Category: Culture

  • Mountain View 99 Ranch Market

    The 99 Ranch Market in Mountain View is finally open. I visited the store on Saturday to check it out. This new Asian supermarket is conveniently located on 1350 Grant Road, just off El Camino Real, with easy access to highways 237 and 85. For those people living in Mountain View, Los Altos, and Palo…

  • Proposition 8 and Interracial Marriage

    Is Proposition 8 a civil rights issue? The supporters of Proposition 8 would claim otherwise. Allowing blacks and whites to marry is one thing. However, allowing two men or two women to marry is another. Their argument is that the purpose of marriage is to propagate the human race. That’s why allowing gays to marry…

  • The Princess of Nebraska

    I just finished watching Wayne Wang’s The Princess of Nebraska on YouTube. A few hours ago, I had just read that the movie was being released for free on YouTube. Without reading any reviews (or spoilers), I headed off to YouTube to track down the film. You won’t find a light-hearted tale of overachieving Chinese…

  • Changing Windshield Wipers

    I thought that today would be a good day to change the windshield wipers. We already had experienced an early bout of rain a week or so ago, so I didn’t want to be caught again with streaky wipes. So, I headed to the local Kragen Auto Parts to pick up some replacement wipers. At…

  • Asian Art Museum – Ming Dynasty Exhibit

    The Asian Art Museum is hosting a special exhibition entitled Power and Glory: Court Arts of China’s Ming Dynasty from June 27-September 21, 2008. Fortunately, Target sponsors a Free First Sundays program that opens admission to the museum for free on the first Sunday of every month. This past Sunday being a “first Sunday,” I…

  • Save the Outrage

    Yahoo! / Reuters: U.S. “Outraged” by Myanmar’s Response to Cyclone. The United Nations estimates 1.5 million people have been “severely affected” by the cyclone that swept through Myanmar and the United States expressed outrage on Thursday at the delays in allowing in aid. Compare and contrast: Katrina Response Sparks Outrage. Here’s another quote: “It’s clear…

  • Rice Shortage in Aisle Six

    The sky is falling! As if $4.00/gallon wasn’t bad enough, we now have food rationing. In America! At Costco!! The local store of abundance in the land of plenty ran out of rice this afternoon. Just a lonely note standing guard over two empty pallets. Although the store had no jasmine or calrose rice, it…

  • Firebird Youth Chinese Orchestra

    I saw a free performance by the Firebird Youth Chinese Orchestra this weekend at the Stanford Shopping Center. These young musicians really put on quite a performance with a full complement of Chinese instruments. As the Chinese population expands in the United States, I am seeing new opportunities for the Chinese American youth to rediscover…

  • My Hero Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

    Senator John McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, admitted that he was wrong in opposing a national holiday in honor of the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. I am glad that Senator McCain admitted his misjudgment because Dr. King is not just a Black hero. He is an American hero and a Chinese-American hero as…

  • Guanxi Marketing

    Last night, as I was cooking dinner, I received one of “those” phone calls. The ones you usually hope to avoid by signing up with the National Do Not Call Registry. As the seller started her sales pitch, I didn’t hang up. This time, I responded enthusiastically and placed a sizeable order. The difference? I…