Best Sean Niu Podcasts (2025)

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Episode Swap: 'Boogie' w/ Raymond Luu, Alan Duong, Renee Ya 1:00:01

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4+ y ago1:00:01

1:00:01

Ray, Alan, and Renee discuss Eddie Huang's coming-of-age, basketball drama and why it resonated differently among the team. They talk about the unique perspective of the Black/Asian cultural interactions, how the basketball scenes were shot, and where this fits in the ranking of popular basketball movies. Hint: Space Jam is still the best. Links to…

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Asian American Tik Tok and 2021 Oscars (Minari, Nomadland, Sound of Metal) with Lily Lei and Katie Quan 1:04:36

4+ y ago1:04:36

1:04:36

In episode 40, we sit down with Tik Tok creator Lily Lei as she shares her jourrney to obtaining Tik Tok fame over the last year. As we are all well aware, Tik Tok is an incredibly influential video platform. As a podcast interested in how Asian Americans portray ourselves across any creative medium, we were really fascinated by how Lily employed m…

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BONUS ANNIVERSARY EPISODE: Surviving Battle Royale (バトル・ロワイアル) with Raymond Luu and Alan Duong from the Reel Asian Podcast 54:48

4+ y ago54:48

54:48

It's our ANNIVERSARY! THANK YOU to all of our listeners and fans for your continued support! THANK YOU to our guests for lending your time and sharing your stories, and THANK YOU to everyone else who has contributed to the show! We've added a BONUS episode for our anniversary: Raymond Luu and Alan Duong from [The Reel Asian Podcast] (https://www.re…

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Days of Being Wild (阿飛正傳), Haruki Murakami, and our ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY PART 1 with Hon Hoang 40:12

4+ y ago40:12

40:12

It's our ANNIVERSARY! THANK YOU to all of our listeners and fans for your continued support! THANK YOU to our guests for lending your time and sharing your stories, and THANK YOU to everyone else who has contributed to the show! In this episode, Hon Hoang returns to talk about (what else) Wong Kar Wai's Days of Being Wild and some Haruki Murakami. …

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Love Boat Taiwan, Taiwanese Diaspora, Violence against Asians with Valerie Soe 1:04:08

4+ y ago1:04:08

1:04:08

Director, writer, and professor Valerie Soe joins Sean to share her creative journey and the making of her newest documentary: Love Boat: Taiwan You can watch Love Boat here:https://vimeo.com/ondemand/loveboattaiwan and you can watch more of Valerie's activist-oriented films here: Picturing Oriental Girls The Chinese Gardens Notes: 1) Valerie gives…

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A Father's Son, Shanghai Kiss, Asian Father roles (Warrior) with Patrick Chen, Perry Yung and Hon Hoang 1:10:16

4+ y ago1:10:16

1:10:16

Director Patrick Chen and Actor Perry Yung join Sean and Hon Hoang to talk about their upcoming film A Father’s Son: A 90’s Chinatown Noir Thriller based on the character’s from Henry Change’s Jack Yu crime novels. Kickstarter Patrick and Perry are long time filmmaking veterans. You can find some of Patrick’s shorts here: (I personally like Love Ex…

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Kenneth Pai on Taipei People, Chinese/Taiwanese identity, and Asian American literature 55:39

4+ y ago55:39

55:39

In Episode 35, I’m joined by legendary Taiwanese writer Kenneth Pai (白先勇). Professor Pai’s works pioneered the modern Chinese experience: including as waishengren (外省人) living in Taiwan (Taipei People, Crystal Boys) and as immigrants to America. (Pleasantville, Death in Chicago) In our conversation, we talk about: Professor Pai’s colorful backgroun…

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Happy Cleaners: Religion, Family, and The Asian American Dream with Charles Ryu, Yeena Sung, and Kat Kim 1:06:30

4+ y ago1:06:30

1:06:30

Welcome to Season 2! Happy Lunar New Year! 新年快樂! 새해 복 많이 받으세요 ! Chúc Mừng Năm Mới”! After reflecting for a few weeks I decided to dedicate more time on the show talking to AsAm/minority creators and focusing the conversation around their journeys and experiences. I hope this helps you understand about how to pursue your own creative passions and fu…

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A Very Harold & Kumar (and Akshay and Sean) 3D Christmas 49:54

5y ago49:54

49:54

Merry Xmas and happy holidays to everyone! Akshay Singh returns to make good on the Xmas episode he promised us way back in episode 4. Akshay and I first determine where we will record our next Xmas special when the pandemic (hopefully) finally ends (7:04) before we get into how we celebrate Christmas as non-Christian minorities in America (13:17) …

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To All the Boys I've Loved Before: Happa representation and Gen Z High School hijinks with Blake Lew-Merwin and Shannon Fong 1:11:17

5y ago1:11:17

1:11:17

In Episode #29, Shannon Fong and Blake Lew-Merwin come back to revisit To All the Boys I've Loved Before: the 2018 high school Netflix romcom written by Jenny Han that notably features Lara Jean, a half-asian protagonist. After sharing our first reactions, Shannon, our resident asian drama expert (and the only one of the shares the movie's plot sim…

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Fallen Angels: The Wong Kar-Wai Experience with Hon Hoang 1:11:54

5y ago1:11:54

1:11:54

In Episode #28, we FINALLY get to the Wong Kar-Wai episode! Hon Hoang, photographer and director, joins me to talk about my favorite (and I suspect, one of his favorite) directors and his movie Fallen Angels. Hon starts by sharing his journey to become a visual artist (10:18) and where he gets inspiration for his stories. At (16:44), we start revis…

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The 2020 Vice Presidential Debate: Through the Eyes of the Asian American Voter with Minh-Thu-Pham, Kim Thuy Seelinger, and Anuj Vohra 1:03:37

5y ago1:03:37

1:03:37

Today we have a special episode of the pod recapping the Vice Presidential Debate! I'm joined by Minh-Thu-Pham, Kim Thuy Seelinger, and Anuj Vohra-- legal and policy experts as well as founders of New American Voices, Asian Americans Against Trump, and Desis United to share our thoughts on Kamala Harris and Mike Pence's performance and what their o…

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Saving Face: LGBTQ Chinese American cinema and family reputation with Katie Quan and Vivian Liu 1:02:28

5y ago1:02:28

1:02:28

In Episode #26, we revisit Alice Wu's Saving Face:quietly one of the most important movies of the last 20 years for Asian American cinema. Our guest is Katie Quan,who teaches Asian American Issues through Film in San Francisco (basically, she's way more qualified than I am to host this podcast!) and runs This Asian American Life, a platform for hig…

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Parasite (기생충): Impact on Asian American creators, memeability, Kpop, and more with Minji Chang 1:08:06

5y ago1:08:06

1:08:06

In Episode #25, we revisit Parasite: one of the most acclaimed Asian movies of recent history...and the movie that caused our last collective moment of joy in 2020. Minji Chang-- actor, producer, activist and a whole lot more joins to offer her valuable insight into the movie and the Asian American creative community. After sharing our initial reac…

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1998 Mulan: Gender roles, Gen Z, and looking forward to 2020 Mulan with Shannon Fong and Blake Lew-Merwin 57:55

5y ago57:55

57:55

When you think of Asian American icons in animation, The Animated, OG 1998 Mulan quickly climbs to the top of the list. When we started this podcast, Mulan was definitely on the shortlist. What better time to revisit this milestone thanthe release of the new Mulan? Returning guest Shannon Fong and rockstar intern Blake Lew-Merwin join us to share t…

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The Wandering Earth (流浪地球) + 3 Body Problem ( 三体): Science Fiction in the hands of China with Eric Lee and Mazy Yap 1:00:32

5y ago1:00:32

1:00:32

The Wandering Earth gives us a once in a lifetime chance to observe a new superpower get behind the director's seat for the first time and inject their culture's values and world view through science fiction. Eric Lee and Mazy Yap join me to revisit The Wandering Earth, the Mainland China's first modern science fiction epic and explore the Remembra…

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Lost in Translation 2: The Tokyo Expat Journey and Tokyo Secrets with Mike Nikolakakis 1:10:19

5y ago1:10:19

1:10:19

Wait, didn't we already cover Lost in Translation? Yes-- but the Japan ex-pat experience is so close to my heart and so fresh in my mind that I had to get Mike back on the podcast and cover some specific experiences related to living life as a foreigner and a minority in Japan. Mike first gives his reaction to the movie (7:55) before we give our th…

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Jeremy Lin 10 years later: Linsanity, Faith, NBA restart, and the future for Asian American ballers with Andrew Noh 1:11:39

5y ago1:11:39

1:11:39

The NBA is back! To celebrate, Andrew and I take a look back at Jeremy Lin's historic career through the documentary Linsanity. Can you believe it's been 10 years since he entered the NBA?? Time flies. We start with recalling our favorite memories from those crazy few weeks (10:01) and I break down how some league-defining events shaped his career …

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Padma Lakshmi's Taste the Nation: SF Chinatown restaurant recommendations, Lan Zhou vs. Xi'an and the future of Chinese food in America with Eric Lee and Akshay Singh 1:17:04

5y ago1:17:04

1:17:04

Episode 20! Wow! It's crazy how quickly we got here and we couldn't have done it without your encouragement, support, and constructive feedback. This week Eric and Akshay join me to get real deep into a topic near and dear to our hearts: Chinese Food in America, while revisiting Padma Lakshmi's Taste the Nation "SF Chinatown" episode. Specifically,…

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Infernal Affairs (無間道) and how Asian Americans navigate self identity with Michael Yap and Stephanie Cheng 1:06:42

5y ago1:06:42

1:06:42

In Episode 19 Stephanie and Michael Yap joins us to revisit Andrew Lau's Infernal Affairs. We kick it off by establishing some sides: Team Tony Leung vs Team Andy Lau? (8:28) After reflection of our rewatch, I describe how Infernal Affairs represents the wonderful memory of discovering incredible content from one world (Asia) and sharing it with an…

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Gran Torino and Growing up Hmong American and visibility in Asian America with Lea Vue and Vang Xiong 56:28

5y ago56:28

56:28

In Episode 18 Lea Vue and Vang Xiong join us to revisit Clint Eastwood's Gran Torino and share their perspective on growing up Hmong American, and Hmong America's relation within the Asian American community and with other minorities in America. Although having many problematic portrayals of Hmong culture, we discuss at (4:00) the tradeoff of cutti…

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Lost in Translation: The AAPI expat experience with Deirdre Bosa and Trung Phan 1:00:57

5y ago1:00:57

1:00:57

In Episode 17 Trung brings his good friend Deirdre Bosa to revisit Sophia Coppola's Lost in Translation and share our varied AAPI expat experiences across Asia-- from Japan, China, to Vietnam. At (17:57) we reveal what emotions and motivations brought us to move to Asia before lifting the veil and sharing the lonely lows we encountered after all th…

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Big Hero 6 and Asian American representation in animation with Stephanie Cheng 51:56

5y ago51:56

51:56

In Episode 16 Stephanie Cheng joins us to revisit Disney's Big Hero 6 and examine Asian American representation in animation. Steph is an animation industry insider having worked at Dreamworks and now building Netflix's animation studio. We start by sharing how it felt to just see Asian American protagonists exist naturally in a story that is not e…

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Yellow Peril #2: Phuc Bui, Assimilation, and Anglicizing Names with Eric, Andrew, and Stephen 32:49

5+ y ago32:49

32:49

On the second episode of the Yellow Peril series, we discuss the vietnamese-american student Phuc Bui at Laney College whose professor demanded that she change her name because of his ignorant misunderstanding of the name's pronounciation. Eric starts the convo by wondering out loud how he and his south asian wife Nadia have approached naming their…

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Akira (アキラ): The Michael Jordan of Sci-fi movies with Mike Nikolakakis 56:19

5+ y ago56:19

56:19

In Episode 15 Mike Nikolakakis joins us from Tokyo to discuss why Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira might just be the most important Sci-fi movie of the last 50 years. We start by breaking down why Akira's stunning visual style stands the test of time (9:42) and how Akira has influenced pop culture from Kanye West to the Matrix to Stranger Things. (13:11) La…

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Shaolin Soccer (少林足球): Growing up with Stephen Chow and Mo Lei Tau with Mazy Yap 48:10

5+ y ago48:10

48:10

In Episode 14 Mazy Yap joins us to talk about Stephen Chow's Shaolin Soccer. Mazy helps us understand what it was like growing up with Stephen Chow's comedies constantly on TV in Hong Kong (10:00) and helps us break down his unique style of absurd, "nonsense comedy" called Mo Lei Tau (13:45) Later, we discuss how Mazy experienced balancing her Hong…

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Be Water: Bruce Lee's impact, athleticism, death, and comparisons to MJ + much much more with Trung Phan and Eric Lee 49:17

5+ y ago49:17

49:17

A Bruce Lee 30 for 30 documentary dropping right as our podcast starts picking up steam is, to quote the wise Rob Pelinka: "Manna from Heaven" Trung and Eric come on for our first Triple Threat 3-man episode and we switch up the format into a punchy question and answer roundtable and answer 5 big questions:1: What was Bruce Lee's impact on you grow…

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YELLOW PERIL SERIES #1: Reactions on #BlackoutTuesday, the view from Vancouver, and not burning out on activism 1:14:40

5+ y ago1:14:40

1:14:40

Hey all! Trung, Eric and I were so fired up by everything that happened last week (ending 6/5) that we decided to record an episode only about the George Floyd protests and the surrounding climate. Engagement in understanding, processing, and helping end systemic racism and police brutality is going to be a lifetime marathon-- it won't dissapear ju…

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Gook: The difference between '92 and '20 with Andrew Noh 1:05:06

5+ y ago1:05:06

1:05:06

In Ep. 12 Andrew Noh joins us to talk about Justin Chon's Gook. Although we scheduled Gook before George Floyd's murder, the movie's human story on how Black and Korean communities suffered in the wake of the acquittal of Rodney King's attackers is clearly relevant to today. Our conversation starts with our personal experiences talking to our famil…

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TRAILER: The Electric Image Express 1:02

5+ y ago1:02

1:02

By Sean Niu

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Four Lions: Asians as Terrorists and Terrorists as.... people? with Anupam Sharma 1:13:17

5+ y ago1:13:17

1:13:17

Everyone knows South Asians are stereotypically portrayed as terrorists in Western film. But have you considered that all terrorists on film have a stereotypical personality? Chris Morris's dark comedy Four Lions portrays terrorists first as people-- misguided, idiotic, clumsy fools who have been swayed to perpetuate evil not by holy scripture, but…

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YELLOW PERIL SUPPORTS BLACK POWER: Enter the Dragon with Eric Lee 58:55

5+ y ago58:55

58:55

In Episode 10 Eric comes back to talk Enter the Dragon, Bruce Lee,(14:30) but most importantly, the murder of George Floyd by the Minneapolis Police as the latest in a long string of institutionalized racist acts against black people in America. (21:55) We share how we have digested the events of the last week, how we have begun educating ourselves…

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Crazy Rich Asians: Family, Money, and Dating in Asia with Shannon Fong 1:24:26

5+ y ago1:24:26

1:24:26

You can't talk about Asian American identity in media without talking Crazy Rich Asians. Shannon Fong, a close family friend and a Taiwanese American who moved back to Taipei helps us wrap up Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month by talking about her personal experiences with family, money, and dating in an Asian city where everyone knows …

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The Big Sick: Finding love for you and your family (Bag of Devotion not required) with Akshay Singh 1:09:46

5+ y ago1:09:46

1:09:46

In Episode #8, Akshay Singh makes his return to talk about Kumail Nanjiani's The Big Sick with more of his awkward anecdotes and convincing theories on marrying modern love with traditional, asian parents. As two single guys with our parents breathing down our backs, we put on our introspection aprons and serve up our feelings on the constant under…

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Apocalypse Now IS Vietnam with Trung Phan 57:11

5+ y ago57:11

57:11

In this episode, we are joined by Trung Phan and his colorful Vietnamese background. We can't hold back the NBA analogies and at (13:30) throw out our desire for a Coppola-style Last Dance. At (17:00) Trung shares some of his experiences from his expat years, backstory on his great-grandfather Phan Bội Châu, a pioneer of Vietnamese nationalism, and…

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The Farewell: forging your identity between two cultures with Eric Lee 1:12:16

5+ y ago1:12:16

1:12:16

For our third movie in Asian Pacific American Heritage Month we fast forward to 2019 and revisit The Farewell: one of the standout films of our current "golden age" of Asian-American content. Eric joins us again and takes over hosting duties. We start off with a hilarious story where Eric convinces a woman on his flight he hates his job (6:30), bef…

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Better Luck Tomorrow: East Coast v West Coast, Public v Private School with Eric Lee 1:12:50

5+ y ago1:12:50

1:12:50

We continue celebrating Asian Pacific American Heritage Month with Better Luck Tomorrow: the movie that has had the most impact on my life and a landmark in Asian American cinema. My former roommate, the less abusive Han to my Virgil, Eric Lee, makes his podcast debut to contrast his East Coast public school Asian upbringing with my West Coast priv…

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Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle and Asian-American stoner comedy with Akshay Singh 42:26

5+ y ago42:26

42:26

Happy Asian Pacific American Heritage Month everyone! We kick off the month with Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle, an all time Asian-American comedy directed by Danny Leiner. Obviously we had to bring on a co-host for this journey, so my good friend Akshay joins as the first guest not related to Sean! We get stoned and guess which Kumar line sou…

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Hero (英雄) and the problems with the CCP with Sean's Mom 1:05:51

5+ y ago1:05:51

1:05:51

This week we talk about Hero, a beautiful but controversial movie directed by Zhang Yimou. We discuss Zhang's up and down relationship with the Chinese Communist Party, how he uses scale and color to emphasize emotions, and compare Jet Li to Elton Brand. At (42:30) Sean's Mom joins to give some backgroud on ancient chinese culture and customs that …

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Hard Boiled (辣手神探) and the struggle of the Asian American Male in Film with Sean's Dad 1:14:09

5+ y ago1:14:09

1:14:09

This week we use Hard Boiled to contrast the hard, masculine action heros portrayed by Chow Yun-Fat and Tony Leung with the limited roles given to Asian-American actors and how it affects our identity. We also introduce a new segment: "Sean's Sports Analogy Corner" where we compare Tequila and Tony to Shaq and Kobe. Finally, Sean's Dad joins us to …

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Eat Drink Man Woman (‎飲食男女) with Sean Niu and Sean's Mom 38:38

5+ y ago38:38

38:38

Welcome to the inaugral podcast! We kick things off with Ang Lee's classic: Eat Drink Man Woman. I explore Ang's return to Taipei, how this movie is a hall of fame foodie movie, and launch the inaugral Jeremy Lin "Linsanity" award. Special guest appearance by my Mom, Jia-pyng Niu, who talks about her life as a Taiwanese-American immigrant and growi…