Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Something I Came Across

I was copyediting a press kit recently and happened to look up Anjelica Huston on Wikipedia. If you scroll down on the site, you'll see a note about her personal life, including a long-term relationship with Jack Nicholson.

Just below that is a note about Roman Polanski's alleged rape of a 13-year-old girl. Apparently, the rape took place in Nicholson's home. The reason it's on this page to begin with is that Ms. Huston was a witness for the prosecution back in 1977, saying she unexpectedly saw both the girl and the director at the home after an impromptu visit.

FYI, Wikipedia could use your donation, so please send them a few bucks if you can afford it.

God Bless and Happy New Year.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Wish I Saw This 20 Years Ago

About 20 Halloweens ago, I dressed up as Michael Jackson, complete with white glove and jerry curl wig. I must've practiced those Thriller moves a million times, prepping for my Halloween debut. But the one move I never seemed to master was the most famous of MJ's moves, the Moonwalk. Ah, if only.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

My New Hero

My new hero, Roger Fan, airs his complaints about the Hollywood Establishment (HE) in a blog he and some colleagues have been maintaining. It's a must-read for any Asian looking to start a career in Hollywood as an actor. If you're already here, you already know this stuff, but it's enjoyable nevertheless. Of course, most of you actors will continue to take what little scraps are fed you anyway, but at least we can join along in the tirade. In fact, many of the comments are by other Asian actors.

Roger, by the way, was the one who helped me find my way in this business originally. He told me how to take a headshot, how to locate agents to send my headshot, and what to generally expect in this business. I totally respect Roger's path in this business, as he has done whatever it takes to achieve his level of success.

It does ring familiar, however. Back about a decade ago, an old friend, Steve Park, wrote a mission statement to the HE after a rather insensitive (and subtly racist) comment by an assistant director on the set of Friends.

Steve's statement was subsequently reprinted and rementioned about a million times until Mr. Park was forced to walk his talk by quitting the whole Hollywood thing and moving to New York. I miss Steve and his friendship, and I also miss his acting. He once asked me to write an editorial about his role in the movie Fargo, and I quickly obliged.

I just hope that Roger will retain some anonymity through his blog, as I doubt he intended for this commentary to reach as far as Mr. Park's did. Then again, maybe he had finally reached his limit.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

This Sulu Sucks

OK, why the Asian guy gotta be gay?


Beam Me Up, Hotties - Watch more Funny Videos

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Nasal Wash Addiction

This is less gross than you might think. Then again, maybe it's because my old roommate used to wash his nasal passages with a neti pot every day in the kitchen sink. Now that's gross.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Oddly Mesmerizing


I don't know the entire story on this, but some Japanese guy attaches electrodes to his face and syncs it with electronic music, at least that's what he decided to do with four of his friends. See their reaction at the end.

I can see this sort of thing catching on at a club, for some reason. Maybe it already has. I haven't been to a club in ages.

Sunday, March 08, 2009

Not So Stupid Today

What's amazing about today's Amazing Race is that all the white people are the dumb ones, both intellectually and skillfully. I mean, who doesn't know who Chekhov is? Two attempts at spelling it, tops, and you're done. Do I feel sorry for the deaf kid and his mother? No, because they're not at a disadvantage here. In fact, reading should be his strength. And after he and his mom put a U-Turn on that dating couple? I gotta say they get no sympathy points.

By the way, did you see the Chevy Traverse commercial that aired during the show? The one where the little girl points her finger, just to the left of Howie Long's crotch, and says, "That's a big girl car!" Ah, heck, I'll post it.



Was the intent here to be viral? I gotta wonder. Otherwise, it's just sick, and I guess that makes me sick for catching it.

Back to Amazing Race. This one, the Asians were on their best behavior, and they finished well above last place. Education, that great equalizer, put them back in the race, and good behavior kept them from falling out of it.

So, yeah, my people made me proud. Today, at least. ;)

Sunday, March 01, 2009

Stupid Asian People

Watching The Amazing Race in utter amazement. I love this show, by the way. They pick some interesting participants. Last season featured a mother and her son, two annoying frat brothers, two blonde bimbos, and an older husband and wife who were separated. The mother and son were great in how supportive and patient they were to each other, while the frat boys got more irritating each show, culminating with the most ridiculous military training attempt in history.


This season features an Asian brother and sister who are also lawyers. Clearly Americanized, they appear either Vietnamese or Chinese. As I watch, the Asian guy, Victor, is insisting on continuing to go up the wrong path and follow the wrong signs. "I think we would be making a serious mistake if we don't continue on this path," he says. Meanwhile, his sister, Tammy, is being as patient and mature as she can, and finally just relents, "Okay, Victor, let's keep doing it your way."

Unfortunately, we get to see this team another week as they finished second to last place.

In other news, I went to my writing class, "Movies & Memoir," on Saturday and went through some short 6-minute writing exercises. Afterward, we all read our work and get some comments by the teacher and, later, by the other class attendees.

I had some resistance to going to this class, but only because I've had some bad experiences in the past with going to writing classes. I realize now it's probably because those classes were taught by Asians. I know that's a big statement, but I'm standing behind it.

First of all, if you take a class and see an Asian female playwright named Judy Soohoo, get the hell out of the class. I suspected she had "borrowed" from my work, but when I later interviewed her for a news article on a play she was debuting for a new theatre company, she admitted to borrowing heavily from more famous playwrights, both living and dead. Apparently, she is in the habit of doing this, and it doesn't matter if you've published your work or not. There's just too much of this kind of "borrowing" going around in the publishing world to walk into a class and just give it away to someone who admits to using others for inspiration.

The class I went to on Saturday was filled with white folks, including both instructors in the program. They find terms such as katas and samurai to be exotic, which makes me smile. They are also very good when it comes to analyzing the work.

In regards to my earlier statement on Asian instructors, I also don't recommend going to a class where the instructor says that you "flush" out your work and its characters. You don't flush those things out unless you got shit for brains or are writing about shit.

One last note before I head down to the gym. I got a reuse/holding fee for the commercial I did back in October of 1997. In fact, I'll be getting another in a week or so as it seems the previous reuse/holding check got lost in the mail. I called my old agency and they confirmed there was an outstanding check mailed to me.

So, anyway, at least I'm still in the game. Hardly, but I'll take what I can get. Cheers!

Saturday, January 31, 2009

Clearing the Dust

It's been a while since I've posted here. Call it laziness and ennui (with the site and the topic, hence my life). It's been so long since I've auditioned for anything that I think it's useless to keep writing about it.

But then there's this... I've decided to explore fiction writing again. In fact, I signed up for my first writing class since, like, forever!

I don't know what inspiration is left in the well, to be frank. But perhaps I'll blog about what it means for me to be a struggling Asian writer in Hollywood. (Boy, sounds fun already!)

I suppose I'll mention the many bottles of wine I've been uncorking for ideas. Just hope the genies will be gentle at first. I've got a lot of rust to shake off.

In regards to the wine, I'll recommend one of my latest inspirations. Montepulciano. It's a deeply purple red wine with very few tannins that goes great with burgers and such. You can try one at Blue Dahlia for about $7 a glass. They serve what I think is a 2007 Farnese. But for a real treat, go out to your nearest wine store and locate a bottle of 2005 Kurni.

OK, happy 2009 everyone, and happy year of the ox to everyone else. ;)