nbsp;

Search for
This Site
The Web

Get a free search
engine for your site






PAST EZINES

2005
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

2004
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

2003
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

2002
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

2001
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

OTHER SECTIONS
Actors
Actresses
Astronauts
Athletics
Authors
Business People
Cartoonists
Civil Rights Activists
Community Leaders
Dancers
Directors
Fashion Designers
Film Festivals
Military
Musicians
Newscasters
Politicians
Stunt Men
Television Shows

W H A T ' S   N E W
June 2005

Scan and Review the Highlights From the Various Categories Listed Below
  Advocacy APA Community Auto Business Christianity Community Diversity  
  Entertainment Film Film Business Immigration Literature Music Politics  
  R.I.P. Religion Sports Technology Televisioin Theater    
     
     
 

EDITORIALS
JAY LENO ON IMMIGRATION
Hundreds of private citizens will begin patrolling the Mexican border starting this weekend to try and stem the tide of illegal immigration into this country…. Unfortunately, the pay is so low, the only people signing up are illegal immigrants who are already here.

COMMENTARY ON IMMIGRATION
We have two immigration policies. One uses quotas to decide who is allowed to enter the country legally. It benefits the economy and taxpayers. It brings in some of the most talented people in the world. It helps families reunite, enables people to escape from political oppression and allows U.S. citizens to marry the person of their choice. Although we should tinker with and perfect its rules, this immigration policy is under control.

PERCEPTIONS OF ASIAN MALES & FEMALES (PRASSO)
Surveying decades of Hollywood movies and television serials, Prasso shows how Asian women are consistently portrayed in one of three ways: they are presented as submissive, devoted innocents (often pining for vanished western lovers); charming, sexually available, yet undemanding vixens; or shrewd, rapacious Dragon Ladies.

Asian men, on the other hand, are depicted as emasculated - ascetics, goofy incompetents or scheming, dangerous Fu Manchu types who, despite their skills in martial arts, are (almost) always vanquished by superior western firepower, and they never, ever get the girl. Taken together, she (Prasso) contends, these images have fostered "a subconscious racism...that most of us don't realise we have".

NO DELETE BUTTON FOR INTOLERANCE
Tom Brokaw stated at Providence College's 87th Commencement Ceremony "There is no delete button for intolerance and no insert button for understanding," he said. "This new technology that we take so much for granted and defines your generation is a transformational tool, but as a tool it is really only an extension of your head and your heart.

"It will do us little good if we wire the world if we limit our vision. It will do us little good if we wire the world but short-circuit our souls," Brokaw said. "No, the world still requires personal, hands-on, be-brave, speak-out courage."

SENATOR BRADLEY'S WORDS OF DIVERSITY
To encourage contributions to our Nation's future from Americans of Asian descent requires a commitment from each of us to

  • Get beyond the stereotypes, to move past simplistic discussions of race relations which only recognize black and white,
  • To realize the depth and diversity of the many different people we call Asian-Pacific-Americans,
  • To reach out to the Asian-American physicist in New Mexico, garment worker in San Francisco, doctor in New Jersey, restaurant owner in Chicago, and teacher in Los Angeles,
  • To recognize that the surnames Nguyen, Patel, and Chang are just as American as Kennedy, Johnson, and Bush,
  • To speak out against anti-Asian talk and violence where we hear or see it,
  • To realize that contact brings understanding, and like my roommate in college, prejudice withers in an air of friendship.

And when that happens, Americans from Asia will be a living, contributing and integrated part of American life. And we will, in every way, be a richer society because of it.

HISTORY OF YELLOWFACE
The history of blackface has been well documented in American film criticism; the history of yellowface has received much less critical attention, and considerably less public censure.

REVIEW OF "SAVING FACE" (KRISTI MITSUDA)
At one point during Alice Wu's ethnic dramedy, "Saving Face," Ma, played by Joan Chen, skims over titles such as "The Last Emperor" (a knowing nod to the actress' U.S. breakthrough) and "The Joy Luck Club" while browsing the "China" section of a video store.

For a brief, shining moment -- since this sequence, with its handheld camera approximating an explicit point-of-view, breaks with the fairly classical visual schema the film has established -- you think the director is on the verge of a scathing indictment on the dearth of quality representations of Asians in American cinema or at least a tacit acknowledgement that hers belongs to a short list of mainstream movies that deal specifically with Asian-American characters and issues.

But Wu possesses no such self-awareness, and the pan ends abruptly with a facile punchline: meek-looking Ma, captivated by porn.

JOHN CHO'S GAME OF CHANCE
"Immigrant parents often try to discourage their kids from going into the arts because it's a high-risk lifestyle. But they themselves took huge risks to come here.

"I consider my parents to be insane pioneers. What would motivate people to leave their families, go to a country where they can't speak the tongue, start over and bring their young family with them? My parents did that, and they gave that willingness to take high risks to me."*

FEATURED ARTISTS

EDITORIALS

APA COMMUNITY

FILM

TELEVISION

THEATER

LITERATURE

DIVERSITY

ADVOCACY

MUSIC

IMMIGRATION

BUSINESS

CHRISTIANITY

RELIGION

TECHNOLOGY

ENTERTAINMENT

FILM BUSINESS

AUTO

COMMUNITY

ASIA

CHINA

JAPAN

HONG KONG

SOUTH KOREA

NORTH KOREA

     

APA & MEDIA NEWS
MARIE MYUNG-OK LEE'S "SOMEBODY'S DAUGHTER"
Lee's most recent novel, Somebody's Daughter, is based on her year as a Fulbright Scholar to Korea, taking oral histories of Korean birth mothers. She has been involved in the adoptee community for many years. One of her family members is adopted from Korea.
Click Here to Read More>>>>>

EWP'S "IMELDA"
"Imelda," the world premiere musical at East West Players, is one of those committee-designed endeavors that launches off into so many directions that it goes hopelessly astray. Although handsomely produced and competently directed by East West's producing artistic director, Tim Dang, it is otherwise misbegotten, blurring the line between camp and bathos until we don't know whether to laugh, cry or simply yawn.
Click Here to Read More>>>>>

LINKIN PARK SEEKS RELEASE FROM CONTRACT
The multi-platinum rap-metal band Linkin Park demanded to be released from its contract with Warner Music Group, which is preparing to go public. In a statement issued by the group's management company, The Firm, the band said it had become "increasingly concerned" that Warner Music's "diminished resources will leave it unable to compete in today's global music marketplace.
Click Here to Read More>>>>>

MYSTERIOUS MURDER OF VIETNAMESE FORTUNE TELLER
First, the killer repeatedly stabbed a Little Saigon fortuneteller and her daughter - Ha Jade Smith and Anita Nhi Vo. Then, the assailant poured white paint over their faces and hands. Baffled detectives believe the paint may have a hidden cultural significance and are asking the public for help.
Click Here to Read More>>>>>

LI SHAOHONG WINS AWARD BY DE NIRO
Robert De Niro presents the best narrative feature award to Chinese director Li Shaohong at the Tribeca Film Festival.
Click Here to Read More>>>>>

VELINA HASU HOUSTON'S "TEA"
"I'm not a war bride — I didn't marry the war," protests a Japanese woman transplanted into Kansas soil by her American GI husband. But in many senses the five immigrant wives in Velina Hasu Houston's (theater production) "Tea" are still at war: with American culture, with their mostly well-meaning but misunderstanding husbands, with their exasperated biracial children and, perhaps worst of all, Houston suggests, with each other.
Click Here to Read More>>>>>

NATHAN WANG & "IMELDA"
Composer Nathan Wang's day is divided into a pie chart of four-hour chunks. For four hours, he scores a "Tom and Jerry" animated movie. Then it's four hours on an aviation documentary. Later, four hours for a new Jackie Chan film, "The Myth." Spread throughout the day are four hours for meals and family time. Finally, four hours of sleep. For those keeping count, the missing four hours belong to "Imelda," a musical Wang has been writing for more than a year.
Click Here to Read More>>>>>

PATH OF HAN
The pressure to perform has forced L.A. Dodgers' Hee-Seop Choi for the first time to confront han, a Korean term describing deep frustration and angst that tests a person's resilience. When he struggled in his first months with the Dodgers last season, everything that had been so easy for so long became difficult.
Click Here to Read More>>>>>

MICHELLE KWAN'S ICE RINK
Michelle Kwan is among the investors backing the East West Ice Palace in Artesia - a 43,000-square-foot facility that includes an NHL-sized rink — 85 feet wide and 200 feet long — a fitness center, a dance studio and a snack bar. A gallery will display many of the awards Kwan has won - and has made it her training base. Her father, Danny, who also has an ownership stake, helped align local investors, design the building and oversee its construction. He also will manage it. Kwan's sister, Karen, a coach and former skater, is director of the skating school, and Karen's husband, Peter Oppegard, is coaching there. The arena's name comes from East West Bank, which employs Kwan as a spokeswoman.
Click Here to Read More>>>>>

LOUNG UNG'S "LUCKY CHILD"
Imagine this: you are five years old, living an upper-middle class life with your parents, brothers, and sisters. And then the soldiers came. First, they took your home. Then they took your father. Nearly four years later, your eldest brother, one of a handful of family members to survive, decides to take you elsewhere for a better life. You come to America, where you wonder if you'll ever fit in. You miss your family back home. You miss your parents. People say that you're a lucky child, but you're not entirely sure why. Sounds like the stuff of Hollywood? Maybe, but these things really happened to Loung Ung, and in her new book "Lucky Child"
Click Here to Read More>>>>>

"LOST'S" YUN-JIN KIM
Having immigrated to the United States with her family at the age of 10, she faced a language and cultural barrier that silenced her. "I was cast as only an extra, but that day, I stood on the stage and sang loudly in my own voice," Kim has said in an interview. Life has never been the same since.
Click Here to Read More>>>>>

HOW WILL CHINA AFFECT YOUR BIZ
Mention an interest in China to your old friend who owns an industrial toolmaking shop and he confides that his factory, which was started by his father and has bought a comfortable suburban life for three generations of his family as well as good wages to hundreds of workers, "is getting killed by the people over there."
Click Here to Read More>>>>>

LOH DELIVERS CALTECH COMMENCEMENT SPEECH
Sandra Tsing Loh, who will be the first female Caltech graduate ever to deliver the commencement speech, was fired last March from public radio station KCRW-FM after she uttered an obscenity in a prerecorded monologue. Loh, whose father and brother also graduated from Caltech, has been active in the alumni association.
Click Here to Read More>>>>>

WHAT MOVES NORMAN MINETA
Mineta's father moved to California from Japan at age 14 in 1902. The son said, "I remember my dad crying only three times in my life." The first: Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941. "He couldn't understand why the country of his birth would attack the country of his home." The second: May 31, 1942, when they were evacualted for imprisonment during the was. The third: June 1956, when Mineta's mother died.
Click Here to Read More>>>>>

FILM REVIEW: D.E.B.S.
This comedy (with Devon Aoki in the cast) is the rare teen spoof that works, thanks to the sweet love story at its center.
Click Here to Read More>>>>>

AMERIE
When Amerie's debut single "Why Don't We Fall in Love" burst on the airwaves like a gardenia-scented breeze in summer 2002, most listeners had no problem doing exactly what the leggy songbird proposed. But after a winning guest vocal on LL Cool J's 2003 single "Paradise," the exotic beauty — her Dad is African-American, her mother Korean — disappeared from the music scene.
Click Here to Read More>>>>>
>

FIRMS "RECYCLED" MINORITY DIRECTORS
U.S. corporate boards severely lack diversity, and companies "recycle" Latino and African American directors, who on average serve on more boards than non-minority directors, a new study showed. White men hold 71% of seats on Fortune 100 boards, the Alliance of Board Diversity said in its report based on directors holding seats last September 2005. Women and minorities collectively account for 29% of seats, with minorities holding 15% of seats,
Click Here to Read More>>>>>
>

HOLLYWOOD IS HARD FOR ASIANS, SAYS ZHANG ZIYI
Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi is happy with a supporting role in Hollywood, where Asian performers like her will always struggle to compete. An "A-lister" in Asia who just completed "Princess Roccoon by Japanese director Seijun Suzuki, and one of China's most famous faces abroad, the petite actress stated "Even though I've done Hollywood films, I still don't think of myself as a Hollywood actress."
Click Here to Read More>>>>>

MICHAEL LIU & HUD 184
Michael Liu, HUD's assistant secretary for Public and Indian Housing acted aggressively in the last weeks of his tenure to increase the scope of the HUD 184. Most importantly, he approved applications by six tribes to increase the ''Indian area'' where HUD 184s can be extended to tribal members. Until just last year, tribes could offer HUD 184 mortgages only to those members on reservations or the ''Indian areas'' of states without reservations, like Alaska and Oklahoma.
Click Here to Read More>>>>>

DANIEL DAE KIM RELISH "LOST" ROLE
"I am so grateful to ["Lost's" executive producers] J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof for taking the chance on having a character who doesn't speak the language for an entire season," Kim, 36, said. "I think it's really doing a lot for what we deem acceptable on television and what we can expect the viewer to follow."
Click Here to Read More>>>>>

GREGG ARAKI'S MYSTERIOUS SKIN"
Gregg Araki insists that he never went away, never stopped working. It has been several years since the release of the writer-director's last feature film, and many of the reviews for his latest, "Mysterious Skin," have hailed Araki's comeback.
Click Here to Read More>>>>>

DEAN DEVLIN'S "FLYBOYS"
"Flyboys" is a special project for Dean Devlin, who raised the $60 million needed for production completely on his own. After only four weeks shooting in England, he put together a trailer to be played at Cannes in the hopes of creating a little buzz. "This is a new model for me, for us," he says, referring to his production company, Electric. "We want to create a big movie that's also independent and sold after it's made. Part of the reason I'm doing it is because so many people told me it couldn't be done."
Click Here to Read More>>>>>

JOAN ALLEN WANTS TO WORK WITH ASIAN FILMMAKERS
Joan Allen - Hollywood actress and three Oscar nominee (for "The Contender" "The Crucible" and "Nixon") - says she hopes to work with more Asian filmmakers in the future, especially Chinese director Zhang Yimou and Hong Kong's Wong Kar-wai. "I feel lucky to have worked with John Woo ("The Ice Storm") and Ang Lee ("Face/Off") in the past and I hope to cooperate with more Asian moviemakers. I especially admire Zhang Yimou and Wong Kar-wai."
Click Here to Read More>>>>>

MS. WU'S STORY (SAVING FACE) WITH A "L" WORD
At 19, after years of some confusion, she finally acknowledged her homosexuality. At a time well before lesbianism became chic with "The L Word," that was hard enough. It was even more difficult coming out to her beloved mother. (Her parents were by then separated.) "It went terribly when I came out to my mom" during a Thanksgiving visit, she says. Her mother's response: "Well, I don't think you're gay, and if you ever take a lover, I never want to see you again."
Click Here to Read More>>>>>

REVIEW: SAVING FACE
By now, even that scenario, in which same-sex lovers face parental intolerance, has become commonplace. But Ms. Wu's movie handles this material far more adroitly than most first-time feature films. She loves and understands her characters, especially the thorny and tradition-bound old folks, and her fondness for them bathes "Saving Face" in a palpable glow of affection.
Click Here to Read More>>>>>

BOOK ON SAMMY LEE
The inspirational true story of Sammy Lee, a Korean American who overcame discrimination to realize both his father's desire that he become a doctor and his own dream of becoming an Olympic champion diver.
Click Here to Read More>>>>>

ASIAN VOTER TURNOUT LOWER THAN GROUP'S SHARE
"I think that as Asian Americans recognize how important politics is, they'll recognize that they have to get involved, that if they want their interests to be reflected in politics, that Asian Americans have to be there," said Leland Saito, a USC professor and the author of a 1998 book on racial politics in Monterey Park.
Click Here to Read More>>>>>

SUCCESS OF WAHOO'S FISH TACO
Is there a secret to Wahoo's success? Ed (Eduardo) Lee, Renato "Mingo" Lee and Wing Lam, owners of Wahoo's Fish Taco, say the answer often revolves around their restaurant's exquisite and healthy menu of an eclectic mix of Brazilian, Mexican and Asian flavors (and parents - Cheong Lee, their father, and mother So Ching Lee)
Click Here to Read More>>>>>

JULIA CHO'S BFE
Ms. Cho has written an insightful, beautifully structured drama about the agonies and comforts of isolation, told through the struggles of Panny and her family. Panny lives with her mother, Isabel (Kate Rigg), and her uncle, Lefty (James Saito). Lefty, a lonely bachelor, at least has a job (as a security guard) and a hobby (a role-playing game with miniature warriors). Isabel never leaves home.
Click Here to Read More>>>>>

PAULA DANIELS - 1ST APA PREZ OF "HEAL THE BAY"
Attorney, mediator and arbitrator Paula Daniels has just been elected to serve a two-year term as President of Heal the Bay, and is the first Asian/Korean American to serve as President of the organization in its 19 year history. She stated " There are many reasons why people in LA's inland communities, like Koreatown and Chinatown, should care about the environmental health of the ocean."
Click Here to Read More>>>>>

SABRINA KAY - VILLARAIGOSA TRANSITION TEAM MEMBER
This Korean American a member of Villaraigosa transition team in 2005. Ms. Kay is founder of California Design College and the Chairman and CEO of Fremont Private Investments, Inc (FPI) whose goal is to function as a business partner to many creative and upcoming young designers by making equity investments and sharing business strategies and best practices. Her Sabrina Kay Charitable Foundation's goal is to educate and empower others to achieve their fullest potential in projects such as developing mentorship and internship programs for children and young adults who are interested in fashion, entertainment and sports industries through LA Sports and Entertainment Commission.
Click Here to Read More>>>>>

MIKE ANTONOVICH WEDS CHRISTINE HU
Longtime bachelor and county Supervisor Michael Antonovich got hitched to Christine Hu (former actress in Asia) during a ceremony attended by more than 900 people including singer Pat Boone, comedian Red Buttons and fellow Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky.
Click Here to Read More>>>>>

CHINESE AMERICAN MUSEUM (CHICAGO)
The museum's first exhibit, "Paper Sons: Chinese in the Midwest, 1870-1945," introduces visitors to the history of Chinatown and the Chinese-Americans who settled there. It tells their story through immigration papers, a sugar bowl from one of Chicago's first Chinese restaurants, a replica of a Chinese laundry, inlaid rosewood chairs and about 150 photographs.
Click Here to Read More>>>>>

INDIAN AMERICAN KIDS RULE SPELLING BEE CONTESTS
Although representing less than 1 percent of the U.S. population, Indian-Americans made up around 15 percent of last year's participants. 2005's spelling bee continued the trend, as 31 competitors of Indian origin (according to rediff.com, an Indian news portal) vied for the coveted title of the nation's best speller. Seven of the 17 contestants from Texas were Indian-American, and Puerto Rico's lone representative was none other than Arun.
Click Here to Read More>>>>>

INTERRACIAL PORTRAYALS
What can the media do to improve its depiction of interracial couples? Well for one, let's get over the idea that a couple only counts as "interracial" if one partner is white, and the other black. 2000 census statistics show that black/white pairings actually make up a tiny proportion of interracial couples. While only 6% of African-American husbands and 2% of African-American wives are in interracial marriages, the intermarriage rate among other groups is much, much higher. In some segments of the Asian-American population, almost half are marrying outside their ethnicity.
Click Here to Read More>>>>>

BIAS LAWSUIT VS. WALDORF
Herman Kaim, a bar worker at one of the city's swankiest hotels has slapped his bosses at Waldorf-Astoria with a $10 million lawsuit, alleging they called him a "stupid f- - -ing Chinese" and turned him down for advancement because he's Asian despite a nearly work record.
Click Here to Read More>>>>>

JEFF YANG ON ALICE WU
Critics are falling all over themselves to dub the movie "Bend It Like My Big Fat Greek Wedding Banquet," which means Wu has faced a litany of questions that would be familiar to filmmakers whose movies are referenced in that catch-all title. The most common one is also the most personal: Just how autobiographical is this film, anyway?
Click Here to Read More>>>>>

MICHELLE YEOH'S UPCOMING ROLES
Michelle Yeoh is a hot property in Hollywood this summer, as Mission: Impossible 3 and the Hannibal prequel are both looking to land the Asian lovely.
Click Here to Read More>>>>>

Philip Ahn


Although he was born in the U.S. and was one of America's great citizens, Philip Ahn was a true son of Korea. He upheld his Confucian role of filial piety. He honorably upheld his father's dignity and dedication to bring independence to Korea. He cared for his mother and family. He never denied his Korean heritage. He worked for the Korean people and helped them throughout his life.

Every house Philip Ahn called home was open to all kinds of people. The Victorian houses, the house above the Hollywood Bowl, the beautiful Northridge home. . . . The pioneer Korean American community was centered on the Ahn family's residences in the early 1900s. And, many of the Koreans coming from Korea in the 1960s and early 1970s came to Philip and his mother for advice and assistance. Once, an entire crew from a Korean navy ship docked in Long Beach came for dinner. Korean businessmen and politicians came to Philip's home for support and introductions. American politicians sought Philip's fame to enhance their campaigns and raise funds. American businessmen sought his endorsements of their products and contacts in Korea. And the Hollywood crowd made their appearances as well. The Ahn family always gathered here for the holidays. If only the walls could tell the great things we don't know.

One of Philip's greatest projects was the building of a memorial park and burial site for his father and mother. Philip's father had been buried in the hills far from Seoul under orders of the Japanese, who wanted Koreans to forget the greatness of their nationalist leader. After years of planning and many trips to Korea, Philip Ahn's dream came true in November 1973. Dosan Ahn Chang Ho Park was dedicated and opened in Seoul, Korea. Philip brought his mother from Los Angeles to be buried next to Dosan at their final resting place. Dosan had left America in 1926 for the last time. He never saw his family again and never had the chance to see or hold his youngest son, Ralph.

Click Here to Read More>>>>>


 
Subscribe to Receive US Asians' Monthly E-Zine
Powered by groups.yahoo.com
 

Help Us Make US Asians Meet Your Needs
Participate in our survey by clicking HERE
 

Any questions regarding the content, contact Asian American Artistry
site design by Asian American Artistry

Copyright © 1996-2006 - Asian American Artistry - All Rights Reserved.