TAF 2011 Slideshow!!

So it’s been a long time coming. Sorry for the delay! We had some issues with some YouTube copyrights that we were sorting through. But we are extremely excited to finally bring this to you in full color – the way it was meant to be seen!

It was an amazing week, as always. We at tafLabs are always striving every year to find ways to make the slideshow new and fresh for you guys and this year we were fortunate to have a lot of new equipment and toys to play with to find new ways and angles to show off TAF in ways we haven’t looked at before. This year, we put a little bit more emphasis on showing more of the behind the scenes work that the sTAFf, speakers, board, and even the campers, do before and during TAF. We really hope that this year’s inclusion of more video helps to provide more context around some of the amazing photos taken by everyone, and tell the story of the week.

Special thanks to board members Dave, Bob, Alex, and Spencer for taking the time to go through Anna’s photo workshop to help us cover the various events. Additional thanks to the hardworking members of the labs photo and video logging team of Anna Wu, Tom Yu, Eric Wang, Harmony Chiu, Steve Wang, and Andy Chen, without whom this slideshow definitely would not have gotten done on time. Thanks to Chikuan, Joy, and Jason for keeping us well stocked and fed with an amazing array of food and treats. And while it is somewhat self-serving, thanks to Seaglass Cinema for the use of their equipment and skillsets. Go check them out on their facebook page and “like” them! *end shameless plug*

Without further delay, we present to you – TAF Slideshow 2011. Thanks for reading and stop by often!

Kevin Yau and Jon Lee


TAF NIGHT 2011 WHAT WHAT

TAF 2011::THE ONES finished strong with an exciting evening of song, dance, and even some spoken word. It was a hot night on stage in Cordier as the Juniors, JH, and Youth Programs brought it in full force. We in tafLabs, with our own media “performances”, are gonna keep it up and bring you some more goodies to keep you company as you deal with the taf blues. We’ll start off with something any of you campers might be able to download onto your iPods for the ride or flight home, .mp3s of Alison Yeh’s cover of “Secrets” by One Republic and Melody Chen’s cover of Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep”.

ENJOY! More to come soon 🙂

Alison Yeh – Secrets
Melody Chen – Rolling in the Deep


TAFers start a mobile funnel cake business

Hello Everyone!
My name is Jason Lee and I have been a TAFer since 1998. Fun fact, I have some 15 or more cousins who all have been to TAF as well, and one president uncle! I’ve spent the past few years as a counselor for JH and Youth.
I’ve recently graduated, but over the last four years, when I wasn’t at TAF, I was studying at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign under a created major in Asian American Film and Media. Essentially, I took lots of Asian American Studies, Media Studies, and Cinema Studies classes, and studied how they relate to representations of Asian Americans on TV, movies, magazines, and so on. For example, when our classmates judo chop at us and say “Waaaahhhh” as if it were a question, it is a direct legacy of how much influence images that people see on TV and in the movies have on people’s perception of us.
I am especially interested in how many Asian Americans like you and me are counteracting the stereotypes we see created and recreated over and over again in the media by producing music, movies, poetry, and other art that represent Asian Americans in a more three-dimensional and complex light.

You see, something I’ve heard thousands of times throughout my life is the question, “Can’t some stereotypes be good?” And my answer is this: “Stereotypes are never good because we are unique individuals and stereotypes tend to simplify us into these one-dimensional cartoon characters with very little personality”.

That’s exactly what we learn at TAF. Everyone there is Taiwanese, but as we find throughout the week, everyone is quite unique and complex and amazing in very individual ways. That’s why I want to get into film… because movies have so much power in changing perceptions. Think about your favorite movie. Is it your favorite movie because it had awesome explosions or a really hunky actor? Maybe. But it’s also your favorite because watching it made you feel a certain way. Movies have the ability to engulf its audiences and make them feel what the actors are feeling in very physical ways (i.e. when we cry, laugh, cover our eyes). That’s why, while Hollywood has created many simplifying stereotypes of Asian Americans over the years (i.e. geeky business man or subservient geisha) film can also be a great medium for giving Asian Americans more spotlight as real, unique individuals.

For my senior project, I wrote, fundraised, produced, and directed a short film that put together many of the ideas and themes that inspired me during my college career. It’s called Doughboy: Inventor. Entrepreneur. Funnel Cake Hero. It’s a twelve-minute dark comedy about an Asian American male who decides to continue his late father’s American dream of making funnel cakes as easy to find as a hot dog. So he builds a mobile funnel cake suit inspired by his ultimate hero, Data Wang from The Goonies. The reason why I wanted to write this week’s blog was because TAFers took a crucial part in making Doughboy come to life.

I raised funds to make the movie through a website called Kickstarter, where supporters back projects they like with various amounts of money in exchange for goodies that come out of the project. I was incredibly humbled by the amount of support coming out of the Taiwanese American community, including a large donation from TaiwaneseAmerican.org. By the end of the fundraising campaign, my project was 143% funded!

Then it came to production. About twenty people traveled from all parts of the country to Los Angeles to help me make Doughboy come to life. There was a little joke going around because it seemed like while all of the actors were Korean, all of the crew was Taiwanese. That is because many TAFers volunteered their time and talents to help me make my college dream project a reality.

It was a very hectic week. It seemed there was always another problem arising that we could not foresee just as we found a solution to the problem preceding it. However, a leadership quality we learn at TAF is the ability to step up where help is needed and fill in the gaps to get things done. For many of our crew members, it was about getting Doughboy made and many people volunteered to take care of the many details that needed to be done, from making funnel cakes to filling out paperwork for the Screen Actors Guild.

In the end, it was a very trying week. But it was amazing to see so many people coordinating and working together for a common cause. I am wrapping up the project now and have thanked many people for their support throughout the process. However, I wanted to take this opportunity to make a big shout out to the my friends in the Taiwanese American community. I could have never made Doughboy without the support of so many talented TAFers or the skills TAF has instilled in me throughout the years. Thank YOU.

You can’t watch Doughboy online yet, as I can’t publicly release it online if I want to get it into any film festivals. Perhaps you will be lucky enough to know someone receiving the DVD, who helped out with the fundraising process a few months back. Or perhaps you will be able to watch it on the big screen at an Asian American film festival near you! Whether you are able to watch it or not, I appreciate your continued to support, not only for my work, but also for me as a friend, a counselor, or someone I would call my brother or sister.


Love Out Loud through {HEART JAPAN}

It’s been quite a few years since I’ve been to TAF and actually only went that one year. But it’s amazing the friendships that forge through one week at TAF. Since then I’ve stayed in touch with a good handful of TAF folks and it’s been even easier to follow as production quality has gotten better and better. It’s always inspiring to see what people do with their gifts and talents and amazing the impact we can make as a generation through multimedia.

Recently, my wife and I started an organization called {HEART JAPAN} along with two of our creative friends. Our goal is to empower other creatives to make a difference with the gifts and talents they’ve been given. It’s truly amazing what we can do as a collective group as opposed to individuals.

Although we’re currently focused on Japan, we plan on rolling it out to a much larger scale. Maybe what you are passionate about is your local dog shelter. Well go out there and do something about it!

In the meantime, what can you do?

1. Get involved.

Think of a creative way to raise funding and/or awareness and we can help get the word out about it and support you from the back end. It’s pretty open for interpretation. Doing a bake sale, a benefit concert, a silent auction, an art show, YouTubeing about it. That all counts. Visit heart-japan.org/join for more info.

2. Support.

Buy a shirt. We have shirts and calendars on sale on the website. All proceeds will be going to support Japan relief. Visit heart-japan.org/shop to see everything.

Donate money. Regardless of if we’re a student or working, we’re all very blessed. Support Japan relief directly at heart-japan.org/donate.

Support a friend. For those of you guys who know Young Lee, he and his band are having a benefit concert this Saturday. For details and to see what might be going on in your area, visit heart-japan.org/benefits. If there isn’t one in your area, see number 1.

3. Get the Word Out!

We all have so much power and voice through all of the social media out there. Facebook, tweet, email, and/or text people about {HEART JAPAN}. Although it was started by four creatives, {HEART JAPAN} is our collective effort!

Thanks for listening to an old man talk. Do good, be passionate, and love out loud!

Jacob Fu

(That’s me in the bottom right!)


TAF Real World – Week #19 of 51

Can you believe it’s WEEK 19 (only 32 weeks ’til TAF!)???!!! It’s been amazing seeing how TAFers are making a difference in life beyond Manchester by LOVING OUT LOUD this year. We would love to collect more stories. Sign up HERE for a week to post.

Since we didn’t have a volunteer this week, we’re going to do a little flashback to August. Juniors remind us that it’s not just important how we LOL, but also, why we LOL. Here are some reasons why Juniors love their families.


Almost music

After TAF week (some of us during TAF week), I’m not sure what hurts more – my throat from the shouting or my ears from the screaming. Or my abs from laughing so hard.


NOTES ON A SUMMER CAMP

With this year being TAF’s 30th birthday celebration, tafLabs and tafMedia created this retrospective piece to commemorate and preserve TAF’s history and development from the early 1980’s till now. While we have all grown and evolved thanks to TAF, TAF itself has grown and changed with us, and its just good to know where it all started from.

Special thanks go out to Anna Wu and Ho Chie Tsai for putting this together, Dan Lu for assisting in research, all of our interviewees, and of course, every single person who has come to, visited, and enjoyed TAF.

TAF has a rich history and there are many more stories like this to share. Maybe someday we can get to more of them, but this will do for now. A great thirty years have gone by, which in reality has only been thirty weeks. Looking forward to the next thirty. TAFLove to all, past, present, and future 🙂


WATCH THE TAF2010 LOVE OUT LOUD SLIDESHOW!

The campers are still all awake, and TAF Night only ended just a few hours ago, but here for your viewing pleasure is the TAF2010 Slideshow!

Credits: Tiffany Su, Justin Ku, Andrew Kuo, Steve Wang, & the rest of the tafLabs and tafMedia team.

Songs:
1. Viva Love Forever – Mashup by Jeremy Chen & Andrew Lo. Original songs by Coldplay, New Order, & Alphaville.
2. Mind Heist – Zack Hemsey, from “Inception.”
3. All We Are – Matt Nathanson
4. Kings & Queens – 30 Seconds to Mars
5. Do You Remember – Jay Sean, feat. Sean Paul & Lil John

We’ve had an amazing week with everyone, and have much more video footage to come so keep staying tuned! Just because we’re all leaving Manchester College for another year in a few hours doesn’t mean the TAF spirit is over as well. TAFLOVE 365 y’all!


Send TAF a Happy 30th Birthday video!

As you may know by now, this year is TAF’s 30th birthday! Even though you may not be at TAF right now, help us celebrate by sending us a short video telling us who you are, what years you went to TAF, and some quick birthday wishes and we’ll feature them on the blog!

You can upload them to your own account or ours on youtube:

user: tafshare
password: what the “t” in taf stands for!

Email us at tafhelp@tafworld.org.

UPDATE: A post-TAF happy birthday video from “the original” Alex Yang!