Different Journeys
Woa. Nice to know an Alief girl (Hastings HS) has 'made' it. Tila Nguyen, aka Tila Tequila [NSFW], is the 'Madonna of Myspace'. Part trashy Asian-exotica softcore and part well, trashy Fergie/Black Eye Peas/Pussycat Dolls -- it's wham bam awesome! She just cut a record (on iTunes), performing her stuff at concerts, has a new online casino business and of course, all those naughty pictures floating around. And yeah, she's younger than me. Way to go and trash yourself Tila! American success, gotta love it. (I'm serious, props to her for succeeding in a tough tough game.. but it's uh, a little bittersweet for me to see.)
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On another but similar note, I just saw Journey from the Fall, a cinematic achievement from a Vietnamese production. The score and screenplay sometimes threaten to overwhelm the already powerful message, but the producers got the details right.
At one point, while the grandmother was setting out the table spread for banh xeo (Vietnamese crepe/pancake) at her place in Orange County, I almost cried out loud, "Hey! I recognize that!" cause she places plastic colanders over the dishes to keep the flies away, just like my parents did.
When the little kid got beat up at school cause he was a new Asian on the block, that was me with a black eye before I could count to ten in English. When the family had to pick up aluminum cans from the garbage and crush them to sell to recycling centers, that was dad and me picking up trash when we first immigrated to Texas. And of course, the scenes of being lost at sea in a little leaky fishing boat with hundreds of other crying, vomiting and dying refugees, where they fought off Thai pirates and Communist coast guards.. also my family's story.
Three out of five stars.. the story dragged a little, but it's about time that the stories of all little funny sounding Asian manicurists and hair-dressers and construction workers got told. Limited release nationwide (only shown one day in NY), but if you're in Houston, California or DC on any of the dates, worth taking a look.