Yay legal gay marriage! Yay Helen Zia, renowned APA / queer rights activist!

Read more about it here.

Read it and weep.

As David put it: “The novelty of this report makes me feel like I'm living in the 90s.”

I absolutely had to post this because David and I just had a discussion about Charlotte's adopted Chinese baby (also, I'm a diehard SATC fan). I never knew that Charlotte was so racist, but her racism manifests itself in scene-stealing moments of hilarity (see scene with the Poughkeepsie chocolate pudding). Anyway, here's the list:

1. Charlotte's cute adopted daughter from China, Lily, played by Alexandra and Parker Fong (twins). The gals teach her to say "sex." I guess it had to happen sooner or later.

2. Carrie and Mr. Big's realtor. An older lady wearing lots of makeup.

3. Woman having wild sex with Samantha's neighbor. Very, very naked.

4. Man with an extremely impressive resume interviewing for the job of Carrie's assistant... wearing bright pink heels. Goes from overqualified to emasculated in about nine seconds.

5. Dude with a ponytail, serving Samantha a drink. Seen at a distance. No lines.

Okay, I know I'm being nitpicky about a piece of pop culture fluff, but this is what I do. I can't help it. So what does it mean when a movie rakes in $56 million its opening weekend, is considered something of a cultural phenomenon, and a reflection of our society... and this is the best we can in terms of Asian American representation? I know, it's really the same old story.

UPDATE: Okay, I totally forgot about the Sikh man driving the cab. Also, there were a handful of scattered Asians roaming around the scene in Chinatown. Of course! Gentrification of the lower east side and all. And that's it. Those are all the Asians in "the City." Just like real life, right?

Read the Angry Asian Man entry here.

Like the rest of you, I'm gaping (with anything but surprise) at the first campus character in the April/May issue of The Blue and White. If you're confused about clicking the links, just visit Calvin Sun's Facebook - his profile picture tells all (if you're still confused, see picture above; the illustrations of a Blue and White artist are unmistakable).

For the record, it's partly thanks to us at The Blaaag (and at AAA in general) that Calvin's statement on getting shit after his self-promotions (see paragraph 3, lines 2-3) is true. I will never forget, for example, the day when a girl called members of AAA "Calvin's children" (that's demeaning, did you notice?), and I proceeded to yell at Calvin with as much anger as the winter cold of Low Plaza would allow me. Not because I thought he may have planted the thought into the girl's mind, but because he did nothing to dispute it.

Oh well, this ex-chair deserves his part of a last fling with Columbia press. After '12 arrives, who knows how much of the '08 class will get brushed into the corners?

I've been hearing about this movie for months now (PC's inclination towards working on illegal immigrant workers' rights doesn't hurt). Directed by Sean Baker and Shih-Ching Tsou, Take Out is "a day-in-the-life of Ming Ding, an illegal Chinese immigrant working as a deliveryman for a Chinese take-out shop in New York City." Though the story is fictional, the sad truth is that you can probably find tons of illegal immigrant workers in nearly every restaurant in NYC who share nearly an identical experience to Ming Ding's. Thankfully, the critics have caught on to this as well.

Take Out opens this week in Quad Cinema.

To learn about the sufferings of real service workers, visit JWBS!

New York City
DATE: Sunday, June 8th (TODAY)
TIME: 3:00-7:00pm
LOCATION: Solar 1 (East River Waterfront at East 23rd St, NYC). Rain or shine - we have a big tent!
YOUR HOST: Loving Day and World Up.
RSVP: lovingdayparty@gmail.com
DETAILS: Join us for the largest Loving Day celebration in the nation! We will have free BBQ (all afternoon), free beer (first hour) courtesy of Asahi, free ice cream (first hour) from Ben and Jerry's, free organic soft drinks (first hour) from Steaz, and a big raffle with prizes from Puma and Zipcar! We'll have special performances by DJ Spooky and DJ Rekha, as well as Dhundee! Special thanks to our sponsors: Asahi, Solar One, Ben and Jerry's, Zipcar, Steaz, DJ Spooky, WorldUp, and Puma. Community sponsors: The Association of MultiEthnic Americans (AMEA) and Swirl NYC. We have a huge tent covering the entire space, so we will be celebrating, rain or shine! It's the 5th anniversary of the Loving Day project! We had 1000 guests last year - we hope that even more of you will join us this year! Join our email list to make sure you get invited!
MORE INFO: info@lovingday.org

Check out details on other Loving Day celebrations across the nation here.

I think I speak on behalf of everyone at The Blaaag when I say,

See hilarious entry of minimal relevance, shared by fellow infrequent Blogger David.

This post is temporarily unavailable

Name, School
Tian Xie, SEAS '08

Greatest personal feat of genius, AAA-wise?
Photoshopping the protagonists of Akira Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai into a rock band and a Chinese watercolor into a hip-hop poster for Culture Shock in November 2006. My proudest moment came when a friend asked, "Why are only their instruments in color?"

Fondest memory?
How about the lack thereof at Aftershock, the Culture Shock after party, in Fall of 2006? Actually, I think my lack of memory at Round Three might have been better.

Favorite weekend hangout?
The now defunct Club Excelsior.

Pick your poison, in five words or less.
Vodka Gimlet on the rocks

Name the Asian American activist you think would be best in bed.
Regie Cabico, because he's always ready to go back stage.

Favorite Asian American political cause and why?
Immigration reform because we're currently reaching a watershed moment where major reforms must be made to our broken immigration policy and because I am an immigrant myself.

Favorite AAA yearly/semesterly tradition?
Culture Shock, watching all of your hard work and effort come together in one spectacular evening of performances is just awesome and supremely cathartic.

What would you sooner eat: seasoned cow penis or blended hot peppers?
Most certainly seasoned cow penis. I've already tried unseasoned boiled cow penis and I generally found it large, hard, and ultimately unremarkable. Plus, following along the lines of Cartesian dualism (thank you Columbia education), cow penis is only mentally discomforting whereas hot peppers are (extremely) physically discomforting.

What you'll miss most about AAA, post-graduation
The activism, the community, everything. Honestly, I have no idea how I can stay active in the APA community post-graduation. Considering all the other alumni I know, after graduation you either immerse yourself entirely in community activism by making it your full-time job or you focus on your uninvolved full-time job that leaves you with only a desire to get shit-faced at every moment of free time. Considering that I am already excluded from the former, I will probably resemble the latter (especially on weekends).

Where can we expect to see you in ten years?
I wish I could provide a satisfactory answer to this question for myself, that would at least make my relationship with my parents a lot easier. But dreams aside, there's always Starbucks.

1) Fewer bigger events. Rather than trying to hold an unmemorable event every week, hold one or two unique events per semester
2) Make an effort to get to know each other. Call each other out and hang out on your free time, whether its runs to Hamdel, study rooms in Butler, karaoke, dinner, happy hour at The Heights whatever.
3) Legend speaks of a keystone located at the 96th street subway stop along the 1, 2, and 3 lines. Look for the guardian dolphins, they will guide you to it.