Food Porn: Grilled chicken salad

I know most people hate cooking just for themselves, but for some reason cooking single servings brings out the best chef in me. I'm so proud of my lunch today I just had to post and brag it out. I'm surprised my digital camera could make food porn-worthy shots like this. Behold:


I must say that my Calphalon Panini/grill pan is the best thing everrrr!

• 1/4 lb of chicken breast, rubbed with sea salt and freshly ground pepper then grilled and sliced
• bag of herbal salad greens (mix of arugula, spinach, cilantro) bought from Fresh n Easy
• Goddess Tahini salad dressing from Fresh n Easy
• 3 spears of asparagus, grilled
• slices of Ciabatta bread which I lightly brushed with extra virgin olive oil and grilled.
• salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

And yes, it was so good. I only wish I had some white wine to go with it, but I just had orange juice in the fridge.



http://scribbler-chan.blogspot.com

Orange Crush: Starting anew in Chapman

"You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade."
- Dwight Eisenhower (on D-day)

A fairly intense quote from Ike, but it's the only one I can pull off the top of my head at the moment. And if you think about it, making films is a lot like D-day--a lot of shouting, pointing, shooting, and a ridiculous amount of running around to save your arse, but instead of running from Nazi gatling guns, you're running to buy 10 orders of cafe from Starbucks or running to get a bloody bounce board that someone forgot to stuff into their car. If not a bounce board then a tripod, or even the camera itself.

So now I am here in Orange, CA, the home of Chapman University's Dodge College of Film and Media Arts (just had to use the fou-fou formal name here). I've only been settled for about 4 days and I already feel fairly at home here. It's been great meeting all my fellow grad students. I knew the program was small, but I wasn't expecting it to be so comfortably tight-knit. It's surprisingly similar to what I had in Davis. I met some of the 2nd year students last night at a great party, and they were a lot like a big family--yes, drama happens especially on the set, but the love's still there. This is why I love filmmaking. People on the set understand you--they identify with your quirks, your adamant opinions about movies (even if they don't agree), and you all share in sleep-deprivation, coffee addiction and the penchant for eating dinner at 2am. I'm looking forward to new friendships, new experiences, new knowledge--hell, I'm just looking forward, but at the same time not forgetting the people who have my back.

Hiroshima mon Amour: Early Asian Male Romantic Leads

The 1959 Alain Resnais film, Hiroshima mon amour, is one of the thirty films I have to watch in preparation of my film production grad program at Chapman's Dodge College. When I found the DVD in the library, I was much more interested in crossing off another movie from the "must-see list" that I failed to even read the story synopsis on the back of the DVD box. Simply being told that I'm required to watch this film, and seeing "Criterion Collection" printed on the DVD was enough to convince me this was a worthwhile film. As you can tell, I'm a Criterion whore (insert smiley face here).

But once I did watch the DVD and read the synopsis on the back, well, I was happily surprised. The most obvious surprise came in the male lead--HE'S JAPANESE?!?! And the second--it's a film made in 1959?! And third--The lead actor speaks flawless French! (sexy) I think we all know of the sexless status given to Asian male actors, especially in American films. Even in today's more modern, liberal society, it's still rare to see a Asian actor play the romantic lead in a film that was not made in Asia. The earliest Asian male star I've seen in cinematic history was Sessue Hayakawa who starred in the 1915 film, The Cheat. While Hayakawa plays the dashing romantic interest of Fannie Ward's character, his character is also a sexually sadistic villian who brands Ward with the logo he puts on all his "possessions". Great to see Hayakawa in a lead role, but the character upholds a negative sexual stereotype of the Asian male. It was the 1910's after all...



In Hiroshima mon amour, Eiji Okada's character is completely different--he is complex and we learn more about him as the movie progresses. Yeah, he's a bit obsessed over Emmanuelle Riva's character, but she has her share of obsessions and mental instabilty. Like most romantically charged films--both characters have their share of emotional baggage. In this film set in post-WWII Hiroshima, the baggage is inevitably heavier. This is not your flowery romantic movie with the conventional happy ending.


Marguerite Duras, who wrote the screenplay, wrote an interesting description of how the Japanese male should be portrayed in the film. Here's an excerpt taken from an appendix of the published Hiroshima mon amour screenplay which was printed in its Criterion Collection's DVD companion booklet:

He 's a man of about forty. Tall. With a fairly "Western" face.

The choice of a Western-looking Japanese actor should be interpreted in the following way:

A Japanese actor with pronounced Japanese features might lead people to believe that it is especially because the protagonist is Japanese that the French actress was attached to him. Thus, whether we like it or not, we'd find ourselves caught again in the trap of "exoticism" and the involuntary racism inherent in any exoticism.

The spectator should not say: "How attractive Japanese men are," but "How attractive that man is."

This is why it is preferable to minimize the difference between the two protagonists. If the audience never forgets that this is a story of a Japanese man and a French woman, the profound implications of the film are lost. If they audience does forget it, these profound implications become apparent.


The opening sequence coincides with Duras' intentions. You see two bodies, but the closeups prevent you from distinguishing who's who. Thanks to black and white film, the ethnicity of the two lovers appears ambiguous, but it's still hot and steamy. Without any prior knowledge of the film, you wouldn't know one person is Japanese and one is French until the end of the sequence when we see their faces--and that's the point. To state it simply, they are two people brought together by the consequences of WWII. They both understand and experienced the atrocities of the war. It's east meets west, but in a deeper, more meaningful socio-political nature. Regardless of the country, the pain of the war is universal.

I'm still a bit flabbergasted that I was never told about this movie before, not even in my Asian American studies or Film Studies classes. It's a pretty influential post-WWII film. Have people forgotten about this movie? Do people even know such a film exists? Well, now that you know it exists, watch it.

Speaking as a G33K GrRrL

I stumbled upon this interesting post titled, "4 Tips for Understanding Girl Geeks" on Jezebel. The blog post put a realistic perspective on the concept of the "Girl Geek", which, I can honestly and proudly say, that I am.

But these are interesting points from Anna N.:
"1: There is no one Girl Geek.
2. Girl Geeks don't necessarily hate "girly" things.
3. Girl Geeks do not have to date Guy Geeks, nor do they require special wooing.
4. Geeks are not better than other people."

I completely agree with #1, not all geeks are the same--and this is not about the whole Star Wars v. Star Trek conflict (which I personally understand and will probably get stoned for not understanding...). There are geeks who like Sci-Fi, while others prefer fantasy...some like both. Some geeks like anime, some don't. And the most popular guy in high school who was also the star quarterback probably hid in the dark corners of his room to play World of Warcraft. Like all stereotypes, geekiness percentage is based on the individual.

#2 is just accurate, that there is really no need to elaborate upon it. Geek Girls are, after all, girls. We like to dress up and wear make up. Some of us prefer not to do it everyday (because it is a hassle), but we do it when the occasion arises.

#3...well...it depends on the Geek Guy. Regardless of geekiness, a guy can still be a douche. And I have no clue what this whole "special wooing" is about. Does he have to be able summarize the entire plot of Battlestar Gallactica? Does he have to win me by being able to beat Final Fantasy VII in one day? T'would be nice, but not required. Really, it's all about the eyes, the humor, and the intellect when it comes down to it.

And #4...while I sometimes think this is true it really isn't (damn). This ties into #1. Not all geeks are the same, and some people who think of themselves as "non-geek" do have geeky tendencies. People are people, and knowing people--they can be stupid. There are geeks who are so ridiculously idiotic and insipid that they make you wonder why they're still alive, and there are non-geeks who do the same.

There's this hilarious, but not very realistic post from the nerdy girl blog, The Park Bench on "How to Meet and Woo a Nerdy Girl." that ties into this whole rant of mine.

To sum it up, I'm a Geek Girl, but I'm realistic and I'm not prejudice against non-geeks (who a really closet geeks). My only requirement for date-ability is that he has to know what to do in the event of a zombie apocalypse. You don't HAVE to look like David Tennant, as long as you know how to properly aim for a head-shot. I'm really not that picky....

{Retrospective} Porn for Sale

Yep, Porn for Sale. It's the title of a short film I co-wrote with my friends Ling-sze and Golda. It's almost a year old, but I never get tired of watching it. The girls and porn rant was all me =)

Porn for Sale, dir. Golda Criddle