When we see the Ocean

Under new management

2011-07-19T20:15:00.000-07:00

Wow, its been a year since I posted here. Since then I moved cities three times, got a job and bought a house. Big plans to do something with this space soon. In the meantime check out the new site I'm starting with some friends.

humpdaymoviereview.blogspot.com

Comedian of the Week - Old Spice

2010-07-15T21:27:00.000-07:00

The people at Old Spice are amazing. Even before Axe bodyspray (ugh) they were seen as the old man smell that old men put on to hide their, well, old man smell. This all changed with a series of hilarious comercials of a man promising ridiculous things (like swandives into a hot tub and a motorcycle - you know the ad). This week, the actor from the commericals started an amazing online campaign where he made video responses to commentors on his YouTube, Twitter and Facebook page. Genius marketing which paid back in spades considering the buzz about it all week with big names like Alyssa Milano, Perez Hilton, Ellen DeGeneres, Ashton Kutcher, Demi Moore, Christina Applegate and Cliff Bleszinski joining in the fun. Even politcal pundit George Stepanopoulos gets a vid! Good times. Best of all, it ended this week, ensuring that this flash in the pan internet meme didn't outlast its welcome. Well done Old Spice.

And the bass start rumbling....

2010-06-21T20:50:00.000-07:00

I've started a new podcast site. I know that redesigning won't cure my laziness, but hopefully it will give me a good kick in the right direction.

When the Drums Kick In

To show my newfound dedication to the site, I've posted a new podcast on Hawaiian musician Izrael Kamakawiwo'ole with my mother as a guest host. Check it out!

Comedian of the Week - BPGlobalPR

2010-06-13T21:43:00.000-07:00

BPGlobalPR, the exceedingly popular fake BP Twitter feed, does several things at once. First and foremost it makes you laugh. And it does that job very well. By making lemons into lemonade (or in this case horrible environmental disaster into chuckles) it also serves as a constant critique and reminder of the crass arrogance of big corporations. So much, in fact, that BP has openly tried to distance itself from the feed, forcing them to re-write their bio to reflect that they were fake.

Some gems include:

We are not killing animals in the gulf, we are creating fossils in the gulf. Have a little perspective.

This seems like an awful lot of fuss over something that's not a celebrity sex scandal.

Sending some lawyers down to the Earth's crust to deliver a Cease and Desist. That oughtta do it.

I've gotta say, at night the gulf really doesn't look that bad.

Comedian of the Week - Black 20

2010-04-04T14:33:00.000-07:00

Black 20 is one of a bajillion studios nowadays that are trying to make it on the internet by making comedy shorts and viral videos. Since I spend my waking hours on the internet, I've stumbled across them several times. While my favorite of their videos is the Citizens of Grand Theft Auto series that they did for IGN, this video seemed fitting considering its the long weekend. Happy Easter everyone.

EDIT: They've also done a great editing job on this Jackie Chan video here. If only this actually happened in the stupid new Karate Kid remake.

2001 is stoked!

2010-03-19T05:53:00.000-07:00

"Billboard is reporting on a new initiative by Univeral Music Group to cut CD prices across their entire lineup. Starting in the next quarter and for the rest of 2010, the company will test lower CD prices. Single CDs will have the suggested list prices of $10, $9, $8, $7 and $6. The label plans to release deluxe editions at a higher price point. With Universal the largest music company right now, the move is likely to push prices downwards at the other majors as well."

This isn't an initiative, its an antique clearance sale for coasters.

Why I love Canadian politics

2010-03-11T10:10:00.000-08:00

Went to question period yesterday. The things you learn that aren't on CPAC. Justin Trudeau is a fratboy shitdisturber, Stephen Harper literally cleans his fingernails while the Bloc ask him questions (no joke!), and the second anyone mentions supporting the troops or police officers everyone regardless of party stands and cheers. The Tories played that card three times. Good to see our politicians hard at work.

Comedian of the Week - Ngger Wetback Ch*nk

2010-03-08T12:37:00.000-08:00

I'm probably 4 years behind on this considering when the play first started touring but I don't think it ever came to Canada, which is a pity because there are so many things going on with N*W*C that I love. First and foremost, race humor done well. The play is done with a reflective critical lens and is exactly the direction I think discussions about race politics need to go. Blunt, aggressive, and raw but also light-hearted, self-effacing and funny.

In watching their interviews the actors address the controversial title of their play by pointing out how these words have a certain control over us and the whole purpose of using them in the play was to address and de-power them. Score one for the good guys. In regards to the video above, its amazing how quickly three little words repeated over and over can shift from shock, to slapstick, to disgust.

Secondly, Steven T. Seagle co-wrote, directed and produced the play. Yeah that's right, the same guy who wrote the famous Superman comic/reflection 'Its a Bird', founded the popular kids show Ben 10, and wrote one of my favorite cult comics of all time (Sandman Mystery Theatre) also does minority theatre. Is there anything this man can't do? (Other than come to Canada of course.)

If you get a chance, watch the promo as well. Funny stuff and full of accolades and interview material.

On watching the Olympics

2010-03-01T21:46:00.001-08:00

I don't understand bobsledding. If I wanted to hurl at breakneck speeds without any way of stopping I'd buy a Toyota

Band of the Week - Lowtalker

2010-02-17T10:13:00.000-08:00

Misery Signals + Comeback Kid = Lowtalker

Lowtalker - People Worry About Everything (FC Records) from Casey Hjelmberg on Vimeo.

They already have 2 songs up on their Myspace page and I can't tell you how stoked I am for this.

Comedian of the Week - The Onion

2010-02-04T18:47:00.000-08:00

I'm told I use this word a lot. As a matter of fact whenever I said it in Montreal people would look at me funny because nobody had heard it before and supposedly 'stoked' is a West coast word. Weird.

Anyway, an easy decision this time around. The Onion is prolific, always funny, and clever. This one's my favorite of their videos by far, if only for the ridiculousness at the end.

After watching CBC's 'Test the Nation' with my roommates...

2010-01-24T19:12:00.000-08:00

Me and Olivia scored an IQ score of 110 and just eeked into the 'above average category' by a single point. Psh, whatever... I'll take it!

Comedian of the Week - Bobby Lee

2010-01-19T19:05:00.000-08:00

I've followed Bobby Lee of a while. While his 7 years on Mad TV certainly made him well-known in the comedy community, and certainly he is known among Asian Americans, it was all pretty tame for me. Moreover, while I thought he was good, I didn't like the writers for the show and never really found it that funny after the first several seasons (which I watched voraciously as a kid).

Moreover, when I was in New York this New Years I found out he was in town and despite the $50 ticket I scooped them up as soon as possible. I was kind of worried he'd be a let down, especially after seeing Kumail Nanjiani the night before, but he proved me wrong within the first 5 seconds (literally, he came onstage looking confused and it had me floored).

Unquestioningly, his strength is his physical comedy, and I haven't laughed this hard to goofball humor since Jim Carrey. If you get a chance to see him live, do it. When he's delivering his own jokes he's on fire, and his ability to interact with the crowd uncanny.

As a bonus, I found a YouTube video of the New Years show at Carolines, which was when I was there! However, there were 2 shows that night, and this one was the one after ours. As a interesting final point, Paul (my brother) was the one who announced stripper Bobby Lee onto the stage. It was good times.

New Podcast Posted

2010-01-14T08:35:00.001-08:00

I've decided to jump-start my podcast! You can find it below.

Podcasts are the New Mixtape

An interesting find: iTunes U

2010-01-12T18:55:00.000-08:00

I have no idea what iTunes U is. Still don't. But what I do know is that when I was downloading some music off iTunes today for my podcast I stumbled upon the Smithsonian page which is affiliated with iTunes U. Through that, I found around 15 free downloads they had available for Asian Pacific Islander Month (video and music!) as well as a 26 minute lecture on Chinese experiences in 19th Century American West. Amazing stuff.

Oh and its all free.

You can find it here.

Comedian of the Week - Aziz Ansari

2010-01-07T15:16:00.000-08:00

Aziz has done ridiculously well for himself, I remember watching some of his old videos a long time ago and thinking about how great he was. Years later, he's made his own TV show Human Giant, stars on the NBC comedy Parks and Recreation, and been in a slew of movies like Funny People. While Aziz is easily my favorite comic, I didn't really want to showcase him here because he's done so well. However, it's a new year, and I figure I'd start it off with a bang. Moreover, Aziz has a new DVD coming out and from the clips I've heard there's no way I'm not getting it. Above is my favorites of his old videos.

Comedian of the Week 4

2009-12-25T15:53:00.000-08:00

Baron Vaugh

Here's a comedian I'm very excited about. I think he gets race comedy down exactly right. Smart and funny. And he's got the execution down packed, everyone I've shown this clip to said they were hovering on every work. Easily one of my favorites, but I was skeptical about posting him as the YouTube clip could not be embedded into my blog (what's up College Humor? Why you gotta be a dick?). Either way, you can find him here or by clicking on the picture above.

To Adrienne and Sophia

2009-12-16T13:32:00.001-08:00

Get off my site!

Comedian of the Week 3

2009-12-13T02:54:00.000-08:00

Alison Jutzi

Sandals

Good Enough

Social Utility

Some Canadian content this week! Al was razzing me for my last comedian calling it 'too easy' since Demetri Martin is famous now. Psh, it doesn't say indie comedian of the week, yeesh. But to shut him up, here's a gem from Toronto. While she's primarily an actress, her comedy folk is solid and 'Sandals' and 'Social Utility' are both songs I wish I had written instead, and the background voice in 'Good Enough' is comic gold. Did I pick her because she's pretty? Didn't hurt, but she can write a damn good tune.

Its funny things you run into at 3 in the morning while surfing CBC 3's website.

Comedian of the Week 2

2009-12-09T01:07:00.001-08:00

Demetri Martin

Comedian of the Week

2009-12-01T23:29:00.001-08:00

Kumail Nanjiani

Horror Games in Georgia Straight

2009-10-29T16:18:00.000-07:00

I'm quoted in Vancouver's free newspaper (and the only thing I read when I'm back home) the Georgia Straight. Its a short quote, but its nice to be talking about video games again. I'm really glad he chose this line, I found myself ramblinga lot when I was talking to the writer and I'm glad he didn't quote one of my stupider ideas.

http://www.straight.com/article-266470/chilling-video-games-offer-escape-fear

Futile Self-Promotion

2009-10-14T09:40:00.000-07:00

So I'm gearing up to apply to some co-op jobs for my program and I found a perfect position doing Web 2.0 work for the School of Public Service. Perfect! I blog, Twitter, Facebook, etc. So I decided to put together a website to showcase my savvy internet ways (www.robertparungao.com).

Its pretty cut and dry but hey, it does the job and I kinda like having a professional website just so I can control the first thing that pops up when someone Google's me. Sadly, I go to apply for the job and its been mysteriously pulled of the co-op boards. Of course. Now I'm stuck with a corny 'about me' website and the lingering question of where I'm going to be in January. A few other jobs have caught my eye and there's about a 90% chance I'll be moving cities once again. Primary contenders are Ottawa and Iquluit. Awesome.

An open letter to Wolf Blitzer

2009-09-19T10:52:00.000-07:00

Dear Wolf Blitzer,

I used to love your show but your epic fail on Jeopardy has made me realize that all you do is read a prompter. Please hand over the Situation Room to Rick Sanchez and join Fox News where intelligence is not required.

For my Asian brothers...and everyone else. Hilarious.

2009-09-15T00:40:00.000-07:00

I'm stoked at the plurality of Asianness Jew Kwon brings into this song. Nice to see Asian not treated as synonymous with Chinese.

From the vaults...

2009-08-25T14:27:00.000-07:00

Oops. My last post was in June. Since then I have been to four different major cities (Montreal, Toronto, Honolulu, Vancouver) and have busied myself with ridiculous amounts of work. One of my new jobs is as a research correspondent for the Multicultural History Society of Ontario doing archival and oral history research on Chinese women. Here's a gem of a passage from 'Publishers of Peace' a monograph from 1942 by the Rev. T.R. Millman.

"From the Chinese standpoint, the impact with western civilization has, biologically, been all to the good. Very marked changes are taking place in their physical appearance. The freer life and the playing of games makes for finer physique; the milder climate for a lighter complexion; and western diet, with fewer fats, produces a clearer and less opaque skin. From the use of ordinary sanitary measures, features are becoming better developed, and the whole facial expression more alert. Many of the young Chinese girls are most attractive, and with a natural flair for arranging the hair and for dressmaking, one often has to look twice to distinguish them from their western sisters. Marriages between Chinese and whites are few, as they are no more anxious for this than we are."

My! Fobby! Father!

2009-06-19T16:19:00.000-07:00

On the phone, after telling my father that I was going to try some amateur stand-up comedy.

Dad: It must run in the family. I'm the funniest guy at my work.

Rob: Really dad? Maybe you should do stand up.

Dad: Oh no, but you can use my jokes. Why is golf better than sex?

Rob: Dad...stop...

Dad: Because you get more balls!

Rob: Thank you...dad, for that bit of comedic gold.

Dad: I know! Let me tell you another one!

Rob: Oh god no.

Dad: How is golf like sex?

Rob: I'm sensing a pattern here...

Dad: Because you practice your grip on the shaft! Listen your mother is laughing! I'm already funnier than you!

I've been upstaged even before I go onstage. This has to be some sort of record.

Fringe Fest 2009 - We Call This Comedy

2009-06-14T12:34:00.000-07:00

Pow! You hear that? That’s the sound of the 2009 Montreal Fringe Fest knocking my teeth out. ‘We Call This Comedy’ is the first show for my Fringe Fest bonanza and it did exactly what it set out to do, make the audience laugh.

For a Fringe a festival show the show is a bit vanilla, the format is simply the two Montreal comedians (Ali Hassan and John Hastings) each doing a half hour of stand-up. In between the two sets the two do some collaborated work in the form of songs and hypothetical letters to annoying apartment neighbours.

I’m familiar with both of these Montreal locals’ work having seen Hassan MC at the ‘Comedians of Color’ and ‘Comedy Without Borders’ events and Hastings at Comedy works and at a fund raiser for the Filipino women’s centre. Despite the fact that I’ve heard most of their jokes before this show still was able to get a lot of laughs out of me as they’ve obviously tightened their craft and execution.

In the first half of the show Hastings explores his experience growing in a waspy Ontario household and the process of telling his parents that he wanted to go to theatre school. As he points out, this would be a crushing blow to any parents who hope to have children who are “productive members of society.” The rest of his set, leaned a bit too much on sex jokes, but hey, its the stand up comedian’s bread and butter.

Before Hassan took the stage, the two shared some songs with the crowd. Sadly I had already heard this material at an open mic night at Comedyworks, and sadly the gags from the songs seem to work better in a more intimate setting, rather than a large venue like the Just For Laughs studio. Nonetheless, they were still entertaining.

Finally Hassan took the stage to provide half an hour of his material. In previous shows, I’ve seen Hassan do a fantastic job slinging around race humour like it was second nature, so I was upset at the fact that he did almost no jokes on race issues, rather he focussed on the topic of food and his experience as a chef. While funny, I couldn’t help but think he opted to stick to less controversial topics (like the fact that his mother was in the crowd) to ensure he reached as many people in the audience. While probably a smart plan, and certainly very funny, it’s not his best work.

Overall though the show does a great job ensuring that you feel that you money was well spent, of not for the comedy then at the very least for the samosas handed out at the end of the show prepared by Hassan himself. Food and comedy? Can’t beat it.

My First Podcast!

2009-06-09T15:33:00.000-07:00

Here it is! The first podcast! While technically its something like the third of fourth, I wanted to upload it first because it was supposed to be for Asian Heritage Month but my mp3 encoder gave me problems.

Anyway, this episode is on Japanese underground music, and is co-hosted with my good friend Parker Mah. Just click on the link below to listen to it, or right-click and 'save as' to download it and throw it on your iPod.

Podcasts are the New Mixtape - Japanese Underground

As well, I decided to have a separate page for my podcasts which is here. While I'll probably cross-post, I like having things in good order.

Podcast Tracklist:

Song/ Artist/ Album

Mind Power (pts 1 & 2) - Osaka Monaurail - Thankful
Una Sera Di Tokyo - Takeshi Terauchi - Beat, Beat, Beat (Vol. 1 + 2)... Read More
Blah! Blah! Someswing - Gagle - Hidden Music Value
Manai - Ino Hidefumi - Living Message
Yellow Magic Orchestra - Firecracker - Yellow Magic Orchestra
Bisk - Waltz - Ticklish Matters
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW with POLYSICS guitarist Hiroshi Hayashi
S.O.S. - Electric Eel Shock - Go Europe!
反吐、反吐、汽車 - Nanao Tabito - Heavenly Punk Adagio
Yamasuki - Yamasuki Singers - Le Monde Fabuleux des Yamasuki
Sakura - Elfin Saddle - Ringing for the Begin Again
Opening Theme of Mario - Tokyo CubaBoys Jr (Ashura Benimaru Itoh - Solo Guitar)

Update

2009-06-07T17:34:00.000-07:00

Its over! My work at Festival Acces Asie has come to an end. It was a great time with great people, and while there's still a bit of report writing to tend to, the final event (Viva Confusion!) ended yesterday and we were up late cleaning up, and attending hte after party. Good stuff!

Ideally this will mean I will have time to update this blog. However, I won't be doing anymore movie haikus as I started a different site with my buddy Al just specifically for haikus. Its The Haiku Review.

Movie Haiku #5 - 'Assault on Precinct 13' Directed by John Carpenter

2009-05-21T14:20:00.000-07:00

My favourite part:
When the girl asked for ice cream
And was shot point blank.

Steve Aoki talks about being Japanese American

2009-05-19T17:13:00.000-07:00

I liked his line 'when you're under-represented you're often misprepresented." I'm gonna steal that brotha.

Movie haiku #4: 'Apt Pupil' Directed by Bryan Singer

2009-05-18T13:18:00.000-07:00

Punk ass high school kid
seeks out old nazi for fun
and fucks him over.

Movie Haiku #3: 'Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber of Fleet Street' Directed by Tim Burton

2009-05-16T18:10:00.000-07:00

Predictable Tim,
trades the play's comedy for
less songs and more gore.

Movie Haiku #2: 'Little Shop of Horrors' Directed by Frank Oz

2009-05-16T16:43:00.000-07:00

The music is great
but I like the play's ending
it has dancing plants.

Movie Haiku #1: 'Zombie' Directed by Lucio Fulci

2009-05-15T10:59:00.000-07:00

All I remember:
Woman gets speared in her eye
and zombie shark fight!

Some News

2009-05-05T13:01:00.000-07:00

1) Manny Pacqiao destroyed Ricky Hatton. It was both amazing and anti-climactic at the same time. Either way, Pacqiao is unstoppable. I can't believe my dad actually bet against the future president of the Philippines. You heard it here first!

2) Dom Deluise passed away today. I still chuckle at his great voice acting in 'An American Tale' and he will be missed.

3) New Found Glory recently did a full set of Green Day cover songs...and man, it was amazing. The 'Time of Your Life' cover is a bit corny, but hey, they did cover of my all-time favorite GD songs, J.A.R. so I'm going to say all is forgiven.

Moreover, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that their version of 'Burnout' beats out Teenage Bottlerocket's cover from their split release a few months ago. Meh, either way, I love them both and any Green Day cover (especially pre-Dookie) will make me a very happy pop punk kid. All of this jumpy happy music is only getting me charged up for summer!

May is Asian Heritage Month!

2009-05-02T11:48:00.000-07:00

May is Asian and Pacific Islander Herritage Month! If you don't already know, I am doing marketing work for Montreal's 'Acces Asie'. If you're in town and are looking for something to do, please check out our events!

Robby on the Radio!

2009-04-30T15:06:00.000-07:00

Opps forgot to mention that I was on the radio last Friday talking about blogging and Twitter (how ironic). You can find the stream here. I'm on during the second hour.

However, I will be on the radio ('The Link' on Radio Canada International) tomorrow speaking about changing standards in education and my experiences teaching. While I don't speak that much, it was great panel discussion and the debate gets a bit heated! Ooohhh! Teachers gone wild!

A Conversation with 5 Comedians of Colour-

2009-04-27T17:41:00.000-07:00

My first mini-doc!

Reel Asian Film Festival

2009-04-25T09:55:00.000-07:00

I met these folks at a Asian-American conference at Concordia a while back and in the unlikely event that you make films, here you go.

-----
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
THE 13TH ANNUAL TORONTO REEL ASIAN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
NOVEMBER 11 to 15, 2009

Reel Asian is Canada’s largest and longest-running showcase dedicated to contemporary Asian cinema and media arts from Asia, North America and all over the world. Annually, the festival attracts thousands of attendees to five frenetic days of screenings, industry events and galas. We invite you to submit new independent films and videos by and/or about East and Southeast Asians of all genres.

See SUBMISSIONS GUIDELINES and ONLINE SUBMISSIONS at http://www.reelasian.com

EARLY DEADLINE: FRIDAY MAY 15, 2009 (NO SUBMISSION FEE)
FINAL DEADLINE: MONDAY JUNE 15, 2009 (SUBMISSION FEE $20 CAD)
Email questions to Artistic Director, Heather Keung at programming@reelasian.com with subject ‘submission 2009’ or contact the festival office at 416.703.9333

The Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Trillium Foundation, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council, Telefilm and the Department of Canadian Heritage.

I'm on Twitter! (read: I am a weak, pathetic trend hopper)

2009-04-18T10:08:00.000-07:00

Okay so I buckled and have decided to reactivate my Twitter account. In all honesty it just seems like a glorified Facebook status update, but after reading Aziz Ansari's hilarious movie commentary during 'Crank 2' I've decided to use my Twitter account as my movie rant platform as if you've ever seen a movie with me (especially with me and Al) you'll knows I can't keep my mouth shut during a film.

You can find me under 'rparungao.'

On Ritual, Secularism and Identity

2009-04-15T08:23:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I was at a friend's passover Seder (for those who don't know a Seder is a traditional Jewish feast held in late March or April). As I'm not very familiar with Jewish tradition (and moreover I knew about 3 people at the table of 15) I just sat back and partook in the meal as a polite observer.

And man did I learn a lot.

While yes, I found out what a Seder was what particularly struck me was the dialogue that my friend Julia decided on for the event. Basically at a Seder a script is passed around from person to person at the table from which passages of dialogue are recited, followed by various ritual actions. What was interesting to me however was the selection of text Julia had picked. While the ritual actions that were conducted at the Seder were pretty much the same at any other Seder (so I'm told), their significance was different as Julia customized the script to represent the ideals of those at the table (read a bunch of loony leftys). As a result, there was no mention of 'God' in the entire event and a re-understanding of certain rituals to symbolize the importance of gay and lesbian Jews in the community, and finding a peaceful resolution in the conflict between Israel and Palestine.

As well, one of the other attendees (Ali) was Bangladeshi and told us all that the next day (April 15) was Bengali New Year and that he was going to celebrate it by 'going through the motions that he remembered' and of course this specifically involved consuming large quantities of food.

This got me thinking about the importance of ritual for us young adults who have grown up with a a predominantly secular identity. This rings particularly true for children of immigrant families be it second, third or (in my case) fourth generation. How important is it to maintain these rituals as we become more and more distanced from the 'motherland' or 'home' culture? Is the 'authenticity' of the ritual 'watered down' as we re imagine their significance? Or is a new identity and authenticity formed?

In my personal situation I don't hide the fact that I hold onto many traditional Confucian ideals despite considering myself a progressive. For example, when my grandfather died I didn't even think twice when I had to take care of his house for the summer because the rest of the family was busy and my application to law school was more than a little influenced by my heavy-handed parents and grandparents. However unlike most Chinese-Canadians, I'm not particularly bothered or burdened by filial piety, but understand it as my responsibility.

So is it possible to still consider myself liberal if I still cling to old tradition and ritual? What if this tradition is problematic or directly contradicts my more progressive beliefs (as is the case with many old Chinese customs)? Can we find a middle ground in re-interpreting customs? If culture is a collective identity, do we distance ourselves from it if we interpret our rituals on an individual level?

I don't really have any answers to these questions, but I'm muddling through it decently enough. And yet, while Julia and Ali were able to figure out how they were going to preserve links to their cultural heritage I completely forgot to celebrate Qingming. In an attempt to rectify this oversight - and pay homage to a great man (as I have no tombstones in Montreal to sweep) - I decided to burn some incense at the statue of Norman Bethune. While it was a bit weird to be doing this two weeks late (and I had a ton of people staring at me) it nevertheless felt good. For better or for worse...filial piety upheld.

Rob Moment #5432

2009-04-07T18:31:00.000-07:00

So periodically I help the old woman on the fourth floor of my apartment carry her groceries up the stairs. No biggie, but feel free to compare me to Jesus.

Anyway, yesterday after I carried her bags up the stairs she seemed particularly friendly and spread her arms wide open. Now, coming from the West coast I interpret this as her saying 'give me a hug' and thus, I lean in and wrap my arms around her. In Quebec however, spreading one's arms means she wanted to 'faire la bise' (for the uninitiated, this means we kiss each other on the cheeks).

In the resulting jumble of limbs and lips the old woman ended up kissing my neck and (as I realized I was doing the wrong thing) I ended up kissing the inside of her ear (Hey! She was short!) and not wanting to be awkward I decided to complete the action by continuing to kiss her on the opposite cheek as she stared dumbfounded at my inability to properly conduct the most basic of basic French customs.

Aziz Ansari is a Fucking Badass

2009-04-02T19:00:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time a few years ago I watched stand up comedy video about Google hit results starring Aziz Ansari and Rob Huebel and I laughed my ass off. Since I'm always interested in comedians of color I decided to start following Aziz's blog and boy has he exploded since! You might recognize him as the racist fruit vendor on 'Flight of the Conchords' or from his hilarious MTV show 'Human Giant.' Recently, his new project is a prime time TV show on NBC entitled 'Parks and Recreation' which is shot in a similar fashion as 'The Office.' Its great to see comedians of color taking roles that are more than just a token gesture and moreover, aren't race-specific. Good stuff! He's got plenty of stuff on the horizon as well, and perhaps in the next few years we'll be seeing even more ethnic diversity in popular media. Its about damn time.

March 31st is 'National Day of Awareness'

2009-03-31T12:59:00.000-07:00

Seriously...just don't say it.

Holidays and Stereotypes...

2009-03-22T11:07:00.000-07:00

So I'm currently sitting in a Starbucks on St. Catherine's watching the St. Patrick's Day parade go by and the crowd is getting progressively drunker and drunker. Then I realized something...why the hell is everyone drinking on our Irish holiday? Doesn't that perpetuate an already terrible stereotype, somewhere along the lines of doing math on Lunar New Year or banking on Hanukkah?

Guest Lecturing!

2009-03-17T16:11:00.000-07:00

I found out on Monday that I will be guest lecturing a class at Concordia (Sociology of Cyberspace) and speaking on racial representation in video games. While I generally keep on-top of race and games stuff its been a long time since I've re-visited it since the big hub-bub over my honors thesis and man while I'm nervous as hell about speaking in front of 75 students, coming back to this stuff after two years feels like meeting up with an old friend. If you're free tomorow, come on down.

Sociology of Cyberspace
Concordia University
Hall Building 420
2:45

Some very cool news...

2009-03-14T16:16:00.000-07:00

The very first Indian-developed console game is on its final leg of development. While plenty of programming has been outsourced to India, this (according to various reports) is the first to be locally made. The game, entitled 'Hanuman: Boy Wonder' is not only targeted at the Indian market, but also at Indians abroad. I found this news to be really uplifting. Not only does it show a growing game development industry outside of the U.S., U.K. and Japan, it also shows a growing interest in gaming in India! As well, I love the idea of games that caters to local cultural context. Lastly, the more game makers there are out there (especially from diverse cultures) the more interesting game play innovations will be brought to the industry.

Robby on the Radio

2009-03-12T12:46:00.000-07:00

I will be on the radio tomorrow, March 13th, on Radio Canada International's show 'The Link' (which starts at around 12:30) as part of a roundtable discussion on the recent humanist advertisement campaign that was banned in various cities around Canada.

Ethnic diversity on television

2009-03-09T11:19:00.000-07:00

After having watched a handful television at the GSA (I don't have a TV at home) I just realized that perhaps the show with the widest spread of ethnic diversity is none other than 'America's Top Dance Crew.' I'm serious. Blacks...whites...Asian...latin...its a pretty good shotgun spread.

And of course me being me I focused on how the Asian dancers were portrayed and man was I happy. I mean the team that won the show (Quest Crew) are comprised of Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Filipino members. Hells yes. You can't believe how stoked I was to watch Asian folk on TV without hokey accents, kung fu fighting, or working in a lab (don't worry Masuka I still love you). Instead it was a group of kids doing what they love to do, and boy do they do it well. Moreover...Asian men depicted as potential objects of sexual desire? Oh man, times are a-changin' and its about time.

While I find reality TV a bit kistchy, I can't deny the raw awesomeness of seeing so many ethnic groups represented onstage. It would be great to see this kind of diversity in a storyline based television show but we're probably still a ways away from that yet. But hey headway is being made and I believe in baby-steps and I'd like to think things are getting better. Randy Jackson, your show has made me optimistic once again.

And since I don't watch a lot of TV perhaps things are even better than I thought. Anyone know some good examples? Battlestar is good (Grace Park), as is Dexter and Heroes, but I only frequent a narrow (primarily sci-fi) area of TV land. What else is going on out there?

Music to draw to...

2009-03-02T16:23:00.000-08:00

This looks awesome and I feel I should promo it (plus I liked the apple juice line...). I think I`ll try to actually get some writing done here (or at least some marking)! Here`s the blurb...

Forget partying.... let's get some work done.

It's winter time in Montreal...
Are you slacking off on knitting that scarf you started in 2004? Maybe you've been trying to finish that third act of that play you've been writing...? How's that collection of Sonnets coming along? Are you still sketching out storyboards for that animated short you wanted to make?

Bring your sketchbook, yarn, or that lump of clay. Floor lamps, pens, knitting needles, and lap desks will be provided. Five bucks admission includes a free cup of hot chocolate or tea. Music will be provided by Kid Koala. Expect a full 5-hour set of some of his favorite quiet time records that he has collected on his travels around the world. Baked goods will be provided by Kid Koala's wife, Corinne, who dreams of someday opening a bakery in Montreal and would like to try some of her new creations first.

"I was working on the Space Cadet book and realized at 8 hours a page I would have to log another 800 hours of alone time before this book would see the light of day. It would be great if there was a place I could go be social and anti-social at the same time. Somewhere I could look up from my desk and see something other than the wall. I tried drawing in a couple of the neighborhood diners and coffee shops but they'd blast the radio, and the music and traffic reports kept throwing me out of the zone... plus they don't appreciate people who try to nurse one glass of apple juice for 8 hours."

Quiet people are invited. Bring something to work on. No dancing. Hope to see you there!

3 NIGHTS ONLY : 7pm until midnight :
March 2, 2009
March 9, 2009
March 16, 2009

Theatre St. Catherine: 264 St. Catherine E., Montreal, QC

(Wall) Street Fighter 4

2009-02-20T12:17:00.000-08:00

Welcoming in the release Street Figther 4 and the economic crisis comes this gem. Oh web 2.0, is there anything you can't do?

Do you like music?

2009-02-12T14:52:00.001-08:00

I'm starting a second blog/podcast! Yay, even more work that doesn't get me paid. But I've been wanting to do this for a while so I guess there's no better time than now. Anyway, its called "Podcasts are the new mixtape" and my idea behind it is to talk to various people people who listen to various genres of music and get them to play and chat about their genre. Ideally it would be a good little introduction into various forms of music that I (and hopefully you) don't normally get a chance to listen to.

Anyway, I'm just in the process of finding a server to host the mp3 files, but once that gets
sorted out, I've already got 2 full podcasts completed!

25

2009-02-08T15:57:00.000-08:00

This fad hit Facebook and I figure I mind as well cross post it in the unlikely situation that someone I don't know actually reads this blog.

1) I’ve started to play harmonica out of a random appreciation for bluegrass music.

2) In another life, I’d be a private detective, a writer, a stand-up comedian, a film maker, own a record label, or work at/run an independent magazine. It’s somewhat discomforting to know that alternate-reality versions of myself are just as poor as I am.

3) Mike Park is my hero. I met him once when he was touring with the Alkaline Trio selling merch and all I could say to him was “wow man, you’re cool and stuff...what’s it like being Asian?”

4) Two people who have influenced me a lot are my Gung Gung, and my Lola. Whenever I need a source of inspiration I read their letters to me.

5) I’ve probably Facebook-stalked you. Perhaps out of an unspoken, longing crush, but more likely out of habit and boredom. Take heart though, your life is much more interesting than mine.

6) In Vancouver I used to get sick 2-3 times a year. In Montreal I’ve been sick once in 2.5 years. What gives Van-city? Wash your frickin’ hands.

7) In high school I was an uber-Conservative. Like pro-life, pro-Republican, pro-death penalty, ‘economy-can-run-itself’ conservative. Hell, I even read right wing political theory until grade 11. Yikes. On the plus side, I play a damn good devil’s advocate.

8) I love American accents in the same way most people swoon over British accents.

9) I’m deadly scared of heights. In an attempt to rectify this, I took a high-ropes course. This was not a good idea. The shaking started the day before we started and the tears started rolling halfway along the tightrope walk.

10) As a kid, I used to sneak into my parent’s bedroom and sleep on the floor next to my dad. He stepped on me a lot, but I couldn’t fall asleep without hearing him snoring. To this day, if I hear someone snoring I instantly pass out.

11) The only way to tell if I’m stressed out or worried is if I’m biting my nails.

12) I almost never judge people based on political or religious beliefs. However, I will judge you on the TV shows you watch. For example, if you emphatically don’t like ‘Columbo’ then I will have difficulty taking anything you have to say seriously.

13) I believe in and like the fact that musical genres exist. I like it even better when they get smushed together.

14) Kittens and Puppies < Skunks and pigs.

15) A smirk reeks of coy confidence and is unquestionably sexy...as is the ability to laugh at oneself.

16) I plan to adopt or have foster children.

17) Despite identifying as an ardent feminist, I unabashingly use the phrase ‘man up’ to tell guys to shut the hell up and take some responsibility. Blame the all boys school training.

18) I miss your company and think we should hang out more. Seriously.

19) I find crowd surfers to be annoying and selfish. As a public service I used take their wallets and throw them on stage.

20) Cookies, cake, brownies, cupcakes, muffins, and donuts should be replaced by candy, soda, chips, and pie.

21) In any given situation I have no idea what I’m doing.

22) While I claim to know a bit about music, I’m totally lost when it comes to classic rock. I first heard ‘The Police’ while playing ‘Guitar Hero’ and had to ask someone what a ‘Free Bird’ was. I have yet to make it past the intro of ‘Stairway to Heaven.’

23) My ideal future includes a huge house that I share with my friends. In this perfect world scenario my will kids have multiple adult figures, I cook for everyone in the house, and the living room has an unnecessarily large television.

24) I cheated at Kumon and even went so far as to fake the scratch work. However, I was caught when my dad found that on one test, all the right answers were in the wrong column.

25) I was actually going to do this list with 25 song lyrics that described something about me. I even started said list but halfway through couldn’t decide if it was creative or just a grab for attention. For example, my line for point number two was “I want to publish ‘zines and rage against machines.”

Tunes in the key of LSAT

2009-02-08T15:46:00.000-08:00

Now that LSATs are done I can come back to blogging. In studying the last few weeks I've taken the habit of listening to one song on repeat ad infinitum. For the first week it was Jimmy Eat World's "What Would I Say To You Now" and for the second week it was Ennio Morricone's amazing theme for 'The Good the Bad and the Ugly' played by the UK Ukelele Orchestra. Yeah, its awesome.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-25T11:26:00.000-08:00

Yay! It's New Years! Sadly my family is on the opposite side of the continent, but I was able to spend Friday at my friend Cedric's house party eating home-made pork dumplings. After eight years of being a vegetarian, I've decided to slowly start integrating meat into my diet until September as I'll be going on a big trip this summer and don't want to offend the various cultural groups I visit by refusing their delicious food.

Anyway, have a great Lunar New Year and a friendly reminder that its not just Chinese people who celebrate this event so calling it 'Chinese New Year' is kindof sino-centric. It'd be like calling January 1st 'Canadian New Year'. Yeah...kinda weird.

Oh and finally I'll be on 102.3 Radio Centreville (Montreal's commuity radio station) today talking about how much food one consumes on a given New Years weekend. To use my self as an example, I ate for 6 hours straight at Cedric's place. Yeah, good luck to all those who have to do this all weekend.

Rob Moment #4556

2009-01-17T18:48:00.001-08:00

Rob arrives back to Concordia after being away for a month...

Phil: Hurrow...
Rob: What?
Phil: Hurrow?
Rob: What the fuck Phil?
Phil: I'm speaking Chinese...
Rob: What? What the fuck? What kind of racist shit is that?
Phil: I'm saying 'good meat.'
Rob: Ohhhhhh... I thought you were saying hello with a really bad Chinese accent.
Phil: (in a sad voice) I just wanted to show you what Mandarin I've learned while you were gone...
Rob: Whoops.

If you're in the Lower Mainland...

2009-01-13T15:12:00.000-08:00

Please check out "Wrestling: The One-Ring Circus" photography exhibit at the Windsor Gallery, a friend of mine, Brian Howell, is the photographer. The exhibit goes on from now until February 8th and follows the release of Mickey Rourke's movie 'The Wrestler'. Brian's work however, has been around for years before the film and is passionate and painfully raw, I remember buying the book from him to give to by buddy Al for Christmas and just marvelling at the emotion oozing from the pictures.

Brian traveled with me in China and is a really cool dude. The last time I chatted with him he was thinking about doing stuff on punk in China and was currently (the last time I talked to him was about 8 months ago) breaking into demolished houses in Surrey and Delta. In another life (and if I was braver) I'd be doing the exact same thing.

Brian's Website: http://www.brianhowellphotography.com/

The Windsor Gallery: http://www.winsorgallery.com/exhibits.php

On Cultural Production and Chop Suey

2009-01-06T10:32:00.000-08:00

I liked this video a lot. While I'm sure a lot of this has to do with the fact that it pretty much is the same topic as my thesis, she does a really good job presenting it and shows that she has done a lot of research. I find the performance to be a bit too flamboyant, but I'm willing to concede that maybe its because I'm a boring academic.

Me in 'The Toronto Star'

2009-01-04T10:03:00.000-08:00

About a month or so ago I was interviewed for the 'Toronto Star' by a very cool dude by the name of Raju Mudhar. As a matter of fact, even after the interview we chatted about gaming, journalism and a whole ton of other cool stuff. I forgot about the article but when I mentioned it off-hand to my mom she decided to go try to find it. And here it is! Trust a librarian to be able to find anything I guess!

http://www.thestar.com/article/540687

On a somewhat related note, Paul went out and bought an XBox 360 for Christmas and he's been playing Farcry 2 like a fiend. I on the other hand am glued to GTA IV. On the horizon? Fallout 3, Dead Space, MK vs DC and much, much more. The Parungao boys are saying goodbye to MMOs, and hello console.

Asian Mainstays Come to Hollywood

2009-01-02T10:04:00.000-08:00

Man, this physically pains me. Like Michael Bay level hurt. But sadly, I understand that Hollywood is almost always about the money, and almost never about preserving credibility or talent. Evidence? At least five huge mainstays in popular Korean cinema and Japanese anime are being converted to the Western big screen and the outlook is pretty murky. I'm tempted to just out-and-out call them terrible but I don't like to judge until I see the final product...but really, lets go through these one by one.

Dragonball

Yeah its kinda old news that one of the biggest the Japanese anime series of all time is being converted to a live action film but it seemed to flow with the theme of this post. Now I'm not a huge Dragonball Z fan, although I watched a ton of it back when I was young. I'm predict this
is going to be another 'Transformers' where the acting is stale, the film will lean far too heavily on graphics, the fanboys will be pissed that the movie didn't follow the original storyline,
the film will be overly stylized with no sense of irony...oh yeah, and it'll make a ton a money. Mind you, since I'm not a huge fan, I'm not particularly pained by this, I mean really, how would they make it true to the original text? Have them stand around staring at each other sizing each other up for 45 minutes?

Oldboy

One of my favorite movies of all time. And who do they turn the reins over to? Steven Spielberg and Will Smith. Sigh. They do a good marketing twist though. When asked if the movie will be the same as the Korean version Will Smith responds, "we're going farther than that, we're going to adapt it from the original comic." How do we read this? Ah, we can't have a storyline as controversial as the Korean Oldboy but we don't want to upset the fanboys so we give a wishy-washy answer. Hmmm maybe Spielberg can include some aliens a la the recent Indiana Jones movie or A.I. Or maybe Will Smith can write a pop-rap song about being stuck in a room for a decade.

JSA (Joint Security Area in Korea...Joint Security America in the U.S.)

Yes, I agree. The social-political context between the US-Mexico border parallels the North/South Korean border. Man. And while I might not be a scholar in US history, I don't think that at any point being friends with Mexican border guards could potentially cause a full-scale war. How exactly do you pull off this film? Oh I see, get the guy who wrote 'King Arthur' to do it. That'll be good.

Cowboy Bebop

My favorite anime series is becoming a live action film, and I'm actually quite calm about it. I'm actually kind of interested in what they'll do. So far Keanu Reeves has been pulled in for Spike which, I guess is kind of fitting (in all honesty you don't need crazy acting chops to play Spike, just lean on the wall a lot and smoke). I tell you what. Keep the gritty atmosphere and I'll watch. Moreover, you've got the Matrix team behind it which makes me much more optimistic. Please, please, please...keep 'Tank' on the project. Their music is out of this world.

Akira

In a good case scenario this movie will be good, and surprisingly I'm optimistic as its being described as 'Blade Runner' meets 'City of God.' Wow, nice name dropping there Warner Brothers. You even made a bitter skeptic like me re-think the entire project. Moreover the exec bringing this to the table is the same person who spearheaded the new Batman franchise and 300 which have a similar dark atmospheres - so the chances of them candy-coating Akira are a bit less than if, oh, Spielberg took on this project. However, if they do re-vamp the ending to be more kid-friendly the movie is done-for, but in all fairness, how do you pull off a giant disgusting mutating blob that kills everyone in Tokyo and make it work for an American audience? Time will tell.

My! Fobby! Father!

2008-12-23T15:44:00.000-08:00

I know this was posted on my Facebook a while ago but I've been really busy now that I'm back in Vancouver and I'm suffering from standard blogger guilt for not posting in a while so I'm gonna be lazy and re-hash.

So my parents visited me this weekend for graduation and I totally forgot what its like to live with them. This was compounded by the fact that all three of us had to live in my tiny studio apartment for four days. As me and my dad waited for my mom's plane to arrive we had this gem of a discussion.

-----Rob exits the bathroom to see dad rummaging through his underwear drawer-----
Rob: Dad, what the hell...
Dad: You only have boxers in here Robert, briefs are better.
Rob: I appreciate the concern dad, but I prefer boxers thanks.
Dad: No! Briefs are better...
-----Dad then unbuckles his belt, drops his pants to his knees and points to his groin-----
Dad: ...see?
Rob: Dad, I'm going to turn around, go back into the washroom and when I come out I expect your to have your pants back on.
Dad: But briefs have better support!

The competition between boxers and briefs is now done. Taking your pants off in front of your son and pointing to your crotch is a definite violation of the rules. The ref is standing on the sidelines blowing the whistle and boxers win by default. For some reason this reminds me of the time Mike head butted a girl in a fencing competition. Black card dad...BLACK CARD.

2009 can't come sooner!

2008-12-10T16:02:00.000-08:00

Looking forward, there are a few amazing things on the horizon that I just can't wait for. As a matter of fact, if I had a choice I'd miss Christmas and New Years altogether just to get my grubby hands on these things even a week earlier.

Flight of the Conchords: Season 2

Battlestar Galactica: Season 4.5

The Watchmen (Movie)

The Boondocks: Season 3

Supposedly coming in January 2009. I couldn't find a video but if this is true, oh man I'm stoked.

Barack Obama's Inauguration

Which I'm going to in DC come hell or high water.

Pambansang Kamao! ("National Fist")

2008-12-07T10:02:00.000-08:00

What a great night. Oilers won (for Jas), the Sens won (for Graham) and Manny Pacquiao beat the living snot out of De La Hoya (for the Philippines). Tons of respect to the 'Golden Boy' but man, nothing felt better than walking up to a table of Filipinos at the bar and high-fiving, drinking and dancing with people I've never met. I'm sure this happens to tons of other people in countries that actually have sports teams (I'm reminded of my ESL students back in Vancouver during World Cup) but for us Filipinos, this is pretty monumental, and hell I'm not even that much into sports.

Edit: This news story was absolutely hilarious. Zero crime rate in metro-Manila for some of his previous fights? If nothing else, than for the sake of the over-burdened police force in the Philippines, lets have more Pacquiao fights.

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=421618

Bigotry and Board Games

2008-11-30T16:16:00.000-08:00

Okay this is fucking stupid. I loved to play Risk as a kid, and moreover, back when we were dating Leanne would destroy me at the game...and then rub my face in her victory for days on end. Yup, sometimes I miss her a lot.

So its kind of jarring for me to see that the 'new' Risk (seen here) is so chock full of over-the-top masculinity that it hurts my groin. All over the website we have the wonderful tagline 'Man Up!' and the link to the mini-game reads 'ARE YOU MAN ENOUGH' in big bold letters. Gee, considering my ex-girlfriend used to beat me mercilessly into the ground every time we played, I guess I'm not you bunch of jackass misogynists.

Playing the online version of the game is equally stupid. Turns out, you need to earn 'manliness points.' After playing a mini game where I have to avoid my boss and screw around at work I earned a measly 200 points where I got the rank of 'not as manly as you want to be huh?' Gee I guess not. I didn't realize shrugging off responsibility was an indicator of how much of a man I was and ironically, at the all-boys high school I attended, they taught me that taking on responsibility was actually the manly thing to do.

So I'm gonna call you out on this HasBRO. are you gonna 'man up' to the fact that you really fucked this one up and take this shit off the Internet and issue an apology? Or are you gonna run around the office and avoid responsibility like your pathetic little online game.

In the meantime, I'm gonna go play 'Settlers of Catan'.

Coalition government?!

2008-11-28T13:48:00.000-08:00

"In light of the government's failure to recognize the seriousness of Canada's economic situation and its failure in particular to present any credible plan to stimulate the Canadian economy and to help workers and businesses in hard-pressed sectors such as manufacturing, the automotive industry and forestry, this House has lost confidence in this government and is of the opinion that a viable alternative government can be formed within the present House of Commons."

Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey hey, gooooodbbyyeee!!!

Concert Review: Hit the Lights and Cobra Starship

2008-11-26T21:28:00.000-08:00

Hit the Lights, Forever the Sickest Kids and Cobra Starship

Okay I'm finally accepted that I'm too old for certain concerts. For example, I went to my last Vans Warped Tour two years ago and haven't really looked back, not only because of the steep price tag (whats it at now? 50 bucks?) but simply because I feel so divorced from the younger punk scene each year I get older.

Enter 'Hit the Lights' opening for 'Cobra Starship' alongside a ton of other young popular punk influenced bands (Gabe from 'Cobra Starship' for example used to play in 'Midtown'). I hesitate to say pop-punk because of my old-school belief that such a moniker is only entitled for bands like 'The Ramones' or more recently 'Broadway Calls.' But that's grandpa Rob talking, and in all fairness bands like 'Hit the Lights' fall into the same category as 'New Found Glory' (a guilty pleasure of mine) and 'Blink 182' -a newer, glitzier, more produced pop-punk...new-pop-punk? What a stupid name. Oh well, we'll roll with it. Nu-pop-punk.

The lyrical content of this new flashier version of pop-punk reminds me of my age. Gone are the days of singing with an ironic tongue-in-cheek sneer (see Dead Milkmen's 'Punk Rock Girl'), and instead are the days of singing about hanging out in the parking lot thinking about girls. Yeah, at 25 I'm kinda over that. I sit in my room drinking by myself thinking about girls instead (like that cute Ukranian girl from my French class). The vote's out on whether its an improvement or not.

A point should be made that I actually like a lot on nu-pop-punk bands. As a matter fact 'Hit the Lights' easily fall into this category. While I have difficulty connecting with the band on a lyrical level, its still catchy as hell and perfect feel-good music. I even had a chance to interview the band a few hours before doors opened and had a blast hanging out with them afterwards shopping around St. Catherines looking for Montreal t-shirts. Good times.

However, once I got some food and went back to the venue it was a culture shock for me. An ocean of teenagers (mostly girls) were screaming for the band onstage, a bunch of good looking boys playing keyboards, wearing overly tight pants, and dropping the F-bomb like it was going out of style and grandpa Rob in me was really upset that they thought swearing to 14 year olds made them cool and I was really worried that 'Hit the Lights' once they went onstage would pander to similar schtick to get the crowd going.

Thankfully, 'Hit the Lights' were much more composed and played a solid set with most songs coming off their newly released album. The band pogo'd onstage, talked about how cute Montreal girls were, and tried to get the crowd to sing along to their stuff...nothing really eye-rollingly corny, but nothing really awe-inspiring either. Just a straight up solid set, which I guess is what I came for.

Following their set, I quickly packed up and left, not even sticking around for the last few bands. Gabe from 'Cobra Starship' is a attention-seeking douche (see this story). I mean, really, who says "I'm so punk rock that I blah blah blah." Gabe man, I loved 'Midtown,' why you gotta turn out to be a total ass?

Anyway as I walked back home I began to reflect. I used to be that young. I used to love really cheesy bands ('Fenix TX' come to mind). I used to go to similar concerts in Vancouver and that's fine, for that age group. Looking onto that crowd of kids I realized that (like the mid-90s in Vancouver) most of those kids are only at the concert because they think its cool to be there. There's little love for the music and during 'Hit the Lights' I even saw some kids playing poker in the back (man, these boys came all the way from Ohio! Where's the love!).

However, a small portion of those kids are there because they love the music. Those are the kids who, in five years will be forming bands, writing zines, or putting on shows to promote local talent. Its so easy for us to laugh at the terrible fads teenagers cling onto as they gush over cute boys in bands, and screaming about over-the-top stage antics...but its where most of us started from. Moreover, it will be a handful of these kids who take over the local music scene in 5 to 10 years time. Which is great, and its even great that they're enjoying tonight's show. But for me, man I'm glad I'm no longer an akward 15 year old listening to major label pop. Its just so glossy and void of any grit or real substance. I'll take a local show in somebody's basement any day of the week. And maybe, someday, hopefully, so will some of these kids.

In Memoriam - Edgar Wickberg

2008-11-22T12:22:00.001-08:00

Edgar Wickberg (1927-2008)

I received an e-mail today from my mom about Dr. Wickberg's death, and while I only knew him for a few years, I would consider him a close mentor of mine. In 2005 I applied and got a job with Ed as his Research Assistant even though I was only an undergrad ad he really encouraged me to pursue my Masters degree (which I ended up doing and actually, I just graduated on Monday). Moreover, he would spend a lot of time with me in his office telling me about 'how things used to be' in academia as a scholar in Asian diaspora, a topic I'm still very interested in. Even though he told me to bill him for those work hours (literally he talked for hours) I don't think I ever did because it was just such so awesome to listen to his stories. Even in the last year or so, whenever I came back to Vancouver from Montreal I made it a point to get in contact with him.

As well, when I started the New Voices Project he was really, really supportive and he was even at our gallery exhibit on opening day at the Vancouver Museum. Ed was really just a stand up guy and its going to be weird this time going back to Vancouver and not getting a chance to have coffee with him. I'm not going to talk about his past, there are much more suited people to do that, specifically the blog that Henry Yu created here. His memorial is today, and since I'm not in Vancouver I figured I could at least do something here to remember him.

My Interview with 'Bomb the Music Industry!'

2008-11-19T13:50:00.000-08:00

Okay so I finally finished editing the video footage for my interview with 'Bomb the Music Industry!' Not only is this my first edited video (I just started video editing about a month ago) its also my first YouTube post. After 12 hours of being up it already had 20 view which more or less got me all excited and happy. I also learned from a friend of mine (Kelly) that if I upload onto YouTube they own my work. While she was up in arms about the issue, I'm much more resigned to the fact that even if they do take my work, I'd be more inclined to feel impressed that they chose me and stoked about my work getting out than complain about how my video is being co-opted by the man. As well, I understand MySpace works in a very similar way and every major band and label are represented on both sites, are you telling me that YouTube or MySpace has the balls to go up against Universal or Sony? C'mon now. While they may reserve the right to use members' videos, I highly doubt they'd actually be able to do anything with it without getting in a world of shit. Either way, I'm just stoked to be there!

Some supprt for Sarah Palin

2008-11-07T21:56:00.000-08:00

Dear Sarah,

Just incase you decide to run for president in 2012, I figure I'd help you out a bit.

Fuck yeah! He's back baby!

2008-11-05T21:30:00.001-08:00

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

Election Nerd

2008-11-05T21:16:00.000-08:00

Well like every other post I've read, I'm totally stoked that Obama won the U.S. election. Is this an indicator to the forthcoming global repudiation of the right? We can only hope, but unlike my dad (who almost literally thinks Obama is the messiah), I'll judge this new president based on his action. And while I'm much more hopeful than ever before, I want to wait and see. As Obama himself said "we've got a lot of work to do."

Moreover, for a elections nerd like me who's followed American politics for the last year (I literally watch pundits for 3 hours a day - thank you Young Turks!) people were really surprised I didn't watch the election. In all fairness, I was working on a new project and had to go to the Polysics concert to get video footage, but either way. However, before everything all the election drama fades, I present you this video. Man. Mixing Star Wars nerds with election nerds has never been this awesome.

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

Oh and this was a lot of fun too. Man I'm such a dork.

(credit for these go to JimSmash)

Azeroth is a blue state!

2008-11-02T17:38:00.000-08:00

Well, one of my favorite comedians Sandeep Parikh has put together a funny video that mixes several of my interests into a fun little video (comedy, games and politics). Does the fact that 'World of Warcraft' players support Obama it mean anything? Of course not. I'm not even convinced that gamers are progressives as so many Internet folk have a crazy hard-on for Ron Paul. Man...really? Libertarianism? Sigh.

Anyway, funny video...and the elections are two days away! The whole world holds its breath yet again.

Movie Review: Dance of the Dead

2008-10-29T11:50:00.000-07:00

Dance of the Dead

Man its been a long time since Fantasia but I dug up this old review from my hard drive just in time for Halloween. Moreover, its just been released as a direct-to-DVD film which is a shame because the movie was phenomenal and really a suprise hit just at the tail end of the festival. I'm actually really shocked that it didn't come out in theatres as it seemed to do really well on the festival circuit, but I guess its low-budget nature was just too iffy for the executives - which really is a pity because not only is this film great as horror comedy goes (quite possibly my favorite genre), but even in the overarching realm of zombie movies this film stands firmly on its own two feet. Anyway, back to the review which I should have posted months ago.

---

Oh Fantasia did you ever screw up. I mean tacking 'Dance of the Dead' at the tail end of the festival? What were you thinking? Not only did you not give it a chance at 'audience pick' (which I think it had a stab) but you the sold out shows at SXSW should have been a pretty good indicator that this would have been a great movie to screen twice or more...if only for the selfish reason of making more money for the fest.

While not without its criticisms, 'Dance of the Dead' (DotD) is a amazing addition to the zombie and horror comedy genre. Falling in the ranks of 'Slither' or even 'Dusk 'Till Dawn', Dance of the Dead makes sure that it doesn't take itself too seriously. Certainly this is a formula we've seen in the past (such as 'Planet Terror') but what makes DotD stand out even more is its blending of genres and adding a John Hughes-esque teen comedy romance to a zombie film. This is 'Sixteen Candles' meets 'Night of the Living Dead' - and boy is it amazing.

The premise of the film is horribly simple. Teenagers are getting ready for prom and zombies attack. Boom, that's it. We spend the first quarter of the movie being introduced to the various characters and cliques and we see the standard teen movie fare - the geeks, the jocks, the punk, and of course, the misunderstood main character who has to go through a series of trials (often involving a girl interest) to emerge into post-high school manhood. Yawn, we've seen this before.

But as easy as the plot is, the pleasure of this movie is not in its plot, but in its storytelling. Of course we know that he's going to get the girl. Of course we know (generally) who is and isn't going to survive. But storyline here is secondary to the entertaining pleasure we see unfold on screen, ranging from basic slapstick humor, to over-the-top violence. In fact, there's a great scene where the heroes take on a group of zombies with wrestling movies a la WWE. Elbow from the sky! Absolutly ridiculous. Absolutely hilarious.

Its the wry tongue-in-cheek attitude that DotD embraces that really makes the film. Yes, like other horror comedy films it plays readily into formula, but its the formula we all know and love. Moreover, it understands where its coming from and simultaneously pays homage and pokes fun to its predecessors. Moreover, it balances well the angst of growing up borrowed from teen comedies like 'American Pie' (but thankfully nowhere near as vulgar), with its horror elements and while we stand up and cheer when they chop up a zombie with a hacksaw, we just as readily stand up and cheer when the hero gets the girl. Ultimately, DotT is a great film not only for its ability to provide constant violent eye-candy, and keep us laughing, but also in its ability to simultaneously be a 'feel good' teen movie.

Finally, as a side note, I think its hard not to compare this film with the popular horror comedy film 'Shaun of the Dead' released a few years earlier as both films as fall into the stupidly-named category of 'rom-zom-com' (romantic zombie comedy). I didn't coin that. The difference between the two is their cultural approach to comedy. While both poke fun at the zombie genre, 'Shaun of the Dead' plays up its very British blend of dry wit while 'Dance of the Dead' plays more to an American comedic sensibility with over-the-top action and slapstick physical comedy.

Concert Review: Famous 08 with Jason Chan

2008-10-27T17:19:00.000-07:00

My friend Cedric had a few extra tickets to a Chinese singing competition which guest starred up-and-coming Hong Kong singer Jason Chan, so I figured why not. Not only am I always ready to go see live music, but the Sociologist in me was dying to explore new, uncharted terrain. Either way, Chinese events are few and far between in this city. Anyway, not being familiar with Jason Chan or Cantonese pop music in general this was certainly a treat, if not just for the novelty.

The event itself was organized by R-Vision Productions who have put on similar shows in the past, the basic format of which is to have 9 local Montreal Chinese singers come onstage and sing a tune one after another. After each song a pair of hosts would come onstage and interview the singer, crack some jokes and interact with the crowd. I have to say, the MCs were hilarious and singers, good or bad, really took second fiddle to the two hosts. That being said, the local talent varied pretty drastically in terms of skill, some leaning heavily on good looks and others were extremely competent entertainers. In the end however, the selection process seemed a bit bogus. After all 9 had sung they were given balloons to blow up and pop, inside of which was a piece of paper with either a check mark or an X. The X's got to go home, the check marks got to sing a second round. While this unfairly eliminated some of the better singers, the good-looking boy was also kicked out in this fashion much to the crowd's disappointment (mostly made up of swooning teenage girls) and to my sadistic pleasure. What can I say, I'm a small, petty man. Moreover, at this point the MCs gave away 5 toques to the crowd and the audience went ballistic. Considering these toques cost the organizes all of $5 (or free considering they had Rogers plastered all over them) this either shows that (a) Chinese people are crazy cheap, (b) the MCs really knew how to hype up the crowd, or (c) free shit makes everyone go bat shit insane, no matter how banal.

Anyway, after a short break the second round started, and the final 4 singers got a chance to sing another song - but since the elimination process was so random the quality was just as up and down as the first half. Man, thank god I had someone to talk to at the show. After the four singers performed, Jason Chan came onstage and the crowd became a wall of teenage shrieks. While as a singer he easily stood miles ahead of the local-born talent, as a performer it was pretty easy to tell he wasn't having fun. First off, he was stiff as a board and made very little effort to get into the show, unlike the talent show performers who really gave their hearts and souls into their act. I don't really blame him though, as coming from HK he's probably used to a few thousand people attending his show...a few hundred in Montreal didn't really seem to cut it for him. Secondly, he sang all of three songs, to a pre-recording no less. Man, this whole thing reminded me of karaoke.

Finally as the show came to an end, the final four were brought out and judged by a panel. Interestingly, the guy who I thought would win came in third and the guy who I thought sucked came in first. I guess I have no taste in Cantonese pop. Damn. Even funnier though was the girl who came in 4th place. Once they announced the winner she stormed off stage. Sweetie, you might be pretty and all, but you gotta learn to hold a note...sorry. Again, I'm a very bad man.

Overall though, reflecting back on the experience the whole thing seemed so surreal. Here I was in a fully Cantonese/Mandarin-speaking concert not being able to speak either language well. Looking to the bartender, coat-check, or ticket vendor for comfort I realize I'm in Montreal, a French-speaking city...again a language I can't speak. In a strange ironic way, I felt simultaneously wholly Chinese and wholly non-Chinese at the exact same time.

Asian Canadian research comes to Concordia

2008-10-20T13:19:00.000-07:00

So this last weekend at Concordia was amazing for Asian Canadian research. On Thursday, Sean Metzger from Duke University presented the first lecture for The Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Society and Culture entitled: "Unsuitable Bodies or What Happens When Jackie Chan Performs James Brown." While I still sometimes scratch my head at Film Studies (ironic considering I love doing movie reviews) and Cultural Studies his analysis of 'The Tuxedo' and what it reveals in regards to identity politics in America was certainly interesting.

The next day (and completely unrelated) the Concordia Faculty of Fine Arts presented two concurrent exhibitions. The first was a tribute to Norman Bethune (part of a city-wide homage to the good pinko doctor) which not only reinstated the now pigeon-free Bethune statue back on Guy and deMaisonneuve, but also showcased several busts from China (hero worship is something we do quite well), a series of photographs of him from the 1930s, and a few cultural revolution propaganda posters. Wow. Interestingly, I've got a half-finished Norman Bethune graphic novel script from six months ago (I started as they took down the old statue) and if you've got a drawing hand and don't mind drawing a Montreal-born white boy with bunch of dirty commies, we can talk.

Secondly, was the opening of Crossing Cultures and Rearranging Desires an art exhibit done by four Asian Canadian artists followed by a symposium the next day on thinking about and challenging culturally-specific work. The art was great considering my non-art-savvy perspective (I obviously don't know much as I consider throwing yourself into a crowd of people while screaming into a microphone good fun. I do however have a membership to the musee de beuxs-arts so I can at least feign coolness) ranging from tofu in jello, to a fashion show cleverly named "Yellow Apparel." Love it.

The symposium too was really good, and very relevant to my research. Sadly, I missed a fat chunk of the session entitled "Questioning Cultural Authenticity" which could very well have been my M.A. thesis title. In all fairness though, I had to run off to the Festival Nouveau Cinema to catch the Korean film "The Good, The Bad, The Weird." Review coming soon (but in a nutshell, it was great).

Scurrying back I was able to catch the final session, an artist round table. Following that I was able to chat with Karen Tam, an interesting and very cool Chinese Canadian Quebecois artist (now doing her PhD in London) about her work and ideas. As a funny little side note, Heather from New Voices actually clued me in onto Karen's work as when she was in Vancouver doing a guest lecture at UBC, she was able to check out tour exhibit at Gallery Gachet (sadly, I was in Montreal when this show was happening and wasn't able to see before it was taken down - heck I wasn't even able to make it to my own book launch!).

All of these events really helped convince me that, while not as big as it is in Vancouver, the Montreal Asian Canadian community is alive and kicking. As I've argued, the Quebec context of the Asian Canadian experience is unique and while the debates about the cultural difference between Asian Canadian and Asian American - the Quebec immigrant experience stands radically different than either of the two. Man, I'm so glad I moved out here.

Record Lows in Canadian Election

2008-10-16T12:33:00.000-07:00

My friend Amanda sent me this link:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canadavotes/story/2008/10/15/voter-turnout.html?ref=rss.

Turns out we've hit record lows for voter turnout for the Canadian election, and while volunteering at Elections Canada I literally experienced this on the ground. I actually did the math and a whopping 24.9% of my poll (Poll 22 in Westmount-Ville-Marie) actually made it out which is painfully embarassing. Moreover, after finding out that Harper got himself even more seats all the NDP and Liberal scrutineers at the voting station went out for drinks and got ripped. Hey we might not see eye-to-eye in terms of party politics, but we're certainly brothers-in-arms against a common foe. As one NDPer said, "I haven't been this depressed since Hamas won."

Personally I'm not terribly choked that Harper won. I mean I'm upset, but back in high school I was crazy conservative and I guess some of that leaked out (which is good because otherwise I'd be drunk in a ditch with the others). Now don't get me wrong, I feel the man is the wrong person for the job but he isn't an idiot and we ought to thank god for small mercies. Moreover, he has a minority government and the NDP did grow a little bit (although my candidate lost). Finally, as my dad said, "hey if its inevitable then we ought to look on the bright side," and to be fair, Harper would be good financially for my family considering the role capital gains taxes has played in our family in the last few years. So yes, from a financial perspective I think its not a terrible thing - and generally I'm a centerist on economic issues.

But that said, I think Harper in a majority had the potential to be disasterous for the social sphere - and even now in a minority may still very well be. But I'm no fortune teller. So as it stands all we can do is hold our breath and keep fighting to good fight. Perhaps though, our biggest enemy (moreso than right wingnuts) is voter indifference and a good portion of the population not even bothing to vote I now have the right to tell 41% of the population to "shut the fuck up" when they start complaining.

I was talking to my buddy Mike the day before elections and even he said he wasn't going to vote. Now while I don't agree with his politics, I still wanted him to vote, and when he said there wasn't anyone who he really agreed with, I told him, thats fine, vote for yourself. Or don't mark any of the names. Or go into the booth amd chew on your ballot. Any of these is still legitimate in my mind, and the fact that people can't even give 5-10 minutes ever 4 years for our democratic process (no matter where you stand) is even more embarassing, sad and pathetic than voting for a Conservative.

This made me laugh...

2008-10-16T09:19:00.001-07:00

Partisans, Politics and Poker Games: My Thoughts After my CBC Interview

2008-10-11T22:25:00.000-07:00

I’m going to just come out and say it. I’m a fan of partisan media. Even if taken to its logical extreme (Fox News) I’m still a fan of it. As a matter of fact I’m a fan of Fox News. I mean seriously have you ever watched it? Its insane! And in all honesty, its much, much funnier than the Comedy Network. As well, I have no problem with people watching junk like Fox if that’s where they want to go to get their news. Really, it’s a free country. If that’s what they want then who am I to stop them.

Moreover on the flip side of right-wing pundits shows like the O’Reilly Factor, we get liberal-tinged comedy shows like the Daily Show or the Colbert Report or to a much lesser extent CNN or MSNBC (so the right wingnuts say…I happen to think they’re pretty balanced but then again I’m a looney lefty). Nonetheless, all of these shows are American and I recently stopped to scratch my head and wonder why I follow what’s going on in the US more than in what’s going on in Canada. Its pretty sad that I can name more American politicians than Canadian ones (probably close to a scale of 5-to-1).

So what is it about American politics that’s so interesting? It can’t be that their politicians are any more interesting than our own, I mean rather than two parties, we’ve actually got at least 5 parties competing in our upcoming election, and if anything it should be much more gripping. So what’s the problem? My answer is media in Canada is boooooorrrriiinnggg. Fox News, CNN, the Daily Show are all glitz and glam and news is a spectacle down in the states, and man I eat it up readily and willingly. And I have no problems with that and as a matter of fact, if anything else, turning news into a circus show could only attract more people to watch it. Imagine, more people watching the news. It’s the stuff of dreams man.

Moreover, could you imagine if we had a Canadian version of Jon Stewart (and don’t say Rick Mercer, because for this idea to work we need someone funny)? I’m convinced that with a charismatic, funny and most importantly, entertaining news outlet that’s biting and satirical more Canadian youth would actually want to follow Canadian politics. And in my mind that’s the ultimate goal, to get more Canadians interest in their own politics regardless of where they stand politically. And my (albeit simple) answer to this is partisan media.

This idea really hit home for me when I was sitting in the CBC building a few days ago on a panel about undecided voters. The problem with Canadian media is that it’s not okay to take sides or to expose your bias. While we all know that the various Canadian media outlets do lean in one direction or another, its kept much more hush-hush than down South. And this illusion of neutrality tricks people who are unaware about the politics of their media and believe that what they read may indeed be unbiased.

Moreover this illusion of neutrality has convinced many people to remain very reserved about issues of the utmost importance. I’ll give you an example from my experience on the CBC. When talking to the first two people on the panel, each spoke about ‘the parties I’m considering’ or ‘my potential candidate.’ When it came to me I came out and blatantly said ‘I’m thinking about the NDP or the Liberals depending on who I think can fight back a Conservative majority.’ And man, the look on their faces was hilarious. They were shocked and amazed that I had actually said who I was thinking about voting for instead of a vague obscure reference to ‘the parties I’m considering.’ It was like I had exposed my hand after the first round of betting at a poker table. And even after I did dropped the bomb, the two still spoke in veiled jargon because it seemed ‘improper’ to speak frankly about the issues. While yes, I understand some people like to keep that kind of information to themselves (totally fine, it’s a free country), this is a radio show panel and if I come onto a show to do a bit about undecided voters, then it’s important to look at what’s going on in the head of undecided voters. And if we’re looking at what undecided voters are thinking about, then we need to look at their options concretely.

Coming back to my poker analogy, I actually think the news media have the whole thing backwards. Politics and political coverage should not be a hidden poker hand, it should be fully exposed so everyone can see who holds what cards so we, as voters, can make an informed decision. If we cling our cards to our chest then we run the risk of tossing our chips in on a bluff. And while that might be suitable at a poker table, it is NOT the way we should be selecting our political leaders.

Gandhi's a 'Minor Threat'

2008-10-06T15:52:00.000-07:00

As an high school punk kid and straight edger I pledged all my loyalty and belongings to Ian McKaye. I found out about this video and found it surreal, ironic and hilarious at the same time...if not just downright strange.

Moreover, from all the videos I've watched on YouTube of 'Minor Threat' performing, Ian McKaye hardly ever sang...as seen in this video below. Check out 0:20. He's just standing there staring at the crowd. Oh and check out that mosh pit man. Ri-donk-ulous.

Comic Review: Powers

2008-09-17T11:46:00.000-07:00

Powers

Now that my thesis is done, I can sit down and really sink my teeth into some good comics. My buddy Rami let me borrow 11 books of Brian Bendis and Michael Oeming's Eisner award-winning 'Powers.' Now I'm going to be blunt, when I see anything that says 'award winning' I buy into it. I love that shit, I don't want to waste my time and if something at least received an award, that means somebody out there liked it good enough to toss it a bone. On the flip side, I'm really critical of anything award winning because I expect it to be phenomenal.

The storyline for 'Powers' is pretty clever and certainly its innovative. Basically, it takes place in a world where superheroes are a daily occurrence are given licenses and regulated by the government as they fight against renegade super powered villains. Set against this backdrop are 'Christian Walker' and 'Deena Pilgrim,' two homicide detectives who specifically investigate the death of people with super powers.

As a superhero comic 'Powers' is a forced to be reckoned with. Not only does it take the standard comic book and flip it on its head (looking at heroes from the bottom up, rather than from the top down) but it also challenges them by focusing on oft unspoken elements of the superhero genre. What do I mean by this? If superheroes did exist, could you imagine how media crazed we common fold would be about them? It'd be like Lohan and Spears on crack. As well, if you were a hero, wouldn't you capitalize on your brand and make a fat ton of cash? Or, since heroes are just as human as anyone else, what would you do about the insane amount of people of the opposite sex throwing themselves at you?

Stalker fans, Capitalist branding and horny groupie sex are just the tip of the ice burg of Bendis and Oeming's book and just as much as these comics are a commentary on the superhero genre, they easily extend into a social critique of ourselves living in modern society. Moreover, its unapologetic in its slinging around of violence, swearing and nudity to hammer its point down in as realistic a means as possible. Far beyond shocking (as most comics use these for) it become simply fitting in the overall writing of the project.

The art too is simply astounding. Reading an interview the two tried hard to move as far away from the standard comic book cover art. This includes common stereotypes like the hero flying 'out' of the page, or a cinematic fight sequence to lure the reader into wanting more. Instead, covers of 'Powers' have paid homage to The Beatles's 'White Album', pulp film posters, and even E! Online's website. As I mentioned before, the comic is consistently innovative not just in it writing but in its art.

While as a book on superheroes the story like does wonders, as a detective comic the plots of the several trade paperbacks (which encompass the various story arcs) seem kind of lackluster. The villains are far from interesting, the 'mystery' we are hoping to solve often fall flat onto cliche, and the reader is never really challenged. A lot of the time the endings of the stories are solved in blitz and whirl of events in the last few scenes, often coming straight of left field in a kind of deus ex machina sort of way, and to be frank, a lot of the times it feels like cheating. Unlike other cop dramas, we get no hints or clues that we can decipher on our own, but are served all the answers on a plate when the writer is good and ready.

But perhaps the flaw is my own. I approached this comic as a detective comic first and a superhero comic second, which really isn't the case. In fact it isn't even a superhero comic first, it is first and foremost clever social commentary, secondly a novel and interesting take on superheroes, and third (and only as an afterthought) it is a crime story. If understood in that context, these books are solid gold.

Thesis is DONE!

2008-09-14T12:17:00.000-07:00

After rougly 67 hours of no sleep/straight work my M.A. thesis is finished, revised, submitted and accepted. No matter how much time Iplan and work ahead of time, things always comes down to the last minute for me. Now if you'll excuse me, I plan on sleeping until next Friday.

The Young Turks

2008-09-12T02:07:00.000-07:00

Okay, I've been looking for a good way to find my news for a while. While I love watching CNN, I just don't have access to it in Montreal and I can't really be bothered to slog though tons of online articles on a daily basis (although if I had the time I totally would). Enter 'The Young Turks' an extremly progressive (i.e. liberal) podcast that I just found out about that (in my opinion) blows John Stewart out of the water. Don't get me wrong, I love John Stewart, and Stephen Colbert, but man, Cenk Uygur the host of this show is ferocious, and I love it.

Moreover he's smart (an ex-lawyer, not an actor), is totally indie media (not owned/controlled by a major media conglomerate), and pulls no punches. He's what you get when you mix of a radio sports caster and heavy-handed political pundit. I even appreciatethe fact that he was an ex-conservative and is more than willing to concede on right-wing points if they tend to make sense. This is a good example of the stuff the good work they do over there, and literally after watching it I paid for a subscription.

Movie Review: Who is KK Downey?

2008-09-09T21:04:00.000-07:00

Who is KK Downey?

Hipsters watching hipsters hate on hipsters. That’s more or less the movie in a nutshell, but I say that in the best way possible, especially since I probably fall into that first category (save for the fact that I don’t dress well, have never done drugs, and I try as much as possible not to be condescending). Having passed over ‘KK Downey’ at Fantasia I immediately regretted my decision when I asked Cedric how the film was and his simple response was, ‘hilarious.’ Damn, after days and days of watching horror and thriller films I really could have used a good comedy. While I can admit my mistakes, I’m not necessarily one to repeat them so when I saw that there was going to be some special screenings of ‘KK’ at the AMC Forum I immediately took the chance to rectify my mistake.

Now, despite the fact that I got a glowing response from Cedric, going into the movie I still had very little knowledge about what the film was about, other than the fact that it was funny. Briefly, the story is about two childhood friends (Theo and Terrence) who are scenesters that want to make it big. Theo has just competed his three-year project, a book entitled ‘Truck Stop Hustler’ and Terrence tries as hard as possible to get his punk band off the ground. Both find themselves at a dead end, as Theo’s book won’t get picked up as publishers claim, ‘nobody wants to read a book about a tortured male prostitute written by some fat suburban white kid.’ And Terrence? Well he’s just not very good at anything, and worse, his ex-girlfriend is dating an arrogant music reviewer with as ego as big as his own. At their wits end, Terrence comes up with the perfect plan to make it in the world; he will pretend to be the character of Theo’s book, KK Downey, mimicking the infamous hoax by J.T. Leroy. Immediately the book becomes a bestseller, critiquing the image over substance nature of popular culture. As the story progresses their plan digs them deeper and deeper in trouble as secrets are revealed not only about their plan, but also about each other.

Overall the movie was fantastic. The scriptwriting was tight, the jokes were well-timed and the moral of the story was well executed without being preachy. Even more impressive though was that for the team that put the film together, Montreal locals Kidnapper Films, this was their first feature length movie, and all necessary kudos go to them for such a successful project. Indeed they’ve already begun winning awards at Cinequest and Boston’s Underground Film festival, and for a film that was literally edited in the producer’s mother’s basement, this is some achievement.

A special word should be said about the fantastic score to the film. With 18 songs from local independent artists (the film starts out blazing with a song by ‘Duchess Says’) I found myself scrambling for a pen and paper during the credits to scribble down the names of all the artists. Not only was the music fitting to the film, it easily elevated it, grabbing the audience face and dragging them through the storyline.

All compliments aside, there certainly were several areas where the film could have improved. While most of the time the acting was spot on, at others it was unconvincing and broke the spell that the otherwise tight dialogue had over me. The storyline too had a few plot holes that I struggled with. The first is, when Terrence is dressed as KK Downey and tries to woo back his girlfriend its impossible to laugh out when she doesn’t recognize him. It’s kind of like a Clark Kent syndrome where all it takes is a pair of glasses for nobody to recognize you through your disguise. As well, when the hoax is finally exposed, nobody seems to mind and everyone gets on with their day as if nothing had happened. I don’t’ know about you, but if I had found out Kurt Kobain was really a rich kid faking the whole ‘grunge-thing’ to make a quick buck, I’d be pretty pissed off. And hell, I don’t even like Kurt Kobain!

Perhaps the most regrettable part of the movie though, is that in the first half of the film, they introduce so many interesting characters. There’s the sleazy publisher played by ‘Fubar’s Paul Spence. There’s Terrence’s waspy parents who give him everything he asks for, and his snotty sarcastic brother. And there’s a crazy groupie for their punk band who is lovingly referred to as ‘the cum depository.’ All characters are hilarious in their own right but once the plot picks up, they are all dropped and left at the wayside, only having cameo appearance every now and then. This is unfortunate not only because they wasted so much time building up such interesting characters, but also because of the potential each of them could have had in making the movie funnier and even more entertaining.

Looking past the criticisms though, this movie is an indie gem. At its core is a heartfelt story about friendships and relationships and the corruptibility of stardom, fame and power. As a social critique of popularity, it does a pretty good job and ironically, unlike the characters in their film, these twenty-something year old filmmakers deserve to make it big and have worked hard on a piece of work that they should certainly be proud of.

God hates pop punk

2008-09-09T08:09:00.000-07:00

That's the only reasoning I can think of for the recent break up of 'The Ergs' and 'Chinese Telephones' - two of the best indie pop punk bands touring right now. If 'The Copyrights' fall apart this week as well I'm officially revoking my atheist stance and worshipping Satan.

Oh and it turns out both bands are playing 'The Fest 7' in Gainsville Florida for their final show. Taking up a collection now. Road trip anyone?

edit: OMG, 'Atom and His Package' are playing a one-off reunion show at the Fest as well. I'm serious now...start sending me them cheques...

Upcoming Event: The Public Defender (1931)

2008-09-07T15:36:00.000-07:00

I'm helping my friend Phillip flyer for an event he's running and I figure it wouldn't hurt to throw something up online as well. Phil runs 'Cine Club' which screens films from his private collection. He's an avid collector of film reels and movies that haven't been released on video or DVD (he tells me they start at $200! My god that's an expensive hobby). As well Phil is a movie director and directed the film The Descendant.

Anyway the film he's screening this Friday (September 12th) is 1931's 'The Public Defender.'

"'The Public Defender' stars Richard Dix and Boris Karloff (Frankenstein). A millionaire playboy takes it upon himself to clandestinely punish criminals while leaving behind a mysterious calling card with a distinct symbol, signed 'The Reckoner.' The mystery avenger also has an older assistant named 'the Professor' (Karloff) who lives with him in his large mansion and performs criminal research for him."

Its also kinda cool to to note that Bob Kane released the first Batman comic in 1939, nearly a decade later. Anyway, I'll probably write a review, but considering this movie hasn't been released anywhere so far, I really suggest checking it out if you're in the Montreal area (and tell me if you are so we can go together!). Here's a link to the details, but for simplicity:

The Public Defender
September 12th, 2008
9:30 @ Cinema du Parc

CD Review: No Harm Done - Escape

2008-09-04T10:46:00.000-07:00

No Harm Done - Escape

I'm generally not a fan of straight edge music. While I used to pretty adamantly champion straight edge beliefs, after a certain age you stop being a 'Straight Edger' and simply a 'dude who doesn't like to smoke, drink or do drugs'. Moreover, sXe music was rooted in East Coast hardcore which, growing up as a West Coast pop punker, never really resonated with me. Melodic hardcore, however, was always that happy medium that I could really get into.

Enter 'No Harm Done' who merge the bits of sXe hardcore that I loved (the anthemic chanting) and poppy melodic hardcore sensibilities. As other reviewers have noted, these guys sound something like 'post-reunion Lifetime' and I'd add that they falls into the same category as the first two Rise Against CDs (read: the good ones).

Moreover these young Florida kids (while I'm not exactly sure, they can't really be that much older than twenty) compose music as if they were much older. Already on their third CD, 'Escape' moves them is a very good direction and their travel roster is already pretty impressive. Musically, the layered riffs are catchy, the breakdowns are solid and the the songwriting is well done. From the beginning of the disc the listener is rewarded with chourusy chants, starting the CD off with 'This is my escape!' Throughout the rest of the CD we get similar sing-along mosh pit favorites like the chorus in the song 'Festivus Yes Bagels No' which chants 'Fuck your glory days!'

Moreover, songs like 'Throwing Bricks' win me over not only for its tight integration of songwriting and music ('Everything I know/Everything I love/Just comes and goes') but also because it ends with a 'Home Alone' quote, which admittedly had the potential of being pretty cheesy, actually fit really well into the song.

The CD isn't without it criticism though, and when listened to from top to bottom gets pretty monotonous and repetitive. The key, I found is to listen to them either as singles or mixed into a shuffle. On their own each song stands on its own, but ironically when put together just gets tired. However, these kids are young, really young, and if I was pumping out music as good as this I'd be pretty damn proud of myself, as these guys should be.

Moreover, their entire CD is posted at the link above. Since its free, you really don't have a reason not to try it out. Just hit play as you read your e-mail.

Comic Review - AWOL'd

2008-09-03T10:32:00.000-07:00

AWOL'd

As if trying to review movie and music isn't enough, I'm going to add comics into the fray. Having just come back from FanExpo 2008 in Toronto I dropped something to the tune of $150 strictly on independant comics on 'Artists' Row' in a passionate desire to support the local comic scene. And in all honesty, it wasn't nearly enough to get all the stuff I wanted, but I did get to meet a ton of cool people ranging from artists and writers, to colorists and owners of publishing companies.

So starting things off is Jason Loo's 'AWOL'd,' a story about three street kids who are forcefully recruited to serve as top secret government agents. They are genetically modified and trained to be perfect killers, but resent their captivity and eventually escape. They are tracked by their previous boss as they try to forge a new life for themselves and are constantly on the run.

Right off the bat one can find easy links to Grant Morrison's 'We3' not only in the fact that there are three main characters who are government runaways, but also in the innocence of the protagonists and their unfortunate use of violence. It would be unfair to compare Loo's artwork to Frank Quietly, but this isn't to say that his work is bad. Quite the opposite. Considering that 'AWOL'd' doesn't have an ISBN number, I can only assume that this was independently put together which, when looking at his artwork, makes this book very impressive. Moreover, he uses interesting writing mediums to bridge each chapter and progress the storyline - brief e-mails to explain month long periods of time (a cool reference to Douglas Coupland's Microserfs). He even starts off the book with a great 'suggest listening' track list which includes Sparta, Glassjaw and Rival Schools. I'm not going to lie, this easily sold me on wanting to read more.

The writing of the book, however, is somewhat forced. Events happen at breakneck speeds leaving the reader confused as to whats going on. For example, we only find out later in the storyline that two of the three heroes are romantically involved with each other. What the? How did we get from being friends on the run to sleeping together? I always find that the beauty of character development is in the subtle details and 'AWOL'd' proves this to be true. Its hard to get emotionally attached to these characters when you don't even know their interesting quirks or particularities. Moreover the dialogue is often forced and at one point, Norton (the sniper of the three) shoots someone in the head and through sniffles claims "it stings each time." When the two lovebirds decide to have sex, their friend responds nonchalantly by saying "I'll slit your throats if I see any skeet marks on my pillow." Really? Do we need to toss around dated slang to make the comic seem edgier? I don't know, the dialogue annoyed the hell out of me, which is upsetting because they story at its core is has good direction and an interesting concept.

Where Loo excels I think is in his ability to tell a good action story. The sequences where the three heroes are chased down and must face off against a group of similarly-engineered agents was gripping and very cleverly executed. On top of this, the talents each character brings to a combat situation are interesting and well defined, but not overly hokey. Loo has the ability to draw out a combat scene that is convincing but not dragged out.

While my criticisms of the dialogue and writing are somewhat heavy handed, its important to note that 'AWOL'd,' despite its rocky start, tightens up its writing near the end of the book and leaves the reader with a cliffhanger has us howling for more. Already, Volume 2 already looks to be a lot better, not just because it will help progress an interesting storyline, but because its easy to tell that Loo's writing has already dramatically improved throughout the transition of just this book.

Thesis-ing

2008-09-02T03:38:00.000-07:00

Wow. The last thing I should be doing is blogging right now. My MA thesis is due in 6 hours and I'm still frantically editing. Turns out its pretty difficult to reconcile Socrates, Plato, Heidegger, Adorno, Benjamin, Eco, and Baudrillard.

Who'd a thunk it?

Since I'll probably spend the next few days recoving sleep, I figured I'd just do one quick post. In a few more hours (and a bit of luck) I'll get to add 2 more letters to the end of my name (and make myself even more unemployable than I already am).

On a tangential topic, I've been listening to/watching Alkaline Trio's 'Help Me' music video non-stop as I write and edit. Turns out about 60% of my ideas for a great steampunk movie have been summarized in this 3 minute clip. Crap. Damn you Matt Skiba for your infectiously catchy tunes and overly computer generated music videos.

However, I do like the costumes. Steampunk goggles and leather coifs will always be a fashion obsession of mine.

Movie Review - Home Movie

2008-08-27T08:06:00.000-07:00

Home Movie

Found footage horror movies are becoming ever more popular, with underground hits like 'The Blair Witch Project' kicking off their popularity in the 90s to the recent big budget 'Cloverfield.' Its tough not to compare Denham's 'Home Movie' to [Rec] not only because they both screened at Fantasia but also because they operate in very similar ways. Both come from a 'hand cam' perspective, and both slowly bubble and brew with tension leading up to a gruesome climax at the end of the film. Despite these similarities however, I'll refrain from comparing the two as it would detract from all of the nuanced details that 'Home Movie' had to offer. That, and if this was a contest, [Rec] would simply ruin it.

'Home Movie' begins with a very interesting concept, the Poe family, which consists of David (a pastor), his wife Claire (a psychologist), and their twins Jack and Emily move to a cottage where David proudly films his children during their holiday moments. The problem is, his children are by-the-book psychopaths and the movie is filled with haunting scenes of frogs crushed in vice clamps, and crucified household pets. To keep the movie realistic these shocking scenes last for less than a second on screen as David quickly turns the camera away and begins to scold his children. While this works well to ensure that the movie seems authentic (who would actually film a crucified cat?), it works very poorly in terms of a scary movie experience. The horror scenes of the film are so short that if you blink for a second, you'll have missed all the juicy bits.

Ironically, while the filmmakers try to maintain a degree of realism in the film in terms of the character's reaction to the children, they relax on other elements. For example, the twins move so perfectly silently that they can be in one room in one shot and appear right behind their father the next second. While this works well for the horror element of the movie, it leaves the audience saying 'how the hell did that just happened?' and while movie tries to balance 'realism' and shock horror together, it falls apart as it laxly meanders between the two.

The film isn't terrible though, and the premise is still pretty clever as the parents who slowly come to realize their kids are actually devil children (and not just snottly little brats) each go about curing them in their own way. David turns to religion as he attempts to exorcise the two while his wife turns to science and prescribes them heavy duty drugs. Near the end of the movie Jack and Emily actually even seem cured are we are asked to wonder which of the two 'saved' the children.

But in the end, neither worked and the kids prove to be not only more devious than their parents realized, but much much more malicious. While the overall idea of the film is good, the inattention to detail and lack of any real 'scare' make it a mediocre watching. Chatting with people at Fantasia over the next few weeks, it seems I'm not the only person who came out of the theatre with a lackluster sense of satisfaction or entertainment.

Concert Review - Teenage Bottlerocket

2008-08-26T16:44:00.000-07:00

I really should be working on my thesis or marking final exams but I decided to put those on standby and pump out my first post-vacation blog.

The vacation started with Al and I leaving Montreal on August 16th to help my friend Kash move to Toronto. Moreover, I had a more underhanded reason in driving for 7 hours to the black hole of Canada as Teenage Bottlerocket were performing that evening. After settling down at my uncle's house after the big move, Al decided to go for dinner with our friend Brian instead of coming to the concert. I was all prepped to go by myself but my uncle offered to come with me and I was pretty stoked; bringing my 50 year old uncle to a punk rock venue is definitely my idea of a good time. Moreover I pitched the band to him by saying "they sound like the Ramones."

Unfortunately, I missed all the openers because the bouncer at the front didn't believe I was 25 years old and I didn't think to bring my passport to a punk rock show. So after a few back and forth trips from West Bloor to Queen Street I was able to make it back just in time to catch the headliners.

Now since my CD review of 'Warning Device' was pretty glowing I had high expectations for the band...and boy did they deliver. Each song was pumped out with such tight and succinct pop-punk goodness that even the most snooty music elitist couldn't help but bob their head to their catchy riffs. Even better, they played an even number of recognizable favorites from earlier CDs (such as 'Radio') and plenty of new songs from 'Warning Device' (such as 'In the Basement' and 'Pacemaker'). In all fairness any pop-punk band gets pretty annoyingly common after a few songs (there's only so many things you can do with 3 chords) but the shared vocals between the guitarists made it just interesting enough so that the set didn't get boring. However, the band played into pop-punk musical stereotypes as the drummer chanted "1, 2, 3, 4" before every single song. Really funny at first, but annoying as the set progressed.

On a plus side though, Teenage Bottlerocket played a single from their upcoming split with The Ergs and to my amused surprise they cover 'Having a Blast' by Green Day which more or less had me re-living grade 8 over and over again (in a good way). I definitely wasn't the only one singing along.

Sadly, like the Kap Bambino show, such a great band was welcomed to Canada by a lukewarm audience. Toronto I'm ashamed of you. Moreover, while I can somewhat forgive Montreal for not having a lot of people of color represented in its audience (reasonable accommodation is racism) I see no reason why a punk audience in a multicultural city like TO had only a 25 year old kid from Montreal and his 50 year old uncle as the only non-white people in the crowd. Okay, maybe it wasn't that bad, but considering how many Asian people populate the GTA I really expected more. I guess most of the hipsters where out watching Radiohead (who also played that night). Psh. I'll take 'Bloodbath at Burger King' over 'Creep' any day of the week.

Back Home

2008-08-25T20:38:00.000-07:00

I'm finally back in Montreal (I got off the bus 30 minutes ago). While I love to travel, being on my feet for 15 days is a bit exhausting and getting back on a schedule (and more importantly, regular internet access) is a welcome change. Tons of stuff to talk about. New York was great. FanExpo was a ton of fun. And visiting with cousins (things like walking Jenna to Math Camp in the morning) tops the list of 'reasons to move to Toronto.'

Moreover, I bought tons of indie comics from local artists in Toronto. Reviews coming soon.

(Oh yeah, and I've got this thing called a 'thesis' I need to finish)

New York City!

2008-08-17T06:15:00.001-07:00

I'm in New York today and I totally forgot I had no place booked for the 16th (today) as I thought we would be coming in on the 17th up until last week and then lost track of time and didn't book a hostel.

So I ended up tagging along with some random Filipino man I met on the bus and sleeping on his couch on the Upper East Side. If I don't update in a few days I'm probably raped and dead in a ditch in New York City. Oh well, it could be worse...I could be raped and dead in a ditch in Toronto.

On the plus side, we went to a Chinese-Mexican restaurant on 62nd street which was delicious. CHINESE-MEXICAN. Insane! Even for a guy who does research on hybridity and restaurants.

Eatery Evaluation - Senzala

2008-08-13T20:58:00.000-07:00

Senzala

Perhaps one of the most well known brunch locations in Montreal, 'Senzala' offers amazing Brazillian cuisine in a warm, homely atmosphere. Located in Mile End, the restuarant offers much in terms of unique and interesting cuisine. As a vegetarian its generally difficult to find a good brunch that isn't simply eggs and toast so to be offered something as delicious as poached eggs in mango (or avocado) topped with tomato sauce is simply a treat. While the portions weren't enough to fill me up, the simple fact that you can't find these dishes anywhere else in Montreal is reason enough to try it out. Moreover, the food is fantastic and the price is somewhat reasonable. Oh yeah, and a really pretty waitress too, that never hurts.

Hats off to Jujie

2008-08-11T09:31:00.000-07:00

Yesterday as I was hanging out with my buddy Martin before he disappeared to Amsterdam to finish his M.Sc. we happened across a TV screen showing the Olympics, and lo and behold, I saw one of my old coaches Jujie Luan fencing in Women's Foil. Amazing considering the fact that she's 50 years old with three kids. As a matter of fact, Jujie is kind of a legend in China. The first time that the PRC were part of the Olympics in 1984 in L.A. Jujie was one of the first Chinese athletes to ever win a gold medal for China. She later retired and moved to Edmonton where she was good friends with my Vancouver fencing coach Roy Suzuki, and we would often go to her house to visit her whenever she ran fencing workshops. She even took us to the bank where she pulled her gold medal out of the safety deposit box to show us. Man, those things are heavy, it practically broke my neck.

As I'm pretty good with kids I remember playing with her two daughters and son a lot back when they were kids since Paul, Mike and Jeremy were pretty much content hanging out in her basement listening to music and chatting. I remember her six year old Jerrica was really outgoing had a crush on me which was kind of cute and her other daughter Jessica had Down's syndrome. Her son was kind of quiet, but I won him over by giving him most of my Halloween candy which made him open up to me a bit.

Anyway, Jujie won the first bout she was fighting pretty easy which made me really happy, but then we had to leave so I didn't know what happened next. Turns out she lost her next bout to Aida Mohamed the 7th ranked fencer in the world who's nearly half her age. Moreover, she practically showed all of Mohamed's technical weaknesses to the other competitors so I'm guessing future fencers will play a much more aggressive game against her as Jujie lost playing a bit too much defense.

Moreover in China Jujie is like freaking Paris Hilton, hounded by the press everywhere she goes. Indeed, I read that they study her in school as a Chinese hero, they made a movie about her life, and the last time I was in China I saw a statue of her in Beijing. Yao Ming might be big (literally) but this woman is legend and the fact that she lost at the 2008 Olympics does not dampen her aura. Rather, a 50 year old mother of three coming out of retirement to fight one more time in her home country simply adds a finishing touch to an already grand storyline.

The Legend of Neil

2008-08-10T10:59:00.000-07:00

Well, after watching the sensation of 'Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog' I decided to really delve into the world of Internet TV shows. While there are a ton of well known staples like 'The Guild' and 'Street Fighter: The Later Years', there are also a bunch of mediocre shows like 'Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show.' While 'Street Fighter' took a nosedive in its final episodes (the show ended up being a total letdown) 'Gorgeous Tiny' rehashes the same jokes over and over again. Moreover, while I wanted to like it (as I generally try to support any Asian American project), it just rehashes the same 'poke fun at our accent' jokes that get tired and for me (as a researcher who does work on race) raises questions as to what exactly are we supposed to be laughing at? Is it its corny humor or the fact that she can't speak English clearly? Anyway, its not like Asian Canadian initiatives are any better. Just about every VACT project that I've gone to see does the exact same thing (granted I've been gone for two year) and I've been a loyal supporter since its inception. Oh what I would do for some intelligent race comedy.

Which takes me to 'The Legend of Neil' created, written and directed by Sandeep Parikh. Like 'Street Fighter:TLY' its a video game spoof, this time of 'The Legend of Zelda' where a drunk Neil is teleported into the game in search of the princess. While uncertain at first about this project (having been burned before by video game spoofs) it easily wins the (generally male) gaming crowd over with entertaining banter.

Neil: A princess? is she hot?
Old man: She's fuckable. A seven...seven and a half. Although you're probably a six, closer to a five.

While it isn't anywhere near critical race comedy I talked about earlier, it briefly touches on some of these issues in a light-hearted way as Neil is dumbfounded when he finds out that Zelda is black. While just starting (its currently only on episode 3) the writing so far seems tight, and its pretty well cast (its kinda funny seeing Felicia Day as an insane horny pixie). While I don't want to hype it up for myself the way I did for 'Street Fighter' and then get let down, already its better than a lot of its contemporaries. Moreover, as Colin pointed out to me when I introduced him to the show, we see the phrase 'bag of dicks' used as much as it should.

Concert Review - Kap Banbino

2008-08-09T12:33:00.000-07:00

Dear Montreal,

I don't really know what you were doing the evening of August 8th. Perhaps you were re-watching the Olympic Opening ceremonies for the third time. Or perhaps you were watching 'Pineapple Express.' It doesn't matter. Where you should have been was at Zoobizzare where a small electro/punk outfit named Kap Bambino for a measly $5. Moreover, the room had about 50 people in it. Really Montreal, what were you thinking?

Unlike other bands in this genre ('Duchess Says' and 'Crystal Castles' come to mind) these two are far from being arrogant jerks (I've heard on several accounts that Crystal Castles are dicks, not to mention the fact that they bite chiptune artists without giving cred...just like Timbaland!). Anyway, they arrived early to the venue and hung out with the crowd, drinking, chatting, etc. Amanda got really excited because she actually got to talk to the guy in the band and tell him how great she thought they were and he just smiled and said 'merci'. Moreover, when the opening band took the stage, Quebec based Pedo Pedro et ses Enfant, the lead singer of 'Kap Bambino' was the first up to the front of the stage and was the only one dancing. Wait, a touring band taking the time to check out and dance to the local opener? Unheard of! Wow, we've already established that these two are really nice people, but what about their show?

While it took a long ass time for 'Kap Bambino' to take the stage after 'Pedo Pedro' left, it was totally worth the wait. Lead singer Caroline Martial took the stage dressed as Alex deLarge from 'A Clockwork Orange' and quickly began shaking erratically as the music got louder and louder. As the show began the energy the two brought to the venue was amazing as Martial screamed into the mic and pitched it at a wall, crawled on the ground, dived headfirst into the crowd, and forced the people around her to lift her high enough so she could walk on the roof. Really, I can't even make this stuff up. The crowd was ready and willing to bend to her whim and even though it was a small venue with a small crowd, everyone was dancing (well me and Amanda stood on chairs and watched in awe). At points the whole room felt like a mosh pit.

Stage antics aside, the music was solid. The DJ, Orion Bouvier was consistently on the ball and responded to Martial's antics by speeding up, slowing down or simply filling time as she jumped around and even danced on tables. In all fairness though the show did have a lot of technical difficulties as sound quality dipped and wavered throughout. At one point the sound just stopped entirely leaving the band onstage mouthing the words 'what the fuck' to the sound tech in the back as he scrambled to fix the issue, leaving us with a good 5 minutes of nothingness. All in all though, the show was beyond amazing and I was expecting a ton more people to show up. Moreover, I was kinda expecting the crowd to be filled with hipsters but instead was pleasantly surprised that instead we were rocking it out with fat dudes and balding men. Hipster free dancing means good times. It was so good infact that I'll probably go check them out in New York on the 16th. There'll probably be a ton more people at that show, filled with snooty fashionistas, but really, these guys totally deserve a jam-packed crowd and unquestioningly put on a great party.

Robby on the Radio 2

2008-08-07T15:00:00.000-07:00

So I'm back on the CBC again! This time I'll be part of a live roundtable discussing the Olympics. After my visit in China I wrote a paper on the upcoming Beijing Olympics and its relationship with tourism, linking it to the social construction of 'authenticity.' I even presented my research at the Canadian Sociological Association annual meeting in Vancouver this year so I'm very excited about talking about my research again.

I think I'll be on at 12:30 (EST) on Radio Canada International.

Movie Reivews - What We Do is Secret

2008-08-04T15:59:00.000-07:00

What we do is Secret

August 8th, 2008 (08/08/08) is a pretty significant day, not only does it mark the beginning of the Beijing Olympics but also because its the New York opening day for 'What we do is Secret.' While true, its already screened quite a few times (myself having seen it at Fantasia) the whole coordinating the imagery of the date and the symbolic circle is pretty cool. The circle, not only represents the Olympic rings, but is also the logo for a little known punk band know as 'The Germs.'

'What we do is Secret' is a biography pic of the generally overlooked late-seventies punk band 'The Germs' focusing specifically on the lead singer Darby Crash. To be fair, I'm not a particular fan of The Germs, not because I don't like their music, but primarily because I don't listen to a lot of 'old school' punk that often (Minor Threat and The Ramones excluded). In all fairness, it wasn't my scene (I wasn't even born yet) and the fact that I can't see a band perform live is really a downer for me. Anyway, enough about me, this is a movie review.

Off the bat, Shane West did a great job representing the late Darby Crash. While his acting is kinda wavering at the beginning of the film and during his interviews, this is made up by the fact that his on-stage representation of Crash is spot on. More than that, West is perhaps a bit too perfect and after watching the movie I took the time to watch some YouTube videos of old Germs performances. Not only were the two similar, the film practically took the old footage and make the movie shot for shot and Crash is copied in both costume and hairstyle, and moreover, is re-created move for move and snarl for snarl. Literally.

The story presented to us though, transcends the standard punk film filled with sex drugs and rock and roll. Certainly there is plenty of that, but the movie is more centered around Crash as a charismatic leader as he takes his newly found band of friends on a joyride across the L.A. cityscape. Their concerts soon become something of legend because of their insane stage performance which normally left any venue smashed to pieces. As a result, bars begin to refuse them and a mythos created.

This isn't to say though that the aura old school punks speak of that surrounded The Germs is unfounded. The film does a fantastic job in really recreating the sound and performance of late70s punk and we even get a bit of Black Flag on the side. That was nice, and even better as I could see Joan lipsyncing the words sitting next to me. At the Q & A someone even mentioned to the director (Rodger Grossman) how great the music was done and he went into detail about the painstaking work he and his team put into making it sound 'authentic.' That being said, I loved the music scenes because of my background in the genre, and my sense was that most of the people in the audience were punkers too. Often though, the music scenes went on for minutes, and while I enjoyed it, for a non-Germs/non-punk fan these scenes would be draggingly long. However, you don't go to a movie about a punk band and not expect to see some stage shows.

Moreover, the music was amazing not only in how well it was recorded for the film, and its accuracy to the source material, but also because the original Germs members, including Foo Fighter's Pat Smear, worked very closely with the actors to ensure their stage performance was spot on, and they also produced much of the music tracks. You can't get any more 'authentic' than that! In fact, West did such a good job as frontman of the band that he was signed on to tour with The Germs on their revival tour. While I did take a few steps back when I saw The Germs playing on a Warped Tour stage on YouTube, the ironly that a film depicting the lives of The Germs led to a 'real life' revival of them makes someone who does his M.A. research on 'authenticity' just plain giddy.

While I've written at length about the music (and lets face it, for a movie about punk the music should be first and foremost) the story and script is just as well put together. While certainly sacrifices had to be made in terms of who was and wasn't represented (while the Germs had several managers, the manager in the movie was a mix of them) a tightly knit story ultimately unfolds as we see the rise and ultimate fall of Darby Crash. Moreover, Grossman does not make The Germs into out-and-out heroes, but instead shows the tensions that developed in the band, and Crash's willingness to take advantage of those who idolized him. At the forefront of this is his relationship between Crash, his boyfriend, and Germs' drummer Rob Henley (Ashton Holmes) and through this we see the jockeying for power ever present in the band and the emergence of Crash's God complex (although everyone he surrounds himself with is always more than willing to follow).

Amazingly, Grossman reminded the crowd how this was a 15 year old labor of love, not only from himself but also his crew and even the Germs themselves. The project was done on such a shoestring budget that every shot had to be used and continuity errors doe to the filming schedule just had to go into the movie. In the end, as a punk bio-pic there is very little one can say against the film, and after listening to the director it is even harder to criticize once we heard about the amount of work he put into it. Ultimately though, it remains just a punk rock film, which isn't necessarily bad thing (as its what you expect to see) but a tighter script and storyline could have easily made this into both a movie about a little known band and an exploration of megalomania. Finally, even among punks, The Germs are not a band you rattle off when you think of early punk, and my fear is that this film may in the end fall into the category of niche market viewing even though it has much more to offer to a wider audience.

When we see the Ocean

Under new management

Comedian of the Week - Old Spice

And the bass start rumbling....

Comedian of the Week - BPGlobalPR

Comedian of the Week - Black 20

2001 is stoked!

Why I love Canadian politics

Comedian of the Week - N*gger Wetb*ack Ch*nk

On watching the Olympics

Band of the Week - Lowtalker

Comedian of the Week - The Onion

After watching CBC's 'Test the Nation' with my roommates...

Comedian of the Week - Bobby Lee

New Podcast Posted

An interesting find: iTunes U

Comedian of the Week - Aziz Ansari

Comedian of the Week 4

To Adrienne and Sophia

Comedian of the Week 3

Comedian of the Week 2

Comedian of the Week

Horror Games in Georgia Straight

Futile Self-Promotion

An open letter to Wolf Blitzer

For my Asian brothers...and everyone else. Hilarious.

From the vaults...

My! Fobby! Father!

Fringe Fest 2009 - We Call This Comedy

My First Podcast!

Update

Movie Haiku #5 - 'Assault on Precinct 13' Directed by John Carpenter

Steve Aoki talks about being Japanese American

Movie haiku #4: 'Apt Pupil' Directed by Bryan Singer

Movie Haiku #3: 'Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber of Fleet Street' Directed by Tim Burton

Movie Haiku #2: 'Little Shop of Horrors' Directed by Frank Oz

Movie Haiku #1: 'Zombie' Directed by Lucio Fulci

Some News

May is Asian Heritage Month!

Robby on the Radio!

A Conversation with 5 Comedians of Colour-

Reel Asian Film Festival

I'm on Twitter! (read: I am a weak, pathetic trend hopper)

On Ritual, Secularism and Identity

Rob Moment #5432

Aziz Ansari is a Fucking Badass

March 31st is 'National Day of Awareness'

Holidays and Stereotypes...

Guest Lecturing!

Some very cool news...

Robby on the Radio

Ethnic diversity on television

Music to draw to...

(Wall) Street Fighter 4

Do you like music?

25

Tunes in the key of LSAT

Happy New Year!

Rob Moment #4556

If you're in the Lower Mainland...

On Cultural Production and Chop Suey

Me in 'The Toronto Star'

Asian Mainstays Come to Hollywood

My! Fobby! Father!

2009 can't come sooner!

Pambansang Kamao! ("National Fist")

Bigotry and Board Games

Coalition government?!

Concert Review: Hit the Lights and Cobra Starship

In Memoriam - Edgar Wickberg

My Interview with 'Bomb the Music Industry!'

Some supprt for Sarah Palin

Fuck yeah! He's back baby!

Election Nerd

Azeroth is a blue state!

Movie Review: Dance of the Dead

Concert Review: Famous 08 with Jason Chan

Asian Canadian research comes to Concordia

Record Lows in Canadian Election

This made me laugh...

Comedian of the Week - Ngger Wetback Ch*nk