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DISGRASIAN’s Summer Reading: We All Scream For Ice Cream
We’ll be away from our desks the month of August, carrying on with the non-bloggy aspects of our lives, watching mindless movie blockbusters, and indulging in summery drinks made with generous pours of bourbon. During this month, we’ll be linking each day to a different website that we ♥. Hopefully you’ll discover something delightful and new while we’re gone. If not, you are a serious Captain Crankypants and are probably in dire need of a summery drink made with a generous pour of bourbon.
‘Til September, lovelies.
Summer shmummer. Guys, it’s too fucking hot in Los Angeles right now to do anything. Too hot to walk, too hot to think, too hot to blog, too hot to be nice. It is literally too hot for me to like anybody else’s site enough to send you there, so I’m breaking the DISGRASIAN vacasian rules.
Instead, I am sharing a video of a Japanese robot serving ice cream. It’s the only thing that can make me smile at this particular moment because I am COOKING INSIDE MY OWN SKIN. GOD HELP LOS ANGELES.
[YouTube: Yaskawa-kun Robot Sells Ice Cream In Japan]
Thanks, G Scott and Doug!
Filed under: Awesome Japanese Behavior, Hot Hot Hot, Ice Cream, Los Angeles, Robot serving Ice Cream, Robots, Summer Vacasian
Asians And Journalism Go Together Like Ramma Lamma Lamma Ka Dinga Da Dinga Dong [We're Headed To The #AAJA Convention]
Angelenos! Where U at?
The Asian American Journalists Association will host its 21st Annual AAJA National Convention at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel in Los Angeles from August 4 to 7. We will have the pleasure of speaking on two panels on Thursday, August 5 as part of the “Diversifying Your Coverage” series with some of our favorite and most esteemed colleagues. Please join us if you can!
Information below for Thursday, August 5 @ The Renaissance Hotel:
“Diversity in the New Media”
11:15AM TO 12:15PM, Los Feliz, 3rd Floor
PRESENTERS: Gil Asakawa (Medianews Group Interactive), Phil Yu (Angry Asian Man), Jocelyn Wang (8Asians), Jen Wang and Diana Nguyen (DISGRASIAN)
The Internet offers a mixed bag of voices, but the success of ethnic outlets is still developing. Experts and experimenters alike gather to talk tips, hurdles and highlights of how to make diversity in new media work for you and your readers.
“A Hyphenated World”
2:30PM TO 3:30PM, Los Feliz, 3rd Floor
PRESENTERS: Jeff Yang (SF Chronicle), Bernice Yeung (Hyphen Magazine), Cynthia Wang (People Magazine), Oliver Wang (CSULB), Kai Ma (KoreAm), Jen Wang and Diana Nguyen (DISGRASIAN)
Journalists, every day, are challenged to report on a diverse and multicultural world. This panel discussion shines a light on some of the stereotypes most prevalent in media today — with a focus on Asian-Americans in Hollywood – and offers insight into covering the subtleties of a world rich in nuances and culture.
Filed under: 21st Annual AAJA National Convention, 8Asians, AAJA, Angelenos, Angry Asian Man, Asian American Journalists Association, Bernice Yeung, Come Hang With Us, Cynthia Wang, Gil Asakawa, Hollywood, Hyphen Magazine, Jeff Yang, Journalasianists, Journalists, Joz Wang, Kai Ma, KoreAm, Los Angeles, Medianews Group Interactive, Oliver Wang, People Magazine, Phil Yu, Renaissance Hollywood Hotel, San Francisco Chronicle
DISGRASIAN OF THE WEAK! The Hump
Last night, I had a dream that I was sitting at a sushi bar, watching the chef work with his knife before me. He sliced two slim pieces of soft, red flesh and placed them gently on balls of warm sushi rice. He leaned over the bar and laid the two sushi pieces on the wooden platform in my reach, an inch away from a small pat of wasabi and wet pile of dusty-pink pickled ginger.
“This is whale,” he said, looking me in the eye. “No soy sauce.”
Taken aback, I said, “No. Thank you, no whale please.”
“Whale,” he said, now stern. “You eat it. Chef’s special Omakase.” He tightened the grip on his Shun knife.
“No. I can’t. I can’t,” I whimpered, overwhelmed suddenly by fear.
“EAT IT,” he said. And suddenly we were no longer at a sushi bar but in a cavernous black room, with him pinning me against a chair while shoving large, bloody pieces of whale meat into my mouth. “EEEEEEAT IIIIIT!”
The nightmare, of course, stemmed from a week of reading about the recent bust of Santa Monica sushi resto The Hump, an eatery known for serving exotic sushi. The place was busted after two undercover females with a lipstick camera ordered the $600 Omakase menu and requested whale, then were awarded eight pieces. They pocketed samples of the meat and later had them analyzed, identifying the meat as that from the endangered sei whale.
LAT describes the resulting charge:
Named in the complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, were Typhoon Restaurant Inc., owner of the Hump, and chef Kiyoshiro Yamamoto, 45, of Culver City.
Filed under: Busts, Charges, Endangered Species, Illegal Sale of Marine Mammal Products, Illegally Selling Whale Meat, Kiyoshiro Yamamoto, Los Angeles, Ocean Brethren, Omakase, Santa Monica, Sei Whale, Sushi, Sushi Chef, The Hump, This is Bullshit, Typhoon Restaurant Inc., Whale Meat, White Mercedes, WTF?
ROCK OF ASIAN: Kollaboration 10 Ticket Giveaway!
Another Kollaboration extravaganza is upon us!
We’re soooo looking forward to the competition (frankly, we’re happy enough just watching the video of the contestants’ group cover of Chris Brown’s “Forever” over and over again), which will take place at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles this Saturday, March 6.
(Okay, maybe we just want to stalk our cougar crush, the ever-adorable YouTube star KevJumba, who is among the judges at the event.)
Get this! As media sponsors of Kollaboration 10, we’re giving away 4 pairs of tickets to readers! Here are the contest deets:
* Intern Jasmine will be judging the event.
* To enter, write a haiku on the subject: “Why Intern Jasmine Is Amazian.”
* Email your entry to info@disgrasian.com.
* Jasmine will pick winners by Friday at 3pm PST.
Here is my entry:
She taught me to tweet
We eat the same comfort food
Pinay pride for life
What’s yours? Good luck and party on!
[Kollaboration: Empowerment Through Entertainment]
Filed under: Abraham McDonald, and Peter Rocks and the Kollaboration House Band, Contests, Cougars, Haiku, Inappropriate Crushes, Intern Jasmine, Joseph Kahn, Just Kidding Films, KevJumba, Kollaboration, Kollaboration 10, Lisa Ling, Los Angeles, Michelle Phan, Nita Song, Patty Yoon, Pigeon John, Rex Lee, Rex Navarrete, Shrine Auditorium, TIcket Giveaway, Tony Rock, Vudoo Soul, We Are Heroes, Young Dudes
Guess It’s Settled: Miley Was Just Smiling With Her Eyes, Really Really Hard
It was announced today that Lucie Kim’s $4 million dollar lawsuit against Miley Cyrus–which we knew in our hearts she would never win–was thrown out by Los Angeles judge Robert Sohigian today.
Fierce. Fierce!
Sohigian “was not convinced Cyrus had violated a state law protecting citizens from discrimination by businesses,” and tossed the case without so much as a stern talking-to about social responsibility, the significance of buck-teef and slit eyes, or a verbal list of things that toothy, chubby-faced Disney troll-models should not do…especially in front of cameras.
So it’s likely that what Cyrus will take away from this experience is a big, fat PHEW! And a cheerful reminder that when you’re famous, you can do really stupid, shitty, racist crap and never, ever be sorry for it.
[AFP: Judge Dismisses Miley Cyrus 'slant eyes' suit]
Source
Thanks, Jasmine and Kelly!
Filed under: $4 million Lawsuit, Annoying Things Celebrities Do, Apologies, Bad Judgment, Fuck 'Em All, Lawsuits, Los Angeles, Lucie Kim, Miley Cyrus, Miley Cyrus Chink Eye, Miley Cyrus is a Disease, Miley Cyrus Lawsuit, Not Sorry, Robert Sohigian
Lynn Chen: The Hotness, the Interview [VIDEO]
Wouldn’t you know it–just days after declaring our lust for White On Rice actress Lynn Chen’s mug, one of us (Diana) bumped into her ever-so-casually while fruit shopping at The Farmers Market!
We sat down for an exclusive, intimate interview about a range of topics, like how she got motivated for her Rice role and how she keeps that face so fucking infuriatingly perfect. Who the hell is that pretty? It’s infuriating. And no, this is not jealousy talking. Shut up. Shut up!
Enjoy!
Now go see the movie!
[IMDB: White on Rice (2009)]
[DISGRASIAN™: BABEWATCH - The Ladies of White on Rice]
xo, Lynn!
Filed under: Actresses, Awkward Interviews, Beautiful Ladies, Exclusive Interview, Farmers Market, It's All About Framing, Jealousy, Los Angeles, Lynn Chen, White on Rice
ROCK OF ASIAN: Woods
As you may or may not know, Los Angeles is burning right now. An uncontrolled blaze is tragic and terrible–but sometimes for Angelenos, the L.A. fire seems like an almost necessary purge of all things impure (and oh, there are many), wiping the slate clean for another magical incarnation.
Perhaps it is this routine that turns fire times into days of anomalous calm, our millions of city dwellers just waiting and watching as thick rolls of gray smoke cloud the sunshine over our strip malls, reminding us that we don’t have as much control over tomorrow as we think we do. And perhaps our dirty deeds will just burn up and blow away.
Fascinatingly enough, it is not the hills of the metropolis engulfed in flame at the moment, but the Angeles National Forest (Non-cellphone-tower trees in our midst. For those of you who don’t believe, trust. It exists). Seems almost appropriate, then, that the album we can’t stop spinning is the latest from Woods, called Songs of Shame.
The Woods are based in Brooklyn, but one of the most infectious tracks on the album is an expectant heartbeat-instrumental called “Echo Lake” (a tribute, we hope, to the common name of a strange urban oasis on our city’s east side, not our neighbor in the Sierras), which could easily be the soundtrack to the day’s fire-calm. The rest of the album is a messy, raw compilation of psychedelic lullabies made distinct by both irregular composition and layered teeny vocal tracks–so small, lilting, and ethereal that they remind me of Miyazaki’s Kodama.
But let’s be real here. Um, hello, the album is called Songs of Shame. Isn’t a record, in its own way, simply a vehicle to purge thoughts and emotions (and arguably in this case, guilt/shame)? If it’s possible for an LP to be custom-made for DISGRASIAN, this would be it.
So why don’t you listen here. Then buy here.
And for those of you whose city is burning, temper your calm with Woods *live*: tonight at the Troubadour or tomorrow night at Echo Curio.
[MySpace: Woods]
[Amazon: Woods - 'Songs of Shame']
Source Source Source
Thanks, Maris!
Filed under: "Songs of Shame", Angeles National Forest Fire, Asian Shame, Calm, Fire, Hayao Miyazaki, Kodama, LA Is Burning, Los Angeles, Morris Fire, Portland Bands, Purging, Starting Over, Tree Spirits, Woods
ROCK OF ASIAN: Nosaj Thing
L.A. beatmaster Nosaj Thing (real name: Jason Chung) was profiled last week by Flavorwire’s Tomas Palermo, who celebrated the young Angeleno as chief among Southern California’s hot bunch of experimental beatmakers (or, more lovingly, “MIDI warriors”).
In this dense Q&A (prepare to take an ego hit if you hear about 35 artist names dropped that you don’t know), Chung emerges as a charming, ambitious electronic producer–a self-confessed web geek whose inspiration comes equally from Chopin and Daedelus, that composed much of his latest and greatest on a laptop while in air transit (an approach we’re happily familiar with).
We’ve tasted his newest tracks, and trust us, they’re delicious–lulling yet alive, dangerously smooth and complex. Now we’re dying to buy his new release, Drift, which drops digitally next week (a week earlier than the CD/LP)–so might we suggest buying the mp3 version if you’re a web geek, too?
[Flavorwire: Exclusive - Nosaj Thing Rides LA’s Post-Dilla Glitch-Hop Wave]
Thanks, Josh!
Filed under: Album Releases, Angelenos, Beat Freaks, Chopin, Daedelus, Drift, Electronic Music, Hot Asian Men, Inspirasian, Jason Chung, Keyboards, Los Angeles, Nosaj Thing, Web Geeks
ROCK OF ASIAN: Maggie Kim
Paris-based Maggie Kim is absolutely stunning to look at, but don’t let that distract you from her many illustrious musical gifts. Kim’s voice drips with desire–a smoky, alluring blend of PJ Harvey, Chrissie Hynde, and something all her own–she adds a knowing, bluesy, quirky, New York-y tenor to lyrics like, “Baby please, come back to me” and “Why don’t you know… I could be yours?” All of this, of course, made the more interesting by an eclectic mix of punk riffs, gentle pop beats, r&b bass lines.
Kim’s newest, an album sweetly entitled, “Love Like Everyone” (which features the production genius of Chris Fudurich and Brent Arnold, as well as an instrumental cameo by Mike Watt) is due for a May release, and she’s in the States to spread the word. If you’re in SF, NYC, or LA for her mini-tour dates this month, and you don’t show your face, you’re a gigantic asshole and we promise you’ll regret it.
Find out more at her official site.
Source
Merci, Maggie!
Filed under: Beautiful Ladies, Brent Arnold, Chris Fudurich, Chrissie Hynde, Ladies Who Rock, Los Angeles, Maggie Kim, Mike Watt, NYC, Paris, PJ Harvey, San Francisco, Voices We'd Like To Hump
Aloha! And Aloha!
Guys, I’m moving to Hawaii. I’m leaving to go eat tiny, delicious hamburger sliders at The Counter. That is, The Counter in Honolulu, Hawaii. If anyone wants my place here in LA, It’s got a ridiculous simultaneous view of Downtown and the Hollywood sign, two avocado trees, two orange trees, an expansive yard, and (sadly) a very annoying neighbor.
Why move, you ask? I just like burgers.
Either that, or I just like first-time restaurateurs:
Mmmmmmmmm…
[via IMDB: Lost Star Kim Opens Honolulu Restaurant]
Filed under: Aloha, Celebrity Restaurants, Daniel Dae Kim, Delicious Things, Hamburgers, Honolulu, Hot Asian Men, I'm Moving Out, Later Skaters, Los Angeles, Lost Stars, New Business Ventures, The Counter, Yum
We Are Not Elephants
The man with a stimulus plan is in beautiful Los Angeles today for a good old fashioned town hall meeting!
And we… forgot to pick up our tickets. Yes, we forgot. So we won’t be there to ask the Prez: “How often do you read blogs? Particularly DISGRASIAN? What kind of role will the stimulus package play in the blogger lifestyle? Do you like DISGRASIAN? In this economy, do you still have time to read DISGRASIAN?”
We know, we know. We’re ashamed of ourselves, too. But just this once.
Filed under: Burning Questions, Forgetting Stuff, Los Angeles, President Barack Obama, Shame on Us, Shame Spirals, Stimulus Package, Town Halls Are So Awkward, Visits, Whooppsie
Harsh Realizasians
It’s difficult to really wrap your head around the reality of the recession when you live in Los Angeles. There are the warning signs–the NYT and CNN coverage is grim, the Thai restaurant you always ordered takeout from closes its doors, the Circuit City on Sunset is suddenly an empty lot. But while listening to the speculation from Washington unfold on the satellite radio in the car, you’re still getting cut off by a brand-new Audi R8 with dealer plates and an Obama/Biden bumper sticker. You’re in bumper-to-bumper traffic on thoroughfares like Robertson and 3rd Street and Melrose, where everybody seems to have time and pocket money for a two-cocktail lunch. Jesus, the end of the street is closed, not because we can’t afford to repair it, but because the fucking Oscars are about to go live–that sort of thing. Looking around LA, one does not see people formerly employed at the car manufacturing plant lining up for 40 available jobs, nor rows of housing foreclosures, nor empty food banks and emptier supermarkets. In this city, yes, the recession is happening. But this place must be so wrapped up in make-believe that it barely feels real.
Even though I loathe watching Oprah, I tuned in for a Lisa Ling’s special report yesterday. She traveled back to her hometown of Sacramento, to investigate a basically-illegal tent city where displaced citizens are trying to keep their lives afloat without jobs or homes.
It’s impossible not to hurt for the people featured in the piece, who were working, middle-class people until they lost their jobs and were forced out of their homes. But what I find most troubling about these very personal stories is the amount of shame each person seems to harbor in their situation–whether it be for dirt on their faces and fingernails, or in their reluctance to burden their children with the knowledge of their homelesness.
These troubled economic times should not be about shame, or about shouldering that shame alone. It’s everybody’s issue, everybody’s loss, everybody’s failure. And this recession is real. Very real.
Want to do something? Click here.
Filed under: America We Have A Problem, California We Have A Problem, Homelessness, Lisa Ling, Los Angeles, Oprah Winfrey, Sacramento, Special Reports, Tent City, The Recession, This Country Is FUBAR
