Here are just a few links to some interesting pieces:

+ Jeff Chang's thoughtful take on Michael Jackson [1]. Say what you will about MJ, but he had talent. For our generation, he was a part of our childhood.

+ More protests at a Vietnamese language newspaper. A year after the paper ran a controversial photo [2], people are still protesting. (It's unclear what the photo included -- the OC Register [2] reported that it was a photo of a foot spa with the colors and stripes of the South Vietnamese flag; the New America Media story reports it was a photo that included a foot on the South Vietnamese flag. Perhaps both are true. I can't seem to find the original photo that was printed). Some new things to note according to this New America Media story [3] -- people have been red-baiting each other for decades, but now the people being called Communists are fighting back through legal avenues -- and winning. 

+ A piece in ColorLines by Sandip Roy [4] about how Indian kitsch has become cool to mainstream America. Orientalism, anyone? You can apply this to a lot of Asian cultures. Trends come and go. Remember the popular Buddha beads? Gwen Stefani? Hot Topic and Urban Outfitters? This is a centuries-old tale, though with a new group.