I’m impressed. Not only is Obama’s new economic committee head advisor a Korean-American, but the advisor’s a woman. WOO HOO. That just added double kudos in my book. Added to that is the fact that she’s only forty years old. Hah! Sometimes age is nothing but a number. Who says you need to be anciently old to know how to get the job done? Well, providing she does get the job done, I hope she’ll do a fine job with her new position.
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Tags: audrey choi, barack obama, choi sook nyul, east germany, fulbright scholarship, harvard, Korean American, pyongnyang, united states, wall street journal, west germany, white house fellows

Meet Charice, a sixteen-year-old singing sensation from the Philippines. Singing contests got her started. The Internet lit a fire under her career. And Oprah and Ellen used their influence to give her a hand up into stardom. Now, she’s featured on the “Hitman: David Foster and Friends” album alongside Babyface and Michael Buble. Way to get your mom out of the garment factory!

Born in 1993 in San Pedro Laguna, Charice Pempengco had a lot to overcome. Domestic violence forced her mother to leave Dad, then pull 16-hour shifts at a sewing machine to make ends meet. Charice started singing at age four; her “concert debut” was at a Balibago basketball game at age seven. Wanting to earn income to help Momma, young Charice began working the Filipino singing-contest circuit soon after. “Even if the prizes are $50 or $10, it’s big money to us,” she told reporters.
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Tags: Celine Dion, Charice, contest, David Foster, Filipino, Internet, Little Big Star, Philippines, Pinoy, singing, Star King

A few weeks ago, Andrew talked about a restaurant called Home’s Kitchen. He highly recommended the place so I made him take me and my boyfriend there.

From beginning to end, the experience was amazing. Not only was the food the best I’ve ever tasted (probably), but the restaurant was the nicest I’ve been to in NYC. They redesign their little hole in the wall awhile ago and now it looks like a five start restaurant.
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Tags: andrew lim, chinese cuisine, Homes Kitchen, new york city

I heart Maggie Cheung. She is a fine and talented actress who hasn’t worked for at least 4 or 5 years. It’s not like she didn’t get any good scripts. Apparently bitch here was too busy dick whipped by her Caucasian ex husband (French Director Olivier Assayas) and current boyfriend (some German architect) that she couldn’t give a damn in doing her day job. But all that is about to change. Maggie will soon star in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds — a movie that sets place in Nazi-occupied France during World War II and tells the story of a group of Jewish-American soldiers known as “The Basterds” whose mission is to kill the Nazis. Mr Jolie will play the lead. My girl Maggie will play a French woman named “Madame Mimieux” who owns a cinema in Paris. “Madame Mimieux” can make such an exquisite drag name don’t you think? It sure beats “Tequila Mockingbird” which I have used for a while now and am ready to adopt a new one.
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Tags: Inglourious Basterds, Maggie Cheung, Quentin Tarantino

Alright, this is about the weakest possible link to Asian culture, but hey, everyone likes free stuff! Dr Pepper, that love it or hate it soda, said way back in March that if Guns N’ Roses released their “Chinese Democracy” album by the end of 2008 (the album has been in production for the last decade or so), the soda company would give “everyone in America” a free Dr Pepper.

Well, the time has come, as the release date for Chinese Democracy has been set for November 23 (hey, this is huge news to GNR fans!) To claim your free soda, go to the Dr Pepper website on November 23 and fill out the form, and you should be getting your coupon for a 20 ounce bottle of sugar and spice within 4-6 weeks.

If you’ve never heard GNR’s stuff, click the more link below to see why Dr Pepper thought it was worth it to stake potentially millions in revenue…
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Tags: dr pepper, free soda, gun n roses

Korean Title: 소년, 소년을 만나다 (Sonyeon, Sonyeon eul Man Na Da)

The Blatherings: This short film will be making its official debut into the theatrical world on November 20, 2008. Actually, this was introduced here way back in April with an interview from one of the stars in the film: Kim Hye Sung. Then last month, at the Pusan International Film Festival, the film made its “official” appearance there.

The film’s title explains the plot pretty obviously. Kim Hye Sung and Lee Hyung Jin play as two high school students who fall in love with each other. It’s considered “based on a true story”, and the film pretty much lacks one thing: dialogue. The director chose to film it in that manner because he wanted the actor’s facial expression and body language to tell the story. Whether or not this works, if it works, then kudos to the actors and the film makers for taking this angle. Actually, kudos to them for doing something like this. Korea needs to stop being so ultra-conservative!
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Tags: film, gay, hangukuh, kim hye sung, korea, lee hyung jin, romance

So Nyeo Shi Dae hasn’t completely dropped off the face of the earth. They’ve recently have become the faces of GoobNe Chicken. Their CF features them battling against each other for whatever reason. While their moves aren’t something that would win them a spot of America’s Best Dance Crew, they definitely reminded me of a bunch of flopping chickens. I guess this is what happens to the rejects.

Source: Kbites
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Tags: commercial, girls generation, goobne chicken, snsd, so nyeo shi dae

On Sunday, Kawasaki high school student and knuckleballer Eri Yoshida (吉田えり) was drafted by the Kobe 9 Cruise, making her the first woman to play professional baseball in Japan.

Yoshida-san is only 16-years old, 5-feet tall (152-centimeters), and 114 pounds (52 kilograms). Still, the right-handed pitcher struck out male batters straight for one inning during professional tryouts. Her strong performance made her one of the 33 players picked in the draft.

The knuckleball is the hardest pitch to throw, catch and hit. Few can master it. Yoshida-san admires Boston Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield, who has built a successful major league career as a knuckleballer.

The Kobe 9 Cruise, a professional team in a new independent Japanese league that will start its first season in April.
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Tags: baseball, grrl power, kawasaki, Kobe 9 Cruise, red sox, Tim Wakefield, yoshida

Another year has passed and the MKMF awards are back with a few surprises. Throughout the night, there was a kiss between TOP and Hyori Lee (no big deal tbh) in addition to crying by several celebrities namely Changmin of DBSK. But the biggest surprise of all was not the performances nor the random events in between, but the awards. It was really surprising to hear who won what especially considering the year.
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Tags: 2008, awards, big bang, brown eyes, davichi, dbsk, epik high, hot, jewelry, kim jong wook, lee hyori, mkmf, mnet, nell, performances, seo taiji, sg wannabe, shin seung hoon, shinee, wonder girl

This election year was one of the most exciting election years that we have had for more than a decade, some said in history. Many people were busy watching or directly participating in the election by phone banking and canvassing. I had the pleasure of speaking to James Yee about what happened on the night of the election in his neck of the woods. Here follows what he shared with me:
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Tags: APIA, asian american, barack obama, Ehren Watada, internment camp, james yee, japanese, Olympia, Ron Oshima, Sam Song, Seattle, Washington state, World War II