Erica is a Chinese American adoptee that is convinced her Caucasian fiancee Charlie has racial issues. Her solution? Have her closeted brother and best friend hire actors to play stereotypes that will flush out Charlie's bigotry. A new comedic farce about race, love and family by South Pasadena High School Alumni Peter J. Kuo!
Featuring
Jared Asato, Ben Banner, Francois Chau, Susan Callahan,
Carin Chea, Julia Cho, Emily Kuroda, and Jimmy Matsuki
In a recent KeepOrJot video I wanted to support a friend's show called 'Wrinkles' which is about an 73-year old porn star. To promote it I did a mock-interview with one the actress of the show who portrays a 19-year old porn star. I thought it came out pretty well. This is the video:
One of the comments left on the video recently was a bit unexpected. The person dived into ideas of stereotype and frankly called my friend Elizabeth Ho a whore...well not directly but I took offense for her. This person's comment is below:
"I pity this woman, she has done everything to support derorgatory stereotypes for her race. Sure you can say it's all a bit of fun and is a dig at other races for being so ignorant, but ultimately they will play on the stereotype and use her as an example as a willing asian whore. Most unfortunate, the asian peoples have a lot more to offer than just blowjobs, takeways and servitude."
Now generally I try to ignore or I'll leave a witty response when someone doesn't like a video, but this person kind of struck a nerve. I think I get the most passionate/defensive when certain issues come up, specifically race and sexuality.
This was my response to the person:
"Hi there. I'm rather thrown off by your comment for several reasons. First, I don’t get where you see she has done “everything” to support Asian derogatory stereotypes. Are you talking about the part where she boldly states she’s a legitimate actress who has been on several TV shows or is being featured in a professional theatrical show that this video is a promotion for? Or maybe the part where she is being objectified by the interviewer (me) and independently takes a stand and walks away from the situation? Frankly I don’t see her perpetuating any derogatory stereotypes in this video like excelling at math, driving poorly, speaking with an accent, using kung-fu or eating a dog (I use them as examples not because I believe they’re true, but because I agree, those are derogatory stereotypes).
What I do see is a legit actress who is proud to be in a professional show called ‘Wrinkles,’ which is based off of a true story about a 73-year old male porn star. And that I believe breaks several stereotypes, one being that elder people can’t still be sexually active or seen as sexually attractive, and another that Asians are demure and model citizens, when we can actually be just as rambunctious as any other race. The theatrical play itself is quite tame and has no obscenities or foul language, and is created to be quite accessible for family friendly fun. In fact the company producing the play has fought to raise the visibility of Asian Americans across the nation by breaking the model minority stereotype.
Being that you write so passionately against perpetuating stereotypes, I imagine you must be aware enough to realize that in general people get turned off by change or are afraid of something different. The purpose of this video and the other promo videos is to appeal to certain pre-conceptions people have of Asians. If you actually watch the show ‘Wrinkles,’ there are strong themes and lessons that audience walk away from, including an understanding that elders are like everyone else and should be treated such, and respecting people instead of objectifying them. Sure, she is portraying a porn star in the show, but there are Asian porn stars. And in the end of the show you’re taught to respect her and not objectify her.
Maybe it’s a stereotype but do they exist. Should we hide them or try to deny their existence? While we’re at it why don’t we erase the shameful use of the ‘n’ word in ‘The Adventures of Huck Finn’ and try to remove racism from history? Finally I’d like close by saying that you’re use of the words ‘whore’ and ‘blowjobs’ can be taken as a bit excessive and unnecessary. Hope this puts this video into a better context for you. P.S. I’m pretty sure she doesn’t need your pity. I think it might be a derogatory stereotype that Asians want to be pitied.
Thanks!"
I like to believe in these situations I make fair and sound arguments, but I'd like to know what you think. Was I too harsh? By utilizing a stereotype in hopes to eventually break it, is that still just perpetuating it? Let me know.
Oh and if you're in Downtown Los Angeles and want to check out Wrinkles at East West Players you can find info about the show and tickets here: http://bit.ly/fDzlIp
So, I just felt I needed to put out in the world a basic rule that applies to Twitter.
We all know the @reply. We mostly use it when we're replying to someone about something.
PersonA: I just ate a Mango and it was freaking delicious! I could eat it all day!!!
PersonB: @PersonA I love mangoes...but you shouldn't capitalize it because it is not a proper noun unless it's the name of a person.
PersonA: @PersonB Maybe it is. *wink*
Note: When you @reply someone at the very beginning of your tweet, like the above example, the only people who will see it in their twitter live stream (aka timeline) are people who are following both PersonA and PersonB (you and the other person) or if someone searches that specific @reply. (If PersonA or PersonB does not follow the other, they won't even see it in their twitter stream. They will only see it when they check their @replies)
Other times we use the @reply to mention someone so everyone who follows us will see it and it will appear in the @reply feed of the person being mentioned.
PersonB: I'd like everyone to know that I stopped following @PersonA because they are a perv.
PersonA: I'd like everyone to know that I couldn't care less who @PersonB follows on twitter. @PersonB can kiss my ass!
When you tweet something like this, everyone who follows you will see the tweet!
Now sometimes we want to start a tweet by referencing a person, but we want everyone to see it.
PersonB: @PersonA is one of the most despicable people in the world! I HATE THEM WITH A PASSION!
!STOP! According to previous stated twitter rules. The only people who will see this tweet are people who follow both PersonA and PersonB. But what if you want all of your followers to see it, even those not following the other person?
You have to put something in front of that @reply. Try a period or a dash or something. ANYTHING!
PersonA: .@PersonB can suck my big toe because they can't even use an @reply properly. Don't like what I have to say? Tough Titties!
This will ensure that anyone following PersonA will see this tweet about PersonB, regardless if PersonA's followers follow PersonB.
Does that make sense?
To recap:
PersonA: @PersonB I'm sorry...that you were born an idiot!
^Only persons following both PersonA and PersonB will see this tweet.
PersonB: .@PersonA GO TO HELL!
^Any persons following PersonB will see this tweet.
I hope this lesson in Twitter Basics was helpful.
If you have any questions feel free to leave them below and I'll respond as soon as possible.
Fullerton College Playwrights’ Festival presents a reading of
Boise, USA by Gene Franklin Smith Directed by Peter J. Kuo Dramaturg Kimberly Colburn
Tuesday, January 11 at 7:00 p.m.
Bronwyn Dodson Theater 321 E. Chapman Avenue Fullerton, CA92832
Admission is free.
In 1955, in quiet, respectable Boise, Idaho, the shocking arrests of three men for "lewd and lascivious conduct" with teenage hustlers sets off a notorious "witch hunt" to purge the city of all suspected homosexuals. Family loyalties are divided, pitting father against son, brother against brother. The truth of what actually happened is still unspoken in Boise today.
*Contains Adult Language
Featuring David Anis, Ishnon Brown, Jessica Hanna, Brandon Kaspar, Aurelio Locsin, Fred Peters, Scott Rubinstein, David Rusiecki, Christina Treble and Crystal Woolard.
Did you know that; every day there are over 2 billion views on YouTube? Every minute more than 24 hours of video are uploaded? The number one most subscribed channel on YouTube has almost 2.5 million subscribers? More than half of YouTube viewers visit the site weekly or more often? YouTube has been listed as the #2 most used search engine (below Google above Yahoo.)? YouTube has a special program geared for non-profits?
How can non-profits, specifically theatres, utilize this website and the community in it to help their organization and gain exposure and increase the awareness and appreciation of theatre?
This past weekend I attended VidCon2010, a conference specifically geared toward youtuber users and watchers. I registered for the “Insider Track” which cost a little extra got gained you access to more business oriented panels and discussions. Most of the discussions revolved around making a career off of being on YouTube, helpful to maybe me personally but not my desire to bridge the gap between YouTube and non-profit organizations. However when the conversation shifted toward business partnerships, brand connection and copyright law I was able to bridge that gap, I’m going to share some of the things I realized and pondered about.
FIRST: If you’re a non-profit organization check out the non-profit program guidelines, apply for it. I’m not sure what the criteria are, (being on the site for a certain amount of time, a certain # of videos uploaded, a certain # of views) but it couldn’t hurt. Once you become a non-profit partner you get access to some really cool branding tools but most important you can put annotations and links in your videos that will take them off site (perhaps to a donate now, or a buy tickets page.)
The first instinct is because many of us work in theatre it’s about creating our own content, putting on the site and hosting the videos. But there is indeed a whole world and community of vloggers who are creating their own content, building their own audience, and they are all over the U.S. How can we partners with these vloggers to get exposure to their audience or to get them to help create content for our organizations? (FYI: In the YouTube non-profit program they do have a program that helps you connect with content creators to help your business get exposure on YouTube.)
Now I’m not talking about someone like Ryan Higa (The Number 1 most subscribed user on YouTube) or Dave Days (Another highly subscribed YouTubers who recently did a Pop tart related video) as these people might expect a nice hunk of $$ to do a video or review. After all, YouTube has become their jobs (some of them making six figure incomes.) But how about working with YouTube to meet some smaller vloggers who might be interested in seeing shows at your theatre company for free in exchange they record a quick review on their channel. Even if their subscriber base is small you have a review video that you can post on your own site, twitter or facebook.
Even encourage YouTube reviews from your audience, ask them to post video and then e-mail you links, create a playlist of reviews for a show and feature on your channel. By giving other video creators in the world the access to our organization gives them something to talk about. And their videos are great exposures and communication and PR tools that our organizations can use.
There are at least millions of registered YouTube users and many of them creating videos. Business and organizations need to start reaching out to them and inviting them through our doors.
This falls into that "Professional Personality" side of me...the Chinese side.
About once a month my mother, my brother and my cousin all get together to play Mahjong. It started when I was working at East West Players and produced a staged production of The Joy Luck Club.
Many people don't know or understand what Mahjong is so I thought I'd go over some basics.
To preface, there are many different types of mahjong play, different rules, points, etc come into effect depending on what style you play. My family and I generally play Cantonese style, so that's what I'll explain.
Mahjong is very similar to playing a game of Gin Rummy (or Phase 10) but instead of cards you are using tiles. There are about 5 different suits in mahjong, 3 main ones and 2 special ones.
The main suits are Circles/Bubbles: Sticks/Bamboo:
Characters/Thousands:
Think of these as the Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs & Spades. Each suit you have tiles number 1 - 9, similar to Ace - King. The difference to mahjong pieces as cards is that there are 4 of each piece. (i.e. 4 tiles that are #4 Circles or 4 tiles that are #7 Sticks).
The other two "suits" are the Direction Tiles: East, South, West, North:
and the Honor/Dragon Tiles: Center/Red Dragon:, Prosperity/Green Dragon, Empty Space/White Dragon:
There are also 4 of each of these tiles.
You are dealt 13 tiles at the beginning of your game. And throughout the game you draw tiles that are face down on the board, and discard tiles face up for everyone to see. A basic winning hand must have 14 tiles, 4 sets of 3 and a pair (or as we call them the "eyes.")
Sets of 3s are made up of either runs, or 3 of a kinds, but they must fall in the same suit. Runs are like #3 Bamboo, #4 Bamboo, #5 Bamboo. A 3 of a kind would be a 3 tiles that are all the #2 of Circles. The types of sets you collect effect your points when you win.
With the directional/wind tiles (E,S,W,N) you must get 3 of kinds, you can't technically have a "run" with those. Same with the honor/dragon tiles you can only collect those as 3 of a kind sets.
Your "eyes" or your pair can be a pair of any tiles they just must be exactly the same.
You can SEE some of these sets and a sample winning hand in the video above.
So that's a background of the pieces and how to collect "sets" to win. There actually game play is pretty intricate as well as there are customs of picking seats, bonus points based of where you're sitting and what tiles you pick up, etc. If you're interested I'll actually get more into those that.
