Any basketball fans out there? Excited for the upcoming NBA season? I sure am – I’ve been saving my lunch money for one of those huge HDTVs and getting NBA League Pass from Comcast so I can watch every single NBA game from my room. Not that I don’t love the hometown Warriors, it’s just that after our star player Baron Davis decided to jump ship, I haven’t been… meh… the W’s are gonna suck this season. I wanna watch good games with good teams!

Which got me wondering – how many Asian players are currently on an NBA roster? You might have heard of Wang Zhizhi, the first Asian player in the NBA with stints on the Mavericks, Clippers, and Heat, or Yuta Tabuse, Japan’s (shorter) version of Michael Jordan who played sparingly with the Suns. Little-known Sean Chen made it as far as the Sacramento Kings’ preseason roster, but was cut at the end. Remember that huge guy in Rush Hour 3? 7’9” Sun Ming Ming has dabbled with the NBA as well. However, there’s only three currently on an NBA team roster – perennial all-star Yao Ming, second year player Yi Jianlian, and rookie Sun Yue.
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Tags: basketball, joe alexander, nba, sun yue, yao ming, yi jianlian

DBSK/TVXQ member Jae Joong will star in a Korean-Japan joint drama called “Heaven’s Postal Delivery Man” with female counter part by Han Hyo Joo (Iljimae).

Jae Joong’s will play a mysterious postman (from Heaven) that delivers the messages from dead relatives/friends’ to the living. Han Hyo Joo will be a pure, innocent girl who has recently lost her lover, but hasn’t forgotten him. The two end up working together at the same job and slowly fall in love. How cliché.

There is a kissing scene where one of them (it’s not said who) says to the other “I want to kiss you” which is then followed by a romantic kissing scene. Sounds cheesy but I’m excited to see it since Jae Joong has rehearsed the drama seven times and his acting has been said to have improved significantly.

The series will be a “telecinema” (tv series and movie) made up of 7 different stories with “Heaven’s Postal Delivery Man” as the first. It will officially air in May 2009 on SBS.

Tags: drama, han hyo joo, heaven's postal delivery man, iljimae, jae joong, korea, sbs, telecinema

Many people are very familiar with Tim Kang’s face from the various Home Depot and Cingular commercials he has done

Tim Kang is a very busy man these days popping into a dozen or so shows on t.v. I have seen him in the t.v. series Ghost Whisperer, Chappelle Show, Law and Order, Third Watch, and The Unit to name a few.

Tim Kang was born in San Francisco, California and he studied acting at Russia’s Moscow Art Theatre School. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Berkeley and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University

Tim Kang plays as agent Kendall Cho who works for the CBI, California Bureau of Investigation, alongside Simon Baker, the star of the new show The Mentalist. It comes on every Tuesday night at 9pm eastern on CBS. Tim Kang is a regular cast member of The Mentalist and that’s really good, because we need more Asian men beaming into American households on a regular basis.
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Tags: agent, Asian men, california, cingular, harvard, home depot, rambo, san francisco, the mentalist, Tim Kang, two weeks notice, uc berkeley

Despite being leaked almost a month early all over the Internet, Jay Chou’s new album “Capricorn (魔杰座 Mó Jié Zuò)” has sold some 1 million copies in its first week. The President of Cpop has set a sales mark of 4 million for himself even though his 9th studio album has received lukewarm reviews.

Decide for yourself with these videos!

Jays’ official site has the video for “In A Single Moment (给我一首歌的时间 Gei Wo Yi Shou Ge De Shi Jian)”:
http://www.jay2u.com/

For English-readers, check out the unofficial fan site Jay-Chou.net.
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Tags: Capricorn, Dao Xiang, Fragrant Rice, Gei Wo Yi Shou Ge De Shi Jian, In A Single Moment, Jay Chou, Mo Jie Zuo, 周杰伦, 稻香, 给我一首歌的时间, 魔杰座

Japanese duo capsule (カプセル) is readying their new album “More! More! More!” to launch another Asian assault on the European electronica stronghold. After massive chart success producing Perfume, Nakata Yasutaka reunites with vocalist Koshijima Toshiko with “JUMPER” out now. It’s a seven minute rhythmic epic of overdriven basslines, guitar distortion and syncopated vocals. B-side track is “the Time is Now”

“JUMPER” goes on sale November 11. “More! More! More” hits stores on November 19.

“More! More! More!” tracklisting:
1. runway
2. more more more
3. the Time is now
4. JUMPER
5. Phantom
6. gateway
7. Pleasure ground
8. the mutations of life
9. e.d.i.t.
10. Adventure
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Tags: capsule, electronica, jpop, jumper, Koshijima Toshiko, More! More! More!, music video, MV, Nakata Yasutaka, Perfume, PV, カプセル

Ningin’s own NYAF cosplay contest had participants that came from anime, manga, video-games and original concepts. Our 2nd runner up Mimo Moore represents a part of this subculture facet takes it origins from Music. J-rock, Goth Rock, and Visual Kei inspire  cosplay participants like Mimo to embrace the genres style and create amazing looks. Mimo Moore’s own creativity for the unique utilizes talent and imagination to form dramatic androgynous beauty.

Q: Was this your first time cosplaying?
A: No, but this was my first anime con and I loved it!

Q: What are some of the things that first inspired you to cosplay?
A: I’m actually very new to the world of cosplaying and didn’t know it even existed until I stumbled upon it a few months ago while surfing the net.  Obviously anime was a huge inspiration, but what really convinced me to give it a try were some great photos I had seen on the net of “professional cosplayers.”  They pretty much looked like models with a themed shoot, and I’m not new to the world of modeling.  I’ve been a professional model for about 5 years now, and versatility has always been my strong point.  Cosplaying seemed like a fun, creative way of combining all of my talents, skill, and experience without making it seem like a “job”, I truly enjoy it.

Q: How does cosplay relate to your career as a model?
A: The two are amazingly intertwined.  I’ve made some drastic changes when it comes to modeling in the past few months. I modeled almost exclusively within the American hip hop industry and now I’ve been doing mostly Visual Kei.  It’s two completely different worlds and lifestyles, but I can relate to both of them.
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Tags: anime, cosplay, mimo moore, new york anime festival

I like to bitch about Asian celebs. I also like to eat. It’s like my mouth has to move constantly. There is also one thing that I do to keep my mouth busy but I will not divulge the details. Anyway, I am a big foodie especially when it comes to Asian food. I have quite a few great Asian eating establishments in Asia and North America that I would like to recommend to you so I will start doing it in a series of blog entries titled “Eating Good Asian Food In XXX”. This will help me fill my time when I don’t have a good reason to rip the Asian celebs apart.

The first restaurant on my recommendation list is a restaurant located in New York City that specializes in Szechuan Cuisine. Szechuan cuisine has become increasingly popular with the Chinese and Non-Chinese diners in recent years.  Just take a walk down the famous 24-hr restaurant street in Beijing, Gui Jie (which literally means “Ghost Street”), and you will see every other restaurant there serving Szechuan style Hot Pot. The restaurants are packed even during the hot and humid summer days!
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Tags: Eating Good Asian Food In New York City, Homes Kitchen, Szechuan Restaurant

Another video for you guys. This week has been BoA’s US debut starting point and as fangirls we just have to point it out our way. The song “Eat you up” has really grown on me. However the music videos, well I only really like the dancing in the Asian version. This video blog expresses our feelings about the US MV. Sorry about our dry humor but we do this spontaneously. I’m not a director or an actor and lord knows I should never be one.  Hope you enjoy!
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Tags: BoA, eat you up, fam, vlog

One of the biggest entertainment companies in Japan, Johnny’s Jimusho is expanding their company to Korea. In the past few years there have been countless numbers of boy bands and groups coming from both Korea and Japan. Way too many, but apparently we need more! That’s why Johnny’s has decided to expand into Korea.

Popular Japanese groups such as ARASHI, KAT-TUN, and NewS have huge followings in Korea. ARASHI even has around 200,000 fans in Korea alone, and the numbers are quickly growing. Because of this, Johnny’s has announced that they will soon enter the Korean market.

They need to stop. Korea only has a few decent boy bands, like DBSK, Big Bang, and SHINee. Japan has… hardly any, except for ARASHI.

Tags: arashi, dbsk, expansion, japan, johnny's entertainment, jpop, KAT-TUN, korea, kpop, News

Read Part 1.

Here’s the continuation of my personal favourite list of tropes and cliches for Japanese console role-playing games.

107. Arbour Day Rule: At some point, you’re going to have to talk to a tree and do what it says.

For some reason, this struck me to be the most hilarious thing on the list. I think it’s the “Arbour Day” part that cracked me up the most.

128. First Law of Fashion: All characters wear a single costume which does not change over the course of the game. The only exception is when characters dress up in enemy uniforms to infiltrate their base.

129. Second Law of Fashion: Any character’s costume, no matter how skimpy, complicated, or simply outlandish, is always completely suitable to wear when climbing around in caves, hiking across the desert, and slogging through the sewers. It will continue to be completely suitable right afterwards when said character goes to meet the King.

130. Third Law of Fashion: In any futuristic setting, the standard uniform for female soldiers and special agents will include a miniskirt and thigh-high stockings. The standard uniform for all male characters, military or not, will include an extraordinarily silly and enormous hat.

These laws of fashion are true. I especially agree with the first two. However, I am unsure about the whole “extraordinarily silly and enormous hat” for the males.

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Tags: console rpg, japan, tv tropes, video game