Arizona Neo-Nazis

I'm posting next Sunday's strip a little early in light of today's federal injunction against SB1070, the Arizona Immigration bill. I'll let the strip speak for itself. Curious to hear your thoughts.

I Believe the Children are our Future. Treat Them Well...OR THEY'LL TAKE OVER THE WORLD!!!

Not to sound like an old fart but it's amazing what kids are learning today. My older son has been going to technology camps for the summer where kids learn about things like electronics and the basics of robotics. What the hell happened to wedgies and drinking bug juice?

SAM at Comic-Con!

OK, fine I won't be there in person but check it out, I've created a new apparel design just for Comic-Con featuring head shots of Asian heroes and villains from TV, comic books and anime. But here's the best part. It's not only going to be a t-shirt, there's also going to be a hoodie version of it! They will be making their debut at the Blacklava booth along with all the other SAM designs. Take a pic of yourself at the Blacklava booth with your SAM gear, send it to me and I'll pop it up on my site!

Look Out Jaden Smith

Anyone else think it's strange that the Karate Kid hasn't featured an Asian kid yet? Anyone think it would be weirder if there was one? Would it just be called "the Kid" since we all already know karate?

Tea Party vs. NAACP

As the battle rages on between the Tea Party Movement and the NAACP I can't help but get a visual of an old white guy and an old black guy arguing on a porch about who the best baseball player was: Robinson or Ruth. The NAACP is accusing the Tea Party Movement of supporting a racist atmosphere and not denouncing the racist signage and language heard at rallies around the country. Meanwhile the Tea Party stands by it's mission statement of being about loving their country and changing the direction the country is going. It's basically a finger pointing shouting match that, I'm sure, will have no real resolution for either organization.

It's no secret that I have some issues with both the Tea Party Movement and the NAACP but I'm actually glad that they're having this very public discourse. When I hear comments asking how this could happen during an Obama administration that was supposed to advance race relations I think to myself that it's happening BECAUSE Obama is in office. Progress and evolution isn't always pretty. Just look at the platypus.

Site face lift

You may or may not have noticed that updates have been pretty slow over at secretasianman.com. Once I started this blog site I've found it 100x easier to update on the go and share through social media. So because I don't have enough to do in my life I'm starting to finally change it over to more of a welcome type page with strips, archives, character bios, FAQs, merch, info for retailers...etc so people who have just heard about the strip can learn more. So far I've gone live with a new splash page. The rest if the site will follow that general look. Take a peek!

What's in a Name?

Growing up with a name like Takeharu (yes, that's my real whole first name) followed by a Toyoshima, I had trouble finding my name on key chains at the souvenir shop. I was always jealous of people with "simpler", shorter names like John, Bob and Matt. There was this one Chinese kid who I hated named Ed Ng. I always thought he had an unfair advantage during tests where we could start as soon as we finish writing our names.

Kids started calling me "Tak" sometime in the 5th-6th grade, I think. They actually started to call me "Rock" being that I had such a chiseled, Roman God-like physique. "Rock" became "Tak" and it stuck ever since. Over the years I came to learn Tak is a rather common nickname for any Japanese name that starts with a "Tak". But as far as I know I'm the only Takeharu Toyoshima in the universe and that's OK by me.

I LOVES ME SOME PREDATOR

As junky as the whole Predator and Alien franchise has become, I can't help falling back in love every time a new movie comes out. I don't even care who's in it and what setting it's placed in. I just want to see some Aliens and Predators go at it.

The latest release, Predators, has all the promise of the empty calorie fun that we've all come to expect and demand. I can't wait to see it. But then I realize that as much as I love seeing the Predators rip out some puny human spines, I think Hollywood ought to expand on the concept. Why confine these characters within the realm of sci-fi/horror? I think they should branch out into other genres like romantic comedies like When Alien Met Predator or My Big Fat Predator Wedding. Or the ultimate remake of Romeo and Juliet. A love stricken Predator falls dread over heels for a beautiful Alien Queen but their families' hatred for each other threaten to tear them apart. I'm welling up just thinking about it.

Boston Globe article RE: Last Airbender

Here's the piece in the Sunday Globe that I was contacted for to share my thoughts on the Last Airbender.

Happy 4th of July

Another 4th of July goes by and again I'm reminded of all the things I'd like to see change. I think that's why I love watching fireworks and things blowing up on the 4th to take my mind of of it.

Vietnamese Fishermen in the Gulf

Sorry for being a nerd and not posting last week. Here's the strip from 6/27 about the Vietnamese fishermen down in the Gulf of Mexico. It's been a little disheartening to see the lack of these fishermen's presence in media coverage of the oil leak disaster. They make up a large percentage of the people who make a living from the Gulf. My gut tells me that it's mostly a language problem, not some insidiously purposeful media agenda. But if that's the case, it's just lazy journalism. Surely translators can be found and some of those fishermen must speak well enough for an on air interview. At least Olivia Munn gave it a shot on the Daily Show!