The Blasian Narrative

The Narrative is Still in Love with Wang Leehom

2012-02-14T22:31:00.001-05:00

Just because.

Seriously...learning about Wang Leehom turned me back into a Rain-type fan from the days of yore...you know, where you watch one video around 9 pm, and then you look up it's somehow morning?

Leehom does that too.

My roommate describes him as literally being "perfect." It's nigh impossible find fault with how he looks or anything he says.

The clip of his violin-playing renders me speechless every time.

The following video really captured what my roommate was saying. Jackie Chan refers to God as being "unfair" because he made Wang Leehom so handsome.

Don't bother asking why he's not more famous in the West. Which Hollywhite producer/casting agent/director do you think is willing to put this man in front of an American audience?

Asking the Right Questions: Black Women in the Asian Music Scene

2012-02-13T19:47:00.001-05:00

*rubs temples*

Let me begin once more with my usual: I'm not a K-Pop fan. It's partly due to my ever advancing age and my loathing for pop music in general. I'm not particularly a fan of C-Pop or J-Pop either, and to hear some of these popstars speak (*cough* Wang Leehom *cough*), they're not always fans of the sappy, happy pop themselves.

As usual, my take is from a more sociological perspective. The previous post on the Jay Park video "Know Your Name" sparked a bit of a debate as to why Black women wanted to see more of themselves in Asian music videos. Why, why, why - Black fans are always asked why. This, of course, is often meant to put BW on the defensive as though they were intruders or usurpers. It is also the wrong question.

The question should be: Why do we even have to ask? That is to say, why aren't they in the videos from the get-go? This is 2012; there shouldn't be this slow march to progress and recognition; we should already be there.

And how come all these non-Black fans (who are clearly threatened by the slowly growing presence of Black women in K-Pop) can't take their own advice and simply "enjoy the music"? Why must it always been an Asian or white girl or very light-skinned, light-eyed Latina in the videos?

If we're so ugly, and so undesirable...why are they so worried?

Reason #1 - Influence

As you can see from the brief clips, Asian artists draw heavily from African Americans. These three are not alone, mind you; Se7en, Big Bang, etc. are no different. Listen to these artists talk all day about their influences and the same names pop up again and again: R. Kelly, the Neptunes, Miss Elliot, Lil' Kim, Stevie Wonder, Brian McKnight, Usher, Chris Brown, Jill Scott, Mary J. Blige - Negroes, Negroes, and yet more Negroes, both male and female.

This is why the Narrative loves, loves, loves Monsieur Nov. Black music...Black woman in the video 95% of the time.

Reason #2 - Execution

With all the singing soulfully, rapping fiercely, doing duets with African American artists, African American women appearing in the videos ought to be pretty much a given. Asian men aren't the only ones diggin' our style.

I mean, come on.

While imitation may be the highest form of flattery, the originator tends to do it better. We create it, we perfect it, and our overall execution is better.

Keep in mind, this principle is not solely confined to us, nor does it not mean the Black-originated music coming out of Asian and white performers is not good or unworthy. Mike Shinoda is an excellent rapper, lyricist, and an astounding multi-instrumentalist. But he is no Lupe Fiasco or Jay-Z, and he admires both greatly. G-Dragon of Big Bang is a huge fan of Wu-Tang Clan, but he is no RZA. Or GZA. Or Ghostface Killah. British chanteuse Adele is a straight-up goddess in her own right; however, Adele's influences are the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Aretha Franklin, and Billie Holliday. Even if her career goes on for another 20-30 years, Adele will never out-sing those ladies.

The Korean Queen of Hip Hop and Soul is Yoon Mi Rae. Her real name is Natasha Reid, and she's a kinky-haired Blasian from Texas. Coincidence? Not really.

Now, let's try this with another musical genre. We have a lot of great composers out here now. Their music is featured in countless films and on TV; they've won Oscars, Grammies, and Academy Awards for their scores. However, they are no Mozart. They are no Beethoven, or Schumann, or Chopin, or Tchaikovsky, or Puccini. They will never be that great. A thousand years from now, we'll still be listening to Mozart. But fifty years from now, no one will remember Hans Zimmer, Joseph LoDuca, or John Williams.

Reason #3 - It's the 21st Century

Seriously.

First of all, this whole Black music, fashion, and dance without actual Black people is a really tired meme. We've already cut into white folks for pulling that shit.

Secondly, live and let live. My roommate has a saying, "If a Black woman wants to annoy Black men and white women, she should get herself a white man. But if she wants to really infuriate everyone, she should marry an Asian."

You want to know why so many of these Asian hip hop & R&B artists don't put more Black women in their videos? Because they can't. Because there are variables which actually bar them from doing so. Their handlers won't let them. Their handlers won't let them because they know that the non-Black fans will throw tantrums and withhold their fan club money, or close down their fan forums. They won't attend the shows, and since most of these groups can't go on epic world tours and pull a Rain, they have to appease those fans - they are the bread and butter of the industry.

Funny thing about contracts and industries, though. Contracts break. Industries evolve, because if they don't, they won't survive - end of story. These restrictive contracts and racist fans are basically going to drive more artists to break their contracts and seek international fan support. They're going to marry abroad, get dual citizenship, and set up house somewhere far, far from home where they can feature whomever they want on stage and in their videos.

I mean, we already know what happens when Asian men are allowed to do whatever the hell they want in their videos.

Notice how the comments are disabled under both videos.

Filipino artist TJ Medel once said that "being surrounded by beautiful black women...can definitely take a toll on you", and he caved within a mere 5-day period at a spoken word event. So you can imagine what these artists who've spent years listening to Black music and watching Black videos, and sweatily rehearsing day in, day out with Black dancers are experiencing.

So I'm going to play Prophet of the Real for a minute and say that at least one of these artists from Asia is going to reveal (within the next ten years or so) some beautiful Black woman they've been married to this whole time. The signs are already there: perpetual, inexplicable, unrealistic singlehood, gay rumors about a clearly heterosexual idol, and the extensive knowledge (and obvious admiration) of Black female artists.

Long after his youthful pop years have passed them by, and he's made all the money he wants, that artist is going to achieve maximum safe distance from his core fanbase, and then suddenly come of out of the Blasian Closet (with a kid or two in tow).

*shrug* I just wonder which one will be first.

Recommended

EBM Strikes Again! - Blasian Collaborations
The Art of Movement: Telisha Shaw
Black Girls...You're Doing it Again

Jay Park 'Know Your Name'

2012-02-09T14:56:00.000-05:00

This video has every Black K-pop fangirl squeeing.

You see, the main (only?) female dancer is a Black woman. I'm just the slightest bit disappointed because I was led to believe that Jay Park kisses this Black woman in the video. I didn't see the kiss though, did you?

This is what I want to see more of, this is what I was talking about in this post. Jay Park is USAmerican but this song is for the S. Korean music market. I'm waiting to see if there'll be any backlash, though knowing the K-pop fandom the backlash is most likely going to be coming from non-Korean fans mostly based in the USA.

ETA: The dancer in the video is Mauika Hicks, she's also on Twitter. Thanks modest-goddess!

Pao by Kerry Young

2012-02-08T09:30:00.000-05:00

Simply put, Pao is political history of Jamaica told through the eyes and life of ‘Uncle’ Pao Yang of Kingston’s Chinatown. Don’t expect anything more or less when reading Pao, I say this because from reading the blurb it is easy to believe that the book focuses on Pao’s relationship with Gloria and the struggles they face due to her profession, racial discrimination and class etc.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Pao. While Pao Yang isn’t really the best of male characters (he does come across as sexist, homophobic and unaware of his own privilege, not to mention he rapes his wife), Pao provides really interesting and relevant commentary on slavery, colonialism, post-colonialism, colourism, class and race relations in Jamaica. Pao really delves into a handful of issues. For example, instances of racism in the book not only show the kind of overt racism people of colour suffered at the hands of white people pre-Independence. There is also that of the Chinese towards Black Jamaicans even though Pao’s step-father Zhang schools Pao, telling him that Jamaicans and Chinese are the same due to poverty, oppression and exploitation and that they are ‘brothers in arms’. There are also glimpses of internalised racism as seen through Pao’s brother Xiuquan who is ashamed of being Chinese and is only happy after he leaves his family in Jamaica for America.

Another character that is first portrayed as having internalised racist views of herself is Mrs Cicely, the mother of Pao’s wife Fay. It’s fascinating that the book’s blurb mentions Fay Wong as the more respectable woman that Pao marries instead of Gloria. Yet Fay’s mother, Mrs Cicely is a Black woman. Through Fay, we are told that Mrs Cicely hates being black and abandoned her first child because he was not mixed race like her later children with Henry Wong. Mrs Cicely’s character is fully fleshed in the last pages of the book where she reveals the true reason she was ashamed of her first son, through her we also get to witness the kind of conflict that results from being a direct descendant of slaves. Mrs Cicely had lived her whole life trying to prove to ‘them’ that Black people were not all monsters and uncivilised.

Colourism (linked with class) is mentioned as well when Gloria, Pao’s mistress argues with him regarding the kind of school she wants to send their daughter. Gloria is dark-skinned, so is her and Pao’s daughter Esther. Due to Esther’s complexion despite her mixed heritage, Pao is initially uncomfortable with sending her to the school Gloria suggests (the school he sends his children with his wife, Fay to). On the other hand Fay is light-skinned and is thus privileged to attend white-only venues before independence. Fay also comes from a wealthy family which adds to her privilege.

There were just so many issues properly analysed or just shown briefly in the book. For example, when Yang Pao arrives in Kingston and is promptly renamed Philip Yang by a British official at the port stuck out to me. Later on in the book, it is revealed that the same thing happened to Pao’s father-in-law, Henry Wong whose real name is Hong Zilong.
The main criticism I have for Pao is that after reading the book, I felt that some characters and situations were not fully developed. For example, Pao’s mother and Uncle Zhang, what was really going on between them? Was it love? Why did they wait so long to act on their feelings for each other? Also why did Pao’s brother, Xiuquan hate being Chinese? Why was Fay so angry at her mother, Mrs Cicely? I understood Fay’s anger and hatred for Pao though. Also Fay’s sister, did she really have feelings for Pao? So many questions!

Pao is written in dialect, this did not stop me from enjoying the book at all. I like that Kerry Young added a bibliography at the end. Overall, I found Pao funny, and entertaining. I’ve learnt a bit on Jamaica’s history and thanks to the bibliography I can continue learning more. At times the book had a mystery genre feel to it with Pao solving minor and major problems for all sorts of people. For those who are tired of books that have Chinese men and Black women in solely romantic situations, be prepared to be extremely pleased as Pao does not have much romance in it. The book is basically just about Uncle Pao living and taking care of Chinatown while observing Jamaica’s transition from a British colony to a fully independent nation and dealing with family issues.

In conclusion, here’s a video interview with Kerry Young and some quotes from Pao;

And even though we still struggling to sort ourselves out after the English come here three hundred years ago and set everything up so careful and tidy – Africans on the bottom, the Indians, the Chinese, English on top – I think we doing OK. But I wonder to myself how many other countries there are like Jamaica? How many other countries been through what we been through? How many of them still going through it like us? All because some long time back somebody decide to pick themselves up and sail halfway ’round the world to come colonize us. And it not just about the English and the slaves. It about the Americans and the money. (p. 266)

Because in the old days everybody could see that it was the British that was responsible for the slavery, whereas now it seem like we are the ones responsible for this mess we in. Nowadays it hard to see how we being controlled by foreign powers because this new kind of imperialism come wrapped in a cloak that look like help. (p 242-243)

‘You want to talk ’bout revolution, but this was never your revolution. You never been poor, not so poor you hungry; you never had to find yourself a job or put a roof over your head. You never needed to get yourself an education. You were never made to feel degraded and ignorant or worthless because of the colour of your skin, and have to stand there like a damn fool while them shut every door in your face, and while you watch even the most stupid white people moving up instead of you. You didn’t have to feel the shame of what been done to your people, and witness how that shame sit on your mother and father and brother and sister, and neighbour and acquaintance. No, you live in Chinatown all this long time because you was comfortable, and now you not so comfortable you have the choice and the money to go move to a mansion in Beverly Hills.’ (p. 245)

NSFW: The Narrative Honors Keni Styles

2012-02-03T14:46:00.002-05:00

The whole size issue is ridiculous. You don't fuck someone with your dick, you fuck someone with your whole body, your attitude, your presence. The moment you say, "Oh, my dick is X inches long," you've let society win the battle of thinking it matters. And it just doesn't. I'm not the biggest there is, and I'm not the smallest, but I've never measured my penis against anything than a girl's vagina. If it fits and she's happy, I'm happy.
~ Keni Styles

Consider our break from porn being officially over.

Thai-born, British-raised, ex-military, ex-boxer porn star Keni Styles has a dedicated Blasian following...and with damn good reason.

Peep these:

I'm not really going to bother critiquing these because we're all waiting for Amaya's critique anyway.

But I will say this: my roommate and I agree this man loves him some Black women. We like how he interacts with them, how he teases, praises, and takes control of the situation...flipping them over, bending them back, and clearly enjoying himself the whole while.

And don't get us started on the tattoos.

Mamas, an Interlude

2012-02-03T13:06:00.001-05:00

We need to take a break from porn. Back-to-back posts can be unhealthy. In addition to this little story I'm about to tell you, go back and read Eccentric Yoruba's post on the film The Visitor.

So yesterday, I took my mom to get a pedicure at an upscale spot in Houston. I was trying to get her going to the place where I go, because the place where she was going was totally bullshit. The place I go is Vietnamese-owned and operated. Like with my own family, some of the professionals there speak English fluently, and some don't.

More specifically, I speak English fluently. My mother doesn't.

What's cute was, the female professional assigned to my mom was about her age, and didn't speak English fluently either. So at one point, the professional was speaking Vietnamese while my mother was speaking Limbum, and through polite gestures the two managed to communicate while I just sat back and observed. Their form of communication was more efficient than when I tried to play translator.

One thing I like about this spot is the education; the professionals educate their customers about their bodies. They diagnose what's wrong and explain what customers can do to remedy the situation, both at home as well as in the parlor. Keep in mind, cosmetology is an ancient art whose origins are actually rooted in medicine. My mother has been having trouble with one of her toes for the last 23 years, a problem which goes beyond the cosmetic. Unlike your average pedicurist, the professional broke out a set of special tools, cleared plaque, and applied medication. Through their form of communication, she and my mother introduced themselves by name, established that my mother should come back on Thursdays, and that her toe would improve during their sessions. By the end of the appointment, the two were blowing each other kisses to say "Thank you" and "You're welcome."

Many American patrons go to Asian-owned nail parlors rolling their eyes and yelling at the professionals thinking that volume = better comprehension. After being raised in a traditional African home and going to a school in Cameroon where children from various tribes attended, it's always been my first instinct to simply learn another language. Ergo, if the parlor of my preference mostly speaks Vietnamese, and I intend to make my patronage long-term, then it makes sense to learn some conversational Vietnamese.

In Cameroon, for example, we have somewhere in the ballpark of 250 tribal dialects and only 19.1 million people. Thus, it's customary for a Cameroonian to speak anywhere from 3-4 dialects in their region in order to get around (at least it was before the arrival of Pidgin, English, and French). So I often wonder why Americans living in cities like Houston, LA, or NYC balk at learning enough of various languages to get around comfortably and communicate much more efficiently. Would it really kill them to learn some basic Vietnamese, Chinese, Spanish, Arabic, Thai, and Hindi? I'm not even talking about the whole language; just some basic, polite phrases to ensure effective communication?

I mean, think about how much better people would get along in these places.

NSFW

2012-02-02T02:07:00.001-05:00

***THIS IS PORN. PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK***

I was actually going to wait a few days before I posted another one, but this one was a must.

I, my roommate, and Marie Luv all underestimated this dude. We didn't know he could do...what he could do. We didn't see that one coming.

But, Lawd have mercy...did he do.

The foreplay is flawless.

The Visitor

2012-02-01T09:30:00.000-05:00

I just realised that this film has not been mentioned on this blog before! According to IMDb, The Visitor is about

A college professor travels to New York City to attend a conference and finds a young couple living in his apartment.

The more detailed storyline;

In Connecticut, the widower and lonely Professor Walter Vale has a boring life. He teaches only one class at the local college and is trying to learn how to play the piano, despite not having the necessary musical talent. Walter is assigned to attend a conference about Global Policy and Development at the New York University, where he is to give a lecture about a paper that he is coauthor on. When he arrives at his apartment in New York, he finds Tarek Khalil, a Syrian musician, and Zainab, a Senegalese street vendor living there. He sympathizes with the situation of the illegal immigrants and invites the couple to stay with him. Tarek invites him to go to his gig in the Jules Live Jazz and Walter is fascinated with his African drum. Tarek offers to teach Walter to play the drum. However, after an incident in the subway, Tarek is arrested by the police and sent to a detention center of immigrants...

While The Visitor does focus on the white male college professor who sympathizes with the illegal immigrants of colour living in his apartment, and his metamorphosis from a cynical man who has little feeling for anything in the world to the complete opposite. I only really watched this film because of Zainab. Zainab and Tarek that is, played respectively by the stunning Danai Gurira and Haaz Sleiman.

Image source credit

The chemistry between those two could melt screens.

We are not told how Zainab, the Senegalese woman who makes and sells jewellery and Tarek, the Syrian djembe player met. We also don't know how long they have been together.

I watched The Visitor after reading this review on Racialicious. I was eager to see an African woman in a Western film without the usual stereotypes. Zainab's character is as developed as possible for a secondary character, she loves her fashion, she is introverted, she gets upset with her boyfriend when he messes up, she rolls her eyes at the white customer who doesn't seem to know that Senegal and South Africa are miles apart. Her relationship with Tarek was stable, comfortable, and just a joy to watch.

As Nadra Kareem says in the Racialicious article

...yes, seeing the dark-skinned Gurira, with less than an inch of hair on her head, portrayed as anyone’s love interest, especially the love interest of a non-African man, challenges all sorts of cultural norms.

It is interesting, or not depending on what you know, that the non-African love interest is Syrian. I bought The Visitor on DVD and thus was able to watch behind the scenes interviews with the actors. I recall Haaz Sleiman mentioning that relations between Syrian men and West African women was nothing new, I believe he even mentioned male relatives who had married African women. I must have laughed out loud at that remembering how any Lebanese person I met while in university would tell me that they had relatives in Nigeria when I told them my nationality.

While in Nigeria, and other parts of West Africa, there are Lebanese and Syrians who enjoy segregating themselves in the fashion of the white 'expats' who enjoy living their colonial fantasies on African soil, there are Lebanese and Syrians who are integrated into society and intermarry. I've met enough Nigerians with Lebanese fathers to know this much. A bit random, but when I was in primary school, I became really close friends with a Nigerian-Lebanese family, my friends had a Lebanese mother but I'd forget she was not Nigerian because she spoke Hausa fluently. Also a popular Nollywood and Gollywood (Ghanaian Hollywood) actor, Majid Michel has a Lebanese father.

In conclusion, please watch The Visitor!

NSFW

2012-01-31T14:46:00.000-05:00

***THIS IS PORN. PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK***

Babygirl comes through for the Narrative again!

So here we have a couple of folks trying. They've got a clean setting, soft music playing, they're both good-looking, they've got varying camera angles, varying positions, no blurring, they're making sounds - my, my...there's hope indeed!

Seriously...this is best one so far. My roommate had no complaints (except for the part where it looked like she was suffocating him and he had to find a way to breathe around her) and I consider my roommate the toughest critic. Babygirl reports there was an even BETTER one, but it deleted.

NSFW

2012-01-29T01:28:00.004-05:00

***THIS IS PORN. PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK***

Thanks to Jean-Bee, who alerted me to a Black porn actress who's currently working in Japan.

This is better lit, of course, in a cleaner environment, but it's pro - you know how that goes. The woman looks too perfect; her makeup's perfect, her weave is perfect, she's gotten a Brazilian wax...the works.

Another thing which gets me is the fetish-y nature of this video. It's like all about a man's fantasy about the Black female form. At least we see more variety, though.

Also...am I the only one who felt the setting was downright sterile? It's like we've gone from one extreme to another.

NSFW

2012-01-28T02:17:00.001-05:00

***THIS IS PORN. THIS IS NOT PRETTY PICTURES OR A SEXY POPSTAR ON STAGE. THIS IS HONEST-TO-GOD PORN. FINAL WARNING - PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK***

A while back, we surveyed Narrators to see if you guys would mind if we posted Blasian porn. Turns out, none of you voted against it, so...here goes.

(Thanks, babygirl!)

There are some things about this video which, I'll admit, had me laughing. Understand that my roommate was pointing out things I hadn't noticed the first time, like the wallpaper. Flower wallpaper is a HUGE pet peeve of my roommate's.

Then there was the girl. We didn't understand why this girl kept tying up her hair. Or wore the socks in the first place.

We have a theory that this has to be the dude's place. The mattress on the floor is a dead giveaway, and the wallpaper bugged my roommate more than the mattress (even though the sheets and pillowcases didn't match...I hadn't initially noticed that either). Dave Chappelle once said that if men could fuck women in cardboard boxes, they wouldn't bother with buying cars. Turns out he was right.

In the end, my roommate forgave the video, and I'm guessing it's simply because of the guy. She called him a "keeper."

Seriously, dude...he needs to make some more videos.

He's Baaaaack: Monsieur Nov

2012-01-27T19:27:00.000-05:00

...and he hasn't changed.

Intimacy (or the lack thereof)

2012-01-25T09:30:00.000-05:00

While watching Koda Kumi's latest music video, 'Slow' featuring Omarion, I was pleasantly surprised by the chemistry between both of them.

slowfeatomarion by Bored4Lyfe

This is a Jpop video and I just hope it doesn't disappear before this post goes up.

What do you think? Am I imagining the chemistry between Koda and Omarion? I personally loved the whispers, the laughter, the touches. Koda has had music videos with white male models but this must be her first with a Black man. I'm no Omarion stan but he didn't do bad in this video. After watching this I wondered if similar intimacy could be found between a Japanese man and Black woman in a music video. I couldn't think of any music videos featuring a Japanese man with a Black woman but I remembered Se7en's 'Girls' and Far East Movement's 'Rocketeer'.

Major confession time, I've actually never watched or listened to 'Girls'. I was a Se7en fan before his USA debut but I largely ignored this because of reasons. I didn't even know he had sang with Lil' Kim until I found the Narrative. Needless to say, I have finally watched 'Girls' and because I watched it just after seeing the Blasian couple that Koda and Omarion made, I wasn't too pleased. Here's the video for old times sake.

I couldn't see the intimacy. I know this song is vastly different from 'Slow', 'Girls' is a party song and Lil' Kim defines her own sexy image* (I remain a fan of her older stuff) but together, she and Se7en look so...plastic. I just wasn't feeling it (I completely understand that not everyone will agree with me on this).

Then it struck me that not only is Koda not trying to break into the USA music market, 'Slow' is sung mostly in Japanese. That video is meant for the Japanese market (and the rest of us international fans). Are there similar Jpop videos with Japanese musicians and Black female love interests? I went on a search and came up with nothing! What I was looking for specifically was Jpop videos in which a Black woman was shown as a love interest, not as a random person dancing in a club. I wanted to see whispering, caressing, les yeux doux and such like between Koda and Omarion. Then I thought I'd search for Kpop videos with the same content. Nothing there either.

Oh well, we have Black female love interests with Asian men in both English and French (remember Monsieur Nov) music videos. I'll be keeping an eye out for when a someone among the top 10 male Jpop artists** has a Black female love interest in his music video largely aimed at a local audience.

*Koda also has a 'racy' image
**Koda is very popular as well! My Asian pop buddy on Twitter got me listening to her a few months ago, I'm yet to come across a list of 'top 10 Jpop female singers' that does not include her.

'King Cobra and the Dragon'

2012-01-14T12:30:00.000-05:00

Follow up and some back story to this post, 'King Cobra and the Dragon' goes into Sino-African relations as manifested in Zambia. As usual, it is a great thing that we get to hear opinions from actual Zambians and Chinese people living in Zambia. (I just could not get over the young Chinese girl who was born and is growing up in Zambia. How do I say this, it fascinates me when I meet Chinese or Lebanese people who speak English with accents from the African countries they grew up in). I am also not surprised that though before he was elected president, Michael Sata was vocally anti-Chinese, now he seems to have toned down his talk. All in all, this was very interesting!

Why do brown-skinned anime characters have pink nipples?

2012-01-11T09:30:00.000-05:00

I'm crossposting this from my blog because I believe some readers here may find this post interesting. Be warned that this post contains links that are NSFW. If it doesn't link to Twitter, Wikipedia or Dreamwidth, it is NSFW.

If you follow me on twitter and were online in the early hours of Christmas morning 2011 (GMT), you may have noticed @LeaBecca, @jolantru and I discussing nipples. In particular colonialism, body politics and how they affect nipple colour. You may want to read their write ups on the topic before continuing, Body Politics and White Skin, Pink Nipples.

So now you know that there is a ‘right’ colour of nipples. And that there are bleaching creams available to turn brown nipples lighter even as there are ‘brightening’ creams for the face and the body. That pink nipples are a sign of innocence and lack of sexual knowledge.

When I reblogged this anime style drawing of a brown-skinned, female character on Tumblr, I wrote ‘Finally the artist got the right nipple colour!’ because at that moment it struck me just how often I’d seen brown- and dark-skinned anime style characters drawn with pale, pink-ish nipples. There’s been a lot of discussion on how ethnicity is presented in anime and manga, on the ‘race’ of characters in anime and manga. It is relatively rare to see characters with darker skin tones in anime and manga, nevertheless they exist and several people of colour who enjoy watching anime and reading manga across the globe are happy that they exist.

But what happens when your favourite brown-skinned character takes of his or her clothes to reveal pink nipples? Take for example, this image of Miyuki from the anime Basquash!. What would you think? Initially, I thought this suggested that the brown-skinned characters are actually white-skinned characters in blackface. The implications of imperialism and body politics that affect brown-skinned women did not occur to me at that point. I was genuinely confused, I understand some brown-skinned characters look tanned (and are supposed to be tanned) but why would you draw a brown-skinned character that has locs or a huge Afro and colour their nipples pink?

The first time I recall noticing pink nipples on a brown-skinned character was when I came across one doujinshi with characters from Code Geass by Nekomata Naomi, a female hentai mangaka. When I saw the manga, ‘Brown New Wife’, I barely registered that the new wife had brown skin and pink nipples on the cover (mostly because I was squeeing over Nekomataya being a female hentai mangaka). I must have laughed shaking my head and wondered if these artists had seen brown women topless before? Or who knows there could be brown women with pink nipples in this world. I convinced myself that it was a one time thing. I did not want to ‘overreact’ and basically silenced my own criticism.

I joined Tumblr recently and it did not take long for me to come across this photo blog dedicated to brown-skinned females in anime. As I went through the archives and saw that when they were shown, most of the brown-skinned characters had pink nipples I grew disturbed. I was confused and not entirely sure how to react, so I saved the pictures for later discussion.

That was until I saw the art I reblogged. I was surprised at how relieved I felt to see that at least one artist got
the colouring
things right. I believe it was at that point that I decided it was okay to say something. I am glad that LeaBecca and jolantru had things to say as well. As I mentioned above, most of my earlier thoughts revolved around blackface. I wondered if all brown-skinned characters in anime, doujinshi and art are actually white-skinned characters in blackface or tans? I briefly entertained the idea that all of us brown-skinned people who have adored brown-skinned characters in anime and manga have been hoodwinked.

I still do not understand why an artist would draw a brown-skinned character and colour their nipples pink but now I know how they conform to white supremacist ideals by doing so. In a world that regularly extols white skin, straight hair, skinny figures, and now pink nipples, as beauty ideals colouring a brown-skinned character’s nipples pink plays into the idea that there is something wrong with the natural tones of brown-skinned women.

What do you readers of the BN think about this? I'd really love to know.

Blasian Lit Thread #13

2012-01-07T09:30:00.000-05:00

Fallen by Elise Marion

In a world full of the sick and dying, the hurting and desperate, and those lost in darkness, angels dwell. An angel of healing, Amir has spent centuries performing miracles for people hovering at the very edge of death.

A professional ballerina, Shayla lives her life to dance. Abandoned by her family, she is alone in the world yet determined to pursue her dream. When a car accident leaves Shayla in critical condition and in danger of never dancing again, it seems that all hope is lost.
Amir enters Shayla’s life intending to heal her, but when he sees her laying in her hospital bed fighting for her life, something unfamiliar resounds within him. A stranger to desire and love, Amir is drawn to Shayla like a moth to a flame despite the fact that the rules of heaven forbid angels to engage in romantic relationships with mortals. Should he give in to temptation he will become one of the “Fallen”, demons cursed to the depths of hell for eternity.
As his desire for Shayla rises to fever pitch, Amir will face the choice between love and damnation, or loneliness and divinity. Will an angel who has roamed the earth alone for centuries choose to continue on the path of righteousness, or will he fall captive to his burning desires and be forever damned?

Buy from Amazon Kindle. Read an excerpt here.

My comments: Can I just say that Amir is an Arabic name? I visited Dubai for the first time in September 2011 and since then I've caught the Arab swag fever ~appropriate gif~. A friend described her experience in the Dubai Mall on weekends as 'the sea of white' meaning all the attractive men in pristine white thobes, along with the ghutrah and aqal. I've always had a weakness for attractive people in traditional clothes.

Here, I believe, we have an Arab angel?! I haven't read this yet but most likely will.

Happy Effin Valentine by Stephanie Burke in Wild Wishes

Effin had nothing but bad luck and misery until that pretty kitty passed her way. Suddenly bad dates, bad clothes, worse sisters were a thing of the past. To add to her change in fortune, it turned out that her new cat was actually a lucky, lusty shape-shifting Neko. But could she believe in the staying power of her luck and her sexy lucky charm?

Effin Damnwell Hurtzs is having a bad year; no, make that a bad life. Born on Friday the 13th, it seems that Effin can either have no luck or bad luck. Just when Effin gives up on dating, her horrified best friend Christa sets her up on a date with a C.P.A. Figuring that a C.P.A. is boring and that nothing bad can happen, Effin sets in to make herself presentable. Evidently fate is working against her yet again when her supposedly C.P.A. date is actually a hoodlum, and the BMW he is driving is possibly stolen.

Masataka loves women. Loves them. Especially ones with nice butts. However, this love he feels gets him into trouble because Masa has the bad habit of falling for women who are not free. On one such instance, Masa made a husband so angry that he cursed Masa to a lifetime of being a simple house cat until the right woman comes along. Masa figures it won't take long, but now, after years and years of being a cat, Masa is dying to settle down and be human again. When Masa happens to come across a crying Effin, he does what any cat would do and rubs against her. Effin, in her surprise, brings the cat home and the rest is history (book description from this review).

Buy from Amazon Kindle

My comments: This story is part of an anthology. I'd buy the anthology because this description has me curious but I'm not sure about the other two stories

Player's Ultimatum by Koko Brown

Yvonne Floyd's best friend and gay soccer player Robbie Gutierrez proposes the impossible, pose as his fiancée until he can ink a lucrative contract with one of Italy's premiere football clubs. Hounded day and night by the media's constant speculation over his sexual orientation, Robbie doesn't want to run the risk of losing his career over who he sleeps with. Although Yvonne feels Robbie has lost his marbles, she takes one for the team.

As Yvonne is initiated into the fast-paced world of international soccer, she's ill-prepared for a mutual attraction to Robbie's teammate, Paolo Saito. And when the Japanese-Brazilian footballer discovers her secret and turns the tables on her, Yvonne loses sight of her goal, and risks sacrificing more than just her heart.

Buy from Amazon Kindle, Read a review

My comments: Ooh~ A Japanese-Brazilian hero and I've read work by Koko Brown, she's all right.

The Girl Says Yes by Jane O'Roarke

Can an auspicious match begin with a gunshot wound? And is revenge a dish best served naked? FBI agent Cassie O'Brian has met her match in Navy SEAL Raj Gupta. Or has she?

The problems stack up as Cassie and Raj butt heads as they race to find a secretive terrorist group before time runs out. A matchmaking mother and family obligations are complication’s Raj doesn’t need as he battles to win the heart of a reluctant woman.

As Cassie and Raj are swept into a passion that almost consumes them-- revelations from Cassie’s past threatens their very lives.

Warning: Contains sexy Navy SEALs, long hot loving with toys, and a kick-ass heroine who finally meets her match.

Buy Amazon Kindle

My comments: Another Blindian romance!

Hadji Demystified: Magic and ethnicity or not every ethnic person has to be magical

2012-01-04T09:30:00.000-05:00

This post was cross posted from moniqueblog.net with Monique's permission. You can read another part of the Hadji Demystified series on the Narrative here.

Hadji’s progression from being a mystic to being a “cool kid”. Credit: Google, questfan.com

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything, not to mention a “Hadji Demystifed” post. Work and life has cut in on my posting time. But, I’m here now, so let’s get to this.

To quote Jay-Z in the Kanye West song “So Appalled”, “I’m just so offended.” Why am I offended? Well, because after re-reading the wikipedia page on The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest, I read that writer Glenn Leopold felt the need to revive Hadji’s “latent psionic powers”, stating that Season One Hadji–who was without powers and whose characterization relied on the realistic Sikh teachings, yoga, and meditation–was too boring due to the fact that he was basically brought down to earth. To quote him, he said Season One Hadji was “not interesting to watch.” For shame, Leopold! FOR SHAME! The main reason some level of shame should be felt is that to bring back the “Sim Sim Salabim” part originally written in Hadji’s character is a bit of a negative thing to bring back, seeing as how that part was introduced in the ’60s, when the average American’s knowledge about the East was ignorant at best, racist at worst. Also, by negating the idea that Hadji can be interesting and normal flies in the face of the progress Indians, Middle Easterners, and other brown people (and all minorities, for that matter) have made in entertainment. Basically, it’s like saying you have to be an Other in order to be interesting, when that same qualification isn’t something that white characters have to live up to. I’ll explain all this in several parts:

The 1960s–a time of both change and stereotypes

credit: Google

While the 1960s is probably one of the most important times in American history, there was still a lot of racism and stereotyping going on amidst the boundary-blurring and Civil Rights fighting. Case in point: Hadji. The fact that he wasn’t even given a last name in the original series is something that could take up an entire essay, but what I’m focusing on in this post is his “magical” abilities. During this time and in earlier time periods, people generally equated Asians with black magic, mysticism, and any other sort of hocus-pocus. Some of the “hocus pocus” were rituals or professions that weren’t understood by outsiders, one of those professions being snake charming.

You can check out the full wiki page on snake charming, but just as an overview, it’s not a magical ability at all; it’s more like a learned trade. Partly due to the caste system, snake charming is a tradition passed down from father to son in India. Snake charming is also practiced in Pakistan and North Africa. The snakes, many of them venomous, have to be trained before the charmer can perform their profession. Oftentimes, the snakes are de-fanged, but in North Africa, the snake’s mouth is sewn shut, leaving just enough opening for the tongue (according to the page, many people in the area believe that the venom comes from a snake’s tongue).

Hadji more than likely, Pasha, Hadji’s peddler caretaker, taught him how to do this profession in order to make some money, probably not due to any kind of caste rule (if you recall from my post about Sikhism, Sikhs do not believe in the caste system.) Hadji and Pasha were probably also doing a myriad of other things in order to keep some type of steady income, because while snake charmers used to be able to make a living from their profession at one point in time, they have increasingly had to sell jewelry and other items, scavenge, and basically do what they need to do to make ends meet. Enter the tourists who think a mere boy has the ability to magically charm a large, poisonous cobra, not realizing there’s a bigger story at work here.

However, none of this detail was really put into the show. Granted, the wiki page on Jonny Quest does allude to the possibility that Hadji’s so-called inherent magical ability might just be parlor tricks (which, after my evidence above, must be the case), but the show itself doesn’t really overtly give Hadji’s magical abilities the benefit of the doubt. Instead, the show focuses on the fact that he’s a minority character who is obviously different from his adoptive brother and family. Couple that with the already limited worldview many 1960s Americans had concerning countries in the east, and there you have Hadji’s ability to do magic.

Finally, an Indian character who’s not a mystic!

credit: questfan.com

The irony is that about three decades later, Hadji not only keeps his rank as one of the only Asian (specifically, South Asian) cartoon characters on television, but also becomes one of the few characters who’s not mystical in any way, thanks to a genius reboot led by writer Peter Lawrence, who applied his real-world knowledge and broad worldview to the show.

As written about on the front page of this Hadji shrine, I have a quote by Lawrence explaining his reasoning behind rebooting Hadji and erasing his “magical” abilities. Here it is again:

I did have a great Pakistani friend at university, Tahir Attar. Educated in Europe at expensive private schools but retaining deep cultural roots. I believe, for example, that he entered an arranged marriage – quite happily. He was a perfect mix of East and West and I took a lot from him for Hadji. We did, of course, add an additonal dose of mysticism (for want of a better word), for dramatic reasons and in an attempt to keep the stories really open. (Minds, too, perhaps – but God forbid that we were proselytizing.) Yeah. Compare our Hadji with that moron in … oh, god, what was that silly robot movie? it will come to me. Or most of the silly sing-song morons which Hollywood makes of Asian Indians.
Clearly you have some knowledge of my own background – brought up in Zambia. (Tongue in cheek, Buzz, Stephanie and others said that I had a lot in common with Jonny – and, actually, I really did identify with our vision of him.) Not just in Zambia but deep in the bush. I grew up with Africans. I was an African, albeit white. When I went to Europe and, later, the US, I was stunned at the casual racism, the unthinking stereotyping, the sheer ignorance of other cultures. So, when it came to Hadji I was determined to make him real. Or as real as he could be in the context. Michael Benyaer really ‘got’ what we wanted to do with this character and that made it easier to ‘hear’ Hadji’s voice while writing. I wonder where Mike is now?
In fact, however pretentious it makes me seem, I wanted this authenticity in all the characters. That’s why we went for some rather ‘out there’ casting – and that’s why, of course, the succeeding producers undid everything and went safe. It’s pretty sad, and quite indicative of the xenophobia of our culture and the play-safe of the industry.

And, to also quote Michael Benyaer (which is also on the front page):

“[he] is one of the few roles for an ethnic actor that is not a bad guy. I mean, how many East Indian heroes have been on television? Hadji is for the sensitive kids out there. He is the outsider in all of us.”

This reasoning is what makes the first season–and Season One Hadji– great, not boring. This is what makes it miles ahead of the 1960s show; it shows that due to all of the Civil Rights fights, social skirmishes, and better written history books in order to promote a broadened view of the world and life in general, people in America can now see all people for who they are, not for what race they are or what makes them different. In short, making Hadji a regular guy makes him accessible to everyone. For a while, he was demystified, and it was great while it lasted. However, the decision to make Hadji not regular is not only a mistake, but a step backwards in terms of the advancement of all minority people, not just Indians.

To be interesting, you have to be magical, but only if you’re not white

credit: questfan.com

It’s a blunt subheading, but it’s seemingly true in the world of Hollywood. The fact that Hadji was deemed not interesting simply because he was normal is a bit…odd and misses the entire point of why he was demystified. It’s also a bit offensive. Here’s why:

For eras, all minorities have had to put up with stereotypes in Hollywood–black people were either “happy” servants/slaves, fat Mammy characters, buffoons that were no better than animals that needed training, and “savages”; Asians from areas such as China and Japan have been typecast as knowing martial arts, being demure to the point of offensiveness, evil archenemies like Dr. No, or mystical/all-knowing beings; South Asians have had to deal with a bit of a combination of stereotypes, ranging from being buffoons, mystical/all-knowing beings, or “happy” servants/villagefolk. Like I stated before, Hadji being “magical” in the 1960s cartoon is due to this type of stereotyping.

So for Hadji to be written as a mystic again in Season Two is a letdown because the idea of Hadji having to be magical in order to be interesting is a double-standard. At no time in the history of stereotypes in movies has a Caucasian person had to be magical in order to be interesting. Because of this double-standard, Jonny and Jessie don’t have to be abnormal to be interesting; they can just be normal. So if that’s the case, what sense does it make for this 1990s interpretation of Hadji to have to be interesting in order to be accepted as a character? You get what I’m getting at? I’ll also throw out there that creative “differences” were arising between Seasons One and Two, resulting in a lot of the cast and crew–including Season One Hadji’s voice actor Michael Benyaer and Lawrence– leaving.

Now, I’m not trying to say anything more than that perhaps a bit of historical thoughtfulness could have saved Season Two Hadji from being significantly less meaningful than Season One Hadji. Dare I even get into the fact that India was politically misrepresented as a mystical, otherworldly place much like Thailand was represented in “The King and I” and that maharajahs didn’t exist during the time period Hadji is written to have taken the title of Maharajah?

Man, it sure felt good to rant again!

For more on 1960 Hadji’s mystical powers, click here.

Monique Jones is a freelance entertainment writer. She runs her own entertainment website, Moniqueblog.net, which is dedicated to highlighting how race and culture are viewed in Hollywood. She also is a movies editor and writer for entertainment site, ShockYa.com.

Folklore, and Other Stories (2012)

2012-01-03T01:38:00.000-05:00

2012 really is going to be the year of the Hirosawas.

But before we can proceed with their future, we must delve into their past.

Middle Child Press is proud to announce the upcoming winter re-release of Folklore, and Other Stories, my second book. Because it will be the first ever digital edition, it will also be unabridged, and much more polished.

After three years, fans will finally get the whole story...times three.

In the first story, "Folklore," a single secondary character inspired the creation of an entire family. When I casually drafted a few lines about Benjiro Hirosawa, I never imagined that his surname would come to mean much, much more.

Purple Jars of Rice was my first book, but Folklore was my first true love. A trio of stories, it was my first Blasian narrative, and my second attempt at my (beloved) experimental literature. In its early days, I recall that readers were surprised to see an African woman writing stories with Asian American men in the leads. I strove to portray my male leads as men first, with a focus on their inner struggles and various personalities: Kazuya, the dark soul with a troubled past; Rory, the whimsical storyteller; and Jason, the frustrated husband who's convinced he married the Devil.

I think Folklore was my first book to ever receive professional critical reception, and I was astounded at how the critics didn't even bat an eyelash at my choice of characters. It was right then and there that I knew experimental Blasian literature would be my genre of choice.

Folklore, and Other Stories goes into production this week; I will keep readers updated as it progresses. For now, enjoy the trailer!!!

This version features a melody from Ancient Egypt:

Cargo adverts

2012-01-02T09:30:00.000-05:00

Cargo is a Ghanaian drink, gin bitters precisely. Cargo has released adverts that have become viral in Ghana and have apparently resulted in spin-off dance styles and a fashion line. The stars of these ads are Oboshi, a plus-sized Ghanaian woman and a random Chinese dude.

Here is the first Cargo advert;

In the second ad, the Chinese man marries Oboshi (and speaks a little Twi).

Trust the comments below this video to be all about Chinese imperialism and modern day colonisation of Africa. As usual, the critics are usually people with one form of white exceptionalism or the other. I have more respect for people who can constructively critique China's engagement with African countries and provide solutions rather than throwing words such as neo-colonialism about.

Despite cultural barriers and what not, I believe it is pretty obvious that these ads are to be taken lightly. They are not serious. The people in this video do not seem to in any way feel threatened or scared by Chinese people.

There is worry that the Chinese are integrating into our African system. I have no idea where that from? In my Nigerian experience, people on the ground seem to be happy that the Chinese are trying to 'integrate' except when the Chinese people they work with are abusive. As trade and relations between China and Nigeria has grown, I have discovered that my extended family has not been spared. There is me who went to study politics and Asian studies so I could write my dissertation on China's 'win-win' African policy.

There is the aunt, my uncle's wife who travels to southern China every year to buy furniture and household items which she sells in her own store. She has links with both African and Chinese merchants in Guangzhou. She is a true African business woman. There is even my aunty's husband's brother who works for Chinese employers in Lagos. It was from him that I heard that Chinese men love partying and want to know Nigerian holidays so they can mark their calendars ahead and plan how they are going to drink and pick up ladies. I have more and more friends who work with Chinese people and their general consensus falls along the lines of 'these Chinese people are funny/amusing but they are okay.' Not too many take them seriously.

A lot of the time when I see people of African descent leaving comments online linking China-Africa relations to neo-colonialism, I immediately assume that the people leaving those comments must be based outside the African continent and depend on Western media for their news. Sometimes they do not have to be living abroad though because thanks to colonial mentality, there are Africans who wait for any Western news source to tell them how to think.

At this point, I'd like to suggest Pambazuka to everyone seeking well-researched, objective, African-centred articles and opinion essays. Lately, I particularly enjoyed reading this article, 'Barking up the wrong tree' which discusses the "Western racist stereotypes about China's 'neo-colonialist' expansion in Africa" (please note the comment below that essay, the one that mentions 'reverse racism' against European companies and states). I find this mention of China's "neo-colonialism" very distasteful when the CFA franc is still being used in Francophone West Africa (read this, 'Slavery by another name: CFA franc' to understand). In the end it all boils down to sustainable leadership in African countries, so I'll reserve my anger for our incompetent leaders and messed up political system.

I shall quit discussing politics and attempt to end on a somewhat lighter note. The second Cargo ad reminds me of another Chinese man I've seen lately dressed in traditional clothes of his adopted African country, presumably Uganda.

Source: Independent.co.uk

The man in the image above is Liu Jiangjun, you can read more on him here where he is quoted as saying; "Some Chinese men marry African women; they like African girls because they are very slim."

I have openly criticised non-Africans wearing African fabric (due to cultural appropriation), I am not entirely comfortable seeing Liu Jiangjun kitted as a chief (for some reason I thought they gave him a chieftain title). On the other hand, I totally understand when it comes to the Cargo ad because that was a wedding scene.

With this Cargo ad, I can finally end this post on a lighter note.

Shalai tue!

Empire Corner

2011-12-31T17:00:00.000-05:00

Empire Corner is a short film by J.P. Chan featuring Teyonah Parris, Alexis Camins, Shalita Grant, Jo Mei, Corey Antonio Hawkins, Aaron Moten, and Tyrien Obahnjoko.

Watch it.

Finished watching it? Great! Isn't Teyonah adorable! Am I the only person who sees the chemistry between her character and Alexis'? The way they were eyeing each other *groan* too sweet.

Did you feel Empire Corner ended on a sad note, well here is the sequel by Richard Wong, Wu is Dead.

So even though I was not initially happy that, well Wu is dead, I enjoyed watching this short as well. I love the martial arts in this one, my love for wuxia is no secret 'Wu Brother #5 is so classic'. This short is funny too. Sun Mei is so badass, and I love her and Alma forming an axil of evil. And the ending just makes me wonder who Wu really was.

I need this to be a feature-length movie, I am talking 2 hours here. First of all, there needs to be more development between Alma and Wu's characters, flirting is not enough. I don't mind if Wu is killed in this movie because, as I said earlier, I love Alma and Sun Mei together. The martial arts can remain but Alma needs to be more involved. Sun Mei could mix the poisons and engage in hand to hand combat while Alma uses a long-range weapon.

Alma and Sun Mei would have to investigate Wu's business with Tang and they'd discover all sorts of things involving rivalry between Chinese restaurants and food. Together they'd bring Tang down because they still need to avenge Wu. But this would reveal yet another enemy. *Sigh* the possibilities!

What do you think of both short films? Comments will be duly appreciated!

Blasian Lit Thread #12

2011-12-30T21:30:00.000-05:00

Smoky Red Taboo by Imari Jade

The Empress of Japan has enlisted the aid of relationship expert Malia Isakawa to help find out why her thirty-year-old son, Hiroshi Yamaguchi, hasn’t stepped up to the plate to get to know his fiancée, Rika Takaki. In two weeks, Rika will be eighteen years old, and Chei and her husband plan to officially announce the engagement to the world.
Hiroshi has never done what is expected of him. He takes one look at Malia Isakawa and falls head over heels in love with the African-American beauty, and suddenly the fate of the Japanese Empire might be in jeopardy.
Malia, on the other hand, has always considered herself a professional and didn’t plan to become the love interest of not only one but two Japanese princes. Can she fix this mess, or will she not only cause an international scandal but also break up a family?

Buy from Amazon Kindle,

Under His Spell by Liz Davis

Lynn Calloway has been living a quiet, routine life—that is, until she meets a gorgeous stranger. Drawn in by his dark, magnetic gaze, she’s instantly intrigued. She notices something different about him from the very start, but it isn’t until they spend a passionate night together that the secrets he’s been holding begin to reveal themselves in the most unexpected of ways.
From the moment Takoda Chasing Horse lays eyes upon her, he’s certain that she’s the one. But before he can make her his own he will have to reveal the truth. A shape-shifter by birth, he has the ability to transform into a wolf.
The passionate love they develop for one another is unbreakable, but a tragic past presents obstacles that neither is prepared for.
Under His Spell is the story of two wounded souls coming together and the battles they must face to save their love.

Buy from Amazon Kindle

Passion Fruit by Imari Jade

Twenty-five year old, Satoshi Hayashi, the pianist for the Japanese pop-group, Aomori refuses to give up hope that his close friend Shaundra Yoshida has perished in a killer earthquake and tsunami in the Miyagi Prefecture of Japan. Hundreds and maybe thousands of lives have been reported lost, but Satoshi feels that he would know if Shaundra was dead. Over the last year they had this special bond. He knew when she wasn’t feeling well or when she was in a frisky mood. If she were dead, he’d know it, and he didn’t give a damn what the other members of Aomori thought. He was going to find her if that was the last thing he did.

Depressed and despondent over the loss of his wife, Shaundra, Ichiro Yoshida turns to alcohol to console his troubled mind. He neglects his looks, doesn’t want to write another song, and he sure does not want to go on a scheduled tour of Europe that has been arranged by their boss. Shaundra was his life. Why can’t anyone see that he stopped living the moment she disappeared? And why had she walked out on him just hours before leaving for Aomori’s China tour? Was she that unhappy with their marriage? Or had some other man captured her fancy and taken her away? He doesn’t know what the future has in store for him, but he won’t stop trying until he finds out the answers.

Buy from Amazon Kindle,

I Saw You Baby by Shara Azod

Aina was running scared. Everywhere she looked, there was Master Sergeant Daiki Wakahisa, looking so fine it made her weak in the knees. Knowing she couldn’t have him, she chose to run, vacating any area he was at. Little did she know the Master Sergeant was watching, and counting the second when he could make her his.

Buy from Lulu

Hadji Demystified: Michael Benyaer on Hadji and representation in Hollywood

2011-12-28T09:30:00.000-05:00

I am sure Monique and I were not the only ones who enjoyed watching the Jonny Quest cartoons because of Hadji. I remember my excitement as a child seeing a brown skinned character in cartoons that were usually filled with pale skinned white characters. I still get hyper when I see brown skinned characters in cartoon and comics! Monique of moniqueblog.net has done some extensive research into Hadji's character in her "Hadji Demystified" series. She has graciously allowed us to cross post some of her writing on Hadji's here at the Narrative starting with this interview of Michael Benyaer, the voice behind Hadji.

I’ve been writing about Hadji for a while, just giving my viewpoints on how Hadji is important to the entire conversation of race and culture on television, learning about different religions, etc. But now you don’t have to take just my word for it. Take it from Hadji’s own voice.

Michael Benyaer, film and TV actor, got his start in acting straight out of high school, appearing in an episode of 21 Jump Street that was filmed in his native Vancouver, B.C. Soon after, he landed his first voice acting role as Ken in Barbie and the Rockers, which garnered him quite a bit of press. “I guess people thought it was pretty funny that Canadians were voicing Barbie and Ken,” he said. He later landed roles on G.I. Joe and Reboot.

When he was cast as Bob on Reboot, Benyaer was able to add his own experiences to the character. “As the role progressed, they wrote more to what I was doing. I was able to help create the character. It was exciting to be able to help create a character.” Part of how he identified with Bob was through his favorite cartoon character, Spider-Man. “It was nice to be able to play a hero who was fallible; he was like Spider-Man/Peter Parker, someone who was thrust into his job and learning to cope with it.”

When he moved to California, The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest was the job that opened him up to Hollywood. Through landing the role of Hadji for season one of Real Adventures, he was able to relive part of his childhood while befriending and learning from veteran actors. “It was very ironic to think that I watched Hanna-Barbera cartoons as a kid and that later I’d be working where they made those cartoons,” he said. “I got to meet Frank Welker [long-time voice actor who was voicing Jonny’s dog Bandit], George Segal [long-time movie and TV actor, voice of Dr. Quest] and Robert Patrick [movie actor best known for Terminator 2, voice of Race Bannon]; I’d have lunch with them every week, and just pick their brains.”

However, through the casting for Real Adventures, as well as casting for live-action jobs, Benyaer said something that mirrors what a lot of ethnic actors have to contend with. “Hollywood is…Hollywood is very specific,” he said. “Hollywood casts roles based on what you look like.”

Official drawing and expression/attitude sheet of Hadji for season one of Real Adventures

During his tryouts for Hadji, he was aware of Indian stereotypes that were still in play. “There were actors who were using this accent like Apu [from The Simpsons], and I was like, ‘No, that’s offensive!’” Also, said Benyaer, many people in Hollywood do not differentiate between accents that originate from India and the Middle East. “To them it’s all the same,” he said, “and I’m like, ‘No, that’s a Pakistani accent,’ [or] ‘No, that’s an Israeli accent.’”

It was revolutionary, said Benyaer, that Hadji was created for the ‘60s version of Jonny Quest. “He was an early character of color that was not black or Hispanic on TV,” he said. To further push a positive portrayal of brown-skinned character on TV, Benyaer set out to bring a touch of class. “I based [Hadji’s accent] on Gandhi—someone who’s worldly with traces of a British education. I wanted to give [the role] respect. I wanted to give it some sort of class. And Peter Lawrence, the producer, responded to that. I was also allowed to add some understated humor to the character.”

Benyaer said that Hadji is very important in the conversation about race and culture being represented in entertainment. “He is the touchstone of Indian chracters,” Benyaer said. “During the ‘90s, there was no one [of Indian ancestry] on television. There was Apu, but that’s it. In 2010, there’s [Mohinder from Heroes, played by Sendhil Ramamurthy], The Cape, [Adhir Kaylan from Aliens in America and Rules of Engagement], and Harold and Kumar. Slumdog Millionaire was the movie that made everyone think of making Indian characters, and Hadji was the precursor of this.”

It is important that everyone gets represented in entertainment. “I have Asian American or Asian Canadian friends, and I ask them [about what cartoon characters they liked], and they always remember the people that looked like them in the cartoons,” he said. “Indians in Britain are more like how African Americans are here in America; Indians have a lot of representation on television. In Canada, Indians have supporting roles. It’s just in America where that’s not the case.”

As far as how ethnicities should be represented today, Benyaer is hopeful that the representations of ethnicities spans beyond more than just the character’s color or accent. “I think what we should see now are people of color that don’t have the accent of their ethnicity, like a character like Hadji with an American accent.” But, he is also glad that the number of ethnic characters on television have increased. “The quote that I said back in 1996 [about Hadji being one of few minority characters that wasn’t the bad guy]—fourteen years later, I’m glad it’s not true.”

Monique Jones is a freelance entertainment writer. She runs her own entertainment website, Moniqueblog.net, which is dedicated to highlighting how race and culture are viewed in Hollywood. She also is a movies editor and writer for entertainment site, ShockYa.com.

"First Kiss..."

2011-12-24T09:56:00.006-05:00

He leaned in close to her and sensually kissed her lips for the first time. They both closed their eyes and let their other senses guide them. The fragrance she wore was so sweet and intoxicating. It had to be ‘Cherry Blossom’. In combination with the sweet taste of the cherry lip gloss that she had on, his body could not help but react.

“She had impeccable taste,” he thought.

He passionately started kissing her longer and deeper as he could feel her body reacting to his touch. He teased her lips with his lips as each touch added to an ever growing yearning from deep inside her. She started pulling in closer toward him and started to open her mouth ever so slightly. He could feel her succumbing to the moment with him and playfully caressed the tip of her tongue with his. She followed his lead and responded by doing the same. He started to intertwine his tongue with hers and started stroking the side of her tongue, then the top, then the side, then the bottom, in a circular kind of motion...

>>>>> READ MORE @ http://RobertDarrien.Blogspot.com

Blasian Lit Thread #11

2011-12-16T12:00:00.000-05:00

There is a growing number of books with Blasian themes, a lot of the new ones I'm coming across seem rushed, hastily put together and are just not what I'd read but I still feel I should put them up here for the benefit of others. So I will be putting up two kinds of Blasian lit threads; the ones with reasonably pretty covers and/or seem serious, and those that do not have reasonably pretty covers but may be excellent reads.

The Question by Zena Wynn

What would you do for a friend? What sacrifice would you willingly make? This is the issue facing Gail Henderson when her best friend, Crystal Al Jabbar, asks her to be a surrogate for her and her husband Rashid, using Gail's own egg. Complicating the decision is Gail's recent loss of her husband and toddler son in a fatal car accident, two years earlier.

Buy from Amazon US, Book Depository
Read a review

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Vergese

A sweeping, emotionally riveting first novel—an enthralling family saga of Africa and America, doctors and patients, exile and home.

Marion and Shiva Stone are twin brothers born of a secret union between a beautiful Indian nun and a brash British surgeon at a mission hospital in Addis Ababa. Orphaned by their mother’s death in childbirth and their father’s disappearance, bound together by a preternatural connection and a shared fascination with medicine, the twins come of age as Ethiopia hovers on the brink of revolution. Yet it will be love, not politics—their passion for the same woman—that will tear them apart and force Marion, fresh out of medical school, to flee his homeland. He makes his way to America, finding refuge in his work as an intern at an underfunded, overcrowded New York City hospital. When the past catches up to him—nearly destroying him—Marion must entrust his life to the two men he thought he trusted least in the world: the surgeon father who abandoned him and the brother who betrayed him.

An unforgettable journey into one man’s remarkable life, and an epic story about the power, intimacy, and curious beauty of the work of healing others.

Buy from Amazon US, Book depository
Read a review from The Guardian

The Sly Company of People Who Care by Rahul Bhattacharya

In flight from the tame familiarity of home in Bombay, a twenty-six-year-old cricket journalist chucks his job and arrives in Guyana, a forgotten colonial society of raw, mesmerizing beauty. Amid beautiful, decaying wooden houses in Georgetown, on coastal sugarcane plantations, and in the dark rainforest interior scavenged by diamond hunters, he grows absorbed with the fantastic possibilities of this new place where descendants of the enslaved and indentured have made a new world. Ultimately, to fulfill his purpose, he prepares to mount an adventure of his own. His journey takes him beyond Guyanese borders, and his companion will be the feisty, wild-haired Jan.

In this dazzling novel, propelled by a singularly forceful voice, Rahul Bhattacharya captures the heady adventures of travel, the overheated restlessness of youth, and the paradoxes of searching for life’s meaning in the escape from home.
By from Amazon US, Book depository

The Golden Dragon by Jiani Yu

Edward is the son of the most feared and powerful Triad leader in Hong Kong. And Edward wants very little to do with it. All he ever wanted was to have a quiet life without being involved, but that’s not what his father has planned. Edward is sent to Connecticut with Winston, one of his father’s trusted associates to run a high-end Chinese restaurant. At least until his father could either find something more family involved or until Edward came to his senses. That's until Elana, a restaurant regular comes into the picture. From the moment Edward first saw Elana, he was captivated by her and had to have her. Even if it meant going against his family and being disowned forever. Can Edward and Elana’s love be enough to withstand the pressure from Edwards father powerful grip.
Buy from Amazon US, Lulu

The Big Bang Theory: Dr. Rajesh Koothrappali

2011-12-13T20:21:00.004-05:00

I’ve enjoyed watching The Big Bang Theory since the very beginning, although with the distinct lack of melanin on the show, I sometimes wonder why.

When I first started watching the show five seasons ago, I fully expected a Friends-like sea of whiteness—which I got—but was pleasantly surprised to discover that one of the main geeks is a POC. A PhD from India, Raj (Kunal Nayyar) is not only the most self-sufficient one out of the bunch, but the most attractive as well. The showrunners try their damndest to make him as unattractive as possible via mismatched patterns, slightly stooped shoulders and a nondescript non-hairstyle, but it doesn’t really work. He's a good-looking man, and it'll take a lot more than a horrible wardrobe to hide it.

Unfortunately, as much as I look forward to seeing Raj on my screen every week, his characterization leaves a whole hell of a lot to be desired.

Character Pros

1. Not only is Raj a geek (a definite plus in my book), he’s a hot geek.

2. Raj is a brilliant astrophysicist. He can easily hold his own against fellow geek Sheldon Cooper’s super-sized brain and even bigger ego.

3. Raj’s family is extremely wealthy. Or as Sheldon puts it in nerd-speak “halfway between Bruce Wayne and Scrooge McDuck" (which would put the Koothrappali's roughly at number four on The Forbes Fictional 15 list). Using this as a guide, we can surmise that Raj's family is worth approximately $10 billion dollars.

4. Raj’s parents don't play the white worship game. They're very vocal in their desire for him to settle down with a nice Indian girl, sooner rather than later. Raj’s sister Priya (who is dating main geek Leonard Hofstadter), hid her relationship from them for months because she knew that they wouldn't approve.

5. Despite putting up with borderline racist remarks by best friend Howard Wolowitz, Raj has thrown out a number of “white privilege”-oriented zingers himself. (Yes, I know... This is a very loose interpretation of a character pro, but I take them where I can find them).

Character Cons

1. Raj suffers from selective mutism and can’t talk to women outside his family without imbibing. One of the writer’s favorite recurring gags is to make an oblivious, drunk Raj say something highly inappropriate to a woman and then appear surprised when she walks away in an offended huff. Yeah…*gives a major side-eye to the writers*…that bit has gotten old, and they definitely need to let that horse stay dead and buried.

2. Unless my memory is failing me (and it’s not), Raj is the only one out of the group that has yet to have a steady girlfriend/long-term relationship. Fortunately, Raj finally fell in love this season. Unfortunately, it was with a perky blond deaf girl who was just using him for his money.

See how the writers did that? He had to date a deaf girl so he wouldn’t be hampered by that whole can’t-talk-to-women-without-being-drunk thing. 'Cause you know…they couldn’t actually let him begin to grow as a character and try to work his way through his disorder. Or get some play. Or a real love interest. After five seasons. Uh-huh.

3. Raj is in America on a work Visa, and of course we got the “deportation scare” episode during season three. (Yeah…I know...yet another trope. He’s a stranger in a strange land with brown skin and a funny accent. Hilarious.)

4. Out of all of the main characters, Raj is the only one that doesn’t seem to be growing. Sheldon is turning into an actual human being (mostly); Leonard has been quite lucky in love (one might say almost too lucky); Wolowitz is not only engaged, but was chosen to go to the ISS for three weeks; and Penny has gone from waitress to bartender to paid actress over the years.

And what has Raj done besides get demoted, nearly lose his work Visa, and get used by a woman he thought he loved? Well, besides standing in the shadows of his white friends and longing to be more like them, nothing that I can see.

5. Raj puts up with his best friend Wolowitz’ racist remarks way too much for my comfort. Yes, he usually calls him out on it, but so what?

6. Raj has a pretty visceral dislike of his own culture. He doesn’t like Indian food and can't seem to stand his home country. He always has something pretty deragatory to say about India and allows Sheldon to constantly dispute his knowledge of his own people and religion.

Conclusion

At this point, I'm thoroughly convinced that this show doesn't have any writers that aren't white. I'd be honestly suprised if I found out that they did. Because from where I sit all I see is a POC placed in the “second class citizen” role (again), automatically making the white characters the de-facto heroes, the ones that the audience should look up to and want to emulate.

It doesn’t matter that they’re all typical geeks, it doesn’t matter that they all have the collective social adeptness of a fourteen year old, and it doesn’t matter that out of all them, Raj is the one that seems to be the most put together. Leonard grew up in a loveless home, Sheldon grew up in a fundamentalist religious home with an intolerant mother, and Wolowitz still lives with an über-dependent, overprotective mother who treats her grown son like a stand-in husband and perpetual child all rolled into one (which he doesn’t seem to have a problem with, mind you).

But despite his big brain, stable family, wealth and good looks, it’s Raj that can’t get and keep a woman. It’s Raj that has to worry about being deported. And it’s Raj whose characterization has been stagnant and stunted over five long seasons. It's like the writers/showrunners have no idea what the hell to do with him...and it shows. If I was a cynical person, I’d think that they have no particular interest in making his character anything other than a foil for the white characters. Oh…wait…

Kunal Nayyar

Ninja Assassin: Concerning the Infamous "Shower Scene"

2011-12-11T12:43:00.001-05:00

So we don't have to keep tracking it down.

Star Trek: The Romulan Tal Shiar Operative

2011-12-09T13:38:00.001-05:00

Portrayed by underappreciated actress Darwyn Carson, the Romulan Tal Shiar operative was never even given a name, probably because in her episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (go figure), she only gets about 3 minutes of screen time. Why then do we care about this character?

First of all, just like we're in awe of the fact Gabrielle Union played a Klingon, we're in awe of Carson's portrayal of a Romulan. Romulans are no joke. They have the sharp intelligence and strength of Vulcans, and they're dedicated soldiers of an empire, like the Klingons (whom, ironically, they happen to thoroughly despise).

Secondly, Carson doesn't portray just any Romulan, but an operative of the Tal Shiar (*shivers in delight*). The Tal Shiar are like the NSA, CIA, and FBI of the Romulan Star Empire, all rolled into one...plus a whole lot more. This is precisely why whenever the writers on Star Trek needed a really good episode about espionage and political intrigue, they often employed the Romulans as the central characters. When it comes to cunning, mystery, back-stabbing, and overall bad-assery, they could never go wrong with the Romulans.

So you can see why we're upset.

I mean, we had other recurring operatives/ex-operatives on the show: Garak, from Cardassia's Obsidian Order (played by a white guy), whom Carson's character tried to have assassinated (oh, irony). And Sloan, from Earth's Section 31 (also played by a white guy). We had no recurring operatives from the Romulan Tal Shiar, and you're telling me we couldn't have had Carson guest-starring every so often, kicking some ass in the shadows? Seriously?

Carson doesn't even suffer from Ilario Syndrome. Her character suffers from Robau Syndrome, as in "not enough character to even study."

*sighs and shakes head*

My Take on Ninja Assassin...

2011-12-07T21:48:00.001-05:00

I know most people on the Narrative are straight-up Rain groupies and that’s all well and good. He’s a sexy thing; tight in all the right places with abs you could wash clothes on. Ankh recently did a post and changed the blog in honor of the 2^nd anniversary of Ninja Assassin and gave mad props to Raizo, portrayed by Rain. Raizo’s a hottie, but I’m a stone-cold Takeshi fan. Takeshi, played by the sexy, drop-dead gorgeous, extra-fine Rick Yune, makes my toes curl. He’s given woefully little screen time, but best believe my copy of NA tends to stick in places where he gets it. And speaking of getting it, he can get it!! This is my love letter to my baby’s daddy.

Lawd...!

Rawr!

Yeah...

Bring it on...

I hereby reject the reality in which Takeshi dies, and have thus created my own in which he lives forever. He shall continue to exist under the persona of Ryo, one of the protagonists in Adrenalin, the novel.

Accent & Attraction (Updated)

2011-11-30T17:43:00.001-05:00

You want this. Admit it.

As I am a moderator for the Blasian Narrative, it should come as no shock that when I hear Asian men (born and raised in their countries of origin) speak English...I find their incredibly sexy.

First let me explain why I'm bringing this up. November ends today, and with it, the Narrative's celebration of Ninja Assassin's 2nd Anniversary. Now, back when I first got hooked on the movie, I naturally read every blog post and news blurb I could find. And boy...did I find.

"For those who were hoping to see Rain delivering his lines in improved English, sorry to disappoint you, but the character Raizo is a murdering machine who, by nature, rarely exposes his emotions."

~ Wee Geun-woo, "[REVIEW] Ninja Assassin"

"At least his English has a believable Japanese accent, unlike the lazy casting of “Memoirs of a Geisha,” in which the Chinese leads spoke English with obvious Chinese accents."

~ Nikkei View, "Ninja Assassin updates the ninja image for the 21st century"

See, here's the thing: I wasn't disappointed by Rain's English at all. Nothing about it needed to be "improved". His sentences were complete. His grammar was correct. And the fact that Rain actually paused to consider how a Japanese character would sound speaking English is the mark of a highly attentive actor, not to mention skilled since Rain himself is still learning English.

So why does the first quote bug me? Ninja Assassin takes place in Berlin, Germany. We hear LOTS of different accents. We hear plenty of German accents. We also hear Russian accents (the tragic Sabatins). British actor Ben Miles speaks his regular British accent. Naomie Harris, also a Brit, does an American accent (I don't know why she bothered, though). Rick Yune's American and speaks like an American. Sho Kosugi speaks in a Japanese accent (Rain probably spent a lot of time listening to him). Anna Sawai does...some kind of accent. Lee Joon's accent leans more towards Korean. And Rain makes a concerted effort to sound Japanese.

My point? No one bats an eyelash when the Western(ized) characters speak English, even if it's not their first language and they can't speak it perfectly (the Germans and Russians). But when the Asian guy speaks in complete, grammatically correct sentences, for some reason improvement is automatically expected.

And by improvement, "sounding Western" is implied.

Um...why? The accent Rain does is sexy, so very sexy. We should also note how he slightly changed his voice, fully immersing himself the dark persona of his role (Brandon Lee did the same thing in The Crow). Just because some folks don't notice these things, it doesn't mean they aren't there and/or don't matter.

Nikkei View goes on to add, "The excuse given by the producers of “Geisha” was that they just couldn’t find Japanese (or Japanese American) actresses with the box office draw. But they obviously didn’t try to coach their stars to speaking English with Japanese inflections. either. The message I got from the filmmakers was, “All Asians are alike and it doesn’t matter who we cast in what roles and how they sound.”"

My point exactly. As an African, I can totally relate, because whenever an American is cast as an African, they always do this generic, Nigerianish-sounding accent which makes me rub my temples. It doesn't matter if they're playing a Senegalese, Rwandan, or South African, the accents all sound the same. *clenches teeth* We don't all sound the same.

But when we "sound", we sound wonderful, and we don't need improving at all.

We need to get the point where Eastern accents aren't so easily dismissed. They're distinct, diverse, and utterly sexy. They're to be admired and enjoyed, rather than discouraged.

Recommended

I Need to Clear the Air on Ninja Assassin
The Addictionary

Help Redesign the Narrative

2011-11-24T11:06:00.001-05:00

Hey, Narrators! In honor of the Second Anniversary of Ninja Assassin (2009), the Narrative is due for another look, but this time, we want some class participation.

Remember...the Narrative was started as an educational forum. Blasians getting together is great and all, but in order to get along and stay together, they have to LEARN about one another. So on this thread, post links to classy, professional-looking backgrounds. STAY AWAY from Afro-Asiatic designs (for now, anyways).

Can't wait to see what you come up with!!!!

...and Thus His People Were Feared

2011-11-21T16:16:00.000-05:00

I can't thank Asian Hip Hop Times enough for shining light onto this gem. Yes, I know; I've already posted this on our Facebook, but I really can't stop watching this video.

Street Man Crew has their shit together. This is a first-rate video with first-rate music; it gives the viewer those chills which good hip hop is supposed to. Rapper NZ is twenty shades of gifted and proud - there's no shying away from who he is whatsoever. When you seem him sitting - just sitting - in traditional Mongolian garb, you understand right away why the word "Mongol" struck fear into the very hearts of their enemies.

I also like how the video evokes nature more than anything else; while we do get a glimpse of "civilization", the hills, the water, and the vast green space get more screen time. This is an element we're missing in most hip hop videos; hip hop often portrays mindless excess in video after video after video, until they all blur together.

I'm having trouble tracking down info about this marvelous rapper, whom I seriously can't stop watching, but the YouTube Channel which uploaded this video thankfully has a lot of Mongolian hip hop available. I have high hopes for Street Man Crew (NZ in particular) and I really want to see them dominate the living hell out of this genre.

Star Trek: Captain Richard Robau

2011-11-16T21:20:00.003-05:00

I'm not going to do the usual character study where Captain Richard Robau of Star Trek (2009) is concerned. There's not enough "character" to study.

Don't get me wrong; the praise that stunning actor Faran Tahir earned for his striking portrayal of Robau is perfectly deserved. *fans self* However, I feel some of the critical acclaim is an attempt to compensate for his brief presence (and boy does he have presence) in the film.

If you are watching the film, you don't learn much about him before he dies, and he dies at the very beginning of the film. There are no flashbacks for us to learn a little more of this awesome, ideal Captain who gets murdered in cold blood while trying to negotiate for the safety of his crew. His death is treated as less important than George Kirk's death, and later in the film, he's not mentioned at all. George Kirk is, however...how about that? How quickly people forget that it was this Captain's sacrifice which bought his second-in-command enough time to regroup and plan his own sacrifice to save what was left of the crew. And yeah...the newborn James Kirk.

A fandom of sorts developed around Robau because his magnificent first impression just couldn't be denied, but it appears Ilario Syndrome has gotten a hell of a lot more aggressive since the good ole days of Deep Space Nine. They can scribble all the prequels and comics they want to, and give him a slightly bigger role to play in those, but the fact remains that most of the Trek fans preferred the movie, and fans of Robau will always have to see him get offed a good five minutes in.

LOVE this man's face!

LOVE this man's shoulders!

RIP Robau

First, Let's Lose the Gay Jokes

2011-11-12T17:07:00.005-05:00

I get it...a lot of people think male Asian popstars are gay (they never seem to think this about the women, though). Leehom Wang, for example, appears as hetero as they come, and yet he's drowning in gay rumors.

Here's what bugs me firstly: "gay" is not an insult. To use homosexuality as a negative description "just 'cause" is to utter a slur. It's right up there with using someone's race or ethnicity or physical disability as an insult. To hell with the usual "offensive"/
"insensitive" routine - it's just plain wrong.

Now here's what bugs me secondly: I expect non-Asian men to talk smack about male Asian popstars because making fun of Asian men seems to be a like bonding exercise for some non-Asian men. It just comes naturally to them; it's their "thing". But I have to stop and wonder at Asian American men (comedians, for example) who slap the gay label onto male popstars coming out of Asia.

Shit...I thought they'd be grateful for these guys. I certainly didn't expect them to view these men through a white male lens and participate in the Asian man-bashing, thereby making it seem "okay" for non-Asian men to do it.

Let's be blunt about a few things:

1) The Blasian Narrative got started and then took off because a bunch of Black women on three different continents all saw ~~His Unbearable Sexiness~~ a Korean popstar flawlessly portray a sexy assassin...opposite a Black woman. Now look at this Narrative.
2) There's been a growing interest in Asian men, especially amongst women of color. There are two reasons for this: Asian pop, and Sino-African relations. Asian pop, however, is the much bigger of those two reasons, and I maintain that Asian men in the West need to be more grateful. Apparently, all they have to do now is a work little bit on their abs and get a slanted bowl cut or some spiked hair to get the girls to come a-runnin'. Time was an Asian dude in the West had to be extra tall, filthy rich, cut, and famous to get any attention.
3) These popstars whom men are laughing at have some next-level amounts of pussy being slung at them on a daily basis. Gay or straight, it is highly unlikely that any of them are still virgins. They're gettin' theirs, children; let's be real.
4) Which brings me to this: many of these popstars have the ability to send hordes of women - across countries and age groups - into a screaming hormonal frenzy. They know what we want. They know how to excite our fantasies. They're gettin' the job done, and all the menfolk who are pointing and laughing could stand to take a few notes.

Now let's be practical about a few things:

1) It isn't about the music. Most of us watch Asian pop videos on mute. Turns out, we're damn near expected to. Wang Leehom, for example, has bluntly stated that he hates singing "fluffy" pop. Andy Lau has admitted his own music also sounds "sappy". Lord only knows how many times Rain has been told to tone down the sexuality in his lyrics. These artists don't have the same luxury Western ones do; they're dealing with strict censorship laws which tend to throw a wrench in their careers. Thus, the tender, hopeless romantic is not the image these singers actually aim for; it's a complicated situation they often find themselves stuck with.
2) Which brings me to this: the Asian pop industry is far from perfect, because it hasn't figured out a way to make money without ruining the popstars' lives. So before folks go dissing the players, they should at least try to fully understand the game.
3) Last but not least: when Rain entered the military, thereby putting his music and acting career on hiatus, the South Korean government actually feared for the country's economy. *nods* Recognize that power and influence, kids.

You can trash the music, and critique the clothes and dance moves, but these guys practice and sweat for several hours a day, sometimes even up to 14 hours a day, if not more. There's nothing sissified about them - they have stamina, strong, healthy bodies, and the potential to make serious dough, if they're not making it already. and let's not forget, Rain could easily shatter every bone in Justin Timberlake's body. Lee Joon could drop-kick Chris Brown's woman-beating ass. When onstage and in their element, the dudes of ZE:A look like they've each won a few rounds on the street - need I go on?

Calling them gay and doing funky parodies of their hairstyles or performances doesn't negate the fact that they can point out into a crowd of 10,000 women, and basically take whomever they damn well please back to their hotel room - let's be real.

I praise a lot of musicians, actors, and comedians from the West, but given the chance, I wouldn't actually sleep with any of them. However...if Leehom Wang told me to strip nekkid and give him some, my clothes would be on the floor before he even finished the damn request...you hearin' me?

In the spirit of the Old Haunt, peep what I'm talking about.

Does anyone else even notice Usher?

Friggin' Thunder has started breaking out the abs,

Narrators. It's gettin' real.

No commentary necessary.

Wish this was better quality.

China in Africa by Edward Bishop

2011-11-11T12:00:00.001-05:00

Find below a video on 'China in Africa' with ACTUAL opinions of Africans and no mention of 'what does this mean for the West' in sight, finally.

China in Africa from Edward Bishop on Vimeo

This new video is six minutes of Ghanaian-Chinese engagement and includes some input from the awesome Deborah Brautigam.

KT...shakes head

2011-11-08T19:07:00.001-05:00

"Romeo Must Wed", a cartoon cookie

2011-11-07T18:04:00.001-05:00

I seriously doubt this one needs an intro. Way back when the Narrative was young, we watched this ep for many a moon on our Facebook page.

The Narrative Gives a Nod to Gene Cajayon's "The Debut" (2000)

2011-11-07T17:34:00.003-05:00

Starring the legendary Dante Basco; available to view online for all ~~you heathens~~ those who don't currently own the DVD. Which you can get for seriously cheap right now.

For those of you who don't know the "lore" behind this film, making it was a struggle and half. Director Gene Cajayon was appalled at the lack of support when he tried to get funding. Potential backers were repulsed at the idea of showing a working class Asian family, rather than an upper class (read: model minority) Asian family. Cajayon basically told naysayers to go to hell because he wanted to basically show the reality of the "99%" ...so to speak.

I strongly recommend buying the DVD and listening to the commentary; Cajayon makes several powerful remarks about colorism; he refused to cast a light-skinned Filipina lead, citing the "the darker the berry, the sweeter the juice."

Cajayon also reports on the DVD that during live screenings, when the audience reached the scene showing white racism (and refusal to do anything in the face of it), white members of the audience got up and walked out.

Leehom Wang, You Have My Attention

2011-11-06T20:22:00.007-05:00

I'm actually disappointed it took me this long to learn about Leehom Wang. An American-born and raised Chinese actor, producer, singer, and musician, Leehom is currently based in Taiwan. Formally trained in music, he's known for blending traditional Chinese instrumentation and vocalization with elements of hip hop and R&B.

I first fell in love with him when I saw him in Little Big Soldier, opposite Jackie Chan (in his most bearable role in ages). If you have Netflix, it's available for streaming and it's highly recommended. His performance blew me away. Seriously, Narrators, his work in that film was outstanding. When he growls at a deserter, "How can you say our whole army was wiped out when I'm right in front of you?" (paraphase), it was instant love for me.

I swear, if he ever does a Blasian film, my head will explode. I wouldn't even make it through the credits.

He's also in the infamous Ang Lee film, Lust, Caution, where ten minutes' worth of sex scenes reportedly took over 100 hours to film. Leehom, unfortunately, is not in any of the sex scenes. I don't think he even appears shirtless or kisses anyone, which totally shattered me because Leehom + an NC-17 rating was my whole reason for watching the damn film.

Anyways, this man's got me excited. His music's not really my cup of tea, but his acting definitely is, and I cannot wait to see what he does next.

Okay, this one's better. And it features Rain.

From Little Big Soldier

Like I said...

From Lust, Caution

"Unbowed" ~ Poignant Moments

2011-11-06T19:31:00.002-05:00

Purchase the movie

"Unbowed" ~ Tender Moments

2011-11-05T10:47:00.004-04:00

Up next, poignant moments.

"Corruption" ~ a Book Review

2011-11-02T19:37:00.000-04:00

Normally, I'd post this on the Middle Child Press blog - and I still might - but boy does it belong here. And you folks might think it weird that I just now finished my colleague's book, but you have to understand that at MCP, a book usually stays between an author and her editor until it's finally finished.

Things Which Stuck Out to Me

1) There's sex. There's a lot of a sex. We're talking graphic, intense, passionate Blasian sex which would make even Jay Tavare and Tembi Locke blush. And there's tons of it, and it goes on for pages. There is just so.much.sex.

2) Kiyoshi "Jordan" Yoshito is not stereotypical in the slightest. He's a wonderfully written man who often comes off much wiser than his 22 years, and hell a of lot more, ahem, experienced than the average man his age. I also liked his back-story, his personality, his humor, and how he interacts with his very traditional family. I like how he understands and asserts himself.

3) Radjani did her research. Her handling of the Yoshito family is quite commendable; writing about a family from another culture - especially a traditional, Old World culture - often is a disaster waiting to happen for most American writers. Radjani doesn't overdo it. She gets to the point and doesn't try to feign expertise.

4) The leading lady and her life is real. I've never understood why 40 to 50-year-old romance/erotica writers use protagonists half their age. MCP aims to reach women aged 25 and up (approximately) so it makes more sense to write about women in their late 20s and up, and the things they deal with. Radjani's Mahogany Carroll felt so very realistic to me; it was uncanny.

If you've ever been to Amaya Radjani's blog, then the issues she discusses in Corruption will come as no surprise. Which brings me to another issue; Corruption has a heavy dose of some serious reality; there is no pleasure without pain and Radjani doesn't allow us to forget this. All good things come at a price.

5) Don't read this at work. I did. I looked up, and hour and half had gone by...and I had no clue what was going on in the world.

Final Verdict

All in all, this was an excellent, moving effort which deftly blends escapism with realism. The music in its book trailer now seems even more haunting than ever.

Star Trek: Lt. Hikaru Sulu II

2011-10-31T17:54:00.005-04:00

As portrayed by John Cho

By now, my love and respect for actor John Cho should be fairly well-known. In fact, he was my main reason for seeing Star Trek (2009). Aside for Zachary Quinto, I felt the rest of the cast left much to be desired, as they were supposed to be taking over iconic roles.

And I did enjoy Cho's performance; however, once the movie began, certain...problems began to surface.

But we'll get to those in a moment.

Pros

1) Unlike James Kirk, Sulu doesn't start out in the film as a cadet. He's already a pilot, and in the film he's chosen to helm the flagship when its pilot calls in sick (yes, in the 24th Century, people still call in sick, most likely faking. How awesome is that?).

2) Sulu introduces himself with his full name, so we're not left wondering whether or not it's still Hikaru or what.

3) We learn that Sulu likes fencing, a nod at his predecessor's passion. However, this Sulu and that Sulu have vastly different ideas on what "fencing" actually entails.

4) Sulu is hot. Sulu is smoking. Choosing a former model with a dangerous set of lips, a beautiful voice, and devious smile was an excellent decision. There's nothing awkward or clunky or annoying about him.

5) In addition to being the bad-ass pilot who gets to come in shooting, Sulu gets an awesome fight scene in which he gets to own some Romulans while Kirk is basically getting smacked around.

Cons

1) Why did Sulu have to share his fight scene with, well...anyone? And why did it have to conveniently end with Kirk sorta kinda saving Sulu? Wasn't Sulu's ability to whoop ass the whole point of the scene? Speaking of....

2) Sulu's screen time is painfully and patently limited. Let's not get it twisted; John Cho was my main reason for going to see Star Trek. Considering who was cast as Kirk and Uhura, I was initially going to wait for this film on DVD. But then I learned that the great John Cho - and he is great, kids - was playing Hikaru Sulu, and I just had to go.

3) Limited screen time means limited knowledge and limited opportunities. We don't get to learn much about Sulu in this film, and we don't get to see him do much. We don't get see him pick up girls in this film, or fight in a bar, or anything really. How can you cast John-friggin'-Cho in your movie and not tell your audience all about him?

Final Verdict

I'm sorry...I didn't realize we were still in the 1960s. I mean, I keep hearing how "things have changed" and how "those days are over" and that POC shouldn't be so critical of Hollywood. Normally, I'd say "nice try" on a character study like this, but really, there was no "trying" at all. It's almost like the writers would've preferred to not really have to bother with Sulu, as though he were just some extra character with whom they had to figure out what to do, and hastily so we could hurry back to The James T. Kirk Show.

*sigh* Fail.

What does it really mean to date/marry a Japanese man?

2011-10-27T23:10:00.015-04:00

What does it really mean to date/marry a Japanese man? In truth, I don't know. From my perspective, being with a Japanese man in terms of dating is just like being with any other kind of man. Men are men. Boys are boys and I don't do boys. A man-child hardly qualifies as a man and I feel sorry for those of you who have had run-ins with these creeps, regardless of their ethnicity.

Dating is one thing. Marriage is another.

Since Japanese people are currently the targets in another post, let's focus on them. I dated three Japanese men before I married a fourth (one I didn't date). Thank goodness all three of the boyfriends were adults. They decided for themselves that they wanted to be with me and they pursued me in the normal the way men do. This means, they asked for dates. We went out. We hung out in public. I met their friends and they met mine. Nobody was hiding anybody.

For various reasons, the earlier relationships didn't work and we all moved on. At no point did I harbor any resentment towards Japanese people as a whole. In fact, I'm fairly certain I didn't give a single thought to Japan while I was getting my groove on. In hindsight, this is probably WHY the those relationships didn't work and this made me a pathetic candidate for a wife.

Thankfully, I did manage to snag myself yet another grown MAN and he's helped me navigate what would have been very difficult waters. Among the first lessons that I learned is that the Japanese are indeed people. They are not the BORG and they do not have a hive mind. This nation of 127 million and plunging is comprised of individual people who are all capable of thinking, learning and growing. Some are significantly braver than others and will take many risks in this rigid and ranked based society. Others are less so and will definitely run from danger, so the concept of group-think on a national level is bogus. We've already had extensive discussions about uchi and soto, which actually exists in all societies to some extent.

For this reason, if you're a Black woman contemplating dating a Japanese man, than I advise you to think of him as a MAN first. If he exhibits behavior you wouldn't accept from any other guy, then kick his ass to the curve. If he suddenly dumps you by using some lame ass excuse relating to culture or heritage, then it's clear that he's holding something back. It could be that he's just not that into you and he thinks using this bullshit is the easiest and most convenient way out. See, he's a man, not specifically a Japanese man.

It could be that he actually wants to avoid talking about the real reason he thinks the relationship isn't working. Again, this is male behavior, not Japanese male behavior. In either case, you are better off without him. If he makes disparaging remarks about you as BLACK women specifically in terms of race, then make him regret he ever laid eyes on you. When I was dating, I tried to steer clear of the kitchen because a butcher's knife is always my friend.

What you shouldn't do is allow this experience to cloud your judgment the next time you encounter a Japanese man. That's my opinion.

Objectively, there's a different side of this story. When you're in a mixed-race relationship, you need to be MORE mindful of each other's experiences. As nature would have it, this burden is usually, but not always, laid at the feet of the woman. It is she who'll be required to leave HER world to survive in HIS. Since most men really aren't paying attention to social obligations beyond those specifically designed for men, he will probably be clueless about the life of women in his society and when they start whispering (they always do) about how you aren't measuring up; some do run scared.

When people first date, hormones and chemicals control everything. At that stage, love does make you blind and deaf to your partner's flaws. Then you wake up one day and things suddenly look and feel different. This is the scariest part of any relationship and it's more threatening when the two of you come from two different backgrounds. Eventually, YOUR ethnicity and HIS will come into play. There's no way around it. We are the sum of our experiences, our lives. These things, language included, affect our thought patterns. In many instances, our way of thinking will NOT be compatible with the man's society and when he starts thinking seriously about you, it would be logical if he started contemplating about how well you'll fit.

I'm Black. I'm Native American. I'm Southern. My personality is completely unsuitable for Japanese society and my man knew this BEFORE he proposed. He knew it would be hard because I'm a STRONG BLACK WOMAN. If I feel I'm right, I will fight your ass to the death. In real life, I won't take shit from anyone. I think you can see where this could cause problems for him. BTW, I'm fairly sure the people at Chicago O'Hare have placed me on a terrorist watch list.

The Japanese, on other hand, depending upon their rank /class are forced to take shit on a regular basis. They eat it, they sleep it, they breathe it. It suffocates them and in some cases, they literally die. The sheer stress on the average Japanese is incomprehensible. This is why more and more are dropping out of society and becoming anti-social. They might not have a hive mind, but the rules must be followed or there will be consequences.

Knowing this relationship could cause him heartache and pain, why did this man decide to marry me? The answer is simple. He's a man and any man who LOVES a woman will do anything to keep that woman in his life. He'll weather any storm. He'll risk losing everything for HER. When a man is willing to go through these lengths, other people can't help but respect him and his decision.

For this reason, I've made strides in controlling aspects of my personality because I LOVE HIM. Even after 16 years, I'd say I've had more failures than successes, but he knows I'm trying. Furthermore, he knows I won't allow myself to be assimilated or overwritten by anyone. He knows my identify and self-esteem are closed tied to my ability to be free in my mind and in my spirit.

Moving along...

In Japanese society, is it more acceptable for Japanese men to marry white women than Black women? It isn't this society's decision, it's the man's. Most Japanese men will always choose a Japanese woman first. It's NATURAL. Some guys go for white women. That's their choice. Other guys marry the Blackest women they can find.

Those JICA men are probably setting a record for not only marrying Black women from southern African countries, but also for breeding an extraordinary number of children. Recently, I watched one of those shows about Japanese men marrying Black African women. It was a recording, so I don't know how old it was. Anyway, from what I understand, the neighbors weren't pissed that the man had married Black African woman, they were pissed because the couple didn't practice birth control. For the longest time, Japanese women were forbidden to take the Pill; thus, the use of condoms is ALSO a man's choice.

The neighbors saw the parents as irresponsible because their breeding practices had a negative affect on their eldest daughter. How can an extremely intelligent Blasian young woman possibly go to college and have a chance at a good life when she is duty-bound to stay home and help her mother raise eight (not ten as I previously wrote) other children? Naturally, there's no money to send her to college either.

The neighbors, village people in some part of Japan I'd never heard of, were raising money in hopes of convincing the mother to allow the girl to leave home and attend a local university. Given that the mother is deeply rooted in HER beliefs about her daughter's duty, I don't think this is going to happen. In addition, went along with everything the mother said. Basically, this makes for an interesting culture lesson.

The mother regards the daughter as Zambian and that culture dominates. The neighbors, who have known all the children since birth, regard them as Japanese and in that village, the locals clearly believe in the concept, it takes a village. It was surprising to see them fight over that young woman in such a passionate way. Everyone genuinely wanted what was best for her. In a way, it was heartwarming to see. I know that many people think outsiders have no say in a child's life and that's a matter of perspective. In this village, clearly that isn't the case. Sorry. This story isn't anywhere on the internet. I searched but couldn't find anything.

In the end, I don't see any evidence that Japanese men are shoving their Black wives and girlfriends in the closet. Perhaps the men who travel abroad or those who were raised elsewhere are far more conservative than the locals. If a Japanese man you're dating turns out to be like this, maybe the two of you need to part ways.

BTW, interesting enough, from what I can tell at a glance, a majority of Black women who have been in Japan long-term are actually MARRIED to someone.

Black Women/WoC in Japanese Anime and Manga V

2011-10-25T22:06:00.004-04:00

Coffee

I'm still pretty heavily into this genre though the love affair has cooled even more than the last post. As with what's been coming out of Hollywood lately, I'm having a hard time suspending my disbelief when it comes to the heroines that I'm supposed to be siding with. Much like Sookie Stackhouse (True Blood), Rachel Berry (Glee), or any of the women on Friends (just to name a few), anime/manga has taken the "helpless/annoying (white) woman that must be protected/loved at all costs by the men around her even though she's done nothing to deserve it" to gag-worthy proportions.

Some of these females are Mary Sue's on steroids, but for some unknown reason, the men want them and the women want to be them. They're adulated and celebrated, and I'm left scratching my head at the end of the episode or volume wondering what I'd missed. Sorry, but in my estimation, being nice or good-hearted just isn't enough. A normal person is usually a multi-faceted being with flaws and strengths that form an imperfect whole that is way more believable--not to mention more interesting--than some of these one-dimensional, one-note characters that we're supposed to want to emulate.

Um...no.

More often than not, the women (or sometimes girls as a lot of these manga and anime are set in high school) are impossibly naive, ditzy, über-virginal, dim-witted or so syrupy-sweet that it borders on caricature. They can't cook, are sloppy, are bad students, have horrible personalities, and have no other redeeming qualities to speak of. Yet the men in their lives (and usually several at that) are all willing to get kicked out of school, fight, die, or go off on some life-changing quest to prove their worth to someone who doesn't seem to be worthy of the effort.

Of course, the fact that these females are usually busty, fair-skinned, long-legged, a blond or a redhead, and attractive probably have something to do with it, so there's that. I guess.

I'll probably keep watching and reading...at least for now. I love the art work and some of the storylines are the stuff of legend, but this particular trope is getting harder and harder to stomach. And although I'm gratified to see more and more black women/WoC pop up in these things, we're still relegated to supporting roles, hardly any screen and/or page time and having no love interests. Or in other words, we're there to help out Miss Ann when needed, go back to our proverbial rooms when not needed and be the "strong" ones ( read: alone).

I still have half a mind to write a fic pairing a black woman with some precious male character that would make the fangirl's collective heads explode. Zero Kiryu, Sōsuke Aizen and Tōshirō Hitsugaya all immediately come to to mind.

Hmmm...

* * * * *

Character: Franceska Mila Rose

History: Prior to becoming a Números, Mila Rose was a lion-like Hollow. Mila Rose, along with Cyan Sung-Sun, was part of Tier Harribel's group before Aizen recruited her. When Harribel saves Emilou Apacci, she introduces her to Sung-Sun and Mila Rose and asks her to join them. Later, she chased down a Hollow with Apacci and Sung-Sun, which ended in an argument. (more: Bleach Wiki)

Character: Michiko Malandro
Anime: Michiko e Hatchin

History: An independent woman who has just recently escaped one of the most heavily guarded prisons in existence for at least the fourth time. Michiko rescues Hana from her abusive foster parents and claims to know her father, who, according to her, was a good man and "made her fall in love with him right away." Both her and Hana embark on a journey to find him while on the run from the law, as well. They become a bickering pair, but soon come to realize how much they truly need each other. (source: Wikipedia)

Character: Hana "Hatchin" Morenos

Anime: Michiko e Hatchin

History: A young girl who previously lived with abusive foster parents. She was the victim of abuse both by the adults and their two other children, living in a "Cinderella-like" situation until Michiko came to her rescue. She is hesitant to trust the woman, but they share the same tattoo on their stomachs. (source: Wikipedia)

Character: Atsuko Jackson
Anime: Machiko e Hatchin

History: She lived in the same orphanage as Michiko, and seems to have a score to settle with her. She is now a cop and was the responsible for Michiko's arrest 12 years before the main plot. Michiko likes to call her "Jambo" (a Portuguese word for both some syzygium fruit and to refer to a dark or brown-skinned person), in order to get her angry. She seems to have mixed feelings for Michiko and is sometimes seen helping her out of a bad situation. (source: Wikipedia)

Character: Dorothea Ernst
Anime/Manga: Code Geass

History: Dorothea Ernst (ドロテア・エルンスト, Dorotea Erunsuto) is a member of the Knights of the Round and is the Knight of Four. She is a dark-skinned, dark-haired woman who is described as being as heroic as Bismarck. She joins Bismark and the other Rounds members against Lelouch but is the first killed by Suzaku in the Lancelot Albion. She is never shown with a custom Knightmare, being killed while piloting a unshown Knightmare. (source: Code Geass Wiki)

Character: Villetta Nu
Anime/Manga: Code Geass

History: Villetta Nu, 26 years old (27 at R2), is a dark skinned elite Knightmare Frame pilot and subordinate of Jeremiah Gottwald, though she is more collected than Jeremiah in battle. She is not of noble blood, but supports Jeremiah and the Purist Faction in the hopes that it would earn her a real title of nobility. As a Knightmare Frame pilot, she holds the rank of Knight, but this title of nobility only lasts for a single generation. Jeremiah had hoped to bestow her the title of Baroness so that her descendants would retain her noble rank. (source: Code Geass Wiki)

* * * * *

A special thanks to all those who made suggestions!

Black Women/WoC in Japanese Anime and Manga II

Black Women/WoC in Japanese Anime and Manga III

Black Women/WoC in Japanese Anime and Manga IV

'Katanga's Forgotten People'

2011-10-24T10:00:00.005-04:00

When I write serious essays for work, I like to seek, find and follow mind-numbing entertainment. I find it helps me concentrate and reduces my stress levels. This week while researching and writing on economic and political relations shared by Malaysia and the countries of Southern Africa through the Langkawi International Dialogue, I found myself checking out gossip blogs, somethings that I usually wouldn't bother with on a normal day. Anyway, in this manner I came across this video (description below the cut)

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The video shows a short segment on 'Katanga's Forgotten People' by France 24

"Like many mixed-race children in [Democratic Republic of Congo], they were born of a Japanese father who came to work in the mines of Katanga in south-east of the country. Today, they accuse their fathers of wanting to kill them so as not to leave behind any traces when they returned to Japan. FRANCE 24 met these men and women seeking the recognition that has always been denied them."

It turns out most of these children were killed as babies by Japanese doctors (actually a nurse and a doctor) because the men did not want to return home with their Blasian babies as apparently it is against the Japanese constitution to have biracial children.

Katanga is a province located in the Democratic Republic of Congo and is very rich in minerals such as copper and cobalt. In the 1970s, several Japanese men (possibly more than a thousand) lived in this region working at the mines. As a man interviewed in the segment says 'these men were men like us and found beautiful partners among the local women' or something similar. So and so happens, the women get pregnant and when they give birth their babies with Japanese men end up dead. The women, and others, believe that Japanese doctors, with the consent of the miners, were responsible for killing these half-Japanese babies because they did not want return to Japan with them. They did not want to leave them alive with their mothers either.

The Blasian children who were interviewed do not have any birth certificates. This is because they were not given birth to in the hospitals but in the 'bush' because their grandparents feared they'd end up dead as well. These surviving children, now grown up have formed a organisation and are seeking closure. Apparently there are 50 children who survived but there are no details on the number of children that died.

Some may be sceptical but I'm inclined to believe the women, horrible things happen daily in this world. A lot of the reactions to the video I read were along the lies of how we African women enjoy spreading our legs for any foreigner and how this is proof we should have any sort of relations with foreign men, especially Asians. Interestingly, I am now beginning to notice a pattern here when Western media reports on any kind of Blasian relationship on the African continent. I recall that article on Tanzanian women bleaching their skins to get Chinese 'husbands' (who would never marry them either way). The general message seems to be that African women are desperate for any man that is not African or does not have brown skin. Or that African women (and really all Africans by extension) are foolish for pursuing any sort of relations with Asian men (or Asian governments or companies) because they will never respect or treat us right.

I didn't get why the segment thought to link this with recent Chinese interest in Katanga at first. But now that I have a theory with regards to the pattern I mentioned above, I will be keeping an eye out for similar news from Western media sources. I am guessing the new influx of Chinese miners was mentioned with regards to the Japanese miners of the '70s as some kind of warning for any woman in Katanga who may be interested in pursuing any sort of relations with the newly settled Chinese miners. Maybe they are saying 'remember those Japanese miners who killed their own children'.

*Sigh*. I don't know much about the Japanese constitution but I really cannot believe that it forbids mixed race children. Discuss?

Black Bride, East Indian Wedding

2011-10-20T17:35:00.000-04:00

I don't normally post vids like these on the blog; that's what Facebook is for but unfortunately, Facebook is being a total douche today.

Anyway, these are some beautiful wedding pictures with some beautiful music and, not to mention, a combination we don't see nearly enough. To be honest, I was doubly surprised that a very light-skinned Indian man was marrying not only a Black woman, but one who was much darker than he.

If you have to ask why it's a shocker, then you've probably been living under a rock.

Anyhoo, without further ado:

It's Ready!

2011-10-16T15:08:00.002-04:00

For those of you who are fans of and followers of my blog and my work, I am happy to report that my first novel, Corruption, is ready for purchase. Corruption is the story of Mahogany Carroll, an unrepentant cougar, and Jordan Yoshito, her precocious cub. Jordan struggles with finding his way in the world, and Mahogany struggles with needing more than just great sex. Mahogany likes her men young and Jordan prefers his women experienced, and so they enter into a relationship that was intended to be no more than temporary. But people have a way of leaving their mark on one another long after encounters have ceased, and this holds true for Jordan and Mahogany.

I recently did an interview with Ankhesen Mié about Corruption, which represents my first foray into Blasian fiction. There are teasers and other relevant information about the book located on my blog. You can purchase the book directly from the MCP eBookstore. I hope you enjoy the book and I thank you for your support.

Mortal Kombat Reboot: Obviously, We Have to Talk about This

2011-10-15T00:54:00.007-04:00

*rubs temples*

Okay, so His Utter Geniusness Kevin Tancharoen has been given the green light to reboot the Mortal Kombat franchise. Now, before people credit the insane popularity of Mortal Kombat 9, we have to remember Tancharoen's brilliant and popular series Mortal Kombat: Legacy, in which he deftly toyed with various genres and languages.

Like I said, genius.

While I'm as ecstatic as any other MK nerd, I have some serious ~~demands~~ concerns.

1 - POC need to be the focus of this film

Johnny Cage, Sonya Blade, Kano, Stryker, and all their fellow douches need to either have cameos, or be left out altogether. Scorpion and Sub-Zero have always been the stars of this franchise, and both are Asian men. Go figure.

2 - We need a Shang Tsung we can believe in

Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa left some biiiiiiiig shoes to fill back in 1995, and none of the Tsungs which followed came even close to filling them. Tagawa-sama had the ability to turn on and terrify his audience at the same time. None of those who followed him were able to do either. They were either boring or cuddly. *shakes head* There is nothing boring or cuddly about Shang Tsung.

In fact, since he often appears as an old man, I think we need to bring Tagawa-sama back.

3 - We need Asian men to play Asian gods

I don't give a fuck who's a fan favorite/cult idol/WTF have you - I don't want to see anymore white dudes playing Raiden or Shao Kahn, and if Fujin's in the new film, he needs an Asian actor portraying him as well. I can see Hiroyuki Sanada, Donnie Yen, Russell Wong or Chow Yun-Fat as Raiden, with Shin Koyamada or Ryuhei Matsuda as a young, sexy Fujin. If Tagawa-sama can't portray the older Shang Tsung, then Tancharoen needs just to elevate him to Emperor Shao Kahn and have done with it.

4 - Kenshi, Jade, and Tanya need to have important roles in this film

Kenshi is too bad-ass to leave out, and besides...he has Takeshi Kaneshiro written all over him. Since Tanya is a youthful bad girl, I nominate Keke Palmer to bring her to life. Benita Krista Nall would make an excellent Jade.

And speaking of which...

5 - We need some unmistakable Blasian loving in this film

Just 'cause.

6 - Kitana and Mileena need to be WOC

Whether they go the Asian, Latina, Polynesian, or Native American route, these two need to be WOC, and preferably portrayed by twin actresses. After all, Mileena is supposed to be a clone of Kitana, not simply another woman with the same hair and eyes.

While we're at it, Sindel needs to be a WOC as well.

7 - Ian Anthony Dale better return

I don't think I really need to explain that one.

8 - They need to go ahead and aim for an R-rating

And I don't mean for sex. I mean for violence.

Narrators...what I have left off? Oh, yeah...selected recap:

Hiroyuki Sanada as a possible Raiden

Ryuhei Matsuda as a possible Fujin

Shin Koyamada as a possible Fujin

Takeshi Kaneshiro as Kenshi

Keke Palmer as a possible Tanya

Tiffany Hines as a possible Tanya

Benita Krista Nall as Jade

Questions? Comments? Dirty looks?

Recommended

Taking a Closer Look at Mortal Kombat (1995)
Taking a Grimace at Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997)

Star Trek: N'Garen, Daughter of Tse'Dek

2011-10-12T01:07:00.004-04:00

We might as well get cushy with Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. When it comes to the POC roles, it outdid everyone else.

I was a bit skeptical about this character, to be honest. I initially felt we hadn't see enough beautiful black women just being themselves, so I wasn't in the mood to see one of us "altered." But then again...this is Gabrielle Union playing a Klingon, and we can't just let that one go.

Pros

1) Gabrielle Union played a Klingon, y'all, and on DS9, that was a highly coveted role. The Klingons were portrayed very favorably on the show; we get to know much more about their culture, language, music and history than we did on all the other Star Trek shows combined.

2) For a Klingon, Union is shown looking rather fabulous. This is another reason why I respect her decision to play N'Garen. It's been noted on here that she strikes fans as a bit of a diva. I concur. I recall reading one of her interviews when I was in college, in which she stated that she kept her skin hydrated by spraying it with Evian. I read that aloud to someone else, and they replied, "Um...what's wrong with using just regular tap water?"

This is why I was so surprised to see her play a full-blooded Klingon, allowing her face to be so completely changed. Actress Roxann Dawson played a half-blooded Klingon on Voyager, and though I don't know how she managed it, she convinced the staff to drastically tone down the makeup in order to preserve her vanity. *rolls eyes* Um, why play an alien if you're unwilling to look like one?

3) N'Garen appeared in the sixth season episode "Sons and Daughters", in which Worf was reunited with his estranged son Alexander. But while Alexander was portrayed as being a highly incompetent member of the crew, N'Garen was shown as the ship's equally young, inexperienced weapons officer who turned out to be highly capable. She didn't so much as flinch during battle, and after she coolly blasted a Jem-Hadar ship to bits, the captain asked her to take over the helm. That right there, kids, is bad-ass.

4) Union portrayed N'Garen convincingly. She exuded the same Klingon humor and confidence as her more seasoned castmates, which impressed me to no end. Even now, years later, whenever I watch "Sons and Daughters", I'm still in denial that it's really her. I can't believe that she showed up, played a Klingon for her first and last time, and just nailed it so perfectly.

Cons

1) We know NOTHING about N'Garen, other than she's a weapons officer and the daughter of someone named Tse'Dek.

2) Though DS9 did go out of its way to give diverse and powerful roles to women, I noticed that Klingon women often showed up for one or two episodes, and then were never heard from again, no matter how awesome they were. Meanwhile, male Klingons were featured across seasons. N'Garen would've been a welcome semi-regular character on DS9, and I'm sure Gabrielle Union would've appreciated the work and the inevitable fandom.

Final Verdict

N'Garen suffers from Ilario Syndrome; one episode was great but not nearly enough. I'm glad I got to see her, but I would've been much happier to have had more of her. She would've been an excellent role model for the younger viewers, and I think it would've done a world of good for her career.

Star Trek: Lt. Hector Ilario

2011-10-09T12:49:00.008-04:00

All right...let's stick it out with DS9 a little longer.

Lt. Hector Ilario caught my eye in Season 7's episode "Field of Fire." Portrayed by Thai-American actor Art Chudabala, he caught my eye for fairly obvious reasons. *innocently blinks* See if you can guess what they are.

***Serious Spoiler Alert***

Pros

1) Hector Ilario is a cute. A beautiful man with a beautiful name, he stands out immediately and is hard to ignore thereafter.

2) The episode opens with members of the main cast chillin' in the bar on Deep Space Nine. Dr. Julian Bashir is singing the young man's praises, lauding him for his exceptional skills as a helmsman. Yes, it feels like an homage to Lt. Hikaru Sulu, but who cares? The Asian guy is the hero of the day, getting credit where it's most certainly due.

3) During an investigation on the station, Ilario's background is explored, so the audience actually gets to know a thing or two about him, his friends, where's he's from, etc.

4) Ilario goes after what he wants. When Ezri Dax, the ship's counselor, walks him home (because he's so drunk), he hits on her in an endearing and classy way. When she points out that he's drunk, he shrugs it off saying that when tomorrow comes, he'll be sober, and she'll still be beautiful. How can you say no to that?

Cons

1) Ezri says no to that. She turns him down, when he is clearly a perfect catch. In other words, the good-looking, kick-ass Asian guy got turned down by the average-looking white chick...again.

2) There's investigation on the station because someone's murdering Starfleet officers...and they've started with Lt. Hector Ilario.

3) The writers shouldn't have waited until Season 7 to introduce a character like Ilario. Because he dies in this episode, they couldn't bring him back for subsequent episodes and they really needed to bring him back.

Final Verdict

No. No, no, no, no, no. This is a classic case of the casting agents doing their job, but the writers being at a total loss. Keep in mind, this was the final season of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, meaning it was also Voyager's first season, where audiences were getting to know Ensign Harry Kim. I don't like this feeling of an "Asian quota", like having more than one per show is just too many, when there's no shortage of new white actors flowing in on a weekly basis.

Blasian Lit Thread #10

2011-10-05T18:39:00.005-04:00

Back to regular threads, most of these books have poorly edited covers, they seem to get some nice reviews but I cannot personally vouch for them;

Naughty Nanny Series - Accidentally in Love by RaeLynn Blue

Charlotte Neal's day can't get any worse. Recently let laid off and suddenly unemployed, a casual drive home turns into a rear end disaster. Disoriented and hurt, she struggles to gain her bearings when a handsome paramedic arrives to save her. When Ichigo asks Charlotte to be his nanny, she thinks he's joking; but she needs the money. She accepts. Charlotte's physical scars aren't her only injuries; she has emotional ones as well.

Ichigo can't get the sexy woman from the car accident out of his head. Between thoughts of her and worries about finding a new nanny for his daughter, he can barely concentrate. He solves one problem by hiring her as his nanny. But can he keep his heart and his hands to himself or will he and Charlotte fall accidentally in love?

For the Love of Rei by by Tigra Luna LeMar

Rochelle Hayes is the proud owner of Hayes Graphics and Animations. It is a company that is growing wonderfully and when she gets a chance to establish her company in the international marketplace, she reluctantly takes it. She now has to host a Japanese Animator in her company while sending her best animator to Japan. When she meets Raiden Rei, she knows for sure she's in trouble because Raiden is unlike any Japanese man she'd ever met.

Raiden Rei reluctantly leaves Japan for Canada to take on an employee exchange program. All he wants to do is go, do his job and return to Japan without having anything amputated due to frost bite. When he turns around and sees the sexy Rochelle Hayes, his plans change. But no matter how much he tries, Rochelle is fighting him with every thing she can. How much will he be able to take before dropping everything and returning home?

Cherry Crush by Stephanie Burke

"I want you to take my virginity..."

Those were the last words that Swordmaster Chan expected to hear from his best friend and tenant. And it was the question awakened desires he had carefully hidden from Marlena.

But the fates conspired to bring them together and they will have their way amidst an explosion of terror that could not be believed, and passion only imagined.

In the face of danger, angst, and a paranormal passion, Chan will prove himself to be the perfect man (kind of) her dark defender, and the only male to ensure that her cherry is well and truly crushed.

Midnight Sun by Renee Gipson

1850 Saginaw, Michigan Sahara Redding, a newly freed slave, works to establish a home for herself on land inherited from her white grandfather.

Two things stand in her way: the squatters living in her home and the nearby Chippewa village whose chief Midnight Sun could be either her enemy or her future. As the danger escalates,

Sahara reaches out for love and finds it in the arms of Midnight Sun, the one man she should fear at all costs.

Midnight Sun is sworn to protect his people. When Sahara Redding takes control of her home, she also takes control of his heart putting him in a danger that will forever change his way of life and the love he holds for her.

Where I come from (Korean American adoptee with Black parents)

2011-10-02T10:43:00.001-04:00

cross posted from: KoreAm

Where I come from

Emile Mack, at age 6 or 7, with his father Clarence Mack, in Los Angeles.

Emile Mack may be the highest-ranking Asian American firefighter of a major American city, but what tends to surprise people most about the Los Angeles Deputy Fire Chief is his most unique background: At age 3, he was adopted by an African American couple. His is a story that challenges our notions of race and identity; it’s about the ties that bind and the gift of family.

By Elizabeth Eun
Photos courtesy of Emile Mack/By Eric Sueyoshi.

To read the rest of this story check out the article:
http://iamkoream.com/where-i-come-from/

Star Trek: Doctor Julian Bashir

2011-09-30T19:57:00.004-04:00

Let's go back to DS9 for a moment, shall we?

Sudanese-born, England-raised Siddig el Fadil portrayed the boyishly handsome, genetically enhanced, yet socially naive, British-accented Doctor Julian Bashir. By about the fourth season, the actor felt forced to change to a stage name, "Alexander Siddig", because people were having trouble pronouncing the five syllables in "Siddig el Fadil."

Keep in mind, the man's full name is Siddig el Tahir el Fadil el Siddig Abderrahman Mohammed Ahmed Abdel Karim el Mahdi...and people were bitching about "Siddig el Fadil"?

*exasperated sigh*

So anyways...there's that right there to begin with.

Pros

1) Julian Bashir is an example of what I call "using an actor as the message, not the writing." In other words, the writers didn't cast Fadil and then put words in his mouth to send a message. His casual, series-regular presence is the message. You can cast an Asian man to simply play a character. His being Asian doesn't have to be the point of the character (unlike with Sulu in the 1960s).

2) Siddig el Fadil was gorgeous; as a young girl, I primarily watched DS9 just to see him (the show so deep it went over my head at the time). So not only was the Asian actor just playing a regular guy (hear tell, 'tis an Asian actor's fondest wish in the West), but he was hot, and obviously meant to be a delectable piece of eye candy. And the British accent totally helped.

3) Dr. Julian Bashir was just that, a doctor, and a damn brilliant one at that. But we also got to know his hobbies - springball, tennis, darts, battle reenactments in the holodeck, spy stories and debating the merits of literature.

4) DS9 introduced the organization Section 31, the baddest, shrewdest, rogue organization in the Alpha Quadrant, reportedly designed to protect the interests of the Federation by any means necessary. They put the Cardassian Obsidian Order and the Romulan Tal Shiar both to shame...and they recruited Julian Bashir for covert missions. This is important because while his coworkers viewed him as a youthful, naive, sometimes annoying young man, Section 31 recognized what the audience eventually recognized: Bashir had a keenly analytical, shrewdly suspicious mind with an impeccable attention to detail. In short, he was the perfect operative.

5) Bashir was most definitely sexual; we saw him numerous times with very beautiful women, ranging from fellow Starfleet officers to sexy Dabo girls. The show even ended with his being in a long-term, committed relationship (Sulu and Ensign Kim never got that). Made sense; a man that fine and in his prime wasn't going to stay single for long.

6) One of the celebrated themes of DS9 was bromance, and we saw Bashir involved in at least two bromantic relationships, which Fadil and his castmates played to hilarious perfection.

Cons

1) Despite all its brilliance, DS9 often screwed up and primary example of that was revealing that Bashir was a genetically enhanced human being, and that he owed his phenomenal intelligence and exceptional hand-eye coordination to genetic tampering. It was also revealed that he was basically mentally impaired as a child, and when his parents simply refused to accept him as he was, they broke the law and basically had him rebuilt. They then re-enrolled him in a new school with falsified records.

Actor Fadil was surprised with this information years into the show; it literally just popped up in the script one day, not having been an original part of his characterization. It was a pointless subplot which, in a way, took something from Bashir. It made him extra annoying in a non-cute way, and portrayed his family in an unnecessary bad light (they claimed they did it for his own good, not theirs). At the subconscious level, it also seemed to tap into the notion that Asian students are basically drones whose academic dedication is unnatural.

At the same time, it was sort of amusing at to think Bashir had politely "dumbed" himself down for years, and passed amongst people as "normal."

2) Bashir was often described as "annoying" by the other characters, and the older I get, the more I see why. But I feel there is writing in conflict on the matter; while he's supposed to be young and naive and eager to please, there's also this very grave, mature, classiness which Fadil exudes that I feel defines the real Julian Bashir. One who witnesses much pain and suffering, whose entire career is based on alleviated suffering, and whose compassion is utterly and consistently outstanding, cannot also be naive. That's contradictory and self-defeating. If you're witnessing births, deaths, and maintaining confidentiality for so many different people, you can't be too clueless about the universe.

3) Bashir was irritatingly arrogant about his abilities sometimes, which I also feel is contradictory writing, because at times it seemed he was willing to put lives at risk or prolong suffering...simply to prove he could be the one to save them. No...no, no. The writers really needed to pick one. And if they need flaws to balance out his virtues, arrogance was a really poor choice.

Final Verdict

DS9 was, IMHO, the best of the all Trek series, so I don't have too many complaints about this character. One of the things Fadil said he really liked about his role was that people were so fascinated with his character - personality, how he was written, etc. - that they didn't focus obsessively on his ethnicity. When people told him or when he read rave reviews about the show, no one ever said how much "they liked that Indian doctor" - they just said they liked the doctor and were in awe of how he was written and portrayed. This is, I think, a testament to the often excellent writing on that show, and the convincing work on Fadil's part.

Blasian Thread #9.5

2011-09-30T12:00:00.012-04:00

In this thread, I will be spotlighting two books that are...different. These are books that I would not have considered putting up here until I finished reading them. I find both books excellent, even though they are not similar, and I would recommend them anywhere however, I am choosing to put them up here because people interested in Blasian fiction may appreciate them too.

Camera Obscura by Lavie Tidhar!!

CAN'T FIND A RATIONAL EXPLANATION TO A MYSTERY? CALL IN THE QUIET COUNCIL. The mysterious and glamorous Lady De Winter is one of their most valuable agents. A despicable murder inside a locked and bolted room on the Rue Morgue in Paris is just the start. This whirlwind adventure will take Milady to the highest and lowest parts of that great city - and cause her to question the very nature of reality itself

Camera Obscura is steampunk fiction. That may be enough to throw some people off. I hold some interest in the steampunk genre so reading this book was not a problem for me.

Before reading the book, I was worried that Milady de Winter would turn out to be a stereotypical unattractive Black woman due to the way she was described physically, she is very tall and wields a gun. I am happy to say that Milady was not a stereotype, at least not to me, she was complex and I could identify with her character, even though I've read reviews that describe 'difficulties' getting into the characters.

Let's see, Milady is from Dahomey, other characters that are not evil and that she interacts with are East Asian. Any time I attempt to come up with a white European character that did not turn out to be either completely evil or have ulterior motives that involved harming Milady, I come up empty. So reading those comments that described difficulties liking or connecting with characters, I figured that they were not left by POCs.

In spite of Milady's domineering physical description, it was pretty clear that she was supposed to be attractive judging from the reactions of certain male characters towards here, including a bartender from the Moulin Rouge and a highly ranked official in a Chinese secret society.

Camera Obscura is a gritty mystery with some noir elements. I don't want to give away too much but the villain is a sadistic serial killer and Milady goes through his hands, an experience which you can guess changes her forever in a big way. The book also has some mentions of wuxia, I can't comment much on how Camera Obscura handling of wuxia as though I enjoy wuxia, I don't come from the culture that produces it.

There is no romance in Camera Obscura, it is basically a steampunk mystery. Our heroine, Milady de Winters, is an African woman from Dahomey, and due to the mystery she is currently solving most of the other characters, not all, are Asian. I don't want to give too much away but the other main character, excluding the sadistic serial killing villain, is Kai. The story actually starts with Kai, he is also of Chinese descent, and his adventures in a part of East Asia that remained unnamed for a long time because the this is a mystery, remember. As the action picks up and the setting moves from Paris to Vespuccia (North America), Milady, Kai, and the villain are connected. I'll keep on being vague and say that there is some sort of connection between Milady and Kai.

Purchase from: Amazon USA, Book Depository

Unburnable by Marie-Elena John

In this riveting narrative of family, betrayal, vengeance, and murder, Lillian Baptiste is willed back to her island home of Dominica to finally settle her past. Haunted by scandal and secrets, Lillian left Dominica when she was fourteen after discovering she was the daughter of Iris, the half-crazy woman whose life was told of in chanté mas songs sung during Carnival: "Matilda Swinging" and "Bottle of Coke"; songs about the village on a mountaintop and bones and bodies: songs about flying masquerades and a man who dropped dead. Lillian knew the songs well. And now she knows these songs---and thus the history---belong to her. After twenty years away, Lillian returns to face the demons of her past, and with the help of Teddy, the man she refused to love, she will find a way to heal.

Set partly in contemporary Washington, D.C., and partly in post-World War II Dominica, Unburnable weaves together West Indian history, African culture, and American sensibilities. Richly textured and lushly rendered, Unburnable showcases a welcome and assured new voice.

I think this book should be on every Black woman's reading list. The book gives an insight into Caribbean culture and history, especially as related to Dominica. I'm putting it up here because it also mentions/highlights indigenous issues. Readers here may find the inclusion of Simon the Carib interesting.

Purchase from: Amazon USA, Book Depository

Both Camera Obscura and Unburnable contain some pretty violent and graphic scenes. IMHO, the violence does not detract from the plot. Be warned.

F.Cuz (Pronounced "Focus"): A Different View

2011-09-26T22:42:00.000-04:00

Let me begin this post by stating clearly, that this discussion is about what I view as the de-sexualization of some male performers in K Pop and the repercussions for the artists, their fans and the music. I have been an observer of the Korean musical scene for about a year and I have done more listening than talking. I believe this process has been integral in allowing me to digest what I’ve observed and heard from the performers and their fans.

This post is not about enjoying the music because I am not its targeted demographic, though I make a few exceptions in the form of Se7en and JYJ. I am using F.Cuz and their promotional efforts for "Midnight Sun" as the exception, in an industry in which the suppression of internal thoughts, feelings and sexuality, create a toxic and unhealthy environment that leads to the stagnation of both the artist and music in terms of growth on both a personal & professional level.

It is the eternal "Peter Pan" complex enforced by the S. Korean gov’t via its Ministry of Gender Equality & Family in addition to the Media & Entertainment industry. Before I address these gentlemen and their video, I want to outline a few of the factors I believe have created and enabled the false propaganda of the “Good Boy” image.

To date, approximately 2,600 songs have been banned by the Ministry of Gender Equality & Family for reasons ranging from traffic violations to mentioning alcohol in a country whose pervasive alcohol culture is well documented.
Management companies encourage fan girl obsessive behavior for the purposes of the bottom line. In a market over saturated with groups, it becomes even more important to convince young impressionable girls of their "rights" to their idol of choice and the backlash when they get out of control, has meant physical violence in some cases.
If a male idol decides to date, then the possible wrath incurred can be as "passive" as a decline in record sales or fan club membership to a complete and utter meltdown. Notice the fan girl's discussion of the money she spends justifying her entitlement to "Oppa."
The complicit behavior of male idols in creating their own "prison" also needs to be mentioned. The whole system counts on the buy in of the idol, fan girls, TV networks and record labels to keep the money coming in. One hand washes the other and everyone is happy right?

The minute I saw their teaser, I smiled in wicked glee and muttered “now that’s what I’m talkin’ ‘bout”. There were some pearl clutchers who held tight to the false advertising of K Pop’s so called “purity”. Their "reality" is myopic, warped and unrealistic, which is exactly the way the powers that be in K Pop want them.

What I love about F.Cuz and their management, is that they knew the trailer would generate buzz when you consider the "wholesome"standards of most videos in the genre. The obvious sexualized imagery and enjoyment of the members just begged for the ban hammer to fall. In a culture obsessed with external appearances and what others think, this group and their video represented an “inappropriate” image of S. Korea.

Now there are many who feel that any critique of K Pop and its imagery by the “West” is invalid due to the distortion of our own point of view (cultural relativism). There is some validity in this thinking. However, the argument is also disingenuous and used to stop critical thought about what we are all seeing. These are the same fan girls that complain about the stereotypical (asexual, effeminate) images of Asian men beamed around the world by the “West”, yet they won’t examine the part S. Korean society plays in reinforcing these images.

By its insistence on a so called “clean” image in which a metaphorical “Ozzie & Harriet” public world is created, young women walk away with the impression that these young men are “tame” and do not present a sexual “threat.” Their “idols” are of course “saving” themselves for these girls by towing the party line about “loving their fans too much”, being “married” to their fans and just being “about the music”.

It is a system which feeds upon itself by perpetuating the “reality” of so called artistic survival entirely dependent upon fanatical devotion. Young male performers are forced to deny themselves as sexual beings and the subjects of human biology just like the rest of us. They are held up as figures of unrealistic fantasy by their labels and gov’t with no input of their own. Their sexuality is controlled and disseminated in ways that not only reinforce Korean “purity”, but their management company’s bottom line. The reaction of fan girls to a different “reality” than what they’ve been sold, was described in the points above.

Are half naked women in a video an expression of masculinity? No, but it is an expression and acknowledgment of a certain level of sexual freedom and awareness that is rarely seen in Korean media. Young people will push the envelope and rebel. That's what they do. This is the a middle finger to the Ministry from F.Cuz and their team. Ultimately, the video was just a teaser, while the full video played it safe in comparison. This is no way detracts from the rebelliousness and guts shown by these 4 young men and their management.

I leave you with the teaser…

The Origins of "Corruption"

2011-09-25T09:02:00.005-04:00

Last year, I was introduced to the Blasian movement by my business partner and friend, Ankhesen. It made me aware of an entirely different world that existed outside of my own. I addressed this in a previous post and wondered if I’d be able to write in the genre after years of writing about black women exclusively paired with black men. Not necessarily the easiest thing to do.

Fast-forward one year. I just finished my first Blasian novel, a 350-page animal titled Corruption. I started writing it last September, after being inspired by a most wicked scenario. The book had risqué origins and was intended to be an erotic short story that I was going to contribute to MCP’s The Sultry Court. But Jordan Yoshito and Mahogany Carroll, the protagonists, had way too much life and would not be restricted to a mere sixty pages. And so I kept writing, wondering where I was going with it. I got lost many times and considered abandoning the book, but once again, Mo and Jordan wouldn’t allow it. I tried going in random directions, but then something occurred to me and it was then that I understood what it was I was really writing about.

I wrote the last third of Corruption in an emotional whirlwind, as I was using the plot as a cathartic canvas for my own volatile emotions. There were many crevices and cracks in the storyline that I filled with my own experiences and I knew that this novel represented a major turning point in my ability to tell a story. I’d finally gotten some stuff out of the way and could move forward in my writing.

Because Jordan is Japanese, his characterization required extensive research; research I’d never done before and it was a lot more difficult than I imagined. However, with the aid of a wonderful, knowledgeable, insightful beta, I was able to reasonably authenticate Jordan’s background and aspects of his culture. I think that by making him Asian instead of black gave the story a depth that it would not have had otherwise. And I learned a few things.

You can find a short little tease here. Corruption will be published sometime this fall; it is currently in its final stages of production. It is my sincerest wish that the book is well-received by the Blasian community, as I believe it is my best work to date.

Music featured is "Live with Me" by Massive Attack, featuring the vocals of UN Humanitarian Award-winning soul legend Terry Callier.

Introducing the Hirosawas

2011-09-23T01:45:00.007-04:00

A long time ago (February, 2008 to be exact), I published my second book, entitled Folklore, and Other Stories, a book of three stories in which a different Asian American man was the central protagonist in each story. Though Middle Child Press didn't exist back then, FOS technically falls under what we fondly call "experimental" fiction.

In the very first story, "Folklore", I introduced a secondary character named Benjiro Hirosawa, a killer with the face of an angel, from a whole family of angel-faced killers. He wasn't meant to be much; the focus was on the good guy, Kazuya Kurosaki. But then...the bad ones have a way of sticking around and inspiring.

I realized I had to go on and learn more about this bad-ass family. But writing about them proved difficult; not all family members were the same, and there was just too much lore, too much reputation to unleash on the reader all at once. I needed a way to introduce them to the audience without overwhelming them.

So I planned another group of stories entitled Tales from the Velvet Hall, each featuring a different Hirosawa character to give the reader a better sense of the family. That didn't work; I kept getting stuck and had trouble finishing two of the stories. Thus the novella The Woman from Cheshire Avenue was born, which allowed the reader to get an "impression" of the Hirosawas by seeing them through other people's eyes.

...[H]ands down for me, the biggest treat was the Hirosawas. Michael virtually stole every scene he was in without even trying. The guy is an asshole (and a killer) but he's got style and nuance. Rachel was an immensely powerful character that her impact resonated in the few scenes she was in. I look forward to seeing how things play out in The Velvet Hall.

~ Dennis R. Upkins, author of Hollowstone

Michael Hirosawa is the primary Hirosawa of this dark tale; accompanied by his sister Rachel, he's sent by his family to "play nice" with a powerful city councilor and his daughters, while influencing the politics of their growing city. The Hirosawa family now considers itself an organization of business and diplomacy, but the wild, rebellious, and darkly sarcastic Michael begs to differ. And though he does engage in some Blasian relations, it's not with the woman the reader expects.

The sequel, due out Fall-ish of 2012, will introduce the Hirosawa family in earnest, giving more pages to his sister Rachel, and introducing their cousin Trent as the male protagonist. Interested readers can enjoy the opening rough draft chapters of The Velvet Hall, and yes...it's a strictly Blasian novella. *nods* That one's for you, Narrators.

Middle Child Press is hoping to sell 1000 copies of The Woman from Cheshire Avenue by October 15, 2011 to raise funds to reach out to more female writers of color and expand our current number of titles. If we succeed, then women of color - Black, Asian, Latina, or Indigenous; gay, straight, or bisexual - will have a publishing house which strictly caters to them.

Help us out, and we all win.

Eureka: Dr. Allison Blake

2011-09-21T22:06:00.016-04:00

In the tradition of Ankh’s posts about POC characters in media, I’m offering up my own pick for a phenomenon that we see far too rarely on TV nowadays: the elusive black female. And here I have something even rarer to share with you: the black female lead.

Sci-fi Channel (or should I say Syfy Channel…ugh) TV show Eureka debuted in the summer of 2006 and I have to say, I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw Salli Richardson-Whitfield appear on my screen and promptly steal the scene from the show’s protagonist Colin Ferguson (Sheriff Jack Carter). I just wasn’t expecting to see a black female lead and proudly admit that her presence—along with the fact that the show is just fifty kinds of awesome—cemented my devout loyalty over the past four seasons.

According to Salli, her character was not originally written for a black woman. She has recounted the fact that she was the only WoC in a room full of white women when she auditioned, but she was cast because the creators felt that she had the best chemistry with Ferguson. Add that to the fact that Allison is smart as hell and one-half of the show’s OTP*, and I’m sure that there have been more than a few head explosions over the years.

Spoiler Alert!: This list may contain spoilers for those who have not yet seen season 3.0, 4.0 and/or season 4.5.

Character Pros

1. Allison is a genius and a doctor three times over (she has an MD and two Ph.Ds). In nearly every episode, her genius IQ is on full display as she actively helps avert disasters and save lives with her awesome smarts.

2. Allison has an active onscreen love/sex life. She has been hotly and vociferously pursued by all of her love interests to the point that there have been downright contentious rivalries for her affections. She was engaged in season three (he was killed on their wedding day before the "I do's"), and after four long seasons of "will they/won't they", she is finally involved in a loving, supportive relationship with the show's protagonist (Jack Carter).

3. Allison has looked fierce every week since day one. Her hair, clothes and make-up are always on point.

4. You won’t find any stereotyping or caricaturing with this character. Allison is firm when she needs to be without any “angry black woman” vibes, is sexy without being sexualized, doesn’t put up with BS, is feminine yet vulnerable, and is treated with respect by everyone around her.

5. As Director of Global Dynamics, Allison is inarguably the most powerful person in Eureka. Everyone answers to her and respects her authority without question. (Season one - DoD* liaison; season two and three - Director of GD; season four - Medical Director/acting Director of GD...this change was due to a permanent alternate timeline plot, not a demotion.)

6. Allison is a loving mother (again shown onscreen) who would do anything for her children.

Character Cons

1. All of her love interests have been white. (Why do I have a feeling there's some fanboy fantasy-fulfilling here?) Anyway, as much as I adore this show, this trend is still disappointing. I know she was always meant to end up with Jack, but it would have been nice to see her pair up with a MoC for a change, even it was for just a little while.

2. As well as the show has treated it’s POC characters, it has still fallen into the trap of making race a complete non-entity (except for a notable exception where it would have been impossible not to). Co-creator Jamie Paglia had this to say about Eureka and race: "We've always been very sensitive to diversity in our casting, and made an effort to make Eureka a place where race isn't an issue. (source)" This is just a snippet of a larger quote, but I get what he's trying to say (and what he's trying to do). It sounds really nice and all...I just think it's a bit unrealistic. We’re not blind and nobody ignores blackness. Not even geniuses.

3. We haven’t been given too much of a background on Allison's character. Besides what's been mentioned in passing (her parents are scientists, her husband died before their son was born or shortly thereafter, she wrote a medical textbook in the alternate timeline, and she'd had a second marriage), we don't know much about her life before she came to Eureka. But given that the show has a pretty sizable main cast, that’s probably par for the course. There's only so much we know about any of the characters.

4. Although Allison is undeniably black, her features are European-looking enough to make some viewers feel less uncomfortable (whether consciously or unconsciously) about her lead role on the show, her high-ranking position, and her unmistakable irresistibility to her white love interests. This is certainly not a knock on Salli Richardson-Whitfield's casting (I can't imagine anyone else playing Allison), but it really, really rankles me that networks still feel the need to coddle racists. Even Salli has said that her appeareance probably makes it easier for her to get work on TV. So sad.

Final Verdict

Allison is a generally well-rounded and well-written character, who is likable, smart as a whip, sympathetic and keeps viewers happily tuning in each week. I never have to question why her coworkers and everyone else in the town respect and care for her as much as they do. I never have to wonder what the men in her life see in her that makes them so ga-ga over her or why they fall all over themselves to protect her at all costs, even to the point of risking their jobs, jail time or their lives to do it. I get it. (Unlike a certain heroine on a vampire-themed cable show I just started watching. *cough*True Blood's Sookie Stackhouse*cough*)

Unfortunately, the positive portrayal of black women is still something rarely seen on TV. I have to give Eureka's creators and writers a nod for having the testicular fortitude to 1) cast a black female lead; and 2) buck the particularly ugly trend that Hollywood has of throwing black women under the bus every chance it gets. After four highly successful seasons, it's obvious that having a black female lead--and more than one main black cast member--hasn't driven the show's viewers away. (Unfortunately, next summer's fifth season will be it's last, but it's certainly not because of bad ratings. It's because of high production costs. Damn you, Comcast/NBC Universal merger!).

It's become patently obvious that people are craving more diversity on TV, not less. There's no longer any excuse for the massive bout of whitewashing that's currently taking place in Hollywood. None.

*OTP = One True Pairing
*DoD = Department of Defense

Star Trek: Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu

2011-09-15T21:31:00.009-04:00

As portrayed by George Takei

As with Robert Beltran's Commander Chakotay, this is a classic example of an actor of color in a not-so-rosy situation. Certain fans have talked about Takei's "attitude" over the decades, singing the "big chip on his shoulders" song ~~which Shatner pretty much egged on~~, but these are the fans with severely deficient memories.

Let's have a history lesson, shall we? Star Trek first aired in 1966. So you have a gay Japanese actor trying to work in Hollywood, in the 1960s, on a TV show were staff are getting death threats for their attempt at diversity. Meanwhile, the dude playing the Captain threatens to wreck this highly innovative and promising show every time he's not the center of attention.

Keep in mind, this is all going down a mere twenty years after the last Japanese internment camp has finally shut down, and the victims who survived (which include Takei and his family) are callously being denied reparations by the [Dis]United States government. Meanwhile, for the average white American, being overtly racist towards is POC still considered polite, civilized conversation.

Hmm.

Let's just say if Takei hadn't come out of this sitch swinging, POC everywhere would've wondered what was wrong.

Character Pros

1) Lt. Hikaru Sulu is a character of good intent: his first name is a unisex Japanese name meaning "light" or "radiance", and his surname is derived from the Sulu Sea, which reportedly touches the shore of every country in Asia. Sulu is thus meant to represent peace and unity in Asia.

2) In addition to his meaningful characterization, Sulu is a muscular, good-looking Asian man who speaks English fluently and sits at the helm of Starfleet's flagship. *nods* I believe the word you're looking for right there "bad ass".

3) There were attempts to let audience get to know Sulu better on a personal level; we learned his hobbies included botany and fencing. Had Roddenberry been allowed a fourth season, we would've seen more of his personal life.

Character Cons

1) Sulu had a far less screen time than his white shipmates. Instead of increasing during the movies, by the way, it actually seemed to decrease.

2) Though Sulu reportedly had a crush on Lieutenant Uhura, we never saw it come to fruition. They wound up pairing her off with a white guy.

3) Come to think of it, we never saw Sulu in a relationship with anyone, even in the movies. We learn later that he had a daughter, but we don't know her mother's name, or what her parents' relationship was like.

4) We didn't learn Sulu's first name during the original run of the show. Meanwhile, everyone not only knew Kirk's first name from the get-go, but we also knew his middle name was friggin' "Tiberius."

5) Sulu didn't get to "do" much. Yes, he was the helmsman, which one would think entailed massive responsibility (and authority), and yet...it always seemed as though either Kirk or Spock (usually Kirk) was single-handedly running and saving the damn ship while the rest of the crew was just chillin'.

Final Verdict

A decent opening effort considering the times. Sulu appeared quite comfortable on the bridge of the Enterprise, and Takei did the most he could with the little he was given. He originated an iconic role which sent a powerful message to an extremely backward society. So...*applause*.

Blasian Chemistry II

2011-09-15T12:52:00.003-04:00

Previously: Blasian Chemistry

Fashion Tips from Moi for Actors Portraying Blasian Couples

#1 - Identify your target audience

Some of you want to impress white audiences because you feel it will advance your careers. Some of you don't care about white audiences, and only want to impress either Asian American or Black American audiences. And in some extremely rare instances, one or two of you briefly pause to consider your Blasian audience.

Start there. You have to appeal to the audience which identifies with you the most first, and then worry about everyone else later. Abandon the myth of the "universal" narrative; not everyone is going to be into you and so it's pointless to try to appeal to everyone. In short, don't bemoan the fact you didn't land the (paying) roles you wanted. Instead, challenge yourselves to be an absolutely stunning Blasian couple and try to have fun!

# 2 - Recognize opportunity

There's a joke that hip hop artists always thank two people when they receive awards: Mama and the Lord. I have a saying that young K-Pop artists need to thank Rain in addition to whomever they usually thank, because he's the reason a lot of young Black women care about K-Pop. And the reason he had this much of an effect on us was that he did a movie opposite Naomie Harris. He tapped into a new market, garnered some extra attention, and bolstered his career even further.

Actors portraying Blasian couples in mainstream media need to learn from his example. Because in addition to doing a film like Ninja Assassin, Rain already been dancing with Black female dancers and openly admiring the likes of Beyonce and Lil Kim for years. So now, whenever he drops an album, does a drama, or stars in a film, he has an even bigger international fan base ready and willing to pay for whatever he's selling.

#3 - Band together

One would think this goes without saying.

If you are the member of an onscreen Blasian couple, in a mainstream project where you are not the couple of intent, obviously you and yours need to stick together. Make no mistake: you are the expendables; you are the underdogs. "Last hired, first fired" most definitely applies to you, and if the project tanks, expect to share much of the blame even if you weren't heavily featured.

Don't vie for scraps or handouts; don't throw each other under the bus. Instead, get together off set and talk strategy. Try to make yourselves look good...together. Does someone need a haircut? A slight change in wardrobe? Try it out! Don't rely on the staff on set to make you look good. Their priority is the couple of intent, so by all means...go vegan, hit the gym, and get a stylist's second opinion!

If you're both single, it wouldn't hurt to go to dinner together, have drinks, practice making out on camera, and do whatever's necessary get physically and psychologically comfortable with each other. Become friends; spend some free time with each other. For example, actress Lynn Chen said in an interview that when she landed the role of a lesbian in Saving Face (2003) opposite Michelle Kruziec, the first thing she did was go out and rent everything Kruziec had ever been in, watch her work, and deliberately "crush on her". Simple, yet brilliant, and the results were absolutely phenomenal.

#4 - Reach out to your allies

You're not alone in this. Every time I turn around, a new Blasian blog, ezine, Facebook page, or YouTube channel seems to crop up. Talk to these people - that's what we're here for. Contact the mods, join the discussions, do online interviews, and get more in touch with your audience. It's a greatway to gain lot of new fans, and when the dust settles, we will be the ones still supporting your careers. We will remember you long after your "other" audience has moved on.

This is the Internet Age. There's no reason you and your partner in crime can't hop onto YouTube and vlog about your characters, voicing your thoughts about how you think your couple started, and where you feel they should go. We'll listen, and if you come up with good ideas, we will harass the studio on your behalf. You may not be their couple of intent, but you will always be ours, and we will fight for you.

But first...you have to give us something worth fighting for.

Blasian Chemistry

2011-09-13T01:58:00.010-04:00

In his interview with me, actor Peter Jae stated, "I had a chance to work with [Gabrielle Union] on Perfect Holiday but playing a dry cleaner. I would love to be opposite [her] playing a different character. Damn, Morris Chestnut, can an Asian brother get some shine too?"

So just for fun, I sent him "Blasianism", a nice, simple composite of recognizable romantic Blasian scenes set to some laid-back music. Mr. Jae replied that while he liked seeing these types of vids, a lot of the love scenes looked forced. He attributed it to actually knowing a couple of the actors, but he also added that like it or not, chemistry - from the get-go - really is key.

Naturally, it got me thinking.

Whether we care to admit it or not, some of our more recognizable Blasian couples didn't have great chemistry, at least not compared to others, and I've been thinking about the variables which contribute to the problem.

The Actor's Image

Actors are folks who want to go on display and get paid for it. And that's cool. However, most actors go into the business strictly thinking about what they want - whom they want to work with, what types of projects they'd like to be involved in, which magazine covers and talk shows they want to grace, and most importantly - whether they care to admit it or not - how they want to be seen by specific people.

I was watching a behind-the-scenes special for (I think) the TV show 24. An actress remarked in passing that on the very first day of shooting, while sitting in make up, she turned to a castmate and asked,"What's the name of this show that I just signed the next five years of my life away for?" This right here confirmed the obvious: actors don't always know what the hell they're getting into. We have to remember that they're people like us, struggling to their pay bills, and when a job comes along - with a multi-year contract, no less - they don't question.

However, this doesn't mean their heart is automatically invested in whatever role they're playing. So when you have misguided Black and Asian actors who want to impress white audiences, right away they know they're not going to accomplish this by pairing up with each other. And that right there is a Blasian chemistry-killer.

Personally, I look for keywords and code phrases in interviews. If the best the actors can do is chant "diversity" or essentially beg the audience not to pay too much attention to their skins, I tend to take that as a really bad omen. It means 1) they're aiming for a universal narrative, which I maintain does not exist, and 2) here in the West, "universal" often defaults to "white". Need I say more?

In other words, Narrators, if an onscreen Blasian couple is shying away from the "Blasian" label offscreen, and they are anything short of amped, psyched, and eager to specifically play a Blasian couple...run. You're not their intended audience, they are not excited to represent you, and you will be disappointed eventually, if not right away.

The Couple of Intent

After disasters like Romeo Must Die (2000) and the second half of the first season of FlashForward (2009), I don't think I need to stress how much writing factors into chemistry. First of all, I'll be blunt: I don't like non-POC writing Blasian couples when there are hundreds of thousands of writers of color more than willing to do the job for themselves, and with a hell of lot more insight (or at least better access to insight).

Case in point: one of things I really respected about Audrey Kelley (Audrey & Dre [2011]) was that she did her research; she consulted with a real-life Blasian couple (Sam Cacas and Dora Love, no less), and even included them in her show. Likewise, Joe Dougherty (Akira's Hip Hop Shop [2007]) based his short film on a real-life Blasian couple he personally knew.

This leads me to the issue of what I call "the couple of intent", i.e., the couple which matters most to the writer. On FlashForward, Demetri & Zoey were most assuredly not the couple of intent. Needless to say, such a couple gets plenty of screen time, the most kisses/sex scenes, and the most thought-out storyline. For a story not centered on a couple so much as a primary protagonist, the protagonist + whoever the hell their love interest is = the couple of intent.

But identifying the true couple of intent is not so easy at times. Take "Clay" from Robot Stories (2004), for example. I like Tim Kang. I think he's sexy as hell, and I was glad to see him portray the younger version of John opposite Helen (Eisa Davis). But the more I watched their tight-lipped kisses and quickly truncated love scene, the more I realize that Young John and Helen were not the couple of intent. Older John (Sab Shimono) and Helen were the real couple of intent; that is, after all, where the chemistry and genuine emotion lay.

Bear with me for a moment longer:

Blasian Chemistry Fails

~ John Cho and Gabrielle Union

Sorry. The more I analyze, I think Cho appeared more romantically relaxed opposite white actress Christine Woods (who was playing a lesbian) than he did opposite Union. Same thing in Harold and Kumar, when his love interest was the very light-skinned Paula Garces. To be honest, I don't really foresee Cho really doing anymore Blasian media, unless it's to wrap up the sham that was FlashForward, or the paycheck has more zeroes than he would care to ignore. As much as I love him and most of his work, I'm not convinced "Blasian" is his thing.

What's wrong with this picture?

~ Garrett Wang and Kelli Kirkland

Sorry. *shrug* This was the only time we saw Ensign Harry Kim messing around with an actress who wasn't white, and 1) she was technically evil, and 2) I noticed that she kept initiating the kisses, while he clearly the favored the attentions of the white actress and was visibly more comfortable with her. It was like even though the script plainly indicated he was attracted to Kirkland's character (and he did try sometimes), Wang himself clearly wasn't feeling it.

~ Tim Kang and Eisa Davis

Sorry. Just not buying it. Not enough screen time to even attempt a purchase.

Blasian Chemistry Successes

~ Joy Bryant and Nelson Lee

Virtuality didn't give these two a goddamn thing to work with, but they were playful and comfortable with each other. The way made each other smile was most endearing, and it's shame we didn't get to see this relationship explored further.

~ James Kyson Lee and Emayatzy Corinealdi

This one's sort of the on fence. What makes it a success for me is that Lee kisses like he means it. He's clearly the star of that love scene, oozing raw sensuality every second of it and appearing quite comfortable, while Corinealdi seemed a bit tense and self-conscious. Another thing is, Lee has a bit of a *pattern*. After seeing his pics with Telisha Shaw, I have to conclude "Blasian" works for him and we may very well see more from him in the future.

~ Sab Shimono and Eisa Davis

Eventually, Blasian art and media are going to explore the older/younger dynamic, so we might as well start now. That being said, these two broke my heart. They seemed so deep with each other, exhibiting a complex, tortured affection which made their story ever so haunting. This was some grade-A work, and we need to see more like it in the future.

~ Jet Li and Aaliyah

Believe it or not, these two actually had decent chemistry; they were simply robbed of fully showing it (it showed much more in her music video anyway). If you wonder why you keep going back and watching Romeo Must Die - despite its endless number of flaws - it's because these two piqued your curiosity and really drew you in. Also, it helps that Aaliyah had a real-life crush on Li (as did many of us at the time).

~ Rain and Naomie Harris

There's a reason these two are the undisputed Prince and Princess of the Blasian Narrative.

Rain has a *pattern* to the Nth degree, and Harris admits to having lost her mind while filming the infamously lost shower scene with him. Both are open to doing a sequel, which I doubt we'll ever really see, but hey...they're ready and willing.

~ Monsieur Nov

As we've all noticed by now, Monsieur Nov has a *pattern* which even puts Rain's to shame. I mean, damn. This man fears nothing. There's one video of his where his main vixen isn't black, and yet near the beginning, the camera focuses on random on a BW/AM couple as if to "remind" the audience of his infamous theme. And if there are any lingering doubts, one only need to watch "Tous le Jours, Tous le Soirs" a few times.

Just remember to bring cigarettes.

~ Auburn

No, we're not particularly fond of her music here at the Narrative, but Auburn's *pattern* (and self-respect) is executed delightfully enough to produce sufficient (and appropriate) chemistry. She's clearly drawn to Asian men (she's reportedly dating one in real life), and she casts those who can reciprocate in her videos. *shrugs* What else can you say?

~ Jay Tavare and Tembi Lock

'Nough said.

***

So what about you, Narrators? What do you think we can do to improve the chemistry quality in Blasian media? I, for one, see a pattern here: the best people to portray Blasians...are Blasians themselves.

Go figure.

Kiss from "Unbowed" - Extended Scene

2011-09-13T01:57:00.003-04:00

Is it any wonder the AMBW movement goes hand-in-hand with the natural hair movement?

Nibble This 2 (NSFW)

2011-09-08T19:05:00.000-04:00

You will find my editing skills have improved.

The music featured is "Monsters Demons" by British chanteuse and trip hop legend Skye. You can download her whole album Keeping Secrets from Amazon for $6.99. I initially thought of using "Tous les Jour, Tous les Soirs" by Monsieur Nov again, but I thought a change in music would be nice, and hey...I figured it was a lady's turn anyway.

Recommended

Nibble This, Narrators

Jay Tavare and Tembi Locke, an NSFW Cookie

2011-09-07T22:16:00.018-04:00

***This is NSFW. Take that as your final warning.***

This one's been a looooong time coming. My Unbowed DVD finally arrived in the mail today, making this momentous occasion possible.

Drool away, Narrators.

Star Trek: Commander Chakotay

2011-09-07T20:31:00.004-04:00

As with Garrett Wang, I have boundless respect for "Latindio" actor Robert Beltran for the BS he put up with while starring on Star Trek: Voyager. If you Google his name, along with the usual options you get "Robert Beltran Hates Star Trek" and "Robert Beltran Hates Voyager".

"Certain" Trek fans haven't been pleased with how candid Beltran's been about his displeasure with Star Trek; some even go so far as to talk about the "big chip on his shoulder" (gee...where have we heard that one before?). We at the Narrative, however, totally understand why he's mad.

Character Pros

1) Commander Chakotay was the first Native American we saw regularly serve as bridge officer.

2) Chakotay was also the first POC that audiences saw regularly serve as First Officer to a Captain.

3) Chakotay was a real Maquis, i.e., his home and his people were threatened when the Federation just handed their planet over to the Cardassians.

4) Because Chakotay was the Commander, the writers couldn't constantly pull an Ensign Kim with him. He was the Captain's right arm, and there was no getting around that. He commanded many missions and made many crucial decisions. He was blunt with his Captain and he never ran scared from anyone.

5) We actually did get to learn quite a bit about Chakotay in terms of family, interests (anthropology, boxing), and culture. We learned he was a man of principle, with the ability to empathize with and understand other people (or at least try).

6) Chakotay was sexual (in the beginning, anyway); we saw him out of his clothes (very nice) and we saw him in some (but not nearly enough) romantic entanglements.

Character Cons

*rubs temples*

1) Though the writers technically couldn't pull an Ensign Kim with Chakotay, this doesn't mean they didn't try. There were times when Chakotay's presence actually caught the audience by surprise. It was like, "Oh...forgot you were there. And supposed to be in charge."

2) Because we sometimes forgot Chakotay existed, by the third season we also forgot all those wonderful things we'd learned about him personally. By season six or seven, Chakotay literally had to remind the audience he was anthropologist; it would just randomly and repetitively pop up in dialogue. Dude hadn't been an anthropologist for about five years, but near the end of the show he [read: the writers] suddenly remembered he was.

3) Which reminds me...after about season three or so, the writers also forgot that Chakotay was a Native American with a strong sense of identity. This most likely happened after that god awful episode in which Chakotay basically met his "alien ancestors" because apparently, the only way ancient POC evolved was through the intervention of aliens. - Catastrophic fail.

4) As a member of the Maquis, Chakotay wasn't written as being very competent. He let Lt. Paris into the fold - that was a bust. He let in Lt. Cmdr. Tuvok, who spied for the Federation. He let in Suder, a sociopathic Betazoid who murdered people simply because they looked at him the wrong way (seriously). And he let in Seska, a Cardassian spy pretending to be a Bajoran woman (whom he also slept with and was deeply humiliated by). So when he was made Commander of Voyager, the audience had to pause and wonder if he was, in fact, the best choice for the job. This is highly contradictory writing, because the audience was also "told" of how experienced and seasoned Chakotay was. Well? Which was it?

5) Despite being sexually active, Chakotay's luck with women was on the same level as Ensign Kim's...except Kim got more play. Quick recap for Chakotay: there was the woman who betrayed, violated, and humiliated him, the Captain he couldn't have, the woman he was "programmed" to forget when she left, and then there was that random, last-minute, WTF-were-they-thinking "romance" with Seven of Nine, an ex-Borg drone whose body comprised several deadened and artificial parts - ewww much? - Like...Apocalyptic fail.

Final Verdict

Hell, no. Yet another gorgeous, talented actor of color got screwed over heinously after being cast in a role with immense potential. Beltran's wrath is more than justified. The character Chakotay generated more WTF moments than I can count. By the end of the series I just had to ask, "Why did you people even bother?"

Star Trek: Captain Kasidy Yates

2011-09-07T01:16:00.007-04:00

Fans of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - arguably the best of all the Trek series (from a POC perspective anyway) will remember Captain Kasidy Yates, portrayed by the beautiful Penny Johnson.

Character Pros

1) Yates captained her own freighter ship. She was an independent career woman, and she made decisions which stayed true to herself, rather than simply to please her significant other.

2) Yates was athletic; she devoutly played baseball like a pro.

3) Yates was the unapologetic ally of the rebellious Maquis. She did not explain or justify why she smuggled medical supplies for them, and stood by her convictions even when she had to go to prison for a year.

Character Cons

1) Unfortunately, what people tend to remember about her the most is that she was Captain Sisko's love interest. While everyone else was out doing things, her life became all about him. The show ended with her quitting her job, getting married, and getting pregnant. - Epic fail.

2) Little else is known about Yates, as we saw her very little. Aside for baseball, we don't know any other hobbies of hers. We know she had a brother, but we learned nothing else about her family or origins.

3) Aside for this dress (and her wedding dress), Kasidy Yates was often clad in some truly hideous outfits.

4) Why are Black women in the 24th Century still perming their hair?

Final Verdict

Mm-hm; nice try. A free-spirited freighter captain deserves her own show, rather than simply being reduced to someone else's love interest. "Love interest" is not a purpose; it's a sign of lazy and often sexist writing. Amaya and I are currently enaged in a DS9 marathon and one of our recurring discussions is that Yates was a grossly underused character who ironically had so much potential. Furthermore, Penny Johnson is a clearly beautiful woman and an excellent actor. She was much too good for this role.

Explaining the New Look

2011-09-06T21:51:00.001-04:00

The Narrative is known for taking a cerebral approach to Blasian issues, so I decided on a more professional look. I didn't want to go with any stereotypical designs like random Asiatic-looking writing (that was a background option). I also wanted something gender neutral (i.e., not too femme).

Over the past couple of months, our subscribers have soared. I'm hoping the new look draws further interest.

NaNoWriMo needs more Blasian stories and authors

2011-09-06T01:27:00.020-04:00

As you've seen during the various Blasian Lit threads compiled by the awesome Eccentric Yoruba, Blasian lit is sorely lacking. Let's save this genre by jumping in and joining Ankhesen and Amaya, who are constantly hammering out new tales.

Every year, there is a national writing contest in November called NaNoWriMo. Contrary to popular belief, this contest isn't just for "white folks." It and its resources are for us, too. In fact, our very own Neo-Prodigy wrote the first draft of his novel, Hollowstone, in this contest. In addition, The Hunger Games and Water for Elephants began their lives as NaNo novels.

NaNoWriMo is a contest that requires each person to write 50,000 words, approximately 175 pages of a story from 12:00:01 a.m. November 1st to 11:59:59 p.m. November 30th. It's very simple. If you're so focused on typing this many words, then you shouldn't have time to go back, edit or second-guess yourself. Just sit down and type. It doesn't need to make sense. Just go with the flow. Output and QUANTITY, not quality, matters in November.

You also don't even need to worry about others reading your stories beforehand. When you upload your story for the word count verification, it'll be scrambled. No one will have access to it unless you give it them.

Remember, if we don't write our own stories, THEY'LL continue to write them for us! **shudder**

If you're not ready to write original blasian fiction, by all means, please write blasian fan fiction. Audrey/Dre, Zoey/Demetri, Alice/Kenji, Mika/Raizo, and Uhura/Sulu could all benefit from better stories and better characterizations.

If you think you're ready for original fiction, but feel a bit unsure about things, I have some links that might be very helpful for you.

You could try this tutorial I found at Youtube called "Lesson Story Structure and Plot." It has 12 parts. Before you click on the parts, get your copy of the plotting guide. It isn't exactly the same as the video though (unless he changed it). I like this guy because he's a computer programmer and efficient.

Story Structure Plotting Guide
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9
Part 10
Part 11
Part 12

In my opinion, characterizations are far more important than the actual plot. Rich Hamper's character profile might work well for beginners. He also has a good metaprogram to help you get to the core of your characters.

While you're creating your characters, don't forget the lessons we learned in How to write about Africa by Binyavanga Wainaina and How to write about Aboriginal Australia by Jennifer Mills.

Although I am married to a Japanese man and I know him and his society very well, I opted to not write about an ordinary Japanese male. Instead, I chose to write an Ainu protagonist. This means, the character would be BOTH Indigenous and Japanese. This also means that I'm operating far beyond the scope of my current knowledge.

To HELP solve this problem, I found books about the Ainu people and I sat down and started reading. While doing so, I tried to maintain a careful balance between that of the viewpoint of the scholars/researchers and that of ordinary Ainu people. As expected, I will probably only use 1% of the information I've learned from ANY of these books. That's research for you. I also enlisted the aid of a colleague with ties to the Ainu community. She'll introduce to me to as many Ainu men as I need to capture my character.

At the same time, I decided to think outside the box when writing about a Black woman of African descent as well; hence, I went searching for more books and found a collection that would allow me to write a Black female protagonist whose experiences were vastly different from mine. Right now, creating this character has become somewhat of an obsession. Instead of writing about a young woman from a small Alabama town, I'll write about one who is part-Alabamian and part-Geechee (Kissi). This means she'll have a tangible connection to her African heritage beyond that of skin color. And yes, she will be DARK, extremely dark and beautiful!!!

Admittedly, I'm a geek; therefore, it's probably logical to conclude that my characters would be equally geekish. My Geechee-American female protagonist will be a physicist, perhaps an astrophysicist. I love Neil deGrasse Tyson in the way many of our members love K-Pop idols!

Despite this young lady being so different from me, I thought she also needed to legitimately speak to the universal Black woman's experience in America, so in addition to the discussions we have here, I found books to help me in this area, too.

My Ainu-Japanese male protagonist will most likely be a (marine) Biologist. No pictures for him because I'm only a biology geek while watching documentaries.

Knowledge is power. The more we have, the more powerful we'll be. As far as I'm concerned, I think we should spend more of our time focusing on us, rather than the mainstream.

Blasian Lit Thread #9

2011-09-02T06:12:00.002-04:00

Another (small) compilation of books with Blasian themes, I am happy to say that I have read two of the books below.

After the Morning After by Lisa G. Riley

After another spectacular break-up that totally blindsides her, Dr. Victoria Howell has had it with men. She can’t trust her own judgment when it comes to the male of the species, so she’ll just put her overactive libido on hiatus. That’s her story and she’s sticking to it. The story is slightly altered, however, after a sex-filled night with former colleague and suspected corporate thief Sanjay Banerjee, the walking, breathing aphrodisiac. But it was just one night and one night is all it will ever be. And though she’s sure he didn’t steal from the company, she’s going to make sure he keeps his sticky fingers out of her pants from now on.

Sigh. Victoria, with all of her over-thinking simply makes his head hurt, and Sanjay wishes she would lighten up and admit what they both know: she was meant to be his sex slave and obey his every command. Okay -- joking. But they’re meant to be together, and if she would just get her head out of her ass long enough, she’d see that. Proving that he’s not a thief is minor compared to convincing Victoria. But convince her, he will. And then? Simple. Then he’d have everything he wants.

Purchase from Loose ID, read an excerpt

My comments: As romance ebooks go, I like After The Morning After. I bought it immediately because of the South Asian hero, Sanjay tended to be a bit too cocky for my tastes in a few scenes. Most of my issues with the book are not unique to After The Morning After but they were due to my previous bias (for example both characters consider religion important and this is a source of conflict, Sanjay is Hindu and Victoria is Episcopalian, I couldn't identify with this at all. Mostly because the religion I was born into doesn't fit into that category, and I also have very basic knowledge on world religions generally so I'd never ask the type of questions Victoria asked Sanjay about Hinduism...such as if Hindus believe in God *facepalm*).

Another thing is I am beginning to notice a...trend(?) with South Asian characters in not only Blasian romance books but others too where the male character has supreme sexual skills thanks to the Kama Sutra or from spending time with sex workers in red light districts in Lahore. I can understand that maybe authors want to bring in a twist to their stories, still this rubs me the wrong way. It makes me consider that some people walking on this earth actually believe that South Asian men and women must be skilled lovers thanks to the Kama Sutra *shudders* then again romance stories are not supposed to be realistic are they? I don't even know, I am just uncomfortable with this meme and I want to read a book with a South Asian hero that does not contain 'Kama Sutra' or 'I spent time in the red light district perfecting my skills in the bedroom'.

Saranghae by Imari Jade

Shaundra and Ichiro have returned to Asia after their spectacular wedding, but things are far from perfect. Shaundra still has a fear of flying and Ichiro is worried that she might become addicted to the drugs the doctor prescribe. Shaundra is less than happy that her now successful restaurateur husband is too busy to spend time with her and the Takumijo and Satoshi still hasn’t moved out of the farmhouse. And to make matters worse, Yori and his new bride Amaya has moved in, along with Aomori’s new publicist Cristal Gentry, a striking biracial female who seems to have Satoshi and his best friend Yi-jun Lee, and a popular Korean actor wrapped around her fingers. What’s a poor girl to do to get her husband alone?

Marriage is nothing what Yori Morika expected. His new bride Amaya not only spends money like crazy but she’s back to her old tricks starting mess with Shaundra. He hasn’t helped matters any by continuing perusing Shaundra, who now seems to have a very close friendship with Satoshi. Are there some lines that friends should not cross and was it wise to move himself in the farmhouse with so much temptation just there for the taking?

Cristal Gentry never knew what she was getting herself into when she agreed to become the new publicist for Aomori. Satoshi and Takumijo are bad enough, getting her in trouble with their manager Masaaki, but then she meets Yori and Ichiro and she thinks that maybe she’s in way over her head. Things heat up in her life when her boss sends her to get an interview with the reclusive Korean actor Yi-jun Lee, who just happens to be a friend of Satoshi. Although she’s strictly business with him Yi-jun has plans of his own as he whisks her away to Paris to show her the time of her life. Yi-jun is everything she despises in a man, so why does her heart do a double beat at just the mention of his name? And why does Satoshi’s steamy looks leave her simply breathless?

Sugar N Spice Press

Combat! by K.S. Augustin

She knows the ways of violence and self discipline. Her rival will teach her to surrender to unbridled lust.

Ebony Strike’s opponent in the galaxy’s most notorious underground fighting tournament is adept, focused and mysterious. While her days are spent battling for a prize that will save her starving people, her nights are filled with heady, carnal encounters with the oh-so-delicious Aldanen.

Strikingly handsome with bronze skin and white hair, Aldanen is a skilled martial artist. But he is also not what he seems. He’s undercover for the Fusion, sent to bring down the corrupt Prefect running the illegal tournament. But hot nights of aphrodisiac-fueled sex with Ebony leave him wondering—is this blistering attraction the beginning of a new life, or nothing more than drug-propelled lust?

Caught between a criminal, the law, and her powerful attraction to Aldanen, Ebony is faced with an agonizing choice. To help him, lose the prize money she desperately needs, and possibly end up in prison.

Or sabotage him, grab the money, and run.

Purchase from Samhain, read the first chapter!

My comments: I will be honest, I cannot vouch for this book 100%, as in I am not 100% sure it qualifies as Blasian fic in the sense that the hero is Asian. Aldanen is described as having bronze skin, white hair and amber-green eyes...he really could be of any ethnicity. For what it is worth, the author, K.S. Augustin is Malaysian.

This aside, I bleeping love this book. It is science fiction with a badass black woman battling random alien species. I almost cried in joy after reading the book, I will definitely be reading more from K.S. Augustin. The book I am interested in will definitely not qualify for the Blasian lit thread, War Games is lesbian space opera and it looks like the significant other is a white woman.

Star Trek: Ensign Harry Kim

2011-08-31T16:38:00.002-04:00

~ Special Inaugural Post ~

Like many of my fellow people of color, I have a love-hate relationship with the Star Trek franchise. Firstly, I always rolled my eyes the demographic inaccuracies of the 24th century. The fate of white folks has been sealed as of the 21st Century, yet in the 24th Century, they're not only shown outnumbering POC, but as usual, they're still shown being in charge of everything...and as the default aliens.

Secondly, there's a saying amongst Star Trek fans of color that "humans are the white people of the galaxy". Not only does this one species constantly seem to magically outnumber hundreds of thousands of others, but once again, almost all other species seem subject to their authority, or are portrayed as culturally inferior somehow.

Now, while listening to the commentaries on the DVDs of the various series, I've come to understand that the writers and producers actually did want to do more for women, homosexuals, and people of color on the show, but the studios which owned the rights to the show weren't so forward-thinking, regardless of Gene Roddenberry's vision.

So here's a mini-feature designed to strictly focus on specific Trek characters of African and Asian descent, starting with Ensign Harry Kim, from Star Trek: Voyager.

First of all, I loved the choice of Garrett Wang. He was youthful, good-looking, and an excellent actor - big ups to Garrett Wang. I think he broke stereotypes in some ways, but his character maintained them in others.

Pros

1) Though a competent officer and fighter, Harry Kim isn't a martial arts master.
2) For Asian Americans who longed to see someone more like them on TV, Kim didn't speak with an accent or constantly make meaningless statements about culture or honor. His character was not defined strictly by his ethnicity.
3) Seven years is an awful long time to be stranded in another quadrant, and Kim didn't spend those seven years sleeping alone. We see him on multiple dates with various women, and he even begins the show already having a girlfriend.
4) Along with humans, we see Kim pursue and be pursued by alien women as well.
5) Harry is fine. That's an undeniably good-looking man right there.

Cons

1) Kim is an Ensign. Keep in mind, he's the third Asian member of regular bridge or ops crew since the original series back in the 1960s (Dr. Julian Bashir was the second), but for some reason, we've yet to see an Asian Captain or even First Officer as a series regular.
2) Kim is a clarinet-playing math nerd who wishes he had more confidence with women (like his white male friend Lt. Paris). Fail.
3) In his relationship with every man on the ship, Kim is always the "beta male". Fail.
4) When a character was required to be victimized or tormented somehow by the writing staff, Kim was often first choice (Garrett Wang confirmed this).
5) Only once do we see Kim romantically/physically involved with a woman portrayed by an actress who isn't white.

Final Verdict

All in all, I thought Ensign Kim was a great character. There could've been definite improvements in some place, but obviously none of his flaws were the fault of the actor.

Recommended

Harry Kim and Rinna (Screen Caps)
"Favorite Son", an Historical Cookie

The Blasian Narrative

The Narrative is Still in Love with Wang Leehom

Asking the Right Questions: Black Women in the Asian Music Scene

Jay Park 'Know Your Name'

Pao by Kerry Young

NSFW: The Narrative Honors Keni Styles

Mamas, an Interlude

NSFW

The Visitor

NSFW

NSFW

NSFW

He's Baaaaack: Monsieur Nov

Intimacy (or the lack thereof)

'King Cobra and the Dragon'

Why do brown-skinned anime characters have pink nipples?

Blasian Lit Thread #13

Hadji Demystified: Magic and ethnicity *or* not every ethnic person has to be magical

The 1960s–a time of both change and stereotypes

Finally, an Indian character who’s not a mystic!

To be interesting, you have to be magical, but only if you’re not white

credit: questfan.com

Folklore, and Other Stories (2012)

Cargo adverts

Empire Corner

Blasian Lit Thread #12

Hadji Demystified: Michael Benyaer on Hadji and representation in Hollywood

"First Kiss..."

Blasian Lit Thread #11

The Big Bang Theory: Dr. Rajesh Koothrappali

Ninja Assassin: Concerning the Infamous "Shower Scene"

Star Trek: The Romulan Tal Shiar Operative

My Take on Ninja Assassin...

Accent & Attraction (Updated)

Help Redesign the Narrative

...and Thus His People Were Feared

Star Trek: Captain Richard Robau

First, Let's Lose the Gay Jokes

China in Africa by Edward Bishop

KT...*shakes head*

"Romeo Must Wed", a cartoon cookie

The Narrative Gives a Nod to Gene Cajayon's "The Debut" (2000)

Leehom Wang, You Have My Attention

"Unbowed" ~ Poignant Moments

"Unbowed" ~ Tender Moments

"Corruption" ~ a Book Review

Star Trek: Lt. Hikaru Sulu II

What does it really mean to date/marry a Japanese man?

Black Women/WoC in Japanese Anime and Manga V

'Katanga's Forgotten People'

Black Bride, East Indian Wedding

It's Ready!

Mortal Kombat Reboot: Obviously, We Have to Talk about This

Star Trek: N'Garen, Daughter of Tse'Dek

Star Trek: Lt. Hector Ilario

Blasian Lit Thread #10

Where I come from (Korean American adoptee with Black parents)

Star Trek: Doctor Julian Bashir

Blasian Thread #9.5

F.Cuz (Pronounced "Focus"): A Different View

The Origins of "Corruption"

Introducing the Hirosawas

Eureka: Dr. Allison Blake

Star Trek: Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu

Blasian Chemistry II

Blasian Chemistry

Kiss from "Unbowed" - Extended Scene

Nibble This 2 (NSFW)

Jay Tavare and Tembi Locke, an NSFW Cookie

Star Trek: Commander Chakotay

Star Trek: Captain Kasidy Yates

Explaining the New Look

NaNoWriMo needs more Blasian stories and authors

Blasian Lit Thread #9

Star Trek: Ensign Harry Kim

Hadji Demystified: Magic and ethnicity or not every ethnic person has to be magical

KT...shakes head