Jin Au-Yeung, the first Asian American solo rapper signed with a major record label in the States, has recently released an album in Hong Kong. The album features 11 songs in which Jin raps in Cantonese. The album and the first single are called “ABC”. Obviously Jin is rapping about himself and his background. I have listened to the entire album and find the songs to be really creative. The lyrics are hilarious too. 

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As you know Ningin is always expanding its horizons and this past weekend one of our new, upcoming bloggers was at the Cosplay Day event along side with yours truly.

I wasn’t able make it to the event on time but luckily we had someone else to take more photos for us, Jason Linetsky aka Taraka. He was there way before I got there and was also in the front during the Team US cosplayers interview. He took a lot of great photos of the cosplayers some of which I didn’t as well as Team USA. They’re part of the same album with credit to him of course. Be sure to take a look, they’re awesome!

Him and I will also be at New York Anime Festival in September so be on the look out for us. We’ll possibly be cosplaying. /gasp!

View the photos from Cosplay Day here

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This past Sunday August 17, 2008, the Kinokuniya Bookstore in New York City was holding a Cosplay Day in honor of the USA representatives for the 2008 World Cosplay Summit (the Olympics of cosplaying). Also, anyone who cosplayed received a discount on merchandise within the store. Sweet! It was honestly one of the most entertaining things I’ve done in awhile (other than AM Classic the previous day).

The event started at 10AM but I didn’t arrive till 3PM which was when the USA reps were giving their interview. Before I even walked in the store I was giggling like a little girl. I was really excited since this was my first cosplay/anime event that I’ve ever been to. The store is 3 stories and the event was held on the highest floor. It had the most amazing view of Bryant Park but that’s not important.

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Last night was the AM Classic event which I attended and I’m glad I did. There just aren’t enough Asian Americans in mainstream media, and last night I was able to meet and see some of the most amazing Asian American artists around. It’s pretty good to be me for night to say the least.

Well first off I arrived a little early before all the performance which wasn’t too bad all. I got to see some of the artists practice in addition to meeting Direct from Magnetic North. I nearly screamed like a little girl but I was able to keep my composure. Turns out he actually attended our Rebuilding the Bridge event. Originally we wanted Magnetic North to perform at RTB but we thought they were unavailable. You can’t imagine my disappointed when I found out.

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So apparently I’m not the only Square Enix fanatic. While the PS3 hasn’t been doing well in sales, people are still willingly ready to give their soul to Sony (other than myself). A man in St. Louis is a perfect example of that.

Turns out the man held an EB Games store clerk at gun point and told him that his family was being held hostage. The only thing to save them; however, was a PS3. He also told him that after he left, that the clerk needed to call the police because his family needed help. They police did come but he has yet to be caught it seems.

As unbelievable as it sounds, it’s true. People are just that stupid. But you have to give it to him for being original. Lol!

Source: KSDK via Kotaku

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Ningin is a media sponsor to this Saturday’s AM Classic event in NYC. It’s a musical showcase of some of the most talented Asian American artists. If you’re in NYC this weekend, be sure to drop by. Tickets are only $15 at the door and $10 online. So cheap! It’s worth the money especially considering there’s going to be 15 performers. For more details on the event click here.

I think it goes without say that there are definitely not enough Asian Americans in music. After listening to Andrew Choi, I found myself craving for more. So this week I’ve decided to share some of the artists that stood out to me most from the BIG list of performers that will be at the event. While I only list a few, there’s definitely more talent than I can share in one blog post.

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This week didn’t feature your typical elimination but it was partially entertaining. The remaining two crews went head to head in 3 rounds of challenges. The first round challenge was called “around the world” where each crew was given a video of dances from around the world. They had to make a routine using all the dances. Also, both crews were given the same mastermix.

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Yes, it’s the Giant White Girl of Ningin, cheesin’ with yet another Asian celebrity. How did I get to meet Kal Penn? At a Democratic voter-registration rally. He, like several other notable Asian-American actors and directors, is putting his clout behind Barack Obama’s campaign. My son, hiding from the camera, was less enthusiastic. Sorry, Kal. He’ll love your movies someday….but he better not repeat the dirty jokes.

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The gymnastic events are coming to an end and China has come out on top. Although there was a lot of controversy over the ages of the women gymnasts from China, the rumors haven’t fazed them one bit.

Before the Olympics had started, the US had raised questions of the age of China’s gymnastics team members He and Jiang Yuyuan, an all around Olympic medal contender. The New York Times claimed they were younger than 16 (the minimum age to be eligible. In response, the Chinese Gymnastics Association provided documents of the gymnast’s ID cards and passports, showing that they were old enough. Regardless, the two gymnasts were still able to compete and did extremely well; however, US had a few hiccups which cost them.

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This picture has been making the rounds on the internet this week. It features Spain’s Olympic basketball team posing for an advertisement prior to the games. Instead of grabbing their crotch like every manly athlete loves to do in pictures, they actually posed with slanted eyes imitating the Chinese. The print ad was for a Spanish courier company and first appeared in the Spanish-language newspaper, La Marca. 

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Hi, my name is Ming and I am a guest blogger for Ningin.

I don’t know about the rest of you but I’ve been spending the last few days glued to NBC. Religiously watching the Olympic is a tradition for my family (my parents have never missed a single one since 1984), but this one is extra special for us because my parents are from China and just as psyched as all 1.3 billion of them back in the motherland.

For that reason there I could feel how enormous the pressure was that China pull off the best opening ceremony ever. The Chinese care about “face” like nothing else and there would never again be an opportunity quite like this to show face to the rest of the world. All questionable facelift means aside (pun intended), there is no doubt in anyone’s mind that they pulled it off.

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For the 3rd time this year, we’ve changed the Ningin layout based on numerous feedback and critiques. So thanks to everyone who contributed their thoughts and opinions! We hope you find this incarnation a little easier to use and a little easier on the eyes. (You might press F5 to refresh your browser if things look weird.) Though keep in mind that Ningin is constantly a work in progress. There are many more features and applications we have on our roadmap. Not only that, but we’re in the process of adding many, many more bloggers in the next few weeks. Expect more events, more content partnerships, and more great things in general.

One minor change that we’ve made somewhat unceremoniously a couple of weeks ago is our tagline – from Asian Media Exchange to Asian Media Community. (How many people actually noticed that?) We feel that the word “community” fits us better because that’s in a nutshell who and what we are. With the help of you, our users, Ningin is a community of people interested in all things related to Asian media. Wonderful things tend to happen when you put people together with similar interests and that’s been a big driver of growth and ideas for us.

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Not everyone detests Paris Hilton. Apparently, bitch has many fans in Asian countries like Japan and Korea. This is why Japanese actress/singer Aya Ueto is going to play a character inspired by that talentless skank in a romantic comedy titled “Celeb to Daihinmin”. The drama series is produced by Fuji TV and it also co-stars a relatively new actor, Yusuke Kamiji. The plot revolves around Alice Hirata (played by Ueto), the spoiled and naive daughter of a wealthy hotel magnate. Kamiji plays an impoverished widower raising three children. Despite their very different backgrounds, romance is born between these two characters.

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Like many others, I watched the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics last Friday and thought it was awe-inspiring. I was very proud of the hardworking Chinese and the efforts they had put forth in preparing for the opening ceremony. I really enjoyed watching the fireworks, only to find out yesterday that some of the them were created digitally. Today I found out that the cute little girl (Lin Miaoke) that sang the song, “Ode to the Motherland” was actually lip-syncing to the sound of another girl, 7-year-old Yang Peiyi. The reason for the switch, as explained by the ceremony’s musical director, was that Yang was not as cute as Lin. For an important event like this, they wanted someone who was “flawless in image” and little Lin fit the bill just right. Poor little Yang. She is going to grow up hating herself. She will always remember that she was rejected by the government for her looks. 

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Jewelry member Seo In Young is no Cinderella for sure. That ridiculous thing on top of her head called her hair is made fun of when she appears on Star Golden Bell on August 9th. The show compared her to animation characters such as Wallace from “Wallace and Gromit” and a drawing stating the resemblance is exact. Anyone with eyes would have to agree. While I expected mushroom head to break down and cry, she actually laughed the whole thing off and took it like a man. Her response to whole ordeal was that there was no resemblance at all and later said maybe she’s starting a trend. Yeah okay…

On another note, what the hell was the show thinking? It was all fun and games but it was pretty cruel not that her hair didn’t deserve it.

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A Japanese school teacher thought it would be funny to trick a group of students into making a sexual hand gesture otherwise known as the “shocker”. If you don’t know what it is, let urban dictionary school you. Not only did the teacher take the photo but they shared it with their friends and submitted it to Digg.com. The photo was originally submitted to Flickr but now has been deleted. Thank God.

Honestly, what kind of teacher does this to their students?

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Koreans has been known to be the best gamers but now some would say they’re the best break dancers. According to Planet Bboy, “the Koreans on a technical level are untouchable”. One particular crew worth mentioning from Korea is the Expression dance crew. They were originally a bboy crew but supposedly now they’re a hip-hop dance theater troupe. Whatever they’re called, they’re absolutely amazing. 

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I kid you not. Some guys will seriously f**k anything. This dumbass is one of them. A 41 year old man was found at a park in Hong Kong with his peen stuck in a steel bench. Lonely, bored and horny, he decided to stick his little dick into one of the many bench holes and started doing sexy times with it. This bench sure has a tight hole for being such a dirty and overused slut. I am usually not a size queen but the dude’s peen must have been tiny for it to fit through a bench hole. I hope he wore protection at least. 

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Since Elena has already described parts of the opening ceremony, I thought it would be nice to have some visual aid. I fell asleep during parts of the ceremony, but good thing it was only when the countries came out to walk (by the time I woke up they still weren’t done). Well anyways like Elena said, the opening ceremony was amazing. It was something I’ve never seen before both artistically and technically. I love LCD screen so when I saw HUGE movable LCD screen, I was astound. China has really set the bar for the Olympics and I can only imagine how the next two and half weeks will be like.

Best of luck to all the athletes.

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I just finished watching the Opening Ceremonies, and it’s hard to find a word besides, “Wow.” Artistically, it was everything I’d hoped for and more. Zhang Yimou really outdid himself. I have strong feelings about the Chinese government’s political and religious oppression. But like many others, I put those aside for the sake of the athletes and the high Olympic principles that drive them. I geek out over the Olympics. I lose all my cynicism and become a kid again. More »

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