Random Lookalike

Probably not many people will know either or both of these guys, but you all know how I love figuring out who looks like who:

UNC Freshman Tyler Hansbrough and Matt Kennedy Gould from the Joe Schmo Show


Maybe I'm the only one, but I think the likeness is uncanny. If only I could've found 2 better pictures.

The Chief



The other day on the news, there was a story about the University of Illinois (my alma mater) appealing an NCAA ruling about Chief Illiniwek, the school's "mascot". Apparently because the NCAA feels that the Chief is "hostile" and "abusive", they banned the school from hosting postseason competition.

This blog isn't going to be about the NCAA ruling itself, but it got me thinking about the Chief debates that I always heard about while I was at school.

During my 4 years at U of I, I remember the Chief being a frequently discussed issue, but never cared to get involved on either side. I basically just deleted the emails I got from the Pro-Chief or Anti-Chief groups, walked by the rallies those groups held on the Quad, and neither cheered nor booed the Chief when I went to basketball or football games.

So let me preface all that I'm about to write by saying I fully admit that I'm not the most well informed individual on the subject of the Chief. I don't know all the history and the facts, so just take what I'm writing for what it's worth.

I guess I never really understood what all the uproar was all about. Like I said, I don't really have a strong opinion one way or another, but I think if I were to lean one way, it would be Pro-Chief. I like the fact that our school's name has some unique tie to the state's history, and I think it would be a shame if it ended up being changed to something generic like an animal or color for no good reason.

Of course, that all depends on what constitutes "good reason".

As a Chinese person, one way I have looked at the situation is this - what if the university wanted to change its mascot to the Illinois Fighting Bruce Lees? I don't think I would have a problem with it, because let's face it, Bruce Lee rocks your socks and everyone knows it. After all, he was Chuck Norris's master, and look at how awesome Chuck Norris has become (see Chuck Norris Facts, warning: some profanity).

On the other hand, if they wanted to change the mascot to one of those chinky-eyed guys in straw hats that you see on Abercrombie & Fitch T-Shirts, that would be a different story. I don't think I was as outraged as some other Asians about those shirts, but still, I don't think "Two Wongs Can Make It White" would be a very acceptable motto for a university.

The point is, I don't think that a school using Native American imagery for its mascots or logos is necessarily offensive or racist in itself. It all depends on how it's done. I mean, a good number of states, cities, rivers, buildings, parks, and even cars are named after Native American tribes or words. Is that offensive?

Or, look at some of the other team names out there that involve different groups of people. Fighting Irish, Trojans, Yankees, Patriots. I don't see anyone complaining up a storm that we are stereotyping Irish people as being combative, or trivializing the bravery of our nation's founding fathers by putting them on a football helmet.

In general, I think people like to name their team after something associated with strength, bravery, or just coolness in general. Such as Trojans, Spartans, Angels, Tigers, Lions, Bears, Eagles, etc. You don't see anyone calling themselves the "Surrendering French" or "Dodo Birds", do you?

Before I ever heard of the protests about Chief Illiniwek, I never even thought twice about the Chief being racist or disrespectful. That's not to say that it's definitely not, I'm just saying that it doesn't strike me as being that way. And leads me to think that maybe it's only an issue because some people were bored and decided to make a fuss about something.

When I look at the various Native American team names/mascots out there, some definitely stand out as being racist while others not so much. The Cleveland Indians' Chief Wahoo logo, for example, seems pretty blatantly disrespectful. And I don't see how an NFL team can continue to call itself the Redskins, if that is a racist slur. On the other hand, I always thought the Florida State Seminoles logo looked pretty cool, and that the Chicago Blackhawks logo was done in a reverent manner.

But you know what? My opinion doesn't really matter. Because I'm not Native American, and I don't know jack about the culture or what it's like to be a Native American in this country. I don't know if the Seminole logo is historically inaccurate, or if a white guy doing Chief Illiniwek's dance is considered sacriligious to a given tribe (if anyone out there knows more feel free to enlighten me).

Anyways I think that's what always bugged me about these Pro-Chief/Anti-Chief groups and their public debates. At the risk of generalizing, on the one side you have the Pro-Chief folk, a predominantly older, conservative, Caucasian group. Then you have the Anti-Chief people, who are usually younger, and include Caucasians, African-Americans, Hispanic, and Asians.

But where are the Native Americans in this debate? Each side will occasionally quote an individual Native American who is either offended or not offended by the Chief, to support their own argument. The problem is, I have heard quotes supporting both sides. For an issue that is supposedly as critical to our society's well being as some of these people make it, can't someone find out once and for all, what Native American people as a whole think about the Chief?

Bottom line is, just like nobody should care whether I think Chief Illiniwek is racist or not, nobody should care about what the Pro-Chief or Anti-Chief groups have to say, because they don't speak for Native Americans. Everyone is so busy arguing up a storm, taking up a cause and getting so passionate about it, when only one thing matters - what the Native Americans themselves think about the Chief.

It's kind of like Carlos Mencia's story about the Taco Bell dog ("Yo quiero Taco Bell"). White people randomly came up to him and apologized to him for the dog being racist against Latinos, because they heard some people thought it was offensive. But he himself never saw it as being racist at all. Actually thought the commercials were funny, and even pointed out that unlike "your bitch" Lassie, the Taco Bell chihuahua could talk.

If it sounds like I am being Pro-Chief, that's really not my point of writing all this. If a credible and comprehensive poll of Native Americans comes out and definitively says, "Chief Illiniwek is offensive", then it doesn't matter how much tradition and support is behind the Chief, or how much it will suck to change the names and logos, it has to go. But it would be just as horrible to make all these changes, just because some non-Native American college kids who are just looking for any cause to fight for say it's offensive.

Teeth


Last year, Olivia went on a medical/missions trip to some remote areas in Thailand and was showing me some pictures she took while she was there. One picture was of a lady with really blackened teeth (shown above), and as you can see, they're pretty freaking dark. Apparently, they think that black teeth is attractive and actually chew beetlenuts (kind of like tobacco) to stain their teeth as dark as possible.

By the way, this blog isn't going to have much of a point, except I just thought it was interesting how different people and different cultures can have such differing concepts about what is attractive and what is not, at least as far as teeth goes.


Mrs. Kensington: "In Britain, in the 60's, you could be a sex symbol and have bad teeth." As you can see, the generally accepted definition of "bad teeth" are the crooked, yellow teeth of Austin Powers. However, thanks to his abilities as a special agent and International Man of Mystery, he was still able to shag Miss Kensington, Alotta Fagina, Ivana Humpalot, Felicity Shagwell, and others.

Anyways, how about some examples of "good teeth":


Most of us who grew up in this country think of "perfect" teeth being straight and white. Like TomKat. People spend literally thousands of dollars on braces and a plethora of teeth whitening products, all in the hopes of achieving that "million dollar smile".


Back when I lived in Taiwan (and as far as I know, this is still true), the most popular brand of toothpaste was called "Hae-Ren-Ya-Gow", which translates in English to "Black Person Toothpaste". No joke. Actually the English word they originally used on the label was "Darkie", but as you can see from the above photo, it has since been changed to "Darlie", presumably due to someone's complaint. I guess there are people who think a toothpaste brand being named "Darkie" is offensive, imagine that. Yet, the Chinese name of the brand remains unchanged, "Black Person Toothpaste". (Again, I am 100% serious, if you still don't believe me, look it up yourself or ask anyone else from Taiwan to confirm.)

Anyways, I guess that means that the typical Chinese person's idea of perfect teeth is fairly similar to the American model - shiny, bright pearly whites. Except instead of associating this ideal with movie stars like TomKat, they look to a Black man in a top hat for a model.

But as the next example shows, not every black person necessarily aspires to have their teeth look like the Darlie man. At least not these days.


Mike Jones: "Before the ice was in my grill, before I got my major deal, these hoes wouldn't give a damn if I was heah, chyeah".

A few months ago, a friend randomly posed the question of how much I thought a grill would cost. Not knowing that he was referring to the mouth jewelry variety, I started telling him about all the research I did about gas vs. charcoal, and the top brands of grill makers out there that I considered when I was buying my grill.

Maybe I am just that out of touch with today's hip folk. I just never realized how important they are to enhancing my look before Nelly and Mike Jones came along and showed us the way.

No wonder I haven't been getting any hoes. I better "call the jewelry store and have them make me a grill." Oh and not just any plain old grill, it's gotta be a grill with ice in it. Otherwise, still no hoes.

Scarface and King Kong

This weekend I watched 2 movies (if you haven't watched them and are worried about spoilers stop reading here):

1. Scarface - Great movie, and pretty good commentary on the DVD special features, especially the DefJam feature about Hip-hop's love for the movie. Like Rich mentioned once in his Xanga (I think), I did notice before that almost every rapper shows off their "Scarface" DVD or poster in Cribs, but didn't really understand why. Now I know.

I love movies that are full of great quotes, without necessarily trying to be. Other than the obvious "Say hello to my little friend!", some other choice gems:

"Amigo, the only thing in this world that gives orders, is balls. Balls. You got that?"

"All I have in this world is my balls, and my word, and I don't break them for no one."

"Get the yeyo"

"You know what? F--- you! How about that?"

It's kind of weird cause I think the very first Al Pacino movie I ever saw was Devil's Advocate, when I was in high school. He was alright in it, but to say the least, I don't think that was his finest work. Later on, I think the 2nd movie I saw him in was Any Given Sunday, which again, he was alright in, but not the greatest movie. For a long time I thought he was overrated and nothing special, probably because the only 2 movies I saw him in were pretty mediocre films.

Only last year did I have a chance to see him in Godfather (Parts I and II) and now Scarface. Much more representative of his legendary status as an actor. I still haven't seen a lot of his other big movies, so when I get a chance, I need to watch Dog Day Afternoon, Scent of a Woman, Heat, Godfather III, and probably a few more that I'm leaving out here.

Although I still have one question: so is Al Pacino Italian or Latino?

2. King Kong - Pretty good movie, I was impressed by how intense it was. I was expecting a mindless mix of special effects and cheesy dialogue. There was plenty of that, but it was a pretty good storyline and directed well overall. I felt bad for King Kong, I think he what he needed most was a Queen Kong.

My only complaint with the movie is that Peter Jackson needs to learn how to make a movie under 3 hours. I guess I'm getting my money's worth, but man, cut some of those scenes out!

One thing that surprised me after watching King Kong was that it was only rated PG-13. Maybe I'm just a sissy, but I was kind of disturbed in some parts of the movie. Honestly I don't get scared or disturbed easily in movies, but with the faces of those natives, the guy who got a spear through his chest, and the big insects, or slimy pink things with horns that suck your head and limbs into them, I would have guessed that the movie would be rated "R".

Especially after just reading some commentary about Scarface, and how when it came out in 1983, it was originally given an "X" rating. Ok, so King Kong didn't have characters snorting cocaine in every other scene, nearly as much profanity, or limbs being cut off by chainsaws. But I don't think Scarface was really that much more graphic or disturbing, to warrant being rated 2 levels higher.

I guess the discrepancy might be more a matter of how the country has changed in the 22 years between the release dates of the two movies. The standards by which movies are assigned ratings have probably changed quite a bit, which is to be expected I suppose.

By the way, an interesting (and highly useful) fact I learned from WikiPedia is that at the time of its release in 1983, Scarface set the record for the movie with the most uses of the "F" word. Since then, it has been passed multiple times, thanks to a few more mob movies being released, as well as people like Quentin Tarantino or the South Park creators making their respective marks on the list. For the comprehensive breakdown of the list see here (Warning: language).

Recurring Themes in TV Shows

Yesterday, I happened to watch an episode of Desperate Housewives (let's just say that the end of the Bears season didn't put me in the best state of mind), and in one of the storylines, one of the husbands was afraid of catching chickenpox from his kids, which somehow led to his wife asking him to get a vasectomy.

I found this to be amazing, for reasons I shall explain shortly. But first, some background information on the matter.

A while back, I was thinking about how a lot of TV shows I've watched end up recycling the same themes. For example, it seems like more than a few shows have had at some point a "poker" episode (off the top of my head, Friends, Fresh Prince), or an "amnesia" subplot (Full House with Michelle falling off the horse, 24 Season 1 with Jack Bauer's wife, countless soap operas).

So anyways, the "chickenpox" (Friends, Malcolm In The Middle, Home Improvement, Simpsons, South Park) and "vasectomy" (Home Improvement, Everybody Loves Raymond, My Wife and Kids) themes were two other examples I thought of at the time. I must say I was quite impressed that this one episode of Desperate Housewives managed to incorporate not one but two themes, even using the same characters and storyline for both, and tying them together no less.

By the way, not saying this to rip on the writers or the shows for repeating themes. I just thought it was interesting and felt like pointing it out. I know there were other recurring themes I thought of, but can't remember any right now. "Wedding" and "childbirth" episodes are pretty common among almost all shows too, but I don't know if I would count those because they are pretty broad topics. If any of you can think of more feel free to add.