Positive Asian American Male Role Models

It's been a while since I blogged here. However, the time is right to make a return and comment on a pressing issue. On a Facebook group that I participate in, someone discovered an e-book that was being sold on Amazon. The author was an Asian-American male who wrote the book in an attempt to teach Asian (and other) males how to get Hong Kong girls to have sex with them. A lot of females members from the Facebook group took offense at the book and started a petition to have the book (and others promoting the same general idea) removed from Amazon (see below):

Ban Books Advocating the Sexual Exploitation of Women in Asia

However, there are some Asian-American males who have vocally opposed this petition.  They feel that Asian-American males are oppressed enough in the media and this book (among other things) will serve as a positive encouragement for males.

As a Asian American male, I have to respectfully disagree with my brethren.  I fully understand that Asian males don't have the most positive image in the media and in public.   Despite the negatives, Asian American males are still dating, getting married and having kids.  So if some males can overcome why not others?

Why do we want to support something that makes our Asian sisters (who may be our friends, sisters, mothers, etc) be objects to conquered instead of being treated as real people?  We can do better than that.

Instead of allowing these books to be out there, Asian American males need to be better role models around our friends, families and communities.  If you the talent and skill to go beyond your local community (think Wong Fu Productions, KevJumba, etc) that's even better.

The way to a better life is not to take things at the expense of others.  Instead, be an positive and encouraging role model and you'll see it will take you much further than some book on sex will.

Apple Days Of Innovation Are Over? History Doesn't Seem To Agree.

This is a note I posted on a local newspaper website that I wanted to share: 

START COMMENT

I'm hardly an Apply "fanboy" in that I proclaim Apple to be untouchable. I do have a Mac Computer, iPad and iPhone but don't hate it if people want to use other stuff. Heck, I use Windows and Blackberry for work! 

I am a bit of an Apple historian though. I grew up using an Apple IIe (1980's baby!) and quite familiar with Apple's history before and after the Apple IIe. Apple's history has always been "to innovate" with some product and then build on it incrementally.

The Apple I was nice but it was the Apple II that really took off. While Apple added some things over time: Upper / Lower Case keyboard, Disk Drives, More Memory, etc, the basic Apple II features hardly changed for the better part of a decade. The Apple II graphics and sound capabilities that existed in 1977 were the same capabilities that went through the Apple II+, IIe and IIc. It wasn't until the Apple IIGS was introduced in 1986 that there were significant upgrades to features.

The original Macintosh was like that as well: Mac 128, Mac 512, Mac SE. There were a couple of desktop Mac's, then the Performa line.

It wasn't until Jobs introduced the colorful iMac's that the computers got a huge makeover. The MacBook Air was well received but these days are just getting some makeovers.

These days, Apple is just doing the same thing everything. The iPods, iPhones, iPads and computers are in the "let's update incrementally mode". At the end of the day, nothing wrong with that.

Is Apple's days of innovation over? We won't know for a while but let's not discount them. Apple has a history of innovation (most of it with Jobs). However, I have faith that someone will step into the role in time.

END COMMENT

I'll add that people are expecting way too much for any company to continue innovating.  Maybe I'm from an older generation but at the end of the day, I just need an iPhone to make calls.  The rest are just perks.  That's why I still have an iPhone 4.  If I do need the newer model then I will move to a newer model. 

Xanga: The End Of The Road?

Once a upon a time, if you wanted to connect with friends on the Internet, you likely would use Friendster or MySpace for your Social Media needs.   You were also likely to visit these two sites using a Netscape browser.  If you were a geek and wanted to create a free website, you might use GeoCities.

If you wanted to blog, there was really only one major choice:  Xanga.  Not to confuse it with the mobile gaming company Zynga.

Today, Friendster and MySpace are after thoughts with Facebook dominating the Social Media scent.  Netscape was overtaken by Internet Explorer and later discontinued though Firefox lives on as a descendant of the original Netscape.   GeoCities was closed down several years ago by Yahoo.

The lone holdout is Xanga as the site has quiet chugged on since it's founding in 1999.   However, Xanga is hitting a crossroads.  The site isn't well known these days and the company cannot afford to sustain operations.  They initiated a fund raising champaign to raise $60,000 to move Xanga to the WordPress platform.  Additionally, to sustain the site, they are asking users to pay for subscriptions.   Unfortunately, the effort ends tomorrow (July 31st) and Xanga is still short about $13,000.

Check on their fund raising effort here:

Xanga Crowdhoster

If Xanga cannot raise the $60,000 by tomorrow, the site will shut down.  If this happens, it will be a shame and also be the end of an era.  Xanga was the first blog for many people during the early 2000's. I signed up and blogged first the first time in August of 2004 and my last post was in July of 2006.   Xanga's entire situation got me to review my old Xanga blog which is located here:

Coach41's Xanga Blog

In looking through my old blog, I was surprised at some of my writings.  I had forgotten that I had blogged about some of my basketball experiences during those times.  While the writing isn't great, I am going to try and archive them for future reference.

I also remember that I chose NOT to talk too much about my personal life on my Xanga blog.  I had felt people were revealing a little too much on their blogs (at that time anyway).  My tune hasn't changed too much even as I blog today.  I'll talk about some things in general but I choose not to reveal too many personal details.

If Xanga is forced to shut down, it will be a shame but it is the nature of the Internet.  Even though Facebook is big now, there is always the possibility that another site will become dominant in the future.

The Internet Circa 1995

I was posting a message on Google Groups (more on this later) today and it got me to thinking to my "history" on the Internet.   Believe it or not, I'm been using the Internet in one form or another for EIGHTEEN (18) YEARS!  

How I got onto the Internet is an interesting story.   After I had graduated from high school in the early 1990's, I went to a junior college.  One of good friends went to a four year university in the East Coast. My friend and I wrote (!!!) letters and chatted on the phone fairly frequently.  Among the things I found out from my friend was something called email.  My friend told me it was a fast way of sending messages electronically.  I don't remember if I understood the concept at the time.  However, it did fascinate me to the point where I looked around my junior college to see if I could find out more.  Alas, I didn't know anything at all about email or the Internet so I never asked anyone. 

When I transferred to a four-year university a couple of years later, life was easy.  The school advertised that people could sign up for an e-mail or Internet (forget what the school said) account.  After registering for classes, I signed up quickly for an account and I was now officially "on the Internet and using email".  

Initially, I couldn't login from home as my computer didn't have a modem (what's that you ask?  A device you connect to your phone line to get your computer to get online ).  So I spent a great deal of time at the school computer labs playing on the Internet.  I was reading news, chatting online and participating in group discussions. 

Does it sound like what a lot of young people do today?  Yes, but there are some major differences.  While computers were out with mice (Windows 3.1 / MAC), you had to establish a connection to a school server to actually get your email (telnet or dial up from home).  The server is UNIX (a computer operating system) drive, which did not have a graphical interface.   Thus, you had to be very comfortable with typing commands to get around the UNIX system. 

I used an application called PINE to read my email.  These days everyone is using some form of web email (Hotmail, Yahoo, Gmail, etc) or Outlook.  Back then, PINE was the primary choice though I think you could use some email clients though I don't remember exactly.  

At school, I had a choice of using Mosaic (an early web browser) or later Netscape 1.0 on the school computers to get on the Internet.  The Internet back in 1995 was primarily text with STATIC graphics.   No YouTube, Amazon or even ESPN.  There were no MP3's, Flash or any type of streaming video.   

After a while, hanging out at school all the time proved tiresome so I eventually got a modem to connect my Apple IIe to the school UNIX system.  I used a 300 baud modem initially but upgraded to a 2400 baud (!!!) modem later on.  I was now able to get my email at home.  Alas, I could not use a Mosaic or Netscape in this manner.  I was limited in what I could do.  I could get online using a text browser called Lynx.  

Later on I started using something called Usenet.  Usenet is a discussion group that focuses on a specific topic.  Think of anyone of the online website forums you may participate in today, except my groups were all text based.  I participated in many groups from basketball,  TV shows, music, and a few others. 

Usenet, for many reasons I won't cover here, has lost popularity as the modern Internet has grown.  However, Google Groups allows people to use the Usenet via a graphical interface.  Thus, I have been able to continue to participate in a basketball and computer group that I first started using back in 1995!  

It was a discussion on the BASKETBALL (not the computer) Usenet group that convinced me to write all of this.  There are a few people on the Basketball Usenet group that have been on there with me for the past 18 years.  We had some good discussions about the years we have spent in the group. 

The Internet has grown by leaps and bounds in the past 18 years.   While a lot of the advancement is great for everyone, a part of me missed the innocent old days.  Those were definitely some interesting days.  

Why I Don't Post Statuses and Check In On Facebook As Much As I Did Before

When I first joined Facebook years ago, it was cool to constantly provide status updates and "check in" at the various locations you went to.  It got to the point where some of my friends commented to me:  "You are on Facebook a lot".

Fast forward a few years and the novelty of checking in and updating your status has faded.   While I still occasionally checked in or provided a status update if I was at a cool place, I otherwise refrained from posting too much.

In discussing my new attitude with my friends, there were actually benefits to not posting so much on Facebook.  The main benefit?  SECURITY!

What do I mean?  If you post that you're at a certain location, that means YOU are not home.  While your friends will probably not take advantage of this situation, Facebook (and other accounts) can get hacked.   Hackers could take advantage of Facebook and figure out where you live and perhaps do something.

I am posting this because a close friend shared that there was an attempted robbery at their house recently.  While the robbery had nothing to do with Facebook (as far as I can tell), you need to take as many precautions as possible.

There have been a lot of home invasions / robberies recently in the Bay Area and it's better to be safe than sorry.  In the case of my friend,  they are ok and nothing was stolen.  Thank heaven for small favors.

Psy (Gangnam Style) - Unexpected Asian American Superstar

If you've been living under a rock or some remote island without Internet access, it may be news to you that there's a major new dance sweeping the world by South Korean rapper Psy:

Gangnam Style - Psy

I had read about the song when it was released in July but I never really paid attention.  As much as I like reading things, I'm not the most up to date on the latest pop culture.   I finally gave in and checked the song / video when it had just hit over 100 million views.  I thought it was a bit silly but as a fan of dance music, it had a bit of charm that made me wanted to listen to it.

Initially, I admit that I compared Psy to American Idol's William Hung.   The only reason I noted that was no other Asian-American born individual performed has garnered as much attention as Psy did.   William Hung was liked (sort of) because of geeky nature and not because of he had great musical ability.

Upon further research though, I found that I was incorrect in my comparisons.  Psy is a well known rapper in South Korea and had released six total albums.   In watching some of his other videos lately, he has a bit of swagger about him and at least one of his other songs is pretty good.

What was most surprising to me was that Psy went to college in the United States.   Thus, his English is very good and he gives great interviews.   He is down to earth but has a great sense of humor and doesn't mind making fun of himself.

There has been a push by South Koreans to push K-POP into the United States but most of the efforts have been only mildly successful.  Psy probably doesn't fit the traditional mold of K-POP but that may be exactly the reason why he has broken through.  Gangnam Style has a charm that has obviously caught on.  But like Yao Ming in the NBA, Psy's ability to express himself in English will endear him greatly to the world.  For many Asian born performers, their lack of English skills hinder them a bit as something always gets lost in the translation.  Psy will not have that problem.

Psy doesn't quite realize it yet, but he has given Asian-Americans a face in the entertainment industry that has been sorely lacking.  The Far East Movement had succeeded previously but I don't think they have garnered world wide attention as Psy did in the past few months.

To be fair, Psy is Korean born and I doubt he will be speaking on Asian-American issues anytime soon.  But an Asian face hitting the top of the charts around the English speaking world is definitely note worthy.   Let's hope that Psy is not a one-hit wonder and he can continue to be in the public eye for years to come.

Facebook At It's Best

Facebook is definitely a popular social media website but it garners it's share of criticism for it's privacy policies.   From a personal perspective, I've had a Facebook account for many years now.  Originally, I thought it was cool to "check in", post status messages and various other things of interest.

These days, I do not "check in" anymore.   I found that friends don't really care where you are at.   Plus, by "checking in" you are exposing that you are NOT HOME.    Not that my friends are going to do anything, but if someone got into a friends account, you never know what might happen.

I will occasionally post a status message if I feel the need to.  But the only remaining thing I do frequently is post links to items of interest.  I may post videos, news articles or even my own blog articles.  I use Facebook as way to share things that others may be interested in.

One really cool thing that I found recently is the use of Facebook groups.  The groups have been around for a while but I think Facebook may some changes recently which made them more useful.  When you are a part of a group, you get notifications of people posting items in the group.  I've started a few different groups and part of a few others.

All of the groups have a specific theme that ties the people together.  For example, I started a group for a company that I used to work for.  I had a lot of former co-workers as my friends and added them to the group.  From the 80 or so people I started off with, the group jumped to some 150 members a few days later as other folks added more people.

There was a surprising amount of people contributing to the group with memories of their employment histories.  Plus, all of the postings were read by a significant amount of people.   I believe I have found the secret of Facebook.  It's not about reading all of your friend's news feed constantly.  It's not about playing Mafia Wars or other games.

It's about CONNECTING people, but not superficially.   Just having your timeline, reading the newsfeed and other things doesn't mean you're connected to others.  Using groups where people can share of their shared experiences is what Facebook should be about.

Beyond the group for my former company, I had some groups for several basketball leagues I was part of.  I had a chance to share some old photos that I had saved.  Thus the groups not only allow us to share memories but preserve some of the history of things as well.

Blackberry Playbook Redux

Tablet computers are quite popular these days.  To many users, the only tablet computer worthy of consideration is the iPad.  To me, I personally didn't feel the need to get a tablet.  I had an iPhone that served me well when I needed to get email, Internet access or other information on the run. 

I did pick up an iPad 2 for my mom as an entertainment / gaming device at home.  For the first time since I bought the iPad 2, my mom and I took it on the road for vacation.  I used the iPad to surf online a bit while at the hotel. 

What most people don't know if that I quietly picked up a Blackberry Playbook tablet computer a few months after buying the iPad 2.  There was an opportunity to pick up the Playbook for free which I took advantage of.   I didn't have any specific need for the Playbook but wanted to see what it could do. 

The initial version of the operating systems was a little limited and buggy.  I got a decent experience going online but apps were lacking.  Since the Playbook was a WiFi only tablet, I was limited in the places I could use it (home or other places that had WiFi internet connections).  As many people heard, the Playbook lacked email apps at launch and that was a major limitation. 

With an updated operating system several months ago, the bugs were ironed out a bit and email apps were added.  I download the update and gave the new operating system a spin.  It was pretty interesting but I didn't have a major need to use the Playbook.  When I was home, I would use my computer.  When I was out, I would use my iPhone.  My needs on the road didn't require a tablet.   With that, my Playbook just sat on a table collecting dust until tonight. 

I participate in a fantasy football league and for the first time in a few years, we were drafting players in person at a friend's house.  The league had drafted online only the past few years so I could easily just use my computer.  I wasn't sure if we were still going to use the online system even though we were meeting in person.   It was with that thought that I decided to pull my Playbook out of the mothballs and bring it along to the draft. 

As it turned out, there was only me, my friend and another guy at the house drafting while the other folks were drafting online.  I asked my friend to grant me access to his wireless network and I powered up my Playbook. 

After logging in and going to our fantasy football draft website, I was able to get into the draft room successfully.  It was NOT the smoothest of experiences I've had though.  There were some hiccups with the draft room though it wasn't a deal breaker.  I figured out what I needed to do and just went with it.  At the end of the day, the fact that I was able to participate and complete the draft entirely from the Playbook was good enough for me!  

Since the draft room was Flash based,  I probably would not have been able to participate in the draft with my iPhone (or an iPad).  I was fortunate that the Playbook was around and had Flash support.  While I understand why Apple did not want to support Flash, there are some cases where it is useful as I found out tonight.  

So while the Playbook may not be used regularly by me, I did find one niche use case for it tonight.  I may use the Playbook for monitoring my fantasy football team during the season as well.  My iPhone is ok for that purpose but the bigger screen of the Playbook may be better.  

My blog post will not necessarily turn around Blackberry's fortunes in the business market.   However, hopefully anyone reading the posting will keep an open mind and find uses for the Playbook (and other tablets) that exist on the market. 

Pictures vs Videos / Archiving Memories

A few years ago, I realized that time was flying by and that I wasn't always capturing memories as much as I could be.  Thus, I put a concerted effort in taking photos of my various activities and tried to capture as much as I could.  This effort got me interested in photography so much that I did a "photo a day" project for the better part of a year though that has slowed down.  I've also purchased a Digital SLR camera and learned how to do some manual photography.

In regards to video, I personally didn't capture many video memories.  The only videos I had in my possession were from three trips to China.  I had purchased an old DV8 tape camcorder and used them all for the trips to China.  Otherwise, I had not used the camcorder for anything else. 

However, recently, my interest in video and video editing was kindled.  A friend of mine was taking video of a basketball league we both played in.  My friend was trying to do some stuff for the league.  His project got me into researching things and I realized that I had iMovie on my iMac at home.  

I also had TONS of old video (on VHS no less) from previous basketball leagues I had played in (1998, 2001, 2003).  

Put the two together and that formed an archival project the past month or so.  I still had a VCR at home and a Sony DVD recorder machine that could take input from various devices.  I popped in the various VHS tapes to the VCR, popped in a DVD in the Sony device and hit record to burn the videos onto DVD. 

I took the DVD to my iMac and covered the videos into digital form.  I still had to further convert the videos into a format that iMovie could use.  From there, I viewed, chopped and put together many highlight reels from these old VHS tapes.  I then uploaded these highlights to YouTube for preservation and sharing. 

The response to these highlights have been quite positive from everyone who were involved (teammates / fans).  The videos brought back a lot of positive memories and I was thanked a lot for doing them. 

In doing the video highlights,  I realized that videos do play a much different part than photos in preserving memories.  Videos show you what happened and show some of the emotion and the scenes during those moments in time. Photos capture the action and the scene to a certain extent but it's much more passive.  The memories you remember are left to your imagination.  

It's interesting that I have been doing these video highlights and "archiving" them to DVD / YouTube.  When I was unemployed for a time last year, I had looked into a program for a Master's Degree in Library Information Systems with a focus on digital archiving.  

Though I soon started working and have not focused on the Master's Degree, it is interesting that I am doing some archiving.  It may be something for me to consider for a future career.  

The conundrum of Asian-Americans in sports and entertainment

With Jeremy Lin bursting onto the scene, there is a lot of focus already on the NEXT Jeremy Lin.  For example, there is some buzz over Chris Tang, a 6'3' high school sophomore.  Tang was born in China though has lived in the US for the past three years.  He is currently playing basketball in Virginia and high on scouts radars:

Meet Chris Tang:  The Next Jeremy Lin?

It is quite unfortunate, but until Asian Americans start regularly playing in the NBA, almost every good Asian-American player will be looked as the "next Jeremy Lin".   As has been explained many times over, Jeremy Lin was overlooked.  Some may call it racism or stereotyping.  Whatever is was, the fact is that scouts / coaches had no frame of reference for an Asian-American basketball players.  Now that Jeremy Lin has shown up, there is a frame of reference and that will be (at least in the short term) what future players will be measured against.

That is definitely NOT a good thing if you look at the entertainment industries.  For example, the biggest ever Asian-American movie star today is still probably Bruce Lee.  Even thought Lee's been dead for years, he remains as the standard with which Asian / Asian-American actors are measured against.  Asian stars such as Jackie Chan and Jet Li have been unfairly measured against Bruce Lee due to their martial arts backgrounds.   The fact is that Hollywood has been looking for the next Bruce Lee for years and still has not found him.   Yet they continue on the search while Asian-Americans languish in supporting roles.

It is somewhat the same in the music arena.  Before the Far East Movement broke out last year, there had been no major Asian-American music stars.  However, after having two solid songs, Far East Movement has faded somewhat into the background though their single with Justin Biebber is set to break into the Billboard Top 100 next week.

This reminds me of something I saw a few years ago.  There was an Asian American band called At Last.  They were competing on the show America's Got Talent:

At Last - American's Got Talent Semi-Final

As you can see on the video, they are pretty good.  Ultimately they didn't win the competition but had a small following and even released a few independent albums.   After the competition, I followed the band to see how they were doing.  The band kept busy with new albums and tours but otherwise were not signed by any major labels.

I remember reading something online where one of the band members stated:  "Producers told us they didn't know how to market us".  The implication was that Asians aren't seen as music stars and American audiences wouldn't support them.

That indeed is the conundrum that faces Asian-Americans wishing to pursue careers in sports, music, movies and TV.  Jeremy Lin forced the NBA (and  now the basketball world at large) to take a second look at Asian-Americans who may have been previously ignored.  Now, the entertainment industries need to do the same.

I firmly believe American audiences are not dummies.  Like the many different ethnicities that support Jeremy Lin, I believe American audiences CAN and WILL support Asian-American stars in movies, music and TV.  The problem is the entertainment industry wasn't willing to take a chance in the past.  Jeremy Lin's success may have some indirect impact. Once the door is open, it cannot be closed again.

In the meantime, Asian-Americans should continue to pursue their dreams.  It may not be the easiest or smoothest ride but as Jeremy Lin showed, your opportunity may just be around the corner.

How Could Bay Area Colleges pass on Jeremy Lin

(This was a response to something on a Jeremy Lin blog):  


**********************************************************************************
You know, getting passed by all 300+ schools is an interesting point that has been noted over and over again. However, it never dawned on me until Anonymous / Sydney posted just how big a deal that was. But let's take a step back and only tackle certain schools (to be fair). 

Jeremy Lin sent tapes to the Patriot and Ivy league schools. Only Brown and Harvard showed interest so boo to all the other schools. Jeremy himself said he was interested in UCLA, Stanford and Cal which all didn't work out. I personally wouldn't discount most of the other schools not on this initial list. It seems that Jeremy was looking for good academic schools with athletic programs and not just basketball powerhouses. There may have been lower tier schools that could have used Jeremy but who knows if Jeremy would have attended just because a school offered a scholarship. 

But I don't gave the other Bay Area colleges a pass. Among the Bay Area schools that are Division I, how many of them are "good"? University of San Francisco (USF) and Santa Clara have been mediocre in the WCC. San Jose State is not that good in the WAC. The only team that has been pretty good is St. Mary's. If Jeremy Lin has broken out while playing in the Bay Area, imagine all the attention he would have brought to the programs (then and now that he is in the NBA). 

There are other smaller colleges in CA (UC Santa Barbara, UC Irvine, etc) that probably could have used Jeremy. But there's always complaints about how CA loses it's star basketball players to other schools. They had a chance to keep one and missed badly. Now that is pretty inexcusable.


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Still Here.........

I realized I hadn't blogged on this domain in quite some time.  In fact. I was thinking of merging this blog with my more "personal blog".  However, it appears I have a decent amount of readership here so will maintain this for the near future.  Much of my Jeremy Lin thoughts have been on my personal blog but I will put in some additional thoughts here as well.

See you all soon.

BB Playbook

Yesterday, i got a nice gift in the form of the 16GB Blackberry Playbook tablet.  i'll leave the details of how i got the gift.  However, i've been using it and its not a bad little machine.  Yes, it's had its critics but free is free.  Just like the HP Touchpad users, the Playbook makes for a nice little web browser and can do a few other things.  In fact i am writing this posting as we speak.

Overall, the Playbook is nice but probably enough to be my primary computer.  The OS isn't bad but tbe browser hiccups a bit.  App choices are a little limited but there's useful stuff if you look for it.  Is it worth the regular price?  For me, no.  But for free?  I cannot complain!

iPad for Seniors: Personal Experience

As a person that work on a computer most of the day, has a computer at home and carries around an iPhone, I did not have a need for an iPad.  Yet,  I spent a lot of time playing with the machine at Apple stores.  While I enjoyed playing with it, I felt is a glorified iPhone without the ability to make calls.

I had a change of heart when I realized the iPad 2 could be an interesting device for my mom when she's not out doing stuff.  I thought it would give her an additional option beyond just watching TV.  Like many elderly folks, my mom is not much of a technology person.  The only piece of my technology actively uses is her cell phone.  However, that cell phone is a very basic one.  You would never see my mom using an iPhone or Android phone.

If not the iPhone, then how come I suddenly thought about the iPad?  Well, I felt the iPad would be simple enough so I could teach my mom a few simple things to do.  I initially planned to teach her how to surf the Web, watch YouTube and play a few games.

After thinking about things for a couple of weeks, I ended getting the iPad.  Alas, only one out of the three items I wanted to teach my mom has worked out.  My mom doesn't know much about the Internet and doesn't watch a lot of videos.  So, those two ideas went out the door quick.

However, the games have saved the day.  I had to teach my mom to do some basic navigation of the iPad.  Once she got that down pat, she has spent a lot of her free time playing a few games (2 card games + one bowling game).   The two card games require some thinking and strategy so that is helping my mom stay mentally active.

The nice benefit is that some of the games can be played on both the iPad 2 and my iPhone (as both are using my iTunes account).  So when we both have time, I can compete against my mom on some of the games.  Good family bonding time!

In addition, while the iPad is not a phone, I've installed an app that allows the iPad to make and receive calls.  I have the same app on my iPhone.  While the cell phone will be the primary form of contact, it's nice to have a backup option.

If you've never thought about getting an iPad for yourself, consider it for your family member.   It is definitely worth the investment.

"Mighty Warriors Of Comedy"

Almost two years ago, the 18 Mighty Mountain Warriors came back to the Bay Area for several performances after spending a couple of years in Southern California.   This was to celebrate the 15th Anniversary of the group's founding.   I went with a friend to watch one of the performances and blogged about it here:

15 Years Of The Mighty Mountain Warriors

This past week, I found out that the group's documentary "Mighty Warriors Of Comedy" was available On Demand on my local cable system.   The documentary had been out on DVD since 2007 and even want an local Emmy award.  Despite being a big fan of the group, I had never purchased the DVD.

However, my curiosity finally got to me and I plunked down the $1.95 to watch it on cable.  I'm not going to review it here but as someone who likes history and appreciates independent artists in all forms, the documentary was both revealing and a bit sad.

The documentary talked about the history of the group and what they represented (especially in the late 1990's) when Asian representation in the media was so lacking.  Yet, despite putting in 12 years of hard work (at the time of the documentary) and having a solid fan base in the Bay Area and Southern California, the group never really broke out as they hoped.

The documentary showed me that independent groups like the 18 Mighty Mountain Warriors and other independent artists really do these things for the love of their craft.  Being rich and famous would be nice but I'm sure that is not the ultimate goal.

These days, it seems the majority of the 18 Mighty Mountain Warriors group have moved on to other things.  The three remaining performers (Michael Hornbuckle, Greg Watanabe, Peter Wong) continue to press on though.   They have a new show coming in August in Los Angeles.  The group has also been putting out YouTube videos like this:

The History Of China in 3 1/2 Minutes

In closing, the Warriors have been around for years and continue on.  I don't know what the future holds for them but I am hoping their long standing dedication to their craft and the Asian-American community pays off.

The "Brian Yang" Phenomenon / How the Internet Has Changed Media

For the first time this year, I watched an episode of new "Hawaii 5-0" TV show this past Monday.  Of course, it was also the SEASON FINALE of the show so that meant I had not watched the show this entire season!

There is some good reasons why I hadn't watched the show previously.  One reason was that I played in a basketball league on Monday nights for about three months.  By the time I got home most nights, the show was already over and I wasn't particularly inclined to watch the show via On-Demand.  The second reason is that I generally don't watch network TV (CBS, NBC, ABC) must these days.  I tend to watch cable networks like Food Network, Game Show Network, CNN, ESPN, Syfy or the History Channel.

However, I had a good reason to watch the season finale of Hawaii 5-0 this week.  There was actor I knew (sort of) that was playing a character on the show.  The actor's name was Brian Yang and he was playing a crime lab tech named Charlie Fong.  This would be Brian's second appearance in the show.  The prior had come about two episodes prior to the season finale.

I don't claim to be Brian's friend at all but I knew of him through his involvement in some basketball leagues that I had been involved in as well.  I had actually met Brian once about a year ago and I had added him to my Facebook friend list and tracked his comings and goings (he has many things going on).

Prior to watching the season finale, I plugged Brian's name into Google and found several articles (Hawaii 5-0 fan sites and others) that talked about Brian's character AND about Brian himself.  Apparently, Brian's appearance in the prior episode had sparked a little buzz on the Internet on who this "new guy" was.   People were impressed with his chemistry with co-star Grace Park.  Also, some ladies apparently thought Brian was a cute, good looking and/or hot guy!  I'm sure he appreciates this......hahahaha

In all seriousness though,  this got me thinking that the Internet these days can make anyone become a minor celebrity.  Think about the YouTube stars (KevJumba, NigaHiga, etc) or even a Brian Yang.  In looking at IMDB, Brian has a pretty long acting resume but it's been with small productions and he's hardly a household name.  But by just appearing on Hawaii 5-0 and with the ability for people to easily search for information online, Brian's name is becoming a bit of a known quantity.   With the ease of communication these days, people like me (and others) who like Brian can easily support Brian via social media, email and other means to let CBS know that we want Brian's character back for the 2nd season of Hawaii 5-0.

I compare Brian's current situation to 10 to 12 years ago when I was trying to search for some information on an actress.  I'm a fan of the original "Friday the 13th" movie franchise (yes, I am weird!) and was watching "Friday the 13th:  Jason Takes Manhattan" either in the movie theater or at home (don't quite remember).

At some point during the movie, there was an young and cute Asian actress that appeared.  I don't think she was on screen long as Jason killed her off pretty quick.  However, the actress stuck with me and I tried to find information on her.  Well, keeping in mind that "Jason Takes Manhattan" was released in 1989 and probably popped up on TV somewhere between 1990 to 1992, trying to find information on actresses was pretty limited.  In fact, I don't think I even got her name from the closing credits as I had forgotten the character's name.

Well, after the Internet and Google became mainstream, I remembered to try and look up the Asian actress that appeared in "Jason Takes Manhattan".  In a major surprise, it was Kelly Hu (Martial Law, The Scorpion King)!   I'm sure Kelly wishes that movie wasn't on her resume but can't change anything about it now!  In fact, Kelly Hu is the reason I am writing this post.  Kelly was a guest star on Hawaii 5-0 though her character was killed off in the season finale so I guess she won't be back next season.

I don't know what Brian's future holds but with Hawaii 5-0 being renewed for another season, maybe we will see more of his character in the future.   Who knows, maybe Brian's work in Hawaii 5-0 will lead to bigger and better things as well and one can thank the Internet for building his fan base.

Asian American's Finding Their Voices On the Internet

Recently, Alexandra Wallace's "Asians in the Library" video was the subject of a huge discussion on the Internet.  For those who were fortunate enough to miss this wonderful (sarcasm intended) piece of work, click on the link above to view the video and see why it was the subject of so many discussions among many Asian-Americans. 


The reason why the video was the subject of so many discussions was that fact that it was posted on YouTube.  Many people don't seem to realize that just about anything you post on the Internet is fodder for the public.  Miss Wallace's mistake was underestimating the impact her message had on the Asian American community.  Because of the Asian-American's response to the video, UCLA had to address the issue of the video.   Miss Wallace was forced to apologize and later withdrew from UCLA due to the video.

With the prevalence of the Internet these days, Asian-Americans are flexing their voices on issues like never before.  According to some studies, Asian-Americans are the heaviest users of the Internet among all other ethnic groups.  This would explain why Miss Wallace's video went viral almost as soon as it was posted.  Besides the fact the video was posted on a public website, many Asian American's are connected to many of the friends world wide via social networking sites like Facebook.

With the ability to connect to so many people via the Internet,  videos like Miss Wallace's are easily distributed to thousands of people from all around the globe.   Obviously, it wasn't just a few people who were offended, otherwise Miss Wallace or UCLA could have easily ignored the uproar.

I am proud that Asian-American's are using the Internet to flex their political voices.  In the days before the Internet, Asian-Americans had to rely on word of mouth, Asian-American media sources or other news distribution sources that were limited in scope.  That made it difficult to contact certain segments who not have had access to these media sources and get the word out on issues.

These days, the Internet is a good equalizer.   Asian-American groups and organizations are taking advantage of the Internet to get news such as Miss Wallace's video out to large number of people.   With more Asian-Americans engaged, more and more people are speaking out on the issues that face the community.

For too long, Asian Americans have been too quiet over the many injustices that have occurred over the years.  From the Chinese Exclusion Act to the Japanese American Internments (and others), Asian-Americans have never been able to gather significant numbers to show a unified voice on issues.

I believe those days are over.  The Internet is great for information research and exchange.  For Asian-American's in the 21st Century, it's gives us a voice that we've never had.  Let's USE IT!

The World Will Not End in 2012

In the news today, Egypt decided to cut off Internet access for the ENTIRE COUNTRY due to civil unrest and protests:

Egypt Cuts Off Internet

This got me to thinking about 2012 and the supposed end of the world.   As most people probably have read or heard from other sources, there are some that believe the world will end on December 21st, 2012.   Why or how this will occur is subject to debate.   Some believe there will be some world wide catastrophe. Yet, others believe that perhaps in 2012 there will major changes to humanity and how we live.

In my humble opinion, I think that in 2012, there will be some incident involving the world being cut off from the Internet.  This may be accidental or intentional.  Regardless, being cut off from the Internet will have a drastic affect on everyone.  Just think about the majority of people who do their shopping, banking, and other activities online.   There are others whose social lives revolve around email, instant messaging and Facebook.  This incident will last for some time and cause unrest.

Eventually Internet access will be restored and the world will get back to the way we know it.  However, there will be a chance in the attitude regarding the Internet.  The Internet has been a godsend for online activities and fast communication.  Yet, meeting up with people, talking on the phone and other live social activities can never be replaced by electronic communication.

In 2012, I believe there will be a fundamental change in the way the Internet is viewed and used.  Online shopping, banking and other activities will still continue.  But real human interaction will once again rise up as people realize that a phone call to a friend beats an email.  Meeting up with someone beats just exchanging instant messages.

Who knows, I could be wrong and the world could still end in 2012.  If that is the case, we'd better enjoy it for what it's worth now!

Jeremy Lin trying to find his way in the NBA

After a few weeks of speculation, the Golden State Warriors sent rookie Jeremy Lin to the NBA "D-League" after their game Monday evening.  Lin will be playing for the Reno Bighorns team with the intention of getting more playing time and learning to play the point guard position.

The Bighorns actually played tonight (Tuesday) and I got a chance to watch the second half of the game.  Lin scored 10 points (8 in the first half) and here are some my impressions.

The first thing I noticed is that Lin's play tonight was similar to how he was playing with the Warriors.  Two examples of this:

1. Lin would bring the ball up, pass it to the wing and then get out of the way.  His teammates would pass it among themselves and then put up a shot. 
2. Lin would bring the ball up and try to attack the basket.  The couple of drives Lin took ended up being called offensive fouls.  Lin still has not developed a secondary move and teams know he doesn't change direction when he drives.  

The commentators for the game were pretty hard on Lin as they said he needs to look up more, pass the ball earlier and stop trying to go one-on-one. 

I'd have to agree with the commentators that Lin needs to improve his game.  My current impression of Lin is that he is a shooting guard trying to convert to a point guard.  Though Lin played point guard in high school, he was a shooting guard through most of college and I think those college instincts are showing.  

Lin wants to go and attack the basket and then dish out to his teammates.  However, the lanes he had in college aren't quite there.   Lin should be able to pull up for his jumper but he seems reluctant to shoot his jumper in the professional ranks.  Lin's perimeter shooting in college was reasonable and if he could replicate some of his college success, Lin would be able to play much better. 

Lin's best attributes right now is his defense.  Unfortunately, this isn't football where Lin can play only defense.  For Lin to enjoy a long career in the NBA, Lin needs to develop his point guard mindset AND improve his outside shooting.  He's not quite there yet but given Lin's history, I wouldn't doubt his ability.  

The End Of The Road For Yao Ming?

I got home tonight and found the unfortunate news that Yao Ming suffered yet another stress fracture in his ankle:

Sports Illustrated:  Only Yao Can Make The Next Call

From reading all the various articles online, there is speculation that with the latest injury, Yao Ming's career could be over at the age of 30 years old.   This is based on Yao's previous comments that if he continued to have injuries, he would likely choose to retire.

Of course, nothing is set in stone.  Neither Yao Ming or the Houston Rockets have publicly commented on the latest injury yet, though I presume this will come in the next few days.

If this is the end of the road for Yao Ming, it will be a loss for the NBA, China and the Asian-American community.

Yao's presence greatly enhanced the marketability of the NBA in China and the NBA profited immensely from this.  Losing Yao is a blow because there is no other Chinese player (in the NBA or China) that had the appeal Yao had.   Yi Jianlian is the only current Chinese player in the NBA.  Despite have some talent and potential, Yi hasn't played anywhere close to Yao's level.  In fact, Yi has suffered his own share of injuries recently.  Other players like Sun Yue are just marginal players who may or may not get another shot to play in the NBA in the future.

If Yao retires, China may be hurt the most.  Yao Ming was the face of Chinese basketball for marketing purposes.  However, Yao Ming was also the undisputed best player for the Chinese National team.    The Chinese National team played ok without Yao during the World Basketball Championships in September.  Yi Jianlian stepped and had a solid tournament.  Other Chinese players also did reasonably well.  Yet, none had the impact Yao has had.

There has been many discussions over Yao Ming's NBA career that China needed to improve their basketball development process.  After all, with the exception of Yao, no other Chinese player has had a huge impact (Wang Zhi-Zhi, Bateer, Sun Yue, Yi Jianlian).   However, I think China always looked at Yao and thought:  "As long as Yao is around we'll be ok".  Unfortunately for China, the future may be now!

Lastly, if Yao retires, it will be a loss to the Asian-American community here in the United States.   Though Yao was not born in the United States, he was the first Asian player to play a high level in the NBA.  He brought an Asian face to the NBA, where the majority of players are mainly African American.  Lastly, in a country where Asian-Americans are not prominent in the media, Yao was a positive presence that many Asian-Americans could look up to and say "Hey, maybe I can make the NBA like Yao did."

In addition, Yao brought an entirely different side to Asian-Americans and Chinese culture.  Yao was born in China but had a great sense of humor that everyone loved.   If you look at the other Chinese players that have played in the NBA, none had this ability to endear themselves to different people.

Jeremy Lin has been garnering a lot of attention as one of the few Asian-Americans to play in the NBA. However, even the staunchest Lin supporter will agree that Lin is nowhere the player Yao Ming is.   Unfortunately, if Yao retires, the torch may be laid at Yi Jianlian and Jeremy Lin's hands.  Alas, I don't think either one is ready to pick the torch up.

Whatever ultimately happens, Yao Ming was a welcome bright spot in the NBA.  Hopefully he can heal up and play in the NBA for years to come.  If not, I wish him well in his future endeavors.