racialicious:

Asian Pacific Arts: What about opportunities abroad? Have…you pursued working in Asia?

Russell Wong: Yeah, I’ve been working on my Mandarin; I have to have a command of the language. I think a lot of people are working there — John Woo and Ang Lee are casting. I’ve been in Hollywood 22 years; I’ve had a couple good breaks with TV and martial arts things. And martial arts movies are fun – I like to do them, I’m athletic, I can do it – but story wise it’s a bit stereotypical and limiting in a lot of ways. And outside of that it’s pretty quiet. I get a couple guest spots on TV here and there. 

But that’s why I really liked doing [Undoing]. It was really fun and interesting. There’s more sense of freedom because you’re not trying to fit into what the studio wants. As an independent, you have more artistic expression. But going back to your question, there’re a lot of people going to Asia. There’re lots of resources and raw material in China as far as stories and content are concerned, so I’m probably going to explore that this next year. [In] Hollywood, there’re not many Asians. I just can’t wait around anymore. 

APA: Russell, you’ve been in the game longer. How has your career outlook changed? Have you had to make adjustments?

RW: Yeah this is a game of adjustments, that’s for sure. I wanted to do the martial arts thing for a while and I got to a level. I got to work with Jet Li which is where I wanted to be. But I didn’t have the resources or I didn’t use my resources well enough to do what Sung did and make my own movie. That’s what I should have done. But I did the TV thing – Black Sash. It might have been a better decision to make an independent action film. It’s just a matter of doing it. 

APA: Have there been opportunities you’ve passed up and regretted?

RW: Yep. [laughs] I passed up the TV series, because I was run down. Doing action 8 days for an episode, 2 action sequences a week – it takes a toll on you. That’s why I like film. It’s a 22 day shoot; it’s less of a grind than 5 months. That’s why I like this role in Undoing. Where else am I going to get a chance to do a character like this? 

APA: Sung, you mentioned earlier about Asian Americans wanting their own Johnny Depp character, and to me, that means some sort of cool sex icon. In a way, Russell’s been filling in that void for the last 15 years. What do you think it’s going to take for an Asian American man to attain that level?

Sung Kang [producer/co-star, Undoing]: I think yeah, Russ has been filling that void. Even with Joy Luck Club – it’s that animalistic sexuality. It’s in-your-face sexuality. But I think that definition needs to broaden a little bit. The more dimensions you put into a character, sexuality eventually comes out. Harrison Ford is a very sexy man. But compared to Johnny Depp, does he hit the 15-16 year old demographic? I don’t think so. But his sexuality is very different, it’s a different definition. 

And a definition that I’m so digging—Russell Wong is this week’s Racialicious Crush! Check out my (and the R’s Senior Editor Tami Winfrey Harris’) appreciation of him—and on his birthday, no less!—on the R today. 

Dreamboat. I loved Vanishing Son. 

"People say kids always tease and that it’s an innocent rite of passge, but it’s not. Every time an Edgar or Billie called me “chink” or “Chinaman” or “ching chong” it took a piece of me. I didn’t want to talk about it, and kept it to myself. I clenched my teeth waiting to get even. Unlike others who let it eat them up and took it to their graves, I refused to be that Chinese kid walking everywhere with his head down. I wanted my dignity, my identity, and my pride back; I wanted them to know there were repercussions to the things they said. There were no free passes on my soul and everything they stole from me I decided I’d take back double."

Eddie Huang, “Fresh Off The Boat: A Memoir” (via girlxploded)

Need to read this book.

(Source: delask, via angryasiangirlsunited)

warsan is elsewhere.: crude conversations with boys who fake laughter often. →

warsanshire:

I think of my cousins circumcision, how she feels like a mermaid, not human from the waist down.

manilaryce:

(via Fred Ho refutes the claim that Richard Aoki was an FBI informant)

A rebuttal to the sloppy and opportunistic claims of Seth Rosenfeld that Richard Aoki was an FBI informant.

"It was in the style of the last century for poets to be tormented melancholiacs. But there can be poets who know life, who know its problems, and who survive by crossing through the currents. And who pass through sadness to plenitude."

Pablo Neruda

(Source: theparisreview.org)

"Self-consciousness is only your own vanity"

Roy ‘Papi’ Choi

(Source: ridingshotgunla.com)

"Oh, there is no advice to give to young poets! They ought to make their own way; they will have to encounter the obstacles to their expression and they have to overcome them. What I would never advise them to do is to begin with political poetry. Political poetry is more profoundly emotional than any other—at least as much as love poetry—and cannot be forced because it then becomes vulgar and unacceptable. It is necessary first to pass through all other poetry in order to become a political poet. The political poet must also be prepared to accept the censure which is thrown at him—betraying poetry, or betraying literature. Then, too, political poetry has to arm itself with such content and substance and intellectual and emotional richness that it is able to scorn everything else. This is rarely achieved."

Pablo Neruda

(Source: theparisreview.org)

The re-definition of gender is happening, and it’s good.

vaganja:

grasstomyknees:

I love this :)

Basically.

(via piathabia)

"I’m riding him like freakin’ Secretariat"

Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni on Jeremy Lin

(Source: Washington Post)

THANK YOU Cindy Fang. Ethnicity guessing game, parental origins questions, pillow talk… I can relate to practically all of the scenarios. 

Also, I love this (in the YouTube description):

Q: Is that a fake wig and mustache?
A: Good eye! That is indeed a fake wig. The mustache is my own.

So. Good.

msmorose:

fuckyeahethnicwomen:

Shit White Guys Say… to Asian Girls (by GrumpyPandaFilms)

So many role reversals. 

Also, this was my high school.

Oh my god. FINALLY. This is my life. Especially when I worked in Pasadena restaurants. All creepy white men zeroed in on me as THE Asian employee. I’ve been called Philippines and Samoa (I lied to a customer and he drunkenly shouted across the table to me “Samoa” all night). When customers asked where I was from, they asked where my parents were from, and because I was paid to be polite and subservient (food service is subservience) I said Philippines. I’ve lost count of how many times people snarkily say “I knew it.” It’s like if I walked up to a white man and said “you look like a douchebag, are you white?”