Blog Archive: August 2010

Vietnamese American Activist Arrested for Pepper Spraying Pop Singer

Jen Nguyen - August 4, 2010

A few weeks ago, Ly Tong was arrested for pepper-spraying Vietnamese singer Dam Vinh Hung at his Santa Clara concert. Of course, a YouTube clip captures the entire episode, recording the very moment Tong, decked out in his best female attire, douses the singer with the chemical. No, he was not frustrated by the shrill heartache requisite in every other Vietnamese song. Tong is an infamous Vietnamese American anticommunist activist. Dam Vinh Hung is a spiky-haired Vietnamese pop star who has been accused of being a communist puppet. Their incident highlights a persisting divisiveness that, 35 years after the Fall of Saigon, lingers among the Vietnamese people.

Virginia Considers Arizona Approach to Immigration

Victoria Yue - August 4, 2010

So I was on Facebook the other day and noticed a link posted by a friend I went to college with: Is Virginia the Next Arizona? My friend, now a law student at Ohio State, had prefaced the link with: “Be careful.”

The Hyphenite's Social Calendar: V for Vuvuzela!, Korean BBQ Cook-Off

Cynthia Brothers - August 4, 2010

Wednesday August 4th -- San Diego

Bruce Lee Celebration

This year marks the 70th birthday of legend Bruce Lee. To celebrate, the San Diego Asian Film Foundation will present an outdoor screening of Enter the Dragon, with special appearance by co-star Jim Kelly, a martial arts exhibition, and Bruce Lee look-alike contest. More info here.

7 pm

Piazza Carmel Shopping Plaza

3870 Valley Centre Drive, San Diego

Asians, SB 1070 and the Immigration Debate

Saif Ansari - August 3, 2010

The recent slew of anti-immigrant legislation in Arizona is a threat not only to Latino immigrants at whom it is clearly targeted, but also to Asian immigrants and citizens.

Visual Communications' "V for Vuvuzela!" Short Film Series

Sylvie Kim - August 2, 2010

You know, I've been an intern a few times in my life. I did things like fetch water for snooty publishing executives and once had to drive around town distributing promotional postcards for the movie Seasbiscuit (please, don't ask...).

One thing I sure as hell didn't get to do was curate a series of short films in the movie capital of the world. Such is the case for the lovely interns at Visual Communications who have selected a series of short films -- entitled "V for Vuvuzela!" -- to be screened at the David Henry Hwang Theatre in Los Angeles' Little Toyko as part of their Intern Screening Program.

Doing Bad All by Ourselves

Theresa Celebran Jones - August 2, 2010

The Asian American blogosphere has, over the past couple of weeks, been abuzz over publicity stills for K-Town, dubbed "The Asian Jersey Shore." A lot of folks are afraid it'll make Asian Americans (Korean Americans, in particular) look bad, will introduce another stereotype to the mainstream (you never know, this Asian Men Hate Wearing T-Shirts stereotype might really catch on), and will cause lasting damage to the Asian American image, etc. But I think the general consensus seems to be, "I am fearful but also intrigued."