AXA Awards, Revisited

My memory finally kicked in about that show a couple weeks ago. I must've blocked it out or something. There were a couple things I must point out about the show.

One, Russel Peters is a funny-ass guy. He's a riot, and he can tell an Asian joke better than anybody. His joke about the Chinese soccer team had me rolling, especially in a huddle. Plus, his Cantonese accent is dead on.

Two, Grace Park is damn lovely. Man, that girl can light up a stage. I've never even seen the new "Battlestar Galactica" TV show she's on, but I can see why so many geeks tune into it and have BSG night. (Yeah, they include the "S" in that for some reason.) Oh, and she's also quite tall in heels. Daniel Dae Kim stood next to her as co-host and she was a couple inches taller. Daniel and I are about the same height, so yeah, I basically have no chance. But anyway...

Three, Chow-Yun Fat is losing his star power. Sure, he did the latest Pirates movie, but so did Geoffrey Rush, who introduced him on stage. I think it's because it took him a long, long time to learn English. I saw him up close in 1995 at a pre-event for an awards show in San Francisco. He looked to be about 6'2", 300 lbs. Seriously, the dude is big! But past his prime, IMHO.

Four, I saw my old boss/colleague James Ryu and his lovely wife Tammy, who is a superior court judge, I believe. James is the editor/publisher of KoreAm Journal and Audrey. We chatted a little and he was miffed because his seats were way in the back (where I was seated). I introduced him to Annie Lee, a beauty of an actress I've mentioned on this site, who was sitting on the other side of the aisle from me.

Five, John Cho is what gay folks might call "borderline." I say this because, lately, he gives me that vibe every time I see him around town. On stage, he presented an award to his co-star, Kal Penn, from that comedy they were in a couple years back about White Castle burgers. And then Cho squeezed Penn's ass on stage (with both hands) for comedy effect. Most people didn't laugh, fyi. It had the essence of "I'm gonna take you" in it. I felt uncomfortable, as did most people around me. (I think I mentioned he looked me up and down once at a party and went out of his way to compliment me on the coat I was wearing.)

And six, why did they have Sharon Leal from Dreamgirls as a presenter as well as up for an award? Is there something I'm missing here? Is this girl from Trinidad or something? Wait, is Trinidad part of India? Romany Malco of 40-Year-Old Virgin is from Trinidad, as is the young girl, Tatyana Ali, in "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air."

But I think if you're going to award someone for their acting, let it be in something that highlights their "Asianness" not their "blackness," and that's what Dreamgirls does. If not, then damn, let's nominate Romany Malco, too, because he was great in Virgin.

Tell you the truth, I wasn't going to talk about the show at all. But I went to the Angry Asian Guy site and he hardly even mentioned it. And, well, that made me angry. Funny how the memory kicks in when you're angry.