Koreatown angry over LA’s proposed redistricting plan
89.3 KPCC (Southern California Public Radio)
A plan to redraw city council districts in Los Angeles is stirring tension in Koreatown.
Hundreds of Korean-Americans crowded a hearing at the Wilshire Ebell Theater last week expressing anger and dismay that the city’s Citizens Redistricting Commission has proposed splitting Koreatown into two council districts.
“We’ll fight using any means to keep Koreatown whole,” attorney James Beck said.
Beck expressed an oft-heard sentiment – that elected officials tap Koreatown business owners for political donations but refuse to give the area real political power.
“Our community will no longer sit idly and be pimped out like a two-dollar whore,” he said.
Law firm accuses PI Bank of aiding fraud
Puget Sound Business Journal (Wash.)
A lawsuit filed by Seattle-based Shim Law Firm in King County Superior Court in late January accuses Seattle’s Pacific International Bank Pacific International Bank Latest from The Business Journals Regulators warn Seattle’s P.I. BankPacific International Bank CEO abruptly resignsSBA lending boomed in Q4 2010 Follow this company of aiding an admitted thief in embezzling $322,136 worth of checks from the firm.
Paul Sabado, interim chief executive at P.I. Bank said in an email he didn’t have a comment at this time.
According to the complaint, P.I. Bank cashed checks from an employee of the law firm that was part of a scheme by the employee to embezzle money. The suit says that employee, Veronica Pak, was charged with 105 counts of theft in King County Superior Court last fall as a result of the scheme and pleaded guilty to the charges.
The law firm, which was a co-tenant in the same building as P.I. Bank, claims it notified the bank that it believed Pak was embezzling on Oct. 20, 2009. However, the Seattle bank, which caters mostly to Korean-American customers, continued to cash Pak’s checks after that date.
Hana Financial Group seeking to buy Korean American bank in U.S.
Yonhap News
Hana Financial Group Inc., South Korea’s No. 4 banking group, said Saturday that it is pushing to acquire a Korean American commercial bank in the United States as part of its bid to accelerate expansion abroad.
Real estate mogul thrown off bank board
LA Observed (blog)
David Lee, the Korean-American doctor who made a fortune buying up properties all over L.A., has been thrown off the board of Premier Business Bank, which he founded six years ago. Lee had been participating in risky business practices, according to federal regulators. The story will be in the Business Journal’s Feb. 6 edition (out on Monday).
South Korea security law is used to silence dissent, critics say
Los Angeles Times
Amnesty International branded as ‘ludicrous’ South Korea’s indicting of blogger Park Jung-geun for tweets satirizing the North Korean government.
Can Girls’ Generation Break Through in America?
Wall Street Journal
The Girls had just pulled off a crowd-pumping rendition of their first U.S. single, “The Boys,” complete with their signature precision choreography, and stood posed and slightly breathless onstage to receive Ripa and her cohost du jour, Howie Mandel. Ripa and Mandel congratulated the girls on their Stateside appearance in full-on talking-to-foreigners mode, speaking loud and slow, and making big, evocative gestures with their hands.
Then Mandel decided to pay the girls a compliment. “Your English is very good!” he said to one member — bubbly, effusive Tiffany. Without missing a beat, Tiffany responded in a perfect NorCal accent, “Well — I was born in America.” “I was too!” chimed Jessica, the brown-haired pixie next to her. Startled, Mandel could only repeat, “And…your English is very good!” The other girls burst into laughter as Tiffany defused the awkward situation: “I know, I know, thank you so much, I studied so hard!”
Edison Student Selected To All-State Symphonic Band
NJ Today
Phil Kim has been playing the contrabass clarinet for only two years, but he’s already become advanced enough to earn very special instrumental recognition.
After a successful audition at J.P. Stevens High on January 20, Kim, of Edison, a student at the Wardlaw-Hartridge School, was selected as a member of the All-State Symphonic Band.
“It’s a great honor to play in that kind of band and meet people who are so good,” Kim said. “It’s a pleasure to play with them.”
Asia’s K-Pop clones dance to South Korean beat
AFP via Google News
Show beautifies plastic surgery
Korea Times
A new cable TV program giving free plastic surgery to selected participants is raising a lot of eyebrows as many viewers find the show uncomfortable to watch.
The new show, called “Let Me In,” which started airing on Dec. 2, chooses patients out of a pool of thousands of applicants who feel self-conscious about certain body parts or have health issues and offers them plastic surgery at no cost. “Me-in” means a beauty in Korean.
As a result, they are reborn as completely different people, most of them made over not only on the parts they requested to change, but also on other areas of their body.
Two months into airing, the show is already drawing skeptical responses from a number of viewers.
Jeremy Lin scores career high 25 points : Knicks vs Nets
channelAPA
New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin stunned both doubters and supporters last night as his team took on the New Jersey Nets. He was the human highlight reel off the bench for the Knicks. With plenty of playing time, instead of garbage minutes, Jeremy Lin showed the crowd at Madison Garden what he’s capable of. With almost 36 minutes on the court, he scored 25 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists, and 2 steals. Lin led all Knicks players in points including Carmelo Anthony and Tyson Chandler.
this hoekstra campaign ad is racist bullsh-t
angry asian man
Politicians seem to be in a contest for who can create the most xenophobic, inflammatory, anti-China campaign ad. These days, if you’re running for office, the go-to strategy is to make your opponent look like China’s best buddy.
The latest one comes from Michigan Senate candidate Pete Hoekstra, featuring some extra Oriental music and an Asian woman speaking in broken English against a vaguely Asian landscape. It’s some serious racist bullsh-t.
Take On Me by a-ha, North Korean Style
YouTube
TOKiMONSTA – Darkest (Dim) feat. Gavin Turek [Directed by Doug Chang]
YouTube
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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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