May

15

2008

(36) Comments

Help Needed in Asia

03:35AM by Hoc

Dear Ningin Community,

In the past week, Asia has endured two massive natural disasters, a cyclone in Myanmar and a magnitude 7.9 earthquake in China’s central Sichuan province. Combined, these two events leave possibly 100,000+ people dead and hundreds of thousands more homeless, hungry, and suffering.

While the majority of the news and content on Ningin is entertainment focus, allow me to interrupt you from that and ask for your help. You see, after reading about the NYTimes article about a school collapse in the Chinese city of Duijiangyan killing 900 school children and watching videos of terrified kids huddling under tables, I was overcame with unbearable sadness.

It’s very easy to get absorbed in our own lives, not noticing the rest of the world. However, the scale and depth of the tragedy and lost of life suffered is just too devastating for me not to do something.

Both Mixr Media (parent company of Ningin) and I personally will be making donations to the Red Cross and MercyCorps. These are two charities with tremendous track record for providing aid. It is my wish that you all do the same with whatever you can spare.

May

9

2008

(9) Comments

Asian Americans: Be Ready for Backlash

02:34PM by Alvin Lin

Here is an interesting article out from AsianWeek.  I think it is an excellent piece that summarizes a lot of points.  It doesn’t address much to tie in how anti-China sentiments affect all Asian Americans, but it’s not hard to see why.  An easy example is how Vincent Chin, a Chinese American, was murdered by two auto workers, who were frustrated over Japan.  Here are some excerpts from the article

“China is now America’s number 3 Enemy. A February 2008 Gallup Poll found that Americans declared that China had replaced North Korea as our number 3 enemy. Is anyone surprised that China is perceived to be a greater threat than the long time trouble maker North Korea? It seems that every day our fellow Americans are feeling more and more threatened by China’s growing economic power, in addition to China’s growing international influence in Asia, Australia, South America, Africa and the Middle East..”

Apr

19

2008

(4) Comments

My Piece on Attraction

08:51AM by Alvin Lin

(I’ve been hesitant to voice or interject my opinion too much, however I will occasionally put in my thoughts on some issues, as I become inspired to do so.  Here is something I recently summarized.  It kind of ties in things that have been on my mind lately, concerning mass media, Asian American dysfunction, IR, and an empathy divide):

Apr

17

2008

(0) Comments

Asian Female Execs Held Back Due to Stereotypes?

03:58PM by Alvin Lin

Article link

(WOMENSENEWS)--While U.S. corporations are creating and touting their diversity programs, professional women of Asian descent say their needs in the workplace are often overlooked and that these initiatives do not always include them as much as other women of color.

The results, Asian women say, is that they are often locked out of top jobs in the workplace. Compared to other minority groups, Asian women make up a particularly minuscule portion of Fortune 500 corporate officers.

To combat this, female executives of Asian origin who have moved into high ranks within their companies say that it is up to them to shatter the stereotypes of being mild-mannered and submissive and promote themselves vigorously within the corporate setting.

Apr

14

2008

(5) Comments

Youtube Stars: ‘Nigahiga’

07:57AM by Alvin Lin

These guys, Ryan Higa and Sean Fujiyoshi, are the the #1 subscribed comedians on Youtube and get even more hits than KevJumba does.  I just saw a few of their vids, some of which have 6+ million views. They are hilarious in a super goofy way… though some gimmicks end up appearing in multiple clips.

I’m not really sure what their target demographic is, but here is one of their clips ’how to be a nerd’

Apr

12

2008

(7) Comments

Chicago Screening of ‘Vincent Who?’ Documentary

07:44AM by Alvin Lin

Though it’s only showing in Chicago, this is post-worthy because many aren’t aware of the story/murder of Vincent Chin, and how his killers basically got away.  Come see the documentary VINCENT WHO? during the Asian American Film Showcase in Chicago. Director Tony Lam will be there for a Q & A.

In 1982, Vincent Chin was brutally murdered in Detroit at the height of anti-Japanese sentiment. In a travesty of justice, the judge ruled it a case of manslaughter and the two killers, both autoworkers, never served a day in jail.

More than twenty-five years later, that case remains a touchstone in the struggle for civil rights and the advancement of the Asian American community. In this new documentary, VINCENT WHO?, we take a quick look back at the case, but more importantly we examine the effects the case had on the leading community activists of today and the future leaders of tomorrow.

Saturday, April 19, 2008
5:30pm - 8:30pm
Siskel Film Center
164 North State Street
Chicago, IL

Apr

10

2008

(6) Comments

Mad TV Clip about IR Couple, Revealing Closet Racism

07:33AM by Alvin Lin

Here is a clip I’ve been looking for a long time. It’s a Mad TV clip of a Black guy and White woman couple, where the woman reveals her closet racism as they talk. Same thing applies to certain Asian-White couples, especially some recent prominent and controversial ones in recent news (like those NYC radio hosts with the racist Asian jokes that got them fired, who used the ‘my wife is Asian so I can’t be racist’ defense).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fKDP__q0pw

Apr

8

2008

(8) Comments

Planet B-Boy in Theaters Now

07:13AM by Alvin Lin

I saw it in Cambridge on Saturday, where the Executive Producer was there for a Q&A afterwards.  This movie is ridiculously, amazingly awesome on multiple levels.  Not only does it have really catchy music (from MIT alum Woody Pak, the go-to “Asian John Williams” for a bunch of AA films), but this documentary explores multiple interesting teams from across the globe in the annual B-Boy (breakdancing) world competition.  The bulk of the documentary focused on a few teams: ‘Ichigeki’ representing Japan, ‘Phase-T’ from France, ‘Knucklehead Zoo’ representing the USA and two teams, ‘Gamblerz’ (the returning champions) and ‘Last for One’, representing S.Korea.

Some of the main protagonists are dancers from the S.Korean and Japanese teams, who have very heart-warming and emotional stories related to strained relationships with their fathers.  For example, one of the Japanese dancers lost his father before the competition, who he had a rocky relationship with, and one of the Korean dancers tried to bridge the distance with his father through his dancing.  A lot of these Asian dancers faced not only poverty, and not only the inevitibility of military service, but also cultural and family obstacles to pursuing their dream of dancing.  They worked jobs in order to pursue their dream of dancing (which paid little to no money) in their home nations at the time, and sacrificed much, including not sleeping at all for many days in order to train and be successful.  The film covered the poor beginnings and extreme poverty that one of the Korean teams came from, having grown up in the countryside and never having seen any buildings higher than a few stories tall.  The prize for world champion was under a thousand per member, so it’s clear their motivation was not money, but pride and winning for their countries.  There was also some emphasis on a young French youth and his racist mother.  A really funny scene involved the cultural differences behind food.

Just like in ‘America’s Best Dance Crew’, this movie does a great job of showing just how amazing at dancing Asians can be, as well as how creative, innovative, and personable they can be as well.  The end not only made me feel GREAT as an Asian person, but the movie gave me a greater appreciation as well as desire to learn more about the true hip hop culture.

Last For One (Korea)

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Apr

8

2008

(4) Comments

Man Convicted in Chinese Deliveryman Murder

08:00AM by Alvin Lin

In one of my older blog groups I used to chronicle the scarily high amounts of assaults, attacks, murders, and rapes of Asian men and women in North America.  I believe it is because we are seen as easy targets, or weak, who knows?  Anyways, it is good to see that at least this time, the douchebag who did it was convicted.  There are sexual predators in California and other West Coast states that still haven’t been caught, even after 20+ attacks on specifically Asian women.
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http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2008/04/02/2008-04-02_conviction_in_vicious_attack_on_queens_c.html

“A man who lured a Chinese food deliveryman to a housing development and then viciously stabbed him has been convicted of attempted murder, the Queens district attorney’s office said Wednesday.

The attacker — alarmed by his victim’s loud screams — ran away as 39-year-old Jian Lin Huang lay on the floor, bleeding profusely.

David Moore, 23, of Manhattan was arrested after TV stations aired security video from the October 2006 crime scene at the Ravenswood Houses in Astoria. He was convicted late Tuesday of second-degree attempted murder, first-degree assault and fourth-degree weapon possession.”

Apr

8

2008

(4) Comments

Lena Chen’s Harvard Blog Entry/Discussion, on Asian Fetish

07:28AM by Alvin Lin

Lena is a (notorious) blogger whose prose has generated heated commentary on her school newspaper as well as in some major newspapers.  Her main viewpoint is she enjoys non-emotional sex, that there is a double standard for girls who do this compared to guys, and how she feels an empowered feminist doing this.  Her counterpart in a NY Times magazine was another feminist who went the other way, no sex whatsoever with her boyfriend.

Anyways, here is the link to the discussion about Asian fetish, where she seems to make good points but no one has the guts to point to mass media or societal conditioning to manufacture sexual attraction, in this case Asian fetish:
http://sexandtheivy.com/2007/11/11/economists-disprove-yellow-fever/#disqus_thread

[But don’t you ever ask yourself WHY you find Asians more attractive? I have no doubt that I like tall men (like 6’ 3” tall even though I’m 5’ 2") because I’ve been told that masculinity is attractive and that height represents masculinity. Or maybe there’s an evolutionary reason. But you definitely weren’t born thinking, “Whoo, Asians!” and unless I’m missing something, this is probably not evolutionarily to your benefit or anything.]

[Agreed. Our tastes are very often socialized. Especially since you weren’t born knowing what ‘Asian’ meant—race is a social distinction, not an innate biological fact, Verde.]

[Also, I think it’s particularly strange when some guys date exclusively Asian women and claim it’s really just accidental. Asian people make up 4% of the American population. That’s not a lot to choose from, even if you account for greater density in metropolitan areas and the Ivy League. For example, at Harvard, you just happened to date three people in a row from the same 10% of the student population? Like, really? Obviously, there’s some pretty intentional selection going on here.]