Korean American Exec Resuscitates Ailing Game Console; Asian Androids Invade L.A. NextFest
September 26, 2007
Shane Kim, head man at Microsoft’s Game Studio, struck back at critics Tuesday. Redmond is banking that Kim’s much-ballyhooed release this week of the final iteration of its hit FPS, Halo 3, will drive four of its shaky business units into profitability.
A massive invasion of Asian-made androids overran WIRED’s L.A. NextFest Sept. 13-16. Chinese, Japanese and Korean robotics manufacturers left the crowds and media buzzing. The Zou Ren Ti android clone was disturbingly well done as was Kiyomori, Waseda University’s smooth-striding samurai bot.
Snapshots From Asian America VI
September 20, 2007
Former Major Leaguer Lenn Sakata has led his San Jose Giants to the championship of the Single-A Cal League. Sakata, now 53, is the winningest manager in Cal League history and an inspiration to his players.
Hamid Hayat, 25, was sentenced to 24 years in prison Sept. 10 for supporting terrorism and lying to investigators, but one FBI agent isn’t buying it.
Cab driver and Rutgers grad Bhairavi Desai, 36, is a force in NYC labor. She led 13,000 N.Y. cabbies in a two-day strike action Sept. 5.
Ann Yoshiyama-Racz disappeared 16 years ago. On Sept. 15, her husband, former L.A. County Sheriff’s sergeant John Racz, was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for her murder.
Hometown Asian America II
September 17, 2007
National Geographic’s Kid’s-Eye-View of S.F.’s Chinatown
This summer Pulitzer Prize-winning photog Jay Dickman set 15 San Francisco teenagers—all first-generation Chinese Americans—loose in Chinatown armed with Olympus digital cameras as part of the National Geographic-sponsored Summer Photo Camp. Here’s a San Francisco Chronicle article (via SFGate.com) on the camp, a QuickTime setup video and a slideshow of the shots the young shooters produced in their ‘hood.
1907 Vancouver Anti-Asiatic Riots: ‘When Racism Ruled’
September 17, 2007
- “Anniversaries of Change,” Canadian Union of Public Employees Web site.
- “Student Digs Up New Info on City’s Race Riots,” The Georgia Straight/straight.com.
- “Commemorating a Race Riot,” The Georgia Straight/straight.com.
- “1907 Riots Sparked Other Actions Against Immigrants,”
Bellingham Herald. - “When Racism Ruled,” Vancouver Sun.
- “Perspectives on The 1907 Riots,” Initiative for Student Teaching and Research in Chinese Canadian Studies (INSTRCC).
- “100-Year Anniversary of Anti-Asian Race Riots,” comments from stormfront.org, white supremacist Web site.
Snapshots From Asian America V
September 16, 2007
Luke Chueh—You’ve seen his illustrations or maybe you’ve just dreamed them.
Louie Sakoda—Univ. of Utah junior placekicker singlehandedly outscores UCLA Bruins in upset win.
Elaine Chao—The Secretary of Labor is now President Bush’s longest-serving cabinet member.
Miyoshi Umeki—First Asian American actress to win Academy Award passes.
Burning Man 2007 With Ryan Jesena
September 11, 2007
Combine northwestern Nevada’s desolate Black Rock Desert, Labor Day weekend and what’s left of ’60s counter culture with mutants, satirical mobile sculptures, dusty dancing, sex and hallucinogens of every kind and you basically have Burning Man. Though it may have lost a bit of its original vibe to scenesters and the glare of mainstream media, it’s the coolest, most subversive thing anyone’s doing nowadays. Of all the shooters who flock to Burning Man each year, Jesena’s photos are the best, evoking innocence, psychedelic menace and a sense of loneliness. See for yourself at LAist and Flickr. And read more about Ryan, the artist with the three P’s—Pilipino-poet-photographer—here and here. And thanks, Ryan, for letting me live vicariously through you another year.
I turned my back on anything related to pro football long ago because my hometown—Los Angeles—hasn’t had an NFL franchise for 13 seasons. Politics. Greed. Sickening.
But this year I’ve relented. Finding it impossible to keep ignoring the growing presence of Asian/Pacific Island Americans in the NFL, I’ve decided to become a pathological sports bettor fan again.
The reason I mention this is because today is opening day of the 2007-08 NFL season. And it should be a momentous one for the 48 API athletes who’ve survived pre-season scrutiny to make it to America’s game.
