To celebrate the inauguration of U.S. President Barack Obama, Ningin asked members of the Asian American political community to blog about what this historic event means to each of them. This guest blog post is from Keith Kamisugi, director of communications at the Equal Justice Society, a San Francisco-based strategy group working on race issues in law and in popular culture. He served on the steering committee of the Asian American and Pacific Islanders for Obama Leadership Council, the campaign’s official AAPI advisory body. He blogs at equaljusticesociety.org and at hapihour.org. More »

12 Comments

Asian American International Film Festival is calling for entries for 2009!

Held by Asian Cinevision (ACV), New York City’s longest running festival of Asian and Asian American films is looking for new talent. Films featured at last year’s festival included “Half-Life“, “Ping Pong Playa“, “Kissing Cousins”, “Princess of Nebraska“, and “Wings of Defeat“. (Click to see what Ningin had to say about those films!) More »

7 Comments

Joe Inoue’s (井上ジョー) new single “Closer” finally went on sale December 17. It debuted on the Oricon sales chart at #22. The song has had an incredible YouTube run of almost 800 fan uploaded videos before its official release. Propelled by the release of the Naruto Shippuuden Opening trailer, “Closer”-themed fan subs, karaoke, fan cover versions, and slideshow videos quickly spread across YouTube.

Born in Los Angeles, Japanese-American Joe Inoue grew up to be fluent in three things: English, Japanese, and music. Joe plays every instrument in the songs he writes: guitar, bass, drums, and finally the vocals.

In 2005, he signed a record deal with Ki/oon Records in Japan. Joe released his debut e.p.”IN A WAY” in 2007, followed by his first single “HELLO!”.

“CLOSER” is his second single. It comes packaged with a 2009 Naruto Shippudden calendar and sticker as a sweet (pronounced suh weeet!) bonus!

Visit Joe’s website here. More »

14 Comments

Last week, I had the opportunity to show my support of ethnic print media by attending KoreAm Journal’s Benefit Show at the Laugh Factory in Long Beach, Calif. The benefit was coordinated as an SOS effort to keep KoreAm afloat amidst the harsh economic times. Despite the short amount of planning time, the event managed top garner an impressive turnout.

The event’s performers included headlining comedians Kevin Shea, Eliot Chang, Randall Park, Walter Hong, Andy Hur and PK, the event coordinator and Kollaboration executive director. Note to self: bring an extra pair of pants in the future to avoid pissing yourself again. That’s how funny they all were. Just kidding, I didn’t really pee in my pants. Don’t want to relive any traumatic childhood memories, now. More »

30 Comments

Presented by the Asian American Writers’ Workshop

Featuring David Henry Hwang and B.D. Wong in a special celebration of M. Butterfly

The Workshop presents a Lifetime Achievement Award to Tony Award-winning playwright David Henry Hwang to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his groundbreaking play M. Butterfly. We’ll reunite Mr. Hwang with Law & Order actor B.D. Wong in a special reading and conversation with Oskar Eustis, the Artistic Director of The Public Theater.

We will also honor Fiction award-winner Mohsin Hamidfor The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Nonfiction award-winner Vijay Prashad for The Darker Nations, and Poetry Award-winner Sun Yung Shin for Skirt Full of Black.

All guests will receive a free paperback of M. Butterfly, published by Plume. Purchase tickets online to the Monday, December 8, 2008 by clicking here.

5 Comments

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: More »

5 Comments

One day I was browsing the web and I was reading up on some Asian American issues. Somehow I came across a link to a film festival in San Francisco. It was called the SFIAAFF which stands for the San Francisco Asian American International Film Festival. I also knew of some people in a Facebook groups and some Asian American message boards that were buzzing about it. I read up on it and decided on a spur of the moment to attend it. More »

18 Comments

James Yee, the former US Army Guantanamo Chaplain and 2008 National Delegate for Barack Obama was out doing some grassroots campaigning in Ohio from October 23-26 for the Democratic Presidential Nominee. He made stops in Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati.

During the four days, Capt Yee made several Get Out The Vote presentations at major Islamic centers in Columbus and Cincinnati, also focusing on Muslim Participation in the Political Process The American Muslim vote will make a serious impact this year in several key battleground, swing states which have significant Muslim constituencies - Ohio being one of them. More »

11 Comments

Part 2

Two basic questions reveal much about any animal: What does it eat? Where does it live? Sung Kang’s a breed of his own in the film world, winning fans with roles that shatter Asian stereotypes. He lives in Los Angeles, and he eats, well, some interesting stuff. Since he owns a restaurant, I thought it would be fun to talk chow with Sung. And it was. You won’t believe what he does with ice cream.

More »

45 Comments

Taiyo Na, a 25-year old renaissance man of word, sound and action, released his first full-length solo album Love Is Growth in March of 2008 through Issilah Productions.

Influenced as much by Curtis Mayfield as it is Nas, Ben Harper or Chris Iijima, Love Is Growth is a blend of gritty New York hip-hop and classic American soul. Featuring collaborations with singers Vudoo Soul, Conchita Campos and Emily C. Chang, rapper/producer Koba, jazz violinist Jason Kao Hwang, guitarists Minimum Tek of Outernational and Mark Concerto of P.I.C. and more, the album is composed, arranged and produced entirely by Taiyo. Socially conscious, often funky and always personal, the album showcases the artist’s urgency, scope and depth through songs such as the champion’s anthem title track, the pulsating introduction “One More Time” and the ethereal rock-soul ballad “Take My Breath Away.” More »

8 Comments

Kal Penn, the Asian American actor who has starred in several movies, including the famous “Harold and Kumar” stoner movie franchise (in which he plays “Kumar”), was spotted in a green neon vest working on the floor of the Democratic National Convention this past week. Being a big supporter of Senator Barack Obama, the 31 year-old actor has been traveling around the country hoping to lend his star power to generate more support for the Presidential nominee.

More »

20 Comments

As we gear up for next month’s release of Ping Pong Playa, here’s more of my conversation with Roger Fan. An interview is always about the artist’s thoughts. But we had such a great rapport, I couldn’t help but share a few of my own. Roger has a natural love for the human race that makes him an excellent listener. Here’s more on Asian film, American film, stereotypes, and Justin Lin.

More »

78 Comments

Yeah, I’m the lucky girl standing next to Roger Fan. When I finally met him at “Finishing the Game”’s New York City premiere last October, I felt like we’d known each other forever. Roger, one of the film’s stars, was the unofficial blogger of FTG’s 2007 Grassroots Tour. Besides spending most of the year at film festivals and campuses, connecting with the fans, Roger also spent countless hours documenting the tour in pictures and funny descriptions, much to the delight of rabid fans like me. If you got a MySpace comment from Finishing the Game, it was most often Roger’s doing. We emailed back and forth, and I teased him about how great he looked, bare-chested and suntan-oiled, as the cocky Breeze Loo circa 1973.

Then I interviewed him by phone while writing up Finishing the Game for a local newspaper. Truth be told, I was lucky the article got run at all. Asian-American film is pretty much off the radar where I live; I had only 850 words for a review of Finishing the Game AND a “wide angle” on Asians in Hollywood! But Roger, smart Brown alum that he is, gave me so much great material that would not fit in that tiny box. And I had the tall order of editing it and giving my fellow Midwesterners a taste of what’s happening in the Asian-American community.

More »

78 Comments