When people tell me Hollywood whitewashing is a commercial necessity...

This is basically me repeating the same arguments that I've made in the past few years towards anybody who says that:

jameseparsonsWhat are your thoughts on the new live-action remake of cult sci-fi anime classic Ghost in the shell? Have you seen the very short teaser trailers? Think Scarlett is right as lead?#ghostintheshell #anime#scarlettjohansson #manga#ghostintheshellmovie #scifimovies#MinervaCentury #scifi #movies #films

cincity2404Many comments on YouTube and from my friends show that people are generally very unimpressed with the aesthetics of the teaser trailer. One of the biggest complaints is that this window scene is extremely bland and completely lacks depth of field, losing the sense of awe conveyed by the anime. Most people are scared that it will come off as a cheap remake ala the Last Air bender or Dragonball Z. At this point, I am beyond ranting about opportunities to cast more Asian actors, or the fact that the studio tried making Scarlett's face look more Asian with CGI. Now I just hope Scarlett does a good job and that the movie turns out well

• dora_the_explorer80Love the look of it. Looks creepy and more importantly it spiked people's interest who have no idea what GiTS is. Having a movie with a +$170 budget and a niche story - you NEED a big name to able to sell it globally. Unfortunately only a handful of actresses can sell a movie nowadays. So Johansson was the right choice imo.
• dora_the_explorer80@cincity2404 the studio tried CGI to alter extras/ people in the background appearance not Johansson's. You think that they paid $20million for a big start then they go and change her face? SJ's look is one of the keys for her success.

• cincity2404@dora_the_explorer80wow. Please actually READ and make an empathetic attempt to understand what I say next. If by SJ's look being that she's basically a white person, then yes, she would be a 'key' to success. Superficial 'Financial' success. But are you seriously going to sit there and deny that in the film the Major actually looks more Asian as opposed to white? I know there is a debate about whether the Major's body is even Caucasian but that is beside the point, and nor is it an excuse. Here, there was an opportunity to cast someone with an Asian appearance and Hollywood took great lengths to avoid it. Us Asians-Americans or Asian-Australians will still have to be subject to the insulting defence of Hollywood's 'commercial reality'. For many other films, studios have bothered to hold world wide auditions to cast the right actors. If they didn't take that risk, we would not have Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson in Harry Potter, who were unknowns with little to no previous acting experience. But suddenly, when it comes to Asians, Hollywood refuses to take the same risk. In maybe a decade, things may change. Yes, Hollywood is a business and they answer to consumer demand. And you know what? We're not going to take this bs anymore. Look at what happened to The Last Air bender. Dragonball Z. Even the new Bruce Lee biopic got fucked up. And we have a right to speak up about Ghost in the Shell precisely so Hollywood will not take the cop-out and circumlocutory justification of 'oh but casting an unkown Asian won't draw in audiences and make money'. Fuck that. I will virtually pistol-whip anyone who actually can't see how wrong that is. Do you have any Asian friends? Do you know what we've had to accept growing up? My friend and I, when we were young, would dream about dating some handsome actor or celebrity (e.g. Daniel Radcliffe). But in our ACTUAL subconscious dreams, we imagined ourselves as blonde white girls, as it became unthinkable to place us - as an Asian girl - in a scenario where we would be deemed attractive for the leading man, who would invariably also be a white guy. So don't give me bs about financial reality. This was and STILL is OUR reality.
• cincity2404@dora_the_explorer80oh, and any quick googling of the CGI incident will tell you that sources very close to/within the studio were the ones who leaked its occurrence (and that it had been used on SJ). The Studio had to respond to this specific leak, and denied doing anything on SJ's face, yet admitted they did do it to background actors. How the fuck does this make it any better? The wrongness of it still stands. And I apologise to @jameseparsons for the cussing, but honestly, certain responses I and the entire Asian community have had to deal with have been, as you can imagine, infuriating.
• dora_the_explorer80@cincity2404Harry Potter took zero chance. They casts all british all white leads. The book was already a massive hit when they started the movie. The same with the new Star Wars - cast a white british woman for the main character. They could have choose anyone but they didn't. And these are the biggest franchises in the world. I'm not questioning how you feel that wasn't my intention. This is the ugly truth unfortunately. People need to go out and support smaller movies with diverse cast. Until then...😔 Also the Last Airbender and Dragonball Z was a piece of garbage that's why they bombed at the box office.
• cincity2404@dora_the_explorer80well thank you for saying that. I appreciate it. We both admit that Hollywood movies are primarily in it for the business and I'm not going to force unreasonable expectations on the industry. I am a balanced person and it is why I acknowledge that the only reasonable way to get it to change is for us, as the audience and consumer, to demand change. This is why you and I should not just be like 'yeah ok financially it's the only way to work'. Or to take an otherwise complacent attitude. As your later comment illustrates, you also recognise that even what I think are 'risky' castings nowadays are still for white actors. At least Star Wars cast Boyega! Kudos to them cos we all saw the depressingly massive racist backlash/jokes on social media. Only when we start casting more non-white actors will 1. people get used to the idea and 2. actually have big name actors to cast in the first place!
• cincity2404Big name non-white actors★
• dora_the_explorer80@cincity2404 yes, Hollywood has been slow to catch up. American television has way more diversity for sure. But I have high hopes for Disney's new live action Mulan. It should give audiences / world a young talented asian actress. Just like Jungle Book found Neel Sethi. She could & should become a big star ⭐️! Known globally.
• jameseparsons@cincity2404 and Dora thank you both for your own very personal and honest views about this film project. Sadly there can be many questionable issues with big films like this but yes positive change should happen with opinions put forward

Movie: Eye in the Sky

Premise: 

Col. Katherine Powell, a military officer in command of an operation to capture terrorists in Kenya, sees her mission escalate when a young girl enters the kill zone, triggering an international dispute over the implications of modern warfare.

(Edited out of my post a lot of swearing and top-notch insults...there's still a lot of swearing)

------------------------------------------------------------------

I just finished watching this incredible movie. All that I can think about right now is this.

Every single international relations student needs to fucking watch Eye in the Sky. 

Actually, every single person who holds any opinion about war, politics, and human rights needs to watch Eye in the Sky.

I am not kidding. 

You know how many people think they know what it's like to make a judgement call in the heart of an ongoing war zone?

To think that wartime actions can be critiqued through the black and white lens of moral absolutism (i.e. "this act is always wrong" and "this act is always right")?

To think that their personal interpretation of an intricate military or government decision is somehow an 'obvious' one, and more credible than those held by the people who actually knew all the available facts, have experienced war on the ground, and have to bear real-world responsibility for their decisions? 

A LOT. Because I had to debate such persons (friends IRL) with such views on Facebook recently.

Eye in the Sky, a consummately woven and utterly compelling story, will make what I think is already totally fucking obvious even more obvious. 

Wartime decisions, especially under tight time frames and unforgiving public scrutiny, are extremely difficult to make. They also and very often involve moral ambiguity, and moral relativism. Sometimes, it is as impossible to decide on a wartime action as it is to answer the biggest philosophical/ethical questions of our time. 

e.g. THAT 'trolley problem':

There is a runaway trolley barreling down the railway tracks. Ahead, on the tracks, there are five people tied up and unable to move. The trolley is headed straight for them. You are standing some distance off in the train yard, next to a lever. If you pull this lever, the trolley will switch to a different set of tracks. However, you notice that there is one person on the side track. You have two options: (1) Do nothing, and the trolley kills the five people on the main track. (2) Pull the lever, diverting the trolley onto the side track where it will kill one person. Which is the most ethical choice?

I feel like everything I'm typing out right now is so commonsensical and shouldn't even need to be stated. I feel like a fucking pedagogic, tautological dickhead even pasting the trolley problem here, and bolding certain lines that I think are important. I don't want to come off patronising and yet... 

The fact that I had clearly intelligent friends not understanding or unwilling to recognise this concept of 'yeah, sometimes there is no way to decide on right and wrong, and thus it is probably not a good idea for us as privileged first-world netizens to impose our opinions onto other people with more knowledge than us, relating to problems that they personally deal with' - was immensely frustrating.

Of course, it would be acceptable that somebody make a moral judgment AFTER they take into account every possible factor (that is available to them) about the conflict. But frankly, we're twenty something year old college students living in the most liveable city in the world. Come on.

There is simply no way we are in any position to know everything about a freaking war occurring 3000 miles away in a country, and then comment authoritatively on a morally ambiguous situation occurring in its midst. 

Anyway, Eye in the Sky is a MUST WATCH. It is just a beautiful film. I weeped for a few seconds at the end. 

KIND OF A SPOILER (pretty obvious ending anyway) (the most apt summary of Eye in the Sky):

Tear-stained politician:

"In my opinion, that was disgraceful. And all done from the safety of your chair."

A Lieutenant General stands up, preparing to leave the room. In a deep, measured tone, he reminds her:

"I have attended the immediate aftermath of five suicide bombings. 

On the ground, with the bodies. 

What you witnessed today, with your coffee and biscuits, is terrible. 

What these men would have done would have been even more terrible. 

Never. Tell a soldier. That he does not know the cost of war."

Movie: The Visit

The verdict: I cannot look at my grandma in the same light after this. 

Yesterday night, I made an extemporaneous trip to the cinema with my friend and boyfriend to watch M. Night Shyamalan's newest found-footage horror film, The Visit. I had seen the trailer ages ago and legitimately laughed out loud at what I thought was a total joke movie. You really can't take the plot seriously - two kids visit their grandparents at their lovely country home and find out that cuddly grandma's actually a complete freak with Formula 1 crawling skills. It doesn't sound scary at all. It sounds absolutely hilarious.

Of course, it then made a lot of sense when my friend said before the movie "Hey, you know this is a horror comedy right?" and I was like, "Fuck." I hate horror-comedies. Because horror-comedies aren't scary. For example, Shaun of the Dead and Zombieland are classic paragons of the horror-comedy genre but I would personally classify them as 100% comedy and 0% horror. I didn't find them scary at all, but even worse, I also didn't find them very funny. A few laughs here and there but nothing memorable that would have made it a great movie (which is not the consensus, I know). 

The one experience that really turned me against the genre was when I bought and watched Sam Raimi's Drag Me To Hell during schoolies (another completely shit experience). Even though the movie had received rave reviews (92 percent on RT), I remember everyone agreeing that it was one of the worst horror films they had ever seen. The thing is, we were all looking forward to REAL SCARES, not hilariously bad scenes of projectile vomit. So of course, it just became an extremely disappointing 2 hours. 

Back to The Visit.  I had also walked into the cinema knowing that the last few movies Shyamalan had directed were tantamount crimes against humanity, namely The Last Airbender and Jaden Smith's coming-of-age in After Earth. In light of all this, I was not expecting anything actually scary or, well, anything that would be good from The Visit.

BOY WAS I WRONG.

The Visit was good. Very good. 

The last time I had laughed and screamed at the same time during a movie was in Year 8 when my two BFFs and I were watching C-class horror movie The Unborn. There was this one scene where an old man in a wheelchair suddenly appeared at the top of a staircase, and then slowly crawled its way down with every possible bodily appendage (except for the penis) circumducting at varying weird angles and speeds. It was pretty horrific, but so over the top that we couldn't help bursting out into fits of laughter, as did the rest of the mostly tweenage audience. However, The Unborn was still overall a shit movie. It tried to be horror and failed.

The Visit, on the other hand, was a self-conscious horror-comedy which got pretty much everything right because it did manage to make me simultaneously laugh and scream in fear. Creepy grandma really blew it out of the water. 

The two sibling protagonists Rebecca and Tyler, aged 12 and 8 respectively, were not annoying at all but incredibly intelligent, funny, and precocious kids. Rebecca was the slightly uptight older sister with a huge interest in 'organic filmmaking', which is why she wants to document the visit. 

Tyler is an adorable aspiring rapper whose witty lines and cheesy smile steals the show. Both characters really drove the film and sparkled with their banter, sarcasm, and occasional rap sessions. They were developed well enough for us to truly care about them. 

There were of course a number of jump-scares in the movie, but Shyamalan manages to gradually and consistently build up suspense, keeping whatever it was that was wrong with grandma and grandpa a total secret until the final climax - which is awesome because you keep trying to guess what it is, and for some time, I still believed that supernatural elements might have been at play. Thankfully, there were no stupid supernatural cop-outs in the movie and everything that went 'wrong' was purely human. 

Anyway. What a great, fun and truly enjoyable movie. Diehard horror movie fans - don't be put off. This is still one that is able to supply the thrills and scares. 

Movie: Whiplash

Oh my god. This movie. Is amazing.

In one sentence, Whiplash is about a hopeful 19 year old drummer called Andrew (Miles Teller) who makes it to the top music school in the nation, only to come across Fletcher (JK Simmons), one of the harshest and most fearful teachers ever conceived in the mollycoddled Western world.

The tagline that could have been? See what South Korean schooling looks like on a daily basis, but with white people.


So yes, it's a very simple plotline. With lots of loud yelling, brief but suspenseful pauses in betwixt, shameful drooping of heads, crying, really good jazz music... But holy shit, Miles Teller and JK Simmons are so goddam convincing and ALIVE in this movie that for two hours, I basically time travelled back to my childhood and got to relive all of the shitty experiences I had with my tennis coach dad, aka author of the best-selling Chinese parenting manual 'how to verbally abuse and scar your child for life and never apologise for it'. Hurrah.

Honestly, I loved this movie precisely because it was so fucking accurate. Of course, young and ambitious, I understood everything that was going through Andrew's mind - the burning desire for success fuelled by a debilitating need for acknowledgment and respect. Only by gaining these things will Andrew ever be able to prove his worth to his mentor, and most importantly, to himself. For a lot of kids that are constantly put down by their teachers or parents, self-worth goes hand in hand with academic achievement, or in this case, musical achievement. Obviously, as we have sometimes read in the news, such pressure can lead to devastating consequences - depression, self-harm, suicide. Here, the film deftly confronts this issue in an unexpected, but unsurprising, twist of events.

However, one really outstanding aspect of this movie (of which there are so many) is how deftly it deals with the other side - WHY is it that these teachers/parents push their students so hard? What runs through their mind when they slap their student in the face, calling him or her a useless fucking prick? In this day and age, they must know that such abusive treatment may drive students to their grave. So HOW can they be so callous? So cruel?

JK Simmons, displaying an extraordinary gamut of emotions as the teacher Fletcher, even makes you feel sympathetic for HIM! And his character is truly, a huge douchebag, so this is no small feat. He reveals bit by bit to the audience that he himself never really achieved the greatness he desired. And even as a world renowned music teacher, he longs for the day when he can produce a student who can be the best - to become the next "Charlie Parker" (some famous jazz musician whose teacher once threw a cymbal at his head [sorry I'm such a pleb]). "I've always wanted a Charlie Parker," he even says during a woeful conversation with Andrew at a bar.

Yes, very cliche. Of course, he aims to vicariously enjoy the successes of his students. The acting though, was simply breathtaking. With every enduring second of silence, every blink, every sigh, every convolution of the wrinkles on his face, Fletcher suddenly reveals so much vulnerability - it opens your eyes to how equally scarred and desperate he is... nursing an affliction just as lacerating as Andrew's. You don't see him simply as the villain, or someone to hate, but someone whose ridiculous actions you can actually sympathise with. You know... he's still human after all.

Overall, I still can't believe how brilliant, accurate and gripping this film was.... Watching the young Andrew pump away at his drum set for hours on end until his hands bled, seeing the pool of sweat and tears drenching his face, and even watching him very awkwardly, break up an early relationship with a girl he liked to concentrate on his drumming .... man, I could relate. Because once upon a time, that's how I felt - I was Andrew.

Movie: Empire of the Sun

I really hate studying in my room. I curse the architect of this house for leaving me and my brother's bedrooms utterly deprived of vitamin D. Even when it's midday, and the sun is lovely and bright, our rooms still look like an emo's galore because the sun never gets a direct hit into our windows. BLEH.

Yesterday night, I watched Empire of the Sun, the 1987 Spielberg movie starring 13 year old Christian Bale in his first feature film debut. He plays a loquacious rich English boy caught up in the Japanese invasion of Shanghai during WWII. His gets separated from his parents during a coursing 人山人海 situation on Shanghai's streets, who were then literally swept away by the waves of stinky looking Chinese peasants, all clamouring for an escape out of the city. I couldn't help but laugh my ass off as his horrified and disgusted mother became engulfed by the hordes of dirty, lower class 'Chinks' - her arms flailing madly as everybody else pushed and shoved in their desperation. What a juxtaposition. Her with the fancy hat and impeccable button down blazer and skirt ensemble - next to a bunch of icky dudes carrying bloodied chickens and cages and all sorts of other weird thingamabobs. Hah.

Anyway, cute little Christian Bale, officially appellated Jamie Graham in this movie, is really annoying. I guess you could say annoying in a 'sweet' way, but I found him annoying in a you-could-have-fucking-died-oh-my-god-stop way. I mean, for a guy who has received such consummate schooling and upbringing, you'd think he had more common sense than to run up to a marching cavalcade of armed Japanese soldiers and be all like "I SURRENDER! HELP ME! HELP ME! I'M BRITISH!" - then continue to weave in and out of said formation with the impetuousness of a lab rat.

YOU DO NOT FUCKING DO THAT.

Anyway, it's just a movie. lol. I still couldn't refrain from slapping the table multiple times. Also, it really pissed me off when his mum was holding his hand being all like "DON'T LET GO! DON'T LET GO!" during what was clearly a dangerous and urgent situation where lots of people around them were crying and yelling in distress. And then his toy plane falls out of his pocket or something and he LET'S GO to get his plane. Turns around afterwards and of course, his mum is long gone.

LIKE SERIOUSLY, HE SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER.

And that's the start of how he ends up at a Japanese POW camp.

Apart from Jamie's initial stupidity (I'm sorry J.G. Ballard, person whom this movie is based on), I really liked the movie. It had a lot of touching and suspenseful moments, and it is definitely the sort of movie I would watch with my young kids one day - snuggled up on the sofa with a bowl of pop corn. Firstly, it's historical, it's based on a true story and it's not dumbed down. Secondly, there are a lot of important lessons or values to be gleaned. Bravery, loyalty, friendship. Even I got teary at some bits. With a young protagonist, it's also slightly more relatable for children. Erm, I'm probably getting a bit ahead of myself here.

Great movie. Would recommend.

Weekly News Dump 16/2/14 to 22/2/14

Note: Some of these articles were published back in Jan.

1. ROBOCOP, COMING TO A WAR-ZONE NEAR YOU

A few weeks ago, my friends and I watched Robocop at the cinema. Despite what people have said about it being 'dour' (compared to the original 1987 Robocop) - well, I still really enjoyed the film. I just love seeing predictions of future technology being played out on a big screen. The social ramifications. The romantic ramifications. The testing of humanity ('Is it worth fighting for? Is it worth dying for?' - Morpheus from Matrix Reloaded, it was on TV last night hehe). I love this stuff.

When we came out of the cinema, my friend told me that he didn't think anything like Robocop would ever become reality. Something about it looking too ridiculous and being a far-fetched idea. I was like 'Hmmm...'  But in my mind, I was like '....WHAAAAAAT?'  If anything, Robocop is our impending future. America already has drones in Syria and South Korea has Samsung robots (Samsung Techwin SGR-A1) guarding the Korean DMZ. Android models are already in the making at universities like Princeton and MIT. So dude, what are you even on about.

To give you a better idea of what's being developed and how far 'killer robots' or 'military robots' have come, here are two really awesome articles:

Should A Robot Decide When To Kill?: The Ethics of War Machines - The Verge
(includes an informative video worth watching)

As Military Robots Increase, So Does the Complexity of Their Relationship with Soldiers - Newsweek

2.  THERE ARE SO MANY A**HOLES IN THE LAW FACULTY

In what may be slightly unrelated to the article...
Medical students are ultimately trained to help each other out, to work towards a common goal of helping and caring for people in need. Law students, on the other hand, are ultimately encouraged to be legendary assholes - to be uber competitive, emotionally detached and sometimes, grossly entitled. I say this because almost every medical student I have met so far has been talkative, engaging, extremely friendly and very mature. But I've met more than a handful of law students who have spent entire conversations rattling on about themselves or just being super fake-friendly. I don't feel like they're actually interested in you, rather they come off very condescending, and it's not uncommon to meet one with a serious superiority complex. Of course, I've met wonderful people in law - but it's also the law faculty that has the most horribly immature, loud-mouthed, super entitled, egocentric, smart people - it's scary. As one of my friends said, it's like the law faculty made a point of enrolling all the smart jocks (he was referring to the male student population).

Sometimes – unfortunately – being an asshole is the way to get ahead -  The Guardian

From Tom Perkins to Tim Armstrong, high-profile obnoxiousness is everywhere. And with good reason, sadly: there’s evidence that acting dislikeably can boost your status

3. QUEEN YUNA

Sochi 2014: Controversy as Russian Adelina Sotnikova upsets Korean favourite Kim Yu-Na to snatch figure skating gold medal

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/sport/winter-olympics/sochi-2014-controversy-as-russian-adelina-sotnikova-upsets-korean-favourite-kim-yuna-to-snatch-figure-skating-gold-medal-20140221-334z4.html#ixzz2u8D86zFx

THE CONTROVERSY!

Rumours of corruption from the judging panel.  Everyone saying Kim Yu-Na was robbed of a gold model.  Sotnikova's performance vastly inferior, says ...like, everyone. A petition on Change.org to give the gold medal to the rightful winner (not Sotnikova) gaining something like 700,000 signatures in 7 hours. Well, don't take my word on the stats. But it currently (7.30pm EST) has:

Almost 2 million votes.

And how cool is this? Earlier this afternoon, if you Google searched Yuna Kim, Google would return with 'Yuna Queen'.  

4.  HOW THE MEDIA FAILED WOMEN IN 2013

A must watch video brought to you by The Representation Project, if not to lol when 'Miley Cyrus' comes up

Movie: Thor: The Dark World

So yesterday night, I watched Thor 2 even though I had never seen the first Thor or Avengers.  And surprisingly, I enjoyed it. 


The acting was crap all round.
The editing was a major fuckery.
Continuity problems ravaged the entire movie.

And yet I still liked it.  It was great dumb action. The best thing about this movie was probably a sword-wielding Rene Russo, who is still pretty hot for a 59 year old woman, although we all know the hottest 59 year old woman ever is Christie 'you-can-never-be-this-fabulous' Brinkley. 

Kat Dennings, who played a beanie-clad sidekick to Natalie Portman's feminist-trollin' character, annoyed the heck out of me.  But that was probably not her fault.  Blame the writers of 2 Broke Girls.  Because every time I see this girl on screen, rolling her eyes, sucking in her cheeks and exploding with sarcastic 'wit', a bit of PTSD kicks in and I start to experience flashbacks of all the crappy promo ads that I've ever seen on TV for 2BG. 

Seedy looking guy: Welcome to my home ladies, dis is where dee magic happens. 
Laugh track.
Kat Dennings:  I'm sure you've made a few women disappear here.
Laugh track.

I punched myself in the face.
Anyway.

Natalie Portman really disappointed me in this movie.  Well, to be fair, she had nothing much to work with in the first place and an actress like her in a movie like this only means one thing:  $$$$$$$$$$$
It was like watching someone complete a chore.  Say this.  Do that.  Look scared here.  Complain here.
Most egregiously, Thor pretty much just risked losing the entire universe (Asgard and all the other realms) to protect her freaking ass.  I mean, he could have just destroyed the aether while it was in her, but of course, why the fuck would that happen.  They're lovers. So maybe Portman could look a bit more shocked/grateful/worried about the events taking place.  You know, maybe like whispering in a shocked voice 'The whole world might go to ruins because of me...' instead of stuff like 'well, I guess we're stuck here....'

whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat.

Tom Hiddleston.  I was really looking forward to checking out how hot this guy really was.  I've heard things from both men and women so I was holding very high expectations of this double first Cambridge grad.  And I've got to say, I did not particularly like his character, Loki.  Yeah, he's hot.  But Loki is overdone.  That two second uber close up of his nefarious downward pointed face in front of Odin, with his narrowed eyes full of poison and lips seething with unspoken epithets, face plastered with white make up - I almost laughed out loud in the cinema.  It was a bit ridiculous how much they had to keep emphasising the fact that he was OH SO VERY BAD. YES I'M BAD I'M SO BAD AND HOT AND BAD.

Loki, in terms of character, is built like Jack Sparrow.  OTT wickedness, mannerisms and 'evil' stereotypes constantly reinforced through the explicit opinions of other characters.  But sigh.  Who can hate Tom Hiddleston. 

I did wish Malekith and his cronies had better things to say to each other instead of the boring 'WE SHALL RISE AGAIN AND KILL THEM ALL.'  Listening to Malekith speak to his elves sounded like Dumb and Dumber for a while. 

And then Chris Hemsworth.  Well................................ I congratulate him for graduating from Summer Bay.  He's come a long way. 

OH WELL, CINDY, IT'S JUST THOR 2, NOT 12 YEARS A SLAVE.

If you didn't know already, Emma Watson and Benedict Cumberbatch are "two white people"

http://birdeemag.com/emma-watson-sexy-for-the-right-reasons/

"The two white people..."

What in the actual fuck?!?!??!?!

Anyway.  I don't know anything about Benedict except that he's in Dr. Who and apparently women love him even though with his all white (hur) looks he could probably play a steely eyed Nazi pretty well.  

Emma Watson on the other hand - if we are going to be shallow dicks like everyone who puts these lists together - I think she is average or at most, slightly above average.  I think the biggest reason why guys find her extremely hot is because 1. they grew up with her on apparently everybody's (but not mine) favourite series evaaaaaaar, Harry Potter   2.  she's cutesy, nice and looks approachable i.e. wifey material.

I don't think she's sexy, but yeah, I guess she's cute.  

Really overrated in terms of hotness though.

Also, speaking of smart actresses, Natalie Portman >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Emma Watson any day.

Also, Kate Beckinsale went to Oxford.  *INTERESTING FACT OF THE DAY*

Movie: Ace Attorney

Ace Attorney

Completely illogical. Hyper-unrealistic. Ridiculously bad acting. Horrific trials that have no juries, seemingly no rules and no judicial integrity.
Despite an apparently star-studded Japanese cast and great visuals, this is one of the worst movies I've ever seen.

I got sucked into watching this live action adaptation by a deluded friend who is a huge fan of the original detective-style Nintendo DS games. You play as the hawk-haired rookie lawyer, Phoenix Wright, who needs to find clues, gather evidence and then cross-examine witnesses with clinical precision - trials in their dystopic Japan are only allowed to run for a maximum of three days(!!!). What happens in the movie, however, is a major cluster-fuck of random revelations and new evidence popping up every three minutes DURING the trial - which basically fuels the entire direction of the movie. Moreover, there were countless of unbelievably stupid and illegitimate 'objections', lawyers not asking questions but making speculative statements during cross-examination, accused persons being found not guilty simply because it was proven someone else was at the scene at the same time, WTF supernatural spirits giving advice, anachronistic Minority Report-like technology being used in the courtroom, incessant Yu-Gi-Oh! style battle cries, summonsed witnesses just randomly walking in and out on a whim etc. etc. etc.

Maybe I'm just being a picky law student. Or maybe - this movie was totally fucked up and didn't make any sense whatsoever unless you actually played the game and understood that this was just one huge Mickey Mouse legal trial. It's not supposed to be taken seriously. That is made pretty clearly when they start using mentally ill amnesiacs and his parrot (it wasn't EVEN a parrot, but a cockatoo) as witnesses.

None of the characters were relatable because they were all weird and dumb and I have no idea how they passed law school. And of course, why do these Japanese people have white people names??? Why do some of them dress like normal people, some like Star Wars extras and others like Victorian era aristocrats??? WHAT???

Oh my god this movie. You should drink a shot every time there's a deus ex machina. It'll be more fun than watching the movie itself.

Melbourne International Film Festival, 'A Touch of Sin'

♪ If I'm not beside you, I'm inside you ♪ 
- Pharrell Williams

Last Friday night, fabulous film studies student Benson Li, who now sports a slick metro-sexual mohawk ala Gok Wan, attended the Melbourne International Film Festival with me.  We talked, we walked, then got swept among a marching crowd of protesters (Refugee Action Collective) outside Flinders Street Station.  I forgot the exact words they were chanting but it was something about Rudd being a tightarse bitch on asylum seeker policies.  And some random guy singing: "WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO DOWN DOWN, DOWN WITH RUDD."  #facepalm

Endearingly, we spotted a guy just ahead of us busking along Swanston Street in a BUNNY SUIT  playing a guitar.  He had a cardboard sign with FUNKY BUNNY written across it. The contrast between that dude - bouncing his head and ears all insouciant like, and all the backpack totin', beanie-sportin' hippies shouting mean things about K.Rudd was pretty damn swaggy.  I mean quaint.

So we continued on to the cinema and watched the new Jia Zhangke film - A Touch of Sin.  I was the one who really pushed for this because the movie aims to depict the corruption, vindictiveness and amorality of contemporary Chinese society through a series of interwoven stories - something raight down my sinophilic alley.  Also, the film-festival darling and  at times Chinese underground director, Jia directed A Still Life, a movie my Asian Studies lecturer told us to take a look at last semester.

And judging by the quality of work in A Touch of Sin, I'd say...

I <3 Jia Zhangke.

The movie was not only visually impressive (dat colour) but the stories themselves were simultaneously morbid as fuck and captivating enough to leave you wanting much more after 133 minutes.  Four stories - four everyday people - victims of China's malicious social landscape.  They have families.  Friends.  Children.  Lovers.  But are ultimately driven to a social abyss filled with sex work, robbery, murder and suicide.

What I really enjoyed was:
1. All the stories reflect true events that have happened in China e.g. the highly controversial 2011 high speed bullet train crash in Wenzhou which killed 40 and was a result of shoddy infrastructure, which in turn was a result of heinous state corruption; the practice of rich men having mistresses; factory worker suicides (the film subtly hinted at Apple's Foxconn factories in China)

2.  If you look past Jia's deliberate but kind of random wuxia spin on the film, the stories felt really authentic.  The film moved slowly but every second was a deep and fascinating exploration into this one person's shitty life - and it reminds you that all those people suffering in China right now and working themselves to death trying to support themselves or their families aren't just statistical figures or CNN news stories but real people with crushes, dreams and ideals just like us...as platitudinous as that sounds.

I really liked this film but it's not even considered Jia's best so perhaps I should get around to watching Still Life and 24 City.

Ok I cannot be fucked typing anymore so I'm going to end by saying we later met two young film industry experts and had dinner with them at where else but Rice Paper Vietnamese Restaurant, then we had a massively esoteric debate about auteurs and why Jack (the new guy) hates Daniel Day-Lewis, Meryl Streep, Steven Spielberg, James Cameron and just about everyone else you like.  He works at all the upcoming film festivals in Melbourne so yay CONNEXIONS!!!

I am also listening to Luxurious by Gwen Stefani right now.

Sexy as hell.

Asian actors in Hollywood; Misogyny in the gaming community

"A Leading Man" Depicts The Asian Male Actors Struggle In Hollywood - Destroy to Rebuild, 28/12/2012

More Asians actors and actresses in Hollywood pls.

The above link goes to an old post but one that touches on an ongoing issue that doesn't seem to be getting much attention from the mainstream press.  'A Leading Man' is a movie about a good looking Asian American guy named GQ (yes, we all thought of the magazine) who is an actor trying to make it big in Hollywood but struggling to break through the 'bamboo ceiling', a barrier that is described by Lucy Liu as being rejected by Hollywood for not being Asian enough or not being American enough.  And thus, with no strong independent leading roles given to Asians, they are typecast all the time.  You're always playing the 'funny chink' or some martial arts expert.  Those who don't make it into film get by in LA doing advertisements, as GQ seems to be doing in one shot as he takes a huge bite out from a six inch subway.  But this constant struggle with Hollywood's 'quiet racism' takes a toll on GQ, who starts to get really pissed off at the lack of dignity he is given in his roles, as well as the lack of recognition he gets as a real actor.

So in conclusion, it's a movie about how Asian American actors are stuck in an awkward third space that nobody else recognises as a problem in the film industry.

Even now, most Asian American actors and actresses end up playing supporting roles or are eschewed completely for an all-white main cast.  Actors end up playing the stereotypical Kung Fu/Karate guy (Jet Li, Lee Byung-hu), a villainous bastard (Will Yun Lee in Red Dawn) or a comical sidekick (Jay Chow in The Green Hornet, Aaron Yoo in Disturbia).  Actresses get typecast as an exotic love interest (Katie Leung as Cho Chang in HP Jamie Chung in The Hangover II), a kickass karate/kung fu girl (Rinko Kikuchi in Pacific Rim, Lucy Liu in Charlie's Angels, Maggie Q in Nikita, Rila Fukushima in The Wolverine - NEED I SAY MORE?) or a prudish college room-mate who is conservative and likes to stick with her 'Asian sisters' (Pitch Perfect).

Even Justin Chon, who was supposed to be the central character of '21 and Over' became conspicuously sidelined by Skylar Astin and Miles Teller, whom the movie was really focused on.  I was disappointed but hey - at least he got cast?  Even if he were cast as that small funny Asian guy with the stereotypical 'YOU MUST BE A DOCTOR OR GET OUT OF MY HOUSE' sort of dad...

This is why I'm really looking forward to seeing Jamie Chung in her new movie Eden.  It's based on a true story about a Korean-American girl who gets kidnapped and forced into becoming a sex slave, so yeah, there really was no choice but to cast an Asian actress.  But I'm still really excited to see Jamie Chung get more screen time and being able to play a strong leading role in a Hollywood film.  It's still quite a novelty and I really hope I can see more Asians being given non-typecast roles.  Go Jamie.

Every Misogynistic Argument You've Ever Heard About Video Games - Jezebel, 12/7/13

Summary   

An opinion piece posted by UBERTROUT on feminist website/forum Jezebel that seeks to own every elitist male gamer who has argued the following:

"Games aren't marketed to women because women don't play games.""Women aren't REAL gamers, they're just casuals.""Anyone who came to video games late isn't a REAL gamer.""Publishers don't make games with female protagonists because they wouldn't sell. Men don't want to play a female character because then they might kiss a dude and that'd be gay."

The piece's conclusion:

So to anyone who has ever made one of these arguments: you too can be saved from being an asshat. Just, y'know, stop making these arguments. Have a tiny bit of empathy for people who aren't you, and ask yourself — REALLY ask yourself — if the problem isn't women playing games, but the men who are too scared to share their toys with the scary, unknowable ladypersons.

Movie: 'Finding Mr. Right' - teaching Chinese women that love matters more than money

Finding Mr. Right is an unfortunate C-grade appellation for a good movie with legitimate feels and a very important message for young Chinese women in today's age: money can't buy you happiness.

Context.

As much of a platitude as that is, anyone who knows anything about contemporary China will recognise how notoriously materialistic and superficial women have become in dating and courtship.  "I would rather cry in a BMW than laugh on a bicycle" is an infamous quote uttered by 22 year old Ma Nuo on China's top TV dating show after a suitor asked her if she would ride on a bicycle with him on a date.  These words have since become emblematic of the shallowness of modern Chinese women and a sad reflection of the society they live in.  


For a movie which so effectively attacks that culture, the title 'Finding Mr. Right' is like taking a massive stinkin' shit and then pissing all over the movie's credibility.  It makes the movie sound generic and dumb and shallow when it's much more sophisticated than all other Chinese rom-coms.  Admittedly, some characters were cartoonish and the ending was corny as but it's better to think of it as a fable - strong for its moral lesson and likeable simplicity.

I liked it because it sounds like such an innocuous, forgettable rom-com when really, it makes such a damning criticism of the superficial attitudes which permeate the social scene of metropolitan China: the growing obsession with money 钱, social status 社会地位and connections - 关系.

There are no shallow love triangles; no drop dead gorgeous hunks running around with roses and chocolates; none of that nauseating Katherine Heigl desperation being channelled by the protagonist as so often seen in rom-coms.

Instead, it focuses more on family interaction than dating, while striking a great balance between funny and serious social commentary.  It seems hard but director Xialu Xue manages to do it with sufficient skill, ringing the alarm bell loud and clear:  you may choose a man because he can afford you Chanel and Hermes, but is it worth it if your life ends up devoid of true love and happiness?  

Choosing a man for his financial assets rather than true love is something most Chinese women know is not right but they do it anyway, predominantly because of pressure from their family which is worsened by long-standing socio-economic conditions - soaring prices of real estate in China, discrimination against women in the workplace, the tradition of the man being the breadwinner etc.  It has come to the point where some young women don't believe that love is a concomitant factor in marriage.  What is marriage but just another of life's stepping stones?

Story.

The story is mainly centred around a beautiful young woman named Wen Jiajia, played by TANG WEI.  You may remember her from Ang Lee's much lauded espionage thriller Lust, Caution.  You may also remember loads of explicit sex in that movie and that Tang Wei alone was freaking blacklisted and effectively banished from the industry for two years by Chinese authorities.  This was despite the fact that it garnered rave reviews internationally and had people talking about her as potential Oscar material.  I haven't actually seen the whole thing but I was pissed off that she, the brilliant newcomer, was banned while Tony Leung, the main guy, got away scot free.  JEZUZ.

Wen, who speaks really shitty no English, first appears in the movie as a glamorous, spoilt, obnoxious, bossy, demanding, massive freaking bitch. She's a mistress.  And she's pregnant.  Like in reality, so many Chinese mistresses who get knocked up by their sugar daddies (干爹) end up jetting off to America to give birth.  Reasons:

1. Hide the child from authorities cos one child policy
2. Hide secret family from wife
3. Allow the child to get a green card to foreign citizenship

So she ends up in a suburban house for pregnant Chinese women, driven there by a reticent ex-doctor named Frank who has resorted partly to chauffeuring these women as a livelihood.  At first, Wen bullies Frank for being an incompetent chauffeur and tries to buy off the best room in the house as well as pay the lady who runs it to wash her clothes and cook ewwww seafood.  To Wen, whom has been spoilt by her lover with a continuous supply of shiny designer bags and an unlimited credit card, anything can be solved with cash.

Also keep in mind that such houses do exist in America and are considered illegal because the women they profit off are not actually travelling to America for 'pleasure'.  Yes, they lied.  They're just there to do all their shady stuff and get an American citizenship for their kid.

Meanwhile, we discover that the adorably timid Frank is actually a very kind-hearted father whose wife, a hugely successful businesswoman who now lives in a giannnnnnnnnnnnt colonial style mansion with wtf a Rolls Royce (??) in the front yard, had left him.  It is strongly suggested that she did so because her career had taken off and his has not.  She wanted someone better.  Someone who could match her.  Frank, despite being a well respected surgeon back in China who even Wen's father once desperately sought treatment from, could not practice in America until he passed the board, something he put off so he could look after his daughter while his wife went to work.

The contrast between these two main characters is something my dad really noticed and enjoyed about this movie because it highlighted the cultural differences between east and west, demonstrating the way women were not socially repressed in America and able to turn the tables on their husbands.  In China, the man is generally perceived to be the breadwinner and the wife.... a dutiful wife, lul, a supporting domestic figure.   And it's always the man who leaves his partner to find someone younger and prettier.  Suddenly, the film is like  HOMG LOOK AT THIS SHIT.  Here's a guy who volunteered to be a stay at home father and then was flung aside by his wife for someone richer and higher up the social ladder because he's not good enough.  And the notion of the wife as the breadwinner?

"Unthinkable," my dad said., "very embarrassing for men in China, even today."

SIXTY per cent of Chinese officials who come under investigation for corruption are also keeping full-time mistresses, according to a study by the Renmin University of China.

          - The Australian 

Moreover, my dad used to work for the Chinese government and when he went off to play tennis with his mates, there would always be one or two guys who'd show up with a pretty young girl - their mistress.  These men drank.  They smoked.  They gambled.  They were openly sexist. It would be unsurprising if some of them had engaged in corrupt practices.  My dad was the only one who steered away from these 'conventions'.  He and my aunt said a rich and powerful Chinese man who doesn't have a mistress is a social anomaly.

Most Critics who reviewed this movie and don't understand its contextual background are obviously perplexed at why a 'generic' rom com has been such a massive hit at the Chinese box office.  What they don't know is how institutionalised cheating is among wealthy and even middle class Chinese and the growing frustrations of Chinese women who feel like they must accept the status quo because they have no ability to change the power imbalance between men and women. It's a highly contentious issue and by attacking it head on from the perspective of the mistress, whom everyone is automatically positioned to hate, the director really struck a chord with Chinese audiences.

Significantly, Frank represents a reversal of these roles in a democratic western environment - he represents change:  it is possible to find a man who will sacrifice his career for family - it is possible to find a man who will respect you and truly love you, while women can also achieve great things and earn the recognition and respect they deserve.  And yet! women can also exhibit gross avarice for wealth and social status, taking love for granted and neglecting their partner.  It's not just misogynistic Chinese men who are capable of such selfishness.  And so the key principle to take away is that neither women nor men, who are equals, should ever treat their partners like an unimportant piece of shit.  Pretty much.

As the movie progresses, the predictable happens.  By interacting with Frank and his daughter, Wen begins to realise what having a family and true love really means.  An enjoyable and what my dad called a "nuanced" performance from Tang Wei sees Wen transform from the materialistic fobby brat to a humble woman who realises how meaningless money really is in her life, especially when her credit card suddenly stops working because her lover is being investigated for corruption - another veiled criticism of Chinese society.   Pregnant in America, knowing little English and without any money, Wen has to start working.  And Frank is always there to support her.

In comparison, I loved how we never saw Wen's lover appear on screen but were only able to hear his voice when she talks to him through the phone - a virtual lover.  He would console her, promise her he'd visit but these promises were always broken and inadequately compensated by another LV bag sent via mail.  His physical absence, especially during the penultimate scenes where she flies back to China for one last crack at a life with her original lover are a devastating reality for those women who think that being a mistress of a rich man is a satisfying expedition to happiness.

In those scenes, Wen walks around an apartment where the huge rooms are literally gold and filled with ostentatiously expensive Louis XIV furniture.  The camera pans across the rooms and shows us how utterly magnificent the apartment is... and yet, it's an airy, empty place - a home completely devoid of love and warmth.  We knew that she was reluctant to fly back but now she has truly recognised how pathetic her life has become.

With tears streaming down her face, Wen leaves a life of LV bags and Mercs and carves out a happier life in America as a single mother, starting her own cooking blog and learning how to fix her own broken taps (literally).  Of course, you get your happy ending with Frank, which is what audiences want but which I actually disliked because it ultimately perpetuates the idea that a woman needs a man to be happy.  Wow I sound like a feminist.

The great thing about this movie is that it doesn't demonise Wen because she is a mistress and thus doesn't exacerbate the current rifts among Chinese women.  It demonises Chinese society for encouraging spoilt, selfish and superficial behaviour, with Wen symbolising this perfectly at the beginning with her obnoxious tantrums and money-solves-all attitude.  Because she is able to improve, the movie shows that China too can change.

Overall, Finding Mr. Right is a deeper movie than its rom-com genre paints it as and would mean much more to a Chinese audience than audiences elsewhere.  Not quite an award winning masterpiece but an effective and simple caveat for Chinese women to look beyond the ¥¥¥ and perhaps more implicitly, strive to break the social conventions that have suppressed them for so long by empowering themselves through their own achievements.