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Tune in to our latest podcast featuring members of the YOMYOMF family answering questions about why the hell we’re talking about sports (fantasy basketball in particular) and opining on the teeny-tiny phenomenon known as LINsanity, a topic that we may (or may not) actually have some insight to. Featuring family members Justin Lin (not to be confused with Jeremy Lin), Anderson Le, Greg D’Auria, Anson Ho, and Jimmy Tsai.
Click here to listen.
Twenty years ago today on February 21, 1992, Kristi Yamaguchi became the first Asian American to win an Olympic Gold Medal in the ladies singles category. Her performance brought her worldwide celebrity and an immense sense of pride within the Asian American community. Not unlike another Asian American athlete experiencing his own fair share of worldwide celebrity and Asian American pride at the moment.
But sadly some things haven’t changed much in 20 years. China may represent the growing “yellow peril” these days, but back in 1992, it was Japan in the role of the threatening Asian superpower. And Yamaguchi wasn’t immune from the ensuing racist backlash against Japan.
In the aftermath of her Olympic victory, there was much talk of how her Japanese heritage would prevent her from winning commercial endorsements and if you thought some of the media’s reporting on Jeremy Lin has bordered on racism (“chink in the armor” anyone?), on the heels of her victory, the media criticized Yamaguchi for everything from not being able to speak Japanese to fellow Japanese figure skater Midori Ito (conveniently ignoring that Yamaguchi was an American, born in California) and taking the victory away from a “real” American (that would be fellow skater Tonya Harding).
This has been making the rounds, thanks in part to Community creator Dan Harmon posting this on Twitter and making it go viral. He apparently walked into the writer’s room as everyone was watching this video online. The commercial was created by Australian comedy duo Henry Inglis & Aaron McCann to advertise the Central Institute of Technology, a real West Australian tech college that runs film courses. These guys have been getting a lot of notice in their native Australia, and McCann’s short film, Perished, will premiere at this year’s SXSW. I love this brand of dark comedy, that only the Aussies can pull off. It’s amazing that the school allowed them to advertise them this way. Makes me want to enroll there!
It kind of reminds me of another darkly funny director from Australia, Nash Edgerton. His short films Spider and Bear have been around the festival circuit and are yes, bloody brilliant and cruelly funny as hell. Oh, and Nash is the brother of Josh Edgerton of Warrior and the upcoming The Great Gatsby.
Yep, this ain’t a joke. There are some ancient Japanese scrolls that depicts a “fart battle.” The whole scroll, which is called He-Gassen (literally fart battle) depicts farting on everything — on cats, in bags, and usually, to propel things or even break walls down with the sheer power of flatulence!
Here are some examples:
Christie’s, the famous auction house, sold a collection of these scrolls for $1500 some years ago, so hey, to each his own, right? When I was a kid at camp, a bunch of us would fart in a jar and throw matches in it. But, to think that the 19th century Japanese had such lethal gas as to use it as a weapon, makes you wonder why they weren’t more powerful.
In the 20th century, 158 hurricanes walloped the United States. Leading the pack was Florida with 57, Texas came in second with 36, and we have a tie for third place between Louisiana and North Carolina, each boasting 25 landfalls.
So what’s a bored, decadent, hurricane-free state like California to do?
Install photo-booth size Hurricane Simulators, that’s what!
(I wonder if they have Earthquake Simulators in Florida, Texas, Louisiana and North Carolina?)
I stopped in at one of our higher end outdoor malls, Bay Street, to redeem the Banana Republic gift card my mom had gotten me for Christmas, when, on the way back to the parking garage, I passed this little Hurricane booth.
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Most of my fellow Offenders work in the film biz (or at least are very interested in film). I’m always curious about those works that have influenced my peers, but in this case, instead of asking the Offenders what your favorite movie is, I’d like to ask what “pre-existing” movie you wish you could’ve made so…What movie do you wish you had directed, written, produced or acted in?
This isn’t necessarily the same as choosing your favorite movie because what might be your favorite might not necessarily be the film you wish you had made or been a part of.
To illustrate—since I’m mainly a writer, if I had to choose one movie I wish I had written it would be the 1981 historical epic Reds (directed by Warren Beatty and written by Beatty & Trevor Griffiths—with uncredited script work by Elaine May and others). I love Reds, but it’s definitely not my favorite movie nor is it even my favorite Warren Beatty movie (that would be Shampoo).
Ahh, my ears are bleeding!
I don’t speak Spanish.
Yes, I was one of those unfortunate people who took French in high school and continued with it in college. I tried in vain to take Spanish while taking French for a while, but trying to learn two languages that are similar and yet so different had me mixing my words and lowering my test scores so I stopped. Figure I’d read more Moliere anyway.
OK, given the recent JLin/ESPN firestorm and the clinically insane tweets of Jenny Hyun, perhaps a bit of levity and humor is in order.
Normally I’d find something like this beyond offensive. And it is. Perhaps why I’m not up in arms is because FINALLY we have a bad-ass, kick-ass, Asian American male throwing down in the NBA in which to place opposite what was once the dominant stereotype of Asian American dudes. End result? Clash of past ideals with a F’in cool image of the asian american male of our future (which has always been present but benched by the media).
my mind works like this too. when I'm changing diapers, that is...
Thank you Chinese guy and Indian guy of Studio64Comedy for making this and Offending with such panache. Hope neither of you gets ESPN’d.
The Jeremy Lin Effect Affects…
(link via Leonard Wu. Thanks)
Wow, it’s been ages since I posted a short film here on YOMYOMF. This is definitely worth checking out — More of an art istallation, this brilliant video piece is literally a timeline of cinema. Here’s what director Stefania Rota, in collaboration with Diego Lorenzo Zanitti, writes about their piece, Cinezoique.
Cinezoique is the present Era, in which the Cinema leaves the screen and invades any surface. Cinezoique is an installation of 21 meters, a timeline, a walk through the history of Cinema where the path of the viewer joins the path of the actors. Here invades the screen, sliding from side to side along the course of time.
With the ESPN/Jeremy Lin/”Chink in the Armor” story grabbing all the headlines this weekend, you may have missed another story that involves Asian Americans, Jeremy Lin and racism—in this case an Asian American “artist” advocating for the “eradication” of all Black people because of one asshole’s slight against Lin.
This is Jenny Hyun:
She is a musician and a songwriter for SNSD and Chocolat. And here are some of her recent tweets (and no, I am not making this shit up):
55 Comments on Jenny Hyun & Her Call for the Eradication of Black People
Another Berlinale aka Berlin Film Festival has wrapped and overall, it was a pretty uneventful year. It’s hard to come back strong with last year’s lineup, which included A SEPARATION, one of the best films of the year and is nominated for the Best Foreign Film Academy Award. If you read Part 1 of my Berlinale 2012 report earlier this week, then you know I was a big fan of IRON SKY, the crowd funded sci-fi film about Nazis from the Dark side of the Moon. Perhaps that was the biggest success story from the Festival, racking up many international sales, including the US, and 5 million views of its official trailer on Youtube after a week online. Not to belittle broad, schlocky film fun, but that was the story that came out of Berlin, with the more traditional, art house fare not delivering.
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Going to the movies always involves a deep inner struggle with myself and it’s almost never about choosing the actual movie to watch.
When the doorman tears my ticket and directs me to my auditorium, one thing without fail stands between me and me fifteen pounds heavier. That, my friends, is the concession stand.
In my youth, I never viewed that place as something to fear or even avoid. If my parents queued up for some popcorn and sodas – and they always did – you could be sure I’d be right beside them chiming in my own sugar- and fat-filled order.
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Okay. Let’s do it. Let’s talk about Jeremy Lin’s faith.
We here on the coasts tend to gloss over talk of religion, or dismiss it as a funny family foible, or – when it shows up in our superstar athletes and celebrities – treat is as a big unsightly mole on an otherwise pretty face.
Lin hasn’t been as outspoken as Tebow about his Christianity,
but in an exclusive interview with the Oakland Tribune newspaper (hi Warriors, what’s up, how you doin’?), he made it a precondition of the interview that they discuss only his faith.
Talk to me about God, or don’t talk to me at all.
The Tribune chose to talk.
If you’re not already following us on Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr, you’re missing out on a lot of extras you won’t find here on our blog including updates on various Offender-related projects (like the most recent updates about our upcoming YOMYOMF Network on YouTube) and silly, fun things like “Add Your Own Caption.” This is where we post an image we find online or that our readers forward to us and ask you to write an appropriate caption to accompany that image. And we’ll feature some of the captions here.
And the featured caption for this week comes from reader Claude Chung:
Even Kermit has Yellow Fever.
So check out our Facebook page for future editions of “Add Your Own Caption”, write your own caption and/or “like” the ones you think are worthy and we may share them here.
So Lisa Chan, the young actress who appeared as “yellowgirl” in Michigan Senatorial candidate Pete Hoekstra’s racist Super Bowl ad has apologized; posting this note on her Facebook page:
“I am deeply sorry for any pain that the character I portrayed brought to my communities. As a recent college grad who has spent time working to improve communities and empower those without a voice, this role is not in any way representative of who I am. It was absolutely a mistake on my part and one that, over time, I hope can be forgiven. I feel horrible about my participation and I am determined to resolve my actions.”
Lisa Chan
–
CEO/ President, The Strive
Vice President, Sparxo Inc.
The job description for “filmmaker” should include thick skin as a prerequisite since you’ll be living and breathing criticism throughout your career. First and foremost, there will be your collaborators. Then your peers. Then the world at large as they watch your creations.
That’s a long list and line of people waiting to give you a piece of their mind and if you’re not ready for that, you just might go insane from the sheer weight of their expectations and opinions. But don’t be fooled: this isn’t just something for the filmmakers out there.
If you’re not living under a rock, criticism is going to be – if it already isn’t – a huge part of your life. Whether it’s school, work, or just your interactions in general, it’s inescapable. Over the years, I’ve gotten better with dealing with it, but I’ll be the first to say that I’m never going to be perfect at it. Just as good as I can possibly be at the moment.
Actually, I was inspired to write this blog precisely because I was reminded of my room for improvement.
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Yup, it’ll cost you half a million dollars if you want to buy the domain name LinSinsation.com:
It’s not a surprise that with the nation in the grips of LINsanity (well, with the exception of SNL), people are going to try to make a buck off the Knicks sensation and one way to do it is to scoop up domain names that people may be interested in. But with the most obvious ones related to Jeremy Lin already taken, these enterprising individuals have to be more creative and the good folks at jockular have compiled some of the most ridiculous ones that are for sale on ebay as of this writing.
So for just $3500, you can be the proud owner of Linister.com:
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I don’t have a babysitter right now. Her mother unexpectedly past so she left for Asia on Friday for a month or two (or three). I don’t have a geographically-convenient, sexy, Korean wife right now either. She just departed on a business trip for a week.
So without a sexy, Korean wife/mom and babysitter to help share in the daily, care schedule of my 2 baby girls, I find myself a bit short-handed at this very moment. Where is Jeremy Lin when you need him? C’mon #17, I needs yo help!
it's peaceful and serene. until the baby wakes...
Being home, alone with 2 baby girls is not easy (at least not for me). It’s not a child to parent ratio that I prefer. It’s exhausting at best and a very lonely space to be in. This happens to me from time to time – my parental support system going down unexpectedly. The work/social/daddy world that I so delicately constructed instantly explodes and I have to become 110% Daddy Fan 24/7 until reinforcements arrive. My personal and professional life must be lived, at best, in between naps.
The Quan Yin of Buddhism
My mom was a Buddhist, so I was raised as both a Buddhist and a Christian. I went to a protestant school since Grade 1 and I found biblical stories to be quite fascinating whereas the Buddhism that I grew up with was essentially idolatry. To this date, my mom will pray to Quanyin for things she wants without really thinking much about it.
When I was impressionable and young, I really wanted to become a Christian but my parents told me to wait until I was eighteen. When I hit college, I was constantly bombarded by Asian Christians and their dogma on campus and that really made me think twice about being Christian. To me, Judeo-Christianity is a way of thinking and the foundation of Western culture rather than dogma. And then I started meeting Buddhist friends who embraced Buddhism as a philosophy and way of living rather than the idolatry that I was raised with. A great example is Ms. Canyon Sam, my documentary subject, who passionately follows the teachings of the Dalai Lama.
Yesterday may have been Valentine’s Day to most, but it was also the Day of Purity—the time when virginal teens vow to be true to God and not have sex until marriage. And to make sure youths do not stray from the right path, you may remember this video featuring the purity bear and his strong message of abstinence to show them the way.
Well, the purity bear is back, but this time he it she has apparently morphed into a sassy black female bear.
Check out the video below and heed the bear’s all-important message: when guys tell girls they love them, remember that guys also love pizza and they’ll dump you just like they dump the pizza box after they’re done with it! Preach it, girl bear!
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