Polarization

I wrote this strip in 2004 as things were heating up for the presidential elections. Bush had just clinched enough delegates to assure his candidacy and Kerry won big on Super Tuesday. The country was splitting apart at the seams.

So here we are eight years later in another election cycle and the rift only seems larger. At least that's what politicians would like us to believe. But I do sense a surge in the calm-the-fuck-down camp. The Rise of the Planet of the Moderates (gasp). I still stand by every word in this strip and refuse to let talking heads dictate what I should do. I'll use my own brain, thanks.

ESPN, you so silly

Since this strip was written it seems there has been another EPSN caption blunder, this time concerning South Korea's Lee Dong-Gook. This one is being chalked up as an honest mistake, that the writer didn't realize the naming convention of Lee's name would mean that the headline should have read "Lee double earns victory".

I can accept this to a certain degree. Not everyone is aware of how Asian names tend to be written last name first. Also, there's a tendency for purely online content to lack the final eyes of a copy editor or even art director (an advantage to print) because people know things can be changed later.

That being said some people do know Asian names tend to be reversed and some publications do have someone give a final look. In the end I think this just shows ESPN's lack of attention to detail and carelessness in their online content. I doubt those headlines would have ever seen the light of day in print.

Then again maybe this is another way for them to troll and score impressions on a story that probably would have gotten far fewer attention.

Being a professional Asian

I love what I do and I love bringing issues that concern Asian Americans to a broader audience. I love when people put up the Asian Bat signal and e-mail me about racial injustice and inequality. Really, I do. But every once and a while I like to let my thoughts wander to completely unrelated stuff. I'm willing to bet Batman had a few video games on his crime computer.

Asian Americana Art Show

Opening reception Monday March 5 at Zuzu in Central Square Cambridge. I'll be showing new paintings featuring SAM standing in for iconic American figures including Michael Jackson, Clint Eastwood, Captain America, Elvis and more.

8-10pm reception followed by great live music at 10pm by Viva Viva's Chris Warren. Swing by and say hello as I would hate to stand in the middle of an empty room drinking by myself.

Facebook events page here.

Follow the Money

Is there a point at which you decide not to protest something? Can you ignore the social practices of the businesses that you patronize? I know a bunch of people who won't shop at Walmart but they love their iPads. Does it matter what a business owner does with the profits of their business? Id like to think I'm a pretty conscientious shoppers but I may be just fooling myself.

Could you imagine?

That would be the weirdest/most awesome casting choice ever. I can hear Bruce's voice saying, "With great powah comes great responsibility." From artist Alex Tuis. He has other Marvel heroes cast with different Hollywood stars.

Lin vs Mayweather ... FIGHT!

Mayweather is running his mouth again, this time about Jeremy Lin. Not sure why all these ugly remarks are coming out of the woodwork, and interestingly, a lot from African Americans.

Mayweather tweeted, "Jeremy Lin is a good player but all the hype is because he's Asian. Black players do what he does every night and don't get the same praise."

Fox Sports' Jason Whitlock tweeted, "“Some lucky lady in NYC is gonna feel a couple of inches of pain tonight." (I did e-mail Fox Sports to voice my opinion and got the standard 'We're sorry you were offended' reply)

If he wasn't shattering franchise records and setting new league records I'd probably agree he's getting more attention than he deserves but the fact of the matter is he's destroying stats out there. Inevitably there will be a slow down in his game but until then just enjoy the show.

Say Wat?!

With all this attention Jeremy Lin has been getting I thought I'd dig up an old strip about Wataru "Wat" Misaka, not only the first Asian NBA player, but the first minority NBA player.

Made in China

It's so easy to dehumanize a country like China. It's a HUGE country with billions of people in it. China owns a decent chunk of our debt (although a lot less than most people think they do) and they seem so detached from our American culture. But really they are a lot more like us than some of our politicians would like us to think.

Yes, many products made in China are of inferior quality and, yes, some of those products have been shown to be made from harmful materials but that doesn't make the hands that made them evil. They are not giggling under their factory masks at the prospect of killing us slowly with toxic paints and tainted baby formula. Their labor laws are very similar to ours but many work for companies that simply disregard them. Don't hate on the people.

Update: here's an interesting comparison I found. Prepared by Baogang Guo, Ph.D from Dalton State College.

Jeremy Lin

Can't believe the streak this guy is on. I haven't tuned into a Knicks game in forever and I have to admit, Jeremy Lin got me curious. I came for the Asian but stayed for the basketball. The guy is for real. But one thing that did rub me sideways were some of the signs that have been popping up.

It's hard to get psyched about some of these. I know it's all love and the fans who make them have the best intentions but still ... "Yellow Mamba"? And honestly I don't know which bothers me more. These race based signs or all the LINNUENDOS. "Linning", "All Lin", "Linsanity" "Lin See Flow Hand" ... OK I made that last one up but I bet someone thought it.

Google "Asian" and "love"

As I prepped this strip for today I started to wonder what a Google image search for "Asian" and "love" would produce today. When I did this strip back in 2003 all I got were pages and pages of Asian porn. Well, to my surprise look what the first image is. Even with the safe search turned off. Now that's progress.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly finished

All this talk about Clint Eastwood is making me want to post to final version of this painting I was working on. I'll post details for the show once everything is squared away. In the meantime, it's half time in America, feel lucky, punk?

Sex poll results

It was interesting to see how the votes came in on how people learned about sex. Sex ed, and friends were neck and neck with parents running very close behind. Looks like no one learned from a sibling. Makes me wonder if people construed that choice as having a sexual experience with a sibling. I meant more like your older brother showing you his dirty magazines or an older sister telling you to be on team Jacob.

I'm still surprised that sex ed won. I definitely got most of my information from friends with movies and TV playing a heavy supporting role. I remember burying my head while our gym teacher talked to us about pubes. Yay.

Thanks for participating in the poll.

Filter bubbles

In a way it isn't anything new that people go to media sources that cater to their own beliefs. But nowadays information is so custom filtered that it can become a dangerous wedge between people, especially when more and more that information is fueled by bias.

Custom news feeds, like-minded "friends", left or right bent news aggregate sites all allow us to surround ourselves with the information we want to hear creating a world vastly different than the person next to us. Your Google search and my Google search will produce different results based on our personal preferences.

This Google powered blog you're reading will alter your search results based on the things I post about and if I say something against Google it may be taken dow ...

eDating, X-Men and God

Not that I'm in the dating market but I can't help but think that the eDating world is kinda weird. Like in this strip, I met my wife the old fashioned way. In a bar! We talked X-Men and it was love from issue #1 on. I don't have anything against the idea of online dating (except for the fact that it seems like ordering a Whopper) but it's the niche sites that are most interesting.

CougarLife for you Ashton's hunting for a Demi (we all know how that one turned out). JDate for chosen ones to find a chosen one. Zoosk, the Axe Body Spray of dating sites. AshleyMadison for the married, Gingrich crowd. GayDating for, well, gay dating. And of course, ChristanMingle where you can "Find God's Match for You". Now I'm no bible expert but doen't using "God" in your tagline for your website count as taking the lord's name in vain?

Anyone ever used online dating? How was the experience?