MANOJ from Zia Mohajerjasbi on Vimeo.

Via the A Song For Ourselves blog, embedded here is a wicked mockumentary about a comic named Manoj - making fun of accents, comedy, white fans... Check it out and soak up that irony. The real life comic goes by the name of Hari Kondabolu, and can be found here and here.

This isn't the first time I'll be linking the A Song For Ourselves blog, which I found via Angry Asian Man (see sidebar). (This blogging thing is nuts!) Tons more of interest.

Enjoy!

Fa ra ra ra ra, ra ra ra ra.

You probably heard that Tina Fey (writer and star of one of the Blaaag's favorite shows, 30 Rock) made the cover of Vanity Fair again (her last time was with Sarah Silverman and Amy Poehler as the three funny graces). There's all this hullabaloo about the article's inaccuracies and the controversy of Tina's ugly years, but what really screamed at the Blaaager inside me was this quote:

Fey recalls she was at her heaviest in Chicago and, later, sitting at a desk at S.N.L. “I’m five four and a half, and I think I was maxing out at just short of 150 pounds, which isn’t so big. But when you move to New York from Chicago, you feel really big. Because everyone is pulled together, small, and Asian. Everyone’s Asian.”

Oh, Tina, you're right about New Yorkers being thinner (it's the walking more miles per day than any other city thing), but I'm sure there are lots of not pulled together, not-so-small Asians in Chicago (and New York) too.

In the vein of last year's Max Karson incident, Vent Magazine sent a Facebook message about a new bout of racism that occurred in Boulder, Colorado:

A 22-year-old Asian-American was repeatedly punched in the face early today in Boulder and forced to say "I love America," Boulder police reported.

That attack and a reported sexual assault led to condemnations from both university and city officials.

The Asian-American victim told investigators that he was walking in the area of 10th and Marine streets with friends about 1 a.m., singing a song from the movie "Team America." He said they were confronted by four men.

One of the men — described as being a blond white male about 19 or 20 — said, "Do you think you are an American?" called him a "Chinaman," punched him in the face "multiple times" and told him to say that he loved America, police said.

This is so sad. I love Team America, so I'm almost positive that the song the attackers were singing is "America! Fuck Yeah!". But the movie is a satire of American politics, and the song is meant to be ironic. What is it with people not understanding comedy and turning it into something ugly and sad instead?

Take a look at this video, in which Jon Stewart on The Daily Show tackles several key controversies relevant to media and racism, and reminds us once again how critical thought can redeem the news in our society.

There will still be Blaaagers hard at work to bring you the content that you'll be browsing at your internship next week, when you're supposed to be "working". Hell, why don't we start now? Here's a clip from SNL that may blow your ironic comedy socks off. (Or not.)

Great advice from spoken word artist "Ivycat aka La Chinita aka the Eternal Birthday Girl aka Ivy Le"... What not to ask an Asian-American woman in a bar

1) Where are you really from? "I really am from Texas, and I don't care where your Asian ex-girlfriend was really from, either."

2) Do you ... speak any other languages? "Nice try. Unless we're having a deep conversation about linguistics while the maitre d' decants our Malbec, stop asking me where I'm really from."

3) Ching chang chong? "I actually do speak a few languages, but I don't understand Bigot. I'd tell you what I usually say to this question, but you can't print it."

4) You know I love Asian women? "Yeah, Buttercup, I could tell you were sexually objectifying me due to my race from the parking lot. You know, your fortune cookie says I will never sleep with you?"

5) What are you? "I have no words to reply, only drinks to throw."

Taken from this dubiously Fallout Central-like site. (Listen to the spoken word poem! "I'm not Korean, but I speak fluent Fuck you!")