In Blog We Trust: Part II of III
This is part two of our cover series on the top 10 Asian American blogs to read (or watch) right now. (Read part one here.)
Sarah J. Gim
Photographed by Eric Sueyoshi
Since 2005, food porn galore has been featured on Sarah J. Gim’s blog, The Delicious Life, but don’t dismiss the blog as just another site on grub. And whatever you do, do not label Gim as just another “foodie.” Gim, 36, despises the term because of its pretentious connotation. According to her blog, she prefers the self-concocted term “eifnaj” (pronounced ife-nazh), a word born out of Gim’s knack for making up words by closing her eyes and hitting random keys. “Eifnaj,” therefore, is Gim’s term for anyone who “absolutely adores food, whatever that adoration entails, without the pretensions of luxury foods and esoteric food knowledge,” explains Gim, who lives in Los Angeles. But with all the topics Gim touches on (travel, lifestyle and dating), in addition to food, it’s safe to say that The Delicious Life is a full-on, five-course meal with all the trimmings and dressings.
Photo via My Mom Is A Fob’s Facebook Page
me: i was wondering if i could get a lip piercing…i’ve wanted one for a couple years and i’ve thought about it and i really want one
dad: well…do you want grandpa to see your cow ring face and get seizure and die?
mom: hey
me (autoreply): drowning myself in the hudson river. Ugh, school.
mom: Just go to the passaic river. nearer
Mom calls me asking what I want from In-N-Out Burger.
me: Can you get me the animal-style fries?
Thirty minutes later, mom comes home…
mom: I asked for the doggy-style fries, but I think they ran out because they just started laughing.
With such gems like these, it’s no wonder the blogs My Mom is a Fob and My Dad is a Fob became so popular. The site—which features hilarious photographs of fobby parents doing decidedly fobby things, recaps of failed “Engrish,” and some really spectacular texting skills exhibited by, you guessed it, fobby parents—garnered a lot of attention, really fast. Created by Serena Wu, 22, and Teresa Wu, 22 (no relation), the site is low-tech and low-maintenance, and the duo plans to keep it that way. “My mom is still confused about the whole concept,” says Teresa, “which only further demonstrates her fobbiness.” Their book, My Mom is a Fob, with a foreword by comedienne Margaret Cho, comes out
in January.
allkpop
Until fairly recently, allkpop was considered to be a less popular version of soompi.com, one of the longest running K-pop websites around, but it has rapidly grown to become the most trafficked English-language K-pop blog in the world. The brainchild of Johnny Noh and Paul Han, allkpop is a cross between Perez Hilton and TMZ, but with one notable exception: It’s the only major player in its scene. Although much of the information and “breaking news” on the site comes directly from Korean news portals, allkpop is one of the only websites online that translates Korean-language articles almost as soon as they are published, making it the first place international fans go for news on their crooning idols. “[Paul] and I both listened to K-pop in high school, but we realized that there weren’t that many adequate resources, like there are within the Hollywood scene,” says Johnny Noh, 29, the New Jersey-based CEO and co-founder. “It started off as a hobby, but now that K-pop is going global, there are more fans all around the world.”
Related Articles
Phil Yu of Angry Asian Man may be the reigning king of the Asian American blogosphere, but a handful of wired scribes could soon inherit the throne.
This is part one of our cover series on the top 10 Asian American blogs to read (or watch) right now.
Jen Wang (left) with Diana Nguyen
Photographed by Eric Sueyoshi
Disgrasian
disgrasian.com
The Los Angeles-based duo behind Disgrasian, Jen Wang and Diana Nguyen, consider themselves to be Disgrasians rather than Amazians, but don’t think that they’re suffering from low self-esteem—they’re just Asian. “We totally think we’re Disgrasians,” says Wang. “Asian people are incredibly hard on themselves, so unless you think you’re doing something wrong, you’re not really Asian. So if you’re Asian, by nature and by design, you think you’re a Disgrasian.” But both Nguyen and Wang should be proud of what they’ve achieved in a little over three years. Although their blog isn’t the go-to site for breaking news, it’s become one of the most popular sites for abrasive, but hilarious commentary on Asians who are a “disgrace to the race.” Nguyen and Wang are also contributors for The Huffington Post, where they write snarky posts on topics such as U.S. Rep. Joseph Cao and the Miss USA pageant. But somehow, it’s easy to believe that the famed site stemmed from gabfests exchanged while buzzed off wine. Despite the fact that hundreds of thousands are reading their entries every day, there are enough posts about babes and bad behavior for Disgrasian to feel like a good, no-holds-barred convo between friends.” I think about Jen reading my post and almost no one else,” says Nguyen. “In a way, it’s made it possible to keep writing the way we have and preserving that original energy. That tunnel vision has been the reason we’ve been able to do it for so long.”
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This is part three of our cover series on the top 10 Asian American blogs to read (or watch) right now. Read part one and part two here.
MetroDad
metrodad.typepad.com
Family-oriented sites are prolific on the web, but father-penned parenting blogs who don’t hold back on the curse words and musings about poo? Meet Metrodad, aka Pierre Kim, who writes about Peanut, his 6-year-old daughter. And in case you were wondering, Kim isn’t claiming to be metrosexual; the blog’s moniker is simply a nod to his home base of New York City. The entries are comedic gold (he and his ex-wife, Boss Lady, once dressed their kid up as an underage Chinese Olympic gymnast for Halloween). And although the site has been popular enough to garner talks of a television sitcom, Kim still shies away from the idea of playing to an audience. “I want to remain faithful to the writing,” he says. “I never want to feel like I’m writing for the press, or writing to the readers,” says Kim. One person he does hope will appreciate the posts in time is his daughter—who has no idea her father blogs about her bowel movements and propensity to stick fingers up a statue’s butt. “My love for my daughter is clearly evident in the blogs, so I think there are parts she’ll appreciate and parts she’ll find embarrassing,” says Kim, 41. “But whether I do it in the blog or in real life, it doesn’t matter. At some point I’m going to embarrass her regardless.”
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One of the the biggest Asian cinema events to hit Southern California opens on May 10. The Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, presented by Visual Communications, features the latest works by established and emerging filmmakers, along with seminars, panel discussions and symposiums on topics relevant to Asian Pacific cinema.
Opening Night features “Shanghai Calling,” directed by Daniel Hsia and starring Korean American Daniel Henney, who plays a Chinese American expat lawyer navigating his way through the mean streets of Shanghai (the picture above also indicates he is a raisin smuggler). But does he take off his shirt? Go watch the movie to find out! read more
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[...] of the always funny girls over at mymomisafob.com. We covered them back in November as part of our Top 10 Asian American Blogs, and couldn’t stop cracking up while “researching” the site, and now [...]
Great article and one that directs me back to the original reason about why I decided to publish my own food web blog: the lack of trust in some food critics and some bloggers. Many years ago, I used to rely a lot on their scripts to chose restaurant only to face some hidden realities that ended annoying me and forced me into great caution: it started with couple of restaurants where I was not allowed to take photos whilst some food critics and food bloggers were allowed such priviledge. It was a 1st wake up call where I realized that some things were not ticking right under the hood: some were abviously allowed things that others would not. Then things got even easier: many did not even mind hiding their agendas with writings such as ”I walked in the restaurant and they recognized me”" or ”I told the wait staff that I was recommended by a friend who happen to bring them a lot of customers”. I mean, I had no other choice but to find out on my own. As I always remind to my readers: at least, what I’ll get is exactly what you’ll get! I remain anonymous all the way (not even showing up my face on the web so that restaurant staff do not recognize me), ensuring to enjoy an experience that anyone will get.
[...] our cover series on the top 10 Asian American blogs to read (or watch) right now. Read part one and part two [...]