Category: Brooklyn

Always count on F C to come through! I did a quickie search of my past as a poster king on USENET. I love some of these quips from an angry, egotistical, smartie-pants.

Background Note: We had a lot of threads devoted to identity and terminology. As you can imagine, the two are intertwined, can’t talk about identity without talking about terminology/names. Talked about “oriental” vs “asian american” vs “american” vs “ american”…

Some gems of mine from a 27 post thread:

“Finally, not to start another flame war on terminology but I appear to
be the only one who finds something irksome with the term Asian
American.” (March 12, 1991) Prior to this there were some posts about “Asian American” and I stated I found it to be insulting to me to be labeled such. I argued that I was an American, without the descriptive qualifier “Asian”.

From the same post:

“….what does an Asian American have to do with Western culture given
the person’s roots are Eastern? An interesting corollary question would
be: what is the heritage of an Asian American?”

In the same thread, responding to A. H from Stanford, I again railed against the term “Asian American”!

>[A.H]
> All the more reason to have Asian-American studies.
> At least then there would be *some* information opposed
> to the traditional stereotypes.

Yes, that’s the argument. A counter argument is that the effectiveness
of “studies” can not and do not overide the stereotypes and incorrect
perceptions that people who have not been in contact with different
ethnic groups. Books that seek to “bring” reality to ignorant people
are not real so therefore the effect is diminished. I also would argue
that the effect of media (ie. television and pictures) are more powerful
that than words in shaping the ideas of people.

> >[YC wrote:]
> >Finally, not to start another flame war on terminology but I appear to
> >be the only one who finds something irksome with the term Asian
> >American…
>[A.H wrote:]
> I’m not that fond of it either. How ’bout “Yellows”? 🙂

Heh heh. The term Asian American fails the “diversity” test if you
will. Those PC people who trumpet the ideal of “diversity” and use the
term Asian American fail to recognize that diversity can not exist when
you try to cram so many different ethnic Asian groups under “Asian
American”. Not only are the experiences between Korean Americans,
Chinese Americans, Japanese Americans, Indian Americans, Philipino
Americans, Vietnamese Americans etc as a whole but the individual
experience within each group is different depending on generation and
geographical location (ie. West vs. East and MidWest or North vs. South).

It does an injustice to these individual differences (aka diversity) by
lumping everything together into some term that hardly describes what
exactly it is to be an “Asian American”. The term implies a paradigm
that everyone exists under and follows but that is hardly true. And
it’s quite ironic.

Here’s another one, rather prescient hmmm:

>[Yale Poster]
> Now here’s a question for all you out there in net-land: what should
> replace “minority” in the language? I’m not too crazy about “person
> of color” either, since a) white is a color too, and b) it’s really close
> to “colored person,” which carries extremely negative connotations.

Why should there be a change? Are we going to create yet another
arbitrary “politically incorrect” term? You confuse the way “minority”
is used *in context* to describe American society, not the world.

Asians in this country are indeed minorities for they make up a small
percentage of the total population. However, using the word “minority”
has had an implicit comparison to the “majority” group (white in this
case) but with the continuing influx of ethnic groups, there may be a
time where “minority” and “majority” will become meaningless.

here’s another gem where I rant against the enforced separation of Asian Americans:

Some kind poster asks SCAA group what they thought of Asian greek organizations. I flamed back:
“I understand the need for such ethnic organizations. However, it merely
enforces a premeditated separation which defeats the very purpose that
these organizations were created in the first place.”

What I really meant was that creating these types of organizations, and not just fraternities/sororities but Asian whatever group doesn’t help bring integration and color-blind society. Back then I was a vocal and ardent supporter and speaker for the color-blind society in America and this put me in somewhat of a “minority” among my Asian American “activist” types. Often was labeled, banana, twinkie, sell-out, self-hater, conservative blah blah blah. I constantly railed against “ethnic” identifiers. The only one that I would accept as it defined me was “Chinese American”, not “Asian American”. I often used the liberal “diversity” petard against the misguided liberals championing “Asian American” terminology by saying that “Asian American” is actually limiting diversity by grouping possibly (dis-) similar ethnic groups under a single umbrella. In a true diversity environment, we ought to celebrate and acknowledge all our different ethnic backgrounds hence, “Chinese American” “Korean American” etc was much more in the spirit of diversity than “Asian American”. They didn’t like my argument :-). They didn’t like it because they knew I was right hehehe!

Anyways, I’m all pooped from reminiscing about my hot-headed past. So flame away :-)!

=YC

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I’m already late in this, my traditional new year’s message. Every year for the last 10 years or so I get on my soapbox and rant about a few things and make resolutions for the upcoming year. My delay in writing this was because I threw out my back getting some FreshDirect boxes (recommended if they deliver to your area and you actually buy $40-$50 of groceries) down the stairs. Part of this was just reviewing my photos and emails in such an incredible year in terms of experiences.

There is something essentially wrong with the way email is being used nowadays. This is the part of the message where I mention how much email I received last year. My collection of email for 2003 is 1.19 gigabytes, and that is with weeding out a lot of spam and bounced messages (real and bogus bounced messages added up to 286 megabytes, which are not counted in that total). That is two orders of magnitude over this time five years ago. On a weekly basis, I can say that no more than one-third of the emails that I receive are emails from people that I know or do business. I don’t believe the solution has anything to do with charging people postage to send emails, or slowing down email, or placing limits on the email received. Baysian filtering has been 95+% effective, but that 5% is still rather annoying. Two ideas have the most merit in my opinion: verifying the identity of the sender, or verifying the identity of the sender’s server (the SMTP server, for those techies out there). Yahoo’s proposal to use public key encryption and the draft Authenticated SMTP standard are the ones that are most likely to work.

I want to remember Usenet, which was the original Internet community bulletin board system. These days, I only refer to the newsgroups via Google, as the actual Usenet is routinely overwhelmed with spam and people nowadays don’t know how to stay on topic without “flaming” (insulting) each other. However, some of my longest-time friends are from the “Joy-Luck Club” of the New York branch of the soc.culture.hongkong newsgroup, whom we have shared dim sum or another meal together on a regular basis for the last ten years. (One of the first events was a viewing of The Joy Luck Club when it came out). Back then, it was dueling among which of the four “Sky Kings” or “Sky Queens” of Hong Kong entertainment would reign supreme this week, and when our next chance to go to Hong Kong would be. Nowadays, it costs about 50% of what it did in 1991 dollars to go to Hong Kong (1991 was my first trip to Hong Kong) and we have real jobs with real vacation time, but we are terrorized by SARS and are mourning the loss of a quarter of that HK entertainment royal family. Life goes on, but I am thankful for the schk Gang of Four that still keeps together.

While I didn’t do quite as much flying as I did in 2002, I did travel over 18,000 miles mostly for work: visiting my cousin in Kansas City, going to a convention at Duke University in North Carolina and driving down to a college friend in South Carolina, a $10 Chinatown to Chinatown bus ride to Boston (recommended – I was actually only one of two Chinese on board and it was far cleaner and efficient than Greyhound, Peter Pan, or even Amtrak), presenting at another conference in Anaheim, California a week after the forest fires and visiting friends from my law school study abroad in Hong Kong, and going to Honolulu for an Asian bar association meeting (lawyers’ convention). Happily, airline security, while I’m not sure it is more or less effective, it is more or less run with uniform standards, so much so that you know what you’re supposed to be doing when while crossing the checkpoint, whether you are in Durham, NC or Los Angeles, CA. Also, as a consequence of my 2002 flying, I had American Airlines Gold status during 2003, and it is quite a difference in treatment — having the card is like the Fast Forward in the Amazing Race – it lets you and your companion skip most lines and go through special shorter security checkpoints. I actually managed a 30 minute run to the gate at JFK from the Howard Beach A train station and I made it with 3 minutes to spare. I’ll really miss it this year.

What I learned is that living in these places is harder and easier than they would appear. I stepped into Walmart and Target for the first time and realized how easy it is to shop there and how incredibly expensive shopping for groceries is on the East and West Coasts. Houses that we in New York would consider multi-million dollar mansions go for under $200,000. On the other hand, the people who live in paradise actually work really hard. On Oahu, the island Honolulu is on, there is a second rush hour at about 3 PM for those workers who go from their office jobs to their second jobs working in the tourist industry. On that island, SPAM canned luncheon meat is $1.50, while milk is $6.00 a gallon.

As for my resolutions last year, I decided to start an online journal and keep better contact with my friends.

Establishing Triscribe as a blog (online web journal) has been rather successful. It took a while to figure out the parameters of the site and what would the ground rules would be. I realized — as one of a dozen “stunt bloggers” for the conference at Duke University in June — that it is very hard for just one person to contribute on a regular basis, but it is a lot easier when there are others working with you. There is something to “peer pressure” – it actually works.

SSW15 and YC have been contributing on a regular basis on many different topics, and it has helped me to keep touch with them in a more concrete manner in what is going on in our lives than instant messaging or even a phone call. If you’re Asian and have a JD (or if you just know me in real life and can write well), I invite you register and join our group. The other thing is using Plaxo to automatically update contact info. It really works well. Even if you don’t end up subscribing to Plaxo, please update your info for me by writing back.

So what about resolutions for the next year? The first one is to go to the gym on a regular basis. I’ve been very good in paying for the membership; I’ve been very bad in keeping with the program, and my physical fitness has suffered for it. The second is to stop being a packrat and reduce the clutter in my life. The New York Times recently had an article about how literally life-threatening hoarding is. In taking the first step in a 12 step program, I have to admit that I am a hoarder. P- has been helping me work on these two together, and for that I’m grateful. I’ve been pretty successful in my resolutions over the years, so hopefully when 2005 comes around, I can report these conquered also.

Thank you for your kindness and friendship, and I hope to share in your happiness in the coming year. Keep reading here for updates to the continuing saga. Happy New Year!

In One Suburb, Local Politics With Asian Roots (New York Times)

According to the article, 9 out of 28 local elected officials are Asian American. That’s amazing! The question is how to encourage public service from Asians.

Imagine my utter surprise during TV surfing to come across this series. First couple was a Chinese guy and a blond gal from Massachussetts. Would not have ever expected this pairing on TV. So for those out there on this issue (still aways)… heh. Second couple were both Vietnamese, groom was partially blind and the bride was a lawyer. They were local to me, San Jose CA. It was very cool.

TLC::Wedding Story

=YC

Consider the New Year’s Day edition of the comic strip “Non Sequitor”. It’s such a post 9/11 type of New Year’s comic with its “theme” on the year’s “Top 10 news stories” (“I didn’t die, I didn’t lose my job, and maybe I’ve earned some money.”).

Dick Clark and the Times Square ball – umm, did that ball come down a little fast or was it just me?

NY Times’ food critic William Grimes turns in his last review on 12/31/03. There’s also a fascinating Interactive Feature “A Grimes Retrospective,” where Grimes is unmasked (literally, he is; his one-time appearance on a PBS show in NYC, his face had to be blurred so that the restaurants wouldn’t recognize him).

January 1, 2004: NY Times article about an art exhibit in Paris about the historical Confucius.

There are other interesting 1/1/04 articles, which I’ll read later, once I feel like I’ve made a better recovery of the whole New Year’s eve thing. Enjoy the bowl games in the meantime. It’s not like I know who to root for. I just don’t see the bowls as nearly as fun as NCAA basketball, for a variety of reasons. Some of these reasons include: (a) I don’t really appreciate seeing all these corporate names attached to the bowls’ names (Capital One Bowl; Fed Ex Orange Bowl; Tostitos Fiesta Bowl; like I’ll use the services/products of these corporate sponsors because I watched the bowl game). (b) And, I get such a sadistic kick out of watching my March Madness brackets be completely wrong, which the bowl’s don’t provide. ( c ) Plus, it’s not like my alma mater and its league are great in football either, such that I don’t have a reason to follow college football (but at least Alma Mater had a better record than last season, at least).

But, watching the bowls is a New Year’s tradition to enjoy. Cheers!

Too much sad news. Let’s hope and pray for a happy and safe new years. May 2004 usher bigger and better things 🙂

=YC

A legend lost with Mui’s passing (The Star Online), Hong Kong star dies from cancer (BBC News, video)

Listen: Xi Yang Zhi Ge (MIDI)

For those of you that aren’t Cantopop fans, Western audiences know Anita Mui as the shopkeeper in Jackie Chan’s Rumble in the Bronx. Those that are more familar with Asian film remember her as Wonder Woman in The Heroic Trio . What has to be remembered is her long time generosity in support of charity and of younger performers that followed her path. I don’t know too many people who have the strength and willpower to do an 8 night in a row solo concert series while suffering from the final stages of cancer.

I knew nothing about Cantopop before my first trip to Hong Kong in 1991. By then Anita had already retired from singing for the first time and was well into her second career in movies. However, one always knew about her career as the running theme and the continual reinvention of Hong Kong entertainment; she wasn’t called the “Madonna of Asia” for nothing. She was part of my education, in my playing catch-up in Asian culture. I know some people snicker when you mention Cantopop and culture in the same breath, but you miss the romance of the Hong Kong people without it. Thank you, Anita.

According to the Star’s article (Malaysia), Anita had said if she had the chance to further her education, she would rather have been a lawyer.

Slate.com’s new ad commentator, Seth Stevenson, presents a hilarious review of the ad for “Levitra” (a Viagra competitor). He’s different from Slate.com’s previous ad commentator, Rob Walker – Stevenson’s quite sharply funny (with fine tuned opinion-making), while Walker was more analytical and less ha-ha funny (but still witty and critical).

David Bianculli, tv critic of Daily News, the NY hometown paper, did his year-end list. I wouldn’t exactly put out a list, as I would have trouble ranking things. But, I’d note a couple of things.

ABC:
I’m still hoping ABC will improve its outlook (having long been my old favorite network), but it’s a slow climb to travel up the ratings.

– I agree that “Alias” is still strong – although it’s not as fun without Lena Olin as Secret Agent Sydney’s Evil Spy Mom, I’m eagerly looking forward to seeing Isabella Rossellini as Sydney’s Evil Spy Aunt (yet another European actress of a certain age making a shot at American television) – should be good viewing for 2004.

– “Karen Sisco” – will ABC put it back on? It had such potential, but, I kept wanting… more. Too bad actor Gary Cole only had a few episodes in the show – he was fascinating as Karen’s counterpoint.

– I’m pleasantly surprised that “8 Simple Rules…” has continued to do all right so far. Not bad. I still miss John Ritter as an actor, but good to see that his okay show is on.

– “Threat Matrix” is still on? Wow. I still don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing.

WB and WB-related stuff:
– “Buffy” is sorely missed, even as it ended its run on UPN. But, “Angel” during the last quarter of 2003 has been amazingly picking up the slack in the Buffy universe/timeline. I didn’t quite like how the previous season of “Angel” ended back in May, but it has been solid so far in this television season. Let’s see who is the Big Bad Villain really is in 2004.

– “Everwood” on WB is good viewing, even in reruns. But, I wouldn’t get too excited about the WB otherwise; I’m not sure what to make of the so-called angst on the “One Tree Hill” (only knowing what I see when I see commercials and channel-change). Oh, and let’s not forget that 2003 said “so long” to “Dawson’s Creek.” It was a strangely moving series finale – satisfying, in an unfair way (for instance, did Kevin Williamson really have to do in Jen? But, ah, nice way of making Pacey and his brother settle down and making Dawson move on with his life (the Dawson storyline was the only thing predictable)). Anyway, the Dawson crew have moved on; so have we.

CBS:
Fall 2003 introduced us to “Joan of Arcadia” – and I’m still very impressed about it. It’s almost making me like CBS again (otherwise, I get so tired of being jerked around by the “huh?” plotlines of “The Guardian” and the “Good grief” plotlines of “JAG” and “Judging Amy” and tended to avoid the sitcoms, except maybe “Raymond” – and I have yet to forgive CBS for cancelling an old favorite show from long ago). “Survivor” still rules, apparently. Whether I like the rest of reality tv is a different story.

Cable:
I agree with Bianculli about “Monk” – it’s a fun, light show. A further plug for cable – I enjoyed much of the “MI-5” series on A&E (thanks to my sis for the cable access), a Brit-imported series about Britain’s counter-espionage agency. You never know who’s going to die in that show, unlike most American shows.

NBC:
I will miss “Boomtown.” Not an easy show to grasp, with its weird storytelling, but a creative tout-de-force nonetheless, even if NBC tried to make it simpler. I caught a bit of the episode yesterday (regrettably missing the marathon on Saturday – shame on me!), as NBC burns out what’s left of the first-run episodes – Neil McDonough as David McNorris, the deputy DA of LA – such a good tv actor. Can’t believe it’s time to say goodbye to “Friends” in 2004; and will we really say goodbye to “Frasier”?

FOX: “Arrested Development” is a strangely interesting. Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie are… well, my brothers like “A Simple Life.” ‘Nuff said, I guess. “World Idol” has been a fun holiday thing, even if not very holiday-relevant. “American Idol” is what it is.

It has been quite a year for tv news – but, news junkies already know that. 2004 won’t end the media mayhem, but we should be hopeful for more positive news. Maybe.

I’ll say it now, while I can – Happy New Year! See you in 2004.

The Explainer on Slate.com notes, “Which Movie Critics Really Matter?” to help us figure out which year’s end award to take seriously (I still wouldn’t take the Golden Globes that seriously, but it’s fun to watch on tv).

Consider the following: Some weeks ago, I noticed that the TD Waterhouse commercials no longer had the actor Steven Hill on as the spokesman. Hill, for those not in the know, was the DA Adam Schiff on “Law and Order” (the original incarnation); he was also the original team leader of “Mission Impossible” (but, really, I think “Jim” was the team leader best remembered). Hill played his spokesman role as the crotchedy old guy who made you feel stupid for not saving your money. Then, lo and behold, instead of the old guy, TD Waterhouse has… Sam Waterston? The Deputy DA of “Law and Order” – Mr. McCoy?! (no, not the Star Trek chief medical officer). I was thinking, geez, what’s with TD Waterhouse and “Law and Order”? And, here’s the Slate.com with an interesting analysis, on what TD Waterhouse is doing with the “Law and Order” folks. It is too funny.

(By coincidence, I’m currently watching Sam Waterston on “Much Ado About Nothing” on Channel 25 (NYC’s alternate PBS selection); it’s a television filming of his work from the 1970’s or early ’80’s of a Shakespeare play he did in NYC where made his first claim to fame. Waterston is such a good actor – from “I’ll Fly Away” to “Law and Order” and… TD Waterhouse commercials). Maybe TD Waterhouse like the alliteration they had in common with Waterston.

The comic strip “Stone Soup” (profiling the life of the Stone family) has a funny spin on reflecting and regretting the year’s end. As Grandma Stone says, “What’s DONE is DONE! What will be will be. You all THINK too much! You’re just wallowing in pointless angst. Enjoy the dang sunset…” Yeah, but don’t we like our angst because it makes us think we’re such deep folks? Funny thought – Grandma is right, really.

Japanese internees see modern parallels

What’s our law schools teaching on this topic? I’m sure Con Law classes must be a-twitter over this. They should be reversing Korematsu!

I visited Manzanar last year around this time. I couldn’t freaking believe how beautiful this place was, smack in the middle of Owens Valley between two mountain ranges. It was isolated that’s for sure, but beautiful. Why is it that sometimes the most tragic situations come with beauty attached?

=YC