He could come to the U.S. and make a living out of just looking like dood. But unfortunately counterfeit items aren’t allowed through customs anymore. Badaum-ching!
I had the pleasure of seeing Rex Navarette perform here in Seattle the other night. It’s been a good 5 years since he was here last – at the Filpino Community Center, of all places. A nice, intimate gathering with food lingering in the back and Rex on a crappy sound system being just a few feet from your cackling face. Just imagine, a Pista sa Nayon crowd tighly packed like sardines into the FCC ballroom in the middle of June, literally shoulder to shoulder with your neighbor and laughing hysterically upon a sea of smiling red faces and hot breath being laughed out into the very little bit of air left in the room.
This time was quite the opposite – a glamorous live recording at the 800+ seat Kane Hall with stricly no photographs allowed while it snowed outside. Maybe it was the long, drawn-out performances before he got on, or the disconnect between the performer and the audience, or that I’ve just become more critical, or the fact that his set seemed cut short – I just didn’t find myself as giggly as the last time.
It probably started with the host impersonating Manny Pacquiao. I don’t know what is so damn funny about a man from the Philippines speaking English with a *gasp!* Filipino accent? I mean, we poke fun that it sounds so stereotypically Filipino – but Rex begging for Pacquiao not to speak into the mic after his fights is a joke. I guess I never really understood why people think a Filipino accent is so hilarious – especially when what’s being said has nothing to do with anything Filipino. Just speaking in it about anything is funny to people. Unfortunately.
The art of stand-up comedy has always been a fascinating one to me – and a real fan/supporter of that will recognize that all good stand-up comedy is political. Whether we like to admit it or not. Saying it is political doesn’t take the comedy out of it, though. It’s actually what makes it funny. So while Rex talked about the Filipinos answering your customer service calls to Expedia.com and WaMu, the white males travelling to the Philippines to “find their one and true love” and the bittersweet ritual of packing a Balikbayan box – I recognize the politics behind all of that and had a deeper appreciation for the comedy. I suppose it was tougher to enjoy, especially when the other 750 people in the audience were laughing at his jokes for a different reason.
But Rex was still funny as always. Among Edwin San Juan and Happy Slip – we don’t have much Filipino comedians in the spotlight, and I know there’s more out there. So I’ll give credit where credit is due and give Rex the props for showing Seattle a good time and for always repping our badly-browned selves.
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.
As Filipinos in America, I keep hearing that we’re invisible, especially in mainstream media. Oh, we’re visible – we’re just usually playing another ethnicity.
Dante Basco in every movie he’s in except for The Debut (2000).
Tia Carrere in Wayne’s World (1991) as the ambiguously Asian Cassandra, the kick-boxing rocker. Schwing!
Lou Diamond Phillips in La Bamba (1987) as Mexican singer Ritchie Valens.
Nia Peeples in Fame (1984) as Nicole Chapman, white.
Lea Salonga in Redwood Curtain (1995) as John Lithgow’s half-Vietnamese daughter.
Ernie Reyes, Jr. in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) as a fucking turtle.
The Tagalog-speaking people inside the Ewok costumes in Return of the Jedi (1983).
And my dude Bambu in Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull (2008) as a savage (Sorry bro had to do it!).
A tradition that continues to this day, whether mestiza/o (Rob Schneider, Shannyn Sossamon, Vanessa Hudgens) or straight-up Philippine (Paolo Montalban, Reggie Lee). And the one time a character is supposed to be Filipino (Better Luck Tomorrow, 2003), they get a Chinese dude to play him (Parry Shen). This is not passing judgment on these actors, but rather, throwing a question at Hollywood: what the fuck? Until the day that a Filipino actor can play a Filipino character in a mainstream film (with more screentime than Rob Schneider’s mom), let’s celebrate those who lent their bodies to ethnicities other than our own. Happy Filipino American History Month!
via Prometheus Brown
We’ve got some new posts comin along soon, but until then.
Heat.
This sucks.
“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.
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.
I like how this cat breaks it down, real understandable for those who might not retain all that academic jargon in books.
Read a book read a book read a muthuckin book, cause these things still happen today. Bye bye writ of habeas corpus.
Jim Lampley: … a moment of great sportmanship here. David there was a moment between rounds that you said to your trainor Jim Strickland: “I can handle his punches, he’s just too fast.” Was that basically the story of the fight?
David Diaz: Yeah, he was too fast. The fucker was too fast.
I haven’t seen boxing commentary that funny in a while. Wow though, Pacquiao was throwin some heat. Although I missed the fight live, right as I got out my car from the trip from Portland, my neighbor busts out “Ninth Round Knockout!.” We all then proceeded to yos on the steps, and with the head/humidity I felt a weird reminiscent feeling of bein in the Phils. I think it was just that sticky feeling though, and my neighbors Ilokano that brought me back.
Anyways, Versis and myself hope to make it to the next fight in Vegas. Whoooo. In the meanwhile as we save up our pocket change, we finna use this summertime to create a fly shirt design. Stay posted.
PS. Like Bambu said, its good he didn’t shout out GMA. Her punkass
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