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:
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Tags: APIA, asian american, Barack Obama, Ehren Watada, internment camp, james yee, japanese, Olympia, Ron Oshima, Sam Song, Seattle, Washington state, World War II

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.
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Tags: asian american, Benson Lee, Center for Asian American Media, Planet B-Boy, san francisco

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.
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Tags: american, APIA, asian, asian american, Chinese, Christine Chen, cincinnati, college democrats, columbus, dayton, delegate, democrat, election, filipino, Gov Gary Locke, jacl, james yee, muslim, national, obama, ohio, Politics, vote

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

Brian Tee who has starred in the movie The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, is going to be a regular cast member in the series Crash on the television station Starz. He plays EMT Eddie Choi, who is caught between the Korean gang world he left behind and the mainstream medical world where he wants to fit into in Crash.

Crash is based on Crash, the movie of the same name, that came out in the year 2004 that followed the lives of everyday people in the city of Los Angeles that eventually intertwined together.

The first show airs on Starz, October 17, this Friday Eastern Standard Time. I watched the first two episodes earlier tonight here: http://www.starz.com/originals/crash/screeningroom

The first few minutes of the show is sure to grab your attention. The characters have a lot of flavor and they also were able to make you place yourself in their shoes, feeling their pain. They also made me yell a few times at the screen at them either in fear or anger.
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Tags: Brian Tee, cops, Crash, gangs, Korea Town, police, Starz, T.V., Tokyo Drift

http://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov/governorlocke/bios/bio.htm

http://www.mltsf.com/lawyer-attorney-1067081.html

On Friday October 3, 2008, James Yee and other notables attended an Obama Victory Fund event at the home of Laurie and Scott Oki in Bellevue, WA. The Asian American Finance Committee also headed the event.

Representative Mike Honda was scheduled to attend this event, but he was unable to attend, because he was voting on the Emergency Bill to bail out Wall Street. The first person that spoke at this event was Washington State Senator, Maria Cantwell. She talked about why Obama is good for Washington State and for America. There were several people who were there from the Microsoft community. It was not surprising, because Microsoft is headquartered in Seattle.
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Tags: Asian American Finance Committee, Bellevue, Chinese, civil liberties, Dale Minami, Didi Saluja, election, Emergency bill, Fred Korematsu, Gary Locke, Indian American, james yee, japanese, Laurie Oki, Maria Cantwell, Microsoft, Mike Honda, National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, Obama Victory Fund, Scott Oki, Seattle, wall street, Washington

Hello everyone on ningin! I recently talked to a trailblazer by the name of Laurence Louie who is the editor-in-chief of the hot new Asian American newspaper, Native Tongue. I was first introduced to him through another friend of mine. I began viewing his website and his newspaper online. I noticed how he and his staff desperately wanting to make a change in the Asian American community on campus, locally, and nationally. The interview that I have had with this wonderful man Laurence follows.
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Tags: activism, Asian American issues, Asian culture, Asian men, Boston, Chinatown, Chinese, discrimination, Massachusetts, media, minorities, Native Tongue, New Jersey, newspaper, Rutgers, Stanford

In eastern New Orleans there is a town called Versailles that was founded by Vietnamese refugees. After Hurricane Katrina blew through their town and they picked up the pieces, they had to fight against the city’s choice of putting a landfill just a few miles from their town that they cultivated with so much love. They stood and fought their ground. Now their struggle and joyous victory will be turned into a full-length feature by filmmaker S. Leo Chiang. Please click on the following links included in this blog to learn more about these courageous residents story.

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Tags: catholic, Center for Asian American Media, church, courage, democracy, environment, Hurricane Katrina, landfill, Mayor Ray Nagin, New Orleans, refugees, S.Leo Chiang, Versailles, Vietmanese, Vietnam

http://www.boston.com/ae/tv/articles/2008/09/05/samurai_girl_fights_with_might/

I watched this miniseries this weekend all by myself in my living room. I was skeptical of it at first sight due to the murder of Jamie’s brother Jack Yang. I was like “oh here we go again, someone who could of served as a strong Asian male character was murdered within the first 15 minutes of the show yet AGAIN”. After that I wanted to grind my teeth out of my head. I proceeded to watch it moaning and groaning. Then I found out my mind was getting very biased, so I tried to make it as unbiased as possible.

So the plot involves what they call a “Japanese princess” whose destiny is written from a 500 year old scroll to become a sort of savior. She was adopted into a family that turns out to be warring with a rival Yakuza clan, equipped with a ninja assassin army. How many of us haven’t seen a ninja, samurai, or yakuza movie in our time? BUT it’s all about delivery. I feel that this mini-series wasn’t delivered well at all.

It left me feeling empty. I did enjoy some of the fighting scenes. I did not like the fact that her savior had to be someone non-Asian who happened to know all about the arts of the shinobi. He trained her to be such an excellent warrior. *rolls eyes really slow* Yeah, I’ve seen that before a blue million times. *yawns* What also pained me was that her “yakuza groom” to be was such a schmuck. He was annoying and uncaring. There was a part in the movie where he told her that he wished he was a better man. He said he was too selfish and weak for her. I was like omg! That certainly didn’t go over well for me with how an Asian male would/should be portrayed in the media. Her father was also uncaring and just about every Asian male on the show, save for her family’s driver, Sab Shimono.

Last mini-episode airs tonight.

Tags: abc, jack yang, jamie chung, japanese, martial arts, ninja, samurai girl, san francisco, yakuza

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.”
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Tags: acoustic, asian american, beau sia, blues, emcee, Entertainment, hip-hop, ishle yi park, music, new york, poetry, singer, songwriter, soul, taiyo na