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Whooo... the below copied from an email again from Jian Zapata.

At approximately, 12:40pm today Senator Richard Burr's amendment to strip FilVets provisions out of S. 1315 was struck down, 56-41.


At approximately, 1:00pm today S. 1315 PASSED its final vote in Senate, 96-1.


THANK YOU to all who contacted their Senators & for all the ongoing support! And above all else, MARAMING SALAMAT to our HEROES, our veteranos.

We are SO close to correcting the injustice for our Filipino veterans. Next steps.. the House!



















The walk out demonstration, organized by a group of grad/undergrad students, started at the Sun Dial at noon today. Speakers included professors with expertise on the Middle East, Iraq War veterans (IVAW members), and unreserved students (with reps from Lucha and Columbia Coalition Against the War).

At 2 PM, demonstrators surrounded the Alma Mater on Low Steps (hooded and holding electric wires, a painful reminder of the infamous Abu Ghraib photograph), linked arms, and stood silently for fifteen minutes in a nonviolent protest. Under urgent beckoning, administrators rushed by and watched the scene, ready for any sort of commotion that might arise. Meanwhile, a few organizers remained at the table and read out names of the dead in Iraq.

After the "human chain" broke, the crowd trickled back to the Sun Dial and listened to the name reading. Due to the heat from the burning sun, organizers dutifully passed around cups of water (and divestment petitions).




(Change your Facebook photos!)

In case you didn't already put the pieces together after listening to people read out names of the dead all week, read all about Columbia University's protest against the War in Iraq here, here, and here. PC members will be in attendace (our own Ryan Fukumori designed the flyers), so be on the lookout.


This is part two of the Harold and Kumar Q&A / Interview series, where Neil Patrick Harris answers questions about acting and his role in this movie. We're still not totally sure how it relates to Asian America, but I'm sure this is just the buildup to the Kal Penn part, which Calvin will transcribe in due time.

NPH enters smiling; a reporter shrieks and NPH laughs at her. I make fun of fellow interviewer: ‘She’s actually not here to interview, we found her on the street and paid her to looked excited.”

NPH laughs as he sits down and is asked the first question.

What was your career like before it took off?

NPH: My career was very different back then: I did a lot of Broadway: Cabaret, Proof, Assassins. I wanted to cultivate a skillset without worrying about the fame ramifications of it. Harold & Kumar was nice in that it was a quick glass of notoriety.

John & Hayden (The writers & directors of the Harold & Kumar movies) was fans of me way back, and they thought it was funny to write me in the movie, and so they did. And then I read the script, responding that I loved it.

Are you upset that you got killed off?

NPH: Did you not stay until the end of the credits?

Journalist who had asked that question gets quiet.

NPH: There are 250 people out there who are cursing your name right now. Think about them. What about the gaffers? The grips? Shame on you.

What is your schedule like?

NPH: The TV schedule is more than half the year and is a bigger time commitment for what’s usually owed to Broadway: 6 months. There’s no time to the do the 12-14 month gig.

Has anyone mentioned a Doogie Howser reunion movie?

NPH (laughs): No.

How similar are you in real life to NPH in the movie?

NPH: Almost surprisingly similar...but no, really, it’s everything up until the point I stopped using a fake ID.

Was it your or the writers’ say to make your character very sexual?

NPH: You know, they wrote me that way before they even met me; before they knew me at all. Thats the idea they had of me when they wrote me. Yeah...

NPH then talks about his Whoopi Goldberg stand-in lovechild in the film. If you have no idea what we’re talking about, then go see it...NOW!

So do you prefer to eat at White Castle?

NPH: I’ve only eaten at White Castle late late late at night. I’m not an onion guy, and that’s like the main part of what makes those “sliders” so great, right? So it’s not my thing. I would have to order them sans-onion, but then again what’s the point? I might as well go to McDonalds.

How did you feel about H&K when you were filming it?

NPH: When you’re filming a movie, you have no sense of how it turns out until much much later. It’s very nice to have this role in this chapter of my life because it’s nice to have a demographic like me to have nice things to say.

And what do they say?

NPH: A lot of specific questions of “did that really happen? Did you really ride a unicorn? Did you really snort coke off a stripper’s ass?”

If your body could be made from anything else than skin and bones, what would it be?

NPH: Silly putty.

Like Gumby?

NPH: Like Stretch Armstrong.

What role do you look forward to doing that you haven’t done?

NPH: Someone villainous. I’m always envious of the super-villain in the Batman movies. Those are an actor’s dream job.

So whats the next thing?

NPH: There are a few more episodes of “How I Met your Mother.” Then there’s this project involving a site specific theater thing. It’s like an interactive activity with the audience....you’ll see.

What did you think of the writer’s strike?

NPH: The strike was strange because all of a sudden you find yourself trying to create your own material. I did something with Joss Whedon (creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer). It’s this Dr. Horribles Sing-Along thing...yeah, I can’t describe it.

Will you direct?

NPH: Oh yes. It’s a big time commitment; with Harold & Kumar I work for 5 days whereas the director works for 18 months. There’s so much more involved behind the camera.

And that’s a wrap! As he takes pictures with the journalists, I ask the final question:

So what would Neil Patrick Harris do?

NPH (laughs): The question is: What wouldn’t NPH do?


Next up: KAL PENN!

Progressive hapa film director Eric Byler has produced another film in his series on 9500 Liberty in Prince William County, VA. Take a look! Below the embed is his own writing.



Our latest 9500 Liberty video is an important piece of the immigration puzzle in Prince William County, VA.

If enough people see this, we may improve the lives of immigrants and other residents of Prince William who are watching county's social fabric fall apart as immigrants flee in droves and the economy and housing markets plummet as a result. The video encourages the Chairman of the Board of Supvervisors to distance himself from a hate group (so classified by the Southern Poverty Law Center). If the Chairman does indeed separate from his former political allies, we may recover from this period of racial tension and division much sooner than I thought
possible.

Also, if you have a cogent voice to lend us, please comment on the video on the new blog www.antiBVBL.net, established by a moderate (and kind-hearted) Republican, as a beacon of hope and reason.

http://www.antibvbl.net/index.php/2008/04/12/does-corey-have-a-greg-problem/#comment-4503

AAA just got this NAASCon update from FilVets activist Jian Zapata. Read it and act!

Earlier today, April 22nd, the cloture vote on S. 1315 (Filipino Veterans) PASSED the Senate 94-0. This means that debate on S. 1315 begins for UP TO 30 HOURS, and amendments can still be brought up to water down or strip out provisions for Filipino veterans.

Please CONTINUE to contact your Senators to:

* Vote in favor of S. 1315
* Oppose efforts to weaken provisions of the bill

Call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121
Message-- "I urge you to support our Filipino World War II veterans and to vote in favor of S. 1315 Veterans Benefit Enhancement Act. Yes on S.1315 AS IS - oppose amendments to the bill."

- OR -

Find your Senate folks here..
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
Simply copy&paste the following text into the web form..

***

Dear Senator:

I urge you to support our Filipino World War II veterans and to vote in favor of S. 1315 Veterans Benefit Enhancement Act.

We must correct the grave injustice done to Filipino veterans when they were divested of their rightful US veteran status. On July 26, 1941 when the Philippines was a colony of the United States, President Roosevelt issued a military order calling all organized military forces of the government of the Philippines into the service of the Armed Forces of the United States. The Filipino veterans are those individuals who responded to the call of President Roosevelt and served under the U.S Armed Forces during World War II. They fought as American nationals under the American flag and under the direction of the US military leaders.

These veterans have been waiting for far too long. Let us not forget these heroes. VOTE YES ON S. 1315.

Sincerely,

YOUR NAME
STREET ADDRESS
CITY
, STATE ZIP

This interview with Christopher Meloni marks the beginning of a series of Harold and Kumar 2 interviews which our AAA Chair and guest blogger Calvin Sun also conducted with Kal Penn and Neil Patrick Harris (what would NPH do?). Fans of Law & Order: SVU, Oz, and/or Wet Hot American Summer are free to emit cries of joy.

Sadly, there are no pictures because Chris's agents were especially unfriendly compared to Neil's and Kal's.


Christopher Meloni - Freakshow in Harold & Kumar; Detective Elliot Stabler in Law & Order: SVU; Chris Keller in Oz; Gene in Wet Hot American Summer


[The following is a transcript of Calvin's interview]

[Christopher Meloni walks in shouting “Heyyyy!” as our roundtable of four journalists, including myself--pretending to be one--buzzes with excitement. We spent two hours waiting; and at that moment those two hours seemed worthwhile.]

[Christopher sits down and jokes around a bit with one journalist who yelped when he came in.]

Why did you decide to take up a role as the Middle School Gym Teacher in the Nickolodeon film, Gym Teacher: The Movie?

CM: I took it because of Paul Dinello (Strangers with Candy). It was nice, funny, and Paul would bring a necessary edge so that it wouldn’t be sappy. It was fun. I play this good, but sometimes flawed, sometimes selfish type character that becomes the hero at the end.

[Backstory: Christopher plays "a guy who was the gymnast in the 1998 Seoul Olympics who falls flat on his face on the vaulting horse and never gets over it." Eventually he is socially retarded, becoming a middle school gym teacher tasked with "winning the Middle School Gym Teacher Nationals." But then a clumsy transfer students joins his team and screws up all his hopes of making it big again. And then "he falls for the kid’s mother...it's a GREAT story."]

[Christopher then discusses how Law & Order is finally back on after writer’s strike as Robin Williams is set to guest star in the 200th episode.]

So what was more enjoyable: playing Freakshow in the first Harold & Kumar film or The Grand Wizard in the second film?

CM: I enjoyed Freakshow because he had more scenes to flesh him out and live with him. If you do that, you eventually become very attached. Unfortunately I did only one scene for The Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan scene in Harold & Kumar 2.

(Jokingly) You didn’t get attached to being a part of the Ku Klux Klan?

CM: Well I did subscribe to their mailing list...they got a lot of great ideas.

This is on the record.

CM: HA HA HA, you can put “jokingly” or SOMETHING. You guys do still do that right? But seriously, when I looked into their philosophy, a lot of it is fear-based. It’s sad.

There are a lot of good comedic riffs in Law & Order: SVU series as well. Will there be any romantic prospects?

CM: No comment... The character development and working together with my partner on the show happens organically.

For example, “we have to hug” because it’ll never happen again (referring to a life & death moment on the show). She ends up saving the child, which to me is deeper than sex or having relationships... A lot of people want us to get together on the show, but you can’t always get what you want.

What are your future projects?

CM: A movie called Carriers with Chris Pine (of Star Trek fame), and a Nights in Rodanthe film with Diane Lane.

Do you actively seek out roles outside of Low & Order?

CM: Back then, I needed the money and the exposure. But now, especially when Law & Order: SVU ends, the criteria will now be stuff I want to do, working with good people. John Hurwitz & Hayden Schlossberg (The writers & directors of the Harold & Kumar films) fit the bill here because they’re no longer “up & coming” comedic geniuses...After this film, they’ll definitely be seen to be as good as Judd Apatow.

Do you prefer to do comedies or drama?

CM: I prefer comedy because I’m esconched in drama nine months of the year (with Law & Order: SVU). For example, the cop role would be the last one I would choose unless its with Sidney Lumet (laughs).

How do you find the time?

CM: I’m not pulling the train; I’m the unground kernel of pepper.

Are you looking forward to public nudity again?

CM: I did Oz!!! I peed in a bucket before and showed the full monty before!

Well, is doing public nudity different between pay on HBO than pay in a theater?

CM: I just find it weird that people are more concerned with nudity than with violence in this country.

What else are you looking for in future roles?

CM: I want to be with women in films that don’t fit the status quo; I want to be with women that aren’t pretty, I want to be with a woman who is black, I want to be with women who are overweight... it goes on.

So what will life be like after Law & Order: SVU?

CM: I’m currently setting up a post-SVU life by starting a production company, working with 1-2 writers, auctioning properties. I just produced my first movie: National Lampoon’s Dirty Movie which is about low rent, shoestring budget guys trying to get it off the ground...

[Time’s up; Christopher’s agent/staff comes in and tells everyone to wrap it... Neil Patrick Harris is coming in 30 seconds! One journalist laments that we never actually got to talk about Harold & Kumar 2 with Christopher.]

Hey all!

As this year draws near its end, Mar and I (like good parents) would love to pass on this little baby we've created. However, this means that new blood must rise to the challenge of blogging Asian Americana at Columbia for months on end.

How do you think we can improve? What kind of motivated, progressive APA students would you like to write for this blog? What kind of topics, issues, or events would you like us to cover? Just post your thoughts in the comments of this post. It will be an open discussion forum from which Mar and I will learn where to leave this blog at the end of the year.

This is by no means a farewell post, so look forward for more material from both of us! And post your thoughts! If you're interested in writing / editing for us next year, just shoot us an email!

Asian American University of Maryland Students Mobilize To Save Asian American Studies

(COLLEGE PARK, MD) -- Students at the University of Maryland are stepping up to demand Asian Americans are included in the future of the University. The current draft of the University "Strategic Plan" – a document which governs future resource allocation and academic affairs policy for the next 5 to 10 years – completely ignores Asian American Studies and does nothing to address meeting the needs of Maryland's growing Asian American student population.

Outrage has been vented at several recent meetings of Asian American student organizations and activist groups. Given forecasted fiscal shortfalls for the state of Maryland, many students fear Asian American Studies, as well as other academic programs dedicated to the study of race, gender, sexual orientation and issues of identity, face elimination or severe cut backs in the case of a budget crisis.

"Without inclusion in the Strategic Plan, you don't exist," lamented Pi Delta Psi President Scottie Siu.

As the deadline nears for community input, several Asian American groups are preparing to lobby and write letters demanding that the Provost add provisions to ensure that Asian American Studies be protected and promoted one day into a Major. Other demands include that there should be more needs based assessment surveys so counseling services can be improved, and that there should be a space on campus for Asian American cultural events.

Take action now! Call Provost Nariman Farvardin at (301) 405-5252 and ask that Asian American Studies be in the Strategic Plan!

PRESS RELEASE

Contact: Lee Fang (301) 318-7351 Lhfang at gmail dot com

April 19, 2008


The EXPOSURE opening video



America's Next Top Model MINORITY satire



UmbrellAAA


 

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