Just catching up to this post from Ivy: Do southeast Asian-Australian writers write partly to challenge the Anglo-Celtic mainstream by bringing to life their personal renditions of their Australian identity? (Question from a dumb American: What is this “Anglo-Celtic mainstream” of which you speak?)
Speaking of Asian Guys…
…anyone seen the Old Navy “Scarves” commercial that parodies an awards show? They show the winner for “Best Reaction to a Scarf”: a couple: “Kate” and “Jeff,” are opening Christmas presents. Kate pulls an Old Navy “shimmery scarf” out of a box, looks at Jeff and says, “Are you asking me to marry you? YES!” and throws her arms around…
Memento Morita
Well-intentioned but slightly disappointing piece by Lawrence Downes in the NYT today on the death of actor Pat Morita. Since I’m currently teaching two Asian American studies courses, I can testify to the extent to which Downes seems to have absorbed the conventional Asian Americanist critique of Hollywood, as it limits Asians to caricatured, pidgin-speaking, sidekick roles; he even notes…
Oh Good! My Parents’ Congressman Isn’t Scared of Me
From Tenth Dems, an organization of intrepid Democrats on Chicago’s heavily Republican North Shore: Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk was at an event last weekend at Northwestern University when he was asked about the difficulties of the visa process for immigrants. He was quoted by the Chicago Sun-Times as saying: “I’m OK with discrimination against young Arab males from terrorist-producing…
Uncle Wang
Currently laughing my tail off reading short fiction pieces by Australian writer Tom Cho, fantastic bits about identity and pop culture. The story “Suitmation” imagines that everyone in the family wears Godzilla-like suits that turn them into perfect replicas of celebrites. It’s followed by an image of Tony Danza with the caption “Uncle Wang.” Better yet, Tom has a blog.
Headless Indians and Other Art
There’s a feature story in the Toronto Star today about a new exhibit by Canadian artist Charles Pachter, best known for his “queen-on-a-moose” paintings. Pachter’s exhibiting paintings done on a recent trip to India, where he said “even the poor people looked exotic and beautiful.” In the photo from the Star, Pachter is standing next to a painting of an…
Ashburied
I, too, caught that New Yorker profile of John Ashbery. Josh and Jack quite rightly take issue with its failure to offer anything particularly helpful in reading Ashbery’s work. That didn’t surprise me; I instinctively cringe when I pick up any New Yorker writer profile/puff piece and am usually glad if I don’t come out on the other end hopping…
Ron Silliman: The Early Years
A few days ago Ron Silliman posted an early, quietudinous poem on his blog, while noting that most of his other juvenalia was, alas, locked up in the Archive for New Poetry at UCSD. It so happens that a few years back I did some research there, and lo and behold, digging through my notes I’ve found that I have…
SUSAN HOWE & DAVID GRUBBS: “THIEFTH” November 8, 2005Fulton Recital Hall at The University of Chicago1010 E. 59th Street, 4th Floor7:00pm Poet Susan Howe and musician and composer David Grubbs will present the United States premiere of “Thiefth” on November 8, 2005 at 7:00pm at Fulton Recital Hall on the University of Chicago campus. The performance, one of only two…
You Know You’re on the North Side When…
…it’s three days after the Sox won the World Series and every guy you see is wearing a Cubs hat.