This nifty flyer was designed by the talented Diana Ho! Check out her amazing art and hire her if you need kick ass graphic designer or other visually artistic and cool looking things!
Ed Lin and I are resurrecting the open mic series at AAWW:
Fri, Feb 12 at 9pm
Mouth to Mouth Open Mic: Celebrate Your Lunacy on Lunar New Year & Valentine’s Day! Asian American Writers Workshop
16 W 32nd St, 10th Fl (btwn Bwy & 5th Ave)
$5 suggested donation; open to the public
This is our first show to kick off the series, so come out to celebrate the Year of the Tiger…and love!
Ed and I will also be on Asia Pacific Radio to talk about the series – tune into Asia Pacific Forum on WBAI on Feb 9 at 7pm. They’ll be doing a half hour on each of us and then we’ll be plugging the mic and the workshop!
I encourage all my fellow Asian creative writer-y type people to come out and share their work/works-in-progress at this event! Our goal is to host a broad range of writers from the Asian American community: novelists, comedians, playwrights, poets, songwriters, etc. etc. The Workshop has held open mics in the past with over 100+ people in the audience – in addition to the artists performing new work – so there’s huge potential here to build an awesome place to create, share and meet other peeps each month!
If you aren’t familiar with the AAWWesomeness (I know, I corny…), check it all out at www.aaww.org for info on workshops, readings and other events. AAWW is an amazing non-profit resource and advocate for AA writers – and has worked with badasses from Jhumpa Lahiri to David Henry Hwang.
And pass the word along as well to your other Asian writer homies! We’re gonna make this thing F***ING amazing!
So the comedy loves of my lives, Tinkerbel Tompsin and Juliet Jeske, are teaming up with me on this great show in Brooklyn nextnext Saturday, February 6 at 9pm:
Sat, Feb 6, 2010 at 9pm
Jen Kwok, Tinkerbel Tompsin and Juliet Jeske Jalopy
315 Columbia Street
Red Hook, BrooklynF train to Carroll St (more detailed directions)
*SUBWAY NOTE: the G Train normally goes there, but it is not running at ALL on weekends in Feb. There is a free shuttle bus thing-y, though*
$10
As some of you may know, Jalopy is really quite possibly my favorite music venue in New York – and definitely in Brooklyn (I could never do Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola like that!).
What I’m saying is that the venue is fucking awesome and worth the trip (it’s a music school with ukuleles hanging on the wall, to boot!), but these are also two of my very best performer friends that were with me from the very beginning of my creative journey – when I surgically remove myself from life as an accountant at Ernst & Young and decided to give improv a try at UCB.
It will be an evening of beautiful (funny) songs, hilarious stories, sick shit and a little bit of sex (we can’t help it)! Between the three of us, we ladies play five different instruments, have at least 3 yards of leg and boast maybe 42 broken relationships. It will be awesome!!!
I’ll be doing a full length set with my band, The Ridiculously Good Lookings, comprised of: Marco Buccelli (drums), Matt Buttermann (guitar) and Charles HehasalastnamebutIcantthinkofitrightnow (bass). Tinkerbel Tompsin opens with her truly luscious/sultry/offbeat Southern Gothic cabaret and Juliet Jeske hosts between sets with drunken musings of a sober woman who is so good at performing that being a clown is her day job.
So I just realized I ain’t posted this video that I did for College Humor a couple months ago. I got to fulfill my dream of wearing yellow spandex and a freaky mask to portray a Power Ranger in order to explore the role of racism in a mid-90s Saturday morning live action kid’s series. Go, go Power Rangers!
Randomly assigned colors - like tiddly winks!
UPDATE: Unfortunately, dumbhead WordPress won’t let me embed a College Humor video, so here it is. Travel this-a-way!
Check out my new blog pic by Joanna Dela Rosa! I met Joanna through a web series shoot almost a year ago, and this is one of the pics at the shoot! I ran around the crazy, mixed-up rock garden of PS1, peeking out of labryinth-y concrete walls with a bunch of balloons that were schlepped from the 14th Street party store. Ahhhh, creative memories! Anyway, this whole get-up (avec pigtails) was all part of the pop star character I was portraying – and not exactly me, but a memory of a fine spring day in an artsy square mile of Queens!
After a brief – OK, 4 month – hiatus, my blog has pulled a Mr. Belding/Screech and has come back to its rightful place at http://jenkwok.wordpress.com, never to have a career elsewhere ever again!
Screech & Belding: Never to Dance with the Stars, simulate sex in a Las Vegas pool or realize you looked better as a blonde.
SOOOO many reasons:
1. Website-based blog did not allow me to see blog/post traffic (IT’S 2010 – MY SELF-ESTEEM IS BASED ON CLICKS)
2. I don’t think people were reading this schizz when the blog was at http://jenkwok.net (WERE YOU?)
3. People were still viewing and commenting on THIS blog even though it had “moved” (SQUATTERS…!)
4. wordpress.org is superior in everyway to wordpress.com (I’M A HIPPIE)
5. The other website gave me SPAM (THIS IS NOT HAWAII)
Anyway, happy house microwaving to my blog for being back here.
I hope to blog more in the new year (and if I don’t, this post professing my still born new year’s resolution to the world will remain on the front page as a total embarrassment to its family).
For many jolly – but not particularly religious – people across the country, clear “Christmas” lights are the preferred method of bring in the holiday spirit without any sort of preachiness.
Until now:
Say whaaaaaaa?!
And from a different angle:
Are you sure you don't mean "Warning: Small parts may be hazardous to children"? or "CHOKING HAZARD!!!"?
My friends Ho Ying and Louise got these lights from their local 99cent store in Sunnyside, Queens and couldn’t help but notice these craaazy-ass admonitions printed on the box.
Apparently, these lights are made by a Flushing company called Trisonic, which manufactures all sorts of 99cent store electronic notions like: cables, power strips, “beauty care kits” – and of course, “WTF?!” Christmas lights.
I don’t know what someone did to someone else to cause Person #2 to put this sort of thing on a mass-produced holiday decoration, but nothing can be as horribly and RELIGIOUSLY in-your-face as Forever21’s mainstream evangelicalism (forcing all middle class American women to carry their $12 tank tops home in a Bible-quoting bag).
I can only guess that this Flushing-based company is Chinese-owned – hence the doomsday Confucious-meets-Werner Herzog tone of their product packaging. But however out-of-place, these box proverbs are at least slightly more insightful than what you’ll find inside of a fortune cookie. And in fact, Trisonic seems to practice what it preaches in terms of continuous improvement. From the “About Us” section of their requisite generic/creepy corporate website:
“Each on of our Trisonic products is manufactured using the latest technology and finest materials. To best serve you, we regularly update our current products to match your needs while keeping our prices low and our quality high. By being on a constant watch for new ideas in order to develop the best products, we are always here to supply you with your changing needs.”
Clearly copied from a college management textbook, but a clever business model to SUPPLY customers with needs – which apparently are philosophical reminders! And as an INFP personality type, I can totally appreciate a little moral Post-it note here and there.
In fact, this box has inspired to make a few of my own holiday product warnings:
TINSEL!
“Do not allow yourself to be be strangled by close-minded desires.”
GARLAND!
“Life is a circle of pain that you should not contribute to with your own selfishness. Or else.”
ORNAMENT!
“Those who judge others will suffer the consequences, as the apocalypse is nigh.”
STOCKINGS!
“People who shirk their responsibilities will suffer inescapable lifelong guilt and face strong punishment in the afterlife. You hear that, Anthony?!”
What’s up with the television?! It is making me sad.
First of all, Gossip Girl is sucking with it’s bad porn hair, TrachtenDuff teen slut double-punch and threesome?! Like so many shows, this schizz just doesn’t translate to college. All the camp was great when these kids were kids, but now we’re supposed to care about them growing up? Isn’t this show supposed to provide a sort of infantile – albeit, sexy – escapism?
Who cares?! Who cares?! And who cares?!
SYTYCD falls short of its own self-aggrandizing. This is the opposite of self-fulfilling prophecy. This is like what’s going to happen to the Kardashians or something. First of all, Paula Abdul fails to show up after much hullabaloo, the new stage is wack, and there hasn’t been one memorable routine yet (although with all the tears, you’d think they were all Twyla Tharp dances about orphans with cancer). Plus, boooo to losing the biggest asset ever: Mia Michaels. And boo to Nigel for patting his own back so much there’s probably a hole in his suit over the right shoulder. Even former “star” choreography Dan Karaty has fallen so far as to be a COMPETITOR in Bravo’s new “Launch My Line“. So Mary Murphy will be on Real Housewives of San Diego next (God knows you don’t actually have to be a wife to be on that show)?!
I don't care if it's a Top 20 of tap dancing Asians - I don't want to see pixels behind dancers unless it's a live show performed below 14th Street!
Ugly Betty is the only show I watch regularly that is just getting better with time. Becki Newton’s Amanda gets sassier by the eye squint, Justin’s self-discovery/denial is riveting, and a this show is somehow topping itself even though it’s had multiple murders and a tranny since the first season! Sometimes bigger is better, but mostly it’s that better is better.
Ooooh, child! Jamie Lynn-Sigler's gonna give you some cult juice!
Date an Asian has inspired 697 comments thus far – some loving, some passionate, some utterly bat shizz cray-cray, and an unexpectedly large number about whether Ph(F)ilipinos are “Asian” or not. It was like one loooong conversation with the public as one schizophrenic-ass commenter.
A Two-Month Conversation On YouTube
by Jen Kwok and YouTube Commenter
YouTube Commenter: This is gonna go viral haha
Jen Kwok: Yes, it just did! In fact, it was on MTV Iggy, Angry Asian Man and Buzzfeed – and it was the YouTube #1 Comedy Spotlight Video! I can hardly believe it.
YouTube Commenter: This is what I’ve been telling people all along. I’m a 28 y/o smooth skinny white guy now and most other gay guys that fit that description aren’t interested in asians. But I’ve been dating asian guys ever since I was 17…most have a lot to offer…in fact my faith in God is reinforced by how many wonderful, beautiful Asian men there are in the world…our culture should recognize this…
Jen Kwok: Thank you for getting it, SSWG!
YouTube Commenter: Comment removed by author
Jen Kwok: Did you say something?
YouTube Commenter: Comment removed by author
Jen Kwok: Oh. Okay, I guess not…. I just thought I heard…
YouTube Commenter: WOW, WOW, Did she just say SRI LANKAN????? AWESOME
Jen Kwok: Yes. Yes, I did Hehe.
YouTube Commenter: man..this song is gonna get some pussies for my asian cock!!
Jen Kwok: Haha, yes. Well… IF you manage to treat the ladies attached to the pussies decently for at least a few hours first! HAHA *sigh* And to think my song might have something to do with it…. Young love – so buoyant and multi-partner-y and carefree until consequences happen!
YouTube Commenter: Holy crap I have the same Accord with the same paint color. Just mine is more faded.haha
Jen Kwok: Ha ha. WOW. Ha! Whoah. I can’t believe you used ZERO exclamation points in a comment that started off with the worlds “holy crap”. Haha! I would have thought that was punctuation-ally impossible, but you just proved me wrong. Wow! Whoah! Geez! That was the most mellow realization ever. Haha!! hoho! Heehee…
YouTube Commenter: I took your advice.. and I fucked the first asian guy I saw. Thanks.
Jen Kwok: ….haha! Heehee! Oh God. Sorry, I’m still laughing from the comment before yours. But, hey – you’re welcome. And thanks for taking this message to heart and reporting it in such a matter-of-fact way. That means it happened.
YouTube Commenter: your dad’s kinda hot.
Jen Kwok: Thanks. He’s actually Phil Nee, an awesome stand-up comedian and photographer. He’s not really my dad.
YouTube Commenter: lol was that over the line? sorry =P
Jen Kwok: No, no, no. Phil’s a very lovely man. But if you had said that about my real dad, I probably would have cut you, LOL
YouTube Commenter: Hahahaha I love this video! I love you Jen Kwok! I AM Dating an Asian guy, his name is Tim! Ha
Jen Kwok: Awww, that’s great! God, I’m a sucker for a love story. Well, Tim sounds like a great guy, and I wish you two the very best
YouTube Commenter: I think all Asian men should be more aware of what is going on. Asian women have affirm the racial stereotypes of Asian men. Asian women, along with the white majority have effectively turned future generation of Asian kids into eunuch. It is funny, that white people and Asian women are laughing at us in public. When you have comedian like Ester Ku and ANTM Gina Cho making stereotypical statement about Asian men in the media, and the 50% out marriage rate to only whites, there is something
Jen Kwok: *nodding* OK….I see what you’re…
YouTube Commenter: cont. deeply wrong with America. The fact that there is a video like this shows you how bad things have gotten for Asian men in this country. Women are laugh at us. I am a good looking guy and when I go on my travel, I still get the small dick stereotype out in public. Is this what my son going to have to grow up in? Asian women with whites reinforced stereotypes. So as far as I am concern, Asian women are pretty much the enabler of the emasculation of Asian men in American.
Jen Kwok: Man, I’m sorry you feel that way, but my intention was actually to subvert those stereotypes. I can’t help it if people don’t get what I’m trying to do, but…well….
YouTube Commenter: its just a fucking joke. stop getting so butt hurt. it is hilarious.
Jen Kwok: Aww, thanks for coming to my defense! But…are…people really getting “butt hurt” on my video? I mean, I’m not really even sure what that means. Like, are they sitting too long and unable to go to the bathroom or something, or…. Well, at any rate, I hope they’re not getting “butt hurt”. Unless that’s what they’re into. I’m not here to judge….
So I haven’t posted in a loooooooong time, due in part to an excuse, some other excuse and a variety of additional excuses I just made up because the first two seemed a little broad and inadequate.
The past couple of weeks, I did two of events that were completely awesome and happened to be rooted in the AA/APA community (and like LGBTQXZ-1, I’ll probably never take the time to figure out what the most inclusive acronym is).
The first event was Page Turner, The Asian American Literary Festival hosted by The Asian American Writer’s Workshop. I was part of a panel called “The New Eclectics”, which also featured the amazing and fun Sesshu Foster, Porochista Khakpour and Ed Lin. All the Asian American literati were there, including the highly decorated/awe-inspiring David Henry Hwang and Jhumpa Lahiri! Last night, I was also part of the line-up for Columbia University’s Cultureshock, hosted by their Asian Amerian Arts Alliance, which had everyone from uber-sexy FR3sh dance crew, and my comedy homie Eliot Chang, who just taped his Comedy Central Presents.
I’m not going to venture to explain what AA/APA/AAAAAA/AZN writing or entertainment is, but it’s clear to me that there is a certain recognition and community when you’re in a room full of people who share the same life-long identity crisis. We’re not post-racial, but I *think* we’re past Phase-1 rice jokes, and I know that I’ll write many more songs where the biggest laugh does not occur after the world “bubble tea”.
Even 5 years ago when I was in college, I don’t think there were as many established Asian performers out there that I could watch or read or visit the abandoned MySpace pages of.
I’m excited to say that I’m playing with my band again next Friday, Oct 9 at The Blarney Stone!!!
That’s right – I’m plugging in my uke and rockin’ various tunes with Marco Bucelli (drums), Matt Buttermann (guitar) with A Bass Player (bass) and special guest, my boy Soce, The Elemental Wizard. If you’ve ever wanted to hear the live band version of my hit, Date an Asian, this is your chance!!! I’ll be doing songs new and old, funny and “serious”!
We’re opening up for the album release party of my friend/former college flatmate/bandmate, Bracey Smith’s band, Charm Face (isn’t that an awesome name?!?!)! They are big in Japan. Seriously. They just came back from Japan, where they were big.
(Right outside of Penn Station/MSG by the corner of 31st St and 8th Ave)The party starts at 8pm
The Jen Kwok experience will start at 8:30
The Comfort Food music video premiere will be at 9:30
and Charm Face will start at 9:45
It is making me sad.
