Newsbits: Olbermann, Nguyen, Asian Health

Some links and stories from around the web and blogosphere:

Olbermann Slams Malkin for Daring to Question Clinton Straw Donors

MSNBC’s Keith “Chicken & Waffles” Olbermann attacked conservative blogger Michelle Malkin for “ethnic profiling” of Chinese restaurant dishwashers in New York City who donated to the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign. Of course, running off of the liberal Media Matters script, Olbermann failed to note that Malkin’s problem is not with the donors’ ethnicity per se, but that it’s highly suspicious when low-wage earners pony up a few thousand to give a political candidate.

’21 Jump Street’ star Dustin Nguyen is back in action

Flash back to 1987. “21 Jump Street” was one of the hottest new shows on television, showcasing the talents of young heartthrobs Johnny Depp and Dustin Nguyen. For Depp, already a rising star, it would be a launching pad for enormous big-screen success. For Nguyen, who played Officer Harry Truman Ioki, it was a rare opportunity in the national spotlight during a time when there were hardly any Asian Americans on television or in the movies.

Coverage, Access and Quality | Asian-Americans Express Concern About SCHIP Veto, Program’s Future

According to recent U.S. Census Bureau data, 15.5% of Asian-Americans and about 21.7% of Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders are uninsured. Other Asian-American subgroups such as Korean-Americans and Vietnamese-Americans also have a large percentage of uninsured. However, because some subgroups have relatively higher incomes and education levels and are labeled as the “Model Minority,” the groups’ need for access to health care often is overlooked, the Pacific Citizen/New America Media reports.

Halle Berry caught making racist Jewish joke on Jay Leno – and Leno tried to cover it up

Well – not only is she an Academy Award winner  – the first black actor to win the Best Actress award – but now you can add racist joker to her resume as well. On a recent stint on the Jay Leno show while showing distorted pictures of herself in a comic routine, when she came to one of the pictures of her with a magnified nose she said it made her look like “her Jewish cousin”.

That was nice Halle.

And you almost got away with it too, because according to reports you asked Jay Leno to take it out for the actual television showing – which he did – but audience members leaked it out.

So not only was there a racist joke made at the expense of Jewish Americans – you know – those people with big noses who control all the media and never were involved in something called the Holocaust (because you probably think that’s a sham) – but you also had your friend Jay Leno – the man who likes to let comedians rip on Asian people – try and cover it up for you.

Next time maybe you can do some photos of you with some slanty eyes with some chopsticks and a laundry ticket and start sputtering out stereotypes and latent prejudices about Asian people too?

Please? Pretty please?

Then maybe Jay Leno can try and cover that up as well.

B.D Wong B-Day

Just a quick shout out to actor B.D. Wong who had a birthday a couple days ago, and who’s been doing it for years now making it look easy and putting another cool Asian face on the screen for everyone to see.

Daniel Dae Kim DUI video footage

By now you’ve heard of Lost’s Daniel Dae Kim and his arrest for a DUI in Hawaii yesterday – apparently there was a camera outside which caught DDK coming out of the Big House so we can see him in action as he tries to cover his head so the camera can’t get a shot of his “I was just busted for a DUI” mug.

Next time take a taxi DDK.

“Lust, Caution”: Lots of lust but no love? Banned from the Oscars, and Too Chinese?

While Ang Lee’s film Lust, Caution has been getting great reviews and doing extremely well at the box office internationally and in limited release in the states – there’s been a lot happening lately with the film – and not all of it great either – some of it seeming to have more to do with politics and being myopic than anything else.

Too Chinese?

Apparently the head of the production company that made Lust, Caution is weary of expanding the film in the U.S. because it’s a “very Chinese” film. Huh?

So martial arts and anything having to do with geisha is O.K. – but an art-house romantic war epic featuring Asian people might be too much for the general public to handle. 

Banned from the Oscars

Even though Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon had few Taiwanese crew and actors associated with the film, it was still allowed to be nominated for the U.S. Academy Awards Best Foreign Language Film category – but this year – Taiwan’s Foreign Language Film Award Selection Committee was notified that Lust, Caution would not be allowed to compete in the category because it didn’t have enough Taiwanese crew working on it who were in “lead positions”.

So the director – famed director Ang Lee – and the screenwriter who are both Taiwanese aren’t “lead position” enough? Because one of the actors is from mainland China (Tang Wei) and they had a Mexican cinematographer and French composer it still can’t be a Taiwanese film? 

It isn’t foreign language enough?

No Hong Kong Film Awards – Mostly

It seems HK is no different either. Because there weren’t enough people from Hong Kong working on the film – versus mainland China – the movie won’t be eligible for numerous awards, however it still will be able to compete for the best Asian film category at least – which allows any Asian film, regardless of how many people from HK worked on it.

Brenda Xu Unplugged

From singer/songwriter Brenda Xu, this is a video that was shot for a promotional piece for the San Diego Asian Film Festival music event, Blowfish: Unplugged.

From her site:

Taking piano lessons from her mother at age 10 was almost enough to scare her off music forever. But San Diego’s Brenda Xu said that within a few years she’d rekindled her love for the music.

Today, the UC San Diego grad is devoting her energy and time to her budding career as a singer-songwriter.

The native of Harbin, China (next to Russia’s southern border), Xu came to the United States at age 5 to live with her grandmother in the L.A. area. At 10, her mother was able to join the family here —- and it was then she decided that Brenda should learn the piano.

But Xu said the lessons didn’t go very well.

To learn more about Brenda Xu and pick up her CD check out her MySpace page.  

Reader Love: Tucker Carlson, Cinema Seoul, and sex and the Asian male

Check out some of these great articles/blog posts for some worthwhile reading:

• Tucker Carlson and the “New” Face of Racismfrom Oh No a WoC PhD.
• Saving cinema’s Seoul by Jeff Yang
• Sex and the Asian Male at Tripmaster Monkey

Take a music ride with Foxxi misQ

Being in the music scene for about a year now, the trio has been publicized as kind of an Asian Destiny’s Child. Check out their video for one of their earlier tracks Ultimate Girls.

Star Rising: Telly Leung and Rent

It seems that not only are Asian-American males getting more play in television and movies these days, but also on Broadway too. Case in point is Telly Leung, a 27 year old actor who is playing the role of Angel in the hit musical Rent.

Some of the national shows that Telly has played in (including Rent):

RENT (Angel / Steve and Others)
WICKED – Chicago Shiz Co. (Boq)
PACIFIC OVERTURES (Boy, Oberserver, Sailor)
FLOWER DRUM SONG (Ensemble, Ta u/s

At the same time Telly is also working on a full length feature album for release on MoppTopp records. To learn more about Telly Leung visit his site.

Why Bai Ling is Film Cool and the rest of us are just her minions

If you watch Penélope Cruz in any of Pedro Almodóvar’s films, or a movie like Belle Époque, you get a very different feel from her as an actress versus if you watch her in something like Vanilla Sky or Bandidas. This isn’t saying that there’s anything wrong with those movies, but in films like Volver and All About My Mother there is more depth, more added layers to not just the characters, but also in how Cruz portrays them and brings them to life on the screen. There’s a dichotomy between the two Cruz’s. If you only know her from her more American films, you may not realize the full depth of her skills as an actress and an artist.

The same can be said for Chinese actress Bai Ling, where in the states she is sometimes mostly known not for her film roles, but rather her outrageous dress, her spot on the reality show But Can They Sing, and getting cut out of Star Wars: Episode III which coincided with her posing for Playboy.

But just like Penélope Cruz is more than her American roles, there’s more to Bai Ling as well.

That’s a lot of hardware

Bai Ling hasn’t just been awarded one Best Supporting Actress Award – she’s won two – for her work in the segment Dumplings from the film Three… Extremes  at both the Golden Horse Film Festival and the Hong Kong Film Awards.  The U.S. National Board of Review also gave her the award for Female Breakthrough Performance for her role in the film Red Corner (which also garnered her a Female Discovery of the Year award).

Shanghai Baby and Shanghai Producer

In addition to acting in a plethora of movies, she also serves as the executive producer on one of her latest films Shanghai Baby. 

The Beautiful Country, The Crow, She Hate Me, Dumplings

When you’ve been in these movies – ultra cool movies – it says something about your work as an actress – past, present, and future. And with 45+ film and TV credits to her name she won’t be stopping anytime soon.

Is that network TV?

Wasn’t that Bai Ling on Lost? Network TV Lost? Multicultural it’s great to see another Asian face Lost? Just so there’s no confusion – that would be yes.

Because she’s not a docile-feet bound-her lips shut-bowing to the masses Asian woman

The bottom line is that Bai Ling does it her way. She doesn’t conform to any views of what people sometimes expect an award winning Asian actress to be; rather than just keep quiet and nod her head and comply – she does the exact opposite.

And is that any different from any of the other actresses out there? Didn’t Angelina Jolie wear a vile of blood around her neck, profess to be a nymphomaniac, and kiss her brother in a pseudo-sexual way? Wasn’t that Vanessa Williams who was involved in a nude photo scandal? Didn’t Marilyn Monroe have an affair with a U.S. President?

But aren’t they still deemed great actresses (or at least good ones)? Icons even?

Why is it that Asian women in the media seem to get held up to even higher standards than their non-Asian counterparts? Why can’t they be smart, flaky, trashy, demure, serious, introspective, self deprecating – anything they want to be – all at the same time, on and off the screen, and still be considered great actresses?

The answer is that they can – and they should.

Random YouTube Asians

Angry Silence

There’s really not much to say here…literally – just twelve seconds of angry Asian silent goodness

Charlie Wong

Because you just can’t get enough of Asian guys licking their own hands pretending to kiss a girl. Check out the Beau Sia spoof – nice

Asian Standup 

Anzu Lawson performing at the HA HA Cafe. Be warned that there are some hand movements that might be better off viewed in the safety of your own home versus say your office cubicle

Disoriental

If that picture doesn’t interest you in the sketch comedy group Disoriental – it begs the question of what will get you out to see them this October 26 & 27 along with the Pork Filled Players at the Theater Off Jackson in Seattle.

Here’s some more info on the trio and the show:

Since winning the People’s Choys Award at the Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre SKETCHOFF!#$%!! in May, Kristal Yee, Edwina Cheer & Brandon Barton (who all met while filming Off Centre Television) have been busy writing, rewriting, performing, and rewriting again […]

Presented by and performing with the Pork Filled Players, Disoriental is a trio of Canadians thrown into a car and told to drive to Seattle […]

Disoriental’s shows are at 10:30 pm, on a twin bill with the Pork Filled Players’ new show, Lard & Order: Pork Filled Intent. Tickets are $10 General/$8 Student or Senior and are available for purchase online at http://www.ticketwindowonline.com (206/325-6500). For more information on Disoriental’s US debut or about the Pork Filled Players, email oink@porkfilled.com or call 206/365-0282.

Check out their MySpace page here.

Korean star Rain joins with MTV to help campaign against human trafficking

If ever there was a good cause to spotlight and campaign against – it would be human trafficking – and half of all the people trafficked are from Asian countries, so its great to see someone as influential as Korean star Rain working with MTV to help in the cause. Here’s some more information:

MTV, one of the world’s largest and influential television network, has launched “End Exploitation and Trafficking” (EXIT), a global campaign to raise awareness about human trafficking. Along with Thai star Tata Young, Korea’s pop singer Rain has joined in the action as the front man for the Asia Pacific region.

Read more here.

Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian two of the stories to watch for in the NBA this season

As the official start of the NBA season approaches, ESPN and their analysts are predicting all the stories, the drama, the teams, and the players to watch out for – and two of them are Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian.

John Hollinger – ESPN’s resident stats man and forecaster – is predicting Yao Ming will have the best Player Efficiency Rating (PER) in the league this year above players like Dwane Wade, Lebron James, and Kobe Bryant. For those of you that don’t follow basketball too much (or the stats) – that just means Yao is predicted to be one of the best players in the league this year.

Pretty cool.

Yi Jianlian, while not as impressive, is still being mentioned in the top 10 of first year players who may be in the running for the Rookie Of The Year award (although mostly due to more guaranteed playing time than anything else). Whether or not he’ll wither from the cold weather in Milwaukee versus LA where he was training for six months, and garnering a base of rabid female fans, might end up being more of the story.

Dean Cain flying into “Five Dollars A Day”

Dean Cain (aka Dean George Tanaka) – after flying back onto Smallville where he played the villian Dr. Curtis Knox this month – will also be in a new movie called Five Dollars A Day starring Christopher Walken, Allesandro Nivola, Amanda Peet, Peter Coyote, and Sharon Stone due out in 2008, which is about a conman and his son who go out on the road together after the father has just gotten out of jail (it’s not apparent what role Cain will be playing in the movie though).

And if you couldn’t get enough of Dean Cain – and who can’t really – check out the Dean Cain News blog…

Hot track: 2Backka and Bennie K – Home

The MV for the Japanese band 2Backka’s new single Home released this month, featuring the female duo Bennie K

Devon Aoki and the Mutant Chronicles

This looks like it could be interesting – slated to come out in 2008 called Mutant Chronicles– where Devon Aoki will star alongside Thomas Jane, Ron Perlman, and John Malkovich.

Check out the movie’s official site here.

Shorts: Racist Nobel Winner?, Bombing in Manilla, Teacher Nabbed, China Olympics 2008

• Apparently you can be really really smart – as in winning the Nobel prize in 1962 for deciphering the double-helix of DNA – but still be really dumb as well. Case in point is Dr. James D. Watson winner of the aforementioned prize who also apparently likes to infer that black people aren’t as smart as white people – and are problem workers too. Hmmm….so much for those museum appearances. But he is trying to apologize and says his comments were not read as he intended them to be. It seems even Nobel winners can get tongue tied..
• The news coming out of the capital Manilla isn’t looking any better with police saying that they’ve found traces of plastic explosives tied to the mall explosions. As of right now there are eight confirmed deaths along with seventy wounded and general alerts have been issued for the rest of the city as well as the international airport.
• Christopher Paul Neil, a Canadian teacher was just picked up for sexually abusing underage Southeast Asian children (he posted some of the pictures on the Internet which helped with his arrest). Hopefully this will be a wakeup call to other people like Neil that Southeast Asia isn’t a place you can go and get away with molesting underage children and treat them like disposable paper plates and get away with it.
• You knew this was going to start sooner or later – the politicizing of the Olympics in China ’08 – and it’s already starting to get heated with warnings being thrown out on both sides including organizations like the Human Rights Watch. This is going to be one of the most interesting Olympics in years. 

Lynne Cheney, being colorblind, and funny but wrong

Listening to a broadcast from the National Press Club with Lynne Cheney – historian, best selling author, wife of Vice President Dick Cheney – there were a couple of noticeable items.

One is that she is a lot funnier than you may think.

Especially for a historian.

The second is that when asked what she thought about the statement that 25% of Republican woman would vote for Hillary Clinton – she said that people shouldn’t let gender affect their judgement – that they should just pick the best person for the job.

Let’s think about that for a moment…

Does Lynne Cheney think that gender or race (or religion) doesn’t matter in these situations and hasn’t already played a part? Does she really believe – and more importantly does she think the rest of us believe – that up until this point ONLY white males have been suited to be the President of the United States because they alone were the best for the job?

The problem with this type of thinking is the same as being colorblind – you can’t be colorblind and pretend as if race, and ethnicity don’t matter or haven’t made a difference in how our world has been shaped. You can’t deny the fact that both sexism and racism have played an overwhelming part in the election of U.S. Presidents, and who has been able to even run for the office (not to mention voting rights).

See – we’ve realized there is an importance to having a diverse and representative mirror of the country in all other facets of our government, media, learning institutions, et al. – and that same standard needs to be applied to our highest elected office.

Just as it’s been acceptable for voters to make the decision that white males would serve better as U.S. Presidents – it is equally acceptable to vote against the status quo for the exact same reasons.

Dirty Sexy Michelle Krusiec, Far North, and the Vagina Monologues

In case you may have missed it Michelle Krusiec (Saving Face) has been seen popping up in a few episodes of the new ABC show Dirty Sexy Money starring Donald Sutherland and Peter Krause. According to IMDB she’s set to be in a total of four episodes with episode #3 just airing last night – and while her character doesn’t have a huge part – it’s great to see her on the show.

Going Far North


At the same time you can check out more of Michelle Krusiec in her new film Far North also starring Michelle Yeoh and Sean Bean which is getting some good reviews.

Go Go Vagina Monologues

Also – check out her performance from the VDAY Vagina Monologues at the Japanese Community Center in LA earlier this year.

More Tila, More Tequila, More Shots

Episode #2 has now passed and as far as celebrity/reality dating shows go – this is definitely different. The attrition of contestants is by far the fastest with the carnage and the clothes pretty much flying everywhere you look.

Sure – scantily clad pseudo sexual indiscretions while watching Tila and everyone else make out with each other is something MTV banked on for people to tune in – but as with everything else, once you get past the exterior (and you will – or at least should) it’s the dynamic of everyone together that proves to be the most interesting – especially the group mentalities of both the men and the women. You can argue that while the show is supposed to revolve around Tila Tequila – in some ways she’s secondary to the colorful group of people vying for her affections – and that’s not a bad thing either (for the show or for her). 

Genuine Tequila?

As with everyone else that puts themselves into these situations – it begs the question of how much is for “true love” and how much is for simple entertainment and being on T.V. – and then you get to ask how much producers of the show influence the outcome of who leaves and who stays and how real is the reality T.V….

For what it’s worth – you do get the sense that Tila herself might make the decisions almost exclusively, as some of the people eliminated would have been good for the show’s drama level – but instead of drama – or virgins – the picks have actually seemed genuine to what she’s actually looking for (at least for TV romance).

Did the show come with a whistle?

Watching A Shot at Love makes you wonder what it would be like if someone like VH1 rocker Brett Michaels was put into this situation. Could he handle this much action and would he work the rooms any better than Tequila has done up to this point? No matter what you think of Tila Tequila herself – you at least have to admit that she’s good at working a room and directing the traffic.

So…

Bottom line – in the world of Reality TV dating shows – for what it is – it’s at least nice to know there’s some Asian representation pulling the strings and trying to do some things a little different.

More lists of unknown Asian things

• Kokin Nee-san of Tokyo is the oldest Geisha in the world and will be 100 in about another year. She plans to do a dance when turns the century mark.
• While staying busy these days with guest appearances on both Larry David and and Nip/Tuck, Tia Carrere also had time to get into the studio over the summer and record Hawaiiana, an album of classic Hawaiian music.
• Ben Cayetano was the first U.S. Governor who was also Filipino.
• Michael Chang may get inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2008 and he’s building tennis courts in Shenzen.
• Sushi can get you sick so they say.
• 20 women in a religious sect in central Japan were arrested for allegedly beating a member to death. Maybe it was because the $500 bottled water got to their heads…