Americans. Kevin Tsujihara will become the first Asian American ever to be CEO of Warner Bros, let alone any major Hollywood studio and will be replacing Barry Meyer who has held the position for almost 14 years. According to the <a href="http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-fi-ct-warner-chief-20130129,0,4696728.story" target="_blank">LA Times</a>, Meyer had some kind words to say about Tsujihara,<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">"Everyone needs a leader, and Kevin was the person best equipped to unify the company at this time," Meyer said in an interview. "We just thought he was the best choice for the whole company...</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">It was about the person and the character of the person," Meyer said. "The digital transition is one that is happening and it is affecting every part of our company. Kevin has really been at the forefront of that, and leading that charge, but Warner Bros. is really about the products that it makes."</span></blockquote>
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I hope this means that more Asian Americans will finally have a fair shot at the big screen devoid of tokenized stereotypical Asian characters. <br />
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The late, great <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sessue_Hayakawa" target="_blank">Sessue Hayakawa</a> would be so proud of Kevin. Both are Japanese-American, hardworking and charismatic individuals who serve as role models for everyone regardless of skin color. The only difference between the two is that Sessue was way ahead of his time given America's demographics during the early 1900s while someone like Kevin could've come much sooner in this day in age of globalization and increasing diversity. </div>
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I'll take a wild guess that Kevin has encountered all sorts of obstacles along the way due to his ethnicity, and that is why his victory is even sweeter. If this is indeed the case, he defied incredible odds to become CEO by demonstrating his value to Warner Bros. I'm sure his contender for the top spot, Bruce Rosenblum is nothing to sneeze at and is a great executive as well, but today I want to give a Kevin a solid high-five. Hooray!!</div>
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MaSirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17112263977105108306noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8232920049546930538.post-68844703464702690572013-01-28T18:31:00.001-08:002013-01-29T14:57:13.320-08:00WongFu Reminds Us Why It's So Important To Approach A Girl In Under 3 Seconds<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://2.gvt0.com/vi/0lGd_a5P7XI/0.jpg" height="296" width="440"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/0lGd_a5P7XI&fs=1&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><embed width="440" height="296" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/0lGd_a5P7XI&fs=1&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></div>
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Have you ever heard of the 3 second rule when it comes to approaching a woman you're interested in? For those of you who haven't, the rule is basically this. If you notice a girl you find attractive and want to talk to, you should do it in under 3 seconds the moment you see her. As WongFu Productions little short "This is how we never met" illustrates, the longer you wait to think of something to say before you just go up and talk to her, the more likely it is that you won't do it.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>Here are my reasons. What are yours?<br />
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<li><b>You might overanalyze.</b> Trying to either think of something witty or original can lead to paralysis analysis. Next thing you know 30 seconds of deep thought turns into 5 minutes with you unconsciously making eye contact with her. Now she knows you're interested and by the time you talk to her, she's got the upper hand. "Oh gosh...could he be anymore obvious?"</li>
<li><b>You run the risk of looking creepy</b>. The longer you wait and just look, you also run the risk of leaving it up to her imagination to come to negative conclusions about you, and the last thing you want is her to categorize you as a "creeper".</li>
<li><b>You might chicken out.</b> I've done this several times. Though not as frequently as when I first got the balls to talk to women, there were countless times where I didn't do shit. I would either overanalyze or fear rejection, only to come home kicking myself for not saying anything. </li>
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What felt even worse was when there was another guy who'd swoop in and take her away because I took too long, missing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity since I acted like a little [fill in the blank]. </div>
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The point is this. The second your eyes shift and make even the most ever so subtle eye contact with a her, she knows you are interested. Trust. <a href="http://destroytorebuild.blogspot.com/2010/02/these-girls-have-point.html" target="_blank">Women are very<i> </i>observant</a>. They can detect the slightest eye movement that signals you're interested in her, even if it's just a quick glance when you're not even directly in her light of sight. And if you so dare to think you're not being obvious, don't worry, you are.</div>
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So if that's the case, you might as well just go up and say "hello" and not end up like the guy the video.</div>
MaSirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17112263977105108306noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8232920049546930538.post-73964534998896798862013-01-24T22:28:00.002-08:002013-01-26T19:30:46.765-08:00Check Out Jeannie Lin, The Award Winning Author Of Historical Romance<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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If you've been a D2R reader for the last few years you might recall a blog I wrote up on how Asian men even get shafted in literature due to the dearth of authors who portray them as the romantic lead or better yet, don't even get included in the storyline at all. It even stirred up quite a ruckus on <a href="http://youoffendmeyouoffendmyfamily.com/chinky-or-not-chinky-do-asian-american-authors-have-an-anti-asian-male-bias/" target="_blank">YOMYOMF</a>. Look, I know what you're thinking,<br />
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"But MaSir, what about <i>The Joy Luck Club</i>?<i> </i>Obviously, there's irrefutably no better book out there at describing what a wonderful experience it is to date an Asian male besides that one." </blockquote>
You are absolutely right! Amy Tan did her best to make Asian men look incredibly awesome, romantic and financially generous. After its release, Asian Americans from all over the world hail and <a href="http://destroytorebuild.blogspot.com/2009/11/fuck-you-amy-tans-of-world.html" target="_blank">swear by that novel</a> as the most accurate depiction of AA men.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglteUNGfC8avAbuO6VoHhfbZ0A5IYxCnGvMKzJbiO2syiV2fICXIpOlyUJVHWejfNPrPnDmIXwqoZ8IFkE1YJnYYxDdP5KHInPRzfRX5vndPbGrttxClTc4UnqrCKx83lyCkyz1RCmXlg/s1600/MyFairConcubine_ISBN9780373296941.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglteUNGfC8avAbuO6VoHhfbZ0A5IYxCnGvMKzJbiO2syiV2fICXIpOlyUJVHWejfNPrPnDmIXwqoZ8IFkE1YJnYYxDdP5KHInPRzfRX5vndPbGrttxClTc4UnqrCKx83lyCkyz1RCmXlg/s1600/MyFairConcubine_ISBN9780373296941.jpg" width="201" /></a>However, I still wasn't satisfied and thought to myself, "There has to be a female author who knows how to write a different kind of Asian love story." You know...where the Asian guy actually gets the girl...like how it is in the real-world. Searching high and low I was fortunate enough to find Jeannie Lin, a writer of historical romance novels set in ancient China. (And no, her stories do not parallel <i><a href="http://twp.duke.edu/uploads/assets/7Last%20Samurai.pdf" target="_blank">The Last Samurai</a></i> if you know what I mean.<i>) </i>American entertainment, literature included, retells the same propagandizing love story. Jeannie, however, is different in that her stories center around the Asian male as an actual love interest, unlike what I call the <i>BLS</i><b style="font-style: italic;">*</b>.<i> </i><br />
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<i style="font-family: Times;"><b>*</b>Bruce Lee Syndrome (BLS)</i><span style="font-family: Times;"> </span><i style="font-family: Times;">- Asian male protagonist kicks the shit out of a thousand men, but never gets the girl or is deemed as an asexual creature. </i></div>
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Thus, I decided to sit down with Lin for a one-on-one interview and learn more about her and her work. You can check out Jeannie Lin's website <a href="http://www.jeannielin.com/" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
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<b style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">MaSir: </b><span style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">Tell us about yourself. Let's start off with a "Jeannie Lin" boilerplate introduction.</span></span></div>
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<b>Jeannie: </b> I'm Jeannie. I write historical romances set in Tang Dynasty China. Surprisingly, my background is actually in cognitive science and education. I'm a techie by day and writer by night.</div>
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<b style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">MaSir</b><b style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">: </b><span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;"> By any chance, are you related to Jeremy Lin?</span></div>
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<b>Jeannie: </b> Heheh...no relation. I do occasionally refer to him as cousin Jeremy as a joke online. No relation to Justin Lin either....<br />
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<b>MaSir</b><b>: </b> Damn it. Okay. Interview's over...</div>
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Just kidding. So w<span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">hen did you start writing? And when did you officially become "Jeannie Lin" the author?</span></div>
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<b>Jeannie: </b> I started writing around 2005. I was still teaching and looking for something to do as a hobby to balance things out. <span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">I took a class on romance writing and at first it was just something non-teaching to do on weekends, but the more I invested in the story, the more I realized I had always wanted to publish a story, so I committed to going for it.</span><span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;"> </span><span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">It took about four years of writing before I got noticed and received my first writing contract.</span></div>
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<b>MaSir</b><b>: </b> Do your parents know that you're a romance novel writer?<br />
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<b style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">Jeannie: </b><span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;"> Ha, they do! </span></div>
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<b>MaSir:</b> What are their opinions of it? I know Asian parents are so particular about their children pursuing STEM related careers but it looks like you already have that so maybe they don't mind so much?</div>
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<b>Jeannie:</b> My mother is quite proud and actually sent my first book to a major Vietnamese paper because she knew the editor. (She publishes poetry under a pseudonym). My father requested a copy of my books -- just to have as a souvenir I'm sure -- so I may be the only romance author who has shipped their books to a Buddhist monastery. He's not a monk, he was just rooming at a monastery. </div>
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<span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">Writing is my side job. My parents are very practical people and I'm no different. I'd starve if I tried to feed myself on writing money alone</span><span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">. I have a day job that pays the bills. [</span><span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">Just a side note] A lot of the shame that comes with writing romance or genre-fiction comes from how you feel yourself. I've never been ashamed and everyone I know, family and friends, have always been positive</span><span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">.</span></div>
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<b>MaSir: </b> I actually stumbled upon your website after a <a href="http://destroytorebuild.blogspot.com/2010/08/asian-american-men-get-shafted-even-in.html" target="_blank">blog that I had written up</a> about the lack of AA female authors writing stories with Asian males as love interests and romantic leads. I was pleasantly surprised that there was someone representing for the Asian male race. What prompted you to stay within your ethnicity and not go off following the typical WM/AF love story that is so mainstream and overdone?</div>
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<b>Jeannie: </b> My primary influence has always been the wuxia movies I used to watch with my family, especially those written by Jin Yong (who's the equivalent of J.R.R Tolkien among Asians) To be fair, my first story published was a WM/AF love story, my thoughts being to meld two genres - Western epic fantasy and Eastern wuxia together. <i>Butterfly Swords</i> features a Western barbarian and a Chinese princess, but I wanted to have the Westerner become immersed into Chinese culture instead of the sort of typical scenario when the Western warrior appropriates Chinese culture and then emerges as the "superior warrior". Since then, all of the other stories have Chinese heroes and heroines.<br />
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<b>MaSir: </b> And this brings me to my next question. Now I'm sure you've probably heard through vocal dissidence that AA men resent mainstream AA authors such as Amy Tan for her portrayal of Asian men in <i>The Joy Luck Club</i>, and that's why I was so joyful to see an AA female author such as yourself writing stories with Asian male characters as attractive and sexy. And I understand where Tan is coming from, believe me, its not like her depictions are completely flawed. But quite honestly, there's still a lot of resentment and it's created tension, especially online.</div>
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<b>Jeannie: </b> Yes and they have a point. Though I do respect and love Amy Tan's work, it does perpetuate the stereotype that all Chinese women are subjugated in China as well as that men are the oppressors. I dislike the female stereotype as much as the negative male stereotype.</div>
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<b>MaSir</b><b>: </b>When I go to the bookstore sometimes I see romance novels by black authors for their target audience. How has the overall reaction been with your work being Asian based fiction?</div>
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<b>Jeannie: </b>Ah, that's a whole big discussion. In the romance industry, black protagonists have been pushed into a sub-genre of their own. Publishers market them primarily to black readers, they get sectioned off in a different part of the bookstore, and so on and so forth. It's very controversial -- a white author writing black characters will get shelved in mainstream and get widely marketed. The Asian market is so niche -- it's not it's own sub-genre, that it's pushed in mainstream. It's a two-edged sword business and publicity wise. Because it's not a well-defined sub-genre, there's not as many targeted readers like in the AA or Black romance arena. So AA romance sells better...BUT...because it's not defined, it also doesn't get pigeon-holed so it floats on the mainstream market.</div>
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<b>MaSir</b><b>: </b> That's what I was going to ask you...if you ever felt like you're being pigeonholed or have encountered doubt about the success of your work because of your character's ethnic backgrounds. I feel like in mainstream [American] entertainment, the broader population still isn't used to seeing Asian-Asian couples...</div>
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<b>Jeannie: </b> Doubt? Always. Publishing is a tough business [as it is] and my books are really hard sells. I've read many an article about the portrayal of Asian males in media. One was kind of telling...it reported...anecdotally it seems, because they didn't say how they got these numbers...that only 10% of women found Asian men attractive. I think women find men attractive when they are portrayed as being attractive to other women...if that makes sense. So in the romance genre, if readers don't feel your hero is attractive, you're dead in the water. At the same time, if Asian men are never shown as attractive, they'll never be considered attractive. You'd be surprised how often I hear people say, "I saw this hot Asian guy and thought of you". That's sad if there's ONE representative of Asian male hotness in a genre. It really is. I'm not the only representative of Asians in romance, by the way. I'm just the only one who's not talented enough to write other couples as well.</div>
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<b>MaSir: </b> Is there a reason why you choose the historical setting as opposed to present day Asia or America?</div>
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<b>Jeannie: </b> Well, two reasons: I first started writing as an escape. I was teaching in what we would call "the ghetto" and it was tough. When I tried to think of contemporary stories, my mind couldn't get away from all the issues I dealt with day-to-day. So I went to the types of stories I enjoyed and was inspired by a historical setting. Second reason: the more I researched into the Tang Dynasty, the more I found some relevant ideals that resonated with me. Specifically, the emphasis on meritocracy and education. Stories of commoners making it through passing the imperial exams. That really hits home for me -- My parents came to the US with nothing and the only way we'd ever make it was through education. It's another one of my muses. Plus Amy Tan had that market sewn up. <i>Just kidding</i>.</div>
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<b>MaSir: </b> Haha. Good one! Speaking of stereotypes, in your books, do you ever play on some of those stereotypes with your characters. Some of them I can't imagine you can completely escape from, but as an author you can conjure up any image that you like for your characters. Do you enjoy that aspect of character development and presentation? </div>
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<b>Jeannie: </b> Well, the stereotype of the Chinese warrior definitely comes up. But it doesn't seem so stereotypical when he's in his world and not transplanted into somewhere else. There's also the stereotype of the scholar and the warrior-scholar.</div>
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<b>MaSir: </b>If Asian guys were to read your book, in secret…ebook, would rehearsing something from one of your heroines help or inspire them? I feel like in romantic comedies and love stories...the guys are so suave. I'm like, "There's no way I could ever think of anything that smooth in real-time off the top of my head."<br />
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<b>Jeannie: </b> Hmm...inspiration...Well, in my latest book, <i>The Sword Dancer</i>, the heroine and hero do a bunch of fighting, a lot of physical interaction, but then she is most impressed when she's watching him read a book, because a woman in the Tang Dynasty would seriously have found that to be totally swoon-worthy.</div>
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<b>MaSir: </b> Ha ha. "THIS GUY CAN READ?!?!" Major turn on! "I'm sleeping with him TONIGHT."<br />
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<b>Jeannie: </b> Hey, scholars were the heroes back then so I like kind of playing with the stereotypes like that.</div>
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<i>MaSir's Note: This is probably one of the reasons why Asians are so into education. Its become embedded in our DNA after being passed down through countless generations that being scholarly is equivalent to hotness.</i></div>
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<b>MaSir:</b> Do you have any male readers/fans in secret?</div>
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<b>Jeannie: </b> Droves...they're just hiding. Like ninjas. Actually, I have a few male readers. Often someone will buy my book and then tell me that their husband actually read it.<br />
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<b>MaSir: </b> That's funny. It doesn't look too masculine to be caught with a romance novel but a porno? Totally acceptable (and even expected). Strange but funny.</div>
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<b>Jeannie: </b> Interesting point.</div>
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<b>MaSir: </b> Do you have any advice to the Asian guys out there who are looking for love or "romance"? </div>
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<b>Jeannie: </b> Be yourself. Be confident. Confidence is sexy. Oh, I have one real point of advice. </div>
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There was once this guy who I thought was kind of attractive and who had a crush on me. And he didn't think I knew so he just kind of kept hanging out and hoping things would grow slowly. No, no, no, no, no. If at any point, he had just asked me out, I would have said yes <span style="font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">I think that's the main issue I've experienced personally with Asian guys. They want to play it cool and not act like they're too interested.</span><br />
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<b>MaSir: </b> Wow. I think this story is way too common unfortunately. I was once that guy. It's a pride thing to be honest and also the fear of getting rejected.</div>
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<b>Jeannie: </b> Make your interest known, girls find that sexy. No risk, no reward, right? Romance heroes always ask the girl out.<br />
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<b>MaSir: </b> Exactly. All the times I didn't ask, I just ended up looking "creepy" and it sucked because they eventually lost interest.</div>
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<b>Jeannie: </b> LOL, lesson learned.</div>
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<b>MaSir: </b> Yes, it was terrible, but now if I really want to talk to a girl I'll just do it. There's always some hesitation of course because it can still be scary at times, but I think its fun to go through it regardless and its even funnier when you get rejected. But when you score? It's like...<a href="http://destroytorebuild.blogspot.com/2012/11/correction-ignoring-china-is-no-longer.html" target="_blank">KA-CHING Dynasty</a>!<br />
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<b>Jeannie: </b> In general, romance authors are book people. You can definitely woo one by meeting them at a bookstore cafe. And if the chemistry is there, it doesn't matter where or what. It'll click. If it isn't, *shrug*. I've never thought badly of a guy who asked me out. If anything, there are plenty I didn't think of at all or didn't think much of until they asked me out so guys, you really are in a win-win situation....unless you're a creepy stalker.</div>
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<b>MaSir: </b>Makes sense to me. So what are the latest projects you're working on? Can you give us a brief overview and when it'll be available to the public?<br />
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<b>Jeannie: </b> The upcoming release is one my favorites I mentioned earlier, it's an action adventure titled <i>The Sword Dancer</i>. It's available May 21 in print and June 1 ebook.</div>
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<b style="background-color: transparent;">MaSir</b><b>: </b> Awesome. I'll have to check it out...in ebook format</div>
MaSirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17112263977105108306noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8232920049546930538.post-46575346274996492392013-01-22T14:04:00.002-08:002013-01-22T14:05:13.692-08:00Is Your Girlfriend Phasing You Out? Eliot Chang ExplainsEliot Chang is part of my original list of Asian men changing the face of American entertainment. Obviously that list has at least doubled in size since and will need to be updated in the future, but Eliot still remains to be one of the major Asian American trailblazers using comedy to entertain, educate and get straight to the point. Take for instance this recent video I found of his on YouTube called, <i>Dating 101: You Are Being Phased Out. </i>For those of you who might not have a clue that you are about to get dumped, Eliot breaks it down for you.<br />
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I thought he did an excellent job explaining why certain signs are indicative of relationship abandonment. However, there is one more sign I'd like to add to Eliot's monologue in being able to detect if you're about to get dumped. It might have been an accidental omission on his part, but I also believe that if a girl is "phasing you out" she will begin to pick fights with you over stupid shit. And yes, men are just as guilty of this kind of asshole-like behavior also.<br />
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A Fight Is Due To Frustration. You're Holding Them Back.</h3>
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If the person you're dating starts to increase the number of arguments with you over petty topics, chances are they want out. Sure, they could either be having a horrible day or pissed off about something you did earlier, but arguments that come out of nowhere are the ones you have to be suspicious of. Be "suspicious" not accusatory if you haven't had a heart-to-heart talk about it.<br />
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That said, the reason why I find random acts of truculence suspicious is because I feel as though they're a manifestation of underlying bitterness and denying of guilt. Those who are trying to phase you out neither have the courage nor the desire to be the bad guy by breaking it off with you first, despite their strong urges to explore other option(s). And unfortunately, the only way for them to cope with the frustration associated with such sickening feelings is to pick a fight with you. "Move bitch! Get outta the way."<br />
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For instance, one of my buddies was dating his ex-girlfriend for almost two years. Just when he thought everything was going smoothly, she picks a fight with him out of the blue. It all started with a random question, guilt at the core, wrapped with annoyance.<br />
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"Why don't you ever change your hairstyle?"<br />
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I remember when he first told me this story I had the same initial reaction as he did, "WTF?"<br />
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She kept harping on it over and over, she slowly began to uncover a bunch of other annoyances until it snowballed into every little thing that he did to piss her off. It was certainly reasonable for him to assume something was off. He continued to press her and ask what the hell was going on for half an hour until she finally caved in admitting the truth. She had cheated on him with another guy from her school. There I was, dumbfounded, unable to understand what would drive a person to start a fight like that instead of just coming clean.<br />
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That is of course until I encountered the same situation myself, only this time, I was the asshole. -_-<br />
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MaSirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17112263977105108306noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8232920049546930538.post-44280901590071853502013-01-19T11:02:00.002-08:002013-01-21T08:25:21.349-08:00LeendaD Shows Girls How To Pick Up GuysI love it when I discover funny YouTube videos. If <a href="http://destroytorebuild.blogspot.com/2013/01/matchmaker-diane-kim-helps-asian.html" target="_blank">matchmaking</a> ain't your thing, not to worry ladies. You can always try hunting for the perfect mate yourself. This skit comes to us from LeendaD Productions, a group of girls from British Columbia, Canada, who demonstrate for us how to pickup guys at the gym. What makes this skit so comical is that no girl will ever try to hit on a guy at the gym and secondly, its usually the other way around where guys are the ones gawking. Plus, people there are just focused on working out (and checking out the meat market).<br />
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Check out part 2. How to pick up a guy at the library.<br />
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MaSirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17112263977105108306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8232920049546930538.post-1901257941371549592013-01-16T21:09:00.001-08:002013-01-17T00:32:36.065-08:00Even US Employees Are Outsourcing Their Work To ChinaThis story is too hilarious for me to pass up and share. I'll have to categorize this one under comedy. It just goes to show you how China is becoming a bigger part of the US economy whether you see it with your own eyes or not. Based on a story published by <a href="http://thenextweb.com/shareables/2013/01/16/verizon-finds-developer-outsourced-his-work-to-china-so-he-could-surf-reddit-and-watch-cat-videos/" target="_blank">The Next Web</a>, Verizon discovered that a US developer was outsourcing his work to China. A guy by the name of "Bob" sent his work over to a Chinese consulting firm paying them only one-fifth of his six figure annual income to do all of his work for him so we could watch cat videos and read Reddit.<br />
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I'm going to make an assumption that Bob is Chinese. How else would he have been able to find those connections given the language barrier, but who knows? Maybe he hired a Chinese translator too. Nonetheless, genius.<br />
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Apparently, Bob was running this scheme at several companies simultaneously, and they only caught him after the US company contacted Verizon about a possible security breach coming from China. However, it wasn't a hack from the outside in but vice versa. As stated in <a href="http://securityblog.verizonbusiness.com/2013/01/14/case-study-pro-active-log-review-might-be-a-good-idea/" target="_blank">Verizon's Security Blog</a>,</div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As it turns out, Bob had simply outsourced his own job to a Chinese consulting firm. Bob spent less that one fifth of his six-figure salary for a Chinese firm to do his job for him. Authentication was no problem, he physically FedExed his RSA token to China so that the third-party contractor could log-in under his credentials during the workday. It would appear that he was working an average 9 to 5 work day. Investigators checked his web browsing history, and that told the whole story. </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A typical ‘work day’ for Bob looked like this: </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">9:00 a.m. – Arrive and surf Reddit for a couple of hours. Watch cat videos<br />11:30 a.m. – Take lunch<br />1:00 p.m. – Ebay time.<br />2:00 – ish p.m Facebook updates – LinkedIn<br />4:30 p.m. – End of day update e-mail to management.<br />5:00 p.m. – Go home</span></blockquote>
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Bob managed to use a mix of social engineering and outsourcing fundamentals, which he learned from the best, to write all of his code for him paying only a fraction of what he was making. Sound familiar? <i>Hint: Every major American corporation.</i></div>
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At first glance, the story is all chuckles and yes, what he did was definitely in the wrong. Its a violation of company policy to be sharing trade secrets not to mention a blatant security breach to send over your credentials to an outsider. However, I can see how some people may lionize this man, for he was simply "working smarter, not harder".<br />
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I don't know of a single American corporation that doesn't outsource these days to China or India. If you want to compete in this global economy these days, you absolutely must outsource some of your labor, production or customer service to either East Asia or Europe due to the tremendous cost advantages over employing your own domestic workers. </div>
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What makes Bob look like a bad guy in this instance is simply his title. That's it. Had he been a CxO or Vice President of the company, he might've been handsomely awarded a raise or fat bonus for saving the company money and making it more operationally efficient. Looks like China isn't just making all of our hardware now but our software too, at least behind the scenes.</div>
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Ka-Ching Dynasty! </div>
MaSirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17112263977105108306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8232920049546930538.post-38008038251154542072013-01-05T18:21:00.000-08:002013-01-13T22:12:25.877-08:00Comedian KT Tatara AKA "The Poon Sensei" Is Brutally Honest But Always FunnyFor those of you who've never heard of KT Tatara, you can all thank me now. I'm not sure what his ethnicity is, but from his last name I'd assume he's half Japanese and half white. Don't quote me on it though. What appeals me about KT is that he has a brutally honest style of delivery. I wouldn't go so far to say it's as extreme as Daniel Tosh but its definitely real. Check out this awesome bit he did at <i>The Laugh Factory</i> in LA.<br />
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As you can see, the guy's got skills. KT started getting recognition as a legitimate comedian around 2006 and since then has continued to tour and do stand up. Here's another really good set he had at <i>The Ice House. </i>He kills it!<i><br /></i><br />
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I didn't know he had an alter ego called "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pG7sVcO7vbA&list=PL8F94556D8AE13378&index=8" target="_blank">The Poon Sensei</a>" either. You can learn more about KT from his website <a href="http://www.kttatara.com/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<br />MaSirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17112263977105108306noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8232920049546930538.post-6786343684512532852013-01-02T01:30:00.002-08:002013-01-04T21:17:18.182-08:00Police Lockup Asian American Teens For 15 Hours Without Food Or Water <div>
Stories like these serve as an unwelcome reminder as to why Asian Americans need to band together and speak out against the injustices deliberated upon them or any other minority. Adam Kim, an Asian American teen of Newark, NJ, is filing a civil suit against the Fort Lee Newark Police Department for unlawfully arresting him and violating his civil rights. Kim and a few others were held like hostages, locked inside a van for <b>15 hours straight </b>in below freezing temperatures without any food, water or even a place to take care of nature's calling. Had a passerby not taken noticed of the boys locked inside the vehicle the next day, who knows what might've happened to them.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Source: Daily Mail Online</i></td></tr>
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Reported by the <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2255897/Asian-American-teen-sues-racist-police-locked-freezing-van-15-hours-food-water.html" target="_blank"><i>Daily Mail</i></a>, the incident occurred back in March, 2011. According to Kim, the officers "displayed a pattern of racial bias and/or indifference" by using racial slurs to reference Asian-Americans. There was an internal investigation but the department said that they did not find any evidence of malicious intent or discrimination. I'll take those findings with a grain of salt. Seriously, what police department is going to confess that they have a racist unit? Although the officers remain innocent until proven guilty, if what Kim alleges is indeed true, I would be deeply saddened, because entrust these individuals and depend on them to enforce the law, not violate it.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">See? Five-Oh can be sexy and cool. <i>Source: TV Fanatic</i></td></tr>
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I don't want to paint this ugly picture of law enforcement, because I know most of them uphold the law with the highest form of integrity. I've met some really awesome police officers, some who were very tough, but also fair and reasonable. But every so often a few rotten apples out there have to go and ruin it for the majority of them. Being a police officer ain't easy by any means. They're risking their lives everyday to ensure communities across America are safe and sound.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Remember This Guy?</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Daniel Chong resorted to drinking<br />
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<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/02/daniel-chong-dea-urine-cell-5-days_n_1470430.html" target="_blank">This isn't the first time</a> I've heard about cruel and unusual punishment against AAs. <span style="text-align: center;">In May 2012, UC San Diego student Daniel Chong was left unattended for five days in a DEA detention cell leaving him on the brink of death. He was caught at a friends place celebrating 4/20 when the law enforcement raided the apartment, which isn't a squeaky clean story, but it doesn't warrant the DEA to detain someone without food or water for 5 days leaving them to drink their own urine! </span><br />
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<span style="text-align: center;">The DEA down in San Diego has since apologized. No word from the Fort Lee Department...yet.</span><br />
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MaSirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17112263977105108306noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8232920049546930538.post-18463428158122503962012-12-31T17:30:00.001-08:002013-01-14T10:08:35.612-08:00Jeremy Lin - Asian American Male Of The YearIt's about that time again where we start anew, but before we do, I want to give an <i>Asian American Male of the Year</i> award to the one and only Jeremy Lin. What Lin accomplished this year alone is truly remarkable. To go from being an NBA player who nobody had really heard of outside of the Asian community before his <a href="http://destroytorebuild.blogspot.com/2012/02/jeremy-lin-spirational.html" target="_blank">breakout game against the Nets</a>, to a megastar athlete in a span of a few months calls for a resounding applause.<br />
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Far too long have Asian American men had been desperately seeking an Asian male role model to look up to outside the relic of Bruce Lee, though an unadulterated actor, fighter, philosopher and legend by anyones standards, Lin on the other hand has graced the front pages of major newspapers, magazines, mainstream media and entertainment outlets. Most Asian American parents that I knew of growing up didn't encourage their children to go into professional sports. The main focus has always been studying, which isn't a always a bad thing, but Lin achieved more than that. As a Harvard graduate, Lin not only turned the conventional wisdom surrounding Asian American men on its head, that of course being strictly academic, un-athletic and feeble, but also made up for the lost time and painful setback by the American idol reject William Hung.<br />
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<i>No offense William. You seemed pretty clueless that America was laughing at you. For the rest of the AA guys out there, myself included, we were cringing at your embarrassing performance. Why none of your male Asian friends told you that you were making a complete fool of yourself and setting back the entire AA community 20 years is beyond me.</i><br />
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Linsanity electrified audiences nationwide and provoked a serious discussion regarding racism against Asians, males especially, in America. A discussion that's been long overdue with respect to the quiet discrimination and bamboo ceiling that AA males encounter all too often whenever they aspire to take on leadership roles or the center stage for the public's viewing. It spurred contentious dialogue about the lack of AA male athletes in all professional sports, how often they get overlooked because of their God-given, immutable ethnicity and even bled into other controversial social issues such as its influence on interracial relationships and <a href="http://alpha-asian.blogspot.com/2012/12/james-sun-on-diversity-and-globalization.html" target="_blank">business</a>.<br />
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Yes, Lin was the talk of the town even in corporate America. Business bloggers were jumping on the bandwagon publishing pieces on how to succeed professionally by following Lin's work ethic and perseverance. Remember <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericjackson/2012/02/11/9-lessons-jeremy-lin-can-teach-us-before-we-go-to-work-monday-morning/" target="_blank">Forbes' article</a> back in February? <i>Just Lin Baby! 10 Lessons Jeremy Lin Can Teach Us Before We Go To Work Monday Morning. </i><br />
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Okay, so Jeremy Lin didn't amass <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0" target="_blank">over a billion views</a> on YouTube like Psy did and have everyone in the world doing an infectious horse-riding dance, which by the way is nothing to sneeze at. But, Jeremy Lin is someone who resonates with me more...a lot more. Finally, the spotlight is on someone who is like me in a significant way. We're both American.<br />
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And to close this out, I'd like to thank all of my readers out there where ever you are. I hope <i>Destroy To Rebuild</i> has instilled some insight and inspired you to go out there and be a better Asian man in 2013. Happy New Year!MaSirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17112263977105108306noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8232920049546930538.post-63139922313301491942012-12-28T15:36:00.003-08:002013-01-04T21:20:12.303-08:00"A Leading Man" Depicts The Asian Male Actors Struggle In HollywoodIts no surprise that Asian American actors have struggled to receive acceptance from the mainstream audience in America, let alone obtain leading roles in Hollywood films. And if you compare the hardships that Asian American males have to endure to break into the entertainment industry compared to females, its arguably even harder. As reported by <a href="http://www.meniscuszine.com/articles/2012122420327/behind-the-scenes-of-a-leading-man/" target="_blank">Meniscus Magazine</a>, Steven J. Kung decided to do something about this particular systemic issue by writing and directing the film "A Leading Man", which explores the harsh realities and setbacks when confronted with Hollywood's "quiet racism".<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Courtesy of Meniscus Magazine</td></tr>
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I don't know much about <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2192489/" target="_blank">Steven Kung</a>, but I applaud his gallant efforts in producing a film that challenges the very system that he is a part of and also pays his bills. When asked how he came up with the idea for the script, Steve answered verbatim what many Asian Americans have been contesting all along.<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">”I originally came to Hollywood because I was sick of seeing Asian men in particular emasculated in front of the camera...No one was making the films that would portray Asian American men in a more well-rounded way. I'm 35 now and this still hasn't come so I'm like, you know, things aren't entirely socially equal, and let's make a film about that.”</span></blockquote>
Now the lead actor Jack Yang is a good looking guy. He sort of reminds me of the Batman animated version of Bruce Wayne with longer hair. Although that says absolutely nothing about his acting abilities, if he actually has the talent and is getting rejected left and right from Hollywood casting directors consistently then it's obvious that what he's experiencing parallels the "soft bigotry of low expectations" that plagued Jeremy Lin. In other words, he's a benchwarmer, a 3rd string, B-Movie actor. You can see from <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1555268/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1" target="_blank">his portfolio on IMDB</a> Yang's been in a quite a few Hollywood films and TV series, but rarely, if ever, as the leading male character.<br />
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During the interview Yang even drops the words "bamboo ceiling", a phrase Asian Americans are all too familiar with unfortunately. And if you're not, may I suggest you take a look <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bamboo_ceiling" target="_blank">here</a>. You can tell the interviewer looks a bit uncomfortable as he asks Yang questions about forgone opportunities because of his ethnicity. Its awkward, but glad to see those kinds of questions were asked.<br />
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I hope this is really is a good flick with some actual substance and quality acting as opposed to movie that is whiny about the inequalities rampant in Hollywood.<br />
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Keep your eyes out for "A Leading Man".<br />
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<br />MaSirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17112263977105108306noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8232920049546930538.post-70934749599458379612012-12-26T10:57:00.000-08:002013-01-04T19:48:30.062-08:00Non-English Speaking Chinese Guy Gets The White GirlHappy Holidays to all of my readers out there!<br />
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<a href="http://www.absolutelyfobulous.com/2012/11/28/beautiful-video-showcases-cross-cultural-love/">AbsolutelyFobulous</a> shared this video below featuring cross-cultural love between a Chinese guy, AJ, and his British-Spanish aka white girlfriend Natalie. I've been meaning to share this with all of you frustrated Asian guys out there looking for love (from white girls) in hopes to inspire you.<br />
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If AJ, who can barely speak any English, can manage to get with Natalie, a woman who has her own set of Mandarin and cultural obstacles to overcome, there's zero excuse for Asian American guys not being able to get <i>attractive</i> women regardless of their non-Asian background.<br />
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I have to give this guy major props because he actually did what a lot of Asian American guys don't do. He initiated. He approached, and I've seen more guys being aggressive with women over in Asian countries than I have here. Now that's inspiring.<br />
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<br />MaSirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17112263977105108306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8232920049546930538.post-79768533443681722062012-12-20T09:31:00.001-08:002013-01-04T19:41:10.041-08:00RIP To Recent Victims To Gun ViolenceFolks, I had to take a break from blogging.<br />
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In the wake of the Sandy Hook massacre, I had to sit down and reflect upon my life outside of Asian American issues that seem far too petty relative to the recent tragedy where 28 people died. 20 elementary school children, 6 faculty heros, Adam Lanza and his gun toting mother. I'm not going to argue about gun control as I've done more than enough debating for stricter gun laws during the last week. The one thing I will say however is that I don't believe in guns, period. <br />
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Thanks for those of you checking in. I have more stories I'd like to share with you soon.MaSirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17112263977105108306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8232920049546930538.post-60157512871494201522012-12-02T14:46:00.000-08:002013-01-05T17:41:23.689-08:00The Next Big Asian Comedian: ZhangsterFor some of you who already know of the Zhangster, call me a late arrival to the party but I just stumbled upon his clips on YouTube. He's a Chinese American straight out of the Bay Area, San Francisco to be exact. Hands down he's one of the funniest Asian American male comedians I've seen in a while. His jokes are pretty clever and he's really quick with the comebacks.<br />
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Zhangster going off on the UCLA Wallace's racist rant against Asians.<br />
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Penis jokes.<br />
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Handling a heckler.<br />
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Comparing him with other Asian American comedians like Eliot Chang, I think Zhangster is a bit more humorous and clever with his jokes. I was a big fan of Chang for a while but recently I haven't seen any of his newer stand up bits and the material doesn't have the same caliber of funny than it did previously.<br />
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If you haven't seen him already seriously check out his clips. I kid you not. You'll laugh your ass off. Guaranteed.<br />
<br />MaSirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17112263977105108306noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8232920049546930538.post-33599115798511017002012-11-30T00:27:00.002-08:002013-01-05T17:26:49.287-08:00Asians Majority of Silicon Valley WorkersSan Jose Mercury reports that Asians are now the dominant workforce in Silicon Valley. Is it really surprising though? I guess, but when did Asians not dominate math, engineering and sciences? Its been going on for the last several decades unless you've never met an Asian person in your entire life. What I would prefer to see though is more Asian college graduates pursuing sales and marketing roles that require a different skill set and prepares for senior management.<br />
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When one looks at most company management teams, the majority is still predominantly white. I don't have a problem with it personally as long as everyone has a fair shot at making it to the top. The way I see it is that Asian Americans are always hustling. As you can see from the pie charts above, it took a decade for Asians to increase their footprint in Silicon Valley by 12%. That's some impressive growth numbers and it just goes to show you that hard work and persistance pays off. </div>
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Naturally, this can create stereotypes and lead to an imbalance where one ethnic group dominates a particular sector leaving other hidden talent to be overlooked. I believe this is unhealthy for the same reasons many Asian Americans argue for greater diversity in other arenas. For instance, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_and_ethnicity_in_the_NBA" target="_blank">blacks dominate 78% of the NBA</a>. Yes, the same one that overlooked Jeremy Lin. And we all know whites dominate Hollywood. This infographic below says 70% of casting calls show preference for white actors.</div>
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That said, pursuing an engineering career for Asians is the perfect ice breaker for the world of technology and business, but can be limiting when there's a desire to climb the corporate ladder. The beauty of this country is that if you don't like it, you can do something about it by starting your own company as long as you have the right idea and the balls to risk everything for a shot at tremendous success. </div>
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Take entrepreneur <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2011/04/12/kiips-brian-wong-on-taking-risks-as-young-entrepreneur/" target="_blank">Brian Wong for instance</a>. He's not based in Silicon Valley, but he is a business development techie. This guy is a smart mothafuckin' hustler i.e. a sales guy. At 21 years old he already has his own company, Kiip, that offers embedded rewards for mobile gaming apps. Okay, so he looks a tad dorky but he is only 21. Remember what <a href="http://opensourceerpguru.com/images/oraclefounders.jpg" target="_blank">Larry Ellison</a> looked like when he founded Oracle? Look at him now: CEO, Playboy, Business Tycoon Extraordinaire. If Brian becomes a multi-millionaire or even more so a billionaire, which is highly probable, I don't think he'll have any trouble finding a hot date. </div>
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He better watch out for gold diggers though. Yikes! </div>
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MaSirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17112263977105108306noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8232920049546930538.post-36157913839867140012012-11-27T13:02:00.001-08:002013-01-05T17:35:27.491-08:00Red Dawn Encourages More Asian Racism And Threat ConstructionOMFG. Here we go again. As if the barrage of racist tweets against Psy for performing at the AMAs weren't enough, Hollywood coincidentally, had to add fuel to the fire by releasing an offensive, vociferous movie where an exclusive group of white American teenagers, the Wolverines, counterattack the North Koreans who invade my homeland, not North Korea, but the United States of America. I was going to let this story fall by the wayside, but I encountered too much of this kind of bullshit throughout my life to just sit here and let these ignorant assholes degrade what my country stands for.<br />
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I get it. Many of these tweeters are adolescents or young adults, immature and still learning what it means not to be ignorant. Nevertheless, one would think that the collective consciousness of the American youth has continued along its evolutionary tragectory and not regressed to this pre-Civil Rights or Civil War era.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcH_2lW_ZEL5wk2NV1Q20uBVi29krlAmmqsaFL_0oxfwXe0NSWpWoNy0KwPDGwJA8-t_pyCVv4b9MlMi27B8AU1VKRrFXyo0dMhXX17kgJLHA27XdqT6K8KfANB03ERSmBxVIMmvLqcfs/s1600/Screen+Shot+2012-11-27+at+10.29.47+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcH_2lW_ZEL5wk2NV1Q20uBVi29krlAmmqsaFL_0oxfwXe0NSWpWoNy0KwPDGwJA8-t_pyCVv4b9MlMi27B8AU1VKRrFXyo0dMhXX17kgJLHA27XdqT6K8KfANB03ERSmBxVIMmvLqcfs/s400/Screen+Shot+2012-11-27+at+10.29.47+AM.png" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ah yes. Brings back memories of growing up Asian in the U.S.</td></tr>
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Someone will incessantly argue, "Its just a movie. Its fictitious. Get over it."<br />
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Really?<br />
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<a name='more'></a><br /><br />
How can Americans simply "get over it" when you see someone below saying that they now "hate all Chinese, Japanese, Asian, Korean people"???<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8DPlHFsrcUPtEdfQBwtL0cLUvpArLHQU50tqk8nXj7un6XUELRPxvT2z_DDpBl0Bn9yJA1uy-n6agFCzvBEqrN5FOWTl0MZTMUZ6f4SMa-oJtms_HAbEycIX9ML6k37clH6M3uNsCJVE/s1600/Screen+Shot+2012-11-27+at+10.30.00+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8DPlHFsrcUPtEdfQBwtL0cLUvpArLHQU50tqk8nXj7un6XUELRPxvT2z_DDpBl0Bn9yJA1uy-n6agFCzvBEqrN5FOWTl0MZTMUZ6f4SMa-oJtms_HAbEycIX9ML6k37clH6M3uNsCJVE/s400/Screen+Shot+2012-11-27+at+10.30.00+AM.png" height="346" width="400" /></a></div>
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Seems like tweeter TODDDler loves waving his douchebag bigotry flag proudly by advertising his hate toward the Asian population over something that isn't even real.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI0VrxYuaGz7klJkvFdP5HfDCQWroXsAx8Si94R6WKeBF_nAPHGQtYKLyUVUfmEzlHVlLpXIAjPOwJfQE9LjU3MxKEZiWeBhwfhp53SQN3QDqVtfsYN0eEcsC9hsdmSV293CB36UEKZJc/s1600/Screen+Shot+2012-11-27+at+10.30.21+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI0VrxYuaGz7klJkvFdP5HfDCQWroXsAx8Si94R6WKeBF_nAPHGQtYKLyUVUfmEzlHVlLpXIAjPOwJfQE9LjU3MxKEZiWeBhwfhp53SQN3QDqVtfsYN0eEcsC9hsdmSV293CB36UEKZJc/s400/Screen+Shot+2012-11-27+at+10.30.21+AM.png" height="127" width="400" /></a></div>
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Never mind the fact that one of the main actors is Australian making him less American than I am or any other Asian American, or the implausible premise, albeit a rancid fantasy from Hollywood that North Korea has the military might and readiness to take on our country. Even <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/mixed-media/2012/11/red-dawn-remake-north-korea-foreign-policy-experts-reactions" target="_blank">foreign policy experts</a> find the Red Dawn remake laughable as investigative reporting blog <i>Mother Jones</i> cites.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0.8em; margin-top: 0.8em;">
<strong><a href="https://twitter.com/LarryKorb" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: black; text-decoration: initial;" target="_blank">Lawrence Korb</a>, former assistant secretary of defense to Ronald Reagan, and a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress:</strong></div>
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What!? <em>Really</em>? How are the North Koreans gonna get here? We're talking about thousands of miles. Did they stage an amphibious landing like we did in Normandy? Did they fly over? Each of the pilots in their air force only flies four hours each year! Their military is in terrible shape, they don't have enough fuel, and they don't have the artillery. Like, how exactly is this going to happen?</div>
</blockquote>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0.8em; margin-top: 0.8em;">
<strong><a href="https://twitter.com/capreble/status/270934867808768000" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: black; text-decoration: initial;" target="_blank">Christopher Preble</a>, vice president for Defense and Foreign Policy Studies at the Cato Institute:</strong></div>
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The premise is actually no more absurd than <em><a href="http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2012/06/poll-obama-better-prepared-romney-alien-ass-kicking" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: black; text-decoration: initial;" target="_blank">Independence Day</a></em>, or the<em> </em>aliens in the new <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/media/2012/05/film-review-battleship-liam-neeson-patriotism" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: black; text-decoration: initial;" target="_blank"><em>Battleship</em></a>. So to pose the North Koreans as a credible threat to the continental United States is as ridiculous as the spectre of all-out alien invasion. Also, how exactly would they get from there to here??</div>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
If foreign policy experts find this movie ridiculous then what is its underlying objective?<br />
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<h3>
Threat Construction, brought to you in part by Hollywood</h3>
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What MGM has done is intentionally stirred up threatening anti-Asian sentiments with their theatrical rhetoric spurning the possibility of racial harmony in my beloved country. You know, the one I pay taxes in. The cultural landscape of America continues to evolve where ethnic diversity sprouting from American soil abounds so it only makes sense: common, social and economic sense, to cast an Asian American actor to play a lead Wolverine battling the front lines as well.<br />
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Of course, Hollywood isn't going to allow for that because minority heroines are merely token characters that end up dying first anyway. Movie critic, <a href="http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19970926/REVIEWS/709260302/1023" target="_blank">Roger Ebert for instance</a>, references the BADF action movie rule - <i>"The Brother Always Dies First"</i>. So all this talk about Hollywood being liberal and culturally progressive is an absolute, invariable lie. Let's just see it for what it is. A bunch of fucking suits that go around pushing their "white = good" and "other = bad" propaganda machine so they can continue their hegemony. Its what political scientists call <b>threat construction</b>.<br />
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Ronnie Lipschutz in his critique <i>On Security </i>says it best,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: 16px;"><b><u>Security is</u></b>, to put Waever's argument in other words, <b><u>a socially constructed concept</u></b>: It has a specific meaning only within a specific social context. It emerges and changes as a result of discourses and discursive actions intended to reproduce historical structures and subjects within states and among them.</span> </blockquote>
In other words, if you continue to speak of some other entity as a threat, they eventually become one because you've now internalized it in your mind that they are real, even though it doesn't even exist. Let's just take a look at the some of these tweets for instance,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>"I usually love Asians but in Red Dawn I found them terrifying."</i></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>"omg red dawn looks so spooky #whatif #asian"</i></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>"After seeing Red Dawn, I'm suspicious of every Asian I see #Wolverines"</i></span></blockquote>
<b>Ideas of a threat are more potent than even the material weapons themselves.</b> Here is an excerpt from Alexander Wendt and David Friedman from <i>International Organization</i>,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: 16px;">Idealists are not saying that states do not act on the basis of power and interests but rather that this is <u>contingent on the social structure in which states are embedded</u>. In a conflictual system power and interests matter, but <u><b>what makes a system conflictual is an underlying structure of common knowledge.</b> The threat posed to the United States by five hundred British nuclear weapons is less than that posed by five North Korean ones, because the British are friends and the North Koreans are not, and amity and enmity are social, not material, relations.</u> In that sense it is "ideas all the way down."</span></blockquote>
After the oil spill disaster caused by BP several years ago in the gulf region, did Americans go making similar hateful remarks about the British? Not that I recall quite frankly. And perhaps this is why Hollywood can't seem to wrap their myopic, pretentious idiotic heads around a non-white actor to play as an American heroine because they still see anything not white or Will Smith us as the "other".<br />
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Asian Americans, or any other persons of color, need to take a stand against racism and the threat construction imposed by the mainstream media. They are here to divide, not harmonize. So on a positive note, I'd like to end this by saying that there are Americans from all backgrounds, whites included, who are taking a stand and <a href="http://iammichellekim.com/2012/11/25/why-i-wrote-to-the-racist-teens-school-principal-and-posted-it-on-facebook/" target="_blank">speaking out against the racism</a> after Red Dawn. Props to those who are.<br />
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<br />MaSirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17112263977105108306noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8232920049546930538.post-38333529355524182942012-11-26T01:49:00.002-08:002013-01-05T03:07:58.959-08:00True Or False: Asians Want To Be WhiteThis YouTube rant speaks on behalf of many Asian Americans, myself included, and I'm glad she set the record straight for anyone out there who thinks that all Asians want to be "white". Its simply not true. Why do people assume that just because Asians, Koreans especially, get some facial plastic surgery that its because they want to mirror the white physical features. C'mon really? Asians - minus the self-loathing embarrassments like <a href="http://www.xojane.com/it-happened-to-me/asian-woman-dating-asian-men-jenny-an" target="_blank">this one</a> - care more about their aesthetic appeal irrespective of race. <br />
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Look, there are beautiful people of all races. I believe women are less likely to agree with me on this topic, but the fact of the matter is every ethnicity has its subset of beautiful people. Does it mean you're necessarily attracted to them? No, but you can't deny a person who's beautiful. So to assume that Asians who get plastic surgery, wear colored contacts or dye their hair color do it to intentionally be "white" instead of simply enhancing their looks is not only reductive, but also an implicit self-concession on your part that being white is the de facto standard of beauty. </div>
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<b>That, in and of itself, is a false assertion. Asians want to look beautiful just like any other goddamn human being or creature on this planet. Race is irrelevant.</b></div>
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I don't know about you but I've seen plenty of ugly white people. <i>Plenty</i>. I have also seen plenty of ugly Latinos, Blacks and Asians. And for the ones that are good-looking, guess what? They all share similar characteristics of beauty. Beauty has no racial preference. These are physical characteristics that are borderless, timeless and vary depending on the era. No race is biologically predisposed of looking more beautiful over another. That is not reality. That is however, the unfortunate perception of reality due to the influence of the mass media. For instance, let's compare and contrast how American and Asian entertainment portrays Asian males (I'm feeling positive that Hollywood is finally getting their act together or they'll just <a href="http://destroytorebuild.blogspot.com/2012/10/yellowface-in-hollywood-saga-continues.html" target="_blank">yellowface</a> the shit out of us).</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Han Lee (Actor: Mathew Moy) from <i>2 Broke Girls</i></td></tr>
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<b>Vs.</b></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tae-Shik (Actor: Won Bin) from <i>The Man From Nowhere</i></td></tr>
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<b>Get my drift?</b><br />
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MaSirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17112263977105108306noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8232920049546930538.post-9530246542787102142012-11-21T10:28:00.001-08:002013-01-04T19:52:29.714-08:00Psy Called Racial Slurs Post AMAs On TwitterMy last two blogs covered how ignoring Asians is no longer an option given the changing landscape of the world economy and the socioeconomic rise of Asians in America and back East. The Far East. Unfortunately, there are those individuals filled with hate who make themselves feel better by letting the world know that they don't like "chinks" and wish for us to "go back to Asia". At least that's what these Twitter users said after Psy's performance on the American Music Awards courtesy of <a href="http://publicshaming.tumblr.com/post/36049416072/oppa-gangnam-racist-style-south-korean-pop-star" target="_blank">Public Shaming's tumblr</a>.<br />
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Now I haven't been completely onboard with the K-Popstar's <a href="http://destroytorebuild.blogspot.com/2012/10/with-every-psy-comes-another-sigh.html" target="_blank">claim to fame</a>, but that's not to say I won't give him props for his accomplishments. I respect him as an artist and think he does have real talent. It took Justin Bieber 4 years to amass 800 million views on YouTube whereas Psy has almost achieved the same view count in about 4 months. That's pretty impressive.<br />
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I get that Psy is not American and he was singing a song that wasn't in English which may have made some folks feel alienated, however he did close the show with MC Hammer who is 100% American. This duet is a reflection of America's changing cultural landscape in that we're becoming more of a melting pot. Dude, we have a Black president! But what also pisses me off is the fact that countries all over the Asia-Pacific have been open arms embracing American music for nearly a century. Korea especially. There's not a single night club you can go into without listening to American music and its been that way for generations. It's like what <a href="http://www.thefader.com/2012/03/02/interview-swizz-beatz/" target="_blank">Swizz Beats said</a> when he referred to Big Bang's release of <i>Blue.</i> America never rolls out the red carpet for Asian artists, and yet when American artists go overseas to Asia, countries over in the region show them all kinds of love rolling out the red carpet, inviting them on talk shows, having them perform, etc. etc. I'm glad to see we're moving forward.<br />
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Why can't these Tweeters above embrace Asian artists the same way? I grew up feeling alienated many times simply because I wasn't white. It made me feel like a permanent outsider hearing these kinds of hateful remarks and it pains me to see this sentiment is still pervasive in America today. <i>Its 2012!!</i><br />
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Look, if you want to get really anal about it, <b>none of Scooter Braun's artists' </b>are American proper. One Direction gets plenty of mainstream airplay and they're a <i>British </i>boy band. Yes, they do sing in English, but that doesn't make them anymore American than Psy. And if we're strictly speaking of the United States of America, well both Justin Bieber and Carly Jae Repsen are not US Citizens so maybe they shouldn't be at the AMAs either. And while I'm at it, maybe we shouldn't have Shakira on any of our American TV shows too since, you know, she's from Latin America which isn't America proper.<br />
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Perhaps Psy should've sang an English version of Gangnam Style at the AMAs? Maybe, but it doesn't make sense. Gangnam Style is about a district in Seoul, Korea not America and there's really no American city center that parallels the same shallow and arrogant 'tudes as that particular geographic location. Psy created this song for his home country, not the American market. It just so happens Psy stumbled onto fame when the rest of the world fell in love with its high-energy, infectious beat. Don't blame Psy or the AMAs.<br />
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Another surprising tidbit. Most of the anti-Psy tweets came from women of the caucasian variety. Granted, this is only a sample of the entire universe of tweets, negative and positive, but never would I have expected that much of a backlash to having Psy on the AMAs. In fact, after scouring the Twitter feeds, I see more guys all around giving Psy props! Well look at it this way. If President Obama got all kinds of flack on Twitter for being Black and re-elected, then no doubt that the same bunch will probably post a racial slur about Psy.<br />
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Moving on...<br />
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<br />MaSirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17112263977105108306noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8232920049546930538.post-86078625317740015912012-11-15T20:35:00.001-08:002013-01-04T19:53:17.731-08:00Correction: Ignoring China Is No Longer An OptionOne of my buddies sent me this video on YouTube documenting the dramatic rise of a wealthy class in China. This is one of the rare times I've seen someone of white or European descent kissing the asses of Asian big shots and definitely won't be the last. As I mentioned in my previous blog how ignoring the Asian community is no longer an option, I can say confidently now after watching this piece that not only ignoring or belittling Asians will no longer be an option, but also suicidal move for ones professional and personal endeavors.<br />
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Let's face it. Asians have always been under the mercy of European Imperialism and American "Big Stick" foreign policies. There are two sides to this history of course. Not all of it was necessarily bad e.g. capitalism, democracy, Vietnamese sandwiches, etc. I will say however, that even as an American born Asian I frequently felt like a second-class citizen compared to my white counterparts, naturally yet disagreeably so. Asians were always economic subjugates of this domineering West, but as you can see from this video, times are changing.<br />
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Ka-Ching Dynasty isn't all glitz, glamour and gold. As much as I like the idea of a rising Asia, I believe there's a lot of damage it could bring to the collective consciousness of the people in that geographic location. One of my friends made a very good argument that such rapid growth creates bubbles and a nation of hollow individuals that become enchanted with opulence, greed and a disregard for the environment. Another <i>Gangnam Style</i> perhaps? Who knows? At this point I say it's too early for me to make that judgement call, but I hope that isn't the case.<br />
<br />MaSirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17112263977105108306noreply@blogger.com0