2018-08-20

What Really Got Me About Crazy Rich Asians

When I first heard about the Crazy Rich Asians movie based on the novel by Kevin Kwan, I wasn't at all interested. In fact my initial reaction was, "Wait, we have a movie about Asian people... but they're rich Asian people?! No thank you."

But the more I read and thought about the stakes of the movie, the more I got to thinking about all the times while growing up in the States that I didn't see anyone on TV or in movies who looked like me. My childhood hero after I moved to the United States of A was the Yellow Ranger, the girl who didn't wear a skirt when she was fighting. (I always enjoyed a certain smugness knowing that those fight scenes were taken straight from the Japanese version, in which there was only one female Ranger.) It wasn't until I was in high school that Lucy Liu starred in Ally McBeal and Charlie's Angels (as NOT the brainy one, for a change). Lisa Ling was getting recognition for her work on The View, and Keiko Agena would have a main role in the Gilmore Girls. Eventually we would have movies like Better Luck Tomorrow and Charlotte Sometimes, but it would still be a few years before we would get characters by actors like Sandra Oh in Grey's Anatomy or even, for a brief time, Elizabeth Ho in Melissa & Joey. (OK, so that last one is iffy, but I admit I was excited to see an Asian-American character on a show with my favorite teenage witch.)

2018-07-14

I started an otoge and it's changed my outlook on life.

The other day my friend was working at the Ikemen Series booth at Anime Expo, and curious about what that was, I downloaded the app for one of the games from the series on my phone the next day.

That was a week ago. And since then I've slowly reconfirmed why I had never before downloaded games on my phone.

First off: I don't play video games. I like other types of games just fine—I would never say no to Cards Against Humanity—but I just haven't developed the skills for video games. We never had game systems in our house growing up, and the only time I would play video games as a kid was when my family went to Target to buy something, and I'd stand there playing the Donkey Kong demo at the video games/CDs/books section. (Mostly I was interested in the Goosebumps books.)

As a kid I never practiced playing fighting games with my friends. I never played RPGs with expansive worlds and developing characters. I never learned how to shoot at armed opponents to kill them. Despite being conditioned to believe that the arcade (or "game center", as we called them in Japan) was the place where you received the magical pen that would turn you into a Sailor Scout, I never bothered to find out where the nearest ga-cen to my house was.

2018-04-27

Why Skin Care and Make Up, Why Now

And this, my friends, is how I "project pan".

I wished I could say that me writing about make-up and Sephora-things is because I've been watching too many YouTube videos recently. But I don't think that's really the case.

I've mused about makeup before, even if it was mostly out of confusion. Actually, most of my thoughts about things related to skin care and make up have been based in curiosity, admiration, frustration, and envy. But recently, the feelings have turned more toward a certain kind of resolve.

2018-04-14

Sephora HAUL (by which I mean three products for $27)

I often fantasize about walking into a fancy department store and walking out with bags and bags of purchased goods, wearing pin heels, a little black dress, and a pair of shades to match. I'm not sure where the image comes from, though I think it's a strange conglomeration of East Asian dramas and Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Needless to say, neither my conscience nor my wallet really allows for that scenario. So the closest I will ever get to talking about a HAUL is on this occasion, wherein I have spent close to $30 buying three things that were on sale at Sephora.com. (I don't know why the word "haul" is so often displayed in all-caps—maybe to convey the thrill and excitement typographically?)

I'll talk about my two lip products later (the Urban Decay Vice Lipstick in Snitch and the Too Faced Melted Latex Liquified High Shine Lipstick (what a name) in Love U, Mean It), but today I want to "review" the third product I bought, which is the First Aid Beauty Once Upon a Prime, a set that includes a primer and exfoliating pads.

2018-04-02

April Fool / 四月は私の阿呆

ほら見ろ、頭の中が変な考えで一杯だから、ヘンな夢を見るんだ・・・

It's been over eight months since I last wrote a blog post. Eight! One can basically write a journal article during that time. I have not, just so we're clear—but I'm certainly taking a guilt trip about the fact that I haven't, so no need to dwell there...

Yesterday was the day of our campus JCC's Expo, and it also marked (basically) the end of our Spring break. I think the combination of factors—the event itself, the upcoming week, all the work that I let pile up this entire academic year—basically has made my head proverbially explode. And it's not a pretty sight.

I've got the revision for the book chapter, a translation of a paper, another anime paper, another book chapter... I've got my three Spring classes to finish up, the Summer class to prep, the Fall classes to prep... I've got that development funds call to send out, the conference talk to write, the conference itself to run...

And good lord, what kind of a sad person would I be if I didn't have a life outside of work? A yours truly kind of sad person, that's what. I'm such an April Fool today.

All right good folks, we're about to enter Week 10. If I can just get through this semester, I think I have a fighting chance of figuring out what's next in my life. Possibly. Maybe. Though to be honest, right now all I really want to do is curl up with a good book and read my heart out.