Nobody does it better

My threshold on the issue is apparently a little higher than many, but I can agree that there continues to be issues with the way Asian Americans are portrayed in Hollywood. In spite of some encouraging developments, we still see Hollywood portrayals of Asian Americans as exotic, emasculated, and emotionally constipated. THANK GOODNESS, therefore, for Asian Am film making, where Asians FINALLY get the opportunity to make their own films that portray Asian Ams as exotic, emasculated, and emotionally constipated.

We stopped into the SFIAAFF last Monday for a double-feature of our own making, catching screenings of "Eve and the Fire Horse" and "Kieu" separated by about one bottle of Sake. (Sorry we didn't catch up after Eve, rancho! We didn't stick around for the Q & A.)

Given some of the things we've seen at the fest, I've become so very very appreciative of a film that elegantly and competently tells a simple story illustrating coherent themes with interesting events and likable characters. Such is Eve. It may not find itself counted among the all-time classics of motion picture, but put it up against similar kid-focused fare from Disney, or even 'serious' kid entries like "In America" and you'll find it'll hold its own and possibly a little more.

Very much like "In America", it portrays the experiences of an immigrant family as seen by two young sisters (in "In America", the family is Irish). Naturally, the immigrant sob story has been done to death, but the kid angle is fresh enough that Eve brings some new things to the table. I'll spare you the plot summary (because I hate writing them, they're boring to read, and they're laden with spoilers), but it manages to squeeze in a surprising amount of edginess in dealing with issues of race and religion while maintaining a whimsical attitude that's true to the subject.

That said, it still suffers from a few minor things that irk me in these kinds of films. The kids are emotive and animated, but the adults in Eve have the emotional range of a light switch, flipping mainly between blank and upset. And as always, ample screen time is spent showing folks bowing before ancestral altars, lighting incense, doing things for good luck, lacing dialog with natural symoblism (sometimes sarcastic, thank goodness), etc. Given the strong religious themes, some of this is naturally necessary, but there's a rote feeling to these kinds of scenes in these films that I'd sooner do without. Yes, they're foreign and have different customs. WE KNOW. Just move the story along, please. The way some films show this stuff, you'd think people spent half the day doing this kind of thing.

This entry's long enough. I'll hit Kieu next time, and BOY, will I hit it.

Eugene 911!

So it's been a week since the first 'part' and a good two weeks since the original event, but let's just wrap this up...

Miscalculated after-parties are becoming something of a tradition at Collegiates. Let us not speak of Stanford 2004, where at least one other guy and I got tossed out of a club. The Davis 2005 committee rented out a terrific space on campus only to be forced to host it DRY.

And now this year.

EPD gives more than 85 drinking citations this weekend -- Oregon Daily Emerald

Of course, making the news can be considered something of an accomplishment. Such things are not without fallout, though. If you were there or simply very sympathetic, do help.



At least until then, however, I'd say things were going swimmingly. It was kind of a slow start, probably because our very hospitable and unsuspecting hostess apparently had no idea what she had agreed to. When we got there, no alcohol was to be found and the residents by all appearances were ready to settle in for a mellow Saturday night of TV and Gamecube. Within what must have been minutes, the garage was a dance floor, tubs of punch were mixed, and the occupancy of the house went up by at least two orders of magnitude.



That all came to a screeching halt at around 11:30 when Eugene's "Party Patrol" unit hit. These guys wasted absolutely no time screening folks for age and alcohol and issuing 22 underage drinking citations. For those of us from the free republic of Berkeley, this was quite a shock.

Especially in our condition, there wasn't much that we could do, so we hopped the van back to the hotel. After lounging around at our hotel lobby for a bit, I turned in. At the very least I'd get a decent night's sleep for the drive home.

Back to School

In spite of it all, I've found that it's pretty unusual for me to regret checking out a Wushu tournament. I was really wishy-washy about heading up to check out/help out with Collegiates last weekend, but even with all the brushes with icy death on the I-5, police oppression, and sleep deprivation, I came back satisfied that I'd made good use of my precious, precious weekend.

The event was tiny in comparison to previous years, which is naturally a bummer, but I must admit it's nice to run through these things without intense time pressure. I barely worked a third of the time I was there, which allowed me to contribute to posterity by taking lots and lots of pictures, applying in a really half-assed way the various things I've learned in my photography workshop.


I'm not sure if the Oregon guys fully appreciate this, but they've got a really nice looking gym. It gets plenty of natural light and I love the wood paneling and scaffolding.

In the afternoon, rays of sunlight would hit various parts of the rings which made for some interesting lighting opportunities.


This is Kunyu from the Stanford team. I got my hand at doing some ringleading this time, which helps me recall people's names. Stanford went on to win the coveted team title.


Here's Caren from the Cal team. No idea what the results are from all these, but you know where to get 'em.


Filip from the Stanford team. The shot sort of works even if the exposure is probably about a stop too dark.


The Cal 'Happy Bears' team group set stood out dramatically from the rest of the field. There was a general sense talking to folks afterward that this whole trend of including LENGTHY sparring sets in group sets has got to stop. I'm slightly looser on this in that I think some is okay if people can positively NAIL it -- i.e., if it really looks like a fight. That sort of thing takes real time and skill to pull off. If not, I'd highly recommend ditching it.

The Cal team did have a lengthy sparring section, but it was very well choreographed and very convincing. But in the end, I generally side with the view that group sets are about perfect timing and coordination. Maybe folks have forgotten, but you'd be shocked how awesome people look when they're perfectly together across a complicated series of moves.

A small tournament meant a relatively early stop (after a pretty forgettable and impromptu 'Mad Tricks' competition), which left plenty of time for...


They never seem to print out enough of these things.

To be continued...