110 Years…

Gran Torino

Disgruntled Korean War vet Walt Kowalski sets out to reform his neighbor, a young Hmong teenager, who tried to steal Kowalski’s prized possession: his 1972 Gran Torino.

A Clint Eastwood film, Gran Torino, is on it’s way and I couldn’t be any more put off than I already am. I don’t know what’s up with these whitey-gon-save-people-of-color movies. Hollywood can keep putting them out and I will never, ever buy that bullshit. Especially this one.

There’s nothing special about this film and it should not be glorified for putting Hmongs on the big screen. Because I can almost guarantee that the portrayal of Hmongs will be plain out silly and demeaning. It’s just one of the many films of it’s kind; Dangerous Minds, Freedom Writers, High School High, Knights of the South Bronx, and much, much more that escapes me right now. It’s not that I can’t appreciate a good story of an underpriveleged youth of color with little to no resources making good of him/herself, it’s two things about these movies that piss me off.

• It’s always a seamless, determined white person with a heart of gold that so desperately wants to help. (Manifest destiny, anyone?)
• The portrayal of aforementioned youth of color is pathetic. They’re usually shown as these helpless, remedial dummies that have no direction or desire for themselves.

I’ll just reiterate how badly I hate films like this. If anyone wants to waste their money to go see this shit, let me know how it goes. (If I haven’t already told you how it will be.)

Movie Reviews

Tirador (Slingshot)

Sukiyaki Western Django

Postcards from Leningrad

Donkey Punch

Caregiver

The Hulk

Paris Je t’aime

No End in Sight

I found this drafted entry of movies I was  going to review earlier this year on June 24th.  As best I can recall, I’ll still interview them in one sentence as best as I can. And I might unintentionally make them spoilers so I’m placing them after a jump.

We’ve got some new posts comin along soon, but until then.

Heat.

O Rly # 2

This sucks.

YouTube privacy at risk in Google-Viacom ruling

“However, the judge granted a Viacom motion that records of every video watched by YouTube users, including their login names and IP addresses, be turned over to the entertainment giant.”

Damn, I guess I gotta stop watchin that Wii Fit Girl Video.

Only One Fight

Thought this would be an interesting follow-up to Forty5’s previous entry covering Pacquiao’s fight against Diaz.

Whenever I watch a Pacquaio game, I’m smiling through the entire thing. I could never imagine myself smiling while two people hit each other over and over again. But something about seeing Pacquiao’s strength and fight in him, plus a majority of the arena chanting his name makes me sappy proud of Manny – and Filipinos in general. And I think that applies to many Filipinos across the entire globe. There’s no doubt Manny got love – but how much of it does he got? Apparently, enough to keep 14 million Filipinos in Manila safe from harm.

The Metro Manila police reported no major crimes Sunday as residents – even criminals – stayed glued to radios or television sets for the duration of the bout between boxers Manny Pacquiao and David Diaz.

In a text message, Metro Manila police spokesman Superintendent Rhodel Sermonia said the period covered by the zero crime rate is from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. He also said there was a 30 percent reduction in the number of vehicles on the streets compared to regular Sundays.

Via ABS-CBN News. Read full article here.

And as mentioned earlier, he fortunately did not make a shout out to GMA – even when she was watching him live in the crowd! Good riddance. Maybe it’s because the man is actually thinking of his people in the Philippines:

“We’ll be leaving the US on July 2, which means we will be there on July 4,” he said.

He also promised to visit some of the victims of Typhoon Frank.

“When I get there, I will visit them, our kababayans who were hit by the storm. I’m already thinking of ways on how to help them,” he said.

Link.

O Rly?

I found this real fascinating.

Millionaire receives 11-year sentence in case of enslaved maids

Now, lets pause real quick and take a look at the following. At first it may sound completely unrelated, but bare with me…

Crack cocaine is the only drug for which the first offense of simple possession can trigger a federal mandatory minimum sentence. Possession of 5 grams of crack will trigger a 5 year mandatory minimum sentence. “Simple possession of any quantity of any other substance by a first-time offender-including powder cocaine-is a misdemeanor offense punishable by a maximum of one year in prison.” (21 U.S.C. 844.)

Oh no you start to say, I skipped out on math and have no clue what 5 grams looks like. Well, it’s a little bit smaller than the size of a 25 cent quarter.

In federal court today, low-level crack dealers and first-time offenders sentenced for trafficking of crack cocaine receive an average sentence of 10 years and six months. This is:
–only 18% less than the average prison sentence received by those who committed murder or manslaughter (153 months);
–59% longer than the average prison sentence received by rapists (79 months);
–38% longer than the average prison sentence received by those guilty of weapons offenses (91 months).

Am I losing you yet? Completely and utterly confused? Well my point is this, for a individual to have 5 grams of crack on them, they would receive 5 years. BUT these millionaires who were just convicted of the following: forced labor, conspiracy, involuntary servitude and harboring aliens and the victims of their abuse report that “they were beaten with brooms and umbrellas, slashed with knives, and forced to climb stairs and take freezing showers as punishment” get 11 years?

I don’t know about you, but I would think whoever sick enough to treat their maids as modern day slaves, and to treat them less than human should deserve [much] longer in prison. I wonder if it has to do with money. Or being able to pay the huge fines, bails, lawyer fees, etcetera and just plain old gettin’ off easy. Naaah, that could’nt be true. I mean it’s not like this happens all the time, with rich people doin some shit only to receive a slap on the wrist.

Worst Bushism Ever

I was just gonna make a post about the 8 movies that I’ve seen in the past 3 weeks. I know, that’s a bit excessive, but hey, Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) had some good’uns this time around. Anyway, I have to save that for next time since there has been breaking news.. at least I think it’s breaking news. Well, it sure is broken.

Philippine Presdient (and idiot) Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo came to the United States to meet with US President (and idiot) George Bush to talk about their plans to ruin the world and reap all the money US-Philippine foreign relations. These two have a lot in common, but it’s apparent both these presidents butcher Filipinos. Some more literal than the other. But that’s not the breaking news. During the June 24th meeting of the two, Bush says,

PRESIDENT BUSH: Madam President, it is a pleasure to welcome you back to the Oval Office. We have just had a very constructive dialogue. First, I want to tell you how proud I am to be the President of a nation that — in which there’s a lot of Philippine-Americans. They love America and they love their heritage. And I reminded the President that I am reminded of the great talent of the — of our Philippine-Americans when I eat dinner at the White House. (Laughter.)

PRESIDENT ARROYO: Yes.

PRESIDENT BUSH: And the chef is a great person and a really good cook, by the way, Madam President.

PRESIDENT ARROYO: Thank you.

Told you! Idiot! Read the entire transcript here. The entire talk was just stupid. (Sorry for lack of evidence… or too much evidence – which ever way to decide to look at it.) After reading the transcript I was reminded of what Bayan Philippines secretary general Renato Reyes Jr. said about these two prior to the meeting:

“It would be a meeting of the ‘Unpopulars’. Both presidents have plummeting approval ratings in their own countries. Both presidents have dismal human rights records. Both presidents support unconditionally the so-called global war on terror. The only difference is that one cracks the whip while the other follows without question.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

The Caregiver

My Mama called me lastnight asking what my plans were for the upcoming weekend. When I told her nothing, she asked me out to a Tagalog film that’ll be screening in my area. I had no idea about it so she hipped to to it: Caregiver, starring Sharon Cuneta. I’m usually hesitant when it comes to ABS-CBN productions for their lack of depicting the real conditions of the Philippines, especially when it involves a the sappy drama actress. But this movie plays into the 3,000 Filipinos who leave the homeland a day to become Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), so I’m a bit more interested. Plus, my Mom invited me to watch it with her because, as she says, “It’s a little bit like her own story”.

Stay tuned for my review after I catch a screening of Caregiver…

#42 Sushi

I’ve always noticed it. We’ve all always noticed it – White people love sushi (Note: if they don’t like eating it, they like the idea of it: small, compact and Asian. Not to mention it’s exotic ingredients and utensils.) And though many of the White sushi snobs flock to the high class sushi joints, they’re still very much apparent at my choice of sushi dining: Sushiland. Now, I’m no sushi connoisseur but I know a good price when I see one.

With that said, I’ve always noticed it. We’ve all always noticed it – nearly all the chefs at Sushiland are Mexican. What!? How could this be??? (That may be on the list of why White people don’t like Sushiland; They want their dining experience with an authentic Asian man to complete the scenario. But that’s another post.) So I got to thinking, what the hell? Then it dawned on me.. why Sushiland is as successful as it is.

You take two very hard-working minority groups and put them in a kitchen and it becomes a powerhouse. Both races have a rich (read: poor) history of labor here in the United States. You do the math (Exotic food + Minority labor) and you have a very [white] populated restaurant. I wonder if the owner is white…

Post inspired by: Stuff White People Like, #42 Sushi