Angry Asian Man has some nifty links roundup, including on a NY Times profile on Andrea Wong of Lifetime (ok, granted, besides being the channel with Golden Girls reruns, it seems to be making its way with reality shows… must we continue the track on reality shows?) and an article on the honoring of Cristeta Comerford, the Filipina head chef at the White House.
Angry Asian Man also considers the new Nissin ad with the little Asian Master (preaching the way of the Nissin noodles) racist. Scenario: wise little Asian Master (appearing to be CGI created) appears in an Office pantry, directing young white woman to “enlightenment”: add water and zap your Nissin noodles for a nice lunch. Granted, I was weirded out by the commercial – thinking along the lines of “This broad stereotyping still happens on tv in 2009?” – but I’m not sure of what to make of the way the commercial ended – where, while enjoying her bite of Nissin noodles, the woman asks little Asian Master who is he, and he responds (with a less broad accent) that he’s Eddie from Accounting; later, he walks into the cubicles and does a high-five (for him anyway) with a white guy who greets “Eddie” – suggesting everybody knows Eddie (or maybe he’s walking to his cubicle in accounting; who knows?).
Was that the ad’s way of trying to somehow compensate for its offensiveness? The twist to the wise Asian Master thing? If he wasn’t wearing the silly robe or have the silly accent, maybe I’d forgive the ad, but it’s kind of stupid – it doesn’t really make me want to eat Nissin noodles at all anyway.
Angry Asian Man also does a Q&A with James Kyson Lee and notes that Nevada may have its first Asian American federal judge — maybe (if someone can prod Sen. Reid along).
I’m not a Phillies fan, but I can certainly applaud Phillies’ Shane Victorino for contributing to trying to keep Hawaiian high school sports going.
The return of Inspector Lewis in American (public) television. Good stuff – looks like Lewis is hitting his groove as an inspector, with the dishy young Sgt. Hathaway as the trusty sidekick (well, he’s referred as “dishy” by Dr. Hobson, the medical examiner; not like I’d refer to him that way! … but he is dishy). Lewis is moving forward out of Inspector Morse’s shadow. Kind of interesting that he and Dr. Hobson seem to have some chemistry (she was fond of Morse, if I recalled – or maybe it was the other woman medical examiner?).
Aww. No more Reading Rainbow. Growing up on Levar Burton (before and during his Star Trek years, believe it or not), as he encourages kids to read. So what will encourage kids to read now? (besides much Harry Potter).
Fascinating video on Neil deGrasse Tyson on whose more pro-science – Republicans or Democrats – or maybe it doesn’t matter (sort of – check out the link to the full video – which posits that NASA is a non-partisan thing, sort of – except when who’s president). Meanwhile, in the NY Times, Lawrence Krauss (the guy who wrote “The Physics of Star Trek”) posits that making a manned-trip to Mars might involve a one-way trip – and that there are volunteers willing to do it and it’s be less costly and scientifically fascinating. Hmm.