Wake me up when September ends...

So I've been pretty discontent this past week for a host of reasons...

Although I was happy to see the Yankees' successful rally into a post-season (13th year in a row! Thanks, Joe Torre!!), I was really disappointed by the Mets pathetic loss today (which team has EVER blown a 7-game lead, with 17 games to go?!?! seriously...)-- not to mention that da Bears are having a pretty shitty season so far (even after benching Rex Grossman).

Random sports news aside, things haven't been going as I've hoped and it's probably a lot in my head.

This morning, I participated in the same Tunnel to Towers Run that I did last year-- but this year, nobody I knew was interested in running... =(

I woke up about an hour before the race and got to the starting line in Brooklyn 10 minutes late. The trucks that were meant to hold our baggage had already left and since the starts of the races were staggered for different groups, I ended up next to the armed forces.

I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to keep up with some of our servicemen, but the mugginess of the tunnel (along with my extra baggage weight) damn near killed me-- and my hands were so full that I couldn't high-five the officers who were waiting in the tunnel, in tribute to their fallen bretheren.

Disappointed...

On an unrelated topic, things haven't been progressing as I would have liked with a certain someone.

I know the problem is that I'm too passive to make a power move, but somehow I wish that things would just naturally fall into place...

And I've been very disturbed by the recent civilian uprising in Myanmar-- especially the killing of Buddhist monks.

Not to sound like an old, jaded man-- but I totally don't get what's going on in the world today.

There's also a bunch of other stuff that I can't even begin describing, but this is about all I can share at the moment.

Apologies for the lack of illustration-- I promise that I'll post up photos from my wonderful San Francisco vacation soon!

Catching up...

Apologies for being MIA the past few months.

I was too busy being sexy on the beach to write on the internet. B-)

Anywho, I figured that I'd catch up on a few back topics that I missed...

First off, the men from the Doghouse Radio Show-- J.V. and Elvis (blog page: http://jvandelvis.blogspot.com/).

A few months ago, these radio COMEDIANS were fired for making supposedly racist comments against Asian Americans.

Basically, they did this prank phone call to a Chinese restaurant where they had a computer speak to the restaurant workers. They made some dumb remarks (e.g. "slimp flied lice") and being the post-Imus era, the so called "representatives" of the Asian American community got into a huge uproar which eventually led to the Doghouse show being canned (and ultimately, the scrapping of the entire radio station, 92.3 Free FM).

Counter-protesters called upon the free speech rights in the United States Constitution to defend J.V. and Elvis, but I also disagree with that.

Hate speech should NEVER be tolerated, but J.V. and Elvis' remarks were anything but hate speech.

It was a JOKE (albeit a pretty stupid one).

If the Organization of Chinese Americans wants to advocate a cause, they should be looking to better conditions for immigrant workers in Chinatowns across America or helping out Southeast Asian refugees who aren't able to obtain the resources they need to create a better lives for themselves.

It makes me sick that some activists called the firing of J.V. and Elvis a "victory for the Asian American community". They do NOT speak on behalf of anyone but their own small group and they certainly do not represent my own opinion.

J.V. and Elvis are COMEDIANS and as comedians, it is their job to make jokes-- which can sometimes fall flat. They apologized for their comments (and J.V. even mentioned his wife, who happens to be Asian American) and made it very clear that they are NOT racists. They've done this EXACT type of prank to Catholic Book Stores, Hotel Receptionists, etc. (with much funnier results) numerous times!!

If Asian advocacy groups really want to find entertainment that is blatantly racist against Asian Americans, maybe they should look no further than those moronic "Rush Hour" movies, which somehow keep topping the box office. =P

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In another Asian American-related topic, I wanted to mention that lunatic who tried to jump off the George Washington Bridge in June.

In the middle of the morning rush hour, some crazy man decided that he'd walk up the cables of the George Washington Bridge and throw himself off.

Instead of actually following through with his plans, though, he just stayed on the bridge for hours as police and fire workers tried to talk him down-- eventually climbing the cables themselves and rescuing the man.

I personally don't know what it feels like to be severely depressed, but I believe that if I ever were feeling that badly, I would never cause the type of disturbance and waste in resouces that this man caused. People were stuck in their cars on the bridge for 3-4 hours because of him!!

Someone called these values I have very Asian-- since I feel this need to cause as little inconvenience as possible for the people around me-- and I kind of wonder if it is...

We live in this culture of shame, where we are so conscious about how everyone else sees us and try so hard to hide our shortcomings.

I once came across a blog by an Asian American woman, who had some interesting insights about mental health in the Asian community (blog site: http://wrathfulgrape.livejournal.com/):

"... if there is one thing we Asians are good at, it's covering up things with a shiny perfect veneer while denying that there are very real problems that we should not be ashamed to address."

From your perspective, what does clinical depression feel like?

"I am an Asian American and in the general perception among Asians, I am not allowed to feel this way. I am expected to just pull myself up by my bootstraps and deal with it."

Sadly enough, I feel that she is right and somehow, I wish I could solve all these problems in our community...

=(

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And in a psychosis-related topic, I've been listening to these two versions of a song by my FAVORITE rocker, Ryan Star.

He has one song called Perfect which I've related to multiple times.

In an acoustic version (on his piano), the lyrics are as follows:

"Rubber bands are holding me together,

I need the perfect smile for my mother.

Look, we've done away with our disease.

When I'm dead, you'll know me by my teeth...

You're perfect now, just smile."

This version of the song (from his "songs from the eye of an elephant" album) had a very personal feel and I could just imagine someone looking in the mirror, thinking these thoughts to himself as he felt like he was falling apart.

In a newer version (on Ryan's "Dark Horse" CD), the song is performed with a live band at a concert and the lyrics sound more like he's talking to someone else (instead of to himself):

"I wish that you could see what I am seeing,

A mirror in my eyes for your believing.

I'll never know the reason that you cry.

Just know that I believe you'll be all right...

You're perfect now, just smile."

To me, I hope that it means that after being able to convince himself that he's perfect, he's able to pass along the feeling to another person...

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Anyway, that's the end of my random rambling/ranting/catching up for this cloudy Sunday afternoon...

Thanks to anyone who still reads this stuff! ;-)

Lucy Liu in a VAMPIRE MOVIE!!

One of my biggest gripes has always been the lack of Asian American representation in entertainment.

Back when I was in high school, I actually acted in a few shows and considered becoming an actor. One of my college recommenders actually saw me perform and encouraged me to apply to NYU Tisch.

But my mother, being the practical Asian parent, sat me down for a talk.

"Honey, I love you and want you to be happy," she said. "But you're an Asian male and to be totally honest, you're not good-looking enough to be successful."

So that was the end of that dream.

While many might see that as a really harsh conversation, I actually really appreciated my mom's candidness and am glad that I didn't take that path.

And after seeing the reception for a recent film starring a popular Asian American actor (who happened to also graduate from my high school), I can definitely understand the reality of why more Asian Americans don't pursue entertainment careers: the industry is just not very accepting.

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A few months ago, I attended the TriBeCa film festival and saw a movie starring Lucy Liu, called "Rise: Blood Hunter".

It was a horror thriller about a reporter, Sadie Blake, who was writing a story about teenage "vampire" cult, but ended up being turned into a real vampire herself. She wakes up in a morgue and spends the rest of the movie attempting to gain revenge against those who killed her. It was sort of like a mix of "Kill Bill: Volume 1" and "Underworld"-- but probably closer in quality to "Kill Bill."

Surprisingly, the movie was extremely entertaining and I found it especially interesting that Ms. Liu's character did not have any qualities that pegged her as Asian American; her part could have easily been played by a Caucasian actress!

But what I did not appreciate is how the movie poster completely changes Ms. Liu's face to a point of unrecognizability-- the eyes have obviously been enlarged and dyed a different color. And furthermore, the lack of promotion for this film has been extremely disheartening; "Blood Hunter" was put into limited release earlier this month and there's been virtually no word on this movie. Even clunker movies like "The Grudge 2" or "Gothika" received more marketing support than this!

I wonder if this says something about the amount of faith that the entertainment industry has in movies that are led by Asian American actors...

In case anyone's interested in checking out this flick, here's the website: http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/rise/index.html

(And just as a sidenote, I wanted to mention that Marilyn Manson and Nick Lachey both make cameos in this movie! Hahahah.)

Remembering Vincent Chin...

On the night of June 19th, 1982, a Chinese American man named Vincent Chin was attacked by two Caucasian men, Ronald Ebens and Michael Nitz, who had just lost their jobs at a Chrysler auto plant in Detroit, Michigan.

They thought that Mr. Chin was of Japanese descent and blamed him for "stealing" their jobs.

On the night of his bachelor party, Mr. Chin was beaten over the head with a baseball bat by those two men.

Four days later, he died from injuries he sustained during the beating and the 400 guests, who were invited to his wedding, instead attended his funeral.

The two men who killed Vincent Chin were eventually given three years probation and fined $3,780.

This case is considered the incident that galvanized the Asian American community to start the pan-ethnic Asian American movement.

_______________________________________________

Two nights ago, I saw a premier performance by the Pan Asian Repertory theater of "Carry the Tiger to the Mountain" - a staged documentary of the Vincent Chin case.

While I was touched to learn more about the story (I had studied it in my Asian American History class-- back in my days at good ol' U of Pee), I was seriously disappointed that today, twenty-five years after Mr. Chin's attack and subsequent death, the Asian American community has again slipped into seeming apathy.

The 25th anniversary of the case that supposedly brought together Asian Americans around the United States is barely causing a ripple in our community.

Hate crimes are unfortunately not a thing of the past and Asian Americans still experience the same ignorance and bigotry today that they faced twenty-five years ago.

For these reasons, I strongly urge anyone, who is interested in Asian American issues or wants to learn more about this case, to see the performance. It runs until tomorrow night- 25 years to the date when Vincent Chin died.

http://www.panasianrep.org/productionevents.htm?link=production

Back after a brief delay...

So I know haven't posted in a while (apologies to those who actually read this stuff!) and given that I am now a full quarter-century old, I've decided to come back!




There were about a zillion topics (many related to Asian American issues) that I've wanted to write about in the past few months, but internet access in my apartment has been limited and I was loathe to use my work time to blog. Now I have a t-mobile wireless internet account, so I might spend some more time posting.
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Some new events that have happened in between the lunar new year and the passing of my 25th rotation about the sun (and I will try to blog about all of these topics in due time...):

* Tragedy struck Virginia Tech in the form of an Asian American maniac, leaving me to question general Asian American values.

* Some lunatic tried to commit suicide by jumping off the George Washington Bridge during morning rush hour a few weeks ago-- causing tons of congestion and lost productivity, which made me quite annoyed. Some friends have since told me that I have "Asian ideals", as I believe that one should cause as less difficulty for everyone else, if they are really depressed to the brink of suicide.

* I met http://instantyang.blogspot.com/ writer, Jeff Yang, AND "Survivor: Cook Islands" winner, Yul Kwon, at this talk on Breaking Stereotypes of Asian American Men.

* My FAVORITE radio DJ's EVER were fired for being supposedly "racist" against Asian Americans-- which is total bullshit, since J.V. and Elvis' Doghouse Radio Show always made fun of EVERYONE (of all races and ethnicities) and was NEVER serious in its pranks.

* My interest in microfinance, especially through organizations like http://www.kiva.org/, was piqued; and coincidentally, I saw an off-broadway production, "In the Heights" (soon to be ON Broadway), that really related to this issue of investing in less affluent areas.

* I attended a Knicks game (vs. the Timberwolves) and those lewsers completely blew it.

And as these new developments were occurring in the world around us, the powers that be decided to give me more responsibility and entrust me to manage a new hire! Who woulda thunk that I'd have my own employee someday? heheheheh.

Anywho, there's just a sneak preview of what's to come. I'm also seeing a performance on the death of Vincent Chin (i.e. a Chinese man who was killed in Detroit 25 years ago-- by two white men, who thought he was Japanese and had "stolen" their jobs) in a few nights and I'm sure that'll be even more stuff to post!

Cheers to everyone!

Finishing up the year of the-- dog-house!! WHAAATTT???

So I had a pretty eventful Presidents' Day Weekend Saturday! (and apologies for not posting for a while-- internet's been down at the old studio...)

I woke up early to meet with one of my kiddies (i.e. mentees, from this Asian Mentoring Program at UPenn) at Bobby Flay's (i.e. one of the Iron Chef America) Mesa Grill Restaurant in Union Square! My little bro's applying to grad schools now and he ordered the sweet potato hash with poached eggs:

I can't believe how fast time has flown-- I had met my kid when he was just a freshman and now he's interviewing for PhD programs across the country!

Boy, do I feel old! (and jaded too-- since he's still very much involved with Asian American activism on college campuses, from which I feel so far removed...)

And afterwards, I walked over to Circuit City in Union Square see my two FAVORITE radio entertainers-- J.V. and Elvis of the DOGHOUSE Show!!

(For those of you who are unfamiliar, the Doghouse is this brilliant radio show that runs from 9-noon on weekday mornings on 92.3 Free FM-- www.923freefm.com, in case you were wondering where I stole the above photo from. The hosts are these hysterical boneheads, J.V. and Elvis, who do the greatest phone pranks and character voices in the world. One bit that they always have is a caller yelling out "DOGHOUSE!!" and they reply "WHHAAATTT???")

Of course, I was too intimidated to actually talk with these celebrities, so I just got their autographs and told Elvis that they have a great show. Check out their blog, if you have time: jvandelvis.blogspot.com

Afterwards, the day promptly went downhill... I went to see this show at radio city which had pretty good reviews:

It was a Chinese New Year Spectacular, and for the past few weeks, these Asians dressed in VERY traditional Chinese costumes were on almost every street corner in Manhattan handing out flyers for this show. I was thinking that the show would be horrid, but for some unknown reason, my mom and sister really wanted to see it.

It was definitely a lesson for me to trust my instincts more.

Not only was the show bad (it was just a bunch of talentless performers trying to sing and dance, while wearing tremendously exaggerated costumes), but there was this horrid theme of "Falun Gong is good" running through all of the songs.

(For those of you who haven't heard, Falun Gong is this religion that is supposedly being persecuted in China. The demonstrators seem to love putting together these graphic protests, full of fake blood and corpses all over the city.) All of the singing that day was about "slaying the red dragon" (a very subtle metaphor for Chinese communism =P) and "following the Way."

I wonder if it's too late to get our ticket money back...

And I also wanted to mention that I was quite offended to discover that the performers were mostly Chinese-AMERICANS!

The entire show had these garishly exaggerated costumes that only served to reinforce very ignorant stereotypes about Chinese people. The emcees were a white man (who narrated for the English speakers) and a Chinese woman (who narrated for the Chinese-speaking audience members and had this horrid accent whenever she tried to utter a word of English)-- God forbid they actually try something original and PC and have bilingual Chinese Americans act as emcees! =P

So anyway, as an Asian American, I was very put off at the idea that my fellow Asian Americans would put on a performance that was not only sloppily organized, but one that puts Asians back into these typecast roles that I've been seeing all my life.

Thumbs down to NDTV, the organizer of this horrid affair!

--------------------

So with that, I bid farewell to the year of the dog (i.e. the second such cycle, since the year I was born).

And say hello to the year of the PIG!!!

Mourning da Bears loss...

So this last weekend, I went to Chi-town to watch the big game with some proud Chicagoans, and hang out with some friends.

I was quite impressed to see the city decked out for their NFC Champion team--even the lion statues outside of the Art Institute had Chicago Bears helmets on!!!
(me with my beautiful soon-to-be doctor friend, in front of one of those lions...)

I bought a Bears hat just for the occasion and barely took it off all weekend, traveling all over the city to show my support for da Bears.

Here I am on the El (i.e. elevated train/metro) with my Michigan med school friend, who felt up my liver and let me feel her's too (while still wearing da Bears hat!):

And in front of the Millennium Park with my Fizzalicious gal pal:

And for a while, it seemed like it would be a glorious victory: Devin Hester returned the opening kickoff for a 92-yard touchdown, giving da Bears the lead-- only 14 seconds into the game!!

My native Chicagoan buddy and I were pretty optimistic!! Things were looking good at the end of the first quarter! (By the way, I HATE how my eyes are always closed on indoor digital camera photos...)But unfortunately, it was not to be and everything went downhill in the second quarter...

And worse... =(
So I'll swallow what Bears pride I had (after about 2 days in Chi-town) and take my hat off to Peyton Manning, who wins his first Super Bowl, is named MVP and can put to rest his reputation as a choker:

*Disclaimer: I have to admit that I am not a big football fan by any means, but being in Chicago and having the whole city putting their hopes on this scrappy, underdog team made me more involved in the game. And to those who swore in advance that Rex Grossman would choke: bugger off! (although you were right... =P).

Last year in review... (Part III)

A photo of my Meimei getting triple pigtails!!:

And here she is, being a fishey (i.e. pescado!!):

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An egret hanging out on a tree by the water fountain, just outside my corporate office building one day last April:

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I love Vitamin water, so I bought FIFTY-THREE bottles when Target had a sale (99 cents each!!):Here they are, laid out on my bed-- 4 rows of 13 bottles (of assorted flavors), with an extra bottle on top:___________________________
One day, I saw all these ducks outside in this parking lot by work and decided to take a few shots of them:

More stupidity in Ivy League Schools (i.e. Princeton)

So I know I said I wouldn't comment on the Princeton issue, but I had chosen to join the sea of voices writing letters complaining to the editor of the Daily Princetonian and today I received a response from them:

"Thank you for your Letter to the Editor. I hope you had a chance to read our joint statement with the Asian-American Students Association.

http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/archives/2007/01/22/news/17158.shtml

Thank you,

Anna Huang
Editor, The Daily Princetonian Opinion Page"


And the editorial goes on to say again how the Daily Prince editors "regret" that people were hurt by their joke column and that they are co-sponsoring a discussion forum with Princeton's Asian American Students Association.

What really gets to me, though, is how those editors don't just apologize for their stupid mistake and total lack of common sense/foresight. They keep shirking the fact that their joke was in horrible taste and say that people don't understand/have no sense of humor, rather than take responsibility for their actions and acknowledging all of the uproar they caused.

But alas, there is nothing I can do about that. =P
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Separate from the fact that the Daily Prince's editorial staff shows pretty poor judgment, I also wanted to comment on the Jian Li case.

A few random thoughts:

1. Despite the fact that I dislike Princeton University, I have to admit that it is a pretty darn hard school to get into-- so Mr. Li is acting a bit presumptuous in feeling that he is *entitled* to a spot in their class of 2010 (at least that's the sense I'm getting from him).
   - The school probably has hundreds (if not more) qualified applicants and cannot admit everyone-- and let's face it, the admissions process can be a total crapshoot sometimes (not to mention that extracurricular activities and essays also count a lot, and can be pretty subjective).
   - Princeton is nobody's "safety" school and I think he would have a better case if he was rejected from a less selective college (i.e. the charge of racism would be more blatant).
2. However, I did go to a specialized high school that had an overwhelming minority population (i.e. mostly Asians) and I noticed every year that Princeton would always reject most of the candidates-- including some applicants who were in the top of our class and were easily accepted into all of the other high caliber schools to which they applied (e.g. Harvard, Yale, MIT, Columbia, UPenn, Stanford, Cornell, Dartmouth, Northwestern). But the few students who were accepted by Princeton always seemed to be white (and pretty WASP-ey) or a non-Asian minority. So I definitely felt that there was of something awry in Princeton's admissions policy. (And this is actually one of the reasons that I dislike Princeton to begin with).
3. And given the way that the Daily Prince has reacted to Mr. Li's case, I feel that there may be more substance to his charge of racism from Princeton University (although this is not to say that this incident necessarily legitimizes the case).

So I guess my point (at least for now...) is: Although I'm not terribly familiar with Mr. Li's case and feels that his argument is probably not air tight, I have definitely noticed something wrong with Princeton's admissions decisions. Furthermore, I believe that the Daily Prince has only further soiled the school's reputation for being inhospitable to Asian Americans.

NOTE TO ASIAN AMERICAN COLLEGE APPLICANTS OUT THERE:

AVOID PRINCETON UNIVERSITY!!

A few random Fri-Night thoughts...

There was an anti-Asian American incident at Princeton University this week and I just have to say that this is another reason that I can't stand Princeton. Other people have already articulated how I basically feel about this issue, so I won't waste time repeating my thoughts.

(In case you're interested in learning more about what happened, though: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/23/education/23princeton.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin.)

I had to organize this happy hour for work today and I'm realizing a strange fear I have of nobody showing up.

I was telling these coworkers about how at my kindergarten birthday party, nobody showed up-- but looking back, I don't think I've even had a birthday party when I was young. =P

Also, I tried Nobu's this week and the food was terrific! (I took Tuesday off from work to fight a ticket in Manhattan's traffic court, won the case, and went to Nobu for a Restaurant Week Lunch). The rock shrimp appetizer was scrumptious, the beef teriyaki entree was quite tastey and I loved the dessert--spice cake with milk chocolate custard, bittersweet chocolate syrup and currants.

To all New Yorkers out there: TAKE ADVANTAGE OF RESTAURANT WEEK!!

Oh, and girls are insano: http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/01/25/belgium.skydiver.ap/.

Too many Asian Americans at UC Berkeley? Naw...

There was a response article by a renowned, conservative economist (who also happens to be black) about the NYTimes article on Asians at UC Berkeley.

I definitely can't re-articulate his argument as well as he can, so I'll just link you guys to his response article: http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell011007.php3.

I think he makes some great points-- AND I found out that he also went to Stuyvesant High School!

Who woulda thought?

Asian Americans in Higher Education

So there was another New York Times article this past weekend that was also about Asian American issues: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/07/education/edlife/07asian.html?ref=edlife.

It seems like the Asian population at UC Berkeley has burgeoned to near 50% and many people see this as a problem...

As an Asian American and someone who went to a 50%-Asian high school, I have to say that having such a homogeneous population can definitely be a challenge-- since you're ill-informed about the rest of the world and it can sometimes feel like you're drowning in a sea of FOB's and gAnGsTaZ.

BUT on the other hand, I have always found it really troubling that I am constantly at a disadvantage when applying to academic programs-- simply because of the color of my skin. Growing up in a single-parent home in Flushing wasn't the easiest of upbringings, so it's almost unfair that someone like me would be held to harsher standards.

It's become so difficult for Asians to get into elite schools that one student, Yale freshman Jian Li, is actually suing Princeton for rejecting him (despite perfect SAT scores-- on all 3 sections, near perfect grades and numerous AP courses).

It's a bit difficult for me to understand his case, since I am not quite aware of his extracurriculars or essay, but I can definitely agree with some of his points.

Apparently, "in 2005 Asian-Americans were admitted to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, at a much lower rate (54 percent) than black applicants (71 percent) and Hispanic applicants (79 percent) — despite median SAT scores that were 140 points higher than Hispanics and 240 points higher than blacks." So this definitely indicates something afoul with the system.

Unfortunately, though, I am loathe to find a solution...

P.S. I came to the stunning realization today that people are actually reading this blog, so I had to go back and edit/reword some of my thoughts. I hope I've clarified some things!!

Last year in review... (Part II)

When I originally saw my aunt's current house in Westchester, I was pretty horrified by the lopsided floors and the drunken neighbor.

However, I thought that this fire alarm looked interesting-- since I could make out a face on it. Can you also see the two eyes and mouth on the left of the circle?

April 5, 2006: I was probably feeling sick on this day, so I did not go to work.

It was a snowy day, so I took a few photos of the precipitation outside the window of a Starbucks...

Lifting the Toys "R" Us Ban...

So, Toys "R" Us reversed its decision, amidst all of our protests: http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2007/01/08/2003343835.

They have redeemed themselves, in my eyes. =)

Thumbs down to Toys "R" Us!

I just saw this New York Times article about a recent promotion that the retail store, Toys "R" Us, ran: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/06/nyregion/06toys.html?em&ex=1168232400&en=ab82366494c299ad&ei=5087%0A

Basically, the promotion was a $25,000 award for the first American born in 2007, but to the corporation's dismay-- a Chinese American baby was the winner.

The parents were not American citizens, but the baby was (since it was born in the United States).

So Toys "R" Us decides to change its rules and disqualify the baby from the contest-- since the parents weren't citizens. Instead, the award went to another family in Georgia and the disqualified winners were given a $100 gift basket (which seems pretty insulting-- on top of the injury).

Now there seems to be some concern that the parents of the Chinese American baby were illegal aliens-- but that's be outside of the scope of the contest, since the award was to go to the baby.

Personally, I think Toys "R" Us should have considered this beforehand and not have awarded the prize to the Chinese American baby, before doing this actual research. Their reneging of the sweepstakes is in very bad taste, in my opinion.

And additionally, I think they should have made their rules clearer to begin with.

Does anyone else think this situation hints at racism? Or is it just xenophobia?

I am definitely in favor of boycotting all Toys "R" Us and Babies "R" us stores, until they at least rethink their actions in this situation.

Last year in review... (Part I)

So I finally figured out how to get my Motorola Camera Phone photos onto my computer and I've decided that I will share my 2006 photos (with more to come in later entries!!) with all of you readers.

Most of them are pretty random, but some tell a story...

Here are some pics of two of my best gal pals at this Turkish restaurant in Brooklyn (I was STARVING for cooked meat that night!!).

Watch as they try to display the ravenous hunger that I felt on the night of February 25, 2006:

And here they are, at the end of the night-- after we went to a Mexican bar/restaurant (which was pretty empty when we were there). Fatigue/Boredom...

My yellow-ness and a revisiting of the Kwon-za celebration...

So immediately after I posted about Yul Kwon's Survivor win, I had a conversation with one of my really good guy friends about Yul as an Asian American male role model and he brought up a good point....

Yul (shown above with "Survivor" host, Jeff Probst) was one of the popular Asian guys. That is, he was on plenty of sports teams and was likely one of the in-crowd in high school and college. He was also a part of the national Asian-American interest fraternity, Lambda Phi Epsilon.

Now when I was in college, the Lambdas basically seemed like a group of guys who thought "We're Asian, so let's party!!" and they were definitely not my role models.

And in reality, I don't think Yul is my role model either (although I am still THRILLED that he won and remain pleased that he can be a role model to other young Asian American males out there).

When you're a young boy, it is probably easy to look to someone who seems similar to you (at least on a superficial level) and want to emulate them. However, now that I'm technically a grown up, I find that most of my close friends are my role models-- as they all possess at least several qualities that I either admire and/or wish I had more of. They may not be the same race, gender or age as me, but I feel that they are all amazing people that I wish I could be more like.

......

In another turn of events today, though, I emailed my old city councilman-- the Honorable John C. Liu of Flushing, New York.

He was one of the original protesters against the *racist* "Survivor" season and I was curious to see what his response would be-- in light of the fact that the show turned out to be a positive representation of all races and a reflection of the diversity within the United States of America.

Here was the email response I got from his office:

Thank you for contacting the Office of Council Member John C. Liu regarding this important issue. Even if the end result is one you approve of, it doesn't justify the means by which CBS irresponsibly promoted racial segregation as a way to pump up ratings (and their bottom line). While corporate apologists may characterize community opposition as "misguided," the vast majority of those who responded toour campaign supported the notion that national broadcasters must be held accountable for their actions.

Now I question whether they are being facetious with me, since I doubt anyone would consider this to be an "important issue".

But moreover, I question that last sentence-- which is basically akin to saying something like "While some elephants like to splash water on their backs, some monkeys like to jump on trampolines."

What the heck are they talking about? And just because I happen to support CBS's show and believe that they owe the network an apology for their misguided protest does not make me a "corporate apologist".

Wonderful New York City Government rears its ugly head again..

Yay for diversity of opinions in the Asian American community. =P

Brilliant Bureaucracy...

Question: Has anybody ever gone completely insane at the Department of Motor Vehicles before?

The folks at the DMV (especially in New York City) show such incompetance and disregard for customer service, that I really wonder if anybody's just ever snapped while they were there...

Celebrating the Yul-tide!!

So I got a nice early Christmas gift on Sunday!

And no, I'm not talking about my night at the Carnegie Deli (with family + Woody Allen Sandwich + Strawberry Cheesecake) and Carnegie Hall (with the Vienna Boys Choir).

I'm talking about Yul Kwon's win on "Survivor: Cook Islands"!!!

Not only has someone of Asian ethnicity won Survivor-- but for the first time I can remember, there is a positive representation of Asian American males for millions of people across the country to see.

I find this to be really significant, because growing up without a father, I personally had nobody who I could look to and say, "I want to be just like you."

I am very proud to say that for at least this moment in time, young Asian American men have somebody in the spotlight for them to aspire to be: Valedictorian of his high school, Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford undergrad, Yale Law School, McKinsey consultant, Google Business Strategy Team-- Yul's got a pretty impeccable resume!! =)

And ladies-- he was one of People Magazine's "Sexiest Men Alive" 2006 and he's single too!!

.....

My skydiving bud and I got into a debate over gmail chat earlier today, where she basically asked me " why does your role model have to be the same race as you?"

Here was my response:
me: "you don't necessarily have to have [a role model] be the same race as you."
me: "but it makes it more accessible."
me: "the same way that female role models make it easier for young girls to think 'maybe I can do that someday...'"
...
me: "someone once told me.
that I'm Asian.
so therefore, I can't get a 6-pack.
cuz Asian guys generally don't have 6-packs!
but 2 out of the 3 Asian guys on Survivor DID have 6-packs!
so it makes me feel like I actually can grow one now!"

So needless to say, I feel inspired!!!

However, it also made me think about myself...

As I was walking to my car yesterday morning, I remembered that I had auditioned for a reality television show before and looking back, I am quite glad I wasn't called back-- because I just realized that I would have been a horrible example for an Asian American male.

Despite that I'm a real person, I sometimes find it troubling that I embody some of the Asian male stereotypes (e.g. I am pretty good at math, am pretty slender and probably a bit awkward) and for that reason, it would probably be best to keep guys like Yul Kwon on the front line when looking for Asian American male representation.

AND Yul was also born in Queens, New York!!

WaY tO rEpReZeNt!!! ;-)

(I also wanted to give a quick shout out to Brad Virata, another Asian male on this past season's "Survivor"-- and a member of the final jury. He was a good-looking, athletic, intelligent, openly gay Asian American male and I am proud to be part of the same race as he and Yul.
And to anyone who might want to challenge Yul's representation as a part of the "Model Minority Myth"-- there's a pretty weak argument for that, considering that the model minority is more about a quiet, obedient, diligent race than about an individual who possesses strength, intelligence, morals and good looks. =P)

Active few days!!

So wow... I've had a pretty active weekend-- which is totally unlike me!!

In addition to the 4 drinks I had on Friday, I had 4 glasses of red wine on Saturday and went to my friend's cousin's friend's party.

After visiting a bunch of Washington museums and monuments on Saturday and Sunday, I drove back to NY-- feeling horribly ill.

However, thanks to the power of Airborne (plus a few extra hours of sleep-- I finally slept for more than 7 hours AND I took today off from work), I was cured! And just in time for my parent company's party!! =D

And again! I had 4 drinks and felt terribly drunk-- but a few glasses of water and seeing someone else throw up twice took the heat off of me.

We had dinner in Chinatown afterwards and I had a great time meeting people from other divisions of my company.

I hope I'm not turning into a total lush... I think I've drank more in the past 4 days than the entire year-- combined!! =P