Short films, which were commonplace near the beginning of cinema history, have been enjoying a sort of renaissance over the last couple of decades because attention spans continue to decrease and the digital revolution has made it easier for any wacko with a little ambition to make a movie. That"s why shorts programs at gay film festivals tend to sell out and why gay distribution companies like Wolfe Releasing can keep putting out DVDs like the newly available He Likes Guys, a compilation of eight short gay-themed movies.

    It may seem like I"m shilling for the DVD because, well, I star in one of the shorts (Laundromat), but just know that I will never see a dime from the film; in fact, I think one of the actors still owes me five bucks for lunch. But I wanted to point out something about the collection that caught my eye.

    Now I have yet to see all the shorts on the DVD, but I have to give Wolfe mad props for including two Asian-American movies. (Two safely takes it out of the realm of tokenism.) What"s more, Laundromat and Just don"t at all deal with the politics of race and race relations. Rather, they"re slightly revolutionary in that the characters are Asian American as a matter of fact. In the Asian-American arts community, this is a big deal.