hardboiled blog

I know this movie has been out for a while but I just got around to seeing it yesterday and had to pitch in my two cents. The movie was highly recommended by a good friend of mine who is a big-time movie buff so I went in this expecting it to be a pretty big deal… but it didn’t quite deliver.

First off, I do think it was cool that Clint Eastwood tried to develop a movie around the conflicts in a Hmong community. It’s a pretty bold move for Eastwood to lend his star power to shed light on Hmong gang violence. But aside from the A for effort, the movie was pretty much a bust in my opinion. Would it really kill Hollywood to tell a story where a Hmong person was the one to resolve the conflict? Instead we get a snarling, macho, white guy (Walt Kowalski/Eastwood) who saves the Hmong women and children from their own kind. Likewise, it irked me that a huge part of the plot was about Eastwood teaching Thao, the teenage Hmong boy, what it means to be a man. According to the movie, a real man drowns his conversations in a stream of curses, totes a big gun, and works in construction. I know that Eastwood is supposed to play a very grumpy and abrasive character but it’s so overdone. Likewise, the interactions between Walt and Thao/his sister Sue (played by Bee Vang and Ahney Her) were awkward and unnatural. Even after they become friends and Walt comes over to have a barbecue at their house, he continues to call them gooks and somehow it’s supposed to be endearing… yeah, that doesn’t usually do it for me. Although it’s always good to have more Asian faces on the big screen, I’m still going to be critical of their acting abilities. True, they weren’t working with the best script but Vang and Her’s performances, to be honest, weren’t all that hot. But hey, if nothing else, at least this movie has helped a few more people pronounce Hmong correctly (that silent “h” is a trickster).

Agree or disagree? Leave me a comment and let me know :)

Because I am a huge fan of making lists, I definitely drew up a long list of things to do this break knowing fully well that I’ll only accomplish a fraction of it. At the top of the list were to become a little more cultured by doing more leisurely reading and watching classic films. What does this have to do with dragons and catfish? Ok, I’ll cut to the chase.

DRAGONS.
So my little sister convinced me to watch her entire box set of Bette Davis movies that she got for Christmas. While I reallyyyy recommend watching “Now, Voyager,” I can’t quite say the same for “The Letter.” Watching “The Letter,” I died a little inside for the following reasons.

1) It’s set in Singapore but the only Asians are plantation workers and murderers
2) The antagonist is a stereotypical Chinese dragon lady (get this) played by a white woman (it’s hilarious when she attempts to speak Malay though)
3) Lines such as when the American waiter says to the plantation owner: “It’s such a shame that sugar doesn’t grow in civilized regions.”
4) The Asian man with the most lines is a greedy, immoral, obsequious, and effeminate secretary
As you’ve guessed, my verdict for this thriller is that it’s not only racist but it just sucks overall.

CATFISH.
To start off my reading list, I picked up this memoir by Andrew X. Pham called Catfish and Mandala. It is fucking good. (This is coming from a girl who hardly swears). It’s artistic, maybe a little self-deprecating at times, but very honest. It’s a travelogue of his adventures throughout Mexico, the US, Japan, and Korea– on a bike. As in bicycle, not motorbike. Pham bikes 4,000 miles on a search to find his roots and cope with the death of a family member. Interspersed in his accounts are narratives about life as a Vietnamese American and his soap-opera worthy family history. It’s descriptive without being boring and poignant but never cheesy. My main point in two words: READ IT.

So there you have it, dragons and catfish.

So I’m starting to feel a little guilty when I post these really serious and sometimes kinda depressing blogs. Not that I’m trying to cater to the masses or anything but I just wanted to let you all know that aside from muckraking and rabble rousing, hardboiled values a good laugh too.

So the topic of this blog is a pretty hilarious guy of international video blog fame: KEVJUMBA. I know I’m really out of the loop on this one since I’ve just recently discovered his vlogs but his rants are entertaining and a little addictive. I’ll leave you with my two favorites:

you should also check out the “happy slip” channel. she’s pretty good too– cheers :)

I don’t claim to be an expert on the American or Asian music scene, but I do love funny youtube videos and I especially love watching Asian artists taking themselves too seriously. So I come bearing treats:

If you grew up with BoA since she was just a teenager making it in Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and pretty much all over Asia, she’s now trying to make it overseas here with this debut song, disturbingly called “Eat You Up.” My favorite line? “I’ll eat you up! Yum, yum, yum.” At first, I didn’t realize that was what she was echoing, because I was distracted by her dancing, but maybe if you listen carefully you’ll be able to catch it. By the way, this video gets better at the two minute mark. When everything starts exploding.

And next, we have a singer that I actually like, Se7en. However, he doesn’t do himself any justice with his new song, “Them Girls.” Admittedly, it’s catchy. Admittedly, there have been incredibly way worse songs. But I can’t help giggling and laughing whenever I hear the lines “You can Google me, baby!” Oh man, Se7en. And the creepy intonations of “GIRLS. GIRLS. GIRLS” is enough to make me just die a little inside. This is him performing it live.

“Trying to make you my accessory, all girls are necessary!”

But I mean, all awful lyrics aside, how successful will these two get? I mean, it’s not like they lack money or talent (though that can be contested). But we’ve seen crashes and burns before.

Will it result as badly as this? The moment I heard “You’re Easy Breezy and I’m Japanese-y,” I knew Utada just couldn’t make it here.

What does it take for Asian artists to break into the American scene? Do they experience something incredibly more difficult than other foreign musicians? Probably. But I think it’s largely because they need to improve their English… beyond the basics. You know, beyond repeating words like “GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS” and “YUM YUM YUM.” C’mon guys. If Asian Americans can hardly make it as musicians, I don’t think you guys will have an easier time. You may need to put in a little more effort.

(Though what’s sad, is that Utada IS American. What happened to your amazing song-writing, Hikki??)