CSI Vegas

Thanks to Monica, I found Sung is in CSI Vegas.

Episode 9.06 - Say Uncle
Air Date: November 13, 2008

http://blog.80millionmoviesfree.com/celebrity/csi-vegas-episode-906-%E2%80%9Csay-uncle%E2%80%9D-spoiler

This pix is not related to CSI Vegas. I forgot where I got this from, but I believe it was taken sometime in 2007.

Wrong about DPRK's food!

http://elena.ningin.com/2008/10/14/chow-talk-with-sung-kang-part-1/#more-70

I just realized I started with part2 of Elena's article about Sung. In Part1, they talked more about foods. I need to correct Sung about the food in North Korea. I think it's my 3rd or 4th time reading Sung talking about North Korea briefly. It sounds like he does not know much about there. I may know a bit more at least about food. Their foods are not spicier than South's. And it is not as closed as Sung thinks. But I should not blame Sung having limited knowledge about there. It's just Western media don't write positive things about them much. In that sense, US is the one to be called "closed." I hope Sung knows what I mean here.

Sung = good husband?

http://elena.ningin.com/2008/10/17/chow-talk-with-sung-kang-part-2/

Elena, with whom I exchanged messages at a networking site called "Alive Not Dead" before, informed me about her recent phone interview with Sung Kang this week. She is a real writer unlike me -- just writing whatever comes to mind with a lot of typos and gramatical errors. Plus, she directly talked to Sung over the phone! I envy you, Elena~~

In this interview, Sung mentioned about his fiance. It was not my first time reading Sung talking about his fiance in his interview. I guess he is not hiding this at all. To be honest with you, I have even seen the picture in which I can see Sung and Miki together. (Don't ask me to reveal this picture to public. I don't want Sung hates me. I am still not sure if Miki is a Japanese decendant or not... it makes me happy if she is because I'm a Japanese, too.) I have no idea when he will marry her. He should hire my husband to be his wedding photographer -- my husband is a professional photographer (www.photographyjun.com).

By the way, Elena, didn't you steal the first picture in your article from this blog? :) I took the screenshot from Knight Rider. Do I have any portion of copy right? Or am I the one to be accused for piracy?

Regarding today's picture, I stole this from a Japanse guy who went to see K-1 in LA a few years ago. He said he happened to find Sung after K-1 games finished. He asked Sung if he it's ok to take him and got a permission. He said Sung was very nice.

My husband and I watches K-1 on TV sometimes, too. I wonder who is Sung's favorite. Is Sung related to Denis Kang? -- no... I don't think so. Kang is a very common family name in Korea.

long hair vs short hair or no hair?

I saw someone else's blog talking about Sung's hair style.

http://usws.isgreat.org/2008/10/im-cutting-my-hair.html

This gave me a hint for today's article. (Yes. I am running out of my topics...)

Which one of hair styles Sung tried before do you like most?

Honestly, I cannot choose because I love them all. I'm still thinking... which one.... hmm... nop. I cannot choose.

By the way, have anyone even seen Sung in Hanbok - Korean traditional cloth? I'd really love to see him in Hanbok. He may look good with short hair in Hanbok. But if he wear Kimono - Japanese traditonal cloth, he may look better with his long hair. I'm just day-dreaming him in many different clothing... :p

Knight Rider (2008)

I was soooooo happy to see Sung on TV again!

In this episode of Knight Rider, Sung was a bad guy beaten up by the main character at the end. However, I did not really care about any one of the characters in this show anyway. I was simply very happy to see Sung doing great job here ~~~

My husband told me that Sung's name was referred to an article of the Korean online news he reads every day. It was about Ninja Asassin. Yes. Another big movie with Sung is coming ~~

Standoff - Shanghai'd (2006)

http://www.imdb.com/video/hulu/vi708771865/

I was very excited when I found the full episode of Standoff - Shanghai'd is viewable from IMDB. I enjoyed it very much.

But this is the stereotypical Asian American image that Sung'd rather avoide, I suppose. I read an article about Sung saying he had a hard time accepting this. But since it is not really up to him how "Asian American" is portrait in the mainstream TV shows or movies, if Sung does not take this the role, it will be simply taken by some other Asian American actor.

I'm not really sure how it is like being an Asian Americn actor or actress in California, but I remember reading an article about Asian Americans over-representing themselves in media, especially in IT related ads. Computre geeks = Asians. Being an Asian itself already brings pre-defined characteristics, to which sponsors invest.

In my opinion, it is just a matter of the time. I see more and more 2nd or 3rd generation Asian Americans who are not stereotypical at all and people here in US get used to it. But for the poeple in outside US who also watch Holloywood movies regularly may not get used to it as much. I've seen many Asians (well, people I know most are mainly Japanese, though) still believe Americans = WASP. We can see Asians in Asian movies, which we also watch very frequently. Why do we need to see Asians in American movies? -- this may be a question from outside USA. And for the show business industry, the market outside USA is getting even more important than domestic one.

Don't quote on me! I'm just writing whatever comes up on my mind. It does not based on any seriour research. The bottom line is, as always, I want to see Sung Kang in many more TV shows or movies.

I could not see Sung yesterday

I am not as lucky as last year when it comes to the chance of seeing Sung in person. Though I knew that Sung did not mean to actually show up to the even I mentioned in my previous article, I did not completely give up on the possibility last night. So, when I found I cannot meet with him, I was sad. But I won't blame him for his misleading intention in his facebook profile. I kind of knew that he was just showing his support to the event and the organization. Besides, it was good to be there to see some previews of films planned to be shown during the event and I picked up the event program where I found some interesting works. My husband, who accompanied me last night, also said it was good to be there anyway.

I guess I just need to visit his restaurant in LA if I really want to see him again. The odds are better there.

This picture is from UNDOING. I went ahead to take a liberty of edit the screenshot I took. I found some of Sung's fans using images I uploaded in this blog, which is fine. I do not have any distribution right of Sung's images from the first place. I'm the one infringing his intellectual properties or right of publicity, I suppose. But if they can give me some credit, that'll be nice. Just so people will know that I'm the one who capture those screenshots like crazy and edit a little bit before making them viewable online. Am I asking too much here?

Hope Sung can make this one

http://www.apafilm.org/

I was so thrilled when I found Sung plans to attend this event held in DC.

DC APA Film Festival Kick-Off Party

Start Time:	Friday, September 19, 2008 at 9:00pm
End Time:	Saturday, September 20, 2008 at 2:00am
Location:	Temple Lounge (http://www.templeloungedc.com/)
Street:	4001 N. Fairfax Dr. (Metro: Ballston/MU, Orange Line)
City/Town:	Arlington, VA

I am not sure if he truely intends to show up. There is a chance that he is simply showing his support to this group by clicking "attend" button here. But this is the event I met Sung in person for the first time last year, where Finishing the Game was featured. I'm not sure if any of the films shown during this year's event feature Sung Kang. I could not match any title of the movies listed there to what I can find in Sung's IMDB site. So, I don't really know which ticket I should purchase. But even if Sung does not show up, I will probably attend this event because the place is so close to where I work. I work until 8pm on Friday, so, I can just stop by there after that. You gotta be there this Friday, Sung!!!

Have you been to Saketini?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nVRfmhtjLc

Thanks to my friend, Monica, who often leave some comment in my blog, I found this video on YouTube!

I really want to have a lunch or/and dinner at Saketini! He says his mom's secret sauce is used there. I love Korean food~ But he does not call his restaurant as Korean restaurant, but Asian American restaurant. That's kind of interesting because most of the restarants owned by a Korean, as far as I know in East Coast, focus on the market of Koreans from Korea in USA. There are, of course, many customers who are not from Korea also enjoy Korean foods in such Korean restaurants, but more than 70% of the customers there are Korean, I estimate. My husband - who is a Korean - also told me that the difference between Korean restaurants and Japanese restaurant in USA is that Japanese restaurants in USA do not have Japanese customer from Japan as much. It is probably because there are not that much Japanese from Japan living in USA from the first place. But there is also a marketing issue involved.

Well, I have not been to Saketini, so, I am not in the place of making any judgement to Sung's restaurant here. But my guess from www.saketini.com as well as from this video is that Sung wanted to blend different Asian thinngs and transcend it to a new style. I know he is not the inventer of California Rolls and all, but, you can see that he and his co-owner did a very good job making this restaurant attractive to all kinds of people - Asian or non-Asian Americans.

Speaking of California Roll, I often associate it to Japanese American. You know, many of the things that mainstream Americans believe as from Japan is not really from Japan. The biggest example are Hibachi and California Roll. Since I've grown up in Japan, flankly speaking, I did not really appreciate those fake Japanese things when I first came to the states. But after I spent several years in the states, I started loving them - especially California Rolls and all kinds of American style Rolls that we cannot easily find in Japan. I think it is very reasonable idea to substitude raw fish with avocado and it tastes good! I still enjoy authentic Japanese style food as well, but hey, it is not Japan here. I don't have to stick with authenticity all the time. After all, those are not fake. Those are just differnt version -- Asian-like American food. That's how I started seeing Asian American people, too. They are not fake Asians, they are Asian Americans.

Hmm.. I may have sounded like a snobby Japanese here. But as you know, I'm crazy about Sung Kang! So, you can tell that I don't have any intention to make Asian Americans look bad. It's like this -- I did not know anything about Asian American before and when I got a chance to know some of them for the first time, I felt I was not welcomed by them because I did not speak good English back then. I tend to justify myself as authentic Asian than they are -- which was the same mentality I used to had for Calfornia Rolls. But after while, I realized there is no right or wrong there. Just follow my instinct -- Calfornia Rolls taste good! I love Sung Kang!

It's been a year...

I once again spent quit a bit portion of my weekend to convert Sung's movie on DVD to mp4 format, so I can transfer it to my iPhone.

This one is from iTune Store. If you know there are any other online store from where I can directly download mp4 format clips in which I can see Sung, please let me know. That'll save a lot of my time.

BTW, I saw someone left a message at Sung's Facebook or MySpace asking if Sung is a Korean or Chinese. I guess that is a fair question to ask. But I wonder why not Japanese? Anyway, that question reminded me the first moment I saw Sung on FF3. I kind of knew he is a Korean because many of the guys I fell in love at first sight are Korean. When I confirmed my answer at Wikipedia, I was very happy! Speaking of Wikipedia, I'd better add a link to Sung's page there.