If you haven't realized by now that I'm not Caucasian, then look at the nice pictures to the left - I am the non-blonde one. But I rarely define myself, or even relate myself, as the 'Asian' or 'Chinese' that I look like - I identify more with Caucasians - after all, I grew up with a majority of them and that's also the majority of my 'crew.'
I am an American, however. I was born and bred in New Jersey. While growing up in New Jersey, I played the piano (very Chinese), played tennis (very Chinese), went to Chinese School (that my Dad helped establish) to learn the language, and I was an active participant in my youth group for church (a Chinese church). My parents brought us to Chinatown and we celebrated Chinese New Year when I was small - I only continued the tradition when I was older to get my red envelope of MULA! That might seem like a lot of Chinese stuff growing up but compared to growing up in an actual Chinese community, I don't think it is. I'll admit that my 'crew' in junior high and high school consisted of a lot of Chinese people but that quickly changed when I went to college.
College made me become a little more white-washed. I chose to attend college at Purdue University, in Indiana. NOT a lot of ABCs (American Born Chinese) there. I only dated Caucasians (kinda hard not to when you're in Indiana) and I ended up marrying a white dude that is known as 'Pale Force.' The four years that I spent in Indiana certainly stretched me further away from my Chinese heritage - probably because I didn't have many people to share it with during college. I couldn't quite relate to the Chinese students on campus because more often than not, they were what we ABCs like to call, 'FOBs' (Fresh off the Boat).
After leaving Indiana, I promptly returned to New Jersey, worked a little bit in NYC before settling down with a job in the Jersey 'burbs...in IT (How CHINESE!). I worked with a good mix of Chinese, Koreans and Indians. And you know what - I was the only American-born one in the group. So that made me feel like an outcast among them. When we moved down to Virginia, my husband and I started hanging out with a bunch of Purdue alums - rarely was there another Asian in the group. For my softball jersey, I almost went by the nickname 'Token.' But then another Asian guy started hanging with the group and I felt like the nickname couldn't be carried out - it wouldn't make sense.
I often find that when I'm hanging out with my friends now, I rarely know that there's a difference between us - that I have immigrant parents or that I know another language because I grew up speaking it. Of course I use the Chinese to my advantage when ordering food or listening to other people's conversations -but really, there are no other opportunities to set me apart from everyone else (not that I'm looking). But the good thing about it all is I'm comfortable in my own skin. So comfortable that when someone makes a stereotypical remark about Asians or Chinese, I usually laugh it off because I don't think of myself in that way.
The same goes for another one of my girlfriends - we'll call her K. She grew up in Atlanta and she's Afro-American. But she doesn't think of herself as a black girl - she hangs with all of us and she's into nerdy white guys. On the surface, we're definitely the two minority girls in the group - the Chinese and the Black girl - but if you knew our group, you'd know there's no difference.
We're the whitest non-white people you'll ever meet!
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Monday, July 28, 2008
Mis-Animation
My husband and I were watching "Mad Men," last night (excellent, in case you haven't jumped on that bandwagon), and I started thinking about the business of advertising. I understand from post-9-11, that when times are rough in business, the marketing budget is among the first to be hit. To me, this is a shame. I am not embarrassed to admit that marketing has a lot to do with the purchasing decisions I make. If the packaging is good, or the commercial makes me laugh, I'm more likely to buy the product - plain and simple. But sometimes, I really wonder what those people in advertising are smoking and how their proposals even make it past the boardroom.
The most glaring of these, to me, is the overuse of animation in advertising. And by animation, I mean the kind that personifies an inanimate object. Remember the smashing success of the California Raisins? Well, so do I. But that was over 20 years ago, folks!!! Come up with a new concept. Have we learned nothing in the last two decades?
Last night, I was forced to watch this commercial for Compound-W (I assume it was Compound-W - maybe it wasn't - either way, I didn't care because the commercial sucked). The geniuses at the advertising firm gave life to a wart on someone's finger. And the wart was talking smack or something and then got covered with some kind of liquid, turned white, and apparently died. Gross! This does not inspire me to buy your stupid product. I'd rather pay the extra money to have a doctor remove the wart for me.
This brought to mind two other commercials with animation that I cannot stand (again, please excuse me for not remembering the name of the product, which proves to me that even though your commercial was notoriously memorable, it's still not enough to earn brand recognition). The first of these is that awful commercial with the fungus that lives under the bed of your toenails. That commercial was so unbelievably disturbing that I would interrupt whatever I was doing and leap across the room to change the channel. I do not want to see anyone, even a cartoon, lift up a toenail.
The second was some commercial for diapers (Luvs? Huggies? Again, not sure). These advertisers had the balls to animate a DIAPER! The diaper was turned in profile and had eyes above the hole where the baby/toddler's leg would go, which was apparently the mouth of this character. Are you serious? Do you even realize what diapers are for? And what goes into them? That is beyond disgusting. And unless I have stepped into an Austin Powers movie or something, that is animation gone way too far.
Thinking of these dumb commercials makes me at least appreciate the Geico cavemen a little more. Sure, they blew it with that lame attempt at a sitcom. But it was original. I have to give them that.
The most glaring of these, to me, is the overuse of animation in advertising. And by animation, I mean the kind that personifies an inanimate object. Remember the smashing success of the California Raisins? Well, so do I. But that was over 20 years ago, folks!!! Come up with a new concept. Have we learned nothing in the last two decades?
Last night, I was forced to watch this commercial for Compound-W (I assume it was Compound-W - maybe it wasn't - either way, I didn't care because the commercial sucked). The geniuses at the advertising firm gave life to a wart on someone's finger. And the wart was talking smack or something and then got covered with some kind of liquid, turned white, and apparently died. Gross! This does not inspire me to buy your stupid product. I'd rather pay the extra money to have a doctor remove the wart for me.
This brought to mind two other commercials with animation that I cannot stand (again, please excuse me for not remembering the name of the product, which proves to me that even though your commercial was notoriously memorable, it's still not enough to earn brand recognition). The first of these is that awful commercial with the fungus that lives under the bed of your toenails. That commercial was so unbelievably disturbing that I would interrupt whatever I was doing and leap across the room to change the channel. I do not want to see anyone, even a cartoon, lift up a toenail.
The second was some commercial for diapers (Luvs? Huggies? Again, not sure). These advertisers had the balls to animate a DIAPER! The diaper was turned in profile and had eyes above the hole where the baby/toddler's leg would go, which was apparently the mouth of this character. Are you serious? Do you even realize what diapers are for? And what goes into them? That is beyond disgusting. And unless I have stepped into an Austin Powers movie or something, that is animation gone way too far.
Thinking of these dumb commercials makes me at least appreciate the Geico cavemen a little more. Sure, they blew it with that lame attempt at a sitcom. But it was original. I have to give them that.
A Hairy Situation
After some very busy weekends and even busier work weeks, I finally found the time to relax and go to the mall to shop for friends and even myself. In the past few weeks, I really wanted to get a long sun dress but wasn't having any luck on the internet. Plus it's one of those things that I'd like to try on in person to see if it accentuates my body or unflatters it.
I found myself wandering into LVL X. It is a chain off of another chain - their clothes are not of the "best" quality but their prices are reasonable (not as great as Forever 21, but then again, their quality is even lower) and they have dresses and tops that you would probably find on ladies out for a good time. I looked at all the short dresses around the perimeter of the store - the nice thing is that everything is color coordinated, so all the gray outfits are all together, all the gold ones are all together, etc. I found one really cute pale yellow dress and a blue, long sun dress before I hit the dressing room.
While I was in the dressing room, I was quietly trying on my outfits, falling in love with my pale yellow dress and overhearing the conversation next door. There were a few ladies next door trying on dresses as well and all I remember hearing was one of them saying, '..but I don't want it to make me look like I'm pregnant.' A few thoughts ran through my head (because I hadn't seen what they looked like)....
1) If you're pregnant, there's really no way to avoid looking pregnant.
2) If you're not pregnant, but you've got the belly, maybe skin tight (because LVL X lacks for flowy dresses) is not the way to go.
3) And finally if the dress is the type of cut that is supposed to look flowy but instead makes you look pregnant (cause I've been there before), then maybe it's not the dress for you.
After I was done trying on my stuff and settled on purchasing the pale yellow dress and the long, blue sun dress, I went to the cash wrap and patiently waited behind the girl that was trying on dresses next door. She had three friends with her. They were four, rather large, girls and the dress that the one ultimately picked out was nice, but as I said, pretty skin tight. She was making her purchase when the cashier pointed out that when she took off the security tag, it left a very small hole in the back, by the zipper. As they were discussing this, I looked over at her friends, because it was taking way longer than it should have. This is when I noticed the one of her friends didn't shave her legs. And I don't mean didn't shave for days - I mean didn't shave for life. I thought my gag reflexes were going to ignite right there. While I was waiting, I also happened to look over at the far end of the store where there were two Asian ladies - one of them playing with her hair, trying to pull it up into a ponytail. It had to be right when I looked over there that she was pulling her hair back and I saw that her arm pits weren't shaved well....and this is from quite a distance, so you can imagine.
After experiencing all that, I started wondering if I missed something...like did people decide to burn their razors? Was July a 'no shave' month? And the girl that had the hairy legs - she had a perfect pedicure - so imagine the work and stares that her pedicurist goes through!
But that wasn't the best part of it all - you're probably wondering how can you top hairy legs and hairy pits? I'll tell you how...stupidity.
As it turns out the cashier was going to give the buyer 10% off for the minor hole. But the problem was she already charged her card for the full amount. And so that would involve a charge back and then a re-do and you know how it goes. And I just kind of stared like, 'you're kidding me, right?' The cashier saw my look of annoyance and said she would ring me up first and get right to the return but the girl didn't want to wait so she's like 'what's the difference? how much is that?' So you have FIVE adults (not including me - I didn't want to join in all the math fun) available to help you figure out what the discounted difference is. I heard one of her friends say, 'how much is 10% of $108?' Another girl replied, 'It's about $7.' And the four others just gave up the calculations and agreed.
I was appalled - secretly snickering inside: 'How dumb can you be?' So the cashier ended up giving her some foot pads (for the insides of your shoes and the balls of your feet) worth $6.99 so she didn't have to wait. A-ma-zing.
I found myself wandering into LVL X. It is a chain off of another chain - their clothes are not of the "best" quality but their prices are reasonable (not as great as Forever 21, but then again, their quality is even lower) and they have dresses and tops that you would probably find on ladies out for a good time. I looked at all the short dresses around the perimeter of the store - the nice thing is that everything is color coordinated, so all the gray outfits are all together, all the gold ones are all together, etc. I found one really cute pale yellow dress and a blue, long sun dress before I hit the dressing room.
While I was in the dressing room, I was quietly trying on my outfits, falling in love with my pale yellow dress and overhearing the conversation next door. There were a few ladies next door trying on dresses as well and all I remember hearing was one of them saying, '..but I don't want it to make me look like I'm pregnant.' A few thoughts ran through my head (because I hadn't seen what they looked like)....
1) If you're pregnant, there's really no way to avoid looking pregnant.
2) If you're not pregnant, but you've got the belly, maybe skin tight (because LVL X lacks for flowy dresses) is not the way to go.
3) And finally if the dress is the type of cut that is supposed to look flowy but instead makes you look pregnant (cause I've been there before), then maybe it's not the dress for you.
After I was done trying on my stuff and settled on purchasing the pale yellow dress and the long, blue sun dress, I went to the cash wrap and patiently waited behind the girl that was trying on dresses next door. She had three friends with her. They were four, rather large, girls and the dress that the one ultimately picked out was nice, but as I said, pretty skin tight. She was making her purchase when the cashier pointed out that when she took off the security tag, it left a very small hole in the back, by the zipper. As they were discussing this, I looked over at her friends, because it was taking way longer than it should have. This is when I noticed the one of her friends didn't shave her legs. And I don't mean didn't shave for days - I mean didn't shave for life. I thought my gag reflexes were going to ignite right there. While I was waiting, I also happened to look over at the far end of the store where there were two Asian ladies - one of them playing with her hair, trying to pull it up into a ponytail. It had to be right when I looked over there that she was pulling her hair back and I saw that her arm pits weren't shaved well....and this is from quite a distance, so you can imagine.
After experiencing all that, I started wondering if I missed something...like did people decide to burn their razors? Was July a 'no shave' month? And the girl that had the hairy legs - she had a perfect pedicure - so imagine the work and stares that her pedicurist goes through!
But that wasn't the best part of it all - you're probably wondering how can you top hairy legs and hairy pits? I'll tell you how...stupidity.
As it turns out the cashier was going to give the buyer 10% off for the minor hole. But the problem was she already charged her card for the full amount. And so that would involve a charge back and then a re-do and you know how it goes. And I just kind of stared like, 'you're kidding me, right?' The cashier saw my look of annoyance and said she would ring me up first and get right to the return but the girl didn't want to wait so she's like 'what's the difference? how much is that?' So you have FIVE adults (not including me - I didn't want to join in all the math fun) available to help you figure out what the discounted difference is. I heard one of her friends say, 'how much is 10% of $108?' Another girl replied, 'It's about $7.' And the four others just gave up the calculations and agreed.
I was appalled - secretly snickering inside: 'How dumb can you be?' So the cashier ended up giving her some foot pads (for the insides of your shoes and the balls of your feet) worth $6.99 so she didn't have to wait. A-ma-zing.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
I Remember...Only To Forget
Have you ever had to remember to do something and in order to remember you keep telling yourself in your head, 'Don't forget...', 'Don't forget...' only to forget in the end?
That happens to me more often than I care to admit.
I think my worst incidents have involved medication. I have to take a pill twice daily - once in the morning, once in the evening. The evening part isn't hard to forget because I put it right on my bedside table and take it right before I go to bed. It's in front of my face so I remember to do it. The morning doses are harder because I don't necessarily want to take it right when I wake up - morning breath and all.... So while I get ready, I'm constantly trying to remind myself to take the pill. Before you know it, I'm in the car, driving to work. Thankfully this morning, I was only down the block so I could turn around and have my husband meet me at the door with water and my pill.
It's also happened with a camera. If I'm going somewhere (like an event) and think a few days before that having pictures to remember it all would be nice, I'll try to keep a mental not to remember the camera. Fast forward to day of event, and that thought is lost to the recesses of my mind. It's only in hindsight that I scold myself for forgetting to bring the camera.
This is probably why I keep so many pads of paper and post-it notes at my desk - so I can always make notes so I don't forget. In fact, every time I manage to make a note to myself, chances are I don't forget. I should probably employ the same tactics at home...but call me lazy, I don't.
Sometimes I wonder if I should just tape a pill to my forehead before I go to sleep so I don't forget in the morning - that would certainly prevent me from forgetting!
That happens to me more often than I care to admit.
I think my worst incidents have involved medication. I have to take a pill twice daily - once in the morning, once in the evening. The evening part isn't hard to forget because I put it right on my bedside table and take it right before I go to bed. It's in front of my face so I remember to do it. The morning doses are harder because I don't necessarily want to take it right when I wake up - morning breath and all.... So while I get ready, I'm constantly trying to remind myself to take the pill. Before you know it, I'm in the car, driving to work. Thankfully this morning, I was only down the block so I could turn around and have my husband meet me at the door with water and my pill.
It's also happened with a camera. If I'm going somewhere (like an event) and think a few days before that having pictures to remember it all would be nice, I'll try to keep a mental not to remember the camera. Fast forward to day of event, and that thought is lost to the recesses of my mind. It's only in hindsight that I scold myself for forgetting to bring the camera.
This is probably why I keep so many pads of paper and post-it notes at my desk - so I can always make notes so I don't forget. In fact, every time I manage to make a note to myself, chances are I don't forget. I should probably employ the same tactics at home...but call me lazy, I don't.
Sometimes I wonder if I should just tape a pill to my forehead before I go to sleep so I don't forget in the morning - that would certainly prevent me from forgetting!
Monday, July 21, 2008
Mamma Mia - oy vay!
I love ABBA - I have had a fondness for ABBA since I was little when my Dad *mistakenly* (I believe) received 10 records of the latest rage from a Columbia House type place - which included Blondie and ABBA. It was the early 80s.
Ever since then, I have enjoyed ABBA and really enjoyed the show, Mamma Mia. So imagine my excitement when I found out they were going to produce a film for Mamma Mia. The movie premiered this past weekend and I was going into it with none of the love I previously had for ABBA. Why? Because as Pierce Brosnan was making the rounds of the talk show circuit, they kept showing the same clip - it was him and Meryl Streep singing 'SOS' and when Pierce opened up his mouth to sing, 'When you're gone, how can I even try to go on...' my jaw hit the floor - it was bad.
But I still wanted to see the movie - my love for ABBA just couldn't keep me away. Needless to say, I didn't go into the movie with high hopes and as a result, that was a good thing. Oh, I still sat there singing along with the songs, like I did at the show - but I think the casting was just a little unbelievable - both age wise and singing talent wise.
Let me break it down for you:
The daughter, Sophie, is getting married and is 20 years old. Her Mother, Donna, was young and wild when she had a tryst with three men that could be her daughter's father. Because Donna was very apprehensive about Sophie getting married at 20 and didn't want her to make the same mistakes she did, you have to wonder at the very least, Donna should be 40 years old. At the oldest, Donna could also be about 45 years old. So we're looking at a Mom between the ages of 40-45. That does not fit the Meryl Streep bill (sorry!).
Christine Baranski's character was best friend to Donna, a fellow ABBA lover and supposed to be the 'Kim Catrall' of the bunch - the cougar. I like Christine Baranski - loved her in Birdcage. But a cougar? Not in my opinion. She might, or might not, have had work done and she is in phenomenal shape, but the thing is that she looks a little plastic and older than her 40s. In reality, she's 56 years old. Casting Kim Catrall might have been a little more believable.
And then we move to the singing talents. Surprisngly, Meryl Streep had a good voice for the ABBA songs. When I saw the show, I almost cried when the actress portraying Donna did her solo for 'Winner Takes It All.' It was so powerful and so moving. Regretfully, I was not moved by the movie version - but it was definitely passable.
Then we have Pierce. Pierce Brosnan is a handsome man - he's a fox! But a singer he is not. Although I didn't do much of it, a few people in the theater broke out into laughter and giggles whenever he opened his mouth to sing. When they had a close up of Pierce singing, you're just looking at him like 'C'mon - he's James Bond....he shouldn't be singing ABBA.' I commend him for trying and learning how to sing but they should've found an equally handsome actor, slightly younger in age, with a good voice (Gerard Butler, perhaps?).
All in all, I wasn't completely disappointed because it is a feel-good movie. You just can't listen to ABBA without tapping your feet and singing along (like me). But because it was fronted by Rita Wilson and Tom Hanks, it almost became a 'Whose Who' of their friends they could stick in this movie rather than a more age and talent appropriate casting.
I recommend sticking with the show - it was much more enjoyable and they ENCOURAGE singing along!
Ever since then, I have enjoyed ABBA and really enjoyed the show, Mamma Mia. So imagine my excitement when I found out they were going to produce a film for Mamma Mia. The movie premiered this past weekend and I was going into it with none of the love I previously had for ABBA. Why? Because as Pierce Brosnan was making the rounds of the talk show circuit, they kept showing the same clip - it was him and Meryl Streep singing 'SOS' and when Pierce opened up his mouth to sing, 'When you're gone, how can I even try to go on...' my jaw hit the floor - it was bad.
But I still wanted to see the movie - my love for ABBA just couldn't keep me away. Needless to say, I didn't go into the movie with high hopes and as a result, that was a good thing. Oh, I still sat there singing along with the songs, like I did at the show - but I think the casting was just a little unbelievable - both age wise and singing talent wise.
Let me break it down for you:
The daughter, Sophie, is getting married and is 20 years old. Her Mother, Donna, was young and wild when she had a tryst with three men that could be her daughter's father. Because Donna was very apprehensive about Sophie getting married at 20 and didn't want her to make the same mistakes she did, you have to wonder at the very least, Donna should be 40 years old. At the oldest, Donna could also be about 45 years old. So we're looking at a Mom between the ages of 40-45. That does not fit the Meryl Streep bill (sorry!).
Christine Baranski's character was best friend to Donna, a fellow ABBA lover and supposed to be the 'Kim Catrall' of the bunch - the cougar. I like Christine Baranski - loved her in Birdcage. But a cougar? Not in my opinion. She might, or might not, have had work done and she is in phenomenal shape, but the thing is that she looks a little plastic and older than her 40s. In reality, she's 56 years old. Casting Kim Catrall might have been a little more believable.
And then we move to the singing talents. Surprisngly, Meryl Streep had a good voice for the ABBA songs. When I saw the show, I almost cried when the actress portraying Donna did her solo for 'Winner Takes It All.' It was so powerful and so moving. Regretfully, I was not moved by the movie version - but it was definitely passable.
Then we have Pierce. Pierce Brosnan is a handsome man - he's a fox! But a singer he is not. Although I didn't do much of it, a few people in the theater broke out into laughter and giggles whenever he opened his mouth to sing. When they had a close up of Pierce singing, you're just looking at him like 'C'mon - he's James Bond....he shouldn't be singing ABBA.' I commend him for trying and learning how to sing but they should've found an equally handsome actor, slightly younger in age, with a good voice (Gerard Butler, perhaps?).
All in all, I wasn't completely disappointed because it is a feel-good movie. You just can't listen to ABBA without tapping your feet and singing along (like me). But because it was fronted by Rita Wilson and Tom Hanks, it almost became a 'Whose Who' of their friends they could stick in this movie rather than a more age and talent appropriate casting.
I recommend sticking with the show - it was much more enjoyable and they ENCOURAGE singing along!
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