Monday, April 30, 2007

Entry #7: Irk

Couple things irk me in my life. Okay, I'm being overly humble, many things irk me, but I am only going to discuss a few here:

(1) People who doesn't eat Chinese food but claim they do.

Look, there's no shame in it. I've never had Polynesian food or Moroccan food. I'm not ashame to admit to that. And when and if opportunity arise, I'd love to try it. Only until recently have I tried Mediterranean food. I've had Cuban a few times, not my cup of tea. Again, no shame in that. Even if you are the kind of people who likes to stick with what you like and never try anything out of your comfort zone, I can respect that. Just don't say you do when you don't.

"But how do I know (that it's not real Chinese food)?" was a common defense from these folks. Well, let me share a few tips:

- if you walk into the hole in the wall Chinese restaurant where most patrons are caucasian, and in extreme cases, the only Asian looking guy is the waiter, it's probably not authentic.
- if they serve lunch combo with fried rice or chow mein with fried wonton or egg rolls as appetizer, it's probably not authentic.
- if they serve chicken dishes with white meat, it's probably not authentic.
- Panda Inn is to Chinese food like Taco Bell is to Mexican food (Yes, Taco Bell is not authentic Mexican food, what a shocker. But I'm not Mexican, I'll leave the critique up to some real Mexicans).
- PF Chang is a fusion place at best, you are paying for it ambience, not authenticity. More expensive doesn't mean more authentic.

(2) Which is really quite similar to point (1). People who watches only kung fu and maybe even ghost movies and claim that they "like Chinese movies."

Ugh. Will you say you like Hollywood if you only watch Western? Kung fu is a genre. And frankly, most kung fu movie that made it to US has US audience in mind. They use an exobitant amount of wire work to please the American audience. The entire movie has practically no content but people flying all over the place thoughout the entire movie. They should just produce a Chinese Peter Pan.

Ghost movies are another genre. People who watches ghost movies in additon to (or instead of) kung fu movies are better than those who only watches kung fu. At least Asian ghost movies are not yet produced specifically for the American taste. Don't get me wrong. There's nothing wrong with those folks who enjoy only kung fu. It's a genre and to each their own. But don't claim that "I like Chinese movies." Shocking, there's actually more than these two genres in Chinese movies!! Folks in Asia no longer live in the dark age portrayed in kung fu movies (in fact, directors don't even bother researching proper outfits for kung fu films catered towards American taste. The costumes are more fantasy than historic).

Matrix's choreography/action was done by a Hong Kong crew, do most fans know that? I think not. Yet over 80% of those who owns DVD own a copy of Matrix. "The Departed" was borrowed from a Hong Kong movie "The Infernal Affair." The director was honest about this movie being borrowed from the get-go. Again, do people know that? I think not. God forbid us Asian have movie genres other than kung fu and horror.

This ignorance is no different than assuming folks in Asia still live in the dark ages wearing bizarre costumes and being very uncivilized. No, look at that Asian women that you work with everyday. "Submissive Asian women" is already a thing in the past. So please try to keep up with the progress of the rest of the world. Thank you.

1 comment:

Emily Leiphart said...

Hahaha, you hit the nail on the head with this blog. Thanks for making me laugh. I needed that as I'm still at home sick. Blah.