You have to jump around in a circle on one leg, otherwise you'll be cold.

Hello, hello from the large and heavily polluted country of China! It's been a long time and made even longer by the fact that I couldn't access my blog here in China until recently.  Through my own cleverness :) I figured out a way to bypass the blocks put up by the Chinese government to censor sites they deem inappropriate? or somehow dangerous to the government? Either way, I can now happily access some of my favorite sites: Hulu, Netflix, Universal Sports to watch the World Cup Ski Season, my blog to post for you lovely people, and Facebook (although this one is still giving me trouble). You really have no idea how bored you can become when so many sites are kept from your reach.

Thus, this begs the question, what have I been doing with my time without internet? Well, my mom and Ron have taken to waking up extremely early to go exercise at 天坛公园 (TianTan Park) in the south of Beijing. The whole process of getting there includes waking up early in order to get ready, eat breakfast, take an hour long subway ride, and still get there at a relatively early hour to practice various forms of Taiji. If all this weren't enough, it also happens to be very cold here in Beijing during the winter time, at least much colder than what I'm use to from DC weather, and even worse early in the morning.

Still, despite the extreme cold weather, I do have at least some working knowledge of how to keep myself warm. However, my mother doesn't seem to understand this, which led to a whole list of things that she required me to do, otherwise I would be cold.

1. You have to wear these windproof pants, otherwise you'll be cold.
2. You have to wear this long underwear, otherwise you'll be cold.
3. You're taking a shower? Well, you have to blow dry your hair, otherwise you'll be cold.
4. Those are your gloves? Well, you should probably wear mine, otherwise you'll be cold.
5. Also, you should probably wear my hat, otherwise you'll be cold.
6. You have to eat this breakfast I've laid out for you, otherwise you'll be cold.
7. You have to wear these extremely hideous, Chinese Communist shoes from Mao's era, otherwise you'll be cold.

Okay, she didn't really say that last one, but they're really ugly shoes and you get the idea. After all this preparation, we head out for the park. No lie, at 7AM, that park is bustling with activity. There are those, like my mom, who go to exercise, but there's also a good majority simply there to socialize by playing games and just walking around the park. By 8AM tour groups have also started coming through the park. If I go back, I promise to remember to take pictures to share!

Other than doing this, my mom and I have also taken on the task of feeding me all the delicious Chinese things I love to eat. I've only been here five days so far, but I've tackled quite a lot of the list. They include hot pot (hmm delicious and extremely well-suited to the winter weather), Song Shu fish (which is a fish that blooms open when its cooked, fried, and covered in this sweet and sour sauce), JianBing (which is a pancake type thing, but basically its classic street food), and various other dishes.

SongShu Fish

 I've also had other street food items that are specifically around Beijing during the winter time. I remembered them from when I was a child and they are just as good as I remember! For many people, chestnuts roasting over an open fire is something associated with an American Christmas and the Bing Crosby song, but my first taste of it was in China. Of course, when I was little I didn't realize it was a chestnut, but now I know, and roasted chestnuts are AWESOME! Little stalls around the city roast them for you and then you purchase them in brown paper bags, each one weighing one Chinese pound. So good!!

栗子 - Chestnuts

Another great street food is an old, traditional Beijing treat, candied crab apples. Crab apples are placed on skewers and then covered in a soft candy shell. More modern versions of the treat have added other fruits or covered them in nuts, but I prefer the traditional candied crab apples.

Well, that's pretty much what's happening in China for now. We're expecting my brother tomorrow if he manages to get on the plane. Gotta say I'll be very happy to see him because I'm getting a little bit too much quality time with my mom and Ron. More updates later!

There's No Place Like Home

So, it's just a day away from Thanksgiving YAY! and I'm back home in Katy to celebrate with my dad, my brother and our next door neighbors. During this time I'll also being seeing and catching up with friends since I won't be back in Katy for quite some time (I'm going to China for winter break).  As usual, before I made it back home, I was burdened with a thousand academic tasks to finish up...or rather it was just one 12 page paper that I apparently really didn't want to write. Funny thing is that the paper was me analyzing the film Buffy the Vampire Slayer, so it should have been both fun and interesting, but it wasn't. That is all.

Woo life is crazy right now! Which is why I haven't had to time to write, but now that things are starting to calm down, I can start sharing. For this post I'll tell you all about my internship as a dance assistant at a charter school in northeast DC. The school is an inner-city school filled with students that come from a less than great part of town. So, my job as an "arts" teacher is considered outreach.

On Monday mornings and all day Wednesday, I help assist the dance teacher at this school in teaching her K-8th grade dance classes. When I first began, I was totally overwhelmed by the students. Being the youngest child who has never babysat before, I was at a total loss at how to handle these little children. I have several friends who have experience working with kids and got some tips from them, but really the only way to get through a situation like this is trial and error, sink or swim. I'm happy to say that after almost three months, I finally feel capable of running a class on my own. I've learned that its never easy and even great teachers can't always have a great class, therefore its a constant challenge to both keep up my energy as a teacher as well as keep my students in line.

One of my favorite things about this internship is feeling so adult and like a leader, especially when I reprimand my students...its actually really hilarious, I wish there was a video I could see of me doing that haha. I also love that I get to know so many students and they know me and they seem happy to see me everyday we have class together. I definitely have my favorite students and its interesting because its not always the best students in the class that I like. I have a soft spot in my heart for the troublemakers because they get so much negative attention from the other teachers; I really try to reach out to them and I think a few have come to really respond to me. It isn't always perfect, but still I think its worth putting in the effort. Actually, this plays into one of my biggest qualms about the job. After all these weeks, I know many students by name, but unfortunately there are many that I don't know and its sad to say that they tend to be those in the middle of the pack. Not the best or the worst, but just good kids who get by. Its disappointing that all the teachers' attentions are solely focused on the best and worst kids and so many fly under our radar.

Despite everything though, I truly love this job. Its been a great experience and I've learned so much. However, I've also learned that as much as I enjoy teaching dance, I'm not suited to teaching young children long term. Given the nature of how young kids must be taught, I feel that elementary teachers need to have more of a passion for teaching than for the specific subject that they teach. My main love is dance and teaching is secondary and given the nature of our dance classes, I'm not able to share my passion with the kids in class. Instead, I have to focus the majority of my energy on disciplining. Therefore, if and when I do end up teaching long term in the future, it'll have to be to older students, at least high school if not college age and older.

Well, that's been just one part of my life this semester. Perhaps I'll keep up with the internship next semester, but we'll have to see how free my schedule ends up being. Lastly, before I end this post, I want to share with you a great article that I recently read. Also on the topic of education, this article details the state of sex education in schools today. Doesn't sound that interesting, but I promise it is! This article brings up a lot of interesting points and I definitely agree and wish that such a sex program had been offered to me in high school. I think what I did receive led me to have a very skewed perception of sex and since college, I've totally rethought the issue and I think I'm a smarter, more cognizant person on the subject now as a result. So enjoy the article Teaching Good Sex and let me know your thoughts!

Wow...Senior Year Is Kinda Busy...

Hello, hello my lovely readers...I hope you're still with me after my long hiatus from blogging. As the title says, senior year has been crazy busy! In a good way of course, but unfortunately this little extracurricular activity has had to feel the effects of that. However, I'm trying to be a good blogger and get back to it, especially since I've realized how much I actually enjoy doing this!

Anyways, I won't attempt to catch you up on everything in my life since the last post, 1. because that would be a crazy long post and 2. it's way too late already for me to be taking that on tonight. I will however say that I've experienced a lot this semester and I definitely think I've grown and come to understand myself better. Life is constantly changing and I'm constantly asking questions, not because I'm getting more confused (thank goodness), but because all my new discoveries prompt new questions. Often we ask friends for advice hoping that their experience can guide us, and it can be helpful, but in reality, you just have to take every situation that happens and make the best decision you can for yourself in that moment. There are no clear cut answers, which is difficult, but also good because then I know that I'm not the only one whose constantly in a state of confusion.

Well, there's my bit of foreshadowing for tales to come in the next few posts. Some things for me, and you as an audience, to look forward to in my life are...
1. Thanksgiving in Texas!
2. Auditioning my piece that I choreographed this semester to be a part of the Spring Dance Concert next semester
3. Completing my second to last semester of college...ahhhh
4. Going to China for winter break YAY!
5. And my last semester of college...

It's crazy how fast life is happening, so we've gotta try and keep in mind the wise words of one Ferris Bueller - "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

It's Been So Long!!

Hello, hello readers! So, obviously you can tell that it's been forever since my last post. Apologies for not being a good blogger for the last few months! But there is so much to catch up on that I'm not even sure I could get this blog up to date, but I'll just let you know some random stuff.

1. My favorite guy from the beginning on The Bachelorette won!!...if you can call it winning... Anyways, that was very exciting and what a great season! I'm officially a Bachelorette convert, I love it.

2. I had a great summer of dance at ADF. I loved my teachers and my classes, but I really fell in love with the Doug Varone dance company. I took a master class with one of his dancers and absolutely loved it, so great!

3. After ADF, I went to visit my mom and was crazy busy taking part in all the outdoor activities offered in the mountains of North Carolina. P.S. I absolutely love kayaking!

4. Back in Houston, weather is crazy with over thirty days of triple digit heat. It was ridiculous!

5. Back in DC, we just got through a hurricane...what??

6. I have a place to live for this year, YAY! It's definitely kind of far from campus and an uphill walk to get to campus, but it is very large, really nice and fully furnished and those are positives all around.

7. First day of senior year is tomorrow!! Simultaneously super excited and nervous for the end, yikes.

8. I got an internship as the dance assistant for the dance teacher at some DC charter schools. Very excited but it's definitely gonna test my ability to be disciplined with myself and be a good teacher.

That's most of what's happened the past few months, so now we can move on to the future! WHOOP!!!

P.S. sorry for all the exclamation points...

Performances Galore!

It's been so long since my last post!! Once you're in the groove of things here at ADF, you tend to forget the outside world and time passes so fast! I can't believe it's been over two weeks since my last post because it feels like just yesterday that the festival even began. I was planning to write a post over a week ago about the performances we had seen so far and give you my own personal in-depth analysis of all the companies, but now there are so many that I'm just gonna give you a few tidbits and some videos instead.

Rosas - ROSAS DANST ROSAS
Four women, a lot of repetition, powerful, eye-catching, really really liked it! Here's an excerpt of the piece...not sure why it's being performed in a room that looks like an institution, but we saw it on a stage obviously haha.

Yossi Berg & Oded Graf - Animal Lost
Well, this was special. Animal masks, Israeli, shaking their hips for long periods of time, random words (i.e. saying "sausages, sausages, sausages" over and over again). In general it was hilarious, but definitely not what I would call a good piece.

Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company - D Man in the Water
Bill T. Jones performed three pieces, which were all beautiful. For some reason, at some point in each of the pieces I just wanted to cry because it was touching without you really knowing why. The highlight of the show was the last piece D Man in the Water that ADF had reconstructed for Charles L. Reinhart's last year. I wouldn't necessarily say that Jones' movement is extremely interesting but he really knows how to make use of his dancers and create a great piece visually and that is really powerful. Definitely loved this piece! Here's a clip of my favorite part.

Tao Dance Theater - 2
This is Tao Dance Theater's US premiere and the two dancer company is also in residence at ADF for the summer. They are certainly two very striking dancers with their sinewy movements and shaved heads. I love to watch them and was so excited for this show. However, even though their movement was very interesting, they utilized repetition too much and made their interesting movement really mundane because there were no dynamics or new ideas introduced. Also the music was a little hard to stand. So, beautiful dancers, not such a beautiful piece.

Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, Evidence A Dance Company
So DCDC had great dancers but I didn't particularly enjoy either of their pieces. They definitely had beastly dancers but one of their pieces Vespers brought up the question of whether you can be artistic while also utilizing a lot of technique (i.e. turns/pirouettes in this case). It's definitely a fine line. Evidence on the the other hand, well they basically remind me of how uncool I am because their dancers are these gorgeous, funky, strong black dancers and they just put the rest of us to shame. However, even though their dancers are great, I'm not super impressed with their pieces. One of them was cute but just seemed like a dance party on stage. The other Grace was better and I had seen it previously back in DC. The most interesting part of Ron K. Brown's work for Evidence is his ability to be funky while also having a reverential quality. Not a great for me but definitely fun!

So, I tried to keep it brief but I was definitely getting more verbose as the post went on...oops. I've had many other adventures in the last two weeks but I'll share those with y'all another time. I'm just enjoying all my classes, which I love, and time spent on our porch reading and going out to dinner and having a beer with good friends. Great times!

Amazing Grace Philosophy: ADF Begins

life is a classroom. we are both student and teacher. each day is a test. and each day we receive a passing or failing grade in one particular subject: grace. grace is compassion, gratitude, surrender, faith, forgiveness, good manners, reverence, and the list goes on. it's something money can't buy and credentials rarely produce. being the smartest, the prettiest, the most talented, the richest, or even the poorest, can't help. being a humble person can and being a helpful person can guide you through your days with grace and gratitude.

 

This passage was given to me by my amazing dance director Stacie Zimmerman back in high school before my dance team was to leave for our nationals competition and it has continued to be important to me. It represents so many morals and ideals that I believe in and try to exude day to day. I wouldn't say I'm a religious person but I believe that by being a compassionate and kind person I will be guided in the right direction. So, it's my third official day at the American Dance Festival and we've already been through a lot. We've had preview classes, performances, award ceremonies, and, of course, auditions. When it comes to auditions, the above passage really comes into play for me. Everyone has so many hopes and desires to be cast in something offered, whether it's a repertory class or the more "lofty" Past/Forward pieces. But I think it's really important to not let things like that get away from you. If dancers do, I find that they become really wrapped up in themselves and self-involved vs. those that don't, who seem more calm and centered.

 

However, it isn't just the way people present themselves, but the way that they engage with their peers. There becomes a danger of putting down what your peers are feeling by letting the audition process get away from you. By acting superior or cocky, it becomes demeaning to your fellow dancers and de-emphasizes the importance of their feelings and hopes. So, as we go through more auditions in the next few days, I personally want to think of this passage and be compassionate, grateful, reverent, and kind to those around me and never put myself above the others that are around. Already, it's been a better process than last summer. Through all three auditions today, I left with no regrets and was merely happy to have been able to learn snippets of such great work that will be shown this summer. 

 

 

And speaking of performances from this summer, already we've had one that was on Thursday night. This year, ADF is celebrating Charles L. Reinhart, who has been the director of ADF for decades now and actually moved ADF down south to Duke University. He's been an important force for the modern dance community and with his retirement as director, we'll be spending all summer making him feel loved! This began with the Thursday night gala performance where African American Dance Ensemble, Mark Dendy, Scottish Dance Theatre, Martha Clarke, and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago all had some of their work performed. I was most looking forward to seeing Hubbard Street but was really wowed! by Scottish Dance Theatre. They took their partnering skills and floorwork to a whole new level! Loved them!! Here's a clip of the piece they performed (it doesn't give you a very good perspective but better than nothing!).

 

Tomorrow night, we'll be seeing Rosas, which is a company from Belguim and also something one of my modern teachers suggested I might like, so super psyched for that. It'll also be a day of more preview classes and auditions for those that got called back. More updates to come! To end this post, I'll leave you with two quotes I found recently that I think really define my life right now.

"Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire."
- St. Catherine of Siena

"You have to love dancing to stick to it. It gives you nothing back, no manuscripts to store away, no paintings to show on walls and maybe hang in museums, no poems to be printed and sold, nothing but that single fleeting moment when you feel alive."
- Merce Cunningham

Playing Catch Up!

Baaahhh!! I've had so much that I've wanted to blog about lately that this post is all about playing catch up, so I might be a little verbose. The last few weeks at home have been crazy with me hanging out with friends before ADF, running errands, and hanging out with my papa, which is why it's been so difficult to find time to blog. So, here's some things that have made an impression on me or been entertaining from the last few weeks.

The Bachelorette
Yes, I am a Bachelorette watcher. Although I have to say I began watching it only because I watched Bachelor Pad last summer and I thought it was hilarious! For those that don't know, that show had contestants from past seasons of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette that didn't "find" love. It was pretty much just a ridiculous competition show and that's really how I saw all these shows initially, which is why my dad and I started watching the seventh season this summer for a good laugh. The first two episodes were just sooo dramatic and hilarious, but I woke up early this morning to watch the latest episode from last night and my opinion has changed a little. I still think the show is contrived, but I also feel like that there are a few contestants and the bachelorette Asheley who genuinely feel  invested in the process of the show.

Personally, I always felt like the show didn't allow for a real relationship to happen because they always have grandiose dates that would never really happen in life (i.e. jetting off to Vegas for a first date) and part of getting to know someone is seeing what they choose for a date. An average date allows you to see what the other person wants you to know about them and what they like vs. the show where they're forced to follow the show or the decisions of the bachelor/bachelorette, which is pretty one-sided. So, even though some pretty ridiculous and dramatic things happened in this past episode with a couple of the guys, I felt like it allowed the audience to really see how Ashley and the guys were thinking and feeling. This really came out for me when JP had his date with Ashley after Bentley left and they were able to just hang at her place and be homebodies.

JP - The Bachelorette Contestant

Even though I think the show is kinda ridiculous, I have liked JP from the first episode and I actually thought, why is such a cool and normal guy going through this whole thing, he could do so much better! But he's brought a level of normality to the show that the others don't. I initially liked him cause he reminded me of Joseph Gordon-Levitt (500 Days of Summer) but his comments on the show show how he believes that real relationships develop when things are the most casual and I totally agree! It's nice to do something crazy or get fancy but that's not an everyday way of living. So basically, he's my front-runner, although I think he can do better than Ashley (despite how sweet she is)!

On the other hand, has anyone else noticed how awesome Chris Harrison the host of the show is?? I would not be surprised if someone on the show had fallen in love with him! His chat with Ashley before the rose ceremony showed real insight. In an article I read that included parts of an interview with him, you can tell he thinks the show can be overdone but he is also really invested in the contestants and feels bad for what Ashley had to go through. It was also interesting to hear him tell Ashley that the show has no rules and that they do what Ashley wants them to do, which is more than I thought they would allow her! Basically Chris Harrison is awesome and one of the best parts of the show!

Chris Harrison - Host of The Bachelorette

Midnight in Paris
On to other news, this past Saturday my dad and I had a day of fun running around Houston shopping and then we went and saw the new Woody Allen film Midnight in Paris. After seeing the trailer, I really wanted to see the film cause I feel like I share very similar thoughts to the main character, played by Owen Wilson, in the film. Basically, Allen's most recent film is about a writer Gil (Wilson) who is visiting Paris with his fiancee (Rachel McAdams) and her parents when he discovers 1920s Paris at midnight when he goes on a walk through the city. Gil is nostalgic for the past and believes he was meant to be born in another era, a golden age of creativity: the 1920s. So when he discovers this ability to go to 1920s Paris and meet the greats, such as Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Dali, he feels totally in awe! While there, he meets one of Pablo Picasso's mistresses Adriana (Marion Cotillard) and they begin having a relationship. However, Gil sees his own nostalgia mirrored in Adriana who dreams of living in her golden-age at the turn of the century. In the end, Gil realizes that everyone wishes for another time and most don't see the greatness that surrounds them in the present.

This film really resonated with me because, as you can tell by the title of my blog, I often feel like I was meant to have lived in another era and that I would have appreciated the lifestyles of past periods. I won't say that this film changed my view cause that's just way too cheesy of me, but I do think it was a really interesting concept for a film. Of course there was also a lot of great comedy in the film, especially if you're really knowledgeable about works from the 1920s and all the great artists because the references they make are hilarious!! It's in limited release but if it's playing near you, I highly suggest it!

Deep-Frying
Alright, we're coming to a close, but one last thing I want to mention. I was talking to a good friend of mine about my recent cooking escapades and she said I should write about it on here because she loves cooking blogs, so this one is for you (you know who you are!). My dad and I love to watch the show America's Test Kitchen (I've mentioned it in a previous blog) and we love to try the recipes that they show. Two of them were about making homemade french fries. Naturally we go out and buy a couple pounds of potatoes, a Dutch Oven, and a whole lot of peanut oil and get to cooking! We had so much fun with this recipe that we became obsessed with the idea of deep-frying and were constantly talking about deep-frying all foods (i.e. pineapple, shrimp, onion rings). The suggestions for what to deep-fry became more and more outrageous as time went by, but in the end, we only made french fries. Of the two recipes, my favorite was the Crunchy Potato Wedges, so go out and buy yourself some potatoes and oil and get to cooking!!

Crunchy Potato Wedges

From the episode: Family Supper

If you don't have buttermilk, substitute 1 cup milk mixed with 1 tablespoon lemon juice. Let the mixture sit 15 minutes before using.

Serves 6.  

Ingredients

3	large russet potatoes (about 1 3/4 pounds), scrubbed and cut into 1/4-inch wedges
1	cup buttermilk
1	teaspoon dried oregano
1	teaspoon garlic powder
2	teaspoons onion powder
1/2	cup cornstarch
1/2	teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2	teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2	cups all-purpose flour
1/4	cup vegetable oil or peanut oil, plus 3 quarts for frying
4	teaspoons kosher salt
3/4	teaspoon cayenne pepper

Instructions

1. Combine salt, pepper, onion and garlic powders, cayenne, and oregano in small bowl.
2. Toss potato wedges with 4 teaspoons spice mixture and 1_4 cup oil in large microwave-safe bowl; cover tightly with plastic wrap. Microwave on high until potatoes are tender but not falling apart, 7 to 9 minutes, shaking bowl (without removing plastic) to redistribute potatoes halfway through cooking. Slowly remove plastic wrap from bowl (be careful of steam) and drain potatoes. Arrange potatoes on rimmed baking sheet and cool until potatoes firm up, about 10 minutes. (Potatoes can be held at room temperature for up to 2 hours.)
3. Heat remaining 3 quarts oil in large Dutch oven over high heat to 340 degrees. Meanwhile, combine flour and cornstarch in medium bowl and whisk buttermilk and baking soda in large bowl. Working in 2 batches, dredge potato wedges in flour mixture, shaking off excess. Dip in buttermilk mixture, allowing excess to drip back into bowl, then coat again in flour mixture. Shake off excess and place on wire rack. (Potatoes can be coated up to 30 minutes in advance.)
4. When oil is ready, add half the coated wedges and fry until deep golden brown, 4 to 6 minutes. Transfer wedges to large bowl and toss with 1 teaspoon spice mixture. Drain wedges on baking sheet lined with paper towels. Return oil to 340 degrees and repeat with second batch of wedges. Serve with extra seasoning on side. 
   
   Make Ahead: Our Crunchy Potato Wedges freeze very well. Follow steps 1 through 4, frying each batch of wedges until they are light golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Do not toss with seasoning, and drain and cool potatoes completely on baking sheet lined with paper towels. Freeze wedges on baking sheet until completely frozen, about 2 hours, then transfer potatoes to zipper-lock storage bag for up to 2 months. When ready to eat, heat 3 quarts oil to 340 degrees and cook in 2 batches until deep golden brown, about 3 minutes. Toss with seasonings, drain, and serve.
   

   

   From America's Test Kitchen

Are Asians Desperate to Look Like Westerners?

To prequel this post, I ask that you watch/read/skim through this CNN article Plastic surgery boom as Asians seek 'western' look in order to understand my point of view. Since I'm half Chinese and know several Chinese and Korean women as well as American women who have received plastic surgery, I feel somewhat qualified to give an opinion on this topic.

The reason that this article first interested me was because of my Corset of Democracy history class I took this past semester. It was a class where we talked about fashion trends in America and and the effect society had on fashion. Towards the end of the semester, this included talking about body modification, of which plastic surgery is one type of modification. About a month and a half ago, there was a story in the news of young girl here in the USA that received plastic surgery to "correct" her ears because she was embarrassed by how they stuck out. Although I don't remember the exact details, needless to say the girl was young enough for me to be sufficiently horrified by the fact that she was receiving cosmetic surgery. It's because of that article that I was interested in this particular article.

However, it wasn't age that was the main topic introduced with this article. Sure, they did emphasize how drastic it was for such a young girl to get surgery, but the more important emphasis of this article was that Asian women were using cosmetic surgery as a means of denying their culture and heritage by changing their faces to achieve a more "western" appearance. Well, being Asian myself, I could sort of understand on the surface level, but the more I thought about it, I did not agree with this conclusion.

We had a very similar conversation along these lines in my fashion class. My professor for that class posed to us the question: Is it okay for women to receive cosmetic surgery? Although generally the class felt that they would personally never receive cosmetic surgery, we mostly agreed that it's a woman's prerogative to do what she wants with her body. But when the teacher asked whether it was okay for an ethnic woman, such as an Asian, to receive cosmetic surgery, suddenly more felt that no, it wasn't okay. Their argument was that by having this surgery, they were denying who they are as a different culture and conforming to western ideals of beauty. Well, I have various issues with this analysis both made by my peers and by parts of the CNN article. 

1. Double eye-lids though mostly uncommon among Asian society is not completely absent and if I were ever to receive surgery, I could see the benefits of getting the double eye-lid surgery. People have occasionally commented on my "sleepy" appearance, i.e. my eyes don't open very wide therefore I look tired a lot. Personally, the only reason I would want to get that surgery is to look more alert not because I'm desperately trying to get the doe-eyed look of Dakota Fanning. The fact is, maybe some Asians want the look for the same reason and they point out western models because they're the most obvious example of that.

2. Isn't all plastic surgery in a sense denying one's cultural heritage? It's not like every western woman has all great attributes because if they did, they wouldn't need to get nose jobs or eye lifts or any other surgery either. Various people have various features depending on which western culture they descended from, but by getting cosmetic surgery, aren't they also altering their looks to get the features of another culture? So, why is it just wrong for Asians to want to resemble other cultures that they see?

3. In the end, if a woman is only receiving surgery for one thing, it's not like she suddenly totally appears like a westerner and looks nothing like an Asian. Unless drastic steps are taken, an Asian still looks Asian despite one or two changed features.

4. Lastly, it's not like westerners aren't attempting to get some of the same features as Asians. One of the most common things I get complimented on is my super straight, non-frizzy Chinese hair. For this reason, what is one of the biggest selling beauty products for women? The hair straightener. I constantly hear girls complain about wanting straight hair and being unable to live without their straighteners. Isn't that, in a more temporary sense, a form of body modification?

In general, it appears to me that women see certain features that attract them and they want those features as well. Due to the high prevalence of western models and actors, it's no wonder women around the world, including Asia are identifying with certain characteristics of western beauty, but it doesn't mean they want to look like a westerner. If they did, we'd have hair dyeing and skin bleaching and ridiculous amounts of extreme surgery, but we don't. And westerners see certain things they like in Asian culture as well and borrow them for their own beauty practices.

Personally, I don't support plastic surgery at all. I think it's denying a person's identity, which includes their culture, but more specifically their individuality. Not to mention it's still surgery and an extremely dangerous situation to be deliberately putting yourself into. However, since people seem determined to keep doing it, then I at least demand equal opportunities for all races to rip off each others features because there is no western ideal of beauty, there's only a world ideal of beauty, one where each person likes what they like despite influences by the fashion industry.

Lovin' on Netflix

My family has had a Netflix account for years and years now. I definitely had a little obsession with it when we first got it. I mean, when you consider my love for movies, it's pretty obvious what a great tool it is to be able to queue up any and all movies that interest me, then from there they get delivered straight into our mailbox. However, once I went off to college my dad refused to let me have my own account at school. Initially, I was disappointed but it really did make sense in the end (of course dad would be right). Anyways, since then, coming home every holiday has been made even more exciting with the ability to use our Netflix account once again. Even though at school I can watch the movies on the Instant Watch option, it does limit the amount of good movies I get to see, so being able to get anything once I come home is great!

Therefore, my last few weeks have contained a whole slew of varying movies, some good and some not. On the not side was Blue Valentine, truly just plain bad, and the first disc of a 1970s television miniseries Lillie that I could just not sit through. But some good ones included the documentary Paul Taylor: Dancemaker, which if you're interested in dance, like I am, is a great film about the very famous modern choreographer, Paul Taylor. I also got the espionage thriller The International starring Clive Owen and Naomi Watts. Along similar lines, my dad had the movie Fair Game, based on the real life events of CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson, whose cover was blown by members of Vice President Cheney's office. If you like spy movies, that was a great one, not only for the plot, but just knowing that it actually happened! My dad bought me the autobiography of the same title written by Wilson, which I'm currently reading.

 

Anyways, my most recent film from Netflix was the 2000 film Memento starring Guy Pearce and Carrie-Ann Moss. I put it at the top of my queue not really knowing what it was, it was a movie I put on my queue back when we first got our account. Since there aren't any particular movies I've wanted to see, I've been putting random ones at the top of my list just to see what I'd get. This was a definite winner! Definitely a psychological thriller and a "thinking" film, it is presented in a fragmented manner in order to parallel the short-term memory loss that the main character suffers from, which creates a suspenseful and captivating story. If you end up watching this, make sure to pause the movie when you go for a bathroom break or to refill your drink, otherwise you might miss something crucial.

Texas Living

So it's been a week being back in Texas and I've been trying to keep myself busy, which is not always easy given the serious lack of places and things to do compared to DC but I'm making it work. The first few days consisted mostly of helping my friend Jen out with baking a ridiculous amount of baked goods. I've also been lucky enough to see three of four of my closest friends. Each one is busy doing their own thing this summer and it just proves how much we're all growing up...scary. It's just so shocking to think that we'll all be graduated from undergrad by this time next year, for Julianna even earlier than that! And as people keep mentioning it to us, we actually have to start seriously thinking about what it is we're planning to do for a living...so bizarre...

But besides all this, I've also been busy watching movies (of course), reading books, and being a yogi.

I finally went and saw Something Borrowed with Jen after several failed attempts and even though it didn't get great reviews, I think it was pretty cute for a romantic comedy. I love the guys in the film, Colin Egglesfield as Dex and John Krasinski as Ethan, they're pretty hilar. So, I say go see it just for fun! Also, I'm a huge fan of trailer-watching (always have to get to the movies early) because it's how I find the movies I want to see next. For this one, some of the movies that look good that will be coming out this summer are Crazy Stupid Love, One Day, and Friends with Benefits look them up! And of course they also showed the trailer for the last Harry Potter movie, which was very exciting, can't wait!

Next, the new Sarah Dessen book What Happened to Goodbye came out on Tuesday and I read that. It was cute but, I think it's because I'm no longer a teenager, I didn't enjoy it as much as some of her past books. However, I do suggest reading some of her other books, some of my favorites are The Truth About Forever, This Lullaby, Just Listen, Keeping the Moon, and Along for the Ride. Definitely look them up if you're bored! In general I've been looking for some new reading material, so if you have any suggestions let me know. I'm already planning to finish The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy and read Octavia Butler's Fledgling, which my professor told me was gonna be read for one of my classes next semester.

Last, I've been trying to keep myself in shape for my dance activities later this summer. For those that don't know, I will be attending the American Dance Festival Six Week School for the second year in a row at Duke University. It's a dance intensive where we get to dance for six hours a day and meet tons of great teachers and get to experience all different forms of dance, specifically modern dance. Well, from my experience last year, I definitely want to be in shape for when I get there otherwise I will be sore for a good two weeks before getting acclimated to the pace at ADF. For that reason, I've been taking yoga at a local studio near me. It's not my favorite type of yoga but it gets the job done. I really want to be taking dance classes but Houston is lacking in choices and what places there are, are very far from where I live, making me drive about an hour to get to them...lame. So, yoga it is! Also, along with my love for yoga, I've also discovered another love: lululemon clothing! I love their yoga gear so much! So if you're ever wondering what to get me for a birthday...lululemon gift card?

Anyways, the summer is just beginning and I have a ton of things to get done before I head off to ADF, including doctors appointments, apartment applications for next school year, and in general, not being bored for the next three weeks, which includes a rollercoaster-filled trip to Fiesta Texas!

Deep in the Heart of Texas

It's been so long since my last post...kinda, not really, but it certainly feels like a long time. Since my last post, the Royal Wedding occurred without a hitch, I got through all my finals, packed up my apartment, and made it all the way back home to Texas. But let me tell you, it was not a smooth ride by any means.

Let's start first with my thoughts on the Royal Wedding:
1. LOVED IT!!

2. Love the DRESS!!

3. Love Wills and Kate...so cute!

4. Love Harry and Pippa!

5. Loved that the fairytale all ended with both a carriage ride back to the palace and a drive in an Aston Martin, James Bond style!

Woot! In general, it was a great success and so much fun to watch at 4am! If not a little tiring...

Next, finals...never a fun time of the year, but everything got done and I'm extremely proud to say that I got straight A's this semester! Super happy and really proud of one of the papers I wrote about the TV show Miami Ink and it's effect on perceptions of tattoos.

Followed closely behind finals was packing up our little dorm apartment, which deceptively held a ton of our stuff. There was so much stuff that my roommate Liz and I ended staying up all night to pack and had a minor panic attack around 3-4am...yikes. We became terrified that the storage unit we rented wouldn't be big enough for everything, but the lesson learned from all this: it's totally surprising how much you can fit into a 5x5 storage unit.

And finally! I packed my clothes, shipped boxes home, and hauled all my luggage onto the Metro and made my way to Reagan Airport to fly home. Slept through the whole flight and finally made it home in one piece! And now that I'm actually looking back, this all happened in exactly one week. It was around this time last Friday that I was up waiting to watch the wedding and now I'm home, prepared and excited for a great summer of dance and rest and contemplation about my last year of college and the future. It's gonna be crazy, but right now I'm just content and happy to make things go my way for the future!

Royal Wedding Mania

YAY!! Wedding!! For those living under a rock, the biggest royal wedding of this century will be happening this Friday, April 29th, between Prince William and Catherine Middleton. TLC has gone crazy and everything on TV has something to do with the Royal Wedding, which just shows how us Americans are going crazy about the wedding. But what's wrong with that? In an age where girls grow up with Disney princesses, why shouldn't we be excited about a real woman becoming an actual princess by marrying her prince. It's an unbelievable idea that will actually be happening. Not only that, but think how amazing it is to be Catherine, planning her wedding, and knowing that all of London, England, and the world will be celebrating with you. Around London, plans for booths and hat-making crafts for children lend a type of carnival celebration atmosphere to the whole event and I think it's really special to know that so many people want this marriage to be a success. Therefore, I will definitely be waking up at 4am to drink tea, eat a scone, and enjoy this fabulous event!

P.S. Can I just say how fabulous and classy Kate Middleton is, love her!
P.P.S. If you want to be a "classy" American, then go to royalring.com to purchase a commemorative heirloom engagement ring for a mere $19.99...thank you tacky American businesses based in New Jersey...

Ones We Lost Too Soon

So, the last few days as school is closing up and finals are beginning, I've been relaxing and of course, watching movies...no shock there. In fact, friends always mention how I'm either watching movies, sleeping, or in dance class, my life is very small. But anyways, from all this movie watching, I've rediscovered two of my favorite movies Dirty Dancing and Selena. The first you've probably heard of and the second, probably not. What connects these two movies are that both deal with stars that we lost too soon.

Selena: for those that don't know who that is, she was an Latino singer that came out of Corpus Christi, Texas. Music was a family business; Selena's father Abraham began the band Selena y Los Dinos that started with Selena as the lead singer and her two siblings playing drums and bass. As Selena and her siblings got older and the band picked up momentum, they slowly gained more members and also gained popularity as Latino artists. Selena was only 16 years old in 1987 when she won Best Female Vocalist at the Tejano Music Awards and the next seven years, she would dominate these awards. She also went on to win Best Mexican-American album at the Grammy Awards. Unfortunately, Selena was murdered in 1995 at the age of 23 by the ex-President of her fan club, Yolanda Saldivar.

Selena made waves in the Latino music community and had such a great effect on so many people. The reason most people don't know about her is because she focused mainly on Latino music during her life and died before her English language album was due to come out in stores. It was during 1995 that Selena was going to debut as an English language singer. Seeing how much of an impact she had on the Latino music community, one can only imagine how well she could have done with her English language songs and albums for the future. She was certainly lost too soon from the world at the age of 23. But it is certainly magnificent how much of a success Selena was just during these first years and how much she came to mean to so many people.

For more of a view of her life, I definitely encourage watching the movie Selena, a biopic made in 1997 starring Jennifer Lopez as Selena. However, all the singing done in the movie are recordings of Selena singing so you get to hear her voice. Also, here is a music video by Selena: Amor Prohibido Music Video.

Another artist that we lost too soon was of course Patrick Swayze who starred in Dirty Dancing. Although he led a considerably longer life than Selena, Swayze died less than two years ago in 2009 at the age of 57. After watching Dirty Dancing, I realized just how much I love that movie and how great Swayze is in it. As I went to look for other movies he's been in that I would enjoy, I found very few. As such, it's sad to know that he didn't get a longer time to continue working as an artist.

Of course, there are many other artists that we've lost in recent years including Heath Ledger and Brittany Murphy among others. If you have any favorite actors, singers, dancers, etc that you feel we lost too soon, please share.

Quick and Random

So, since I'm getting into the swing of being a blogger, I want to try to blog somewhat consistently. Therefore, here's a quick and random blog with three things that you, and most other people, probably don't know about me. These things are not earth-shattering nor do they even play a very important role in my daily life, they're just things that I occasionally think of and forget to share with people.

1. I LOVE to donate blood...not the actual act of it because, for real, who really wants a needle in their arm...bleh! But, besides all that, I find donating blood to be extremely rewarding and such an easy thing to do in order to help people. You feel so good about yourself afterward and the arm-wrap bandage thing they give you is like a badge of honor for me. However, I'm unfortunately no longer allowed to donate blood to the Red Cross because, for an unknown reason, my past two donations have tested positive for Hepatitis B. Of course when I first got the letter I freaked...I mean that is not good. So, logically I went to the health clinic and paid an exorbitant amount of money for them to test my blood for any diseases, including Hep B, and the results? Nothing. I'm fine and healthy as can be. But then the second time it happened, it didn't matter if I went to get it checked out because the Red Cross has a rule that if you get two positives, or even false-positive results, you are no longer allowed to donate for the sanctity of the blood they distribute. It all makes sense to me but its still something that makes me sad because it was one of the things I was really looking forward to consistently doing once I turned 18...alas, not.

2. I want to live in the treehouse made by the Swiss Family Robinson in the 1960 movie. Yes, you did just read that correctly. But seriously, have you seen that movie and how awesome that treehouse is? Its totally ridiculous and completely awesome at the same time. I think I like it because there's an appeal to the mixture of both civilized life and total nature being mixed together....or maybe I just think its awesome to be able to pull up the ladder that reaches the house each night in an effort to keep the tigers away...

3. America's Test Kitchen on PBS is one of my favorite television shows. Don't understand? Just watch an episode and try one of their recipes and then you will understand. Just a note, the Cincinnati Chili Recipe is the bomb-diggity!

Alright, so that last one was kind of a cop-out because when I was thinking of what I was gonna write for this post earlier, I actually had a really good third random fact...but oh well, so much for that.

Jane Eyre...what??

This past Saturday, I felt so grown-up! I woke up early and made french toast for breakfast and then proceeded to get ready for the day to go see the new Jane Eyre movie by myself at an early bird special. While I was on the school shuttle, I bumped into a good friend I hadn't seen in awhile and convinced her to ditch what she had been planning to do to come watch the movie with me instead. Huzzah! She did and afterward we enjoyed an extremely delicious three course lunch at Cafe Deluxe in Bethesda...great success! But before that, we of course ran through the crazy rain to go watch Jane Eyre. And how was it? Well, we should look at a few other things before tackling that question.

Exhibit A

As far as Netflix shows me, these are the 1934, 1944, 1973, 1983, 1996, 1997, 2006, and 2011 film adaptations of Charlotte Brontë's classic novel Jane Eyre. For comparisons sake, there have only been five adaptations of the arguably more popular Pride and Prejudice. Anyways, I myself have seen four of the eight adaptations and have been more often disappointed than completely happy with the films. Which leads me to...

Exhibit B

THE PLOT

 

It's long and for some it's a tedious book to get through, so how do movie-makers consolidate all that story into a short 2 hour film? Well, since some of the versions are mini-series, they obviously aren't able to do it with great success, which is probably why they keep making new versions. But of course, you also need audience interest to keep trying for money reasons. So along those lines, while I was watching the newest version, it suddenly occurred to me that Jane Eyre is actually a very dark, dramatic story rather than just being another story of love and life as with many Jane Austen novels. Therefore, I think there's a certain appeal to a period piece movie that isn't all sunshine and happiness, but actually kinda creepy.

It's probably for this reason that Charlotte's sister Emily Brontë's novel Wuthering Heights has also been able to reach success and become a classic novel as well. Personally, I find Wuthering Heights extremely overdone and annoying to get through with all the issues that Heathcliff and Cathy seem to have in the story, but hey that's just me... Anyways, I always assumed most people also felt the same way I did about Emily's work, but then it occurred to me that there's probably a whole group of people out in the world that love Wuthering Heights as well as a group who feel the same way about Jane Eyre as I feel about Wuthering Heights. So, some people like the dark and twisty stories and some don't and to what it extent, it always varies. Which finally leads me to, what did I actually think of this year's version of Jane Eyre?

Oh so many mixed feelings... Well, I definitely think this landed farther on the side of good than bad for sure, but it still wasn't a great film. My cons for the film include that once again it just doesn't do the plot complete justice. I actually really enjoyed the inter-splicing of past and present moments in Jane's life, but when the story is mainly focused on her time at Thornfield with Mr. Rochester, it just feels choppy and without any sort of flow to connect all the key moments they showed. It felt more like it was giving me a summary of what happened than actually just showing me what happened. I also missed seeing a better depiction of Jane's childhood life at Norwood and her friendship with Helen Burns. However, the pros of this film definitely made me very happy, especially the casting for the two leads Jane and Mr. Rochester. Even though the actual progression in the film didn't suggest a growing relationship, the acting and chemistry between the two made me believe it. It was also nice to see for the first time a blonde Jane Eyre versus a brunette. Michael Fassbender as Rochester was also a great choice because despite the dark character of Rochester, you still need someone who can make you believe that a person like Jane would actually want to marry him. I also really loved the different settings and the great cinematography of Thornfield and the countryside of England. Overall, I would say I'm happy with the film, but only because there are so few other good ones because in reality, the film isn't able to be great due to its choppy presentation...like I said, a lot of mixed feelings.

P.S. I'll try to write my next post not about a movie...

Good Chick Flicks -- I Bet You Haven't Heard Of

It seems fitting, given that I'm a HUGE movie buff, that I make my first post about movies! I don't know about you, but my life would not be the same without the use of Watch Instantly on Netflix. Sure, not all the movies offered are classics, one of the greats, or even passably good, but occasionally you do find a really good film that kind of comes out of nowhere (if you're in to big, sweeping epics, Agora is a pretty good one). Anyways, this post is specifically to make you aware of two great "chick flicks" (I cringe to use that term, bleh) that I've discovered on Netflix.

#1 My Girlfriend's Boyfriend
Made in 2010, this film stars Alyssa Milano as the female lead and although there's a definite happy-go-lucky, made for TV feel to the movie, I still was happily impressed with it. It's about a girl who appears to meet two great guys at the same time and simultaneously dates them. As both relationships progress, you start to feel miffed at Milano's character and how she can appear so sweet and yet be jerking these two guys around. However, if you are a clever movie-watcher and great at guessing plots, then the twist probably didn't catch you by surprise. Alas, despite all the movies I've seen, I still can't seem to guess movie plots to save my life. Therefore, the very surprising plot twist did catch me by surprise and suddenly turned my miffed feeling into a completely happy one. Happy to have discovered something that was both sweet and surprising. It was nice to see a movie that didn't rely on violence and sex to make an interesting story, but instead actually thought about the plot and created something interesting to watch.

#2 The Good Guy
Made in 2009, this film stars Alexis Bledel, Scott Porter, and Bryan Greenberg in a story that proves that good guys don't finish last. I'm gonna tangent for a moment and say that I love most "chick flicks" like any other girl but there's a certain amount of delusion in those films when a girl ends up with the suave, debonair, extremely rich guy who just so happens to also be sweet. Chances are that in real life that guy is a player and a huge douche...but I digress. The point is that any self-respecting girl in real life probably wouldn't end up with a guy like that for self-preservation reasons, especially when they use more product in their hair than you do. That is why I really enjoyed this particular movie because it sets up the story, making it appearing that Bledel's character is dating a real catch, a Wall Street star whose making tons of money and looking good while doing it. In the end though, the film progresses to show you the guy's true nature and brings forth his colleague as the real contender, an actual good guy despite some awkwardness. That is real life because good guys won't finish last because girls will always prefer the sweet guy to the jerk, no matter how most movies paint it otherwise.

In other news though, a chick flick that I'm looking forward to coming out on May 6th is Something Borrowed starring Ginnifer Goodwin, Colin Egglesfield, and Kate Hudson. The movie is an adaptation of an Emily Giffin novel and I must say that I love Emily Giffin books (although that one isn't my favorite). So, if you're looking for good chick-lit, check out her books; my particular favorites are Love the One You're With and Baby Proof. Enjoy!