A logical conclusion: Vulcans=Asians

So AzN.

This fervent, unapologetic geek was very pleased last Tuesday to receive her pre-ordered copy of Star Trek Reboot. The next week or so was spent viewing and savoring the delicious nerdy goodness. I even coerced the roomie and Lisa into watching it–both of them sat down thinking they’d just humor me for a few minutes, and then…excellent.

This film confirmed a long-lingering suspicion that has dogged me since I first began watching Star Trek: Vulcans are Asians.

Center stage 2!!

As I was standing in the hallway of my ballet studio last night, I glanced at the bulletin board and saw…drumroll…an audition announcement for CENTER STAGE 2!!!

Center Stage was in no way a good film. But it was high camp with pretty pretty ballerinas…who could resist? I spent many a snowy evening at Dartmouth huddled in my room watching dance melodrama with friends. For me, there’s more than a little nostalgia involved in Center Stage. Despite such gems as “I’m the best goddamn dancer in the American Ballet Academy! Who the hell are you?! Nobody!”, the movie had heart…even if that heart was sparkly with wee prancing unicorns inside it.

Naturally, the sequel will be awful; but you know you’re going to see it. Resistance is futile.

***update***

I checked the board again and it looks like Peter Gallagher and Ethan Stiefel will be reprising their roles in Center Stage 2. They’re casting for two female characters (one nice, one snob) and one young man. I think it will be pretty similar to the first film; a girl with “heart”, and an uppity chick (Maureen in the first; they’re calling her “Suzanne” in this movie).

Simpsonized!

Mr. P and I as Simpsons characters. Via Simpsonizeme.com

Soooo cool.

Oh, and here he is going to work (unfortunately they don’t have a landscape for a grad student weeping in the library, such as would be suitable for me):

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Games!!

Mr. Philosophe & I in a few days. 

This weekend, I’m picking up my playstation 2 from my house and installing it in l’oubliette. This is mainly to entertain Mr. Philosophe while I do research and reading (or that’s what I tell myself). The only game I have is DDR, and I’m trying to pick up some entertaining games that aren’t too violent or ridiculously difficult/techy. Any suggestions? I liked the ole super mario bros. type games but they’re not for playstation, alas…

This Wii console looks amazing, but I don’t have $250 to spend on it at this point. Sooo…good playstation games?

pecs

I was watching Jerry Springer…or Maury Povich…or something along those lines as a captive audience at the gym Saturday. The show featured a male stripper looking for love (I believe his name is “Delicious”). The camera zoomed in on him jiggling/twitching his muscular pecs provocatively. I laughed aloud and got a few glances. Honestly, I really can’t be the only one who thinks jiggling pecs are hilarious. Can women do that? Jiggle their boobs through muscular action?

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Racist Survivor

I never really got into Survivor, but my parents–even my mom–are obssessed with the show. I dimly remember that Survivor was always high on idiotic stunts (nudity, eating rats, and so forth), but I am shocked that they would now actually divide up the starting groups by race. Black, white, Latino, and Asian.

If this isn’t a last gasp of a dying franchise, I don’t know what is. Host Jeff Probst referred to Survivor as a “social experiment”; well, even if it is, it has a painfully juvenile attitude about it: let’s just put ‘em all on an island and let ‘em fight it out.

I question the US against THEM attitude this kind of division is bound to produce. Because it really, really is pitting black against white and on and on. Ethnic groups battling over limited resources? It may be the reality of life in the United States but it’s an exploitative way to bring up the issue.

How could any audience member truly feel comfortable rooting for one group over the other? (Assuming that it’s most fun to watch a show, pick a group, and root for your team.) As soon as you say, “I like the Team Asian because they’re clever/stupid/hilarious/entertaining” you’ve blurted out a stereotype–not necessarily of your own accord but as a result of the way the show is set up.

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Hello, nurse

When I first came to the United States, I brought with me my one stuffed animal: a Mickey Mouse plush. My dad (well, stepdad) sent it to me in China when he was courting my mother. And so my adoration for animation began early on…

At my first home in the US, I would wake up very, very early in the morning and slink around the dark house until I was sure that everyone else was still in bed, tip toe into the den and curl up in the big, squishy recliner. I’d wrap one of my grandmother’s quilts around me and turn on the television. Ok, it was 4AM. Nothing’s on but static. But around 5AM, the first cartoons would flicker onto the screen: usually something Hanna Barbera–Flintstones, Jetsons, Yogi Bear, or Tom & Jerry.

Then came the classic Disney shorts, one of which scared me out of my mind. It was something about a fox tricking some chickens in a coop; I don’t remember much about the plot. But the last scene will stay in my nightmares forever: the fox licking a chicken bone, and then slowly–with such malignant satisfaction–sticking the bone into a graveyard of chicken remains.