EDITORIALS
CARRIE ANN INABA ON SUCCESS
"There are so many ways to do it, but basically you just keep trying," she says. "But be realistic and after a while stop knocking on the door that won't open and knock on the ones you're confident will."
(Read additional views of Carrie Ann Inaba by clicking HERE)

BRUCE MURAKAMI'S FAITH TO FORGIVE THE UNFORGIVEABLE
Americans believe in the power of faith. . . . discovered many people who have what the Bible describes as the faith "to move mountains," people who believe faith has quite literally, altered their destiny. . . It even allowed Bruce Murakami to forgive the unforgivable . . . Murakami: "I got to a point where because I do believe in God, I just said, man if you are real, you gotta come down here right now. You need to come down here and explain this to me." Bruce Murakami came to a point to forgive the person that killed his wife and daughter. (Bruce Murakami)

THE ARTIST
"We're all beings in flux, in continual invention and reformation. The artist can…by the simple act of attention make an action in the direction of keenness, relevancy and liberation." (Philip Kan Gotanda - Playwright & Provocateur - to read his interview, click HERE)

FEATURED ARTISTS

APA & MEDIA NEWS
EDISON CHEN IN "GRUDGE 2"
Edison Chen ("Infernal Affairs") has a role opposite Amber Tamblyn in "The Grudge 2." Asian thesp-musician recently starred in Hong Kong comicbook adaptation "Initial D" and Japanese-language pic "Under the Same Moon." He created and hosts MTV Asia show "Whatever Things."
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ASIA'S MISSING WOMEN"
Back in 1990, Nobel Prize-winning Indian economist Amartya Sen was one of the first to call attention to the phenomenon of an estimated 100 million "missing women" in Asia. Nearly everywhere else, women outnumber men, in Europe by 7 percent, and in North America by 3.4 percent.
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INDIAN AMERICANS - DESIS
How did a generation so young and so relatively small—only 2.4 million Indians live in the United States—come to be defined by so much success? For one thing, their parents, most of whom immigrated in the 1960s and '70s, were able to get good jobs as doctors, scientists or engineers when they arrived here.
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JHUMPA LAHIRI'S STRUGGLES
The Pulitzer-winning writer felt intense pressure to be at once 'loyal to the old world and fluent in the new.' It is in fiction that I will continue to interpret the term "Indian-American," calculating that shifting equation, whatever answers it may yield.
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TALE OF SUN AND JIN ("LOST")
There is a grown-up love story unfolding on "Lost," but it's often overshadowed by flashier hook-ups. Sure, Kate and Sawyer are hot. But for the teary-eyed pleasure of watching two characters in love falling apart and coming together again, it's hard to beat the South Korean husband-and-wife castaways, Sun and Jin Kwon.
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HAWAII'S "CHIPIN" - DOT.COM VENTURE
"Our vision is to be like a Visa or Mastercard or Paypal – it's just another type of payment option. So if you go online to buy anything, one of your choices could be: Do you want to chip in with more than one person to buy this product?" explains Lagon. "We want to be the standard. So if someone's doing collaborative transactions, they're going to be using our engine."
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B.D. WONG - STRADDLING CULTURES
He said he nearly didn't audition for the role of the opera singer in M. Butterfly. "I was deeply embroiled in this kind of self-denial and self-loathing about being Asian-American at that time."
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DAVID HENRY HWANG ON "FLOWER DRUM SONG"
As a young Chinese American baby-boomer, I remember going out of my way to avoid movies featuring Asian characters. In the 1960s, such portrayals might generally be characterized as "inhuman:" either inhumanly bad (e.g. Fu Manchu), or inhumanly good (e.g. Charlie Chan). One exception to my childhood rule was the 1961 Universal release Flower Drum Song, which I first encountered on some television late-night movie. (Read David Henry Hwang's interview by clicking HERE)
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IF ONLY ANNA MAY WONG WAS ANNA MAY WHITE
She was set to return to Hollywood, with the large role of Auntie Liang in Hunter's production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Flower Drum Song, when, on Feb. 3, 1961 — she died of a heart attack following liver disease. She was 56.
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DONG SOON IM'S UCLA DONATION
L.A. County employee Dong Soon Im and his wife, Mi Ja Im, donate a $1-million windfall to fund an academic chair at UCLA for the study of Koreans and Christianity.
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KAREN O / YEAH YEAH YEAHS
Karen O is one reason the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are still the most exciting act to emerge from the New York City rock revival — but not the only reason, as noted in their 2006 CD "Bones."
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NORAH JONES' "LITTLE WILLIES"
The idea of the Little Willies certainly sounds promising: After two stellar collections of tastefully smoldering adult pop, multiple Grammy-winner Norah Jones returns to the music she grew up with in Texas in an outing with her country music-loving pals.
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GREY'S ANATOMY / SANDRA OH
"Grey's" plays like a cross between the drama of "ER" and the camaraderie of "Friends," with some spicy female empowerment à la "Sex and the City" in the center with a cast that includes Sandra Oh.
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MIXED-RACE RELATIONSHIPS
Even popular culture has embraced mixed-race relationships. Mixed-race couples are featured in television shows "Desperate Housewives" and "Grey's Anatomy" as well as the recent movie "Something New."
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IMPACT OF INTERRACIAL MARRIAGES
Few whites comprehend the impact on minorities of these interracial husband - wife disparities. That's partly because whites don't intermarry all that much. While the number of interracial couples is steadily increasing, currently 96.5 percent of married non-Hispanic whites are wed to another non-Hispanic white.
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TRANSRACIAL ADOPTIONS
While I don't getting a child from China is an "accessory", I think a lot of well-meaning white people simply don't have any idea of what it's like to be non-white in America.
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DISNEY'S "TARZAN" & DAVID HENRY HWANG
Disney's "Tarzan" will open on Broadway in May 2006. David Henry Hwang - along with Bob Crowley, Phil Collins, Tab Murphy, Bob Tzukiker, Noni White and Meryl Tankard are among the creative talents behind the production.
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MIXED-ASIANS IN HIP-HOP
Hip hop artists have long sprinkled their lyrics with references to shaolin, kung fu and geishas. But despite this apparent fascination with Asian culture, hip hop artists of mixed Asian descent continue to deny their ethnic heritage.
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INTERNMENT: IT'S NOT ON THE BLACKBOARD
To teach children, you first need to teach the teachers — it's this axiom that got Esther Taira thinking a few years back about creating a multimedia program to help educators understand the World War II-era internments of 120,000 mostly West Coast Japanese Americans.
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REMINDERS OF BIGOTRY UNEARTHED
A recent discovery by railway workers building the extension of the Gold Line commuter rail line through Boyle Heights has unearthed this a largely forgotten period of racial prejudice towards the Chinese in Los Angeles history.
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“NIGS BUY LAND WITH NO NIG COVENANT; Q: ENFORCEABLE?"
Of all the students at Harvard Law School, one would have assumed Kiwi Camara (child prodigy of a Philippine-Hawaiian family accepted to Harvard Law at the age of sixteen). to be the least likely to engage in behavior offensive enough to prompt cries for a racial speech code. This resulted from his article on the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Shelley v. Kraemer (1948), a landmark in the history of the equal protection clause and racially restrictive covenants, and incorporating inappropriate words - that he later apologized for. The Court used the term "Negro" and "Negroes" to describe the plaintiff. Camara summarized the case as follows: "Nigs buy land with no nig covenant; Q: Enforceable?"
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HIKARU NAKAMURA - KING OF CHESS
This stocky Asian-American teen from White Plains, N.Y., is shattering the history books to become America's winningest chess prodigy ever.
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LEARNING TO SAY "I LOVE YOU"
For many, immigrating to a new country represents a chance to start over, to explore work or cultural opportunities that didn't exist back home. But the move can also allow a new approach to daily life -- and the way a husband and wife interact.
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KEN WATANABE'S "RED SUN, BLACK SAND"
Ken Watanabe will star in Clint Eastwood's Red Sun, Black Sand, the Japanese companion piece to his Iwo Jima drama Flags of Our Fathers.
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CHINESE ADOPTIONS SURGE IN NEW YORK
Manhattan's Upper West Side is the Chinese-adoption capital of the U.S. About 20 percent of 50,000 Chinese children adopted in the country in the past 20 years live in New York, according to Families with Children from China, a support group with 2,100 member families. Most live in a 2-square-mile area (5 square kilometers) between Central Park and the Hudson River.
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CARSON CITY MUSEUM HONORING CHINESE RAILROAD WORKERS
A group led by Art Hannafin/Khan Tung has unveiled plans for a $50 million/250,000 sq. ft. Chinese Workers Museum of America in Carson City that would honor 19th century Chinese railroad workers in the West.
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WAYNE HUNG WONG'S "AMERICAN PAPER SON"
Wayne Hung Wong (Mar Ying Wing) was a "paper son." At the turn of the 20th century, when U.S. laws prevented Chinese immigrants from entering the country legally, some came illegally with false papers identifying them as sons of Americans. That is how Wong came to Wichita in 1935.
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VIKRAM CHATWAL'S BIG FAT SIKH WEDDING
When one of New York's most-eligible hard-living, jet-setting, model-dating, turban-wearing bachelors decides (or, more precisely, when his dad decides) the time has come for him to get married, it's bound to be quite a party.
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DEMISE OF TORONTO'S CHINATOWN
Once a prosperous hive of activity, Toronto's downtown Chinatown, centred on Dundas St. W. and Spadina Ave, is now dismal and bleak. Most of the good restaurants have gone. Businesses are suffering. Only a few fruit stands remain. Litter swirls around the cold and lonely sidewalks.
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MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA DVD RELEASE
This adaptation of Arthur Golden's acclaimed novel offers fans the full monty on DVD, including two commentaries, eleven featurettes and a cookbook full of recipes.
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HAYAO MIYAZAKI'S "HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE"
Howl's Moving Castle is a quite interesting film, one easily worth recommending to more adventurous film fans despite its narrative bushiness. Animation fans in particular will spark to the rich visual palette of the movie, though those unfamiliar with Miyazaki are counseled to consider testing the waters with Spirited Away first.
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GRACE PARK INTERVIEW
Grace Park got her first big break on the Canadian teen soap Edgemont, where she starred for five seasons. Guest parts and recurring characters on shows like Dark Angel and Jake 2.0 followed, but she has now gained widespread recognition for her performance on the critically acclaimed Sci Fi Channel series Battlestar Galactica.
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ERIC BYLER'S "AMERICANESE"
Like his grittily brilliant debut, "Charlotte Sometimes," (read the Eric Byler interview by clicking HERE) it's about an Asian American man caught in a web of unmet expectations and unfulfilled desires, words he hasn't spoken and memories he can't forget.
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ART MUSEUM DOCUMENTS ANTI-ASIAN RACISM
In historical contexts of anti-Asian racism, exoticist consumer tastes, and debate over women's social roles, many European Americans saw certain Asian, Asian American, and white orientalist performers as embodying authentic or mimetic racial difference.
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BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN ON DVD & THEATERS
The dual availability (DVD & Theaters) is unusual but Oscar hype surrounding the film has led to an extended stay in theaters. The DVD release has been rushed to capitalize on award season buzz as well.
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DANIEL DAE KIM - ASIAN SEX SYMBOL
Ever since a November episode of "Lost" featured a shirtless Kim, 37, revealing rippling abs, his profile has jumped. He's a sex symbol, and even rarer, an Asian sex symbol.
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HENRY YUEN FOUND GUILTY
A federal judge found the former chief executive of Gemstar-TV Guide, Henry C. Yuen, liable for securities fraud, according to a ruling unsealed in a federal regulatory lawsuit that claimed Mr. Yuen inflated the company's revenue by $248 million to increase its stock.
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HAWAII BOAST THE LOWEST JOBLESS RATE IN THE U.S.
At 2.4 percent, Hawaii's unemployment rate for January, the most recent figure available, is the lowest in the country. The national average, which was 4.7 percent in January, rose to 4.8 percent in February.
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KENT NAGANO'S L.A. OPERA FAREWELL
After the April 15th performance of "Figaro - Kent Nagano will become music director of both Bavarian State Opera in Munich and the Montreal Symphony in the fall.
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WAYNE WANG IS MISSING
His recent films seemed to ignore the rich themes of his earlier works. To many, Wang's journey from Chan — still considered the pinnacle of Asian-American filmmaking—to his current projects seems puzzling.
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KIMORA LEE AND RUSSELL SIMMONS SPLIT
The marriage of hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons and his model-turned-entrepreneur wife, Kimora Lee, has come to an end after seven years of marriage.
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VAWA 2005 (H.R. 3402)
VAWA 2005 (H.R. 3402) extends funding for vital domestic violence programs and offers protection to victims of violence.
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INVISIBLE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT GROUP (2ND LARGEST)
Although the majority of illegal immigrants in this country come from Mexico, U.S. and Chinese scholars estimate that more than 500,000 Chinese have been smuggled into the United States since the late 1980s, making them the second-largest undocumented immigrant group.
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LANG LANG VS. YUNDI LI
That Lang Lang and Yundi Li are adversaries is no secret in the music industry. Lang is the hottest young pianist around and has been for some time. But the ambitious Li is doggedly nipping at his ankles.
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WORLD DIPLOMAT - JACKIE CHAN
"Rush Hour 3" star Jackie Chan was quoted urging foreigners to marry "Shanghai ladies" in order to promote good international relations.
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CHENG CHUI PING: "MOTHER OF SNAKEHEADS"
US authorities say the jailing of Cheng Chui Ping for 35 years puts one of the world's most prolific human traffickers - or "snakeheads" - behind bars.
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MR. VENGEANCE - PARK CHANWOOK
Park Chanwook does not look like a violent man. When he isn't wearing glasses, his soft, round face resembles that of a gentle Tang dynasty Buddha. He speaks quietly and smiles a lot, more like a hip college professor than the director of an ultraviolent revenge trilogy.
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TV'S INTERRACIAL LOVE
Did you know that CBS network executives did not want Desi Arnaz to play Lucille Ball's husband on "I Love Lucy," even though they had been married for more than 10 years at that point? They feared the backlash of putting an ethnically mixed couple on the air. Needless to say, Ricky and Lucy proved the executives had nothing to fear.
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WE MUST BE THE CHANGE
In those days even department stores would come right out and say: "We don't hire Orientals." So I joined the March on Washington Movement initiated by A.Philip Randolph in 1941 to demand jobs for blacks in the defense plants . . . . concluded that although rebellions are important because they represent the standing up of the oppressed, they fall short of revolution because people at the grassroots and community level have not been involved in creating the new values, new truths, new relationships and new infrastructures that are the foundation for a new society.
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