For those who haven’t been following the business news, Microsoft made a bid to acquire Yahoo recently (rejected), and since then Microsoft has been making moves to deliberately assassinate Yahoo’s stock price, while also trying to force a hostile takeover over one of the Internet’s first big-time companies and websites.  At the same time, Jerry Yang (Yahoo co-founder) re-took the reigns of Yahoo as CEO and has been re-positioning the company’s business while also protecting Yahoo from a hostile take-over.  The press, depending on what you’ve read, has been saying otherwise.

The entire situation can be found here in a NY Times article with Jerry Yang.

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There is some recent news about some Asian American athletes… Michael Chang was Inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame, and the LA Times recently had a feature on golf phenom Anthony Kim. 

Michael Chang was pretty much the only Asian American athlete in American media while I was growing up, and based on the other images of Asians across all realms of Western society, was a really positive and rare image for AA youth.  For those young’ins, Chang is still the youngest ever champion of the French Open.  Who knows maybe he was a reason why I ended up getting into tennis for my HS team.  Michael Chang was an all around great and classy person, a fierce competitor, and I loved how his coach was his older brother, forming a cool family tandem.

Anthony Kim is a rising superstar in the golf world, who was 11 years old when Tiger Woods first started making an impact in golf.  What is striking is Kim’s quote about how Woods inspired him, and how as a kid he pictured himself in Woods’ shoes. 

I think a lot can be said for having Asian or Asian American images and role models in mass media.  What is damaging is when Asians or AA’s have a dearth of positive AA images to look up to, and end up idolizing White or Black icons to the point where these AA youth start internalizing certain things or behaviors that can be damaging or self hating. We already have too many Whitewashed Asians or those who try to “act Black” (whatever that means).  Having a few more Michael Chang’s, Anthony Kim’s, John Cho’s, Justin Lin’s, even more Yao Ming’s, Ichiro’s, and Yi Jian Lian’s, etc is a nice change from what it was like when I was growing up where it was basically Michael Chang and Yo-Yo Ma, amidst a bunch of Long Duck Dongs and evil or negative stereotypes.

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Here is the link to a blog article I made on Hyphen about this:

I met up with Hyphen’s publisher Lisa Lee for some of the events going on at the AA International Film Festival in Manhattan. For those who haven’t been to the Asia Society building, it is this huge, futuristic, stylish building in Manhattan’s Upper East Side (70th at Park) that hosts all sorts of events throughout the year. Lisa has been at the festival since the start and been to many screenings. We went to the opening night afterparty at Forbidden City bar, then I joined her for films one day, and also a round table discussion the next day, as well as other random activities.

The films we saw were ‘Heart Squared’ and ‘Option 3’. ‘Heart Squared’ was a nice short that was surreal, eccentric, and very stylish, and since there’s no easy way to explain the film, I won’t even try. ‘Option 3’ was a full length movie directed by Richard Wong, who was there for the screening and gave a brief talk at the beginning. Unfortunately, I couldn’t sit through the entire thing, and though I kept waiting for it to get better, I ended up leaving midway. It wasn’t bad per se; I just didn’t personally enjoy it very much.

The next day was a very interesting panel discussion on Asian and Asian American aesthetics, with David Henry Hwang (playwright, M. Butterfly), Mary Ping (fashion designer), Billie Tsien (architect), Wayne Wang (filmmaker, The Joy Luck Club), and Dennis Lim (writer, editor) on stage.  Click here for the rest of the post.

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On Saturday night I was privileged to watch the ‘Rebuilding the Bridge’ charity event at Pace University, to raise money for Chinese earthquake victims.  Talk about an AMAZING show loaded with huge stars.  I finally got to see why Phil Lam and Hoc Poeng (fearless generals of Ningin) were so busy the past few weeks working to put the show together, and this extravaganza definitely didn’t disappoint.  There were lots of logistics not to mention controversies that I’ll let other people comment on if they want.

The show was largely hosted by Miss Info of Hot 97, who was clearly passionate about this charity and used her Rolodex to pull in some amazing and talented names from around the entertainment industry.  The show included appearances or performances by Beau Sia (you might know him from this eloquent video), J-Lim, JYP, Ryan Leslie, Rik Cordero, DJ Cipha, DJ Delinger, Nas (!!), and also a meet and greet with the JabbaWockeez.

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I interviewed a very cool 72 Hour Shootout Team recently, check it out!!

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Hi everyone, for those who haven’t visited the AA Film Lab button at the top of the ningin site, I recently was in Manhattan live blogging and following a 72 Hour Shootout Team for the weekend.  I followed Team SOHCAHTOA, comprised of many people but led by suitemates Brian Foo, Calvin Sun, and Teriha Yaegashi.

Here is a combined blog of the weekend

Here is the first post of the weekend, on Friday

Here is a short post interview with the team

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I recently saw this new animated movie and was pleasantly, extremely surprised at how great it is.  The basic plot is that a legendary Dragon Warrior would come to save a Chinese village from an evil powerful villain, and that this legendary prophesized warrior turns out to be a fat goofy panda who must be trained by a group of martial arts masters.  Yes it sounds formulaic but in my opinion it was better than ‘Forbidden Kingdom’ (which by the way would have been great if they had made the protagonist an Asian American teen). I thought it was just as good as ‘Shrek’ or ‘Finding Nemo’ or ‘Toy Story’.  ‘Kung Fu Panda’ has a star studded cast including Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Jackie Chan, Lucy Liu, and Seth Rogan.  Oh, and the music was done by Hans Zimmer.  Also…

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I have had their first album for about a year now, great music. They have a great sound, and sound a bit like The Killers.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90278746

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This is a Chinese language article, FYI.  Another translation I have heard on the title is ‘We Live for Foreign Men’.  Whatever the agreed upon translation is, there are some pretty disturbing mentalities right now in Asia, where people are looking down on other Asians and having ‘White is Right’ mentality.  Sadly, it will probably take at least another generation until self hate and White worship issues become resolved amongst Asian populations.

http://news.21cn.com/luntan/retie/2006/07/25/2661280.shtml

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http://youtube.com/watch?v=09sWP6-k5n8

I love how these guys get the entire crowd and nation behind them, yet also incorporate Indian music and dance and pride into their acts. It is pretty freaking awesome, the way they do that.

Here is another older clip:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=KA2B5X0LhMY

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Blog Description

Your source for American Asian news and entertainment. Despite how mainstream TV, film, fashion mags, and news media constantly stereotype them, American Asians aren't all martial artists, exotic submissive sex Objects, accented untrustworthy foreigners, sneaky dragon ladies, and asexual or chauvinistic Asian men. Although American Asians have lived in America since the 18th century, the media still fetishizes Asian women and marginalizes Asian men, creating damaging stereotypes, racism, and self-hate for Asian youth. Become more self aware and supportive of American Asian-related entertainment, politics, and news, by checking here often!

About Alvin Lin

Alvin Lin is an entrepreneur who lives near Boston. His passions are promoting quality American Asian films, music, and books, and writing about the hurdles, racism, and discrimination that American Asians face today. Additionally, he is concerned about the negative effects of mass media (and the social norms created) on American Asian youth, including self hate, 'White worship', inferiority complex, and Uncle Tom behaviors.

Alvin graduated from MIT and the Tufts School of Medicine. While at MIT he co-founded the MIT Asian American Association, and occasionally helps facilitate American Asian events in Boston. In addition to Ningin, he currently blogs for Hyphen Magazine, Imprinttalk and Fallout Central.

About Ningin

Ningin is a community for anything Asian around the world. Entertainment, Celebrities, Movies, Music, TV, News, Politics. Be part of the community and express yourself!

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