Those that know me personally know that I’m a pretty big sports fan, with baseball being my favorite sport. I used to hate baseball up until a few years ago before I learned the nuisances of it. You can say that for just about any sport or anything for that matter, but I really like how, over the course of a 162-game season, you can quantifiablely tell where you stack up relative to your peers. Within those 162 games there will be ups and downs but they always seem to balance out by years end. So from year to year, with very little exception, your performance and your results will be the same. I find that to be a pretty good metaphor for life in general.

Perhaps another reason why I enjoy baseball is because per capita, it has more Asian athletes than any other sports. In general, there’s not a lot of talk about Asian athletes, well because, and let’s face it, there’s not a lot of superstar Asian athletes with national U.S. recognition. One can make the argument that because there aren’t many Asian athlete role models, there aren’t many kids who aspire to be athletes.

There’s plenty of other possible reasons that people have came up with, some base on reason other based on stereotypes that we’re not going to get into (though you can discuss in the comments if you want). Instead, I want to focus on the upcoming baseball All-Star game which I’ll probably be attending since it will be here in NYC at Yankee Stadium this year. New York is arguably the biggest stage for sports and the Yankees is the most successful franchise in all of sports. There’s going to be a great spotlight for potential stars to shine and it would be great if some of those stars were Asian. 

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This is the movie based on the videogame, which initially cast Jessica Beal to play Chun Li, and is now played by hapa Kristin Kreuk.  I was super pissed when they initially cast Jessica Beal, and I’m still not too happy with Kreuk as the choice.  What’s wrong with a full Asian actress to play the character of Chun Li, a full Chinese character?

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http://streetfightermovie.net/

Q: What is your ultimate goal with the strip?

A: I want the strip to be a bridging text between Asian Americans and mainstream America. I don’t want to crap down people’s throats with stories of oppression and suffering. Okay, well, maybe sometimes I do. But I think there’s a lot of work to do on both sides of the fence and I’ve always had a knack for seeing both sides.

I also want it to be educational. Every now and then I do straight biographical or historical event strips that bring up things that may otherwise barely get any exposure. I’m very excited to have the reach of a daily strip to bring some of these stories to the masses. It’s like a big open Asian American history class.

Q: Many Asian Americans feel torn between their Asian ethnicity and their American nationality. Did you ever feel that way over the course of your life?

A: Absolutely. But Asians are definitely not alone in feeling like this and that’s where we should feel better about it. Internal conflicts arise when we are forced to choose between wanting to be treated just like everyone else and demanding special recognition for our differences.

Then there is the whole debate over the overly broad term “Asian American.” Asian Americans, as well as every other type of American, need to come to terms with the fact that whatever they do to express their cultural heritage should be considered American. That’s the beauty and hope of this country.

http://glamhub.com/2007/07/tak_toyoshima/

Here in the lovely Puerto Vallarta, Mexico soaking up the sun and
the margaritas. This place is a good getaway for a long weekend. The Sheraton Bunganvillas Resort
is nothing to write home about, and the water here pales much in
comparison to the blue Carribbean Sea, but the breezy wind and the
beautiful sunshine that greet me here make this visit worthwhile. 

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“That’s why Lin’s bottom line with his self-financed latest pic, the Bruce Lee mockumentary Finishing the Game, is control of marketing and distribution. Or at least significant input. He wants to learn how it’s done; figure out how to build a network for exhibition and distribution of Asian American indie film on his own, if necessary. “That’s the next step,” he says. “It’s all about distribution and exhibition and marketing–figuring out how to do that right. That’s what the growth of the Asian American cinema is going to hinge on. I’m not worried about the talent…I’m not even worried about the money. It’s about getting people to watch these films, and proving there’s an audience.”

http://instantyang.blogspot.com/

Here are some pictures of Korean megastar Rain training for his lead role in the upcoming Wachowski movie ‘Ninja Assassin’.  According to imdb, Rick Yune and Sung Kang are also in the movie.  This movie could be ridiculously awesome, I’ll post updates on this film as they happen.

More pictures of Rain training here.

In the interest of seeing more Asian movies, from time to time I would like to spotlight quality independent Asian films. If you want to see more big budget Hollywood fares with brand name Asian actors, it all starts with making the independent stuff profitable. I’m not advocating you to go see every Asian independent movie nor is it necessary for every Asian independent movie to be a success financially for changes to be seen in mainstream media. 

A friend of mine sent me a press release for this documentary, Hollywood Chinese:

Hollywood Chinese is a captivating revelation on a little-known chapter of cinema: the Chinese in American feature films. From the first Chinese American film produced in 1916, to Ang Lee’s triumphant Brokeback Mountain almost a century later, Hollywood Chinese brings together a fascinating portrait of actors, directors, writers, and iconic images to show how the Chinese have been imagined in movies, and how filmmakers have and continue to navigate an industry that was often ignorant about race, but at times paradoxically receptive.

I actually haven’t seen Hollywood Chinese yet but it will be out in New York City on May 30th at the ImaginAsian Theater. Between the trailer, the website, and the friend recommendations, so far I’m sold enough to put it high on my list of Asian movies to watch list. For those of you keeping track at home, the number of movies that Ningin is officially recommending this year is now four:

Planet B-Boy

Mummy 3: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon

And now Hollywood Chinese.

There’s probably a lot more deserving movies to be on that list, but I just haven’t had the time to go through them all. Gotta finish building out Ningin and everything…

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Here is a recent clip of her act.  Basically she’s a walking disaster, just like that confused girl Gina Choe on ‘America’s Top Model’ What kind of insecure person makes a career basically being self-racist or self-deprecating and saying how much you hate yourself, who you are, and your family? Have you ever heard a Black comedian base his/her career on how they hate being Black, how they love watermelon/chicken, and the only good thing about being Black is it helps them get into the NFL?

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There are many fashion models in Hong Kong. While a majority of them
are Chinese, the better known ones are mostly Eurasians. This is not
surprising since Asians’ definition of beauty is, as Alvin blogged
earlier, very Caucasian-centric.
These Eurasian models have something in common aside from their partial
Caucasian features. They have an English last name that the Hong Kong
media and populace cannot pronounce. In order to make it easy for
everyone, the media took the liberty of shortening their last names to
just the first initial. This is why you have models with names like Maggie Q., Lisa S., Ana R. and Cara G in Hong Kong. 

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Ok… I promise this will be my last post on Faye Wong
for the month (not hard since there are only nine more days to a new
month!). The retired songstress flew from Beijing to Hong Kong to
attend a Buddhist prayer service for the Chinese earthquake victims. It
was held at the famous and somewhat dilapidated Hong Kong Coliseum (I
grew up seeing so many concerts there). Faye was joined by other famous
celebrities such as Jacky Cheung and Aloys Chen. Where is Tina Turner when you need her? Isn’t she a devoted Buddhist too? 

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