ShoPowSho Episode 001: Comedian, Edwin San Juan

Psst. Psst. Hoy! Mga Kababayan! Hello and welcome everyone to The Nerds of Color‘s newest audio/video podcast, ShoPowSho! My name is Kuya P AKA Patrick Michael Strange and I am honored to have The Nerds of Color be the home of my new show, ShoPowSho, wherein, we will be exploring my people / my kabayan from the Philippines!

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Raymond Bagatsing on Becoming Manuel Quezon in ‘Quezon’s Game’

From 1937-1941, under the leadership of President Manuel Quezon, the Philippines opened their doors to Jewish refugees fleeing from Europe, at the beginning of what would eventually become the Holocaust. Approximately 1,300 lives were saved.

It’s a little known history about the Philippines, but what is even less known is how much Quezon had to fight to make it happen, due to the country being under occupation by the United States at the time. It’s this story that’s explored for the first time for the big screen in the film, Quezon’s Game.

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Aquaman: A Mixed Kid’s Journey

by Maha Chehlaoui

I went to Aquaman for two reasons: First, the ticket was free. Second, this is basically underwater Magic Mike, right? I came for the pecs, I stayed for the pecs. But also for the analysis of what it is to be of two cultures. I mean races. I mean… worlds?

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Southern Fried Asian: Kate Gavino

Southern Fried Asian is back from hiatus with a brand new episode featuring cartoonist Kate Gavino, whose new book Sanpaku is in stores now!

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There’s More Than Meets the Eye with ‘Sanpaku’ Creator Kate Gavino

If you grew up in a Japanese or Chinese household, the idea of ‘Sanpaku’ sounds really familiar. If you or a member of your family had ‘sanpaku eyes,’ which directly translate in Japanese to “three whites,” it means your eyes have white space above or below the iris is visible. In my household, as in many very traditional Asian households, to have sanpaku would mean you’d be cursed or carry around some bad luck. Only trinkets from the Buddhist temple, or whatever religion the family believes in, would protect those who had sanpaku eyes. Fortunately, I was one of the lucky ones in my family to not be “cursed” with sanpaku eyes.

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Exclusive Preview of ‘Sanpaku’ from BOOM! Studios

All week, BOOM! Studios has been conducting a spotlight on the powerful original graphic novel releases from its award-winning imprint Archaia. And we are proud to contribute to the Archaia Summer Reading series with this extended first look at Sanpaku.

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Modern Filipino Children’s Stories Gets a Kickstart

The Philippines has 181 languages yet most children’s stories in the Philippines are written in only 2 languages, Tagalog and English. Sari-Sari Storybooks has Kickstarted a project to bring those under-represented Philippine language groups life through children’s stories. We interview Christina Newhard about the project.

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New NBC Series Makes Light of Human Trafficking and Asian Stereotypes

Move over, Fresh Off the Boat! There’s going to be a new show in town that will diminish all the progressive work you’ve done for Asians.

Deadline announced recently that NBC has picked up a half-hour sitcom called Mail Order Family, a comedy about a widowed single father who orders a mail order bride from the Philippines to help raise his two preteen daughters.

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Supergirl: An L.A. Story for Today

by AJ Joven

It must have happened when I noticed Kara running in front of a slightly obscured monument that could only have been at Pershing Square. The flat sky scrapers, palm trees, and the technicolor brightness of the world all felt so familiar. An alien, misunderstood and hiding in plain sight, here in DC’s analog of Los Angeles is what makes Supergirl such a watershed moment: it takes this specific angle of the City and wears it unabashedly. As I’ve been playing catch up on the series (sorry… as a Filipino, I’m generally late to everything), I’ve found lots to like about the confident voice in Supergirl. Often steeped in questions of identity, Supergirl’s writers send up the concepts of being a professional woman, a millennial, and, most personal to me, an immigrant with swagger and intent. Seeing National City be so clearly depicted as Los Angeles (seriously, that flat top sky line is unique, y’all) and all of the auxiliary connotations involved in that is not, to my mind a mistake. It is, however, a first.

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Livestreaming Support for Typhoon Relief

Tonight at 11:15pm ET (8:15pm PT), our friends at National Film Society will be hosting a livestream telethon with Xylophone Films and Kid Heroes Productions to raise funds for and awareness of the victims of Super Typhoon Haiyan that claimed the lives of 10,000+ people and displaced millions more in the Philippines.

UPDATE: Check out the livestream:

More information is available at the official Facebook page for the Telethon for Philippines Typhoon Relief. And more details are after the jump.

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