Rich Kiamco

I am a queer Filipino American theater artist/comic/writer/entertainer. I am currently entered in this
contest for MTV/Logo’s “The Big Gay Sketch Show.” My audition involves submitting videos and blogs and then having people hit the MTV/Logo website and voting for me.

http://biggaycasting.com/people/richkiamco

I would greatly appreciate you support, VOTE every day, yes every day, I am in the TOP 25 and currently I am the only API in the top 50. It would be great to get more Asian representation in the media -oh and
I’m funny and talented too!

Please check out the link and see my submission, and please vote, and share with friends. I am only going to get there with votes, tons of them -and I am hoping there is a grassroots of APIs that can come through for me.

Thanks tons
Rich Kiamco

Facebook group: Click here

Rich’s website: http://www.richkiamco.com

He went to Parsons and interned with Narciso Rodriguez. He’s working on a collection for Fashion Week in two weeks.

1/24 – Updated -  NY Times article, about his career and boyfriend.

At last it has happened. Hong Kong’s first gay pride parade processed through the crowded streets of Hong Kong Island on the afternoon of Saturday 13 December. And it was a huge success. Some 1,200 men and women, young and old, mostly gay but with some straight friends too, marched for just under two hours from the assembly point outside the Causeway Bay MTR entrance in Great George Street, one of the most congested places on the face of the planet, straight along the major East-West thoroughfare of Hennessy Road to its final destination in the public Southern Playground near Wanchai’s station.

Read the full article here or the related article at Time Magazine’s site. Also : Time Out Hong Kong

Come see the movie debut of four AFC members–Angel, Dat, Harry and Kevin–in the Hornbill Productions’ gay-themed thriller movie, “Moon Over Hong Kong” at the Portage Theater, 4050 N. Milwaukee north of Irving Park in Chicago. Sat. January 10, 2009 at 8 p.m. No fee. Only one showing. You are invited as AFC guests. For more information, leave your name and number on our AFC Hotline: (312) 409-1573 by January 5.

Through a generous donation from AFC Board member Ralph Childs, we present our last holiday ornament up for raffle at tomorrow’s (12/13) Asians and Friends Chicago Holiday Dinner. It’s a Christopher Radko ornament from Macy’s called “Quilt ‘n’ Claus” and was inspired by the Names Project Quilt. Santa’s robe is made up of quilt panels and makes a beautiful ornament and very timely with World AIDS day this month. A portion of the ornament price is donated to the AIDS Awareness Foundation by Radko.

We’ve given a final head count today, but we will have room for people who show up without an RSVP, so please come even if you didn’t have time to RSVP. It’s at Riques Regional Mexican Restaurant, 5004 N. Sheridan in Chicago. We have reserved their “back room” for our event, which will start at 7 p.m. with buffet dinner, starter beer and wine and sangria. $35 with dancing at Big Chicks to follow.

Happiest of holidays to all!

Even if you are not an Obama supporter, the world thinks much better of us now, based on the reaction the writer is hearing:

Upon seeing my button, everyone, without exception, smiles.  I have received preferential treatment all day long. They didn’t make me pay extra for a heavy bag, they treated me in short, like royalty. The stewardess told the pilot, who stood up in the cock pit to give me a thumbs up.  Even the immigration official barely looked at my passport.  He was much more interested in knowing an Obama supporter and what I thought would happen today.

<…>

The man behind the counter is Malaysian.  He asks if I voted and when I confirm I have he laughs really loud and says something to the other official sitting next to him.  This man laughs too.  They both look at me intently.  The one, fighting to find the right english begins, “This is (something in Malay).  I smile saying I don’t understand.  He looks at his colleague and rattles something in Malay…The man says just a minute.  He gets out a book.  It is an english translation book.  He says something to the man and hands him the book…pointing to a line on the page.  The 1st man turns back to me and says…”this is fan/tas/a/tic…fan-tas-aahhh-tic…how do you say?”  I tell him, yes, he is right “Fantastic”.  They laugh again at their attempts.  I laugh too.

South Korean actor Kim Ji-hoo took his own life earlier this week, the Korea Times reports.

A note at the scene read: “I’m lonely and in a difficult situation. Please cremate my body.”

Kim was 23: “Police said his suicide reflects public prejudice toward gay people and their difficulty in succeeding in the entertainment industry. Following the announcement of his sexual orientation, Kim’s management agency did not renew his contract and many TV programs and fashion shows cancelled his appearances. His blog was bombarded with numerous messages denouncing his sexual orientation. ‘He underwent many professional and personal difficulties following his coming-out,’ Kim’s mother said during police questioning.”

Gay Actor Found Dead in Apparent Suicide [korea times]