I Can Still Tell

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I was playing Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and “met” the character Wu Zhi “Woozie” Mu. This is an animated character, with a human actor’s voice playing during the cutscenes. But Woozie’s voice sounded odd to me… not really credible as a Triad (“Chinese mafia”) leader.

For one thing, he sounds way too young to be a leader- maybe this is intentional. Also… he has no accent. Actually, he has a very slight accent, but it isn’t like anything I’ve heard from any of my Chinese or Chinese-American friends. The person he sounds most like to me is documentarian John Neely, who I happen to know is half Japanese. Neely does not have an accent.

Turns out the voice actor is Japanese. This is my pet peeve, even when it turns out in favor of Japanese-Americans- ALL LOOK SAME. Please directors, if the character is Chinese, use a real Chinese American voice actor. But was I just lucky? Or is there something subtle there I am registering?

Racist! Or… connoisseur?

Cadillac in 5

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A film “contest” in which you make a 5 second film… and maybe win a Cadillac.

It’s an interesting concept. How would you do it?

Ultimately, it is hampered by a few factors:

  • The contest is tied in with “Be Cool,” the sequel to “Get Shorty.” I liked the book, I read the first book and liked the first movie. But out of the context of the story, John Travolta / Chili Palmer is just irritating. I don’t want to see him lecturing me about my browser.
  • To add insult to injury, none of the winners are that interesting. To make an actual 5 second short that is compelling is left as an exercise for the reader.
  • Who the hell wants a Cadillac? How trashy.

Web link of note: Cadillac in 5
(At http://www.cadillacunder5.com/presentation/siteindex.html?)

Venison!

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Last night I had venison- I had bought some frozen “medallions” (actually they were 4 oz steaks… why did they label them medallions?) a week ago on impulse. Much richer than beef, plus it doesn’t make gaping holes of rot in your brain.

I had intended to just roast them or something… but Diane, even though she doesn’t really eat meat, was suddenly inspired and I ended up having roast venison with a pepper rub, served with caramelized shallots and shiitake and organic potatoes in a port reduction.

Actually last night is kind of a haze- I went to Berkeley Bowl and bought a lot of pretty crazy things. I have a policy of buying one completely new thing each visit… and let’s just say I went way over quota last night.

For “dessert” after my venison I had St. Benoit yogurt. I can’t really recommend this (bland, expensive, bad texture), but it did come in a ceramic jar. A single serving of yogurt, with plum flavor in the bottom, in a ceramic jar. Are you intended to just throw the jar in the trash? You can’t recycle it. Reading their site, apparently you are supposed to bring it back to the store. Isn’t that precious.

Bah! I’m sticking to Brown Cow “cream top.” Mmmm fat.

LiveStrong

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There is this fad here in San Francisco of wearing these rubber bracelets… so here’s my story:

I was in a cafe eating breakfast with Samir. We were working on a script or something, and waiting to get into The Black Rider, when I notice he has a yellow rubber bracelet on. Inscribed in the bracelet are the words “LIVE STRONG,” in big block letters.

“Okay, okay,” I interrupt Samir, “what is the deal with the bracelet?”

AARON: this is going to be some form of self-denial isn’t it

AARON: is it a reminder to avoid premarital sex?

Samir rolls his eyes- “oh this… it’s Lance Armstong’s charity. They were giving them out at the club last night.”

I’m not sure about the rest of the country, but Lance Armstrong is sort of a celebrity in the Bay Area, and has been for a while now, even before winning all these bicycle races… I think the reason is because cycling is getting more popular here, and the cancer aspect appeals to the more health-minded west coast attitude. But that is just a theory.

Samir was telling me, “these bracelets are really popular… in fact I bet other people in this room are wearing them.”

I look around… sure enough, the woman at the next table has one on too. The guy she’s eating with… also has one on.

I look behind me-

AARON: i keep expecting this to turn into a scene from Invasion of The Body Snatchers

the people at the next table also are wearing them. I look around faster and faster- everyone in the room is wearing these damn things except for me.

It was exactly the opportunity for the Hitchcock shot- where the camera dollies in and zooms out at the same rate- the subject in the center of the frame stays the same size, but the background recedes from the person, giving an impression of alienation and being isolated.

Meanwhile violins do the pizzacatto noise you hear when something creepy and frequently spider-related happens in horror or action movies- plink plink plink plink!

So anyway… it’s a SF fad. There are other colors now too, for different causes.

Today I ordered a spoof one from LIVE WRONG – it’s black of course. I was thinking of having a bunch of these made with a brief nihilistic slogan on them, but it was too obvious an idea and it looks like these guys have done a great job anyway.

Oh, just to reassure you that nothing has a happy ending, you know who makes a killing off of the LIVE STRONG bracelets? Nike, since I hear they make the bands. So when you buy the yellow band… you are supporting child labor! Yaaay!