Category Archives: pop culture

Support Asian American filmmakers by donating through Kickstarter.com website

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I’ve known about Kickstarter.com, the fundraising site for creative startups and projects in a variety of categories including film, art, dance, technology, design, journalism, comedy and others, but I’d never really looked into it. This week, though, I’ve come across several very cool films by Asian Americans that are using Kickstarter to ask for donations.

Here’s how it works:

Kickstarter is a new way to fund creative ideas and ambitious endeavors.

We believe that…

• A good idea, communicated well, can spread fast and wide.
• A large group of people can be a tremendous source of money and encouragement.

Kickstarter is powered by a unique all-or-nothing funding method where projects must be fully-funded or no money changes hands.

Each project must set an amount needed and a deadline by which that amount must be raised. If you don’t get enough donations to reach the amount, you get none of the money that’s already been pledged. Each project offers different levels of thank-you gifts and rewards for donors, and donors can pledge as little as one dollar.

The submissions include a video pitch asking for donations, as well as written descriptions for the project. It’s a great way to generate crowd-sourced funding.

The three films I wrote about on my Posterous blog this week are all short films by Asian American filmmakers, and they’re all interesting ideas that I think are worth supporting. Here’s a little information about them, starting with the video at the top of this post, for “The Potential Wives of Norman Mao.”
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Comcast & NBC sign Memo of Understanding to be more inclusive of Asian Americans

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Comcast and NBCU will promote AAPIs in programming

JACL sent out an announcement this morning about an agreement that’s been reached between NBC Universal, Comcast (which is trying to get regulators’ blessings to buy NBCU) and a handful of Asian American Pacific Islander organizations: the Asian American Justice Center, East West Players, Japanese American Citizens League, OCA and Media Action Network for Asian Americans.

Although the past couple of years have led to a marked increase in the number of Asian faces on TV and in movies, it’s nice to see some high-level muscle put on both Comcast and NBCU to be more inclusive within their programming. The agreement’s been in the works for a while; Comcast last month announced its new on-demand channel, “Cinema Asian America,” which is great. I hope to see progress from other media companies and Hollywood giants too, until AAPIs are no longer invisible and are represented accurately as just another part of the quilt that makes up American society.

This probably seems like a trivial deal to some people, but as an Asian American who grew seeing very few people like me on TV and in movie, it’s a big deal. It’s slowly getting better, but I’ve written about this issue as early as 1998 in a column titled “Why Can’t I Be on TV?” and I’ve I’ve given speeches about the topic over the years.

When I no longer do a double-take or other take notice of an “Asian sighting” on a reality show, or in a commercial, or as a lead character on a TV series or Hollywood film, I’ll know we’ve finally arrived.

Here’s the full text of the JACL press release:
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I admit it, Ada Wong’s Asian American journey has got me DVR-ing “The Biggest Loser”

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Here’s Ada Wong‘s audition for “The Biggest Loser.” She made it to the Final Four contestants out of 21 this season the episode that aired tonight. Her personal story of family dysfunction — hard-ass Asian parents who criticized her all her life and didn’t support her three-month stay on the Biggest Loser ranch — has made her a favorite with other contestants and trainers. And, her story has resonated with Asian Americans who identify with her struggle against cultural values and family pressure.

Her talk with her family about her feelings (which she’d aired on episodes and in media interviews) was frank and satisfying, with her parents finally realizing how they’ve battered her soul.

It was as moving for me to see her dad tell her he loves her (even though he doesn’t show it) as it was for her. And it made me laugh to see her dad hug her in that oh-so-Asian dad way, with the tentative Asian pats on the back.

Favorite moment: She had to use a port-a-potty halfway through the marathon and poop on national TV. How embarrassing — but how real.

In the end she didn’t lose as much weight as we’d hoped, so it’s up to viewers to vote for her to be one of the finalists next week. I hope she gets in. This is the first time she’s been below the “Yellow Line” because of the low percentage of weight loss at the weigh-in, and I can only imagine how she feels. It’s like getting a B and you know your parents are gonna say, “Why didn’t you get an A?”

But win or lose, she’s a terrific role model, for everyone, but especially, for Asian Americans. You go, girl.

(Cross-posted from gilasakawa.posterous.com)

Go where the hipsters go: Privy 5 city guides are all about Asian & Asian American celebs & playas’ Top 5 lists

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privy 5 la

Here’s a cool Asian/Asian American spin on the ubiquitous city guides concept, if you live in LA or some select other cities around the globe. Privy 5 is a startup that’s launching a series of city-focused websites that invites celebrities and local playas to submit their Top 5 lists in categories such as restaurants, hotels, bars, karaoke/noraebang, shops and spas, and also allows normal folk like us to comment and vote a la Yelp.

For the recently launched Los Angeles Privy 5 city guide, you’ll find lists of faves from a pretty interesting array of movers and shakers, including Lisa Ling, Justin Chon, Daniel Wu, Kelly Hu, John Cho, Russell Wong, Archie Kao, Jeannie Mai, Jaeson Ma, Beau Sia and more.

Here’s Kelly Hu‘s list of favorite restaurants, for instance.

Some of the directory portion of the ste looks like it’s still a work in progress, with few listings and lotsa businesses yet to be added. But you get the idea. The Privy 5 team also has a guide up and running for Shanghai with other major cities to come: Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, Tokyo, New York, London, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Seoul, Taipei, etc.

Uh, don’t see Denver on the list but that’s understandable, I guess. We’re not exactly a magnet for AAPI A-List types.

Next time I get to La-La Land, though, I’ll check in with Privy 5 LA and dine somewhere that’s on Lynne Chen’s list. She’s one celeb I’d love to meet!

China Daily Show website brings a taste of Onion to Chinese news

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chinadailyshow.com

If you didn’t know, China Daily is China’s national English language newspaper and website. It has absolutely nothing to do with a new site that recently launched called China Daily Show, which spoofs the news out of China with the same irreverence of The Onion here in the States, adding a dash of Jon Stewart’s “The Daily Show” (no video, though).

The current headlines on China Daily Show include:

Beggar not actually an erhu player: Erhu player
China cracks down on lame humor after lousy Mao joke gets Tweeter jailed
Japan halts porn exports to China over Diaoyu controversy: report
“Beijing is actually very safe”: Rapist
Reports: More and more foreigners getting their feelings hurt
“I’m too old for this shit”: Dalai Lama

You get the point.
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