HOW THE INTERNET CHANGED MY SEX LIFE: Paul Nakayama found that bitching about the woes of online dating was the key to his success. For Lena Chen, author of the blog Sex and the Ivy, the Internet is a less-than-desirable hunting ground. ISSUE: FALL 2011 DEPT: The Awful Truth STORY: Paul Nakayama and Lena Chen [...]
Award-winning interior designer Surachai Tangsakyuen has created interiors for luxury hotels, spas and personal residences from Egypt to Hong Kong. Here, he provides tips on how to create mood-lifting home sanctuaries. ISSUE: Fall 2011 DEPT: Entertaining STORY: Anna M. Park Award-winning interior designer Surachai Tangsakyuen has created interiors for luxury hotels, spas and personal residences [...]
When the Great Recession hit in 2008, millions were downgraded to part-time, furloughed or simply laid off. But if there’s one thing the recession has proven, it’s that sometimes a downturn in life can be a blessing in disguise. ISSUE: Fall 2011 DEPT: Features STORY: Shirley Lau PHOTO: Kristy Lee & Luke Cho It’s impossible [...]
When the Great Recession hit in 2008, millions were downgraded to part-time, furloughed or simply laid off. But if there’s one thing the recession has proven, it’s that sometimes a downturn in life can be a blessing in disguise. ISSUE: Fall 2011 DEPT: Features STORY & PHOTO: Shirley Lau It’s impossible to look in any [...]
Whitening, lightening or “brightening” cosmetics lines are just starting to take off here in the U.S. ISSUE: Fall 2011 DEPT: Beauty Kit STORY: Anna M. Park You had a glorious, carefree summer of soaking in the sun and now you’re paying the price. The remnants of your golden tan are slowly turning into splotches, courtesy [...]
When the Great Recession hit in 2008, millions were downgraded to part-time, furloughed or simply laid off. But if there’s one thing the recession has proven, it’s that sometimes a downturn in life can be a blessing in disguise. ISSUE: Fall 2011 DEPT: Features STORY & PHOTO: Shirley Lau It’s impossible to look in any [...]
Actress, model and activist Yangzom Brauen fights for her grandmother’s Tibet in her new book Across Many Mountains. ISSUE: Fall 2011 DEPT: My Story STORY: Yangzom Brauen as told to Elyse Glickman Though I am lucky to have a thriving career as an actress in the United States and Europe, I feel especially privileged that [...]
When the Great Recession hit in 2008, millions were downgraded to part-time, furloughed or simply laid off. But if there’s one thing the recession has proven, it’s that sometimes a downturn in life can be a blessing in disguise. ISSUE: Fall 2011 DEPT: Features STORY: Shirley Lau It’s impossible to look in any direction without [...]
When it comes to herbal remedies and supplements, especially the Asian kind, there’s a lot of skepticism out there. After all, you’re more likely to hear about its usefulness from your mom who heard it from her friend or from a late-night infomercial than from your family doctor. We wanted to see what all the [...]
“I often build a relationship with my paintings as if they are my off- spring.” — Diana Reyes ISSUE: Fall 2011 DEPT: Personalities STORY: Han Cho Artist Diana Reyes, a.k.a. Fly Lady Di, brings new meaning to “art show.” Diana Reyes is a dancer with an impressive résumé: She’s been featured in music videos for [...]
Singer-songwriter Rachael Yamagata rediscovers her soul with her long-awaited third album, Chesapeake. ISSUE: Fall 2011 DEPT: Personalities STORY: Janice Jann Those accustomed to hearing singer-songwriter Rachael Yamagata’s smoky voice breaking from all the pain and heartbreak she endured in her first two albums, Happenstance and Elephants…Teeth Sinking Into Heart, will need to take a second [...]
Actor Tim Kang takes a less-than-appealing role and turns it into what may be the studliest Asian American character on TV. ISSUE: Fall 2011 DEPT: Personalities STORY: Han Cho With a season-to-date average of 14.4 million viewers, CBS’s highly rated show The Mentalist begins its fourth season this fall. The crime drama follows Patrick Jane [...]
Lynn Chen stars in White on Rice, out on DVD.
Janice Jann first interviewed Lynn Chen last year when White on Rice was releasing in theaters. Here, she talks to Chen about an insidious disease afflicting so many young women.
Hollywood actresses with eating disorders are a dime a dozen. The constant scrutiny under a harsh camera lens that adds 10 pounds, the competition to out-thin the other skinny minnies, the acceptance of the fact that a big part of your job revolves around how you look — and you better look good.
After a successful debut with a starring role as a ballet dancer in the 2004 romantic comedy, Saving Face, Lynn Chen’s career seemed to be taking off. But her struggle with food was spiraling down. “When I stopped the dieting, I naturally gained the weight back. But my managers weren’t happy. My fans called me chubby,” she says. After hitting an all-time low battling anorexia, Chen decided to take time off from acting and focus on her addictions. “I wanted to address that and really deal with it and not have the pressures of Hollywood knocking on my door and telling me I had to look a certain way,” she says.
So Chen and her friend, Christy, started a blog, The Actor’s Diet, in which they post what they eat every day. Serving as both a log for the two to take note of what they put in their mouths on a daily basis, as well as a way to demystify the crazy celebrity diets found in magazines and on television, the blog is a way to show readers that “actors’ diets come in all shapes and sizes,” says Chen.
“People think that actors all eat the same thing and they don’t. I think it’s important to talk about that. Especially Asian women. People say, ‘oh, Asian women, we don’t have to worry about what we eat, we’re a size zero’ and that’s just not true.”
Actress Lynn Chen.
This issue is also addressed in Chen’s contribution to Secret Identities, the anthology of Asian American superhero comics. Chen created a female superhero who is dealing with bulimia.
With scrumptious food pictures and contributions from guest bloggers like Gilmore Girls’ Keiko Agena, Chen has managed to create a blog that both entertains and informs. “I think if we can embrace that Asian women come in all shape and sizes, we struggle, we’re human, we’re not superstars, not freaks — that’s what I want to do with the blog.”
By Janice Jann.
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[...] out this article about me and the blog that just came out! FYI – it says I was bulimic, but that ain’t [...]