Opening the Lines of Communication

In this new era of communication, there has been a growth in the people that use websites to connect with others by signing up to a Friendster or a Myspace. "That Asian Thing" has created a spot on Myspace and welcomes people to check it out, as well as request to be a friend. We want to grow interest in the cause of this documentary and every bit helps.



Going along with this - we also wanted to throw out an open invitation to artists that feel that they fit the description of our documentary. If you're an Asian American actor, singer, part of a band, or any other branch of entertainment to the masses - please don't hesitate to inquire by email. We're always open to anyone and anything. Remember - I'm always learning new things as this continues on and that's the best part of this journey. Finding new things out and building this deeper sense of pride for my race. I hope you can comply. SO, if you think you can help out - send your thoughts, questions, suggestions to asianthing@gmail.com. We always like hearing from people...

A Stirrrrring Friday Night!

Yes my friends, after many of you know-of's have asked me if I've had the pleasure of getting in touch with Stir Friday Night....you can betch'er bottom dollar that the "Asian Thing" has documented their second to last show here in Chicago. Thanks to Jennifer Liu of the Stir Friday Night crew, me and the Wayne were able to record a show in front of a packed house. And not only that (dare I say again...NOT ONLY THAT!...), we will be holding an interview session sometime in February with a couple of the cast members themselves.



The show, Yellow, was a very good mix of sketches pertaining to quick Vaudville-like joke telling, quirky singing and dancing, hilarious scenes and relationship situations, ALL dealing with Asian Americans. Stir Friday Night has been around for 10 years - using comedy as their tool to teach people of Asian American stereotypes and myths in the pursuit to disperse them.

I know what some of you are thinking - but, but, but Jiggy Boy...weren't you going to write up a show like this for stage? Well kiddies, who's to say that I can't? People can always hit up the same topics for comedy. It's just a matter of how you approach it and how you deliver the goods. I think I have more of a "dramedy" in my head as I've been jotting down my sketches along this documentary ride.

ANYHOO, I look forward to sitting down with the masterminds behind the show. I'd like to see how their writing process for their sketches went and what messages they had hoped to convey. I'm also interested in their feedback as actors in the theater community here in Chicago - how difficult it is to get gigs where the casting call people weren't thinking of filling a role with an Asian person. Hey - it can happen. I'm sure someone out there can comply.

Sign up for the Stir Friday Night newsletter on their website and be sure to catch their show when it comes around. DO IT!

Music and Art

Greetings and Salutations,

This weekend was full of documentary work, so let me indulge you with our happenings:

-On Saturday, we had the pleasure of meeting R&B group - I.B.U. (Inspiration By U) at the Hataw Pinoy Television Studios location (a Chicago based television studio used for The Filipino Channel / ABS-CBN ). Filming on a big set was more majestic and such a bigger profile from the other places where we've filmed thus far. But like I've said in the past - footage is footage and we'll take it where we can get it. Through the generosity of their manager, Mr. Glenn Bermejo, for setting up the interview and reserving the studio, we were able to attain the viewpoints of a young pop group attempting to surge into everyone's homes. A point that they made explicit during their interview session was the need for more Asian Americans to support their music. How interesting it is to know that a group that is built on talent rather than racial focus has difficulty getting the interest of their own race to listen to their music. Not that I should assume that all African Americans listen to all music produced by African Americans (or even Latinos listening to Latinos, or Caucasians only listening to Caucasians). But with such a small Asian Ameican population in America, it can get quite difficult to get a good majority of them to pick up the products of Asian AMERICAN entertainment, especially the younger generations - which tend to assimilate with more of what's on MTV.



ANYHOO, the guys were very helpful in getting feedback from their point of view as an accolated group that is still trying to get noticed by a larger audience. Try to check them out live whenever you have the chance. They gave us a live performance and proved to have vocal talents. Thanks to them, Mr. Bermejo, and Mr. Dave Tiu (who we will be in touch with in the very near future).

-Sunday we fell into one of the more insightful interviews I've conducted thus far, with Ms. Laura Kina. She is an artist and an Assistant Professor at DePaul University. Her art work exemplifies Asian American culture. Her feedback was impecable and made me raise more questions after our interview about what exactly I was doing with my documentary. Some points she raised concerning the small impact of Asian American culture in mainstream American culture is that people just aren't looking. Rather than think that there isn't a small impact, there is a bigger impact in front of us more than what we think. Even her home is not far from a fully South Asian/Indian community. Places like that and Chinatown exist because there was a push by people to have their restaurants and stores in place. She brought up the issue of economy, not far in relation to the low population of Asian Americans in America. Laura also talked about history and how her herself has helped to create Asian American history classes available at DePaul University. And the kicker that made me have to turn around and rethink my plan of action was instead of asking why Asian Americans should care about their culture, we should think of why any race should think/care about any other race - sometimes it's just a matter of taking care of our community. Man helping man and letting people be able to say what they want with no difficulties because of race.

And as a sidenote, for all you Asian Americans out there - can you recall the first time you saw an Asian American on television or film? How was he/she depicted? Try to think about it hard....it was really difficult for me. In fact, I'm still trying to think....



Thank you for all your generosity and thoughtful answers Laura Kina! We will definitely touch base again in the future!

-Digest these interviews as we're making ways with more in the near future. Things are starting to pick up at rapid speeds....

HOLIDAY HIATUS IS OVER!

Fellow "That Asian Thing" followers,

My deepest apologies for being completely missing in action for the past couple of weeks. I did the family thing over the holiday season and time had become limited, therefore updating was scarce. However, things were still in the mix and now that the holiday chaos is out of the way, let's bust out this documentary!! Here's what we got going:

-the Wayne and I had the pleasure of getting insight from the director of Stir-Friday Night's current production, Yellow! - Mr. Brian Posen. Brian is also the executive producer/founder of Chicago Sketchfest (a sketch comedy festival held over a 2 week span featuring over 100 events). He has worked with many comedy sketch groups and also teaches at the Second City Training Center. With a slew of experience and theatrical background, he was able to give us his thoughts on how comedy can be conveyed to pass on a message to people. Mr. Posen also talked about how Asian American performers can attempt to make a bigger impact, especially in the theater community -- basically good shows make people pass on good comments and through word of mouth, more non-Asians would likely turn up to see what the hype is all about. Being a writer myself, I talked about problems that I've come across in writing specific Asian American sketches and how premises need to be more relatable for audiences to laugh at. We dug deep into this and even came to mind stumpers every now and then, but that's what I love about documentaries -- how raw emotions, thoughts, and ideas come out of nowhere. I would like to thank him for his time (especially with Sketchfest coming up soon) and look forward to working with him in the future again. Thanks Bri!

-I.B.U. (Inspired By U) is an Asian American R&B group hailing from Chicago. They are winners of multiple music festivals and have performed across the nation. Formed in 2001, this group is still making their name more prominant in the music industry. I am in the mix of getting together with them and their management to get an insight on the music industry and how Asian Americans are slowly solidifying a face within mainstream music. I hope to touch on any struggles that they may have faced thus far and how non-Asians have perceived them until hearing their talent. I think we can also get an accapella performance on tape too, which I'm psyched for. I love the performance footages! I also look forward to hearing from their management and how the music industry works with "looks" to sell to the public - if the Asian American "thing" helps, doesn't help, or may not even play a roll at all. There should be some great footage in this one.

-Laura Kina is an artist and an Assistant Professor at DePaul University. Her art conveys thought of Asian American identity. Going along with this train of thought, I would like to dip into identity problems that Asian Americans have and what ways we can go about to be more aggressive. Through our emails, she has already thrown out questions of what exactley is "Asian American culture" and what is "mainstream American culture?" Two things that I hope to find answers to (or come close to) along the way of my documentary. She has also touched upon issues of Power and Privilege behind my question of impact or influence. I feel that she will be very fruitful and look forward to sitting down with her to get her words of wisdom.

-Over the break, I received some comedy footage from Mark Britten a.k.a. the Chinaman. His comedy styling comes strong with musical inspiration but he definitely touches on his Asian American heritage. What's wrong with a Chinese guy listening to country music, huh? But seriously, his stand-up is full of music, jokes, and thoughts on being half Asian. I wanted to thank him for his footage and wish him luck on his endevours. I hope we may be able to meet in the future concerning my documentary. Otherwise, thanks Chinaman! Where mah ninjas at?!? HOLLLLLA!!

That's good for now. Don't want you all to spoil your dinner with all this dessert! Things are lookin good and hopefully this Asian Thing will be on lockdown by midyear. Thank you to all the people that have helped me in any way, shape, or form - trust me, you got your little credit at the end of the movie. Thanks!! ...and before I go - HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!!