For those of you who haven’t seen the television reality show Beauty and the Geek, a synopsis: Pretty girls are matched up with classic geeky men as a “social experiment” of sorts - the girls try to teach the geeks basic social skills, while the geeks try to teach the girls basic skills in quantum mechanics, rocket science and relativity theory. (Or at least, how to change a tire.) The show always stresses that it’s not a dating show, but usually a geek or two gets a makeover and hooks up with one of the girls anyway. It’s a symbiotic relationship that’s fascinating to watch, provided that you love the CW (check) and reality television (check.)
But one geek that definitely will NOT be hooking up with the girls is Greg: a 23 year old “Sole Proprietor/Clothing Designer/Pastry Chef” and self-proclaimed Gaysian. Because he’s gay AND Asian! Aaah, good times.
I’ll be honest: I’m totally on the fence on this one, even as a fellow Gaysian. While I’m all for more of us on TV, look at him - he’s got the hipster glasses, the Panic and the Disco! haircut, the fabulous gray shirt / argyle sweater combo. If he was spotted in the Mission district in San Francisco, people wouldn’t think “geek” so much as they’d think “on his way to buy a soy latte at Ritual Roasters.” Also, since when has a clothing designer become a geeky job? Are the girls going to teach him how to dress? He designs clothes. Add to that that the Beauties now compete against the geeks. Shark jumping, anyone?
The show did introduce the world to Rubik’s Cube world championship solver Tyson Mao, however, so I’m still keeping the faith. And who am I kidding? If Greg sticks around for the makeover episode, I’ll be keeping notes; I do have the same glasses and haircut as the guy.
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Brian wrote:
You really are old, Ernie. It’s “Panic AT the Disco”. You sound like this DJ I once heard on the radio say, “…and that was Jeremy by THE Pearl Jam…”
Ha!
Posted on 25-Feb-08 at 5:36 pm | Permalink
David wrote:
Can Asian brothers (gay or straight) please stop going on shows like this? First William Hung, now this dude? We’re just playing into the asexual nerd stereotype. I know that some of us are actually asexual nerds, but why is that the only side of Asian males we see in popular media. Not that people don’t have the right to pursue their acting dream, or be themselves, but for the love of god, you’re making it worse for everyone else.
Posted on 25-Feb-08 at 10:17 pm | Permalink
Nicole Lee wrote:
There was this one episode of MTV’s Parental Control where the parents were Asian, and they were trying to get their female Asian ice-skating protege to get a new boyfriend. The father wanted her to date an Asian male, and the guy he chose was the absolute opposite of the asexual nerd stereotype. Buff Asian male hottie, in other words. The whole show was cheesy as hell and totally disgusting, but it was still interesting to watch in the guilty pleasure kind of way (For one thing, I’m shocked how the Asian parents were completely accepting of the idea that their daughter has had sex in public(!)).
PS. I swear I don’t watch MTV that often and was just supremely bored that evening.
Posted on 26-Feb-08 at 5:08 pm | Permalink
jay wrote:
i agree with david. why is it that asians and asian-americans are always portrayed as these asexual types. i’m glad he is on the show although i’m confused as to what his role will be in a show that is suppossed to be pairing off straight geeks with straight beauties. i think the blow will be if he is the only asian in the show. then another blow will be that they put a beautiful asian women as one of the beauties and all the geeks will be white nerdy guys and it turns out that this gaysian’s presence is meant to be a balanced portrayal. man, that would be wrong. the final blow might be that the gay asian male somehow is involved in pairing off the beautiful asian female with a white nerdy male. you might as well show a white guy cutting an asian guy’s p***s off live on television! i feel that this is more the product of the people (white) who are behind the media. i’ve travelled to japan, singapore, and hong kong, and man there are some really hot asian guys that both women and men of any ethnicity would find hot. i’m still waiting for an asian male hottie to be featured in an A&F catalog! (i know i’m aiming low with media representation, but you got to start somewhere!)
Posted on 01-Mar-08 at 2:35 pm | Permalink