Fred Korematsu Day

There's a lot I can say about Fred Korematsu and the importance of his display of civil disobedience but I'll let Wikipedia handle that. I for one am thrilled that Mr. Korematsu's efforts are being acknowledged and the only thing I feel weird about is that Arnold Schwarzenegger had something to do with it. Schwarzenegger. The guy I grew up watching blowing people to bits. It's all still weird for me...

Fred Phelps

I felt motivated to write a strip about Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church after hearing about how they were going to hold protests at all the victims of the the Tucson, AZ shootings funerals. Pretty unbelievable. I've know about them for quite some time and always wondered what could motivate someone to act in such a venomous and hateful way. The only logical thing I can think of is Phelps and his followers actually believe they are carrying out God's message. And I'm not so sure that's all that logical. I wonder what dinner at the table is like with this guy.

Arizona

I normally post on Sundays but due to the timely nature of this week's strip I thought I should post sooner than later. A lot of blame is being thrown around in the political world which isn't surprising. People like Sarah Palin and Gabrielle Giffords's Teaparty endorsed opponent Jesse Kelly getting the brunt of it.

Since the tragic events of Tuscon, AZ I've been listening to a lot of conservative radio to see what the reactions have been. Rush Radio to be specific. I wasn't listening to make myself outraged or give myself something to become upset over, instead I was listening for what the main points being brought up were, how listeners were reacting and finally, because I'm weird, what the ads were selling.

Host talking points: most common topic was the left wing using this tragedy as a political opportunity to blame the right for rhetoric that goes beyond political discourse. The most common retort to this accusation was the left's past history of doing the same thing.

Also popular with the talk radio hosts was bringing up how the shooter was simply mentally unstable and didn't have any specific political agenda.

Side note, the local radio hosts were far more moderate in their views than the bigger names like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh.
Listener talking points: very mixed bag of reactions to my surprise. Most were completely pissed off at the left wing attacks on the Teaparty and Republican leaderships. Some voiced how they weren't surprised that someone did this since the government is destroying our country as we know it and it was the only way to get politicians to listen. And others still were very moderate in their reactions and focused more on the shooting as a sign of the times in general and talked a lot about the senselessness of the young girl who was killed.

Ads: interesting to note these as they gave me the clearest idea of who Rush Radio was trying to reach. Ads about prostate health, saving for retirement and ads featuring the other hosts (Hannity, Beck, Rush) dominated the ad time.

Strange but True Stories

This strip was based (mostly) on a recent experience. I was in a pizza shop with my son and there was a kid there with his dad. As we're figuring our what we wanted the kid walks right up to me and asks, "Are you Japanese American or Chinese American?" I was stunned. Not offended or anything, just completely caught by surprise. His dad was mortified. I was thrilled that the kid tacked on the "American" part. Then he said something that totally wasn't Japanese and told me it meant something like "Good morning." I politely thanked him and said "Good Morning" back is English so as not to make him feel bad.

And of course I got a kick out of the fact that I was in a pizza joint owned by a Greek guy that was right next door to a Japanese restaurant when this happened.

My Favorite Person at the Moment

Simon Sez

Oh, yes he did. Or resident ragin' Asian is at it again. He does have a good point, though. 2010 was a pretty active year for Asians in the news. The November elections brought a lot of anti-Chinese imagery out into the open and video games like Homefront didn't help much to ease American's feelings towards Asians over seas. And unfortunately it was some of the ones in the states that paid the price for it.

Interview with Travis Wong (LXD, MTV's America's Best Dance Crew)

Got the opportunity to interview Travis Wong of the LXD. You may or may not remember me dropping an LXD reference a few weeks ago. Basically it's an extremely well done web series that fuses dance, sci-fi/horror and martial arts. Kinda like Fame meets X-Files. Check out the full interview here!

GRAVITY TRAIN

I would LOVE to see this in real life and see if it actually works. Supposedly the speed that a person would achieve would kill them so if ever this was even a possibility it would be more for transporting things. But still, think of the fast shipping from Amazon!

Interview with The Potential Wives of Norman Mao writer/director Derek Nguyen

Here's kind of a new feature here. An interview. I recently got in touch with writer/director Derek Nguyen about a really cool project that you should know about and support. He's working on a short film called The Potential Wives of Norman Mao which you should definitely support. Read on!

1. Is your short film The Potential Wives of Norman Mao taken from your personal experience?
The film was inspired by my personal experience. There was a period in which my step-mother would try to set me up with all these women every time there was a family function. She was quite obvious about it and it made everyone involved quite uncomfortable but it was really funny at the time. Of course, this all happened before I came out!

2. How did you assemble the cast? Do all the Asian actors hang out together somewhere like at Home Depot?
I knew most of the cast before I started the film. I have been close friends with Ed Lin and Cindy Cheung for a great many years (I went to their wedding!). Soomi Kim and I have been artistic collaborators and close friends for almost 15 years. We collaborated on a multimedia theater piece called Lee/gendary about the life of Bruce Lee that ended up getting a few awards. I met George Takei years ago when my play, Monster premiered at East West Players in Los Angeles. And when I was beginning production on Norman Mao, I thought he'd be the perfect narrator for the film and got back in touch with him through the theater's artistic director, Tim Dang. Ron Nakahara, Tina Chen, and Wai Ching Ho are amazing trailblazers in the Asian American theater and film communities that I had the privilege to meet through personal contacts. Wai actually came to my house during 9/11 when the subways were stopped and she was on a shoot in Brooklyn and couldn't get home! And I met Michelle Ang through auditions for the film. Her energy and professionalism really shown through. I really enjoyed working with all of them and there was a great camaraderie on set!

3. Is your script universal or is there something uniquely Asian at its core? Could it work as, say, The Potential Lives of Norman Gonzalez?
I truly believe that if you want your story to be universal, you have to be specific. I think any story can work in any culture but what makes the story resonate is context, backstory, and complex characters. Matchmaking is a universal practice. But having it in an Asian context gives it a specific texture. I hope that the film is universal because the characters are Asian.

4. What's the best way people can support The Potential Wives of Norman Mao? How/when can we catch it?
In an effort to raise funds to finish the film, we've just launched a Kickstarter campaign in which people can become backers on the film and receive one-of-a-kind rewards. People can even be producers on the film, get on IMDB, and hobnob at film festivals with us. There's also a behind-the-scenes video on the page. Check it out at http://kck.st/biU13t.

We hope to finish the film in early 2011 and hit the festival circuit. Our website www.normanmao.com will have a full schedule to screenings. And if you back the project on Kickstarter at a $25 level, you'll get it on DVD!

FREE SHIPPING DAY!

In honor of this ancient capitalist tradition, starting tonight at midnight, all orders for Daily Days and/or original artwork will receive free shipping! And I am actually going to offer this deal through the weekend until midnight of Sunday 12/19. The only catch is this offer is only good for shipping in the U.S. I am down to my last boxes of Daily Days so if you haven't already bought one, this will be one of the final chances.

I realize I haven't posted any new artwork in ages but plan to get some up for the weekend now that I can access my site again.