This video made me laugh:

I know Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month is over, but that doesn’t mean the updates on some Asians who are representing needs to end.

Some notable news:

The Morning Benders have released two exclusive non-LP tracks: a stream of ‘Go Grab A Stranger’ and a free mp3 download “Cold War (Wallpaper. Remix),” both of which are available on their official website.

Also, something super exciting: The Morning Benders will be doing a FREE SHOW with Freelance Whales on June 19th at Governors Island as part of Converse’s kick ass “Gone to Governors” live music series on The Beach. Other folks participating in the free concert series include Yeasayer (June 5), She & Him (July 4), and Neon Indian (August 14).

In other news, “The Other Asian” on “Glee” aka “Mike Chang” aka Harry Shum Jr. has done an interview with New York magazine.

Yes! The Other Asian speaks!

May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month! You know what that means, time to talk about some awesome Asians!

Michelle Phan is a Vietnamese-American vlogger who found fame via her YouTube makeup tutorials and was recently hired by Lancome as their video makeup artist where she produces videos for them on a regular basis.

Here’s just one of her videos about how to do makeup if you wear glasses:

The other night I was watching the Oprah episode about the world’s most talented kids. I missed the Justin Bieber segment, but caught the amazing little Filipina singer named Charice. She too rose to fame via YouTube popularity, which landed her spots on Korean TV, and then later Ellen DeGeneres and the Oprah Winfrey Show.

Her debut self-titled album on Warner Brothers dropped this week. Check out her single, “Pyramid”:

The last time I saw The Morning Benders was just under two years ago when they opened up for the Kooks when I wrote this review:

Openers The Morning Benders seemed like a perfect match in terms of the demographic of the audience. Comprised of four innocuous looking young men with perfectly poppy tunes, the Berkley quartet were probably loving all of the supportive whooping coming from the audience. However, after the show the lead singer caused a giant clusterfuck along the exit path as little ewoks huddled around him asking him to sign their CDs and chit-chatting with him. Gasped one girl to the other, “Ohmigod, it IS HIM!”

Some things have changed since then: while The Morning Benders still hold on to their pop roots, they’ve graduated into a grand choral sound full of harmonizing vocals and reverberating guitar distortion. You can’t help but wonder how much of that change has to do with Grizzly Bear’s bassist/producer Chris Taylor, who lent his talents to the production of TMB’s newest LP, Big Echo. But no matter what the origin for the shift in the band’s sound, there’s no denying that the result is stellar.

This is a face any Asian grandmother would love!

The Morning Benders have successfully synthesized the rarely occurring combination of making music that appeals to both geeky music nerds and 16-year-old girls. But what’s most unusual is that unlike so many other groups in the geeky music nerd/16-year-old girl cross section (MGMT, LCD Soundsystem, Beyonce [ironically]), TMBs don’t rely on tons of synthesizers and dancey hooks to reel in their audience.

Instead they lean on their innocent baby faces and mild manners retain their core group of fans who fell for the pop pedigree sounds of their first album, while letting their new sound captivate a more mature, less estrogen-fueled fan base who got a taste of them while opening up for Grizzly Bear and Ra Ra Riot.

PHOTOS: The Morning Benders @ Music Hall of Williamsburg

They also tap into an underutilized marketing tool in indie rock — the power of the Asians. Everyone knows that little Asian girls love indie rock music (take a look at the front row of the makeup of any poppy British band and tell me I’m wrong), and now they finally have their very own set of dreamy Asian-mom-approved guys to pine over. But what about the white dude on the drums? It’s A-OK my friends, the internetz tell me that just like white people like Asian girls, Asians girls like white dudes.

Time to add the Chu brothers and Tim Or to the great pantheon of other Asian dude rockers — like James Iha and… uh… that Asian guy from N.E.R.D.?????

The front rows of the show were of course filled with wide-eyed girls ready to soak in the cuteness of the wholesome young quartet. This fact was in no way lost on the band, with dreamy frontman Chris Chu playing up to the fans, initiating sing-a-longs (“Excuses”) and then towards the end of the set he slid off the stage and into the crowd to sing directly to the ladies as they huddled around him with big smiles on their faces.

While songs like “Sleeping In” and “Stitches” come off as mild-mannered jams when listening to the album, live they take on a new (rockin’) life, with the band’s passionate playing adding an extra edge to these pleasant ditties.

TMB’s played a few songs not off their new album — most notably an older song called “Damnit Anna” and a new song they claimed they’d never done live before, “Go Grab a Stranger.”

Before ending the set Chris mentioned to the crowd that the band would be at the merch table after the show, and as I was heading out the doors I saw a gaggle of blushing girls lined up around Chris, each patiently waiting to say a few words to him and/or ask to take a photo, with the young frontman dutiful obliging — clearly this band knows where there bread is buttered.

Openers Holiday Shores are clearly enjoying the popularity of chillwave, with their Vampire Weekend-esque, Paul Simon-loving, beachy tunes. Live the band was slightly disjointed (with some of their band members unable to make the show for undisclosed reasons).

While some of the tunes were a success, there were a few the fell flat — all the more not helped by the one dude in the band standing in the center of the stage wearing Adidas Sambas who distracted everyone with his solitary job of hitting one cymbal with one drumstick — or sometimes when he was getting mad crazy, TWO drum sticks. The poor lead singer, positioned off to the side behind his keyboard had the tough job of bringing the attention back to it’s rightful place — his own power dampened by the unfortunate Mr. Rogers sweater he selected to wear over his tropical print button down shirt. (Yikes!)

But fashion faux pas aside, it would be nice to hear this band to take the pretty solid foundation and shake things up a bit. Hmmm… maybe they should take a note from the Morning Benders’ turn from mild to major in the short span of two years.

More about the show over at Brooklyn Vegan, Green Shoelace, We All Want Someone to Shout For, Amanda M. Hatfield, Where? Wear? Ware? House, Music Snobbery

NOTE: I originally had this article on a site that I was toying with that is no longer in existence. However, I thought the tips in the story were valuable so I’m porting it over onto TMA, even though it has nothing to do with music or pop culture really. Hope you enjoy it anyway!

If you’re anything like me, over the years you’ve probably had your fair share of awful haircuts at the hands of stylists who did not know how to cut Asian hair*. One too many traumatic experiences scared me silly from doing anything too adventurous with my hair for quite some time. I basically kept my hair long and straight (with various side bang/straight bang/no bang variations), not necessarily because I preferred that hairstyle, but because I was afraid to try anything else.

Part of that fear was my lack of understanding about Asian hair, caused by a lack of available information on the topic in magazines and the internet. Try Googling “asian hair” and you’ll get some random message board postings and antiquated articles citing no-name stylists on the topic. Sad, right? So I decided to get in contact with the folks at the Sassoon Salon (formerly known as the Vidal Sassoon Salon), world-famous for being the “Harvard of hairdressing,” to get the low-down on Asian hair from a bona fide expert.

Yuka Tsurumi is the Assistant Creative Director at the Sassoon Salon Uptown in New York City, with over 10 years of experience in the industry. While her credentials with the venerable salon are somewhat intimidating, Yuka herself is the antithesis of stodgy. Petite, with short electric pink hair, and a penchant for dressing in a mishmash of bold patterns, Yuka is upbeat and affable–and exactly the kind of woman from whom I would want to take styling advice.

Here’s some valuable info for you Asian-haired ladies out there:

Q: Are there some general characteristics that can be attributed with Asian hair?
A: Many Asians tend to have straighter and courser hair. Many people think that Asian hair is really straight, but not everybody has totally straight hair–they might have a kink to it. Even though Asians may have straighter hair, they often have a stronger, upward hair growth. For example, many Asian clients have strong hair growth in the hairline, so if you’re not careful and you cut too short, the hair might jump out in more of a cowlick.

Q: What are some of the most common mistakes stylist make with Asian hair?
A: I think many people tend to thin out the hair too much [with razors]. Many clients come in and their hair is so thinned out they are loosing the shape of the haircut. If they thin the hair out too much, they take all volume out and the ends become too wispy.

I use the technique of giving he hair more layers, and thinning out with scissors. It still keeps the shape of the haircut but not too thinned out.

Also, many Asian clients have a flat back of the head, so if you follow the head shape exactly, the hair is going to be flat [in the back]. When a client comes in I try to create a nice round head shape and nice profile. Cutting precision and with more detail helps create a better shape.

Q: What should Asian women mention to a new stylists who might be unfamiliar with Asian hair?
A: I would mention that your hair is pretty strong, and that it’s going to stick out if cut too short. If you come in and it’s already blow dried, mention whether one side sicks out.

When many people go to the salon and it looks nice when it’s been styled, but they cannot recreate the look at home. At the Sassoon Salon we do a consultation, then a wash. We cut the hair wet, then blow dry it. We don’t use a round brush or curling iron so we can see the shape of the haircut as it comes out, and then do the detail cutting.

To have a low-maintenance cut, a stylist should work with the natural texture of your hair, not against it. Asian hair is so beautiful–shiny and straight–I think it’s nice to complement the texture and beautiful hair. And if you have a good haircut, you don’t have to do anything!

Q: What are some general haircare tips for women with Asian hair?
A: I recommend getting a trim every 6 to 8 weeks in order to keep your hair healthy–otherwise you’ll have more damage or split ends. You don’t need to wash every day because if you wash and blow every day the heat will fry your hair.

I like Bain Satin shampoo from the French company Kerastase (owned by L’Oreal). They have levels 1, 2, and 3, where 1 has the least moisture and 3 is the heaviest–if you hair is on the drier side. When you do blow dry, I would use a protective hair product like Kerastase’s Elixir Oleo-Relax from the French company Kerastase (owned by L’Oreal) for smooth and sleeker hair. Also try a deep conditioning deep treatment once or twice a week.

If you have curlier hair, use a diffuser to bring out more curls. For fine curly hair, use a mousse.

Q: Do you have a few ideas for hairstyles for Asian hair?
A: The Nancy Kwan bob [which Vidal Sassoon made famous] is very classic, and fits Asian clients perfectly.

We have a new Sassoon collection inspired by the 80s runway supermodel (see below). The looks are layered, with bold fringe, and head-hugging–like a boy’s haircut. Very clean and sleek bobs. I think having shorter hair complements many Asian facial features.

But whether it’s short or long hair, a bold heavy fringe is nice. Bold stronger fringe, as opposed to wispy fringe is more complementary because the hair can hang straight.

If you leave the face open by getting side fringe, it looks more modern and confident, and for Asian hair it will enhance the beauty of the actual hair cut.

* This article focuses on women of East Asian and Southeast Asian decent.