Not me, but interesting none the less.

She’s cute!

Hello Kitty Taser Gun – Hello Kitty Hell.

So many levels of awesome and wrong at the exact same time.

Hatttip to the most excellent Laughing Squid

Found this via the most excellent Angry Asian Man.

Noodle your brain a bit and send in your nominations!

******

4.07.2009

who are the 30 most influential asian americans under 30?

What’s up, my people. Just thought I’d repost and remind everyone about this. I would still love to hear your input…

Looking ahead to the month of May, I’m putting together a feature called The 30 Most Influential Asian Americans Under 30. Over thirty days, I’ll be profiling thirty young individuals who are making an impact in their respective fields, in their communities, and the world at large.

I’m still sort of figuring out how to do this. The now-defunct APA political website politicalcircus.com put together a list like this many, many years ago, and I always thought it was a pretty good idea. So I’m bringing it back. But I need your help.

I’m putting the call out. I already have several people in mind who are going to make the cut, but this list won’t be very good unless I get some suggestions from you. It could be anyone — artists, activists, athletes, politicians, entrepreneurs — as long as they’re 30 years old or younger. It could be someone you’re aware of on a national level, someone in your own community, or someone you know personally.

via angry asian man.

LapPOP! A blog showcase as part of APATURE!

Sunday September 21, 2008 from 12:30pm – 3:00pm

Theater Rhinoceros

2926 16th St
San Francisco, California 94103

Website: http://www.locusarts.org

Price: $8

LapPOP! – a night of performance, readings, film and whatnot from notable APA bloggers and artists.
An intersection between geekery, personal expression, and pop culture.

Guest MC & Curator of Lap-POP! is Min Jung Kim of www.minjungkim.com

Featured Performers
Eric Nakagawa Co-Founder http://www.icanhascheezburger.com
Kari Unebasami Co-Founder http://www.icanhascheezburger.com
Ernie Hsiung, Writer http://www.littleyellowdifferent.com
Dino Ignacio, Artist http://www.dinoignacio.com
Annie Koh Writer http://www.undisclosedassociation.org
Hasan Minhaj, Comedian http://www.hasanminhaj.com

Bios:
Ernie Hsiung – http://www.8asians.com http://www.littleyellowdifferent.com
Ernie Hsiung started out as a humor columnist for Asian-American Internet Webzine IIStix.com while a Computer Science and Engineering major at UC Davis. Since then, he blogs at his personal website, littleyellowdifferent.com, where he was nominated for a SXSW Web Award in 2001 and has won seven Weblog Awards (Bloggies) including Weblog of the Year, most humorous weblog and best GLBT weblog, been in a bunch of magazines, and hot-linked by Margaret Cho.  (But that was ages ago.)  He is also the editor of 8Asians.com, a multi-user blog catered to the Asian-American community.

Dino Ignacio – http://www.dinoignacio.com
Dino Ignacio is a multi-media artist specializing in insurgent propaganda. He is responsible for many unAmerican acts. Most notably for the creation of Bert Is Evil. He has worked in print, web, video and broadcast. He is currently working in the gaming industry.

Min Jung Kim – http://www.minjungkim.com
Min Jung Kim is a bay area writer, long time blogger, and humor columnist for anyone else foolish enough to pay her for her rants and musings. She has been a participant in the multiple award winning experiment Survivorblog and started her original effluvia of online writing at II Stix as a featured columnist and then her own column for KoreAm Journal. She has never won a bloggie award but she’s won two anti-bloggies for being “Most Stalkable” and “Most Frequently Late To Work”.

Annie Koh – http://undisclosedassociation.org
Grew up in the tough streets of the Chicago suburbs, hustling library books and Girl Scout cookies for a living, before falling in with a bad crowd at Kearny Street Workshop and Locus Arts and becoming an arts/nonprofit junkie. Annie now lives in Seoul, translating, editing, organizing Party Benefit & Jam, and pondering her masters thesis on
modern Korean history. Top secret project blog at
undisclosedassociation.org

Hasan Minhaj – http://www.hasanminhaj.com/
Hasan Minhaj is a stand-up comedian, writer, and actor based in San Francisco, CA. He has performed at the Laugh Factory, Cobbs, Punchline, Improv, UCB Theater, and countless other venues. In 2004 he won Mr. India California, and went on to Mr. India America 2005 winning Mr. India West Coast. In the fall of 2006 he was a founding member of Gridiron Gang, UC Davis’ first standup comedy/sketch trio. He has recently been featured as an effinfunny.com ‘Comic to Watch’. He was a featured finalist in NBC’s Standup for Diversity, the nationwide search for the funniest comics of diverse backgrounds.

Eric Nakagawa – http://www.ericnakagawa.com/ http://www.ftwrnd.com
Eric Nakagawa is the co-founder of I Can Has Cheezburger? He is part of FTW R&D, an experimental internet company focused on building fun, collaborative websites and social communities that help participants have fun, feel good, and accomplish dreams.

Kari Unebasami – http://www.lulzftw.com http://www.ftwrnd.com
Kari Unebasami is an internet enthusiast and entrepreneur living and working in Honolulu. She is the co-founder of the lolcat megasite I Can Has Cheezburger? and is currently part of FTW R&D, a company trying to make The Internets a better place. She does not own a cat.

Some friends passed this info along and it was too good not to share.

******

Benefit Concert for Burma and Sichuan presented by AsianWeek
Host:AsianWeek

Saturday, August 2, 2008

7:00pm – 10:00pm

Glas Kat Nightclub

Email: helpconcert@gmail.com

Benefit concert for the victims of the cyclone in Burma (Myanmar) and the earthquake in Sichuan province presented by AsianWeek on Saturday, August 2, 2008 @ 7pm at Glas Kat Nightclub in San Francisco featuring Natalise, Mud, and Paul Kim.

http://www.asianweek.com/concert/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jpTanRy2Mc

Net proceeds will be donated to UMCOR – The United Methodist Committee on Relief to provide food, water, and temporary shelter in the most devastated areas of Burma and Sichuan province.

Purchase your tickets in advance at: http://www.asianweek.com/concert/

Feel free to stay for the afterparty hosted by Affinity SF: http://www.affinitysf.com

Now, very rarely do I ever dip onto the subject of Politics, and per the norm, this post isn’t so much about Politics as it is about Citizenship.  Good citizenship and what it means as an American Citizen.

Some 28 years ago I became an American  Citizen.  My and family had moved here to the states during December of 1975 on a sponsorship from my Aunt and Uncle. My father who was a respected Math teacher in Korea took a job pumping gas and learning to fix cars before he got a job with General Motors packing auto parts for distribution. My mother worked processing film.

My brother went to school in Detroit and was held back a year until he could learn English and then skipped forward two as he adjusted to schools here.  He still occasionally tells the story of his first day in class where, as per Korean custom, he had stood up when his name was called and how he was laughed at and humiliated because, well, that just wasn’t what kids were supposed to do when called on in school.  Me, I grew up with too much time to myself and would typically get myself into trouble.  Some things don’t really change.

But I do have memories of being 6-7 and helping my mother study for her American Citizenship exam.  Quizzing her on historical dates, the presidents, the constitution, and a whole new history and identity that would become part of our family and imbued into the fabric of our integrity and our family’s history going forward.  We really believed hard, desperately in the meritocratic opportunities in America. That with hard work you could find success. That you could do anything. You could be different and you could still belong.

It seemed sudden when the day came.

Mom and Dad woke us up early. Insisted on dressing us in “Better than Every Sunday” kind of dress, and taking us on a long car ride where my brother and I were likely wrestling with each other or kicking at each other from opposite sides of the back seat of the Caprice Classic.

We arrived at the nondescript government office and my brother and I sat and waited for hours on end while Mom and Dad went in for their interviews and exams.

I had my photo taken. And then my dad wrote my name for me on a citizenship declaration document.

And we were done.

And the following Monday at school I took the Pledge of Allegiance and wondered if it meant something more now that I was actually a citizen. I decided that it did. And I felt just little bit more normal for once.  And proud to be an American.

Flashforward to the present.

Can I say how amazing it is that my good friend Nicole Lee is embarking on this great trek in her life?

Awesome I say.

Awesome.

Awesome.

Awesome.

Our president, not so awesome.

And what a slap in the face to those who are trying so hard to be proud to be American.

In the category of “Stuff Asian American folks would like”

I present the video clip Katch.   Or as I call it, “Hello Kitty Voltron of Death Cuteness and Clay“

TEN BUCKS helps Us and and entertains You
AATC Fundraiser at Club NV Saturday 8/25
YOU’RE INVITED!

Synergy SF & Asian American Theater Company
Location: Club NV
525 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA
When: Saturday, August 25, 10:30PM

Please come out to enjoy a night of dancing in support of The Asian American Theater Company at Syngery SF’s production at Club NV.

RSVP to:
tina.hui@gmail.com
to be on the $10 guestlist all night with proceeds going towards Asian American Theater Company’s efforts. Simply RSVP here by responding with the first and last names of everyone in your party and the number of guests who will be responding!

For event details and further inquiries, including VIP package deals for birthday celebrations, please visit this site: www.synergysf.com

Thank you for supporting the Asian American Theater Company’s efforts in our community!

We hope to see you there!

www.asianamericantheater.org

You Wanna Be in Movies, You Wanna Be a Star
Non-Union Background Actors Needed for Short Film

Conrad Cimarra
is looking for some non-union actors to work as background for a few
hours in a cafe in Union City, on Sunday Aug. 26. . .Maybe 7-10 people at most. Shoot starts at 4pm.

We’ll provide a very light snack, invite to screening and post-party, and good times. It’ll be a fun way to hang out and spend your Sunday AUGUST 26.

Please call Conrad (310) 704-7504 for information or reply to this email to confirm.

In my inbox this morning:

—–Original Message—–
From: Rev Todd [mailto:revtoddrob@hotmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, January 24, 2007 5:32 AM

Subject: Asians in America

Asians don’t belong in America, and their presence here is similar to the Boers of South Africa. America was founded by whites. and whites are the only race that belong in this country. Any slant eyed gook in this country is nothing but a colonist oppressor that is living in someone else’s land, and they should be rounded up and shipped out of the country. And if the urine colored slitty eyed slopeheads won’t go peacefully, then the gooks should be put in concentration camps.

I’m not bothering with responding to his email but I’m stunned that a) people still troll, and b) people can be so blithingly stupid.

There are just so many things stunningly wrong/myopic/misanthropic and just *WRONG* with this email that I can’t even think about it.

The question I’d ask of my readers is how many of you have received similar emails within the last few days/months? From RevToddRob or from silmilar fools trying to get your goat.

So my coworker KC was telling me about this new geneology site. Geni.com
One that’s a social network for families.

With the latest news on Myspace, sexual predators, and etc etc, I had to take a moment to still my head.

After all, rolling one’s little Asian eyes that far back into your head can cause bystanders to believe you’ve gone through some sort of apoplectic shock.

And besides that, those sites and every last name based geneology site has utterly failed to garner any interest for me whatsoever.

I mean. Please.

“Last name Kim.  – 300K results. Wow. Look. You’re all related.”

Which is weird and a sardonic statement, I suppose, re: my Asian American experience, after all.

Because Korean Korean people do know and care about geneology and pedigree.  They know (duh) that you might be a Kim but they want to do from which district, which village.  Which royalty you might be related to.

I’ve only been asked this question while at student conferences over 12 years ago.  More likely than not, I was asked by someone from an Ivy League.  By someone who just might be as pedigreed and privileged as Wookie Kim    Who knows, maybe the questioner way back when was even related. We all are, you know.

“What kind of Kim *are* you?”

“Uh… I dunno.”

“Well then where did your father go to college?”

“Uh… I dunno”  (Which I realize is a dumb question but it’s not like my dad ever spoke about his life in Korea, being in the Navy, or where he went to college.  I only know snippets which I have to drag out of him.  Or from recollections of nags that my mother would bemoan like

‘Your daddy…Daddy neber takuh me out danshing likuh he takuh udder lady in school. But he nebber take mommy.  So sad poor mommy.’ 

I remember asking my Dad when I got home from that student conference those questions.

He finally told me which university he went to but I promptly forgot.  It never came up again. I mean, it’s not like they had a football team and Dad was catching the games at 4AM to root for the Firey Radish Pickles or anything.

But this I do remember.

“So, Daddy. What kind of Kim are we?”

“Who askuh you dat?”

“Someone from school.”

“Oh. I see.”

“So, Daddy, what kind of Kim *are* we?”

“Ah-bee-yushly. We are the *BEST* kinduh.”

“Ah-bee-yushly?”

“Yesuh.”

“Oh! Obviously. That’s just awesome.”

A clever one, my Daddy.

The Asian American Theater Company and Contemporary Asian Theater
Scene invite you to check out TeleMongol: The Story of A-HOLE TV

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/9590

So you know that really beautiful girl you see at parties?

When she laughs bells tinkle and angels gasp.
Because you know that she’s clever and lovely and passionate and doing something far more amazing than you.  And you just hope that maybe if, a few moments after she’s passed you, then you can touch your toe in some of the sparkle dust that she’s left in the trail of her shadow.  Because yes, she’s so much person that even her shadow leaves a trail.

And she’s intense. And you always feel a little bit of a fraud when she talks to you. Like surely you can’t be cool enough for this amazing person to be talking to you. But she does. Because she’s awesome and sincere and nice.  Genuinely nice.  And even if you do feel a little insecure enough to want to find some reason to dislike her, you just can’t.

Nope. Nothing.

And she’s *so* incredibly down that she’s even written and performed (and given you a signed copy of) a poem that you adore for it’s candor.  It is, after all, a FUCK YOU poem and heaven knows, all of us have a little emo enough in us to want to write one or have written one before.

Shailja is doing some amazing things.

She’s got performances in Africa.  Africa for gawdsakes people. Africa.

World Social Forum , in the groundbreaking cultural initiative:

Moving People: Africa-Asia Interface on Migration, Exile and Diaspora

This collaborative five-day event will encompass art exhibitions, panel discussions, poetry performances, film screenings, live music and theatre – and of course, excerpts from Migritude.

Follow Shailja.

AATC MasterClass: You’ve Finished Your Play, Now What?

Date From April 15, 2006 9:00 AM
Until April 15, 2006 2:00 PM

Location
Noh Space
2840 Mariposa Street
San Francisco, CA

Info Line (800) 838-3006
Website http://www.asianamericanthea…
I wish to register for this event.

Description
Join us for a master class with professional theater artists who will help take your completed play to the next stage. What happens once your fingers are off the keyboard? Who will read it? Where? This one day seminar will show you what the professionals do to prepare their play for production.

In this workshop we’ll cover:
-Preparing For The First Read-Through: What to bring, what to listen for.
-Collaborate, not Co-Write: How to use the talent (directors, actors, etc) as collaborators.
-Walk an Aisle in Theirs Shoes: Experiencing the play as an audience does. Or might.
-Note taking: To note or not to note. And what to do with them once you’ve taken them.
-Fielding Feedback: From collaborators, audience, your mother.

Conducted by: Norman Gee (OAKLAND PUBLIC THEATER), Jeannie Barroga, Playwright/Instructor, Conrad Cimarra (SFMT, ‘The Debut’), Alan Quismorio (Crowded Fire, ‘One Big Lie’), and others.

Requirements: paper, pens/pencils, laptops are handy, portable printer is even handier; a minimum 3-page scene you have been working on.

Vietnamese lunch is included.

Course Fee – $150

Asian American Theater Company (AATC)

Better work on those abs if you wanna apply.

Well, it worked for the Much Music VJ search, didn’t it?

******
VJs & TELEVISION PERSONALITIES CASTING
============
Are you Asian or part Asian?
Are you a music-lover?
Are you an aspiring talent?
Are you a superstar waiting to be discovered?
Are you a VJ?
============
ABS-CBN International is looking for Asian-American VJs and television
personalities with a passion for music and a hip sense of style.
============
If you’re 21 or over and have a love for music and want to kick it on
TV, then swing by ABS-CBN International. It’s your once in a lifetime
chance to invade the airwaves!
============
Please bring a resume, headshot, ID and full body shot.
============
Casting Dates:
Tuesday, April 11th
Wednesday, April 12th
Tuesday, April 18th
============
Time:
1:00 pm to 7:00 pm
============
Location:
ABS-CBN International
150 Shoreline Drive
Redwood City, CA 94065
============
For more info:
casting@abs-cbni.com

I’m super psyched about presenting Lap-Pop! 2.0 this upcoming month. Should be a really fun lineup and I’d love for you to come. Please feel free to spread the love and let your friends know. Blog it, pimp it out, plan to come.

RSVP here

http://upcoming.org/event/65353/

And details to promote the event if you like are here.
http://locusarts.org/calendar.html?date=15+3+2006

Thanks!

Min Jung

******
Lap-POP! 2.0 – OMFG IRL STFU LOL
Presenting a night of performance & readings & photography & crafts from notable APA bloggers and artists. Lap-POP! is an intersection between geekery, personal expression, and pop culture. Wifi a plenty. BYOG = Bring Your Own Geekery. (laptop,digital camera, camphones,etc etc)

Guest MC & Curator of Lap-POP! is Min Jung Kim

Visual/Showcase Artists Curated by Courtney Patubo

Apr 15, 2006 8:00pm
SPACE180 – 180 Capp Street, 3rd Floor (@17th Street), San Francisco
Admission: $7-10 sliding scale
* Doors Open at 7:30pm. Show at 8!

Performing Artists
Kevin Cheng http://www.kevnull.com
Michael Hurt http://metropolitician.blogs.com/
Nicole Lee, http://www.neekole.com
Gerard Reyes, http://www.Gerard-Reyes.com
Paolo Sambrano, http://www.subversiveirony.com

Visual/Showcase Artists
Claudine Co, http://www.winterjade.com
Robert Kranzke, http://www.cecilseaside.livejournal.com?
Winona Tong, http://www.winonatong.com

* Note * Flying Spaghetti Monster items available for sale to support Locus Arts!

Musical Performance
Locus Regular and Blogger, Goh Nakamura, www.gohnakamura.com

LOCUS – Space 180, 180 Capp Street, San Francisco, CA 94110

http://www.locusarts.org