The Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) recently announced its fully in-person program for CAAMFest 2024, which will take place May 9-19, 2024 in San Francisco and Oakland. This year… Read More

As AI technology becomes more advanced, the technology can mimic human capabilities.  In addition, AI technology can mimic human biases, as a particular AI image generator has been repo… Read More

From modest origins in Taipei, Taiwan, Jerry Yang rose to become a visionary entrepreneur and industry trendsetter, co-founding one of the internet’s pioneering enterprises. His narra… Read More

By Angelina Chiang I stumbled across Avery Bishop during my senior year of high school, and after reading about her interests and accomplishments, she quickly became a role model due to our… Read More

By Angelina Chiang In the recent study conducted in 2023 by PEW Research about ongoing racism towards Asians and Asian Americans, there was clear and evident data that show how discriminat… Read More

Directed by Kentaro Takemura, the main character of Japanese teen romance movie Our Secret Diary, high schooler Nozomi Kuroda (Hiyori Sakurada), is your classic Japanese shy girl next door… Read More

By Angelina Chiang Amanda Nguyen is a well-known figure in the field of sexual assault advocacy. As the CEO and founder of Rise, a non-profit organization that focuses on supporting survivo… Read More

The Pew Research Center recently published a report, Changing Partisan Coalitions in a Politically Divided Nation, and to no surprise to me, Asians Americans overwhelmingly skew more Dem… Read More

1) Pre-med student 2) business owner 3) college gymnast trying to make it into the Olympics – Leanne Wong is all three! I first learned about her story from this ESPN article. She is… Read More

A few years ago, I asked “Has Filipino Food Arrived?” and mentioned that ube is starting to appear in many places. In the shopping areas, grocery, and restaurants that I frequent… Read More

‘Tis the hanami (flower viewing) season in Japan again, and I thought I’d share one of my favorite sakura stroll experiences in Japan. While the famous spots are often in popula… Read More

(photo credit: Katie Chin/USC Athletics) It seemed strange yet very cool to see an Asian American woman basketball player in a NCAA Division 1  game televised on national television.&nb&hell…Read More

Morris Chang, a Taiwanese-American businessman and electrical engineer, was born in Ningbo, China, on July 10, 1931. He is best known for starting the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Com… Read More

Sheltered third generation politician Taishi Shoji (Tori Matsuzaka) and wildly successful actress Yui Kurosawa (Riisa Naka) can no longer stand each other and want to get a divorce, but the… Read More

By Travis Yen Taiwanese business magnate Terry Gou has made a name for himself in the fields of technology, philanthropy, and business. Gou was born in Banqiao District, New Taipei City, on… Read More

With strong reverse All the Boys vibes, Ann Liang’s latest novel I Hope This Doesn’t Find You is a classic enemies to lovers tale set within the mean, competitive hallways o… Read More

I was enthusiastically watching The Brothers Sun series when after getting through part of episode 5, I got distracted and didn’t finish it and the rest of the episodes.  Later I… Read More

By Travis Yen Renowned businessman Joseph Tsai has made a lasting impression with his strategic vision and spirit of entrepreneurship. Tsai was born in Taipei, Taiwan, on January 10, 1964… Read More

(image credit: Sean Wang’s Instagram) My family and I really enjoyed watching Nai Nai & Wài Pó . Even though the Sean Wang’s short did not win an Oscar, The Dau… Read More

From Asian American literary superstars author Gene Luen Yang and illustrator LeUyen Pham comes a delightful new graphic novel, Lunar New Year Love Story. Lunar New Year and Valentine’… Read More

Since opening in China on February 10th, YOLO has grossed over $464.2 million at the Chinese box office and has become the highest-grossing film over the Lunar New Year holiday, retainin… Read More

Awkwafina was in San Francisco recently as “Grand Marshall” for the annual San Francisco Chinese New Year Parade: “A massive crowd showed up to celebrate the Chinese… Read More

The new live action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender on Netflix has been trending at #1 since it was released a couple weeks ago, so it’s no surprise when it was announced tha… Read More

By Travis Yen Lisa Su is a trailblazing figure in the technology sector who, via her ground-breaking inventions and revolutionary leadership, has irrevocably changed the world. Su was born… Read More

As I mentioned on my post on Nai Nai and Wài Pó, I also screened The Last Repair Shop. Although this 40 minute short documentary is not necessarily Asian American related, I d… Read More

By Travis Yen Renowned in the computer world, Jensen Huang is best known for his leadership as the CEO and co-founder of NVIDIA Corporation, one of the top producers of graphics processing… Read More

Delancey Street Screening Room, San Francisco, California One of the things I have loved about living in the San Francisco Bay Area since I had moved out here in 1999 has been attending CAA… Read More

The long awaited Avatar: The Last Airbender live action show from Netflix finally released, and all 8 episodes are out. Here are my impressions of Episode 1. Story: Very good. There was al… Read More

I live in Silicon Valley, and one of the benefits is that I live about five miles from Stanford University, where are often quite a few events of interest to me that are open to the public… Read More

Lunar New Year is a big deal in the San Francisco Bay Area, and it’s also a big deal with the Golden State Warriors. I couldn’t make the celebration night last year, but did bac… Read More

When they built the Narita International Airport out in the Chubu Prefecture back in the 70s, the idea was to decongest the main Haneda airport in Tokyo and establish a more spacious, highe… Read More

Celebrate Valentine’s Day by curling up with Kyla Zhao‘s latest novel, Valley Verified. Will fashion writer Zoe Zeng be able to hack it (pun intended) in the startup world of Sil… Read More

Living within five miles of Stanford University, I often attend talks there that are  open to the public. I recently went to a Stanford Asian Pacific American Alumni Club (SAPAAC) and… Read More

Before Taipei was even a thing, there was Hsinchu, the first northern city to be developed in Taiwan in the early 1700s. Savvy international investors and world leaders have definitely hear… Read More

My favorite fellow Duke Asian American alumni is Ken Jeong (’90), and he stars in this Super Bowl commercial announcing that the Popeyes fast food chain is now offering chicken wings… Read More

“Sheltering Wing” sculpture by Roger Stoller Heilenville Park opened in October of last year in San Jose’s Japantown, but I only recently got around to seeing it for myself… Read More

Mike Chen’s latest novel A Quantum Love Story is a delightful romp through a time loop. Carter Cho is stuck. He wakes up on Monday morning. On Thursday, the particle accelerator explod… Read More

East of the major Metro Manila area, past Antipolo in the rainforests of Rizal is the award-winning Masungi Georeserve, a private conservation area which serves as a sanctuary for various w… Read More

After the Shyamalan debacle Avatar: The Last Airbender film, aside from the fact that it was an awkwardly cut and executed version of the otherwise amazing and fun source material inspired… Read More

Ra Pu Zel and the Stinky Tofu, written by Ying Chang Compestine and illustrated by Crystal Kung, is a fun and imaginative retelling of the classic tale of Rapunzel. No hair is chopped off, t… Read More

Every year, Apple releases a short film for Chinese New Year that is shot on their latest iPhone, and every year I look forward to the story that is created. This short for this 2024 is cal… Read More

A couple of years ago, I saw the Small Island Big Song project featured on Taiwanese news and decided to check out the entire album as well as the many music and interview videos on their Y… Read More

I forget when I saw this cute commercial – probably while watching the San Francisco 49ers play. The premise is that the mother has been telling everyone how much money she’s be… Read More

“If you guys don’t give me a chance to repair my instrument, I’m not going back.” Asian Americans sometimes joke about Asian parents’ high expectations, but th… Read More

Although relatively less known in the States, Hokkaido is a common travel destination for people in Asia, so I’ve known quite a few family and friends who have visited this most north… Read More

When I read John’s review of Quiz Lady, I was particularly amused at his last sentence that said it probably would not be eligible for an Oscar. While I did see the movie and enjoyed i… Read More

(photo credit: Courtesy of Netflix) In addition to winning three Globe Globes,  the Netflix series Beef won eight Emmy awards! The awards include: Outstanding Limited or Anthology Serie… Read More

As we had mentioned back in December, the Netflix series The Brothers Sun premiered January 4th. I just finished binge watching the series, and I don’t think I can say enough great… Read More

Despite good reviews, Disney+ is canceling any future seasons of American Born Chinese. Apparently viewership was not enough to warrant renewal. Not coincidentally, Disney+ and many other st… Read More

The Netflix series Beef won every 2024 Golden Globe category for which it was nominated, three in total. It won Best Television Limited Series, Anthology Series, or Motion Picture Made… Read More

I came across this Cornell webinar from an alumni email about a “Leadership Lunch and Learning” webinar series.  The topic was the following: “L Sam Zhang, author… Read More

Full disclosure: I have donated to Evan Low’s campaigns in the past and will do so in the future. Back in early December, I had blogged about California State Assemblyman Evan Low run… Read More

(photo credit: Princeton University) Earlier this year when Princeton University men’s basketball team reached the NCAA Tournament “sweet 16” round for the first time in 50… Read More

I ordinarily do not review children’s books, but I couldn’t help myself after The Wife gave me the book When Lola Visits to wrap as a Christmas present for one of her nephews. … Read More

If you can’t get enough of Michelle Yeoh, January 4 will be your chance to see her in action again in the Netflix series The Brothers Sun. She stars as Eileen, the mother of Charles a… Read More

Back in September, New York University (NYU) released this press release regarding a recent study: “The researchers found that Republican-majority and swing states showed indications o… Read More

Full disclosure: I have donated to Evan Low’s campaigns in the past and will do so in the future. I was excited to hear that California Democratic Assemblymember Evan Low officially… Read More

The many awards won by the Everything Everywhere all at Once, including Golden Globes and five Academy Awards, are a triumph of filmmaking and also a triumph for Asian American representatio… Read More

During APEC 2023, the non-profit APIAVote was in town and had a briefing which I was able to attend. The focus of the briefing was the following: To understand AAPIs’ growing electora… Read More

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu was in San Francisco recently during APEC 2023 to attend the California Asian Leadership Network of Elected and Appointed Officials (CALNET) 2023 leadership retr… Read More

Awkwafina and Sandra Oh star in Hulu’s Quiz Lady, which premiered on November 3rd: “A hilarious and heartfelt comedy starring Awkwafina and Sandra Oh as estranged sisters forced… Read More

I’m not sure how I first came across End Credits – How I Broke Up With Hollywood, A Memoir by Patty Lin. I think I saw a post on Facebook and then became excited once I knew that… Read More

When Number Two Son and I were getting coffee in a cafe in San Jose Japantown, we noticed a small flyer on their community bulletin board that talked about Pinoytown Rising, an exhibit in S… Read More

A few weeks ago, I attended my first screening at the Silicon Valley Asian Pacific FilmFest (SVAPFF), the 9th and most recent edition of the festival. I was eager to see the independent fi… Read More

This Old Spice commercial has been on YouTube for four months now, but I only recently saw it as an online commercial. I was blown away! It made me wonder if the commercial was airing on T… Read More

When a family fried recently was diagnosed with lung cancer, we were all puzzled because she and her husband did not smoke. She wasn’t the first Asian American we knew that happened to… Read More

Most people have probably only encountered the work of Norma Tanega through her song “You’re Dead” which is used as the theme song for both the movie of “What we Do… Read More

Structure of perfluoroundecanoic acid, a member of PFAS group A recent paper concludes that Asian Americans have higher levels of PFAS relative to other groups in the US population.  PF… Read More

Image credit: Grace Lin Asian America for Advancing Justice (AAJC) has published a list of Asian American books that have been banned over the past few years. Some are children books that I… Read More

I’m not sure how I became aware of the independent documentary Invisible Nation, screening at the Mill Valley Film Festival, but I am glad I did. I was able to make the second, Sat… Read More

If you subscribe to the ad-supported Hulu streaming service like I do, you will sometimes see ads for forhims.com, which sells products and services dealing with issues affecting men, such… Read More

I met the former presidential candidate and founder/co-chair of the Forward Party back in July at a political event, and one of the first things he did was hand me this book, The Last Electi… Read More

Filipino American Kiwi Camara made the news earlier this summer for being one of 10 US CEOs receiving a pay package valued at than $110 million in 2022. The latest news is that he has sudden… Read More

Westfield Valley Fair Mall There are have been a number of stories about the decline in US shopping malls, but Asian malls seem to be defying that trend.  After reading that story… Read More

“Asian American” implies a fusion between Asian and American, and this performance by Luna Lee of the Steely Dan classic Do it Again, is definitely a cross-cultural fusion. She… Read More

Earlier this month, Love in Taipei premiered on Paramount+ on August 10th. I’ve been behind on my blogging, but wanted to let everyone know about some things about the movie, includi… Read More

The Wife, my Brother-in-law (BIL), and I were watching Only Murders in the Building when we  were blown away the showstopper duet of Meryl Streep and Ashley Park. Having never seen Emi… Read More

(graph credit: by Joshua Grossman, Sabina Tomkins, Lindsay C. Page, and Sharad Goel, © 2023) While Harvard is being sued by for its legacy admissions policy, a new study from the Nation… Read More

The American Heart Association reported on a recent paper describing how Asian American diets can be tuned to prevent heart disease and diabetes.  An important point that the paper make… Read More

I had the great honor and pleasure of interviewing Randall Park as he visited San Francisco as part of his directorial debut to promote his upcoming film, Shortcomings, released b… Read More

I first met author Abigail Hing Wen at her book launch event of her Young Adult novel “Loveboat, Taipei” in Menlo Park, California. As a producer (one of many), on the documenta… Read More

I had heard girls like me don’t cry a number of times on the radio, but when the DJ said that the singer went to Newark Memorial High School (where I went to high school), I was immed… Read More

I have run a number of Asian American history talks and events for an Employee Resource Group (ERG) in my company, and a common responses from my fellow employees is that they had no idea ab… Read More

While we often write about notable people, we rarely talk about their families, much less talk about them from the viewpoint of their families.  That is one reason that I found a partic… Read More

Photo credit: Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency We have talked about Asian Americans who have died for their country during military service, and the identification of the remains of Wing O… Read More

After losing its affirmative action case in the US Supreme Court, Harvard is seeing one of its last bastions of affirmative action – legacy admissions – become the target of a la… Read More

In the last few months, I have seen a number of  articles about kimchi and in particular, its health benefits.  As understanding of the human microbiome has grown, articles like th… Read More

This blog post contains spoilers. I finally got around to bing watching Disney+’s American Born Chinese recently, which was released back in May. When I watched the last episode w… Read More

I saw a friend of mine post  this photo on Facebook after she went shopping at the same Costco in Silicon Valley where I shop. I’ve been aware of MìLà‘s (for… Read More

This past week, actor, comedian, writer, director, and UCLA Alumnus Randall Park delivered the keynote speech at all three UCLA 2023 college commencements. In this speech, he walks through… Read More

“Hidden fat” at first glance doesn’t look like a bad thing. Who wants to have everyone see where your fat is? But for Asian Americans Pacific Islanders and the Filipino, S… Read More

I had first heard of ‘birth tourism’ from a former co-worker/friend of mine more than a decade ago. When I heard that Chinese women were coming Southern California to give birt… Read More

As a smartwatch user who uses one to track health and fitness statistics, I have wondered how accurate it is, especially since my skin tone is on the darker side (see picture).  We have… Read More

I was supposed to review Photographic Justice: The Corky Lee Story (trailer here) during or around CAAMFest 2023, but I let the screener link expire and the screening during CAAMFest was on… Read More

Another blog post I am woefully late on (but did post the video on YouTube shortly afterwards). I had attended the 125th anniversary back on March 25th commemorating and celebrating the lan… Read More

Speakers in the video above – in order of appearance: (click on “Watch on YouTube” for entire timestamped video segments in the video description) Sara Lashanlo, Northern… Read More

Monument to the Lost Battalion During this time when Asian Americans continue to be questioned for their loyalty and are still considered perpetual foreigners, it is worthwhile on US Memoria… Read More

There comes a time in your life when a metaphorical slap in the face tells you that you are no longer the young hip person you may have thought that you once were.  In Fawzia Mirza&lsq&helli…Read More

At CAAMFest, some friends of mine were interested in seeing Starring Jerry as Himself: “Wait wait. How did we go from funny 80s immigrant family home videos to horror film infraso… Read More

Perhaps one of the most anticipated young adult Asian American media releases this year is Disney+’s upcoming streaming series American Born Chinese,   The series, set to release… Read More