Author Archives: bigWOWO

The Other-Directed Personality

David Brooks hits another one out of the ballpark in his article about Mitt Romney: The Crowd Pleaser.

In the article, Brooks talks about how Mitt Romney rarely talks about his roots, where he comes from, or his family history. Mitt never had an industry that he fell in love with, choosing instead to invest in diverse industries and to specialize in “management of management.” Mitt seems to be pure marketing and sales, and many people, including conservative pundits, think that maybe that’s all there is to him.

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Holy Jesus, Jeremy

I had a long discussion with an Asian American friend today whose religious view are similar to mine–i.e. they’re not existent. She asked me what I though of Jeremy Lin, and I said that his accomplishments are great for Asian Americans. I asked her what she thought, and she said she couldn’t get over the Christian thing. Normally I’d have to agree, but man, I may have to convert after the video above. As my old pastor said, “Can I hear an amen?”

By the way, this was the top link for “Jeremy Lin” on my google search: Asian Americans energized in seeing Knicks’ Jeremy Lin play.

Posted in Asian American, Sports | Tagged , | 7 Comments

Seeking Asian Female

Seeking Asian Female Trailer from Seeking Asian Female Documentary on Vimeo.

Got this from Alpha/Mojo. I couldn’t tell if it was real or acted, but it looks like it’s real. It’s premiering at South by Southwest. As much as I question supporting this kind of thing, it does look from the trailer that it will work out fine. Dude seems nice enough. Older, but nice enough.

Here’s the description from their website:

Posted in AF/WM Theme-orama, Asian American, media | 7 Comments

About A Boy by Nick Hornby


This isn’t a review, per se, but I just finished reading About A Boy by Nick Hornby. I also learned that it was made into a movie with Hugh Grant–and the trailer looks very different from what I just finished reading:

This isn’t a formal review, but if it were, I’m not sure how I’d categorize it. Hornby uses sharp language, and his writing is infused with that cheeky British humor that Americans love. The book, through the character of Will Freeman, captures the slacker culture that was big in the 90′s–and even bigger now. Marcus, the boy whom Will befriends, was intriguing because of the numerous issues that came his way. Overall, a fun read.

Posted in books, Reviews | 6 Comments

Superbowl Recipe and Xenophobic Superbowl Ad

It was Superbowl weekend. Did y’all see it? I didn’t see it all, but it gave me an excellent excuse to try this awesome hot Asian wings recipe from Kai:

It was absolutely delicious. I was, however, surprised that the Sriracha sauce isn’t as spicy after cooking, and I wish I’d put in that “Asian chili flakes” that Kai said would “burn your ass.” The older I get, the more I find myself craving extremely spicy food.

Posted in Asian American, media, Random thoughts | Tagged , , | 22 Comments

Jeremy Lin shines

According to the NY Times,

Jeremy Lin, whose unusual résumé is more well known than his game, emerged as the Knicks’ momentary savior, packing the box score with career highs and leading his team to a stress-relieving 99-92 victory over the Nets.

Lin scored 25 points, nearly doubling his previous career high, and finished with 7 assists and 5 rebounds, energizing a Knicks offense that desperately needed a boost. He outscored his celebrity teammates, Carmelo Anthony (11 points) and Amar’e Stoudemire (17 points), and outdueled Deron Williams (21 points), the Nets’ All-Star point guard.

Posted in Asian American | Tagged | 20 Comments

“But he hit me back first!”

I thought this was a joke when I first saw it: African Americans in Dallas Target Korean Business. According to the article,

The customer, complaining that the price of gas at the station was much higher than at other stations, demanded he be able to buy gas by smaller amounts than what the owner set as the minimum sales unit. The owner refused and told him to go to another station, to which the customer responded by telling the owner to go back to his country. The owner responded by telling the customer to go back to Africa.

Posted in Asian American, racism | Tagged , , | 37 Comments

American Dervish by Ayad Akhtar (Review)

bigWOWO rating: Popular Fiction Gold

The problem with fiction reviews, especially with popular fiction, is that the reviewer can only give away so much without ruining the ending. As a result, I read American Dervish and expected a simple story of unrequited love and betrayal. Instead, it was much more. Ayad Akhtar uses this story not only to describe forbidden love and lust, but also to describe what it is like growing up Muslim. Check out this video where the author explains why he wrote it (he uses the “love story” description himself):

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Facebook IPO

David Choe

Man, this Facebook IPO is going to be making some people a lot of bank. Check out this Times article here: From Founders to Decorators, Facebook Riches. The guy pictured above is David Choe, a graffiti artist who painted the walls of Facebook’s first headquarters. For Mr. Choe’s artistic services, Sean Parker offered to pay him either thousands of dollars or Facebook stock. Choe took stock instead of money. His stock is expected to be worth upwards of $200 million after the IPO.

Posted in Asian American, News | Tagged , | 5 Comments

American Pastoral by Philip Roth (Review)

Oh wow, I had no idea American Pastoral won the Pulitzer. I think I must have read an earlier edition before the prize was awarded.

American Pastoral is a story in two parts. The early part is a first-person narration by a character by the name of Nathan Zuckerman, who recounts his young life and infatuation with an older Jewish boy named Seymour Levov who goes by the nickname “Swede.” They called him “the Swede” because he had blonde hair, different from the other Jewish boys. He was a star athlete, and Zuckerman, who is now an older and unmarried writer, gets back in contact with the Swede right before a high school reunion. The rest of the book is about the Swede himself and about his daughter who commits an unspeakable crime.

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