7 killed in Oakland shooting

Posted on April 3, 2012 by bigWOWO

See story here.

Jordan tells CBS News the suspect has told investigators he was expelled from the small, private university only a couple months ago, and his anger over that expulsion led him to return to the school on Monday with a loaded gun.

According to Jordan, Goh says he came back to the Oikos campus with the intention of shooting the school administrator, but when he couldn’t find that individual, he opened fire essentially at anyone else he could find. Goh is a South Korean national.

Very sad news.

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Posted in Asian American, News | Tagged | 42 Comments

Men, Women, and Dual Income Families

Posted on April 2, 2012 by bigWOWO

The picture above, which was on the cover of Macleans, would be funnier if it were a Black or Asian woman the lifting the White dude. :) Or if a White woman were lifting an Asian dude or a Black dude. LOL. But it’s still funny as is.

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Posted in parenting, Strategy | Tagged , , | 9 Comments

More Asian Americans Marrying Within Their Race

Posted on March 30, 2012 by bigWOWO

Haha…J sent this one: More Asian Americans Marrying Within Their Race. It begins:

WHEN she was a philosophy student at Harvard College eight years ago, Liane Young never thought twice about all the interracial couples who flitted across campus, arm and arm, hand in hand. Most of her Asian friends had white boyfriends or girlfriends. In her social circles, it was simply the way of the world.

But today, the majority of Ms. Young’s Asian-American friends on Facebook have Asian-American husbands or wives. And Ms. Young, a Boston-born granddaughter of Chinese immigrants, is married to a Harvard medical student who loves skiing and the Pittsburgh Steelers and just happens to have been born in Fujian Province in China.

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Posted in AF/WM Theme-orama, Asian American | Tagged , , | 106 Comments

Doing the same old, same old

Posted on March 29, 2012 by bigWOWO

Welcome to 21st century America!

A month ago, I blogged about the slowing rate of cultural change, how art and fashion and style change has slowed to a crawl.

The NY Times just published an article about how “reboots” are popular, and how, instead of creating new works, Hollywood seems to prefer remaking the old. Old shows are now new movies, and old movies now undergo remakes. The article notes:

“21 Jump Street” is a hit. “RoboCop” and “Dirty Dancing” are on the way. Arnold Schwarzenegger is juggling a bunch of action flicks.

1987?

No. Weirdly, 2012.

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Posted in media | 9 Comments

David Ishii, Bookseller, RIP

Posted on March 28, 2012 by bigWOWO

I can’t believe I just found this out now. David Ishii, the iconic bookseller, passed away in late February. See his obituary here. It reads:

His bookstore, says Abe, became a “mecca” for Asian-American writers and artists within a few years of its opening. Rick Simonson of the Elliott Bay Book Co. told Moody in 2004, “David’s store was like a stop on the Underground Railroad for Asian-American writers.”

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Posted in Asian American, books, Education, history | Tagged | Leave a comment

Eddie and Alex Van Halen talk about their Indonesian mother’s influence

Posted on March 27, 2012 by bigWOWO

VH Interviews from Van Halen on Vimeo.

…and she was a Tiger Mom! I had no idea that the Van Halen’s were classically trained. Nor did I know they speak Dutch.

By the way, Eddie Van Halen isn’t the first musician who is unable to read music. Paul McCartney has the same issue.

(Thanks to Mojo from Alpha Asian for the clip.)

Posted in Asian American, Knowledge | Tagged | 10 Comments

Dim Sum Funeral (Review)

Posted on March 26, 2012 by bigWOWO

bigWOWO Rating: Comedy Gold or Bronze, depending on who you are

I saw this DVD at the library. It was made in 2008, so I was surprised that I hadn’t heard of it. It’s got lots of Asian American stars and one non-Asian star who have been in the industry a long, long time. First, there’s Talia Shire, the non-Asian star, who was in the Godfather as Connie Corleone and in Rocky opposite Sly Stallone as Adrian (She’s not Asi-an, but she’s Adr-ian…lol…”Yo, Adrian!”). Then there’s Julia Nickson, who was one of Sly’s other love interests–she played his Vietnamese lover in Rambo. The second sister is played by Francoise Yip, who starred in Rumble in the Bronx with Jackie Chan. Russell Wong is in it, and Kelly Hu plays Brother Russ’s wife. The youngest sibling is played by Steph Song, and her lesbian lover is played by Bai Ling. The movie is directed by Anna Chi.

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Posted in Asian American, media, Reviews | Tagged | 7 Comments

Trial by media and social media

Posted on March 25, 2012 by bigWOWO

Dharun Ravi

The NJ Star Ledger has an excellent article on the trial of Dharun Ravi, and the way the media took a side and “convicted” him before the trial was up: Dharun Ravi trial shows ‘viral prosecutions’ compromise justice, mercy. If you were fortunate to see the 20/20 episode this past Friday with an interview with Dharun, or if you read the New Yorker article published last month, it’s a highly complex case. Sure, Dharun made some gay comments in learning about Tyler being gay, but Tyler also made a “Dunkin Donuts” reference after learning about Dharun being Indian. They were just innocent jokes among kids–Dharun wasn’t homophobic, and Tyler wasn’t racist. Dharun deserves punishment for invading Tyler’s privacy, but the “bias intimidation” charge seems rather strong, given the legal parameters. It seems like the internet was ready to hang this kid even before the trial. Even on this blog, a commenter made a comment implying he hoped Dharun would get raped in prison, followed by a comment about “outsourcing.”

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Posted in media, racism | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Doing the Slant-Eye Thing on Survivor

Posted on March 23, 2012 by bigWOWO

I just saw this on Angry. This didn’t air on the show itself, but it was part of a “secret scene.” Evidently there’s a guy Colton and a gal Alicia on the show who don’t like the Asian gal, whose name is Christina Cha (I think Siggy has mentioned her more than a couple of times). So in the middle of the night, while Christina is talking, Colton and Alicia turn to the cameras and do the slant-eye thing. In other words, we don’t like you, so we’re gonna be racist.

I like what Angry had to say:

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Posted in Asian American, media, racism | Tagged | 14 Comments

“If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon.”

Posted on March 23, 2012 by bigWOWO

The story about Trayvon Martin has been igniting the blogosphere. The facts as we know it so far are this: a 28 year old man named George Zimmerman, who was part of a neighborhood watch group, shot and killed an unarmed 17-year-old black teenager. Zimmerman is claiming self-defense. Today, Obama stepped out and said, “If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon.” It’s significant because we now have a black man married to a black woman with two black children in the highest office in the land, and his words carry weight. See more here.

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Posted in News | Tagged | 131 Comments