Ike and Sam Get Me Every Time!!

A few months ago, I was in Whole Foods buying yet another slab of cheese when I saw a bright green snack bag with the cutest illustration of a popped corn and kettle. I almost bought the damn bag of popcorn and I hate cheese popcorn. Ew.

The other day at Fairway, though, I totally failed. I got SUCKED in by the purple bag of Ike and Sam's Caramel Crunch Kettle Corn. Three of my favorite things in one -the color purple, cute/weird/random cartoon characters and caramel corn. It's such a curse.

Today, as I munched away on a percentage of the bag that will not be revealed here, I thought to myself, "Dag, Biba. You're like 8. You totally got sucked in by the purple bag and the cute, cuddly corn and kettle!! Curse you, advertising world and Biba's immature advertising screen." It prompted me to look up a little bit about the design of the logo and I actually found the website of the designer, Geoff Glisson, who is responsible for that cute little corn and kettle set. Apparently, they were one of the fastest growing snacks in their category and I can't help but think that Geoff Glisson really helped them out with that one. He must be RICH!!!

Smh. Oh, the power of advertising! Can you imagine getting rich over a sketch and prompting thousands of unsuspecting customers like me to get fat over some bright colors and a piece of popcorn with big googly eyes that beg you to eat it and a sardonic looking kettle that looks like someone is calling it black?

Try this brand at your own risk. And if you're like me (apparently, an 8 year old child) you may want to avert your gaze from the brightly colored packaging. Next time I walk into Fairway, I will be looking to the right of the chip aisle, where all I'll see are drably colored and packaged Blue Corn chips.

Detox starts in a week!! lol. No, really.

Belafonte Throwback

Was watching this tight interview with Harry Belafonte on Colorlines and started looking up old pictures of him. I found this dope magazine cover from January 1955, in Tan magazine (a Black publication started by John H. Johnson, who started both Jet and Ebony) with Belafonte and Dorothy Dandridge looking fine as ever!! Go ahead, Grandpa (as Esko would say)!

PI Day 104 -The Power of the Pacman

In the organizing world, we don't often go for tokenism of our leaders. We like that grassroots change, but iunno. Today, tokenism was looking pretty dang good to me. Mad heads Stateside were hatin cuz I was gonna be in Manila while Manny Pacquiao was fighting Margarito in Texas. They thought the riding was gonna be wild over here -parties and screaming in the streets.

On the contrary, my friends, Manila during a Pacquiao fight is straight dead. It's truly amazing. As my family and I drove over to Tita Didi's house for lunch, I was surprised by how fast our drive was. Sometimes it can take 20 minutes to drive a mile or less in Manila with the way traffic is, but nope, not today. It took us maybe 5 minutes to get over there and that is seriously unheard of considering the distance they live from us.

As we had lunch, some of the household help at Tita Didi's were listening to the fight on the radio. My uncles jumped in and out of the kitchen to check on the score. At the table, my Tito Michael and Tita Trinket confirmed for us Americans how much power a Pacquiao fight has in the city. They said that by this afternoon the dvd of the fight would already be at Mercury Drug Store being sold and that during Pacquiao fights Manila is safe and orderly. Folks are all inside, glued to the tv, watching the fight. "There are no robberies. There is no traffic."

You think I'm playing, but the streets were CLEAR and QUIET and that is NOT the way around here. If you walk down the main streets of Manila, town be bumpin hard on the regular -kids playing in the streets, excessive amounts of street vendors selling the same crap, cars, cars, cars, and more cars, jeepneys, and tricycles clogging your lungs with exhaust.

What the power of one celebrity can do... Is this world for real? smh. It was too much, I tell you. The power of one national hero can change the daily culture of a whole city. Imagine if our governments, communities, and citizens had that kind of power in the world. It would bring us to our knees with tears of gratitude.

I guess for now we just gonna have to wait for the next fight...

Sincerely, Jane

You have got to love the social commentary in Janelle Monae's Sincerely, Jane. The sound, the lyrics, the voice -perfect!

The Human Voice

I just learned about a great organization called Storycorps. Their mission is to preserve people's stories through interviews between two people who are important to one another. In the history classes that I taught, we did oral history projects. It was so essential to hear people's voices and their stories relating to different topics. The projects were so beautiful and so human.

Storycorps does an amazing job of providing different stories and is now doing some animated versions of some of the interviews they've gotten. While all of the animated cartoons are great, this Studs Terkel interview about the Human Voice has got to be one of my favorites!

Ali Wong

My friends and I are constantly watching clips of comedians like Katt Williams, Dave Chappelle, Gabriel Iglesias, Rasheed Thurmond, etc. What do they all have in common? They are funny, brown, dudes. Ali Wong is a dope, fly, Asian American, female comedian. She brings it!! Can't wait to see her live!!

A Song For Ourselves

It's amazing. Asian American representation in the media is meager at best. While I've always known this I didn't take too much notice because I knew that's the way things have always been. But seeing this documentary, A Song For Ourselves, about the musician and activist Chris Iijima brought tears to my eyes. (The whole documentary is linked above.) It's almost as if seeing Asian Americans in a positive, a-stereotypical light made me remember how little we are in the media and in the culture itself.

How much of a difference it could make for young Asian Americans to see themselves as positive change makers, as examples, and as leaders as opposed to nerdy, quiet background characters in American culture. Thanks to Tad Nakamura for a beautifully done movie.

Why I Don't Watch TV Anymore

Distracting, loud, mind numbing. I have a headache. Wow.

Asian American Leading Man?

Sometimes I have an imagination that completely runs away with itself. This morning, as I was washing dishes, Janelle Monae's The Chase began playing. There is a moment where her leading man is speaking in awe of all her talents and abilities. As I was imagining the scene in my mind a question popped up in my head, "What race is this dude?!" I assumed he'd be black, but what if, in a potential music video, they chose a white man to play her leading man? Then I thought, "Whoa, what if they chose and Asian American dude to play the lead role?! What would happen if there were more Asian American leading men in romantic roles with women of different races?" Seems like that could do so much for the piss poor image Asian American men are challenged with today. And I'm telling you, there are some fly Asian American brothers out there that get NO PLAY in the media. If you know bout them in real life, you're like, part of a secret society or something...or you live on the West Coast. No offense, East Coast fam!
At the same time, the media is superficial in its structure, so we shouldn't need those media positions to affirm the flyness of our men, because they are...full stop. I'm just saying though...what if...?

Dizzy

Can I just say that watching tv makes me extremely dizzy? The girls and I were watching Project Runway and What Not to Wear today and all the sounds and images were too much for me too process. It was like being in the nosebleeds at a Celtics game -way too much going on. OMG.

Speechless

Speechlessness is a rare occasion for me.

Pam, Stephanie, and I just watched Avatar and I came out of that movie feeling straight offended.

You should have seen our dejected walk back to our apartment...sad.

Love Me If You Dare

Another thing that I've been doing over break is getting my money's worth out of my Netflix account. You've got to love the "Watch Instantly" feature. I'm sorry to my local Hollywood Video -I know it's not in good form for local business!

I just got finished watching Love Me If You Dare and I have to say, it was mind blowing. It's the story of two children who grow up daring each other endlessly into doing crazy things and falling in love. I'm still shaking my head in disbelief and I don't know how to summarize it without giving it away, but check it out if you can!

I forget how much I enjoy some of these French films. I'm no film expert, but I know what I like. I have always loved movies with a dark twist to them, with creative, diverse imagery, and elements of fantasy. And yes, yes...romance. Gag me, I know. It seems, though, after many of the French films I watch like Amelie or Trois Coleurs (which is actually by a Polish director), I'm just so fascinated by the creator's train of thought. I'm always like, "Who the hell thinks of that?!"

P.S.-I'm not one to fawn over movie stars, but Marian Cotillard is one fly woman!!