News Flash! Asian Men are Sexy

In a move that caught most of us unawares, the publishers of TV Guide have given the go ahead for America at large to start objectifying Asian men as the objects of desire. Yes it's true. Daniel Dae Kim of ABC's Lost, graces the cover of this week's TV Guide with the headline "TV's Sexiest Men" emblazoned across his partially exposed chest. Granted it's a split cover this week, meaning some people's TV Guide might have a Black man or a White guy or a sexy Latino on the cover, but still. When in this Americana culture has an Asian man been officially sexy, anointed by such an arbiter of middle class tastes as TV Guide? This is a day for celebration. Not just for Asian men who can now proudly proclaim themselves sexy, but for the rest of us who always lusted after Asian men but had to justify our obsession like we were doing something naughty. Now we can simply reference "that hot guy" on Lost, mention the TV Guide cover and continue with our Asian fantasies.

Peace Out!

P.S. I hope they really meant it. I mean I hope the Editors at TV Guide really do think Daniel is a hottie and they weren't just trying to be PC in their selection. You don't think?....Well, even if they were, nice of them to include an Asian guy in the mix. I guess that's progress in some way.

More Peace thrown at you!

One More Baby for the Cause...

Okay I'm showing my pop culture roots, but it's for a good cause. The Benetton-ad-come-to-life couple, a.k.a. Seal and Heidi Klum, just announced they are expecting their second child. Why is this worthy of mention you ask? Well, the way I see it, since we are such a celebrity obsessed culture, believing in things only after Madonna or Britney or Julia Roberts deems them worthy, then we have to take note when the gliteratti do something that might be considered racially progressive. You know, like marry and procreate across racial and cultural lines...especially if they seem both happy and drug free.

Honestly, I don't put any hope or belief in the durability of Seal and Heidi Klum's holy union, nor should I put them on any kind of pedestal. By hooking up they didn't sign on to be the spokes-couple for multi-culti living, but at the very least they are giving a very public face to the melting-pot family. And maybe other folks will see them and realize that we can all just get along. Hey it could happen.

On the other hand, if you want some real spokespersons or support for your Rainbow-licious family, check out this organization I just stumbled on called the Mavin Foundation. They're all about empowerment and support of multi-culti families and individuals and they have a super-cool, informative and user-friendly site. Check the link on the side.

Peace Out !

A Taste of the Melting Pot Live on Stage

For those of you in the New York City area, with $50 to spare, try to get tickets to see the new play, "Satellites," by Diana Son. The show stars my new favorite Korean actress, Sandra Oh, as an overworked architect married to a Black man who was raised by, not wolves, but WHITE PEOPLE. The young BlaSian couple is grappling with a new baby, a new brownstone in a transitional (read mostly Black but being infiltrated by WPs) Brooklyn neighborhood and of course all of the identity/racial issues inherent in cross-cultural coupling.

Anytime art imitates the life I know, I'm shouting hooray from the sidelines. Sometimes it seems that the powers-that-be believe only perky White people have modern-day stories worth exploring. And I love White people as much as the next guy, but this American landscape is bursting with so many colorful tales, it is shameful to focus on only one.

Full disclosure, I haven't seen Satellites yet but the reviews are GOOD. So take a chance. Then tell me what you thought.

SATELLITES. By Diana Son, directed by Michael Greif. Public Theater, 425 Lafayette St. Tickets: $50. Call 212-239-6200.

Bravo Sarah Jones

The first time I saw Sarah Jones was sometime in the mid-to late 1990's at the Nuyorican Poet's Cafe. She was performing a one-woman show called, Surface Transit. By the time the performance was over I was so completely in awe I couldn't stop talking about her to everyone and anyone I met. Not since seeing Lilly Tomlin live in Los Angeles had I ever seen a one-woman show where after the show was over, my brain insisted there had been several people up on the stage, not just one. Sarah Jones is going to BLOW UP I proclaimed. So imagine my surprise when I didn't see Ms. Jones on the cover of Entertainment Weekly as the new Hollywood IT Girl. She was so supremely talented, attractive and into the whole multi-culti diversity thing. The girl could inhabit the body of a thugged out wanna be rapper, then turn around and BE a 90-year old Russian immigrant in the blink of an eye.

But Hollywood wasn't really interested in Sarah Jones' brand of diversity and Sarah Jones wasn't willing to sacrifice her beliefs nor her artistic integrity to appear on some tacky sitcom. Fast forward some years and I'm happy to report that the divine Ms. Jones was just awarded a special Tony Award on June 11 for her latest masterpiece, Bridge & Tunnel, now playing on Broadway. Another one-woman show, this production has Jones playing 14 different "ethnic" characters, from a Jewish grandma to a angry Asian teenager, at a poetry slam in Queens. Of course Jones is brilliant. Which explains the Tony. (For a review of the show go to: http://theater2.nytimes.com/2006/01/27/theater/reviews/27brid.html).

Bravo to Sarah Jones for stirring up the meltingpot on Broadway and giving the great white way a spectacular taste of the Bridge & Tunnel crowd.