Orange Krush

Watched one of the best basketball games I have seen in a long time last night. Illini jump out to an early lead at Purdue, Boilermakers battle back to tie it and then go ahead, both teams go back and forth the whole game and eventually take it to overtime. More battling in OT, Purdue hits a tough 3 to tie it with 10 seconds left. Finally, Luther Head takes it up to half court and finds Roger underneath the basket, who misses the shot, but then Luther races down there to follow it up with the winning basket. Final result: Illinois wins its 9th straight game and clinches at least a share of of the Big Ten title. Life is good for Illini fans.

Some thoughts:

- I don't know if it's just because Purdue doesn't matchup well, but man... Augustine was all over the place last night on the offensive glass. If he can play like that come tournament time, this team is gonna be awesome.

- It sucks when we lose the big name recruits like Villenueva or Livingston, but the good part about it is that we get guys who stay for more than a year or two and the fans can watch them develop into quality players. Already looking ahead to next season, we could be bringing back the entire starting lineup: Luther Head and Roger Powell as seniors, and Augustine, Dee Brown, and Deron Williams as juniors.

- I have no idea how Deron got so much better this year, but no complaints here. Dee, on the other hand... needs to stop hanging out in the Union taking pictures with random people and start practicing some more free throws.

- I was just thinking the other day about how throughout this winning streak, we haven't had much experience with really close games going down to the wire, and that could hurt us in the tournaments. Then we see them fight out a tough overtime game and come away with a win at Purdue. Of course I'd still rather see them win every game by a comfortable margin, but at least they showed that they can take the close ones too.

- Not sure if I like Bruce Weber's offense yet. It's fine to pass the ball around for 25 seconds every possession if you're in the lead, but what happens if you fall behind? Seems like we wouldn't do that well in games when we have to play catchup.

- Austin Parkinson looks like Ben Stiller. Not just in his features, but facial expressions and movements too.

- What happened to McBride33? He used to come in and hit a bunch of threes earlier in the season, but now you barely hear his name or even notice when he's in the game.

- Let's play some Illini Starcraft...

- If Nick Smith couldn't hit free throws and open jumpers, he'd be the most worthless 7'2" player ever.

*****

I watched some of American Idol's episode a few days ago when they brought back the losers. Of course, they had William Hung do "She Bangs" again. The surprising thing is, when you put a couple background dancers around him, and play the music really loud, he's not nearly as horrible. Still pretty bad, but give him some real dance moves and he'd probably at least be a better entertainer (and less irritating) than some of the crap that's out there, say, Enfreakay Iglesias for example.

Average Joe 2

A few months ago, after watching a so unsyateesfying finale to a miserable season of Average Joe, I promised myself to avoid the next installment, Average Joe 2. For the most part, I kept this promise, but I guess in the last week I got suckered by the hype about the Average Joe 2 finale. Something about the girl revealing some "shocking secret", combined with idle curiosity to see whether this girl would actually choose the Average Joe over the stud, compelled me to watch last night's final episode.

Well, I guess I got what I deserved, because this time the show was even more retarded than the last. First of all, they spend like half the show playing up the relationship between the girl and the Average guy. For like 20 minutes straight, they show her getting emotional with him, gushing over how sweet he is and what a gentleman he is, and how she's never met anyone like him. Then you get to the moment of truth, and in the exact same way the last chick did, this girl fakes everyone out by acting somber to the Stud guy at first, and then choosing him anyways.

I seriously thought that this time, the girl would be smart enough to pick the Average guy. Okay, so there was basically zero attraction between her and him, and at times it was seriously painful to watch them hanging out together. It was almost like she was doing community service or charity work, like someone helping retarded kids learn how to read or something. But couldn't she at least do it for the sake of the viewers? Was that Stud guy really that great and exceptional that she couldn't pass on him just this once? I didn't watch most of the season, but he seemed like a tool to me from what I did see. Instead, she provided further evidence supporting the rule of hot girls in America: The hotter the girl, the worse her decision making is in choosing guys.

Oh, but the retardosity of it all didn't end there this time. It turned out that she had a shocking secret: her ex-boyfriend was Fabio. After all the buildup, the commercials, the "I have something about my past that you should know" in a grave tone, her big shocker was that she once dated Fabio. When I heard that, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. It was definitely funny though. Something about a girl dating Fabio, and then having to live in shame for the rest of her life as if she was some sort of leper, is so funny.

Almost equally as funny is how the guy reacted after getting the news. He was so pissed that he broke up with her, saying something like "any guy would know how it feels in this position". You know, I honestly have no idea how I would react if that situation. First of all, I would think that she had to be joking because that just sounds so ridiculous. "Honey, don't get mad, but I think honesty is the most important thing in a relationship, so I have to tell you that my ex-boyfriend was Fabio." I mean, Fabio?? Of all people in this world, Fabio??? You gotta be kidding right? Just picturing a girl dating Fabio is almost as hard as imagining Arnold Schwarzenegger being a governor. It's like something so weird that it must be made up. I guess truth really is stranger than fiction.

In the end, I think my conclusion is this: don't watch any more Average Joes (or similar shows). Too bad I think I'm gonna end up tuning into the next series, when they have Adam from the last show picking the ladies. Also, don't pay attention to NBC's commercials promising "shocking" things on their reality shows. They keep telling me that there will be "shocking betrayals" on the Apprentice too, but it always ends up being so dumb. The Apprentice is at least a halfway decent show though, so I don't mind as much.

*****

Yesterday I gave the Double Filet 'O Fish a try. I've always been a big fan of the original F'oF at McDonald's, so I figured while they have this special going on, why not double my pleasure.

Well, I'd have to say that the double is definitely not as good as the single. Even though it's more filling, it's just less enjoyable. The whole sandwich seems more dry and less tasty.

Now that I think about it, I bet the bigwigs at McDonalds just made up this idea because they had too much fish and had to find some way to get rid of it. So they concocted this promotion and made it seem like it was some awesome special that everyone should rush out and get for a limited time only. Those guys are some geniuses.

Check it Out

Does anyone else find it annoying when you're buying something at the store and the checkout person comments on what you're buying?

Example: You're buying a book, and as you hand it to the checkout guy, he looks at what you're getting and goes "great book man".

What is the correct response?

A. "Umm... thanks" - It feels like a compliment, so almost by reflex, I feel like I should thank the guy. But when you think about it, it doesn't make sense. Should I feel proud of my choice of book? Cause chances are, if I'm buying it now, I probably haven't read it yet. So really, he's complimenting whoever recommended the book to me for having great taste, whether it's Oprah's Book Club or in this case, Wu's Book Club. The reflex reaction is kind of like when you go to the movie theater, and the guy ripping your stub goes "enjoy the show". You wanna be like "thanks, you too", but then you realize that while you're enjoying the show, he's probably gonna be ripping stubs for the next 2 hours and saying "enjoy the show" to hundreds of other people. So you feel dumb.

B. "Mind your own forking business and just give me my damn book" - After you feel dumb, then you feel angry and blame the guy for making you feel dumb. If he would just do his job and stop trying to be nice by talking to me, then I wouldn't have felt dumb. So a part of me wants to berate this kid for this reason.

C. Give him the eyebrow raise and a polite smile/nod - A healthy compromise between choices A and B, and what I usually decide upon because I'm a nice guy like that.

Anyways, this doesn't just apply to book-buying. Another example:

You head to the express lane at Jewel with a 18 pack of Coors Light, chips, dip, Margarita mix, etc., and the lady goes "big party tonight eh?"

First of all, who are you, some sort of detective? Encyclopedia Brown, perhaps? Second of all, notice I'm in the express lane. Realize that this means I don't feel like wasting time chatting with the cashier about my plans for the evening. And you know what, I just don't like the feeling that the person checking out my stuff is paying attention to what I'm getting. Even though it's probably unrealistic to expect them to not notice what they're scanning, at least make some effort to keep the illusion alive that you're just doing your job and not trying to analyze each item I'm purchasing.

Where does it end? If I show up at the register at Best Buy with 128 MB of RAM, is the guy gonna be like "upgrading your memory eh"? If I buy 2 pairs of boxers at the mall, is the cashier gonna be like "I guess you're a boxers man, I see"? If I get some Mach 3 Turbo replacement blades at Walmart, are they gonna say "enjoy your shaving experience"? If so, what should my reaction be?

In conclusion, I would like to say that everyone is annoying, and from now on I'm buying everything online.

Excitement

- I usually don't pay much attention to weather reports, but I couldn't help noticing that the forecast for the week calls for highs in the 40's. Just a few days ago I wrote something about being miserable because of all the freezing weather, and after weeks of single-digit temperatures, 40 sounds downright tropical. Man.... am I warped or what? Oh, and if it turns out that Tom Skilling is just toying with me, I'm kicking his ass.

- Haven't talked about the Illini much this year, but I have to say something after 2 big wins against Michigan State and Wisconsin. Everyone's saying how Big Ten is so disappointing and the conference is way down this season, but I think they're just getting warmed up now. When tournament time comes I fully anticipate that we'll step it up and go deep. Oh, and someone should go buy Bruce Weber a Speed Stick. When it comes to armpit stains, it's better to be defensive than offensive.

- 2004 Yahoo Fantasy Baseball is here! OH BABY

- Here's a story about the Pumpkins: http://www.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/Music/02/19/music.corgan.reut/index.html

Haven't heard anything about good old Billy in a while. My favorite quote: "Did it help that bassist D'arcy Wretzky was fired for being a mean-spirited drug addict, who refused to get help? No, that didn't help keep the band together, not at all."

Haha, "mean-spirited drug addict"... I'll have to use that one sometime.

Parry Shen - The Other Side

Last week I wrote a blog in which I listed the "Least Inspirational Asians" in the public eye right now. One of the people I included was Parry Shen, who went from playing the lead character in Better Luck Tomorrow to appearing in Dell commercials. For a link to that blog click here.

Well, I guess you never know who is gonna end up reading your blogs, cause apparently Parry found his way to my blog, read what I had to say, and emailed me with his reaction. Since then, I've gotten to correspond with him a couple times and I decided to share some of his thoughts on the subject here on my blog as a follow up.

This is what he had to say about my original point, that "Instead of showing everyone that an Asian American actor can succeed in the industry without whoring himself out (see Jackie Chan), his career demonstrates that the opportunities out there are realistically very few.":

[PS] Valid point. Believe me - I agree with you but just to let you know, I'm trying to do my best man. Just to let you know though, you wouldn't believe all the stuff I've had to reject between the film and now so that when something like a Dell commercial comes along that doesn't require me doing an accent or delivering food - dude, I'm all over it because basically, I need to stay in the game and cover my regular daily life things like eating, pay my mortgage, and taking care of my family.

"BLT" [Better Luck Tomorrow] came out of the Hollywood system, not as a result of it. You're right, now everyone will see how scarce the opportunities are... if we had a choice, you think we'd still be doing Dell commercials?

I also asked him what he thought about Jackie Chan and Lucy Liu:

[JC] I'm kind of interested to know what you think of people such as Jackie Chan and Lucy Liu, because while they have been successful in your field, they haven't exactly furthered the cause of Asian people in a larger sense. I like some of their movies, but at the same time, I feel that people like them are at least partly responsible for perpetuating some stereotypes and holding the country back from real progress.

And here's part of his reply:

[PS] Jackie has mentioned he now only wants to do films without Martial Arts and be more a leading man actor - so, he's trying but honestly - I'm just as guilty as the studio execs - I'm not sure I'd pay money to see that or even think he'd be able to pull it off

Lucy has seen "BLT" and loves it - and wanted to merge her production company with Justin Lin's because although she gets a lot of roles - she knows they are not doing much to break her out of that mold

So what's the option? Keep working so you are at least known - making either $5 million a picture or absolutely nothing and not working and disappearing into oblivion - it's a tough choice.

Breaking the $1 million barrier was HUGE for Asian Americans and that only happened less than 3 years ago.

It's easy to point to figures in the public eye and to a certain point they do have a responsibility - but to shoulder the responsibility of an ENTIRE community? I don't know about that.

There are a lot more Asian Americans in daily life who let off-color jokes, comments, the way they are treated at their jobs just go by and letting things slide by in their day to day. People who take jobs that aren't necessarily helping break "stereotypes" - but when an Asian American actor has to look for job after job after job - is it always going to be under optimum conditions? No. Not for any job - there ALWAYS is some compromise (more hours, but good pay, boring job but hot coworkers, etc.) Taking an acting job is no different - you are just seeing that compromise publicly - sometimes it will be bigger than others. But when I hear people complain, I always wonder, "Well, what are THEY doing themselves to change things instead of pointing and commenting?"

And we have yet to see the larger picture. Lucy with all her money from those types of roles, now has the funding to produce her own pictures. I probably would not have been ready or had the confidence to shine at my "BLT" audition had I not built up my acting chops and smaller and sometimes stereotypical roles.

So after hearing what he had to say, I have some more revised thoughts to add. First of all, I should qualify my original statements by saying that while it is discouraging to see the progression of Parry's career in the past couple years, there does come a time where "a job is a job" and you have to take what you can get. And like he said, it's not just in Hollywood - pretty much everyone at one time or another has faced job insecurity and had to compromise or accept something lower than his/her ideal expectations. I'm personally glad that he at least made the effort to avoid the "Chinese food delivery boy"-type roles which blatantly degrade our race.

My original point stands: there's not a lot to get inspired about when it comes to opportunities for Asians in this country. It's not necessarily Parry Shen, Jackie Chan, or Lucy Liu's fault, but it's clear that our society still has a ways to go in this respect.

I'm still undecided on whether or not the Jackie Chans and Lucy Lius of this world are doing our community more harm or good. If it turns out that they manage to eventually rise above the current state of their careers and somehow expand the opportunities for other Asians in the industry, then great. If taking a lot of meaningless roles is just a means to build up enough money and/or credibility to achieve greater things, so be it. But I really hope that we'll see some of these "greater things" soon, because in the meantime, I think they're holding us all back.

One more subject to note, Parry Shen's thoughts on everyone's favorite FOB engineer William Hung:

[PS] Mostly everybody is doing their best. But AA in films is still in its infancy - there's still a lot further to go. William Hung I agree, it hurts a little but you know what? That's really him. There are truths to some stereotypes and the American public has latched on to him. But William's not playing a character - he's going out and doing his thing and trying to "sing" his heart out.

Yes, there are definitely truths to pretty much every stereotype and this one is no different.

Anyways, another reason I wanted to write this follow up blog is because Parry is doing a tour of universities across the country to speak about these kinds of issues. He says plans are in the works to bring the whole cast of Better Luck Tomorrow with him to Urbana sometime in April/May. I think I'd definitely be interested to attend that, if it happens, and if anyone else wants to go with me, let me know.

Other than that, check out his website for more: http://www.parryshen.com