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.
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.”
Grace Su (Left) with Arden Cho
Photographed by John Park
You wouldn’t think two women named after produce would garner such a massive cyber-following, but in the few months that Arden Cho (Artichoke) and Grace Su (Peachies) have been video blogging under their crunchy monikers, they have managed to become YouTube Partners and garner more than 250,000 views. The two 20-something roommates already had somewhat of a presence online; Su was known for her personal blog, peachies.net, while Cho is an actress/model who recently became the first Asian model of Clinique Asia. But it was as “Artichoke & Peachies” that the two Angelenos made it big on the web-o-sphere, even though the whole thing started off on a whim. “Initially, we had no idea what direction we wanted to go in. The first blog we did, we basically just said ‘hi,’” says Cho. The blogs, which are pre-recorded videos uploaded onto YouTube, touch on a variety of topics, but are essentially a semi-voyeuristic look into the girls’ lives. Video blogs, which only became popular after the advent of YouTube, are still less utilized than writing blogs, perhaps because it breaks down the invisible wall separating/protecting the blogger from the reader/viewer. Apparently, Cho and Su don’t believe in those walls. “Video blogging takes blogging to a new level,” says Su. “It’s more interactive and people connect with you because in a way, it’s as if they’re sitting down and having a conversation with us.”
The YOMYOMF family at the 2010 VC Film Fest
Photographed by Margaret Chen
The acronym “YOMYOMF” may sound like a college frat, but on this blog, you won’t find keggers, hazers or hits of Rohypnol. The site, which was founded a little over a year ago by Justin Lin, director of Better Luck Tomorrow, has about 15 regular bloggers, including actor Sung Kang, based throughout the country. They write about anything and everything: porn, movies, attempted suicide confessions, baseball, Mad Men, Sesame Street and more. “Justin, myself and a few others were just hanging out, and we decided to carry that dialogue and tone onto the internet. The blog was a way to hang out with each other online,” explains Philip Chung, 39, one of the head writers. “In a way, it’s a personal blog. I actually feel weird calling it an ‘Asian American blog,’ because there’s so much weight to that term.” That said, YOMYOMF doesn’t ignore the weightier issues. In fact, it doesn’t ignore anything at all—there are literally no limitations to what it addresses. “‘You Offend Me, You Offend My Family’ is actually a Bruce Lee line, but it fits what we’re doing. It says we don’t take ourselves too seriously, but it also emphasizes family,” says Chung, who was the co-artistic director of the now-defunct Lodestone Theatre Ensemble. “That’s really where the blog is coming from, the idea that we’re a surrogate family, and by extension, our readers are part of that family as well.”
