Almost all of us who grew up in the 1990s and later have them, those endless home videos your parents took of you at every piano recital, sports game, vacation and laughable family moment.

They were not a waste or annoying specters of the past. These home clips, combined with newsreels and interviews, have a place in the documentary Linsanity which came out in theaters last Friday.

Filming began while Jeremy Lin was a senior at Harvard, and director Evan Jackson Leong followed Lin through his tense ordeal with the NBA to Linsanity early last year. Most of Linsanity deals with Lin’s ups and downs through the sports divisions and teams, which make little sense to the non-sports fan. Woven into this journey is Lin’s spiritual life, interviews with his pastor and moments from Sunday services. But just as Lin drew the Asian community to television screens in February 2012 because of his background, Linsanity connects with viewers because it expresses the Asian American experience. Most of the audience in the few rows of the East Village AMC theater late Sunday afternoon were Asian. 

Linsanity hits the hearts of Asian Americans because Lin is just one of us – whose life is on the big screen.

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The Lin-sational story has come to a surprising and sad halt. This past weekend, it has been announced that Jeremy Lin will no longer play for the Knicks for the remainder of the season.

After tearing the meniscus in his left knee, Lin is now required to sit out from the court for six weeks and undergo arthroscopic surgery. He will be missing the rest of the season, which ends on April 26, and potentially the playoffs, if the Knicks make it.

Lin has admitted it being difficult to sit out and watch his team play, according to the Christian Post.

“It’s disappointing for me,” he said in a Madison Square Garden press conference on Saturday. “It’s hard to watch the games, and I think I want to be out there, obviously, more than anything, to help the team. Hopefully I can come back as soon as possible and still contribute this season.”

Lin also thanked his fans for the support. 

“Thanks for all the love! I’ll return from this surgery stronger / better than before and hopefully in time for the playoffs,” Lin said.

He also tweeted from the Bible. “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens… He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” The passage is from Ecclesiastes 3:1 and 11 (New International Version).

Get better soon, Lin!

Courtesy of Christine Thomasos of The Christian Post and Howard Beck of the New York TImes. Click on the links for their articles.

Watching, much less, following sports has never been my thing, that is until I caught Linsanity (along with thousands of others around the world)! The web, but most importantly, my Facebook news feed has been bombarded with news updates regarding Jeremy Lin, the rookie, Asian-American, Harvard graduate who has led the New York Knicks to seven consecutive wins. Unfortunately, this winning streak broke last night after a tight game against the New Orleans, Hornets. Despite the lost, the explosion of Jeremy Lin can still be dubbed as the “Linderella” story. A story of the catapult to fame, essentially overnight of a young man, who had been cut by two NBA teams before joining the Knicks (bench) and had been on the brink of being cut by them too had the coach not been forced to include Lin in the lineup due to injuries on the team. And after that, I’m sure you have read all about it either on Facebook, or any other source of media these past few weeks.

But, aside from Lin’s obvious talent as a basketball player, another reason why the Knicks has had a stellar run after Lin’s first game is due to Lin’s leadership skills. While Lin’s own talent for the sport is spectacular, he realizes that for the Knicks to reach optimal performance, basketball should return to what it’s suppose to be, a team oriented game. Lin does not hog the ball; instead, he believes his duties as the team’s point guard is to “distribute and get people in a rhythm.” With a rhythm amongst the team, they can operate as a unit and bring their best game. During this past Wednesday’s game (2/15/2012) the number of points scored by the top players was pretty much evenly distributed. The top eight players that night each scored between nine and fifteen points.

With this new view of the Knicks’ play, their past dismal performance has been blamed on their selfish, ego driven plays. The main target of these allegations has been placed on Carmelo Anthony, who has a history of ball hogging. Now, with Anthony scheduled to return from his injuries, it remains to be seen if Anthony can adopt this new style of play as well.   

P.S.: For those who have caught extreme Linsanity, and have a few grand lying around, the Knicks are auctioning off Jeremy Lin’s jersey worn against the Lakers last Friday for a good cause. 

So, the 60th Annual Grammy Nominations were announced yesterday morning, and somehow it left me with more mixed emotions than I’ve felt in a long time. On the one hand, we have many reasons to celebrate this year–the 2018 list of nominees is the most diverse group in all of Grammy history, especially when it comes to Black and LGBTQIA inclusion. Jay-Z, Childish Gambino, Kendrick Lamar, and more were all (deservedly) nominated for record of the year. Kesha and Lady Gaga were both nominated for two Grammys each, and out songwriter Justin Tranter was nominated for his first award as well. 

When it comes to inclusion in the entertainment industry, we’ve come a long way, and these nominees are just one example of that. Unfortunately, this progress has not been reflected within the Asian American community, as you can clearly see by the lack of Asian nominees for the 2018 Grammys. I can’t say I’m surprised, considering there aren’t really any huge Asian American names in the music industry. But it’s not because we’re not trying–it’s because those who run the system aren’t listening. This year I got the chance to discover Alice Gao, Niki Zefanya, Yaeji, and several other incredible Asian artists whose music deserves recognition–but none of them are getting the attention they deserve. 

While Grammy nomination entries can by submitted by any artists/record companies with commercially released music, all submissions are reviewed by a group of over 350 experts in the fields of jazz, R&B, rock, classical, new age, and more. These experts within the Academy go through several rounds of screening, being advised to vote in up to 15 categories in their areas of expertise as well as the 4 general categories (Record of The Year, Album of the Year, Song of The Year, and Best New Artist). Unfortunately, if you are a lesser known artist in the US (aka most Asian American artists) signed to a label with more well known artists, your label will most likely submit their song/album to be considered for Grammy nomination over yours. At the end of the day, it’s pretty much a self fulfilling prophesy. Since Asian American artists are almost never well known enough to qualify for the final rounds of nomination, their work is not often submitted. As a result, Asian Americans are continuously left out of the mainstream. The whole thing is a cycle that seems to have no end. 

Don’t get me wrong, I believe we should celebrate the victories we achieve, but I’m honestly so tired of writing and complaining about Asian American representation. You guys have heard it all before and I’m not here to preach the same message all over again, but my soul is tired y’all. While we should celebrate and cheer on our fellow POC, let’s remember that the entertainment industry is still far, far, from being the all inclusive community that we so desperately need. 

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