Racebending.com

Welcome to another edition of the Saturday Link Roundup! This week, we focus on everything entertainment: from the Hollywood box office to the fashion runway, where we can find Asian American talent – and where it’s strangely absent.

• Outlook for studios depends on hits, cuts – via Georg Szalai and Paul Bond of The Hollywood Reporter
  
  The report looks at Paramount’s profitability. The Last Airbender is a tentpole, “too-big-to-fail” movie that Paramount needs to be profitable to succeed.

  Analyst Michael Nathansan forecasts that Paramount’s 2010 film revenue will “decline 7%, as Paramount will be challenged to match the success of its 2009 summer blockbusters” and says that Paramount’s profits will likely “decline 16% this year.”

• Fewer Models Of Color Work New York’s Fashion Runways – via Jenna of Jezebel
  

  Jezebel has tracked runway model diversity for a few seasons now. In the Fall 2009 fashion season, they found that “of 4,095 turns on the runway, only 662 went to models who weren’t white. That’s barely 16%.”

• Refugee board judge sought sex, court told – via Peter Small of The Star
  
  Via Angry Asian Man, we found this story about a Canadian judge who tried to coerce a South Korean woman into having an affair with him, in return for authorizing her asylum request. Ji Hye Kim was seeking refuge from her home country, where she suffered under an abusive father.
  
  However, Kim bested judge Steve Ellis: she recorded their conversation and Ellis now faces criminal charges. Score one for strong women fighting crooked systems.
• Aasif Mandvi’s Comic Talents Shine in ‘Today’s Special’ – via Lisa Tsering of India West
  
  Aasif Mandvi is interviewed about his movie “Today’s Special,” which will open the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival. He was also interviewed about his role as Commander Zhao in “The Last Airbender.”
  
  “I haven’t seen any of the movie yet, just the trailers,” he told India-West in a phone interview. “But it looks pretty exciting. It’s a big action movie, and at times, I felt more like a stuntman than an actor.”
• Asia’s 25 greatest actors of all time – via La Carmina of CNN Go
  
  CNN lists the greatest 25 Asian actors of all time! We’re all hoping for the day we can see lists with Asian American faces – but we still love watching Asian nationals on the big screen.
• Missing: Asian-American pop stars – via Mireya Navarro of The New York Times
  

  The New York Times reports on the dearth of Asian American solo pop stars. Perspectives from Asian American artists as well as executives in the music industry.
  
  “A talent executive with a major label, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak for his company, said he knew of no “inherent bias” against singers of Asian descent and said he was at a loss to explain why so few make it to the top.”
  
  Uh huh. The article goes on to point out that the most recognizable solo Asian American artist is hardly flattering–it’s William Hung.
  
  Bonus: Check out the Asian American group Legaci (pictured above).

• And the Oscar winner is most likely to look like this… – Carolyn of Remodelminority.com
  
  Carolyn writes: “According to the article, the Academy tends to favor American actors (compared to British nominees). Also the BBC states that 93% of male winners have been white. Female winners tend to be younger than their male counterparts and according to the article, nearly half of the actresses won for a romantic film role.”