Goldie Blogs You Better!

On the eve of this new year, with such wonderful things to look forward to like Obama’s presidency, I can’t help but think about the future of Asian American media.

One big announcement that was a bit of a shock is that AsianWeek, the longest running Asian American newspaper in the US, is shutting down shop (on their paper side). They’ll continue to run the website and hopefully grow.

I also saw some interesting article on the state of Asian American media in 2008…here’s some excerpts…

The good news is that more films are coming out of both Hollywood and the independent world that prominently feature Asian American talent. In previous years, it was difficult to find material for my columns; sometimes there just wasn’t anything interesting out there. In 2008, I never had that problem.

Hollywood also brought us some very worthy films that put Asians front and center: Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay, Gran Torino, Slumdog Millionaire, Kung Fu Panda and even The Forbidden Kingdom. I can’t think of another year when mainstream Hollywood has made as much of an effort to present Asian characters with genuine depth.

Still, I have mixed feelings about the fact that none of these movies were written or directed by Asian filmmakers. We finally have consistently high-quality Asian films coming out of Hollywood, but why do they all have to be made by Caucasian men?

But a good number of these films were very well made, and I would argue that the overall craft of our filmmakers is improving. Some of these films even starred well-known non-Asian actors like Meryl Streep and Forrest Whitaker. So why couldn’t they get any traction?

One of the reasons may have to do with the way the film industry itself is shifting. As the cost of making and releasing films continues to increase and more independent films find themselves struggling at the box office (witness the shutting down this year of Warner Independent Pictures and massive cut-backs at other companies focusing on indie products), the market for “challenging” independent films, which most of these Asian American films would fall under, is now close to non-existent. If Justin Lin were to come along with Better Luck Tomorrow today, it’s very possible there would be no takers.

Sigh, bleak bleak bleak. But still I can’t help but think that when the economy rises again, so will the opportunities for Asian and Asian American actors.

To celebrate the close of the year, Chendi and I went to go see the (epic) The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Originally expanded from the F. Scott Fitzgerald epic of the same title, it traverses along this crazy 3 hour path, punctuated by the characters that Ben(jamin) meets along the way.

Here Brad Pitt (courtesy of a lot of computer animation and FX makeup) is flexing away as a spry 70 year old.

One of the BEST parts of the movie was the fun “lightning strikes” guy – who kept saying “Did you know I got struck by lightning 7 times??” and then goes to recount 5 different times he got hit…uhm the ones I can remember off the top of my head..

Hi everyone!

Wheeh! I know I’ve been out of touch, when I see that the last thing I posted on here was my photoshoot with Herman! Since then I’ve been filming my talking headshot, auditioning up a storm and generally, keeping busy!

And just because, I got back these picture and absolutely adored them, here are (some of) my lovely photos from a shoot I did with Mike from IGP Photography in Emeryville! I think I’m on the front page of his website, pretty exciting stuff! I was so cold I asked him to make sure to photoshop out my goosebumps! @.@

Some of you who have access to some of my pictures elsewhere may have been wondering who the cute guy that I’m hanging out with is in all those cheery shots. No, it’s not my adorable Chendi, it’s Herman – one of the most popular and hard-working commercial models in SF/Sacramento! And no, despite his last name, I’m pretty sure we’re not related… I think.

Here’s one of him and me enjoying some Mexican food:

Cute!

He’s also a bit better at yoga then I am…

Well, here’s to more exciting updates and news as we head (fast!) towards the holiday craziness. Good luck