Hello World

this might be the best thing ever

Fri, 24 May 2013 18:16:47 -0700

this might be the best thing ever

Garage Fukui Phoenix’s Power this is so i can have this...

Thu, 23 May 2013 20:55:31 -0700

Garage Fukui Phoenix’s Power

this is so i can have this video forever. I miss my exhaust so much on the mr2. I wish i can buy one now to keep for when I get another sw20

Lotus F1 x DAFT !!!! !

Thu, 23 May 2013 16:32:08 -0700

Lotus F1 x DAFT !!!!

gearheadsandmonkeywrenches: Harder, Better, Stronger,...

Thu, 23 May 2013 14:43:38 -0700

gearheadsandmonkeywrenches:

Harder, Better, Stronger, Faster

Also, marketing and boat-loads of bullshit

Kimi is great, but Lotus is fucked, unless they reevaluate their decision-making paradigms.

DAF(1)T

urbannoize2010: The succession of Daft Punk Just came across...

Sun, 19 May 2013 22:56:41 -0700

urbannoize2010:

The succession of Daft Punk

Just came across this many phased succession of Daft Punk’s super dope helmet collection once again under the music tag on Tumblr, via TNGBDGRL. Good stuff. I can never get enough of things like this.

urbannoize2010: A young Hugo & Pharrell, bka as The...

Thu, 16 May 2013 18:47:12 -0700

urbannoize2010:

A young Hugo & Pharrell, bka as The Neptunes, the genre blurring hitmaking production duo that killed it in the late 90s & early 2000s. Creating hits for everyone from Jay-Z, Britney Spears, Busta Rhymes, to Kelis, Backstreet Boys, N’ Sync, & so forth. Easily some of our favorite producers of all time.

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Wed, 15 May 2013 10:17:51 -0700

thib007:

Wed, 15 May 2013 10:14:09 -0700

thib007:

Lucy Liu Talks Candidly About Racism And Stereotypes In Hollywood

Wed, 15 May 2013 10:07:24 -0700

Lucy Liu Talks Candidly About Racism And Stereotypes In Hollywood:

asiansnotstudying:

One of my favorite US actresses, Lucy Liu, is in Net-A-Porter’s Graphic Issue, which has me all kinds of excited. Because the only thing better than watching Liu at work is seeing her in fantastic frocks and reading interviews with her; she often has sharp, insightful comments on Hollywood and acting, while remaining quite modest and mellow.

She seems like she would be a lot of fun to hang out with.

(Lucy, come over some time! We’ll have tea and cookies!)

So Lucy Liu. At 44, she’s got a fair amount of experience in Hollywood, starting in the time-honored traditions of small guest roles and working her way on to “Ally McBeal.” She’s flitted back and forth between film and television, but as she herself points out, a lot of the roles she’s taken on have been really, really stereotyped.

You see, Lucy Liu is perfectly happy naming, and talking about, the elephant in the room: racism is a problem in Hollywood. Liu’s been cast as a Dragon Lady (Ling Woo on “Ally McBeal” for example), martial arts star (“Charlie’s Angels” and “Kill Bill”), and, of course, mysterious sex worker with links to the Chinese mafia (“Payback”).

Lucy rockin’ it at the “Kung Fu Panda” premiere.

Photo credit: Eva Rinaldi.

What she’s not often cast as is a woman who happens to be Chinese-American, a role where her race could be acknowledged and wrapped into the plot, without turning her into a total stereotype.

I wish people wouldn’t just see me as the Asian girl who beats everyone up, or the Asian girl with no emotion. People see Julia Roberts or Sandra Bullock in a romantic comedy, but not me.

She rightly notes that race confounds any casting decisions, making it impossible for her to be seen neutrally as an actress who might fit well in a role. Instead, her race is front and center in any discussions about how to use her in film and television:

it [becomes], ‘Well, she’s too Asian’, or, ‘She’s too American’. I kind of got pushed out of both categories. It’s a very strange place to be. You’re not Asian enough and then you’re not American enough, so it gets really frustrating.

Liu’s experiences in Hollywood, of course, mirror that of larger society, where Chinese-American women can find themselves in a strange social bind as they straddle multiple communities.

The daughter of immigrants, Liu has close ties to the Chinese community, but she’s also not entirely of the Chinese community, as she tells readers in the Net-A-Porter interview. She defied her parents to pursue an acting career, for example. Yet, at the same time, she’s not viewed as wholly “American” because of her race.

I love that her two favorite roles have been in “Lucky Number Slevin” (well worth checking out if you haven’t already) and “Watching the Detectives,” because both roles mark a departure from what people might think of as Liu’s ouvre, a reminder that actresses are often sandwiched into specific types of roles against their will. It’s not that Liu wants to be an action star or a Dragon Lady, but that these are the roles offered to her, and the ones she’s forced to take.

The fact that she’s getting more established and fighting to be on projects that aren’t pushing her into the stereotype corner is awesome, and I love seeing her in those roles. Her latest project, “Elementary,” definitely doesn’t cover stereotyped ground. As Joan Watson, she’s breaking all kinds of boundaries for an old and much-beloved classic. A companion to Holmes who’s not just a woman, but a Chinese woman?

Lucy Liu at a USAID Anti-Trafficking conference.

Photo credit: Crespo Events.

Her casting in that role wasn’t without controversy, though. While the producers were very committed to exploring the Holmes/Watson dynamic as a friendship, with her race reflective of larger racial diversity in New York, fans were explosively angry about the decision to put Liu in the role. Considerable racial hatred was dredged up by people lobbying against her casting. Liu’s response when asked about it kind of encapsulated the many reasons why I love her:

If I didn’t try anything different, I’d still be doing a Calgon ad. You have to be a pioneer, which means doing things that are not scheduled and different. When you do stuff, it’s not always to please other people–it’s to please yourself. For me, the more individual you make something, the more universal it can be. You have to be a pioneer.

Lucy Liu is rocking on with her bad self in an environment heavily dominated by older white male decisionmakers, where white actresses have the pick of the roles and the paychecks, where it’s still acceptable to cast white people in roles of color, and where actors of color often find themselves pushed into boxes it’s very, very hard to escape. She’s fighting all the things actresses need to deal with in an industry where sexism is still a looming issue, plus the tangle of racism in Hollywood.

I love and admire her frankness on the issue, and her willingness to confront it through her career and the projects she works on. Thanks for being a pioneer, Lucy.

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Wed, 15 May 2013 09:58:22 -0700

"May is officially Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month, and when we consider their many..."

Tue, 14 May 2013 12:33:16 -0700

“May is officially Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month, and when we consider their many contributions to society, we can’t help but recognize their influence in style. From streetwear icons like Eddie Huang and jeffstaple to designers like Phillip Lim and Alexander Wang, Asian-Americans have done a lot to shape the way we dress today. That’s why we culled some super-practical style tips from men all over the spectrum, from entertainers, creatives, and designers, here are 10 Style Tips You Can Learn From Famous Asian-Americans.”

- Jian DeLeon, “10 Style Tips You Can Learn From Famous Asian-Americans,” Complex Style 5/6/13 (via racialicious)

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Sun, 12 May 2013 23:28:03 -0700

Video

Sun, 12 May 2013 23:08:28 -0700

urbannoize2010: Distinguished gentlemen (or Robots), Daft Punk...

Thu, 09 May 2013 12:55:29 -0700

urbannoize2010:

Distinguished gentlemen (or Robots), Daft Punk meets GQ

These guys making looking ill to easy. & Without even having to conform to whatever is the norm now. Only Daft Punk. Such DOPE inspirations.

Photo taken by Christian Anwander, from their recent GQ

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Mon, 06 May 2013 20:56:04 -0700

lovelyluann: Janelle Monae feat. Erykah Badu - Q.U.E.E.N. “Am I...

Thu, 02 May 2013 10:34:34 -0700

lovelyluann:

Janelle Monae feat. Erykah Badu - Q.U.E.E.N.

“Am I freak for getting down?”

Two of my favorites collaborated?! GAME. OVER.

motormavens: Dang. The wheels always make the car. #workwheels...

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 23:21:19 -0700

motormavens:

Dang. The wheels always make the car. #workwheels (at Performance Nissan)

Favorite wheels ever! I’ll be owning another set, hopefully soon

Damn!

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 22:37:58 -0700

Damn!

rawriarebunnie: i think i reblogged this once before… but GD, i...

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 22:36:55 -0700

rawriarebunnie:

i think i reblogged this once before… but GD, i want SOMETHING like this one day…like the tokyo drifttt, they had that rotating garage storageee. need.

itcars: Toyota Celica Image by Dylan Leff

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 19:09:49 -0700

itcars:

Toyota Celica

Image by Dylan Leff