LOOKBOOK

I've just joined LOOKBOOK. If you don't know about it, it is a nice, professionally done, web site for fashion, a sort of social network for amateur models. You can see who I have fanned here, but you'll want to explore on your own, and that's easy to do. The thumb here is Victoria C., who can also be found on a blog called Artists Musings.

Nordstrom's asian models

I guess that Nordstrom tricked me into reposting their ad by using a beautiful woman. This ad caught my eye, and I am grateful to the Asian Models blog for posting information about Nordstrom models, but I'm still not sure who this is (I did decide that Han Jin is beautiful, and that models are made to wear and do ridiculous things by pretentious wannabe artists, but those are other stories).

So, this is just a simple post to ask if any of my readers know who this model is, and to give a shout out to the Asian Models blog.

Anna May Wong

This picture of Anna May Wong appears in the current issue of Smithsonian magazine, in an article about the photographer Edward Steichen. Edward Steichen set the tone for fashion photography as a photographer for Vogue magazine during the 1920s and 1930s. Anna May Wong was the most successful Chinese-American actress of all time, and her story captures the complexity of Chinese-American life during the first part of the 2oth century. To learn more, I would probably buy "Anna May Wong: From Laundryman's Daughter to Hollywood Legend" which is by Graham Russell Gao Hodges (YouTube version).

Update on ricebunny Michellle Phan: YouTube, IQQU, Twitter and more

My post about Michelle Phan (May, 2007) is starting to get comments, so an update may be in order. Michelle still posts to Xanga (ricebunny), but her YouTube channel (MichellePhan) is where the videos go, and she recently passed 100,000 subscribers (it's 101,923 right now). You can also follow her on Twitter (RiceBunny), where she is one of the few people I know to consistently use the Twitpic feature to include photographs. Most significant is the launch of IQQU, her line of beauty products. I see her as an artist using the media of makeup and the internet to do interesting things.

Links for Michelle Phan:
Asian Sirens
Xanga
YouTube
Twitter
IQQU
Deviant Art

The Ahn Trio

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Maybe it's just the addictiveness of YouTube, but I'm really stuck on these sisters. All three, Lucia (pianist), Lucia (cello) and Angella (violinist).

This Asian girl likes a white guy

Over on Xanga, radjbo posted on "Interracial Relationships" and got 273 comments (so far, it's been two days). It seems that this is a hot topic. A lot of comments have to do with yellow fever.

She seems to be promoting bunchedup.tv, where you can chat with her.

Educating my readers about the dangers of yellow fever

A friend suggested that I post a link to this Xanga entry in order to help educate those who need it most about how they appear to others. It is a post by an Asian American woman about how annoying she found it be hounded online by an "admirer." Yellow fever is not attractive. The man in question needs to be educated about a lot of things. I thought I'd start with a simple civics lesson. The U.S. Constitution holds that Asian Americans are just as American as European Americans and African Americans. "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside." This is not complicated. However, there will be a test. Check the comments here in a few days to see if you passed.

Kanny Theng wins the Sato Hakubi Gorgeous Skin Search Contest

Kanny Theng, who I know only as FollowYrHeart on Xanga, seems to have just won the Sato Hakubi Gorgeous Skin Search Contest (which was run by text messaging). Although I am skeptical of whitening pills, Kanny does have a very beautiful fresh look.

Kanny's site says that she has been in the modeling industry for 4.5 years and she invites you to contact her at kannytheng@yahoo.com.sg if you want makeup services.

The rise of the asian trophy wife

Many successful men have always found younger (and beautiful) wives later in life. Recently, it seems that more of these "trophy wives" are asian. Chinese-born American Wendi Deng (邓文迪) has been in the news a lot lately because her husband, Rupert Murdoch, is trying to purchase the Wall Street Journal. We saw Vietnamese-American Hong Le Webb, the second wife of Jim Webb, at his side when he was elected to be the junior Senator from Virginia last November. There is also Woody Allen's marriage to Soon-Yi Previn, which has now lasted for almost ten years.

These women are not bimbos. Wendi Deng has a Yale MBA and is head of MySpace China while Hong Le Webb is a securities and corporate law attorney in Washington D.C.. An exception might be Korean-American Alice Kim (pictured here with her husband Nicolas Cage). Although she had a bit part in his movie, "Next," her career prior to marriage is described on wikipedia as "sushi restaurant waitress."

Maya Sakura is stunning

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Ricebunny Michelle Phan - an artistic work in progress

Vietnamese-American artist Michelle Phan's life is devoted to the creation of beautiful and interesting work. Her art is all about change. On her xanga site she often shows many stages of works in progress, and her photos play with the process of artistic creation, like one from her Xanga site that appears to be a still photo of her looking down, but slowly changes as she looks up at you with those beautiful round eyes. Her most popular xanga entry (by far) is a makeup application video, which is, of course, about the act of creating beauty.


Links for Michelle Phan:

Xanga: RiceBunny (photos, makeup video)
ricebunny.com (in her future)
myspace (in her past)

Photographs of Sarah Chang by Sheila Rock

A few times lately, while flipping through the playbill at a concert, I've been struck by pictures of the violinist Sarah Chang. It turns out that they are all photos by Sheila Rock

Links for Sarah Chang:

IMG Artists (photos)
wikipedia

Links for Sheila Rock:

photos (at terrimanduca.co.uk)
blue tulip gallery (includes biography)
Sera: The Way of the Tibetan Monk, a hardcover book of photos