InfatuAsian Podcast

Etrike Karaoke is some of the most fun content on the internet. In it, Alanna Malicdem pedals up to people on the streets of West Hollywood and asks them if they'd like to sing karaoke on the back of her electric tricycle... sometimes it goes great, and sometimes it doesn't, but it's always a good time.  Lately, she's been toting around some celebrities, including KPOP groups like Riize, BoyNextDo...

We took our show on the road this summer.  This time we ended up in Flushing, Queens in New York City, and there's no better way to experience a town than to have a local show you around!  So we called up our podcast pal Lingjie who dropped everything to guide us to cheap and good places to eat!  We disappointed Lingjie by only being able to eat at 7 different spots, but we had a good time!  I hop...

Go see DiDi!  It will make you laugh, cry, and squirm in your seat a little as you get transported back to your own summer before going to high school. It captures the angst, insecurity, and awkwardness of being a 13-year-old Taiwanese American kid in Fremont California. Katie, Zoe, and I couldn't wait to get together to talk about this film.  DiDi should be available at a theatre near you, but do...

It's Back-to-School time for Curtis so there's no new episode this week. But in celebration of Love in Taipei's launch on Netflix I thought it'd be a fun time to revisit this episode we recorded with Abigail Wen, the Author of the Loveboat, Taipei book series.  My friends Cliff and Emily had fun swapping stories about their time on the "Loveboat" trips to Taipei in the 1990's.  We also got to hear...

Emily Kwong is the host of a fantastic new podcast from LAist/NPR.  Inheriting is a show about Asian American and Pacific Islander families, which explores how one event in history can ripple through generations.  Sarah-Soonling and I had such a fantastic chat with Emily about her roots, how she got into radio, and how she decided to make Inheriting the show it is! Please listen to Inheriting, whe...

For those of us born in the 70's Star Wars was undoubtedly a huge part of our childhood.  However, as Asian Americans, it was nearly impossible to see ourselves in the galaxy George Lucas created. This finally started to change in the late 2010s with some great characters in the films Rogue One and The Last Jedi. This summer, Disney+ came out with the Acolyte starring not one but TWO Asian actors...

Seeing Rolling Quartz grow and create over the last 15 months has been so much fun.  Since our last interview, the band has been to over 10 different countries and has played a bunch of live concerts in front of thousands of fans.  Rolling Quartz has also put out lots of new music and videos. Jumi and I were able to catch up with them in between concerts and it was such a good time catching up! Ro...

Curtis, Nadira, and Jen get back together to talk about 2024 K-Dramas, coincidentally 3 years since we launched this podcast in June 2021!  If we're being honest, 2024 hasn't been a great year of K-Dramas for us so far, but there have been some dramas that have made us laugh and cry... or both.  We'll be talking specifically about An Atypical Family and Queen of Tears, and we'll comment on a few o...

If you’re looking for a summer read, look no further!  Real Americans by Rachel Khong is like getting 3 books in one, it spans over 50 years and several countries from the perspective of 3 generations of a Chinese family. It asks the question, who and what determines who you are and what life you get to live? Rachel was a complete joy to speak with, she’s currently based in LA but spent many years...

There is a type of content on YouTube called "Catch and Cook" videos, where people catch fish and then show you how to prepare them. Most people who make these kinds of videos simply take the guts out of the fish, slap them in a grill or a pan with some butter and salt and pepper and eat them like that.  Taku, aka Outdoor Chef Life, has elevated the genre by producing amazing content with restaura...

April Kim gets one of the best seats at some of Singapore and Malaysia's biggest KPOP concerts!  She's literally on the stage with the artists!  April is a stage interpreter, who turns the artists' Korean into English for their fans.  I noticed April when some videos of her interactions with artists like Taeyeon, CN Blue, and IU went viral!  It really seems like the performers and the fans love Ap...

Would it surprise you to find out that many of your favorite KPOP songs are written outside of Korea? It might also surprise you to find out that a few of these Billboard-charting songs were actually written by a Canadian teenager! Today we're hearing from Toronto-based singer-songwriter Sofia Kay. Still in her teens, Sofia is an uber-talented artist who has been writing songs for about as long as...

Eddie Ahn has been working in environmental justice as the executive director of Brightline Defense for the past 15+ years, here in San Francisco.  And you know me, whenever I get a chance to interview someone from SF I'll jump at the chance! Eddie has published his first graphic novel, Advocate, a memoir about navigating family and working on environmental justice issues here in SF and beyond.  H...

I traveled to Macau to teach English for 3 summers in the early 90's. It's a really special place to me, since so much of my Chinese identity was formed during my time there.  Since I lived there before the internet age, I needed to dial and receive phone calls from overseas, so I was familiar with telling people they needed to dial the country code for Macau, 853, before the rest of the number. ...

Children of immigrants face unique pressures as adults. They can get stuck in a "repay cycle," (tm) where they constantly feel like they need to always be there for their parents who gave up so much for them, often sacrificing their own desires to do that. Allison Ly is a licensed clinical social worker who offers therapy (in California) and coaching for 1st and 2nd gen adults. She has lots of ins...

This week we had a wonderful chat with Sarah-SoonLing Blackburn!  She is a Bangkok-born Malaysian/Chinese-American author and educator who wrote Exclusion and The Chinese American Story a middle-grade history book supplement that delineates the ups and downs of the Chinese American experience from the 1800s to today.  It's a fantastic read that is not just for kids, Zoe and I thoroughly enjoyed re...

Ally Shen is a rising star in the Mando Pop world!  She's part of the 9 member Taiwanese girl group Twinkle Black, but she announced on OUR SHOW that she is officially launching her solo career with 2 new songs in the next few months! It was a complete pleasure to talk with Ally for about an hour, she is so warm, friendly, funny, and smart! I can't wait to follow her career and see how far she goe...

It's always fun to get together with my teacher pals, but it was even more fun to get together at my new favorite Southeast Asian restaurant, Lime Tree!  Loan, Vicky, Jackie, and I got together right before our Spring Break to talk about AAPI history, facts, and historical figures.  Pictured here is the Tape family, their 8-year-old daughter, Mamie, was part of a Supreme Court case that led to the...

For someone who plays villains, actor Yvonne Chapman could not have been nicer! Calling in from Vancouver, Canada, Yvonne talked with me about her road to acting as well as her three seasons on CW's Kung Fu, playing villain turned friend Zhilan Zhang. In February of 2024, Yvonne was stunning as the larger-than-life supernatural Kyoshi Avatar in Netflix's live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last...

We headed back to our favorite KPOP store, SarangHello, here in San Francisco to have some fun on a Friday night!  We had a Trivia Night with about 30 of our listeners and friends!  It was lots of laughs, a few tense moments, but in the end, I think everyone left a winner! Special thanks to Chesca, Pip, (and Kevin in absentia) for hosting us and providing our final prize of a $50 gift card to the...

This episode was so much fun to record!  I was able to get a mini tour of Chinatown with two SF natives who grew up down there, Josh Chuck, co-producer and co-director of the documentary film Chinatown Rising, and my mom Brenda!  It was really fun to capture the sounds of Chinatown on this recording, I hope you enjoy!  A few FACT CHECK items:  I said Pan-Pacific Exposition, but I meant The Golden...

**No Spoilers For the First Half**  Jess Hong plays Jin Cheng in Netflix’s sci-fi thriller 3 Body Problem, adapted from Chinese novelist Cixin Liu’s books, and produced by Benioff, Weiss (Game of Thrones) and Woo (True Blood).  Jin is a genius scientist trying to save mankind from a consequence that started over five decades earlier.  Jess called in from New Zealand, and she couldn’t have been nic...

More great recommendations for Asian food in San Francisco from Julia Chen, Senior Staff Writer at the Infatuation SF! Let us know if you try any of our recommendations!  As you can tell we love food and we hope you do too! Follow Julia @infatuation_sf or over at their website https://www.theinfatuation.com/san-francisco Restaurants Mentioned these clips: Viva Goa Hokkaido Sashimi Marketplace Fil-...

Julia Chen has my dream job! (though it does seem like a lot more work than I realized) She is a Senior staff writer at the restaurant recommendation site The Infatuation. (no, the similarity of our media names did not escape us)! Julia eats out in SF 6-10 times a week and writes reviews for The Infatuation website. The Infatuation has quickly become my favorite restaurant recommendation site! Com...

What a year 2023 was for Asian American representation in TV and film. Since the Oscars is traditionally the end of awards season, I figured it’d be fun to do a little recap of some of our favorite AAPI projects that aired in 2023!   I brought back 2 friends of the pod to help me with this. We’re happy to have Katie Nguyen back!  And joining us again is our old pal Kelvin, who is a real Asian Amer...