DISGRASIAN™

Dan Choi Is On Duty (And Still Gaysian)

Since an Army National Guard committee recommended his discharge last summer, Knights Out founder Lt. Dan Choi has been staying active in the fight to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Meanwhile, his commander, a big supporter, fought the discharge decision and recently called Choi personally to ask for his return.

Great Choi-ce

The Advocate has reported that Choi rejoined his unit in Pennsylvania last weekend, opting out of a speaking engagement at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force’s Creating Change conference.

As far as we know, he has not snapped a towel, leered at any of his military colleagues, referred to any unform as “fabulous,” nor told any soldier to give him head. In short, he is doing what he was meant to do: serve his country professionally, with honor and loyalty. That duty has nothing whatsoever to do with the gender he dates and is a heckuvalot more than most of us would or could do ourselves.

We sure as hell feel a whole lot safer knowing he’s out there protecting us.

[The Advocate: Dan Choi Back On Active Duty]

Source
Thanks, Isaac and Jaime!

Filed under: Army National Guard, Army National Guard Committee, Bullshit Policy, Dan Choi, Don't Ask Don't Tell, Gays in the Military, Gaysians, Heroes, Knights Out, Lieutenant Dan Choi Fired from Army, Military Men, Safety First, US Military

BIRTHDAY CELEBRASIAN! Jerry Hsu

Happy 28th birthday today to pro boarder Jerry Hsu!





This dude is the reason that Diana rides an Enjoi skateboard (poorly; with near-catastrophic drop-in attempts under her belt). Known fondly as Asian Elvis, he is not only a skate prodigy but a pretty sweet photographer, and one of our heroes.

Here’s hoping he ends up passed out in a pile of his own birthday vomit tonight! It’s the only way to celebrate.

[Epicly Later: Jerry Hsu Photo Gallery]

Source

Filed under: Asian Elvis, Birthdays, Children of the 1980s, Cool Dudes, Drop-Ins, Enjoi, Heroes, Hot Asian Men, Jerry Hsu, Photographers, Pro Skateboarders, Prodigies, Skate or Die, Skaters, Vomit

What The Hell Are We Doing On The Cover Of Hyphen Magazine?

The last issue of Hyphen featured our heroine, Ms. Margaret Cho, on their cover.

The new one, Issue 19, bears a photograph of us.

Either we’re blowing all the right people, they’re out of ideas, or we’re all doing something right!

Continue reading What The Hell Are We Doing On The Cover Of Hyphen Magazine?

Filed under: Awesomeness, Cool Photos, Heroes, Hyphen Cover, Hyphen Magazine, Magazine Covers, Margaret Cho, Narcissism, Neat-o, Non-Profit Magazines, Our Heroes, Surreal Moments, Trailblazers

Congratulasians To Efren Peñaflorida, 2009 CNN Hero Of The Year!

The people have spoken, and what they have said is that our man Efren Peñaflorida, with his pushcart school, is a hero among heroes. Try not to cry during his acceptance speech:

“Our planet is filled with heroes, young and old, rich and poor, man, woman of different colors, shapes and sizes. We are one great tapestry. Each person has a hidden hero within, you just have to look inside you and search it in your heart, and be the hero to the next one in need.”

And right now, from behind our walls of daily snark and selfishness and shame, we kinda believe him.

[CNN: Pushcart Educator Named CNN Hero Of The Year]

Thanks, Jasmine!

Filed under: 2009 CNN Hero Of The Year, Anderson Cooper, Awards, Awards Shows, CNN, CNN Heroes Awards, Efren Peñaflorida, Everybody Loves a Winner, Heroes, the Philippines

NBC’s "More Colorful," Except When It Comes To People

In the last week, you may have noticed that NBC’s launched a new marketing slogan in its promos: “More Colorful.”

NBC Entertainment marketing president Adam Stotsky told Variety that “color is what we strive to do in our programming” and the slogan signifies “innovative programming” (like the unabashedly hacky Jay Leno Show, for example).

We think theTVAddict.com has a better take on NBC’s new tagline, however:

Meanwhile, if you still care, the fourth season of Heroes premieres tonight. Now there’s an NBC show with more colorful people!

Or, uh, more corolfur, as it were.

[theTVAddict.com: NBC (Unintentinally) Brings Back the Funny with their New Marketing Slogan]
[Entertainment Weekly: Diversity in Entertainment: Why Is TV So White?]

Source
Source

Filed under: Engrish Is Played, Heroes, Hiro Nakamura, Masi Oka, NBC, NBC More Colorful Marketing Slogan, Network TV, The Jay Leno Show Makes Me Ashamed to Be an American

R.I.P. Walter Cronkite

As bloggers, we know we’re part of a huge paradigm shift that has forced the world to witness the rapid decline of our beloved newspapers, and in lockstep, a bittersweet goodbye to a beautiful old school of gritty, focused, research-and-field based journalism.

Walter Cronkite, 1916 – 2009

Few things signify the end of that truly incredible journalistic era than the loss of Walter Cronkite, who passed away on Friday evening, at the age of 92.

Is it his tone of honesty that will be missed most? His dedication to the country? Perhaps his immeasurable influence (defined, one could argue, by the devastating impact his February 27, 1968 statement had on the on the nation’s support of the Vietnam War, see video link below):

We don’t really have an answer to those questions. We can only bid Cronkite an eternal goodnight with due respect and much sadness. He will be missed.

[NYT: 28 Years After Retirement, Anchorman Goes Off Air]

Source

Filed under: End of an Era, Heroes, Journalists, Newspapers, R.I.P., The Vietnam War, Walter Cronkite

BABEWATCH: Somaly Mam

Bar Rafaeli, Somaly Mam, and Petra Nemcova at a 2008 benefit for the Somaly Mam Foundation

Name: Somaly Mam

Hails from: Cambodia

Occupation: Human rights activist

Why She’s a Babe: You wouldn’t guess, just by looking at her, especially when she’s holding her own while sandwiched between two Sports Illustrated swimsuit models (above), that Somaly Mam has lived a hellish life that most of us can’t even wrap our heads around. Growing up in war-ravaged Cambodia, Somaly was sold into sex slavery at age 12. Later she wound up in a Phnom Penh brothel, where she was repeatedly beaten and raped for ten years. Three years after fleeing Cambodia with the help of an aid worker, she started the nonprofit AFESIP (Agir pour les Femmes en Situation Précaire, or Acting for Women in Distressing Circumstances) that has helped over 4,000 women escape brothels and reintegrate into society. She’s been named a CNN Hero, Glamour Woman of the Year, and in 2009, she made the TIME 100 list. You can see a snapshot of her chatting with Michelle Obama at the gala dinner here; it’s a striking photo of two strong, beautiful women locked in an intimate conversation, not to mention a toned-arm-o-rama. In other words, doing good never looked this good.

Read Marianne Pearl’s 2006 profile of Somaly Mam in Glamour here.

Source

Filed under: Cambodian Activists, CNN Heroes Awards, Heroes, Human Rights, Human Trafficking, Michelle Obama, Sex Slavery, Somaly Mam, Time 100 2009

BABEWATCH: Tamlyn Tomita

Name: Tamlyn Naomi Tomita

Age: 42

Occupation: Actor

I bonded with Phil (aka Angry Asian Man) this weekend over the decades we’ve spent crushing on Tamlyn Tomita. For me, Tamlyn is forever Kumiko from Karate Kid II, her film debut, with all of that wispy hair and that worried, downturned, but oh-so-pretty mouth. I’m pretty sure she’s the first Asian girl movie character I ever saw get the boy–albeit a skinny wuss who got his ass beat 12 times across three acts until the last 10 frames of the movie, but whatevs. Tamlyn has a Manchurian Candidate kind of effect on me, wherein I see her lovely face and then I break into an awful rendition of “The Glory of Love” that would most likely get me killed in Borneo.

Last night, Tamlyn had a cameo on the show we love to hate, Heroes, where she played Hiro’s mother, who dies when he’s a young child. And she looked goooooood. So good, in fact, that her playing the wife of George Takei seemed really creepy, as though George’s character had actually robbed the cradle. Tamlyn…what’s your secret, gurl?

Source

Filed under: Asian Actors, Asian Babes, Beautiful Japanese Women, George Takei, Heroes, Karate Kid II, Masi Oka, Peter Cetera, Tamlyn Tomita, The Glory of Love

BABEWATCH: James Kyson Lee

Name: James Kyson Lee

Hails from: Seoul, Korea and New York City (from age 10 on)

Occupation: Actor

Why He’s a Babe: Forget Hiro. Season 3 of Heroes is all about Ando, James’s character on the show who’s spent the previous two seasons totally underutilized as Hiro’s sidekick (as played by our favorite fister, Masi Oka). But this season’s premiere suggested that Ando is headed over to the dark side, and, as ladies, we’re genetically programmed to love bad boys. Especially one who murders the relentlessly-annoying, Engrish-spreaking Hiro, while wearing only his skivvies, no less! Okay, we made that last part up (about the underwear, not the murder)…but we can dare to dream.

Filed under: Ando, Asian-American Actors, Death to the Sidekick, Doing Stuff in Your Underwear, Heroes, Hiro Nakamura, James Kyson Lee, Masi Oka, South Koreans, The Dark Side, Villains

BIRTHDAY CELEBRASIAN!

Happy 63rd birthday to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi! You have endured 12 years of unlawful house arrest, so we wish you freedom. Freedom for you and the Burmese people who, like you, are heroically surviving in spite of it all.

Source

Filed under: Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma, Cyclone Nargis, Freedom, Heroes, House Arrest, Military Juntas Blow, Myanmar, Surviving

Quite the A-Rain-gement

Funnily enough, Rain’s Jackson-like dance moves are losing their hypnotic effect on me.

He has, however, totally warmed through the cold candy shell of my icy heart–especially after this incredible dance-off with my hero, Stephen Colbert.

Now if he’d only quit with “The Rachel” hair cut and put those sexy nerd glasses back on, we could be married.

Source
Source
Thanks, jRu!

Filed under: Amazian Behavior, Arranged Marriages, Dance-Offs, Heroes, Hilarious, Koreans Who Rule, Nerd Wear, Pop Stars, Rain, Stephen Colbert

Action Hiros

Mezco Toyz is releasing Heroes action figures this June, and Toys ‘R’ Us is exclusively offering the cheerleader and the wacky Japanese dude who throws his fists up in the air when excited.

“Hilo really have to go. Must get out of Time Square, teleport to future or medieval Japan. Ooooh. Aaaaaaaah. Concentrate, Hilo. Must save world, but first, must find…arghhhhhhhhhhhhhh….eeeeehhhhhhhhhhhh….

Shit. I just clapped my pants.“

Source
Thanks, Jasmine!

Filed under: Action Figures, Crap, Fisting, Heroes, Masi Oka, Shitty Pants, The Turtle is Furious, Wacky Japs