Epicanthus (Beta 0.95)

2008: Year of the Earth Rat

LOFA TATUPU of the Seattle Seahawks is the best linebacker in the NFL, period. Tatupu, the Plainville, Mass.-born son of former NFL running back Mosi Tatupu, was named NFC Defensive Player of the Week after his 11-tackle, three-interception, three-pass deflection game against Philadelphia Dec. 2. Here’s Lofa’s highlight reel (Get VLC Media Player). The Eagles’ prettyboy Chris Gocong is no slouch either. He had five tackles and a deflection in the 28-24 loss. Other Week 13 standouts were New Orleans’ Kevin Kaesviharn and Scott Fujita and the Colts’ linebacker Freddie Keiaho. Representin’ old school API linebacking—Messrs. Bruschi and Seau.

—Moritsugu Berg

Many of us in Southern California grew up watching doll-faced Tritia Toyota anchoring the local news at KNBC and KCBS. She retired sans face-lift or botox in 2000. Her name came up again just before Thanksgiving in a story recalling the tragic life of L.A. newscaster John Schubeck, who drank himself to death 10 years ago.

By the time Schubeck’s life had begun circling the drain, fellow TV journalists, friends and family turned their backs on him. When the end finally came in 1997, Schubeck, who in his prime reportedly commanded seven-figure salaries from L.A.’s three network owned-and-operated TV stations, was living in his car in L.A.’s San Fernando Valley. ERS News (via LAVoice) remembered Schubeck here. (Editor’s note: ERS misspells Toyota’s first name as “Tricia.”)

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Yoko Dolls From São Paulo, Brasil’s Madame Trapo; BoingBoing Spotlights Beryl Tsang’s ‘TitBits’ Knitted Prosthetic Breasts

Surfin’ Flickr the other day, I stumbled upon Madame Trapo’s adorable Yoko dolls. Both Trapo (aka Glá Quicolli) and Yoko live in São Paulo, Brasil, with a gaggle of art dolls of various ethnicities that are for sale. BoingBoing truly is “a directory of wonderful things.” Canadian Beryl Tsang, a cancer survivor who lost her right breast to the disease, didn’t like any of the prosthetic breasts available. “They were too heavy, squishy or ugly.” So she knitted her own! Tsang, a mother of two who lives in Toronto, shows you how to make TitBits. She also accepts custom orders here.

Students and faculty at UCLA’s prestigious school of dentistry are calling for the school’s Korean American dean to resign in the wake of allegations of preferential admissions for relatives of fat cat donors and a state licensing exam cheating scandal.

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“FBI Mined Store Records to Find Iranian Terrorists”

“Feds Hope to Follow Falafel Trail”

“LAPD to Build Data on Muslim Areas”

I chuckled when I first saw these headlines. Later, talk about the FBI’s Muslim mapping and weird preoccupation with fried chickpeas had me staring down into my coffee recalling the wartime tales my elders whispered to me of the dreaded knocks on the door following Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 and of menfolk being hustled off into the night by stern-faced FBI agents.

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No matter how distant the battlefront, history teaches that, ultimately, war comes home. In the case of Los Angeles Times photographer/war correspondent Luis Sinco (above right) and former Marine Lance Corporal James Blake Miller of Jonancy, Kentucky, who together experienced 2004’s battle of Fallouja, a single photo—”Marlboro Marine“—by the Pilipino American shooter has connected the pair forever. Read Sinco’s stirring account of what has happened to Miller and himself after Fallouja and how it changed their views of duty, friendship and responsibility here and here. See LAT video. Hear an NPR interview with Sinco. Sinco’s bio.

YAHOO! cofounder Jerry Yang was raked over the coals by the House Committee on Foreign Affairs Nov. 6 for the Internet giant’s role in providing information that landed Chinese journalist Shi Tao in jail. Meanwhile, Columbia Univ. law professor Tim Wu has been busy trying to keep the Net free from corporate and government control and people are listening. Continuing with this decidedly geeky thread, MIT Media Lab designer/mathematician John Maeda’s Reebok “Timetitanium” kicks are set to drop Nov. 13. You need these sneaks, yo! Finally, the reality TV world is waiting with bated breath for news on the fate of Tila Tequila Nguyen’s bisexual MTV dating show A Shot at Love With Tila Tequila—will it be renewed for another season? Some hope not. Haters.

LISA LEDES—Lisa Wong, the 28-year-old daughter of Chinese immigrants, was elected mayor of Fitchburg, Massachusetts Tuesday with a mandate-setting 72 percent of the vote. Wong defeated City Councilor Thomas Donnelly, 5,728-2,263. Fitchburg, population 41,000, is 50 miles northwest of Boston. Race was a campaign issue in Fitchburg and surrounding communities.

STRIPPER/GRAFFITI TAGGER/MURDER SUSPECT Candy Ellen Srichandr was one of the featured fugitives on the Nov. 3 episode of Fox’s America’s Most Wanted. Ms. Srichandr’s been on the run since May 2006. “Come home, Candy!” BRIG. GEN. PAUL TIBBETS, who piloted the B-29 that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, died Nov. 1 in Columbus, Ohio. He was 92 and proud of his deed till the end. He will be buried in an unmarked grave. PINKBERRY frozen yogurt empire founders Young Lee and Shelly Hwang have 27.5 million more reasons to be smiling. CHINESE AMERICAN father/daughter team “Ronald and Christina” stand seventh out of 11 teams after the first episode of CBS’ Amazing Race. This year’s $1 million race spans from Ireland to Croatia. Here’s a video interview.

Linkage:

THE FEED: Grading the Graders: Network TV Diversity Report Cards Get a Failing Grade From Me by Eric Deggans, St. Petersburgh Times

Japanese American Astronaut Dan Tani Diagnoses Problems With International Space Station’s Solar Array; Indian American Sunita Williams Returns to Earth After Setting Record for Longest Flight; Japan’s “Moon Princess” Lunar Explorer a Success. It’s Japan’s 2nd time to the moon; China’s Launches First Moon Probe, Chang-e 1; First Malaysian Cosmonaut Survives Rough Soyuz Landing; India Plans ‘Chandrayaan‘ Moon Shot in 2008.

QUALCOMM STADIUM, San Diego, Calif.—If we weren’t here to experience it firsthand, we’ll probably never know what it felt like to receive that “reverse 9-1-1″ call in the middle of the night telling us to flee the flames, and we won’t know what it felt like to wait hours or days to find out if we still had a home or not.

But another week has passed and the fires are nearly out. As the evacuation shelters were closing and the news crews were packing up their equipment, the first real accounts began trickling out of fire-struck areas of San Diego County. The tiny, family-owned, National City, Calif.-based weekly San Diego Asian Journal deserves a Pulitzer (I’m not kidding) for their reporting, commentary and community service during the inferno that swept through its community during the Great Southern California Wildfires of 2007.

“I always thought that San Diego, California, my adoptive hometown for the past 25 years, is Paradise.”

Simeon G. Silverio, Jr.

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Technorati Profile

Porn Director Chico Wanker Wang and Actress Haley Paige Got a Taste of L.A.’s Adult Entertainment Industry, and It Eventually Killed Them

Since this is a tale oozing from the depths of Southern California’s sleazy porn industry, everything and everyone must be taken with a shot of tetracycline or at least a grain of salt, including me and my BS

—YK

The discovery of the body of Inkyo Volt Hwang (aka pornographer Chico Wanker Wang) in a Morgan Hill motel room Sept. 29 and the death of his wife, 25-year-old Maryam Haley (aka porn star Haley Paige), in a King City motel 37 days earlier has the San Fernando Valley’s porn industry abuzz with rumor and recrimination.

The usual coterie of porn industry hangers-on and self-serving informants has emerged, and the tragic tale of Inkyo and Maryam swells to mythic proportions via weblogs like Reverse Cowboy, Luke Ford Is Back and Adult Video News.

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Neocon Princess Michelle Malkin (aka Michelle Maglalang) reportedly quits O’Reilly Factor over a feud—1, 2, 3—with Geraldo (Click image for more) ◊ Peru’s Nisei ex-president Alberto “El Chino” Fujimori on trial for human rights abuses ◊ Japanese Americans express distrust, frustration, worry over future of Little Tokyo ◊ Outstanding defensive performances by Asian-Pacific NFLers over the weekend: Seattle linebacker Lofa Tatupu with 8 tackles against the Saints; New Orleans’ LB Scott Fujita, 7 tackles; Cincy DT Domata Peko, 5 tackles and a pass deflection; Rams’ LBs Pisa Tinoisamoa had 6 tackles and an interception, while Brandon Chillar (East Indian) chipped in with 4; New England LB Tedy Bruschi, 6 tackles, and Philly LB Chris Gocong, 3 tackles.

Yoko Ono marked John Lennon’s 67th birthday Tuesday by dedicating the Lennon Imagine Peace Tower in Reykjavik, Iceland ♥ Falun Gong activists crash Tournament of Roses garden party ♥ NYPD’s Gregory Chin hailed as hero ♥ The joke’s on Masi Oka.

Civilian judge ponders double jeopardy in case of army officer who refused to fight in an illegal war in Iraq ♦ Clothing store, TV network incur the wrath of Pilipino America ♦ Designer Anand Jon won’t enjoy prison ♦ ‘Sulu’s’ giddy over heavenly body ♦ Pigs take to the air as Korean and Japanese American firms team to battle Pinkberry.