Watching previews before Rent last week, I saw a trailer for Memoirs
of a Geisha, the newest runaway bestseller novel-to-screen adaptation.
Having lived very near to Kyoto and having strolled through the Gion
district many times, and having walking past several real-life geishas
myself, I’m definitely looking forward to the movie. My wife read the
book, and said it was excellent. 

I was, however, startled that
their choice of actress to play the leading role is … well, Chinese.
Not Japanese. Not a big deal to many western audiences, I’m sure, but a
quick perusal of the newspapers a few days later confirmed that
Japanese folks are in a bit of an uproar about it. I personally would
have preferred a Japanese woman for the part. But the way I see it, you
can look at it two ways:

Way 1: Hollywood has an embarassing legacy of having people play outside their race.

Even
outside of the obvious black minstrel tradition, many big-name stars in
the 30s and 40s played roles that, from modern standards, border on
offensive racial stereotype. Audiences of yesteryear seemed to have no
problem with having white guys play Asians. Warner Oland, a
Swede, played detective Charlie Chan, as did Sidney Toler, a native of
Warrensburg, Missouri — the small town where I went to high school –
and Roland Winters, also a white guy. Actually, no Asian person ever
played Charlie Chan on screen or radio.

There’s Mickey Rooney as Mr. Yunioshi in Breakfast at
Tiffany’s, Hungarian Peter Lorre as Mr. Moto, Siamese king Yul Brynner
in The King and I, and Boris Karloff as Fu Manchu, to name a few. David
Carradine was chosen over Bruce Lee for TV’s Kung Fu, for crying out
loud.

So what we have here is the latest iteration: Asian actors
playing Asians outside their race, since they must all look the same
anyway. Never mind that Ziyi Zhang
looks distinctly Chinese. Beyond looks, however, is the unique
understanding that a Japanese woman would have brought to the role.
Japan is, to this day, an incredibly closed society, brimming with
complicated social hierarchy and etiquette. Most of this passes under
the radar of those of us on the outside looking in. Having lived in
Japan for three years, I honestly believe that you can only be Japanese
to hope to understandthese things. In other words, this was a lost opportunity.

Way 2: Currently, there are no bankable female Japanese stars.

Let’s
face it. Ziyi Zhang is going to draw crowds like no other Asian actress
outside of Lucy Liu. When moviemaking is a business, not art, these
sorts of regrettable choices are to be expected. When will a young,
talented, beautiful Japanese actress rise to prominence in Hollywood?
Only time will tell. I can only mention that, in Japan, filmmaking
nowadays comes in a low second-fiddle to TV — and the best acting
you’ll find on Japanese TV is still over-the-top. 

I might be biased, but if you want to see a terrific performance by a Japanese actress, you’ll definitely want to check out Rock Paper Scissors…

 

Note: For more info on the history of yellowface in Hollywood, you might start with this excellent essay.

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I’ve just seen one of the coolest gadgets I’ve ever imagined. It’s a
plenoptic camera, developed by a student at Stanford. This digital
camera not only measures the amount of light coming at a specific
point, but also how much light arrives at each ray. What this means is
that you can take a single shot and change the depth of focus
AFTERWARD, in software. Imagine the implications. 

 

This is the same single shot, with only the focal depth changed afterward! 

Would it
be too much to ask for the same thing in a videocamera? Probably.
Although it’s arguably the next step in the evolution of photography,
slightly before 3D and holography. You can read more about it, and
check out some killer examples, here.

Here is also a link to the Wired Article about it.

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I’m deeply concerned about my social network. Deeply. It all started
about 8 years ago, when I began to read tons of books on how to run a
business and how to deal with people. It started to hit home that there
is no truer adage than: "It’s not what you know — it’s who
you know." Looking back, I realize that nearly every opportunity I’ve
ever had in life fell into my lap as a result of a friend or
acquaintance.

Take, for example, every single job I’ve had since I was 16:

1. Sacker at Piggly Wiggly – urged on by my friend’s dad, who was a manager.

2. Salvage yard – my girlfriend’s dad was the owner.

3. Temporary office worker – my mom’s friend worked at the temp agency.

4. Maintenance worker at a hospital – the hospital where my mom worked.

5. News director, later General Manager of KTRM, college radio station – got to know some of the managers first.

6. News reporter for KIRX/KTUF/KRXL – my friend Brian, also a reporter there, recommended me.

7. Public Relations office, Truman State University – I knew Heidi, director of PR, later my boss.

8. Intern at Governor’s Office, Missouri State Capitol – at the insistence of Heidi.

9. English teacher in Japan – at the urging of my friend Matt and his wife Stephanie, who were doing the same thing.

10. Disney MGM Studios – another friend, Neil.

11. Now What? Home Computer support – my dad’s business.

12. Computer Support Tech, Truman State – my buddy Greg told me of the opening.

Not
to mention the magic shows and occasional videography project, which
are all word-of-mouth. Never in my life have I blindly applied for any
job, program or opportunity – there was always a friend involved on the
inside. And the only way I could make two feature films for less than
$500 apiece is by calling for favors, donations and help from the
people I know. We send out a LOT of Christmas cards every year…

So
I’d been looking with interest but hesitation at the germination of
these social networking websites, like Friendster and MySpace.com. A
couple students workers convinced me to start up a Facebook profile, so
I dove right in to see what all the fuss is about.

On one hand,
it’s a great idea. It’s like a virtual Rolodex where your friends and
acquaintances create and maintain their own entries, as well as give
you access to their own Rolodexes (Rolodexi?). But come ON. In a few weeks, I’m already "connected" to 1469 people who I don’t even know.

I’ve
seen people spend a lot of time browsing their connections, leaving
messages for their friends, and updating their profiles with more facts
and pictures. But I have two concerns. I spoke with another friend
about this, who related a story about two guys at a party who had just
met and were showing each other their facebook pages. Huh? Wouldn’t it
be easier and more fun to just talk and discuss your mutual hobbies and
interests, instead of just pointing someone to your webpage?

The
other problem is privacy. There’s so much personal information just
up-for-grabs on these sites. It’s stalker central. Gotta be careful.

So anyway, I’ll give it a whirl for a little while and see what becomes of it. Add me as your friend on Facebook, Friendster, or MySpace and see where it gets you.

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