Smithsonian Blog Review

Got a very nice review at the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program blog of Daily Days. This site is a great resource as well. Definitely take a spin around. Thanks to Terry Hong for the review!

Why Simon Hates Gays

If you're going to hate on someone you'd better have a good reason. Not some moralistic garbage but some practical reason. Your neighbor who always puts his dog poop in your recycling...you can hate him. People who don't move over when you're driving at each other down a narrow 2-way street...you can hate them. As mellow a person I may come off being sometimes I actually enjoy delving into seething hatred for certain people. It keeps me in balance. But like a "real" Asian I usually keep it inside...or put it in a strip and project it to the world. There's nothing wrong with emotions, it's when they take over and make people do stupid stuff when things start going bad.

A busy April

Bunch of things to announce with details to follow:

April 10-11: I'll be at the Boston Comic Con at the Westin Boston Waterfront. This is going to be a pretty big show. Headliners include Jim Lee(!), Bill Sienkiewicz, Mike Mignola, Sergio Argones and the list goes on and on. Swing by and sing "Happy Birthday on 4/11!

April 18: Morgan Hill Haru Matsuri 50th anniversary festival! This event has been a cornerstone of Japanese American culture in the Southern Santa Clara area. In fact, it's the oldest continuous festival in the entire area! I won't be there in person but will be sending SAM there in my place. There will be a life size cutout of SAM that you MUST take a photo with. I'll also have an exclusive 4 panel comic strip made just for the festival that will be blown up to epic proportions as well as some other goodies. You'll have to go to find out what.

April 23: Headed down to NYC and doing a book signing for Daily Days at Giant Robot from 6-8pm on Friday! I'm very psyched about this. If you're in NYC head over to GRNY after work. I may have some surprises in store.

April 30 - May 1: ROFLCon 2010! This ridiculous event at MIT celebrates internet mimes and web celebrities like Tron Guy, Keyboard Cat, This is Why You're Fat and a whole lot more. I'm going to be on a webcomics panel. The list of panelists is still growing but a lot of webcomics creators are coming like Richard Stevens (Diesel Sweeties), Dan Walsh (Garfield Minus Garfield), Kris Straub (chainsawsuit) and Jeph Jacques (Questionable Content).

Health Care Reform Passes

Call me a pessimist. I did this strip about a month ago mostly thinking of the long haul this health care reform debate has been taking and the lives effected by its slow progress. Also thinking of the millions who were still not going to be covered by the bill that JUST got enough votes to pass the senate. I literally have CNN on listening to the results. Nancy Pelosi really creeps me out, I think she has some reptilian genes.

Don't get me wrong, I agree with most of the points the bill supports: extended benefits to people up to 26 years old, non-discrimination towards people with pre-existing conditions, an insurance buying pool...etc. I'm just curious to see how this this unfolds, what gets amended and what dies on the vine.

Side note, seeing all those stacks of paper being handed out...wouldn't have been cool to see all those pages be saved as PDFs and saved onto flash drives? I guess it's a little less dramatic. "We cannot possibly pass this 3GB health care train wreck!" Just saying.

McDonald's Asian American Marketing

Back in 2004, I did the above strip about a web site McDonald's started: www.i-am-asian.com. Doesn't work anymore but they now have another one: www.myinspiration.com. Funny how I still feel the same way as I did back then. On one hand I feel like I should be happy that McDonald's cares enough to have a site dedicated to APAs. They have scholarships, recognize APA Heritage Month and have community involvement initiatives. But then they have stuff like The Asian Phrases Challenge where you can learn how to say "Let's go do some karaoke" and "Check out my new cell phone". Weird. If their serious they'd add McSushi, General Grimace's Chicken and a Hawaiian Spamburger. Actually, no, please don't do that McDonald's.

Kids are the coolest things in the world

It bothers me when I see younger people (college/post-college) talk about how they don't like kids. Like it's somehow not cool to like kids. I think mostly it's because they're getting to an age where kids may be in their near future so it makes them anxious to think about them. Like when your mom nags, "When are you getting married?" You probably will at some point but it doesn't mean you want to hear it.

Coffee Party Kick-off tomorrow

Tomorrow is the national kick-off for the Coffee Party Movement whose credo is: "We the People demand: Reason and civility in public affairs; A government accountable to the People; Liberty & Justice for All." There are events taking place all over the country. Check out their FB page to find one near you. Basically it seems to be a reaction to the Teaparty Movement but with different philosophical goals. Just be careful as too much of either may cause you to join the Irritable Bowel Movement.

The movement's founder is Annabel Park. If the name sounds familiar you may know her as an award-winning documentary filmmaker (9500 Liberty) often working with fellow filmmaker Eric Byler. I love the films these two have produced so I'll be following this group very closely.

Independent Teabaggers

I really do enjoy watching our political system writhe and squirm like some sickly beetle grub. There are so many interesting characters to follow but one thing that goes across all party lines is the political theater that is performed when anything tries to get done. It's exquisite! It no longer becomes a case of representatives speaking for their people but more like representatives speaking for the people they want to listen to. Self serving phrases like "the American people want..." drive me up the wall. My favorite thing to watch is the utter hypocrisy these people spew and the lies they try to get away with. It's like watching a 4 year old with jelly all over his mouth holding an empty jar saying he didn't eat the jelly. "I didn't eat it." "I saw you eat it." "No you didn't." "Yes, I did." "It wasn't me." Then again maybe it's just early training for a career in politics.

Interview at Racebending.com

The hard working folks at Racebending have posted an interview with me. If you're not familiar with Racebending, these guys focus on discriminatory casting in film and television. Initially they were specifically speaking out against the ridiculous casting of The Last Airbender live action train wreck that's out soon but are now tackling other projects as well.