The day has finally arrived! M. Night Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender finally hits theaters this weekend and last night, the press was treated to a screening for the first reviews. I’m wondering now if Paramount is regretting this decision since almost immediately after the film, critics were quick to tear the live-action adaptation apart, thanks to Twitter! Rotten Tomatoes lists The Last Airbender with a 6% rating (ouch), The A.V. Club warranted it as a reason for a class-action lawsuit against Hollywood (oof) and Phil from Angry Asian Man said the film could boycott itself (oh snap).
Even esteemed reviewer Roger Ebert, who was one of the first people to openly criticize Shyamalan’s casting choices, wrote the most cutting critique of all.
“The Last Airbender” is an agonizing experience in every category I can think of and others still waiting to be invented. The laws of chance suggest that something should have gone right. Not here. It puts a nail in the coffin of low-rent 3D, but it will need a lot more coffins than that…
Oooooooh, no you didn’t, Roger! Oh, yes he did. Apparently, critics agree that not only were the 3D effects atrocious, but the actors were equally as bad.
Shyamalan has failed. His first inexplicable mistake was to change the races of the leading characters; on television Aang was clearly Asian, and so were Katara and Sokka, with perhaps Mongolian and Inuit genes. Here they’re all whites. This casting makes no sense because (1) It’s a distraction for fans of the hugely popular TV series, and (2) all three actors are pretty bad. I don’t say they’re untalented, I say they’ve been poorly served by Shyamalan and the script. They are bland, stiff, awkward and unconvincing.
Friends of mine who had seen the film last night had the same opinion: the acting was horrible, the 3D was worthless and the storyline was too complicated. Action sequences looked more like Tai Chi routines and the white-washed casting was even more noticeable among the Asian extras. Personally, I’m relieved that the early reviews are bashing Shyamalan’s latest work. He failed the fans before The Last Airbender began production and he failed even the most seasoned moviegoer with the final product. In a way, I’m also relieved that the main characters were cast by non-Asians (aside from Dev Patel). The bad reviews will further distance the API community in Hollywood from such a dismal project and we can now focus on better opportunities. (Though, I will admit that a little part of me is sad that the movie is already being panned by critics. The series had such a strong following, and I can imagine how crushing it must feel to see the live-action adaptation fall so short of expectations.)
The bigger question remains: how will the mainstream public treat the film? Critics may groan all they want over bad Hollywood movies, but Americans still pay good money to see horrible movies (i.e. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and Avatar). Fans who don’t care about the racist casting will still check the movie out, and children will always be drawn to big budget fantasy films chock full of special effects. Will Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender still be a box office hit? With The Twilight Saga: Eclipse also opening in theaters this weekend, my fingers are crossed that this film will disappear like Lady in the Water and The Happening.
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I was channel surfing the other night when I came across a Chinese version of this McDonald’s commercial on the Bay Area’s local Chinese channel KTSF. I had wondered why a Korean American would be in a Chinese language commercial, but much to my delight, I was able to find the commercial in English. At first, I wasn’t too sure who that cute Chinese girl was (I just assumed she was Chinese since the commercial was in Chinese until I saw Michelle’s name). I’m surprised I haven’t seen or heard of this commercial yet. I hope to bump into Michelle at a local McDonald’s near Stanford University one of these days!
Shopping With GASP!
In yet another example of inadvertently promoting stereotypes, six junior high math geniuses — most of whom happen to be Asian American — visited Obama in the White House to talk about math education. Apparently, the bulk of the visit was spent on finding the foci of the White House, thrilling Obama and annoying his aides. For all you people who’ve forgotten your algebra/calculus, the foci are what define a shape called an ellipse.
Personally, I’d love a chance to find Obama’s foci myself. I’m just sayin’.
(Flickr photo credit: The White House)
In 2009, Sam Yoon made a historic run to be mayor of Boston. Unfortunately, Yoon fell short in the Democratic primary and the incumbent mayor of 16 years, Tom Menino, easily defeated the other Democratic challenger in a run-off election. Menino went on to get re-elected, establishing himself to be the longest serving mayor of Boston, even though originally pledged to be a two-term, eight year mayor.
After challenging the establishment in Boston, Yoon has been seen as untouchable, having a challenging time finding a new job in the Boston area and has made the hard choice of leaving the Boston area:
“I got signals, mixed signals,’’ Yoon said, referring to his Boston job search. “To the extent that I was looking for a leadership position in the city, there were signals sent my way. It was subtle, but clear, that the fact I had run on a reform platform left some employers not willing to take a chance on me. . . . I knew there were risks involved for me in running against a 16-year incumbent, but I didn’t know the degree that it would pervade the important institutions … He declined to talk about where he applied or which potential employers feared he might be a risky hire.”
Yoon recently accepted a job in the D.C. area as the executive director of the National Alliance of Community Economic Development Associations. I guess Yoon’s wife will be happy since her parents live nearby, but it’s sad that Yoon’s promising political future has been temporarily set back. He’s seems pretty dejected and demoralized from being unemployed. Some note that had Yoon been more patience and waited, Yoon could have made further inroads within the Boston political establishment. While that may be true, we’ll never know and Yoon saw an opportunity, took a risk and tried his best.
http://vimeo.com/11501569
This video that spoofs Christian worship services has been popping up back on various Christian blogs, Facebook and Twitter, and cracks me up. Depending on where one is on the “contemporary-traditional” worship service spectrum, it may or may not be funny to you. I passed it on, of course, and got various reactions – some that surprised me because those who actually do like this kind of expression of Christianity laughed at it as much as those who think this is what gives Christianity its unappealing reputation. I heard from a couple of people who were mildly offended by it: I do cringe a little at the reality of it in many places.
Why post this on 8Asians? I especially enjoy the APA guy that showed up a little less than a minute into the trailer as a representative of one of the “leaders” or ministry staff. From what I remember in my time in various more Evangelical Christian circles, it’s pretty spot-on in terms of the cool-hipster APA that had an “in” with the white, male Christian leaders because he was funny or different. Still, I would take this guy over Joseph Prince any Sunday. I think.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B74s4MgQ1rw
I am amazed at how people could even attempt to make the sounds they do through beatboxing. But just as Asians have started to dominate the bboy scene, it seems that they are starting to go crazy also with beatboxing. Daichi and Hikakin are the two most well known beatboxers from Japan, and both have done several television appearances.
Hikakin was the first one that my wife found out about when she was searching about Nintendo music and ran across his Super Mario beatbox. What’s really crazy is that most DJs use records and equipment to all the mixing and scratching, but these guys can do it straight from their throats with absolutely impressive beats.
Over a week ago, I had a chance to briefly meet Jennifer Pae, a candidate for Oakland City Council at the annual Emerge California fundraising event. If you haven’t heard of Emerge California, it’s “part of a national movement to address the under-representation of women in elected office at the local, state, and federal level.” Apparently, the US. ranks 84th (!) in the world in terms of women being represented in elected office, behind Mexico, China and Pakistan, a country who had a female Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto. Given the fact that women are the majority on college campuses, law school and medical school, they only make up 17% of the U.S. Congress.
Jennifer took Emerge California’s seven-month training program with classes that teaches skills like Public Speaking and Communication, Fundraising, Media and Messaging, and more. It’s exciting to see more and more Asian Americans, especially women like Jennifer and Jane Kim, running for public office! If you live in Oakland, please consider voting for Jennifer in November!
I don’t easily get offended; sure, there’s a lot of stuff for APAs to get riled up for this summer, but I always pride my self for being a good sport, finding humor in poor stereotypes, and understanding how a Hollywood casting process works. So, I usually give columnists the benefit of the doubt when reading opinion pieces, until one of my fellow 8 Asians pointed out Joel Stein’s TIME column, My Own Private India.
I was shocked, I was angered, I tried to find the real purpose of this “piece,” but then I was just plain offended.
Here are excerpts of Mr. Stein’s eloquently written reflection of his hometown, after being invaded by “dot heads:”
“For a while, we assumed all Indians were geniuses. Then, in the 1980s, the doctors and engineers brought over their merchant cousins, and we were no longer so sure about the genius thing. In the 1990s, the not-as-brilliant merchants brought their even-less-bright cousins, and we started to understand why India is so damn poor.”
“Eventually, there were enough Indians in Edison to change the culture. At which point my townsfolk started calling the new Edisonians “dot heads.” … In retrospect, I question just how good our schools were if “dot heads” was the best racist insult we could come up with for a group of people whose gods have multiple arms and an elephant nose.”
First of all, that’s “Gods,” not “gods.”
Second of all, this is the highest degree of editorial recklessness. Sure, I believe in the freedom of speech as strong as the next Berkeley-born-vegan-liberal-hippie –all of which I am, proudly — but this kind of tone and language is not acceptable just because you are a ‘journalist’ for TIME Magazine, and are reflecting on how your town has changed, for the better or the worse.
What if Mr. Stein took the word “Indian” and replaced it with “Mexican?” Would he be as brave to make such bold statements as, “we started to realize why Mexico is so damn poor?”
Obviously many people are not happy with this ‘article’ either: Google Joel Stein, and this shows up in his Wikipedia:
Joel’s latest Tweet reads: “Didn’t meant to insult Indians with my column this week. Also stupidly assumed their emails would follow that Gandhi non-violence thing.”
Doesn’t really sound like an apology.
So what’s the moral of the story? THINK BEFORE YOU WRITE. Asian Americans, as polite and quiet as some may think we are, also have feelings — and we also have a voice. And Joel Stein’s attempts be funny ends up looking like a major league jackass.
Toy Story 3 was released this month to success, but a previous Toy Story 3 plot developed by Circle 7 — Disney’s now-scrapped in-house animation studio — would have had the toys saving a recalled, broken Buzz Lightyear from Taiwan. Sounds terrible and offensive!
An 8Asians reader, Amanda, pointed this Swiffer Sweeper commercial out. I’ve seen some ads from this “Baby Come Back” campaign, but have not come across this particular one with the Asian American woman in a new “Who’s that Lady” campaign. Apparently this commercial is running on every major network, during Oprah, on the E! Channel, and more. I don’t know about you, but I think it’s fairly common for Asian Americans not to wear shoes indoors. I wonder if the last part of the commercial showing the woman walking across the bare wooden floor is a subtle appeal towards Asian Americans? (I actually think this is kind of cool.)
The Asian American Theater Company (AATC) completes its 2010 Season with the world premiere of Beijing, California, a new play by Paul Heller, based on a story developed with and directed by Duy Nguyen.
Beijing, California opens July 1, 2010, and runs for three weeks, through July 17, 2010, at the Thick House, 1695 18th Street, San Francisco.
About the Play
Beijing, California is an unflinching study of one nation’s invasion by another–but this time, the victim is not Iraq or Afghanistan; rather, it is America, and the invader is China. As playwright Paul Heller noted in his January 29, 2009 interview with the San Francisco Chronicle’s 96 Hours, “I hope the audience members will look at their own values and their perceptions of other countries–and how those might change if we were the ones being invaded. What I think we’ll see is that Americans would act like everybody else in the world if they became citizens of a Third World country.”
The play’s futurist scenario takes place in 2050, when Katrina-like disasters and a series of financial meltdowns lead to America’s collapse. The audience follows a series of characters and stories in the Bay Area over a span of 50 years, and discovers what happens to American values in the aftermath of foreign occupation.
Beijing, California contains three interwoven plots, each exploring a different aspect of the Chinese invasion. In one storyline, we follow the presidents of the U.S. and China as their deep, long-term friendship is shattered by China’s ascendance and America’s deterioration. In another storyline, we examine a family amidst America’s economic wreckage. Living on a Third World income, they are forced into a shocking business decision. The final storyline focuses on a Chinese American translator who must navigate a San Francisco segregated into Baghdad-like militarized zones, as she attempts to expose a terrible crime.
Last week, The New York Times did an interesting piece on the potential next mayor of San Francisco. The current mayor, Gavin Newsom, is termed out from running for re-election in 2012 and is running for California lieutenant governor. Should Newsom win, the selection of an interim mayor would be decided by the Board of Supervisors in January 2011. One of the front runners would be current Board President and District 3 supervisor, David Chiu:
“Mr. Chiu, 40, would be San Francisco’s first Chinese-American mayor. He was elected board president on his first day in office in 2008 thanks largely to Mr. Peskin, his predecessor as president… Mr. Chiu is popular and smart, with a firm grasp of policy issues and a centrist’s disposition; Mr. Peskin has been known to refer to him jokingly as “the Chinese Obama,” aides say. Mr. Chiu is often willing to break with his progressive allies and seek compromises with moderate colleagues.”
Not only would Chiu be San Francisco’s first Chinese-American mayor, but the first Asian American mayor of a major U.S. city within the continental United States. (I’ve made it no secret that I have been a fan of David’s, and have volunteered and contributed to his campaign back in 2008.)
Historically, this would be HUGE and fitting; San Francisco has the highest percentage of Asian American residents of any major city within the continental United States at over 30%. This would thrust Chiu potentially into the national limelight, with such issues such as immigration and same-sex marriage being debated not only within California, but nationally. I’ll be voting for Gavin Newsom in November, and if he wins, as a result I might be potentially helping to make history by having David Chiu become mayor of San Francisco.
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