Philippines

How Can Mexicans Make Americans Like Mexicans?

[¡Ask a Mexican!] And why do Mexicans love tamarind so much?

ViFF: Cinema Viet

The Vietnamese International Film Festival showcases a national and diaspora movie industry on the rise

Human Trafficking of Filipinos to Louisiana Results in $4.5 Million Award

A federal judge in Southern California has awarded $4.48 million to 347 Filipinos because a Los Angeles company violated the federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) by tricking them into slave labor as teachers in Louisiana public schools.This week, U.S. District Court Judge John A. Kronst ... More >>

Big Harp Tour With Their Kids and Swear It's Fun

Chris Senseney and Stefanie Drootin-Senseney are unlike any other touring couple in music. The duo, better known to the world as Big Harp, first met when their bands Art in Manila (Chris) opened for The Good Life (Stef) on a west coast run back in 2007. It was love at first sight and the two soon ma ... More >>

Maggi: The Condiment That Every Culture Thinks Is Theirs

Sriracha may inspire crazy blog posts and foodie adoration; but when it comes to world domination, it's got nothing on Maggi. PRI's The World has a great story about the stuff in the distinctive genie-like bottle. The brand is so ingrained in just about every culture in every part of the world, it's ... More >>

Nightingale California International, Fake Garden Grove Nursing School, Scammed Its Students

California's Board of Registered Nursing wants to revoke the licenses of five nurses for running an unaccredited Garden Grove nursing school from 2007 to 2010. Students at Nightingale California International took nursing pre-licensure classes in Garden Grove and completed clinical training in the P ... More >>

Top 10 Things About Covering Music for OC Weekly

Nine years ago, I was in this wannabe new-wave band based in Santa Ana. Back then, our big goal in life was to get featured in OC Weekly. The band imploded, as bands are wont to do, way before we even got a concert listing in the Calendar section (not even a Locals Only, sob!). The funny thing was, ... More >>

David Haldane Has a Mail-Order Bride And Wants His OC Neighbors to Be Cool With It

David Haldane went online, met a girl and married her. But this isn't your typical Internet-age love story. To meet this young lady in person for the first time, 63-year-old Haldane had to take a 16-hour plane ride to the Philippines, where her mother immediately inquired, "So, you want to marry my ... More >>

Quark Henares on the Movie 'Rakenrol' and the State of Philippine Rock & Roll (It's Screen Free at UCI Today!)

​ Why is Rakenrol so cool? The Philippine movie, screening today at 5 p.m. at UC Irvine, doesn't have a groundbreaking plot: it's the story of an indie band trying to make it big, where the members come of age, and there's a love story (natch) to boot. It's not just that the motley cast is endeari ... More >>

More Filipino Eateries Join Jollibee in Anaheim: Valerio's Bakery and Manila Sunrise

​When we start calling Anaheim home to OC's own Little Manila, the epicenter of it all will be the plaza at the corner of Euclid and Crescent. When Jollibee and its sister Red Ribbon joined Kapit Bahay and LBC (the balikbayan box courier used by Filipino expats to send care packages to the Philipp ... More >>

Jollibee in Anaheim Is the Reason for the Season

What to eat and expect at the Filipino fast-food giant's first OC store

Manny Pacquiao Comic Book Now on Kindle

​You know you've made it when you have a comic book version of your life, ala Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber. Philippine boxer (and wannabe balladeer) Manny Pacquiao's comic biography, Winning In & Out of the Ring was made in the Philippines, where Pacquiao is considered a national hero, but it's ... More >>

Jollibee Opens in Anaheim Today

​ Oh Joy! Chickenjoy, to be exact. Jollibee's first outlet in Orange County opened today at 7 a.m. in the space that previously held Chris & Pitts BBQ in Anaheim at the corner of Euclid & Crescent.I got the tip off from astute reader JB, who got wind of it from a Pinoy blogger and newly mi ... More >>

OC Gets Its First Filipino Food Truck

thepogiboytruck.com​Since this whole food-truck thing happened, there have been a few Filipino food trucks to debut, including Tapa Boy, Manila Machine and White Rabbit. All are LA-based. But The Pogi Boy Truck, if I'm not mistaken, is OC's first Filipino food truck.

Imperial Stars to Stand Trial

[Mental Notes] Also, Poreotics and the trans-Pacific dance heist.

Report: Pasta the Most Popular Dish in the World

​Grand, overarching summations derived from research papers must always be viewed skeptically, but the global organization Oxfam is well-regarded for its research, and its only real agenda is feeding folks, something they've been working on since the 1940s. They know a bit about global food trends ... More >>

Filipino Giant Jollibee Investing $41 Million for Overseas Expansion

Edwin Goei​Those who are familiar with the Filipino fast-food chain Jollibee already know they're huge in the Philippines. They outsell even McDonald's there.The burger-fried-chicken mega-chain has recently announced its plans to invest $41 million in overseas markets. $16 million of it will be ea ... More >>

Five Deep Fried Desserts Worth the Calories

Flickr user judybaxter​What a pity this isn't Scotland. There are chippies (that's fish and chips shops to us) where they'll fry just about anything. Frozen pizza, Twinkies, Mars bars, you name it, they'll batter and deep-fry it.Sure, we have our fried desserts here, our beignets and our doughnuts ... More >>

Anthrax's Scott Ian to Skip Touring Due to Birth of First Child

​Scott Ian, Anthrax's rhythm and lead guitar player, just announced he's not going to be touring with the band he formed 30 years ago due to the upcoming birth of his first child. He said, "This decision to miss these shows was a deeply personal one. I co-founded this band July 18, 1981, and for ... More >>

[UPDATE: Newport Elementary & Beaches Closed, Small Waves in OC] No Tsunami Warning Issued For California As a Result of 8.8 Magnitude Japan Quake--Yet

​UPDATE, MARCH 11, 8:14 A.M.: Newport Elementary School has been closed.UPDATE, MARCH 11, 7:46 A.M.: Southern California is now under a tsunami advisory, rather than a warning. Waves could get as high as 7 feet up in the Central Coast, but should be more in the neighborhood of 2 feet on Orange Cou ... More >>

McDonald's Advertising Catches Up With US Filipino Demographic

In yesterday's mail, I received the following: ​ I blinked, did a double take and even pulled up Google Translator to make sure I wasn't seeing things. Indeed, McDonald's sent me a Filipino advertisement.

Ross Pangilinan of Leatherby's Café Rouge, Part Two

Photo by Mary Bell​ Today we continue our Q&A with Ross Pangilinan, the Executive Chef at Leatherby's Café Rouge in Costa Mesa. As promised this is the part of the interview where we get a little more personal with him. If you missed the first part, click here. And stay tuned tomorrow for ... More >>

Jollibee: A Reflection of Our Fast-Food Selves

Edwin GoeiJollibee in Cerritos​With the announcement that Jollibee is slated to replace Chris & Pitts in Anaheim came a few xenophobic comments, not just here, but on other blogs. The irony, of course, is that Jollibee is more American than Filipino. Take a gander at the menu and it's as if ... More >>

The Fifth Annual Thousands-of-People-Who-Aren't-Filipino-Prisoners-Dance-to-'Thriller'-Simultaneously Happens Tomorrow

​Wrap your head around this: For the fifth year in a row, teams in 25 countries will perform the Thriller dance simultaneously tomorrow at the annual Thrill The World event. For Orange County, that means at 4 p.m. in Irvine, people will be "thrilling" at the Atomic Ballroom (17961 Skypark Cir. Sui ... More >>

Ronnie's Kids

Today, 'amnesty' is a dirty word. So what happened to the immigrants given a fresh start by Reagan in 1986?

Labzter - Lobster Flavored Crackers

Edwin Goei​Name: Labzter - Lobster Flavored Crackers Origin: Philippines Found at: Manila Groove, Tustin

Philippine Brand Mango Balls

Edwin Goei​Name: Philippine Brand Dried Mango Balls Origin: Philippines Found at: 99 Ranch, Irvine Cost: $1.29 Ingredients: Selected Mangoes, Sugar & Preserved With Sulfur Dioxide Why I Bought It: It's easily the most wholesome Wacky Snacks I've profiled on this feature. Except for ... More >>

Slave Labor in LBC

Miguel SaavedraThe Long Beach woman featured in this LA Weekly story a month ago pleaded guilty today, along with her husband, to charges of forced labor for illegally harboring two Philippine women in her home and forcing them to work in her elder care businesses after tricking them into coming to ... More >>

[Hole in the Wall] Manila Grille Takes the Pinoy Path

Curly Tops

Name: Curly Tops Origin: Philippines Found at: Pinoy Mart, Tustin Cost: $1.59 Ingredients: Refined Cane Sugar, Milk Powder, Hydrogenated Palm And Palm Kernel Oil, Whey, Cocoa Powder, Soy Lecithin, Vanillin and Cinnamon Powder, Iodized Salt. Why I Bought It: Apart from the name, which is, ... More >>

Last Night: Rex Navarrete at the Irvine Improv

"I hate going to the Philippines, like, against my will," Pinoy standup comic Rex Navarrete tells the mostly-Filipino crowd at the Irvine Improv club Tuesday night, recalling teen summers in San Francisco he was forced to trade in for drugged plane rides back to the motherland. . .where he stayed wi ... More >>

DVDish

WEB EXCLUSIVE! Jungle Fever

To Do Tonight - 11/08

Morning cream

Score! Japanese pastry chain Beard Papa's is opening its first OC "Sweet Cafe" in Santa Ana this morning. This place is a cream puff haven - one I first stepped into in the Philippines and was delighted to see in West L.A. last year. And now, right down the street? Oh ho ho. Just when I thought you ... More >>

!Ask a Mexican!

'The only reason Mexicans come into this country illegally is because its easy for them'

Grub Guide

This week in Randomness

!Ask a Mexican!

Dorothean Panoramas

The Forgotten Ones remember the last boat people of the Vietnam War

Sisig Grill

Empire Eats

Five restaurants to chew on our last imperial century

Letter From the Unknown Soldier

The Education of Corporal Gunderson

I joined the Marines to get a good education, and all I got was a crummy Gulf War

Diary of a Mad County

Exit Strategies

Never get into waror romancewithout noting the exits

Taboo Sex in World War II

Manila Enveloped in Oklahoma Bombing Case

Honored Heroes, Forgotten Dead

Of monuments and memory

Crouching Festival, Hidden Films

Newport fest chops Asian presence

This Dog Won't Hunt

Dogeaters marks the postmodernist triumph of style over truth