via: fgr

xx

JHEN-JHEN

“Half-Asians are gorgeous.“  Probably about as flattering as a stereotype can get.

Some of the search results.

And yes, it is a stereotype.  The first hit for “half asian” on Google is a site called “Half-Asians: The World’s Most Beautiful Women.”  The tagline says it all — it’s a blog dedicated to “hot babes, cute girls, sexy ladies of half Asian, part Asian, mixed Asian race.”

The site has a Facebook page with 700+ likes, and other photo-centric pages have hundreds of likes, too: “Hot Half Asian Girls,” “Half Asian Guys,” and even “half asian half white hottest people alive!!!!”  With four exclamation marks.  Yes.

Half-Asians are gorgeous.  We can’t just be eye candy.  We have to be eye ambrosia.

Living Up to the Hype — or Not

Devon Aoki

Kristin Kreuk

I was about 15 years old when I first came across notions like these online.  Suddenly I felt vulnerable, somehow — maybe even violated.  Most of all, I became  plagued by my own inability to measure up to the visual standards set by stars like Devon Aoki and Kristin Kreuk.  “I’m mixed-Asian, too — right?  That means I should look as good as that.  How come I don’t?”
And that feeling hasn’t really left.

The Meaning of “Halfku”

Kristin Kreuk, again.

More recently, I’ve started to wonder: what does it mean to be “half”-anything, really?  National boundaries can be essentially arbitrary, and nothing in heritage is as clear-cut as we tend to think.  I said “we” before, in reference to other “half-Asians” and me, but can I really group myself with all of them — especially when “Asian” is such a blanket term?

Yet I know there must be people whose experiences and emotions regarding their background are similar to my own.  And this blog is primarily for those people: those “hapas” and “halfies” who, like me, don’t necessarily feel so drop-dead gorgeous all the time — or feel so sure that their heritage makes them inherently superior.  (Some seem to think just that, as you can see in the Facebook screenshot above and elsewhere.)

With each post, I hope to capture some element of everyday “halfie” life in a haiku — a halfku, if you will — and explore the issues that inspired it.  I hope these resonate with you, make you think, recollect, reconsider.  And please let me know if they do.

The plot(s), adapted from Frank Miller’s graphic novels take the graphic to the extreme with several stories all happening around Basin City. We have a girl rescued from a molester, only for her hero to be framed. Also included a town run by prostitutes, an assassin who seduces before the kill, and a severely disfigured man out for revenge. They all don’t make sense now, but it isn’t too hard to follow and keeps it interesting.

So, that was pretty cool. Now I can see why The Spirit was made in the first place to try to capture the magic that Sin City had. I mean, what can I say about the visuals that hasn’t been said already. Simply awesome. It’s brutally violent, disturbing (Really, Elijah Wood?!?!), and pretty much kick-butt at all times. If that gets you excited, there is no excuse for you not to have seen Sin City. Oh and by the way, you get names like, Willis, Alba, Rourke, Del Toro, Owen, and the aforementioned Wood.

My Rating: A-

Sebastian Kim photography and devon aoki, numero japan 2009

Devon Aoki in past vogue japan… major

xoxo

1. The new couples

After filing for yet another divorce, Jennifer Lopez fell head over heels with one of her dancer, Casper Smart. Together since November 2011, the couple prove that age difference (18 years in their case) doesn’t matter!

It certainly warms our hearts to see Vanessa Hudgens on cloud nine again after her shocking break-up from Zac Efron! She has been seen cuddling, kiss and what not with actor Austin Butler since last September.

Look how cute these two look! Shia Laboeuf has found love again in the arms of stylist Karolyn Pho. They’ve first been spotted together in May 2011.

We don’t have much info about Michael Trevino and Jenna Uskowitz, but these two first appeared together early 2011 at the Screen Actors Guild Awards.

Many of us didn’t imagine these two together and some of you still think it’s just a set-up. First, they’ve been seen strolling hand in hand in Paris, and now Gosling introduced Mendes to his mother. In short, these two seem to be going strong!

2. The break-ups

Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries might have been the shortest-lived couple of 2011. Tying the knot in August 2011 in an expensive and television-produced wedding, they called it quits in October 2011 which makes their marriage about 10 weeks long.

Remember when Mehcad Brooks and Elisabetta Canalis were an item? Yeah, we almost forgot about these two too! They were together for approximately one month before they decided to break up. We certainly hope Mehcad will find the one this year!

Eva Mendes and George Gargurevich had been together for years until they broke up sometime during the summer of 2011. Mendes is now dating actor Ryan Gosling.

2011 was quite a rough year for Zoe Saldana and Keith Britton. After 11 years together and despite getting engaged in June 2010, they decided to call it quits in November 2011. However the pair seems to remain good friends as they have been seen getting coffee together from time to time.

3. The weddings

Nick Lachey and Vanessa Minillo got married in July 2011, in a televised ceremony, after getting engaged late 2010. The pair had been together since 2009 even though they separated for a short period.

America Ferrara and Ryan Piers have been together for quite a while before getting married in June 2011. Congratulations to the happy couple!

4. The newborns

After announcing their plans on getting married early 2011, Devon Aoki and James Bailey welcomed their first child together, a baby boy, in June 2011. Although they posted cute pictures of their first days as parents on Twitter, they both remained mum about their son’s name.

So why, then, would I watch the 2005 movie based on those works, especially when the two novels I’d read were among the plots the movie is based on? For starters, it has a ton of people in it. Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke, Benicio Del Toro, Rutger Hauer, and many, many others. And Robert Rodriguez was the primary director, and he’s been all right on other works (Quentin Tarantino is also credited with directing one scene, and Miller has co-director credit). It did well at the box office, though that’s not always a solid indicator (Frank Miller’s 300 was similarly successful, and was terrible.) It also had critical success; Roger Ebert gave it four stars, and it’s at 78% on RottenTomatoes.com. And every so often someone would recommend it, and I’d demur, and they’d act like I was judging it unfairly. Personally, I think having read the stories was a fair way to pre-judge it, but hey; maybe it translated better to film than its original medium. At least if I watched it nobody could remotely claim I didn’t have an informed opinion on it. Plus, you know, it was available to watch free, so all I was risking was my time.

Sometimes risks pay off, sometimes they do not.

Bruce Willis’s stomach hurts. So does mine after watching this.

Three plots run through Sin City, from the graphic novels The Hard Goodbye, The Big Fat Kill, and That Yellow Bastard, plus a vignette starring Josh Hartnett to set the mood of the film. That mood is “bleak”, incidentally, and overwrought with melodramatic narration. In the first story, psychotic thug Marv (Mickey Rourke) has a brief fling with a prostitute named Goldie (Jaime King), and awakens to find her murdered. He goes on a quest to find and kill her murderer. In the second story, Clive Owen plays Dwight, a man who chases a scumbag (Benicio Del Toro) into the “Oldtown” section of Basin City, where events unfold that run the risk of starting a war between the corrupt police department and the prostitutes that enforce their own laws in the area. In the third story, which wraps around the other two, Bruce Willis plays Detective John Hartigan, who saves a young girl from a serial killer molester, and then years later has to save her again; by that time, she has grown up and become a pole dancer, played by Jessica Alba.

You may notice a few trends in the plots. They all play out much the same, the different acts all feel the same, and the basic roles are the same. There’s a hard-nosed male lead who is anything but a conventional hero, who is perfectly content to brutalize any bad guys who get in his way, and the quest is always to protect or avenge a woman, who is always a prostitute or stripper. I won’t claim any sort of original insight in this observation; I’m hardly the first to point it out, and I’m sure I won’t be the last. But Frank Miller, whether it’s his own original stories, or his takes on classic comic book characters, seems pathologically unable to deviate these templates. I don’t think I’m much of a prude in my movie-watching, but it does seem more than a little silly that every female character is treated like a sex object first and foremost.

It’s as though Frank Miller noticed both “woman” and “whore” were 5-letter words starting with “w”, and became unable to distinguish them.

Several of the actors turn in decent jobs, but my enjoyment of their performances was greatly hindered by the lines they were spouting. It’s corny, it’s overly melodramatic, and it winds up sounding like a parody of old noir stories, except that Miller is apparently dead serious. The plots don’t help much, either. Either Marv’s story or Hartigan’s would have worked on their own (Dwight’s I’m not so sure on.) But altogether and it’s just too much… maybe I just don’t have a dark enough side, or maybe I’m too jaded, but you start piling bleak stories one after another, and sooner or later I’m saying “oh, give it a rest, already.” That there’s no goodness in this world, that every character is not just flawed but fundamentally broken, is too much to take seriously, and while I don’t shy away from violence in my films it takes more than that to impress me.

There is one praiseworthy thing about the film, and that’s the cinematography. The technique of shooting it mostly in black and white, with occasional contrast boosts and spot colors, makes for a visually striking film, and most of it works really well. Most of it. Unfortunately, while it’s sometimes used to great effect (making Jaime King’s Goldie seem otherworldly), it’s also sometimes wasted, or just doesn’t come across well. For example, Clive Owen’s shoes are given the spot color treatment, and there doesn’t seem to be any reason for it. They’re just a pair of red Converse, and there’s nothing special about them, or the way they’re used in the film. Attention is drawn, but once drawn is given nothing worth paying attention to.

Spot color on the eyes makes you wonder what thoughts are going on behind them. Spot color on the shoes makes you think, “Hey, nice shoes.”

A more unfortunate failure is with the title character of the That Yellow Bastard segment. The bright vivid yellow is certainly eye catching, but it’s also cartoony, and makes it hard to take the character or the segment seriously. And when his blood is splattered around, it doesn’t look like yellow blood, it just looks like paint. It’s a nice idea, it just doesn’t work when the blood isn’t blood-colored. (It works fine in scenes involving normal human blood.)

I watched Sin City because people kept telling me it wasn’t the turkey I expected it to be. But it was. Sin City is a comically bad film, whose sole redeeming value is in a striking visual style that isn’t even always used to best effect.

Rating:

sisterwolf:

Devon Aoki by Paulo Roversi

theflyingcup:

Devon Aoki, Chanel 1999

DOA: Dead or Alive (2006)

Like Charlie’s Angels, but with more women and less clothes. Though she’s no Mark Kermode, star Holly Valance nailed the film’s appeal in an interview included with the bonus material – ‘Girls like it because we get to kick butt, and guys like seeing cute girls in bikinis’, or words to that effect. She also revealed that, during the shoot for the four minute net ball tournament, she got through thirty bikinis. I’m really not sure how that happens.

The toughest fighters in the world are invited to a secret island to compete in a tournament to see who is the supreme champion, among them Devon Aoki who is looking for her missing brother, Jaime Pressley, Sarah Carter and Ms Valance. But of course bad guy Donovan (Eric Roberts) has a secret agenda and is collecting information on the fighters for his own ‘super soldier’ programme, which will be sold to various criminal organisations and terrorist states. Naturally, after the requisite fisticuffs and free for alls, the ladies beat the crap out of him.

It feels exploitative, with the skimpy costumes meant to appeal to a certain demographic (of which I’m a part), and, though I’m no martial artist, I’d imagine them totally impractical for this kind of fighting. Interesting too how nobody ever gets bruised or seriously hurt, despite going through stuff that you’d expect to break just about every bone in a normal body. But of course realism isn’t an issue in any action movie, and regardless of their attire these women aren’t pushovers, holding their own both in combat and elsewhere. There’s plenty of wire work, the choreographed fight scenes bordering on aerial ballet at times, some moments of humour, a half decent story and, yes, lots of cute girls in bikinis. I’ll file it under guilty pleasure for sad, middle-aged men.

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001)

Angelina Jolie as Lara is no pushover either, and she has a more substantial wardrobe, which I put down to the exigencies of being an English milady and living in a stately pile. Early on this film reminded me of Indiana Jones, with Lara in competition with rival tomb raider Alex West (Daniel Craig), and it was something I could never quite get past. Coerced into helping the Illuminati locate an ancient artefact that can manipulate time, at the end Lara must choose between bringing her dead father back from the grave and saving the life of West, who isn’t really all that bad once you get past the whole double-crossing people and related character defects. She decides on the latter course, thus ensuring the future of the James Bond franchise.

The story isn’t especially original, and I’m really rather tired of the whole ‘science of the ancients’ thing (people who couldn’t come up with a flush toilet could manipulate time – yeah, right), but it’s simply a pretext for some over the top action set pieces, and as far as that goes the film delivers in triplicate, with all of its budget up there on the screen, and the final, furious battle inside the ‘cave of secrets’ providing an eminently watchable climax. Jolie hands in a more than acceptable performance, combining a sense of her own superiority with an engaging touch of vulnerability, and throwing in some lively interplay with her two male assistants, a raised eyebrow butler of the Jeeves school and a computer nerd with a robot fetish. Craig is the weak point of the film, looking rather weedy (he bulked up for Bond) and not at all suitable as a past love match for Jolie, but I guess we all have mistakes in our past where romance is concerned. Acting laurels go to Iain Glen as the ruthless Manfred Powell, a would-be megalomaniac with godhood delusions, willing to stab anyone in the back to further his plans. Films like this need a memorable baddie, and Tomb Raider got one in Mr Powell. I liked it rather more than not.

Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003)

The same three leads, Lara and her two henchmen, are back for the sequel, which I’m not quite so keen on, even though it has a bigger budget and longer running time. The problem is that it’s pretty much the same story, but with different stunts and locales, and the names changed to protect against accusations of self-plagiarism. This time the ancient artefact is no less than Pandora’s Box. This time the bad guy is rogue bio-arms dealer Reiss (an impressive Ciaran Hinds) who wishes to use it to unleash a deadly plague. This time the former lover turned helpmate is bully boy Terry Sheridan (Gerard Butler, looking far more the part than Craig). And once again Lara must make a terrible decision at the end that makes emotional demands of her as well as physical. Oh, it all looks rather splendid – the opening search for treasure in a drowned temple, the various firefights with Reiss and his cohorts, the spectacular escape from a tall building, the battle against invisible and unearthly entities etc – but throughout you have the feeling that you’ve seen it all before, even though you haven’t. I liked it in a muted sort of way, but if it was a woman I went out on date with I wouldn’t bring it home to meet my teddy bear.

It’s no surprise to learn that Devon , born Kristie Marie Lisa , worked as a dancer before getting into the porn business. She used the money she earned to augment her boobs but has also gotten work done on her face. She’s appeared in Stuff , as well as being a Penthouse Pet of the Month for January 2001.

Favoured by every wildly styled celebrity, including Britney, Gwen Stefani, Agyness Deyn and even Lady Gaga herself, it seems Jeremy Scott‘s star just never stops rising…

Recent shows have been traditional to Scott’s staple style; psychedelic, kooky and unhinged, but groundbreaking in their revolutionary insanity. Doll-like models, styled with pink or blue bunches, neon leathers, sparkling stripper heels and lurid dyed faux fur, with makeup acid yellow and green. Bustiers, yellows, reds, and juxtaposing textures (such as leather below and fur above) were commonplace at the Fall 2011 shows, in which there were also a number of slogan tees and bizarre accessories. Controversial (many models naked bodies were clearly visible beneath completely sheer ensembles), Scott also designs a collection for Adidas, and discovered Devon Aoki (who became his muse), even being hailed by Karl Lagerfeld as the only suitable replacement for Lagerfeld himself when he leaves Chanel, upping his fashion credentials, if that’s even possible. With collection titles including ‘Born To Be Wild’ and ‘Eat The Rich’, this is truly fashion at its most inspiring.

holly valance, sarah carter smallville, sarah carter doa, natassia malthe, sarah carter shark, devon aoki, jaime pressly, alicia smallville, imdb sarah carter, sara carter, devon aoki, holly valance, imdb sarah carter, jaime pressly, natassia malthe, sarah carter doa, sarah carter shark, alicia smallville lovely though skingy, Sarah Carter is another sexport from the surprisingly sexy Great White North.

1. Loving Rihanna’s new video.

There are the occasions that men—intellectual men, clever men, engaged men—insist on playing devil’s advocate, desirous of a debate on some aspect of feminist theory or reproductive rights or some other subject generally filed under the heading: Women’s Issues. These intellectual, clever, engaged men want to endlessly probe my argument for weaknesses, want to wrestle over details, want to argue just for fun—and they wonder, these intellectual, clever, engaged men, why my voice keeps raising and why my face is flushed and why, after an hour of fighting my corner, hot tears burn the corners of my eyes. Why do you have to take this stuff so personally? ask the intellectual, clever, and engaged men, who have never considered that the content of the abstract exercise that’s so much fun for them is the stuff of my life.

2. I read this blog post and it really resonated.

3. I spent a quality evening with my sister watching a hilariously terrible musical, eating dessert and chatting about life (read: boys). I also made her the most epic (if I say so myself) break-up mix. Here’s the playlist:

Eat Shit and Die - Margaret Cho
Canopies and Drapes - Emmy the Great
Broken Broken Broken Heart – Jeffrey Lewis
You Oughta Know - Alanis Morissette
Take a Bow - Glee Cast
Do It Like A Dude - Jessie J
Dickhead - Kate Nash
You Don’t Own Me - Lesley Gore
I Think I Need a New Heart – Magnetic Fields
In the Morning - Nina Simone
You Think You’re a Man – The Vaselines
When I Was Single - Peggy Seeger
Gonna Get Along Without You Now - She & Him
Better Off Without You - Summer Camp

4. After my adventures at Occupy Wall Street, I went down to Occupy London Stock Exchange on Thursday! It was amazing, lots of stuff going on, incredibly organised and good-natured. I have to say though, and this is just my personal impression, that it didn’t seem as ‘buzzy’ or spontaneous as Occupy Wall Street. It was very reminiscent of Climate Camp, where meetings and working groups materialise with military precision. Occupy Wall Street felt more chaotic, and in a sense, more authentic. It made me think about whether at some point, organising needs to give way to spontaneity, otherwise we might end up missing the moment that enables change. The revolution, I suppose. This article at Colorlines talks along similar lines - Occupying, Organizing and the Movements That Demand Both.

5. This is my favourite picture of Devon Aoki. Very beautiful lady.

6. All my talk of girl gangs seems to be working… I’ve recruited at least 4 of my friends into one so far. Not sure what our remit is yet, but we’re discussing matching jackets…!

7. Taking into account these super things, I must admit that most of this week has been a real chore and so tiring! I’m packing to move house next week so I am currently surrounded in my tiny flat by many, MANY boxes that I have stolen out of various neighbours’ recycling bins (reduce, reuse, recycle people!). All the little things that I love, all my pictures and books, are packed away! SOB. I can’t wait to be all set up in my awesome new house in London! It can’t come quickly enough! Picture from weheartit

hanna ♥