Tereza Lee and the DREAM

Tereza Lee

Over on the Hyphen blog, there's a great post about pianist, Tereza Lee, and how her story helped the DREAM Act come about.

While on the surface, her life seems like every tiger mom's dream: she was a child prodigy, accomplished pianist at a really young age, accepted into prestigious music programs, and now earning her doctorates, there were major hardships and struggles to get there.

it's a touching story and a call for action to get the full DREAM ACT passed. we want more success stories like Tereza's.

-m

houstonian wins Masterchef

Season 3 Masterchef winner, Christine Ha

i'd be lying if i said i know what this show is about or any other cooking show on tv. i just eat. pan-seared or flash fried, all i care about is if it's tasty.

but i have to give props to one Christine Ha, a blind chef hailing from my very own streets. in the finale, Ha's competitor whipped up "butter-poached lobster with sweet corn grits, rack of lamb with curry spice and spring vegetables and bacon pecan pie" which was no match to Christine's "Thai Papaya and Crab Salad, braised pork belly with kale and a fried egg, and coconut sorbet with a ginger tuile. "

cmon, it doesn't take a culinary aficionado to know pork belly trumps all. helloooo it's thicker-cut bacon. the only thing that can beat bacon is more bacon. obvi. plus, an egg on top? someone get me Ms. Ha's number. i've got a hunger that only pork belly and fried eggs can cure (it's like breakfast on steroids!).    

what's funny is this yahoo article states the show's host, Gordon Ramsey, was quoted saying Christine won by sticking to her Vietnamese roots---did i read wrong or was the winning dish she made Thai inspired? whatever right? asian is asian! it's all the same! yeah yeah, fuck you too.

to read more about the season 3 Masterchef winner, click here  or read about Christine Ha in the Hyphen Magazine weekly TV round up! 

-m

boba 'til i die...which apparently may be soon

say it ain't so! according to some german research and the huffington post: tapioca pearls cause cancer along with happiness and chew-induced-delight.

i'm waiting for the counter article calling bull shit. i'll be in the corner with my bubble milk tea if anyone stumbles upon it.

-m

calling all texans

today is the first day you can start registering for mail in ballots/absentee ballots.

contact your county voter registration officials for any questions/to register/to say hello.

REMEMBER, last day to register to be able to vote in november is October 9, 2012.
for more deadlines and dates, go here.

and one last thing, do the world a solid and vote President Obama for a second term.
thank you. no, seriously.

-m

gangnam ma

by now, you've all heard the obnoxiously (damn-it's-so-good) catchy song by a south korean rapper by the name of PSY. i first heard it when a friend had it blasting from his gchat window with the message: YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS.

it was a lot of strange images set to lyrics we didn't understand; we shrugged our shoulders and got on with life---and then 6 hours happened: because with the internet now a days, all you need is 6 hours for SHIT. TO. BLOW. THE. FUCK. UP.

it was everywhere. CNN covered it. WSJ's Jeff Yang got in on it. and even our friends over at the Asian American Writer's Workshop had something to say.

but it wasn't until i stumbled upon 'gangnam style mom' on the 'ol youtube, where a son teaches his 60 year old mother the gangnam dance, that i became obsessed--nay--enamored with this pop cultural blip. mama tuts like a boss and for damn sure, this kid got it from his mama.


fuck k-town, i say someone makes a show where gangnam mama battles punk kids in the streets set to a soundtrack of repetitive synthesized beats and the same one or two lines over and over again. the plot doesn't need to be particularly existent, just have people gather in large circles every few minutes, have mama do a lot of handstands, throw her hands up in the air like she just doesn't care, and dress her up in all different colored track suits. you've got yourself a 3+ movie installment (with 3D release!)---jon chu, you're welcome.

-m

have you seen k-town?

frankly, these folks are crazy. 
i would be crazy, but it takes too much effort and i'm lazy. 

i was going to post about the texas primaries, but no one cares about that right?

instead, let's talk about the much-anticipated (i use 'much' lightly here) youtube show, k-town, which follows a group of young (again, used lightly) korean americans--though i think not all of the cast is korean--as they drink, smash, and smash-in faces all over los angeles' notorious korea town.

we've heard the buzz for this jersey shore-inspired show for the last 2 years, but it has just now debuted on the youtube channel: LOUD, after being passed up by different tv networks.

to be honest, it's rather boring to me. maybe because i know people like these 8 who go out and drink and drama, so there isn't that same "huh? really?" reaction like there is with snooki sayz jersey shore. but i don't hate the show, if anything i guess it breaks the stereotypes of asian americans as bookish, nerdy, asexual beings. these 8 are wild, sexual, and not the brightest crayons in the box, and i welcome anything that confuses the minds that try to hold us asian americans to flat, 2D caricatures.

the show just aired its 4th 15 minute episode and while the episodes have been filled with blasé backstory (she slept with him, he slept with her, she likes-hates-him-and-her...), next week's preview piqued my interest with the k-town social convention of booking. a friend told me it involves men paying for high-priced tables at clubs and a funneling of women: attractiveness and frequency depend on the price they paid. hm, that sounds like another social convention by the name of prostitution, but fuck, what do i know?

if curiosity (or boredom) is clawing at your back, here's the first episode of k-town:

but don't blame me if your eyes fall out of your head from heavy bouts of eye rolling, if you suddenly find that you've lost faith in humanity, or if you're just really fucking bored. you have been warned.

-melissa

(anddd just in case there is someone out there who was wondering about the texas primaries...)

houston's abuzz y'all

Wednesday's paper

this is what i, and the rest of houston, woke up to this morning! be still our hearts, could it be that big money j is coming to the H...again? i remember last time he was with the rockets, i was talking to my brother about getting season tickets but then, as we all know, he was cut after only 12 days or so.

here's the above article from the Houston Chronicle, and another stating the Rockets will offer Lin a contract anddddd here's some ESPN speculation on the offer.

i hope he accepts because we all know i love me some jeremy lin, and there's a huge asian american community down here in houston ready and willing to support the young point guard---you hear me, j? we're here and we are loudddd. 

in other news, sorry for the silence on here lately. Diane and Doug are off doing cool things that hopefully they'll share with us on here soon (please?) and i am, unfortunately, typing with one hand because i fell 10 feet while bouldering, not fun. real life ruins everything! 

--update-- lin accepts rockets offer sheet!! will the knicks match it?

--update 2-- IT'S OFFICIAL PEOPLE! J.LIN IS COMING TO HOUSTON!

-m

would you believe it? another asians, bikes, and dogs story

keep 'em coming, i say!


a group of cyclists in china threw a stray dog some chicken and wouldn't you know it? she followed them over 1800 kilometers!

what's that saying: you give a dog a bone, and she'll be by your side forreverrrr.
my friends at google told me that's 1100+ miles she trailed them, and by friends i mean i just googled that shit (for you americans who think the metric system is the bigfoot of numbers).

over the course of 20+ days, the little pup hiked more than 10 mountains and, according to the video snippet above, galloped along side automobile traffic too. couldn't anyone scoop her up when there were cars present? how about a nice basket and some streamers for your bikes, fellow cyclists? that's how i blinged out my roadster.

streamers add horsepower, google it.

i told charlie about the story, but he was too busy to pay me any attention:

holllaaaaaaaa.

-m

you have to see this video outta china

it combines 3 of my favorite things: asians, bikes, and dogs



sometimes people forget how intelligent animals are, that they understand what's going on around them. i'm glad moments like this are captured on camera and shared around the world. 
now, how can i teach charlie to guard my bike?

maybe next year we'll have an asian american idol

i've written before how much my family loves american idol and how we miss simon cowell's tight v-necks and pissy face; this entire season, i've been rooting for heejun han and jessica sanchez. one, because they both sound the way warm chocolate chip cookies taste and two, because i was hoping this would be the year we would have an asian american american idol.

alas, it was not meant to be. georgia crooner, philip phillips, has taken the title and i'm ok with it. he's talented, sultry, doesn't give a fuck about tommy hilfiger, and his eyebrow does funny things while he sings.

i'm confident jessica will go far and that this is just the beginning for the young san diego native. it's probably a good thing she didn't win. hollywood will have to wait a few more years before draping the child in drug habits and eating disorders.

here's philip singing his final song, and my favorite: home




 and as always, here's my girl jessica sanchez with the prayer at the finale:





   *

here's the video of philip being announced as the winner. he makes it halfway through his celebratory performance before letting it all out. it's quite touching and i'll admit even my blackened ice heart got emotional watching:




but i'll tell you what was really touching, i wasn't able to watch the finale live last night and so my family agreed to all wait to watch the recording tonight instead. i stayed off facebook, twitter, yahoo, and gmail all day for fear of seeing an announcement of the winner. i told everyone i came into contact with, "i haven't seen the american idol results yet. please don't tell me who won."

after we all finished watching the recording, my mother turns to me and says: i have a confession, me and dad watched it last night. we're so bad. 


yes, yes you are mother. but i appreciate all the effort that went into pretending you didn't know philip phillips won this year's american idol. <3


-melissa