“Never underestimate an overachiever”

Well, I just got out of class and I suddenly felt the need to post about the movie right away. The way this movie was written and constructed was kind of amazing. I wish MTV didn’t put it away but thats my issue. The set of characters shifts through out the film which makes the movie that much more interesting. Daric is aninteresting character because he’s the one who starts up everything. He’s the one that kills Steve, and he’s the person behind the whole of idea of giving Steve the wake up call. I also thought it was interesting how Ben goes from stereotypical perfect Asian American to this train wreck of a teenager.  While he’s doing coke and getting involved with organized crime he still tries to focus on his studies. He wakes up from the coke line and yells out a large word that he’s trying to define. Virgil, Ben, and Han all go over to Daric’s house to study for the Academic Decathlon. It kind of centers on how intelligent they are.  While all the shit is going down they still manage to win the Academic Decathlon in vegas but still manage to share sex with a prostitute.  Virgil is probably one of my favorites in the movie. His character completely changes through out the movie. He’s the crazy one with the gun in his underwear and the one thats selling the most candy bars so he can win the contest. I thought it was really interesting how he has high and low points in his moods. The reason why he won the contest was because he had the money from the “job” and yet he was really upset that Ben broke his prize. He was also really upset in the back seat of the car talking about his father is going to be so upset with him if he finds out that they pulled a gun at the party. He’s a really complex character because he’s the one that can’t keep his mouth shut about the cheat seats and gets Hans in trouble. The entire movie is fast paced which draws your attention to detail when parts slow down or go in circles. It’s also interesting when  the two of them are being filmed spinning around in circles while Virgil is holding Steve’s head and Derac is finishing him off. Its things like that, that force you to think of whats going on in their head.

Another interesting point was when I saw Ben with the baseball bat and he was slamming it in to steves had I automatically thought of the Vincent Chin incident but at the same time I don’t know why? Steve wasn’t such a bad person. I mean he was your typical arrogant asshole. He definitely didn’t deserve to get murdered. We discussed in the very end of class that we were almost supposed to think of the Vincent Chin incident when we watched that scene but I’m not really sure why?

I really liked this movie a lot. I want to get it off netflix and make my friends watch it. I have never heard of this movie before but I enjoy watching movies that filmed this way. More of an independent film genera.

Peter X Feng

I just finished reading the Peter Feng article. The article is basically about four films casted by Asian Americans that were in film festivals. These four movies are, Yellow, Shoping for Fangs, Strawberry Fields, and Sunsets. All of these movies came out in the late nineties. Feng explains that “Each of these movies grapples with questions of Asian American identity in widely divergent ways, and the different paths they have taken to distribution reveals much about the way independant films are realesed in the U.S”(20). I thought it was interesting how the article listed the institutions that helped these films lift of the ground with the location and the audience. The National Asian American Telecommunications Associations (NAATA) helped get these films into festivals in major cities like L.A., San Francisco, Chicago, and New York.  I have never heard of the four films before until this article. Feng also explains  Chris Chan Lee’s film, Yellow is conventional of the four films. “It focuses on eight teens and their misadventures on their last night together before they scatter for college”(21). I feel like this movie is a typical teen movie but because the cast is a bunch of young Asian Americans it makes a much more interesting movie. I would totally watch this movie, it touches on culture, and identity.  These are both common themes we have discussed in previous lectures.  Another common theme in the article was the phrase “model minority”  in the movie Strawberry Feilds. “Strawberry Fields takes Asian American history is a pretext, it does not satisfy  a liberal perspective of that history that we have all learned from tragic events of the past”(23). These four films seem carefully casted and directed. The stories are something that we can tie in to from other classes.

Margaret Cho

These videos are pretty hilarious but at the same time really educational. I pick up on the heavy discrimination that Asians face on a day to day basis. For example, when the guy is showing her his chinese dress design. He tells her that he KNOWS shes not chinese but other people won’ tknow the difference. She knows that comment was completely out of line but lets it bounce off of her which I think is funny. Cause we laugh at him for being a fucking idiot. Another moment I thought was interesting/funny at the same time was when her mom tells her that she she experienced a lot of racism in the 60’s and she was afraid for her to be a stand up comedian at first but now shes so proud of her for being who she is. It makes her feel that America is finally working.  I thought it was interesting how they wanted her to lose weight on her show. How she started to take diet pills and she was so bummed because she was trying so hard. She didn’t understand why they wanted her to lose weight to play herself. She uses this skinny/valley girl voice “But im only a size 4″…I thought it was funny when she says something about losing brain mass first.  It’s kind of amazing because she has the ability to take the good, the bad, and the fat and ugly and throws it right back with a fuck you.  Another part of one of the videos was when they told her she wasn’t asian enough so they sent her an “Asian consultant”. They wanted her to eat with chopsticks and then put them in her hair. She didnt want her to wear shoes in the house and then Margaret mocks the woman and says “I’m going to put the abacus right here.”  It makes sense for us to watch these videos now because we have learned so much about what Asian Americans have gone through. I feel like I can get going on and on about other funny/important was when she talks about dating the Irish American and how she was going to meet their family. She tells the person to drop her off at the dry cleaners. I feel like Margaret goes in stages of her life. Her battle with her show, and her weight. I think shes awesome and I also like her thigh tattoo.

End of Native Speaker.

Well, I must say I was completely wrong. When we were brainstorming the predictions in this book, I was the one yelling out that they would never get back together. I’ll admit I was wrong, yes I was wrong. Henry and Leilia finally get their shit together and work things out. It’s actually interesting to read about the two of them. I just think that Leilia is a little odd because she See’s and hears the world a little different then everyone else. She’s not a wacko as everyone made he out to be at least for me. She’s really heart broken over her sons death, and I think they had complications in the past because of it. I defiantly think that Leilia needs to get some professional help but then again this is just a story. The two of them have more of a chemistry and romance then before. Some quotes that were cute and romantic were “Leila reminds me that whenever a boat departs the land a hundred hearts are broken”(Lee, 241). The pages goes on and he describes his love for her in detail. ” I kiss the softness between her eyes. People watch us”(Lee, 241). I don’t know for some reason I actually start seeing something special between the two of them. They communicate more about their families. Henry explains his definition of what a gook means. She listens and they support each other. It talks about how they make love and then Lelia loses it and starts talking about Mitt. I feel like this could be room for an argument or something along those lines. But instead he walks behind her in to the bathroom and she throws up and he helps her and they talk about how it’s going to be okay.

    Another part of the book I thought was interesting was when they were walking in the city where Henry worked. They have an interesting conversation on page 283-284, “Who do they think you are?” He responds with something like Henry Park and then she asks “What else do they know about him?” She says. “He has a wife named Leila,” I tell her. “They once had a beautiful boy.” “She is quiet, her arms snugly crossed. “Are they still happy?” “Yes, I say. But not as much as they want.” This part in the book is kind of like the end of a romantic dramatic movie. Leila is screaming for reassurance, she just wants everything to be okay. Henry recognizes it and he opens up and they kind of have another moment. They confronted a part of the old Henry that was confusing and they seemed to work through it.

   I kind of feel like if this were a movie, people would fall asleep in the middle of it and there would be one person that would stay awake until the end. And once the person woke up, they would say “What did I miss?” And the person would respond, “Oh they got back together, We know more about Henry’s job.” The end. They’res lot of movies like that out there. They all have a good intentions but sometimes they just need to cut to the chase and keep the audience hooked. It wasn’t the worst book i’ve ever read and I’m glad I stayed awake until the end.

Native Speaker…Kwang.

For some reason this book doesn’t capture my attention and keep me at the edge of my seat. I’m kind of bored with it to be honest. My favorite part of the book is when we pick it up a part during class discussions or do group work. I thought it was interesting when we went over the questions in our groups. One of the questions we had to discuss two or three scenes in which Henry plays an important role. What additional information is added to your idea of him? I wrote down something that we didn’t discuss in class it was on page 176, describing the Kwang job. The book explains, “This was a street-levil urban politics, conducted house by house, block by block, the work sweaty and inglorious. You could get mugged or beaten up if you strayed down an alley, or knock on the wrong dor. Bravery didn’t matter. Nor raw smarts. You had to be tactile. Suspicious. Ready to admit your losses. Careful with the tongue”(Lee, 176).  The only thing I can gather from this is that Henry plays two different people, and he definately views himself as two people. He’s completely shady, and I think he wears a mask as well.  On page 145, the book explains how Kwang shifts roles and becomes an asshole towards his wife. “He was shaking his fist, which had gone white.”  The text goes on about how his wife sat there and took it all while he was yelling in Korean and English. Then all of a sudden he flips a switch and hes nice towards her again. So we know that Kwang plays mind games and tries to dominate people especially women. Which is interesting because Henry seems to play mind games with Leila. They also have a weird relationship. Going back to Henry watching kwang freak out against his wife. Henry is closely watching this happen. He knows that his fist had gone white, and that he was speaking in English and in Korean. Henry is fascinated by this man. I think he almost idolizes him, like he’s a mentor of some sort. It’s confusing because we still don’t understand what Henry does and we still dont know certain things about the characters in the story except about his son. I hope things fall into place with this book because it’s losing my attention completely.

Chang-Rae Lee, Native speaker.

The section we had to read for class this time around was alot easier to understand. I think I finally made the full transition from Helen Zia to this one. I think about the list when reading through the book because i’m trying to find out if Lelias thoughts are evident. I’m not sure if thats what I should be focusing on though when reading? This section discussed a lot about his mother and father. So far every single character in this novel is completely bizzaree. We find out in the reading that his mother and father are almost too ashamed to fit into America. They almost seem like they have this stigma that America doesn’t like them.  The thoughts he has on his mother about how she would rather ruin a birthday cake because she would feel shame in asking for an egg. He goes on about how they worry about what people think of them. I can only imagine what this feels like for a son to experience this from his parents.  A quote from the reading that raises a red flag for me was “we believed in anything American, in impressing Americans in making money, polishing apples in the dead of night, perfectly pressed pants, perfect credit, being perfect, shooting black people, watch our stores and offices burn to the ground”(Lee,52-53). I feel like he has to be talking about the L.A. riots? Maybe thats why his family feels so awkward and ashamed to be in America because their paranoid and hurt from the riots?

   Another interesting part in the story is how Henry works with his dad in the store and his dad puts him on display about how good is English is. He thought it was good business to point this out and even make him same some shakespere words. I kind of think this is hilarious but at the same time, i’m thinking to myself wtf? If I was a customer I would feel awkward and i’m sure Henry would feek awkward as shit too. This family has got some indentity issues. We also find out that his dad is extremely educated. He was trained as industrial engineer, and has a completed master degree. He recieved all of his education in Korea.  His mom gets so pissed when Henry starts questioning the store and how come he never talks about it. “You don’t know this, but he graduated from the best college in Korea, the very top, and he doesn’t need to talk about selling fruits and vegetables. It’s below him. He only does it for you, Byong-ho, he does everything for you”(Lee, 56). I feel like thats a lot of pressure for Henry and also a huge guilt trip. No wonder he’s a “poppas boy.” He has to be the greatest and wonderful and sucessful for his father to accept him in America. Henry still goes on about his confusion why his family moved to America. Something about a “big network.” I kind of feel like his father moved to America for Henry.

Native Speaker

Well, after reading the section we had to read in class then discussing it. I feel as though the book will get better. I was really confused by the way things were thrown together and I felt like it was too much information all at once. The class discussion was awesome for two reasons. One reason I actually understood what the hell was going on in the book (Nothing worse then reading something you find confusing when you are a full time student.) and the fact that I was in a horrible mood today. I thought the list was pretty intense but not that out of the ordinary. People who get divorces or grow a part from one another tend to communicate in other ways other than face to face. I’m drawn to Leilas character more in this book because I want to know what her deal is and why the hell shes so bitter. The fact that their son dies definitely means something and the fact that we don’t know why yet can only draw you even more. Bottom line the child they brought into this world has died and no matter who you are that affects you big time. I feel like she’s harboring a lot of feelings. But I also agree with what Brittany said in class and how she thinks that they kind of jumped into this relationship and now she’s seeing sides of him, that she didn’t see before. Sometimes you can really test out a relationship once you are put in a serious situtaion.

     I didn’t pick a part the list immediately but once you drag in things we have learned about citizenship, identity, and other things we learned about Asian Americans the list kind of makes sense. Henry’s job is also incredibly weird and shady. We brought up a good point, when he met Leila he was on an assignment. So i guess we will discover who is the real Henry? DUN DUN DUN… The fact that we had this discussion in class was extremely beneficial to me. I think I might actually enjoy this book. The fact that im repeating my words over again must mean that i’ve ran out of ideas. Regardless, this book should get more interesting as we discuss it in class. We’ll see….

Response to chapters 10 & 11.

I just finished reading these two chapters. I must say the things that Helen Zia writes about are pretty incredible. It takes classes like these to really get a understanding of how our society works or better yet doesnt work.

  Chapter 10, “Reinventing Our Culture” is a really interesting chapter. I notice a lot of similarities though. Asian Americans getting teased and beat up. Growing up was extremely difficult for a young Asian American. Didn’t have a lot of people to look up too on television, movies, etc. She explains that when there was an Asian sighting on television or anywhere in the media she would get so pumped up to see them. I couldn’t imagine what this must have felt like for a person growing up in an American society.

   The book introduces a new person, Tou Ger Xiong. The book desribes him as a well fit man who speaks to children in a group speaker setting. He explains his Hmong culture and asks the children if they know any Hmong people. He seems to get the audience motivated and captures their attention in an educational and entertaining way. “Xiong combines traditional stories, puppers and embroideered Hmong outfits with rap music, hip-hop, and humo to perorm the tale of hiw his family came to St. Paul from Laos. I thought it was incredible that he uses all of these strategies to explain to the audience his experiences of encountaring white people and even simple things like flushing a toilet. I think it’s amazing that integrates music to teach children how he feels.  The book also explains that “His listeners grow quiet as he talks about getting beaten up as a kid. “Other kids called me ‘gook’ or ‘Chink’, and said, ‘Go back to your country.’ They beat me and kickd me and spit on me”(Zia, 255). It’s a very sad story from his childhood and he’s sharing it with 7th graders.  I have never heard of this guy but it turns out that he does this kind of thing all over, in North Carolina, California, Wisconsin and Missesota.  Another interesting quote from the reading, “What i’m about is having one foot in each culture. It’s not that I’ve lost something by being Hmong Ameircan. I gain by pering part of both culture”(Zia, 256).

    The chapter goes on and talks about the  incident on June 9th, 1998 with KQRS radio talk show. Apparently the host Tom Barnard and his coworkers talked about a 13 year old  Hmong girl who threw her baby in the garbage after she gave birth to it at a YMCA.  Barnard said absolutely racist things about this sad situation. Some of the things he said ” I think when you stuff a baby in the garbage can,you forfeit some of these rituals.” He also states “It would take a lot of egg rolls to pay the criminal fines or concealing a corpse”(Zia, 258).  First of all, there are way too many people like Tom Barnard in the world who say absolutely rediculous ignorant things. Of course the Hmong culture was pissed off and in August several hundred people “mostly Homong and other Asian Ameircans, marched to the steps of the Minnesota State Capital in St. Paul”(Zia, 259). I think it’s wonderful that Asian Americans united together and protested against this idiot. One of the best quotes that sticks out in my head from this chapter is “It’s 1998,” he shouted. “We’re not going to stand for racism anymore. No! No More!”(Zia, 259).  It’s about damn time someone raises the question of the time period! I could rant on about this more but i have to stick to the assignment and discuss my thoughts on chapter 11. Regardless, this chapter was pretty awesome.

**Deep Breath**

    Alright so Chapter 11 was still interesting, I never knew that you can be living in a country for more than twenty years before Immigreation calls you up and asks you to be a citizen. I kinda feel like this doesn’t happen with everyone. I’m actually kind of confused as to how someone becomes a U.S. citizen. Anyway, it’s kind of funny that you have to memorize the constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Declaration of Indepence. The book also states that her dad also had to memorize all of the U.S. presidents, vice presidents, and secretaries. I think some of this is relevant but then again i think thats it’s kind of bullshit too.  Some kind of super American IQ test. Helen Zia still explains her feelings while this is happening, “For me to have a say was more complicated. To have your say means you are being heard. To be heard would suggest that you are also seen. I never saw or heard any Americans who looked like me in the news. Never. It was though we didn’t exist”(Zia, 282-283).  As the book goes on I don’t see very much light at the end of the tunnel. I mean I guess for some Asian Americans more people are going out and protesting to the inequalities but then again there is major identity issues. This book is getting better and better yet I still feel bitter.

Wiki presentations…

I feel like the presentations were overall a successful one. The Helen Zia novel covered a lot of informative material that definately needed to be more then just a reading assignment. I thought that everyone in my group did an excellent job with the wiki and the presentation. It’s hard to get in front of a group of people but I think we all got over that and we seem to feel comfortable as a class. I think we have our professor to thank for that because of her sense of humor and she knows what the hell she’s talking about.  I liked how we had a choice to choose the topics we wanted to do. I also liked how open-ended it was for us a group to decide what we wanted to cover. I didn’t like the fact that you couldn’t really edit if someone was also editing on the wiki (Stealing the lock). I also didn’t like the fact that you tried to edit things but the wiki seemed to have  mind of it’s own. It took me about seven tries to get my stuff moved to where I wanted too. I even tried to change my works cited around but the “wiki” insisted it was one seperate line. That was extremely frustrating.

    But overall I think that it was a great experience and I learned a lot from the groups. The Taxi boycott presentation did really well. It took guts to go up first. I felt that it was probably difficult to find as much information as you could in such a short time. I liked your incorporation of the images and the videos.

   Also I thought the Miss Saigon presentation did an excellent job. I had no idea about the term yellow face until I went to this class. The fact that they had white actors (famous actors) play Asian roles is one thing but the use of make up and other ways to fit the “Asian character” is really ignorant and exxagerating. I wonder if some of the actors felt embarassed playing those roles because they were so ignorant?  I just don’t understand why they wouldn’t case an Asian person to play an Asian role? Then again we have to consider the time period?

    Another presentation I thought did an excellent job was the gay marriage group. I had no idea that Helen Zia was a lesbian. I really think she’s a remarkable educated woman who is an excellent writer. It’s amazing all of the things you can learn about in just one novel.  I also had no idea that people are trying to get rid of same sex marriage in California. Again, the use of you tube videos was an excellent component to the presentation. Great job guys!

What i’ve learne about the wiki…

While working on the Wiki I leanrned that the actual word means quick in hawaiian. I thought that was interesting. I also thought it was interesting how many ways you can provide information on the wiki. For example you can show videos, and images. It didn’t even cross my mind to think that when researching for images on google that you never not use all of the ones you find. I never heard of “creative commons” until this class. Which kind of makes the research a little difficult because once you searched for the pictures that way you couldn’t really find that many. At least from my experiences other peoples experiences may differ.

    Lets see, I also thought that having a group for the wiki project is an excellent educational resource for a teacher to use. A lot of people don’t have time to get together and do a project together because life is so crazy. This is a great way to stay on top of things and everyone can do their part at their own pace. As long as it gets done. I felt that it was def significant to have people bring their laptops in the class and kind of designate a person that can help us organize our work as a group (Thanks Laura). Brainstorming topics and then assigning each group member a topic helps narrow down the research for each indivdual which makes the work load seem fair.

    Having the librarian come in and talk about the different sites you can use was extremely beneficial because it helped me find research a lot quicker then any other group project i’ve had to do. I defintely benefited from having the librarian come in and show us faster ways to research certain topics. I’ve noticed that this wiki project was different then other wiki projects i’ve done in the past. I never had to do the creative commons with the pictures, we could put anything up that we found.

So recap on the wiki I enjoy working with my group and I think my group knows what they are doing and with the help of Laura’s laptop we kept it organized. Example, i’m doing aftermath and the arts that were inspired AFTER the riots. So natually  I would go at the end. I liked how each person tried to keep it organized with a certain color. My color is a navy blue in the wiki. All of these little helpful tools keep a wiki project well put together and easier to read. The technological aspect is pretty awesome, having you tube available to us makes the research and the viewer of the project makes it that much more interesting. Research is different, I only researched L.A. riots through the library database and I researched the arts through wiki to get a feel about what the hell is actually going on. I took some notes and then i tried to go on you tube to find music videos.  I guess that’s it for now….I enjoy working on this project.