Fig-Leaves + Octopus-Beaks

8yearoldslut: me arriving at the gates of hell

Fri, 24 May 2013 17:20:39 -0400

me arriving at the gates of hell

sonofbaldwin: racialicious: paradelle: crossedwires: niqaeli:...

Fri, 24 May 2013 16:34:18 -0400

racialicious:

paradelle:

crossedwires:

niqaeli:

I admit, I don’t know Cho that well, so I am glad there are other readings to be had!
And if he is just calling it out simply because he’s tired of it and he feels comfortable doing so even on his own films now, I think that’s fantastic. There’s certainly plenty for him to be calling out.

Heh. Well, I don’t know John Cho either. But he has talked about race & representation before* (and not in a ‘we’re all human, it doesn’t matter’ way), so it’s not completely ‘out of character’ for him to bring it up. I think it probably would be easier on him if he didn’t say anything, but I’m glad he does.

*Re Harold & Kumar (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHEkLBZI1IM 4:07 mark): If you have a Korean and an Indian guy as your leads, you must address race at some point in the movie. You must, because the audience is noting it, really. The other thing is, I think, comedy at its best, treads in taboo waters a little bit. It has to have that transgressive quality to it, and race is the biggest taboo in America. I mean, people are very reluctant to talk about race and yet when you do jokes about race, uh, that work, people are very happy to release tension and laugh about it. But it has been interesting. I’ll make an observation. During the first tour for the first movie, we were talking about race all the time with journalists. It was almost like a process— looking back, the first movie was more concerned with race, but we talked about it so much, I felt that it was in a way…a way of justifying our presence in a motion picture.

And from an interview in 2009 http://www.asiaarts.ucla.edu/090703/article.asp?parentID=110145>:

JC: I recall from the Harold and Kumar movies is my struggle with the advertisers.

APA: What happened there?

JC: There was all this racial humor in the movie, and the advertising department wanted to say “Starring the Asian guy in American Pie, and the Indian guy from Van Wilder…” and they did go with that, and they submitted that to me for approval, and I said, “I don’t like it.” They asked me why, and I explain it to them, and that was tricky because it’s difficult explaining to my own representatives, why that didn’t jibe with me, because everyone kind of felt like it was keeping in tone with the movie. And I said, “I don’t like it. We’re poking fun at racism in the movie all the time, but it puts the audience on the wrong side of the racism joke.” So they were playing with the wording a little bit in the edits, and they kept coming up with versions to make me happy, but they were essentially the same thing, and I finally said, “you are not going to make me happy. You’re dancing around it, and you’re clearly attached to this idea, and I want you to know that no version of this idea will make me happy. And if you’re afraid that I won’t show up to do promotion because of this bitterness, you can rest assured that that’s not true. I consider promoting a movie part of my duties, and I will show up nevertheless. But you can either use this campaign and know that I’m unhappy, or you can change it and know that I’m happy. That’s it. Stop trying.” And eventually they went with it, and it’s one of those things where I look back and I’ve very proud of the movie, but that’s the thing I remember.

APA: Last question…for Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay, Viva La Union recorded a song for the soundtrack with the line, “I want my own Chinese baby” — what’s that about?

JC: When I was thinking about it, I thought of a literal baby. There’s a kind of lack that children fill, that’s just the dark side of being a parent, I think. And there’s an accessory quality to Chinese babies in America, and I just think it’s funny. I just liked it. And you know, I would know people who would fawn over Asian babies more, and it got me to thinking, there’s this belief that Asian babies are really cute, and it got me thinking that our whole race is infantilized to some degree, and it manifests itself in different ways. You infantilize a woman, and she becomes eroticized. You infantilize a man, and he becomes emasculated. You infantilize a baby [laughs] — and it’s possible, it appears that you can infantilize a baby even more. [laughs] The babies need to be cuter than white babies. And it’s just a weird thing that I felt like said something about mainstream America’s relationship to Asians in general. So that’s where it came from.

Also this interview: http://blog.angryasianman.com/2008/04/q-with-john-cho.html

“And yes, I do feel a responsibility, and always have, and it’s been an odd burden for me. Even when I started and no one gave a shit, I was trying to avoid doing roles—and it’s no accident that I’ve never done something with a chop suey accent. It’s no accident that I’ve never played those parts. I strongly believe there are a lot of Asian American actors who think that that’s the price to pay before you get to wherever you’re going. And I take real issue with that. Because you have to maintain integrity from the start, and on a personal level, you have to not do something that’s going to make you sick to your stomach.

But on a political level, how are things supposed to ever change if there’s someone willing to do it? I can tell you now, having worked in the business, that you can gather an army of people to hold picket signs and stand outside the studio, and say, “we destest this portrayal”… but it doesn’t matter if there’s a guy—who they know, a peer—who’s willing to do it, who stands in front of the crew and does the buck-tooth accent. If he or she is willing to do it, it makes the protestors look like extremists. It makes this guy look like the normal guy. Because we all work in the same industry. So the willingness of one actor negates a thousand protestors and a thousand angry letters.”

(So I can see why Butawhiteman Cantbekhan playing Khan would be deeply upsetting to him, even if Cho wasn’t in this movie.)

I love him 1000 times just for flawlessly articulating this racist absurdity in the most succinct and accurate way I’ve ever encountered.

Once more into your weekend…John Cho.

John Cho is about that life.

Fun fact: The first Harold and Kumar is my mom’s favorite movie.

ashley-de-riveter: WHAT

Fri, 24 May 2013 16:27:47 -0400

ashley-de-riveter:

WHAT

cambienta: Elliott was lying next to me in bed when he turned, took me in his arms, and sighed...

Fri, 24 May 2013 04:02:30 -0400

cambienta:

Elliott was lying next to me in bed when he turned, took me in his arms, and sighed deeply before breathily murmuring,

“God, I want to play Magic with you sooo badly, right now…”

noahbodie: Egyptian war goddess Sekhmet as a modern avatar of...

Fri, 24 May 2013 04:01:56 -0400

noahbodie:

Egyptian war goddess Sekhmet as a modern avatar of destruction by Fiona Staples, created as part of an old art submission thread on Whitechapel

holy shit hi

i can't take how fucking beautiful and perfect you are! seriously. also, what i would do for some hugs from you right now in this freezing cold!!!

Fri, 24 May 2013 02:01:33 -0400

no u r perfect i wish we could huddle together and kiss forever <3 <3 <3

im on this richard dawkins twitter and i can't look away

Fri, 24 May 2013 02:01:14 -0400

no stop you’ll turn to stone krista noooooooooooooo

hahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Fri, 24 May 2013 01:55:00 -0400

hahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

digatisdi: When you see a really pretty map of the United States, Canada, and Mexico… And it shows...

Thu, 23 May 2013 22:26:28 -0400

digatisdi:

When you see a really pretty map of the United States, Canada, and Mexico…

And it shows every state in the United States

And every State and Territory of Canada

But presents Mexico as a giant administrative monolith

Haunted house that takes people’s picture as they’re walking...

Thu, 23 May 2013 21:14:49 -0400

Haunted house that takes people’s picture as they’re walking through.

i’m crying.

that one bearded boy is making a face i am pretty sure scared pugs make or something

anarcho-queer: Elderly Pakistani Man Stabbed To Death After...

Thu, 23 May 2013 21:03:21 -0400

anarcho-queer:

Elderly Pakistani Man Stabbed To Death After Leaving Mosque In Birmingham

A 75-year-old man stabbed to death yards from his home may have been targeted in a racially motivated attack, according to police.

Mohammed Saleem, who used a walking stick, was stabbed three times in the back as he returned home from prayers at his local mosque in Small Heath, Birmingham, on Monday night.

The blows were struck with such violence they penetrated to the front of his body.

The father of seven also had no defensive wounds in what has been described as a swift, vicious and cowardly attack by the man leading the murder investigation, Detective Superintendent Mark Payne of West Midlands police.

Officers want to trace a white man, aged 25-32, of medium height and build, spotted on CCTV footage running near the scene of the attack around the time it happened, just before 10.30pm.

Police also want to trace a seven-seat people carrier captured on CCTV, driving near the mosque with the two male occupants, both white and in their 30s, who are considered “significant witnesses”.

In an emotional family appeal on Thursday, two of Saleem’s daughters, Shazia Khan, 45, and Nazia Maqsood, 44, called for the attackers to hand themselves in. They tearfully described their father as a “widely respected member of the community” and “much-loved”.

strangegods: impulsive headshots because i’m gonna audition...

Thu, 23 May 2013 20:59:20 -0400

strangegods:

impulsive headshots because i’m gonna audition possibly for a role in some nerd playyyyyyy

fuckit reblog for all of you who missed it

why can i not reblog myself? :c

Thu, 23 May 2013 17:39:30 -0400

why can i not reblog myself? :c

spockvarietyhour: Captain Silva LaForge :’C

Thu, 23 May 2013 11:40:12 -0400

spockvarietyhour:

Captain Silva LaForge

:’C

il-tenore-regina: setfabulazerstomaximumcaptain: makebelievesan...

Thu, 23 May 2013 10:00:48 -0400

il-tenore-regina:

setfabulazerstomaximumcaptain:

makebelievesandcelluloids:

me bottoming for the first time

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

CAN’T. BREATHE.

me bottoming every time

impulsive headshots because i’m gonna audition possibly...

Thu, 23 May 2013 05:04:00 -0400

impulsive headshots because i’m gonna audition possibly for a role in some nerd playyyyyyy

sexincomics: sexincomics: pharaohhearts: sexincomics: Your...

Wed, 22 May 2013 19:17:23 -0400

sexincomics:

sexincomics:

pharaohhearts:

sexincomics:

Your daily reminder that Wolverine is the fucking ~~worst~~ man.

Fixed it :D

Nah son. Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah son.

Wolverine is the fucking worst.

He’s wrong, to start with, She-Hulk didn’t get with Juggernaut, some version of her from the multiverse did. So you got this hairy little Canucklehead absorbing and spreading fuckshit rumors about the sex life of one of the (relatively) few high profile superwomen in his field of work.

Then you got the fact that, right or wrong, Logan is on that slut shaming bullshit. Hey, Wolvy, you don’t want to have a one night stand with Jen? Fine, your loss. Hey, Wolvy, you wanna put down Jen because the sex she may or may not be having lowers her value to you? Drink some bleach.

And since bullshit comes in threes, you also have the straight up hypocrisy of it all. This is goddamn Wolverine we’re talking about, who despite all odds has a list of sexual partners as long as his arm. If he didn’t have a healing factor, the last hundred and fifty years of freaky loving he’s gotten would have left him literally riddled with diseases. (Son had half a dozen kids he didn’t know existed, you can’t tell me Wolverine places a high value on safe sex, or even pulling out). Wolverine has literally less authority than anyone else in the Marvel Universe when it comes to judging people based on their sexual history.

But no, it’s all good, respectability based on your sexual history is a one way street. Get a lot of pussy? Player. Get a lot of dick? Skank.

She-Hulk sees y’all, and doesn’t think much of you.

HEY GUESS WHAT GUYS, I’M GONNA REBLOG THIS LIKE FIVE TIMES TODAY BECAUSE SOME PUNK ASS, INSECURE, BETA PERSONALITY ASSED DUDEBRO CALLED ME GAY FOR SAYING IT. WHICH I CAN ONLY ASSUME MEANS I SAID SOMETHING WORTH SAYING.

dondarrion: trugazi: bastardizations of benedict cumberbatch’s name as surrealist art

Wed, 22 May 2013 18:58:56 -0400

dondarrion:

trugazi:

bastardizations of benedict cumberbatch’s name as surrealist art

magpizza: One of the funniest moments of any show.

Wed, 22 May 2013 18:47:47 -0400

magpizza:

One of the funniest moments of any show.

Photo

Wed, 22 May 2013 18:47:37 -0400