The Electric Image Express

In Episode #28, we FINALLY get to the Wong Kar-Wai episode! Hon Hoang, photographer and director, joins me to talk about my favorite (and I suspect, one of his favorite) directors and his movie Fallen Angels. Hon starts by sharing his journey to become a visual artist (10:18) and where he gets inspiration for his stories. At (16:44), we start revisiting Fallen Angels. I asked Hon to pick a WKW movie to revisit, so at (25:11) he explains why, and how it encouraged him to break the rules of photography and filmmaking. At (31:16), I ask Hon as an Asian American filmmaker, if the WKW style has any limits in the visually different landscape of America vs. Asia. At the end, (37:09) I introduce a new segment where I show Hon 5 stills from the movie and ask him to react to the characters, cinematography, and more, including some really fascinating theories on Blondie and the Assassin’s amnesia!

Today we have a special episode of the pod recapping the Vice Presidential Debate! I'm joined by Minh-Thu-Pham, Kim Thuy Seelinger, and Anuj Vohra-- legal and policy experts as well as founders of New American Voices, Asian Americans Against Trump, and Desis United to share our thoughts on Kamala Harris and Mike Pence's performance and what their organizations are doing to help Joe Biden and Kamala Harris win in 2020. After our guests share a little background on themselves and their organizations (1:21) we start with our immediate overall reactions to the debate an hour after it completed and how it felt seeing an Asian American woman on the VP debate stage. (6:47) Then, @ (18:22) we explore topics the VPs covered as they relate specifically to Asian American voters like China (19:04), social justice (31:35), the supreme court vacancy (40:41), and health care (43:50). We close out our final thoughts on the debate and how it will affect the election @ (48:36) before sharing our most important thoughts on how listeners can get out and help win this election! (54:23)

Interested in helping? Check out the links below to our guest's organizations!

In Episode #26, we revisit Alice Wu's Saving Face:quietly one of the most important movies of the last 20 years for Asian American cinema. Our guest is Katie Quan,who teaches Asian American Issues through Film in San Francisco (basically, she's way more qualified than I am to host this podcast!) and runs This Asian American Life, a platform for highlighting and empowering Asian creators from all walks of life. Katie is joined by Vivian Liu, a former student whose passion and personal connection to the movie motivated her to lead and organize discussion in class.

After sharing our reactions (16:50) Katie helps us understand what this movie brings to the table as the cornerstore of her Womxn Up module before I give a quick primer for our non-Chinese audiences of what "Face" means in Chinese society, and why it is crucial to the social fabric. (18:44) Next, we get personal and share our experiences of losing face in Chinese-American society (22:29) before Vivian gives her perspective of where Chinese American society still encoutners pitfalls for understanding queerness in 2020. (29:28) At (35:40), Katie shares how Saving Face succeeded in unearthing taboos around family relationships and race-- we then spend some time understanding Alice Wu's complicated journey and how her new movie Half of It is a spiritual successor to Saving Face. (43:59) Finally, we end with a few questions: Where do we see Vivian and Will's relationship going? (49:35) What would be on Will's Mom's 2020 dating profile? (53:33) and finally, Why has Saving Face not gotten the spotlight it deserves? (56:33)

In Episode #25, we revisit Parasite: one of the most acclaimed Asian movies of recent history...and the movie that caused our last collective moment of joy in 2020. Minji Chang-- actor, producer, activist and a whole lot more joins to offer her valuable insight into the movie and the Asian American creative community. After sharing our initial reactions to rewatching the film post the ongoing disaster of 2020 (8:55), I pitch a new measure of movie success: the memability of its scenes. (20:22) Parasite certainly has many relatable scenes stemming from themes of class divide and the perils of capitalism that is relatable to everyone. Minji then helps us understand how Parasite has influenced the Asian American film community. (Hint: representation isn't enough if your script is crap) (27:00) before extending our comparison to other Korean cultural exports, like Kpop (BTS, PSY) and how we feel about the American reaction to those trends. (35:04) Later, I put on my economic historian hat and point out what Parasite has to say about neocolonial free market ideals exported from America (42:05) which leads to some mind blowing stories from Minji about how American ideas of beauty were incepted into Korea. Finally, we end the show by bringing back Unanswerable Questions like: 1) How much was Kevin's tutor salary? 2) Is Art Therapy a real thing? and 3) Did our parents really sacrifice for us... or for themselves?

When you think of Asian American icons in animation, The Animated, OG 1998 Mulan quickly climbs to the top of the list. When we started this podcast, Mulan was definitely on the shortlist. What better time to revisit this milestone thanthe release of the new Mulan? Returning guest Shannon Fong and rockstar intern Blake Lew-Merwin join us to share their memories of watching an Asian Disney princess growing up (for Shannon) and for the first time (for Blake). After we share our reactions, we give a brief history lesson on the original ballad (22:42) and where Disney took liberties with the plot. (Hint: the ballad had no lucky cricket and talking dragon) While some liberties are understandable for the audience and time period, we examine where a lack of diversity in the creative board room shows in the movie (25:27). While at least '98 Mulan had one Asian American writer in Rita Hsiao, '20 Mulan is criticized for not having any Asian American or Asian creative leads. Still, '98 Mulan was a huge milestone for Asian Americans, especially Millenials who grew up with her and we discuss why '20 Mulan might be for a different audience. (31:07) We're not making men out of anyone or fighting for any girls in 2020, but we still give '98 props for sticking its head out more than its peers with regards to mixing up gender roles, creating strong, intelligent female figures and masculine asian male characters. (34:21) We finish with a story of Shannon's 11-year old cousin's reaction to the movie (41:09) and choose our fav song from the movie. (48:55)

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The Wandering Earth gives us a once in a lifetime chance to observe a new superpower get behind the director's seat for the first time and inject their culture's values and world view through science fiction. Eric Lee and Mazy Yap join me to revisit The Wandering Earth, the Mainland China's first modern science fiction epic and explore the Remembrance of Earth's Past book trilogy written by Liu Cixin, whose short story is the foundation for The Wandering Earth.

After reacting to China's first foray into this genre, we discuss what Cixin prioritizes: science or characterization?(16:05) Then, we list our favorite absurd plot holes of the movie (19:06) and discuss how Ken Liu, the English translator of the book, helped avoid some of these issues. (22:08) We then as ourselves: what does this mean for a potential 3 Body Problem series or movie? (24:11)

At (27:06) we get into our big theme: how sci-fi allows you to potray the world hierarchy through your own POV and what The Wandering Earth might have to say about the Chinese government's perspective. We contrast this with how the Chinese government is portrayed in Hollyood movies like Arrival (shoutout to Ted Chiang!) and The Martian.

We then transition to discussing Liu Cixin's background and novels (33:59) and compare and contrast the similarities and differences between the books and movie. (39:51) We toss around topics like collectivism, wall facers (my favorite sci fi concept), long term planning, and the evolutionary limits of an individualistic society.

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Wait, didn't we already cover Lost in Translation? Yes-- but the Japan ex-pat experience is so close to my heart and so fresh in my mind that I had to get Mike back on the podcast and cover some specific experiences related to living life as a foreigner and a minority in Japan. Mike first gives his reaction to the movie (7:55) before we give our thoughts on the unique expat culture in Japan. (9:28) Foreigners come to Japan for different type of reasons-- and we share why we left America and how living in Japan changed our life goals. (12:33) At (18:40) Mike gives us his POV as a white man leaving America and how living in Japan has given him new perspectives, before I share my own constant internal conflict as a Taiwanese-American in Japan. Later(28:40) I tie up the movie discussion by relating to how expat life can give you a misguided distraction from relationship problems.

TOKYO SECRETS: If you came for the insider knowledge, you can find it at: (38:54) Building on Episode 21 on San Francisco Chinatown, we're back with more of our favorite spots in Tokyo. Mike and I spent a LOT of time poking our heads in random alleys, nondescript basements, and people's apartments as we tried to find the most interesting gems in Tokyo. Tokyo is a city where the more dig, the exponentially more you will understand the city, and so we thought we would provide our listeners with an extra bonus for being such great fans. THIS PART IS OPTIMIZED FOR YOUTUBE SO CHECK OUT THE VIDEO HERE: YOUTUBE

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The NBA is back! To celebrate, Andrew and I take a look back at Jeremy Lin's historic career through the documentary Linsanity. Can you believe it's been 10 years since he entered the NBA?? Time flies. We start with recalling our favorite memories from those crazy few weeks (10:01) and I break down how some league-defining events shaped his career for the worst. (13:47) Even with the NBA giving up on him, we admire how he took on the mantle as one of the faces of Asian America, even while he was constantly trying to prove himself in a league that always doubted him (18:34)

We can't talk about Jeremy and Linsanity without getting into Jeremy's faith. Having come from a similar religious background, Andrew thinks about how Jeremy's devotion fit into how he approached pivotal moments in his NBA career, and perhaps exacerbated some of the barriers he had to overcome. (23:22)

At (38:37), we start looking into the aftermath of Linsanity and how his success impacted the prospects of other Asian American ballers, and discuss the disparity of success for Asian Americans in team sports vs indiviual sports. (47:04) We finish off with some NBA bubble thoughts: who to watch out for, who can succeed, and of course, how the Lakers will continue their dominance.(1:03:48)

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Episode 20! Wow! It's crazy how quickly we got here and we couldn't have done it without your encouragement, support, and constructive feedback.

This week Eric and Akshay join me to get real deep into a topic near and dear to our hearts: Chinese Food in America, while revisiting Padma Lakshmi's Taste the Nation "SF Chinatown" episode. Specifically, San Francisco and New York Chinese Food. We start out by explaining why, in a world of self-proclaimed foodies, you should trust our opinions about food (7:22) before explaining why Padma's show is as much about the culture and politics behind food...and how her show chooses an entirely new direction from the GOAT, Tony Bourdain. (15:47) At (41:15), we start getting into the good stuff: CHINESE RESTAURANT RECOMMENDATIONS! Including when to go, what to order, including some off the menu items. To finish the epsiode we look at a (58:13) case study of Lan Zhou Noodles vs Xian Famous Foods: will our favorite mom and pop shops that maintain delicious tradition survive in the face of savvy innovation, superior marketing, and appeal to broader (non Asian) tastes?

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**Want to tell us your favorite Chinatown restaurants? Want to reassure us that traditional Chinese will survive? E-mail us at [email protected] or DM us on IG/Twitter @electricimageexpress/@the_electric_image_express

In Episode 19 Stephanie and Michael Yap joins us to revisit Andrew Lau's Infernal Affairs. We kick it off by establishing some sides: Team Tony Leung vs Team Andy Lau? (8:28) After reflection of our rewatch, I describe how Infernal Affairs represents the wonderful memory of discovering incredible content from one world (Asia) and sharing it with another (America). (16:50) At (21:23), we start exploring the big theme of the podcast: agency over identity. By (43:38), Steph and Michael have gotten real deep into the therapist chair as they explore their radically different approaches to integrating family tradition and expectations into our identity, and at (50:12) I share how my mindset is somewhere in the middle: not having ties to physical space, but still highly prioritzing my family's desires .

I STARTED A NEWSLETTER!

*Want to tell us how Andy Lau's character will never be a good man? Want to share how Infernal Affairs compares to The Departed? E-mail us at [email protected] or DM us on IG/Twitter @electricimageexpress/@the_electric_image_express