just wanted to put it out there that Laos is representing!
thanks to la for putting this graphic together... (i stole it off her facebook page!)
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Sunday, July 01, 2012
the food pic
first check out this website that is actually kinda funny... and then read my comments below.
http://picsofaznstakingpicsoffood.tumblr.com/
seriously... i will admit that i am white right here and now, and even i know that this phenomenon is not unique to asians. i got all these white friends of mine that be posting some serious food pictures on facebook and instagram and twitter... (ok, maybe not twitter... by the way, what is twitter again? and now that we're done with twitter, what in the heck is tumblr? and why is it missing an "e?" is this a statement fo some sort, or is somebody lazy to write the whole word?)
so for proof - i submit some food pictures off of facebook posted by white people...
ok... i was wrong. i only found these two pictures from white people. one is of a market which is food related, and the other is... what is that??? is that even food?
on the other hand... i did find these few photos posted by one of my Lao friends over the past few days...
http://picsofaznstakingpicsoffood.tumblr.com/
seriously... i will admit that i am white right here and now, and even i know that this phenomenon is not unique to asians. i got all these white friends of mine that be posting some serious food pictures on facebook and instagram and twitter... (ok, maybe not twitter... by the way, what is twitter again? and now that we're done with twitter, what in the heck is tumblr? and why is it missing an "e?" is this a statement fo some sort, or is somebody lazy to write the whole word?)
so for proof - i submit some food pictures off of facebook posted by white people...
ok... i was wrong. i only found these two pictures from white people. one is of a market which is food related, and the other is... what is that??? is that even food?
on the other hand... i did find these few photos posted by one of my Lao friends over the past few days...
so maybe i am wrong... but i really think that the only thing this proves is that asians eat more photo-worthy food than white people. i mean, who wants to see a picture of a squash casserole?
Monday, June 25, 2012
come sail away
it is that time of year again... another group of people off to Laos for a summer of study and fun. (also known as the sail program... which aptly stands for "summer abroad in Laos.") i always feel a tad bit jealous that i never took a whole summer off when i was a younger to do something like this. well... head to the Lao studies website to check out their bios, aspirations and aspirations... there should be some links to their blogs as well - so stalk them as they do what all of us wish we could do. http://www.laostudies.org/2012-sailers
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
bumper sticker wisdom
Friday, May 25, 2012
jungle golf
Sunday, April 22, 2012
shia reps Laos
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Sunday, March 11, 2012
project nim redux
project nim is this crazy documentary about a chimpanzee raised like a human back in the 70s. I first heard about the study in one of my psych classes in undergrad. well, come to find out, there was more to the story than just a research project with a chimpanzee in the center. i won't say more but to point you to netflix or the seattle public library or wherever so you can watch this film.
and then, after watching project nim today and being sufficiently horrified that the whole mess ever happened, i found this article online:
http://www.timeslive.co.za/scitech/2012/03/06/laos-monkey-farms-raise-alarms
and i know that monkeys and chimpanzees ain'tthe same, (monkees were a music act, rip davy jones, aka artful dodger) but i'm connecting these two stories anyway and closing this entry out with this song:
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
this post is not about jeremy lin
but i will not do a post about jeremy. i think he is getting a little worn out on all the attention. so i won't post on his amazing start in the nba, or his actually pretty funny youtube videos. i won't mention all the racist comments (what is wrong with you espn people?) especially the taunts when he played for harvard. and i'm not gonna review all the funny little puns made out of jeremy's last name. i'm not writing about his attempts to get into stanford or the pressure he got from his family to get a real job. i won't even go into his christianity, and i won't even talk about all the press he's received, (even the new entertainment weekly has a 1 page article about him), or the pride that asian americans feel inside when watching him play. and i definitely won't post a bunch of links to a bunch of articles about him.
nope. this blog is about Laos afterall. so once again, this is not a post about jermey lin.
but here is a pretty good article i found:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/02/22/MN2N1NB2OL.DTL&ao=all
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
bullied
i wonder if the rates change based on the number of asians in the school? i know that this happens quite frequently, but i am surprised by the high numbers. well, this article appeared on the google news service. i would just post the link, but what the heck. here is the full text.
Asian Americans most bullied in US schools:
By Shaun Tandon (AFP) – Oct 28, 2011
WASHINGTON — Asian Americans endure far more bullying at US schools than members of other ethnic groups, with teenagers of the community three times as likely to face taunts on the Internet, new data shows.
Policymakers see a range of reasons for the harassment, including language barriers faced by some Asian American students and a spike in racial abuse following the September 11, 2001 attacks against children perceived as Muslim.
"This data is absolutely unacceptable and it must change. Our children have to be able to go to school free of fear," US Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Friday during a forum at the Center for American Progress think-tank.
The research, to be released on Saturday, found that 54 percent of Asian American teenagers said they were bullied in the classroom, sharply above the 31.3 percent of whites who reported being picked on.
The figure was 38.4 percent for African Americans and 34.3 percent for Hispanics, a government researcher involved in the data analysis told AFP. He requested anonymity because the data has not been made public.
The disparity was even more striking for cyber-bullying.
Some 62 percent of Asian Americans reported online harassment once or twice a month, compared with 18.1 percent of whites. The researcher said more study was needed on why the problem is so severe among Asian Americans.
The data comes from a 2009 survey supported by the US Justice Department and Education Department which interviewed some 6,500 students from ages 12 to 18. Asian Americans are generally defined as tracing ancestry to East Asia, the Indian subcontinent or the South Pacific.
Officials plan to announce the data during an event in New York on bullying as part of President Barack Obama's White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
New Jersey parent Shehnaz Abdeljaber, who will speak at the event, said she was shocked when she saw her son's middle school yearbook in which not only classmates but also a teacher wrote comments suggesting he was a terrorist.
Abdeljaber soon learned that her son had endured similar remarks at a younger age but had kept silent. She complained to the school principal but has since pushed for workshops on bullying that involve teachers and students.
"We need a more creative approach and more interaction with the youth, empowering them to do something rather than just going through the framework of authority," she said.
The Obama administration has put a priority on fighting bullying. In March, the president joined Facebook for an online anti-bullying conference, where he warned that social media was making the problem worse for many children.
Duncan, the education secretary, warned that bullying had serious effects as it can lead to mental and physical health problems including dependence on drugs or alcohol.
Duncan also voiced concern about high rates of bullying at schools against gay and lesbians, an issue that has come into greater focus since a spate of suicides last year among gay teens who were harassed.
"We're seeing folks who somehow seem a little different from the norm bearing the brunt," Duncan said.
"We're trying to shine a huge spotlight on this," he said.
A number of Asian countries have also wrestled with bullying.
Japan stepped up measures in 2006 after at least four youngsters killed themselves in a matter of days and the education minister said he had received an anonymous letter from a bullied student who was contemplating suicide.
Asian Americans most bullied in US schools:
By Shaun Tandon (AFP) – Oct 28, 2011
WASHINGTON — Asian Americans endure far more bullying at US schools than members of other ethnic groups, with teenagers of the community three times as likely to face taunts on the Internet, new data shows.
Policymakers see a range of reasons for the harassment, including language barriers faced by some Asian American students and a spike in racial abuse following the September 11, 2001 attacks against children perceived as Muslim.
"This data is absolutely unacceptable and it must change. Our children have to be able to go to school free of fear," US Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Friday during a forum at the Center for American Progress think-tank.
The research, to be released on Saturday, found that 54 percent of Asian American teenagers said they were bullied in the classroom, sharply above the 31.3 percent of whites who reported being picked on.
The figure was 38.4 percent for African Americans and 34.3 percent for Hispanics, a government researcher involved in the data analysis told AFP. He requested anonymity because the data has not been made public.
The disparity was even more striking for cyber-bullying.
Some 62 percent of Asian Americans reported online harassment once or twice a month, compared with 18.1 percent of whites. The researcher said more study was needed on why the problem is so severe among Asian Americans.
The data comes from a 2009 survey supported by the US Justice Department and Education Department which interviewed some 6,500 students from ages 12 to 18. Asian Americans are generally defined as tracing ancestry to East Asia, the Indian subcontinent or the South Pacific.
Officials plan to announce the data during an event in New York on bullying as part of President Barack Obama's White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
New Jersey parent Shehnaz Abdeljaber, who will speak at the event, said she was shocked when she saw her son's middle school yearbook in which not only classmates but also a teacher wrote comments suggesting he was a terrorist.
Abdeljaber soon learned that her son had endured similar remarks at a younger age but had kept silent. She complained to the school principal but has since pushed for workshops on bullying that involve teachers and students.
"We need a more creative approach and more interaction with the youth, empowering them to do something rather than just going through the framework of authority," she said.
The Obama administration has put a priority on fighting bullying. In March, the president joined Facebook for an online anti-bullying conference, where he warned that social media was making the problem worse for many children.
Duncan, the education secretary, warned that bullying had serious effects as it can lead to mental and physical health problems including dependence on drugs or alcohol.
Duncan also voiced concern about high rates of bullying at schools against gay and lesbians, an issue that has come into greater focus since a spate of suicides last year among gay teens who were harassed.
"We're seeing folks who somehow seem a little different from the norm bearing the brunt," Duncan said.
"We're trying to shine a huge spotlight on this," he said.
A number of Asian countries have also wrestled with bullying.
Japan stepped up measures in 2006 after at least four youngsters killed themselves in a matter of days and the education minister said he had received an anonymous letter from a bullied student who was contemplating suicide.
Friday, February 10, 2012
debbie spenditnow racist superbowl commercial
this mess aired in michigan during the superbow, and this here is some crazy. where do they get these people to run for public office? does he really think this is okay? and here is the kicker (superbowl pun intended): the girl that is supposed to be speaking with an asian accent here & her attempt at the accent is really bad. she clearly is american; she keeps slipping out of her fake asian accent. what are her friends saying about her on facebook - if they didn't unfriend her already. and what's up with all the weird colors? is that supposed to be bali hai? i swear, richard and oscar should sue this guy for copyright infringement.
wow. once more, say it together: wow. and whatever you do michigan, don't vote for this goon.
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/02/senate-candidate-under-fire-for-very-disturbing-super-bowl-ad/
thank you alena for making me so painfully aware of this mess.
Friday, February 03, 2012
the following preview has not been approved for appropriate audiences
so i got some questions about the last short movie i posted. it was made by this Lao film company, Lao new wave cinema. they had a movie in the luangpraband film festival and i've posted the preview for their entry below. and although the first 40 seconds of the preview don't show you nothing but who made the film, let me warn you: the 10 seconds after that is a little much. in fact it explodes into a scene of violence reminiscent of some korean films i've seen. and then the preview drops into the usual thai drama fare: scenes of pretty people in everyday situations, a car chase, and someone crying - all with bad pop music overlaying it all.
well, i first heard about the movie from thaan thout karen's blog. link below. she couldn't stay for the whole movie, but she hopes it comes out on dvd because it looked as "slick and professional as anything coming out of hollywood." (i would agree that it mos def looks better than the princess movie... although it ain't outa hollywood.)
http://usambassadortolaos.tumblr.com/
so hurray for Laos! and watch or don't watch. but it ain't approved for all audiences.
well, i first heard about the movie from thaan thout karen's blog. link below. she couldn't stay for the whole movie, but she hopes it comes out on dvd because it looked as "slick and professional as anything coming out of hollywood." (i would agree that it mos def looks better than the princess movie... although it ain't outa hollywood.)
http://usambassadortolaos.tumblr.com/
so hurray for Laos! and watch or don't watch. but it ain't approved for all audiences.
Monday, January 23, 2012
a little change movie
now this is what i'm talking about... i'm liking this short film a lot. i only wish the subtitles were better. (baan nok shouldn't be translated as dummy, dummy.)
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
king of the crawfish
so this is my second time to this restaurant - in the east side of chinatown on lane street. (725 s. lane st, seattle, 98104) and i was liking my dinner a lot more than the first time i went. i got the boudin balls and the crawfish etouffee. it is vietnamese-owned and operated, and they know what they are doing up in there. maybe it was cause i just got back from louisiana, but i was loving my dinner.
here is my one complaint - the first time i went, they served my jambalaya (which was pretty okay) in a to-go container. it was like they were telling me, take your food and leave. i couldn't really enjoy it. i felt like i should have been eating it at home in front of reruns of csi maimi. (and i hate that show and all it's kissing cousins.)
the restaurant looks real nice inside, but to the owners: seriously yall - if you see this, stop cheapening up the experience by giving me my food in a plastic to-go container. by the way, they didn't give me none this past time, but i saw the containers on other patrons' tables. weird.
here is the link to the place:
http://www.seattlecrawfishking.com/
i went with anthony, a friend of mine, and he got the fried softshell crab and the cajun fries, and i don't think he liked his as much. he said it was salty, so he had to dip his crab in some sauce (or was it sweet tea?) in order to tone it down. but that said, i don't like crab (unless it's the fake crab - because that stuff be slappin!)
well, this ain't the only asian-run louisiana-styled restaurant in the area. there is this one - cajun crawfish, and its good too, but lacks the atmosphere of the first. but i did like the crawfish; felt like i was home at a crawfish boil, (although we never had any in my home.)
http://www.thecajuncrawfish.com/
and then there's this one restaurant in renton, called casian grill, but it seems more of a kid-drink-beer hangout than a restaurant (and they didn't have no crawfish when i went there; all out!) but they do try to mix it up: two distinct menus featuring vietnamese and southern food. kinda like a kfc/tacobell, or a tacobell/pizza hut, or a pizza hut/a&w, or a wendy's/pet-smart. i get the idea, but once you sit down in there, you feel a little bit anxious that the cajun food will never be good enough because maybe the cooks are spending too much time worrying about the asian food.
but that said, here is the link anyway:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Casian-Grill-Restuarant/127520717258505
and this guy liked it:
http://photofoodblog.com/2011/10/casian-grill-renton-wa/
but in the end, if there is a war between these three restaurants, crawfish king really is king. check it out. they won't mind.
Sunday, January 08, 2012
10 things i hate (& love) about louisiana
so i am back in seattle again. why do i do this to myself. well, in memoriam of this past trip home for christmas, i composed a list of things that made me sad while in louisiana. and then i thought, what the heck... there is a ton of stuff that made me happy, so i should really intro each one of these bad things with something good. so here it goes, my list of ten things, happy and sad...
1. no need to tell yall, but one of the best things about louisiana is the food!!!! zapp's potato chips! gumbo! po' boys! cane's! jambalaya with beans and shrimp creole on the side! biegnet's at cafe du monde! wooo hooo! really ain't nothing like it:
2. nothing can live forever, but i don't often think about that in terms of trees. well, my home in baton rouge has lost a lot of trees over the years, and this is one of the most recent, knocked down during a storm. i liked this one a lot. raccoons used to live up inside it. sad:
3. look at this thermometer! temperature right about 74 degrees just 4 days before christmas. that is a reason to love louisiana right there:
4. along with trees dying... a lot of stores and shops and malls and what-have-you have shut down. economic downturns, shifts in the population of the city... a lot of reasons. but none is sadder to me than this one right here. the broadmoor theatre. i seen so many movies in this theatre. my mom would drop us off on a saturday and we'd spend the afternoon watching re-releases of jungle book or song of the south. and that little old lady that worked there - i miss her too, may she rest in peace... well here it is:
for more on this, see this blog:
http://abandonedbatonrouge.typepad.com/abandoned_baton_rouge/
5. we went to new orleans the friday before new years and had a great time. street performers were everywhere, and i got a kick outa hearing this very loud band in the french quarter right under the nose of the st. louis cathedral with it's no noise sign:
6. i'm sad to see the crime in new orleans still going up and up post-katrina. and not just in new orleans, but baton rouge too. and with all the convictions of police officers for unjustified shootings after the hurricane, trust aint very high, as you can see from this graffiti. there was another one that was much more succinct scrawled on the pavement by this one; it had much courser language, so i'm posting this one here:
7. of course, probably the best part of a trip home to louisiana is when you get to see family... so here are my nieces right here:
8. and of course, the worst part of a trip home is that you have to see family... so here are my nieces right here:
9. something else i loved about being in louisiana - seeing real rain and real thunderstorms - like this one brewing to the west. don't see nothing like that in seattle:
10. but the saddest part of all... leaving. here is the view of my plane out the lobby window, readying itself to take me to atlanta where i got a connecting flight back to seattle:
so until i make it back there again, i have this blog post to look at. louisiana: you're the best. and the worst, apparently.
1. no need to tell yall, but one of the best things about louisiana is the food!!!! zapp's potato chips! gumbo! po' boys! cane's! jambalaya with beans and shrimp creole on the side! biegnet's at cafe du monde! wooo hooo! really ain't nothing like it:
2. nothing can live forever, but i don't often think about that in terms of trees. well, my home in baton rouge has lost a lot of trees over the years, and this is one of the most recent, knocked down during a storm. i liked this one a lot. raccoons used to live up inside it. sad:
3. look at this thermometer! temperature right about 74 degrees just 4 days before christmas. that is a reason to love louisiana right there:
4. along with trees dying... a lot of stores and shops and malls and what-have-you have shut down. economic downturns, shifts in the population of the city... a lot of reasons. but none is sadder to me than this one right here. the broadmoor theatre. i seen so many movies in this theatre. my mom would drop us off on a saturday and we'd spend the afternoon watching re-releases of jungle book or song of the south. and that little old lady that worked there - i miss her too, may she rest in peace... well here it is:
for more on this, see this blog:
http://abandonedbatonrouge.typepad.com/abandoned_baton_rouge/
5. we went to new orleans the friday before new years and had a great time. street performers were everywhere, and i got a kick outa hearing this very loud band in the french quarter right under the nose of the st. louis cathedral with it's no noise sign:
6. i'm sad to see the crime in new orleans still going up and up post-katrina. and not just in new orleans, but baton rouge too. and with all the convictions of police officers for unjustified shootings after the hurricane, trust aint very high, as you can see from this graffiti. there was another one that was much more succinct scrawled on the pavement by this one; it had much courser language, so i'm posting this one here:
7. of course, probably the best part of a trip home to louisiana is when you get to see family... so here are my nieces right here:
8. and of course, the worst part of a trip home is that you have to see family... so here are my nieces right here:
9. something else i loved about being in louisiana - seeing real rain and real thunderstorms - like this one brewing to the west. don't see nothing like that in seattle:
10. but the saddest part of all... leaving. here is the view of my plane out the lobby window, readying itself to take me to atlanta where i got a connecting flight back to seattle:
so until i make it back there again, i have this blog post to look at. louisiana: you're the best. and the worst, apparently.
Friday, December 30, 2011
bungle in the jungle
i got this forbes magazine link, "bungle in the jungle," from a guy that used to be in one of my high school groups. what a mess. can somebody cut Laos a break? ugh. and boo to the person(s) building all the casinos in vientiane and savannakhet. yall suck.
http://www.forbes.com/global/2011/0808/companies-laos-china-economy-gambling-gangsters-bungle-jungle.html
check out this link too:
http://timfranco.com/blog/chinese-in-laos-part-two-casino-rubber/
http://www.forbes.com/global/2011/0808/companies-laos-china-economy-gambling-gangsters-bungle-jungle.html
check out this link too:
http://timfranco.com/blog/chinese-in-laos-part-two-casino-rubber/
Monday, December 26, 2011
mixed reviews: Lao princess
as much as i love Laos, i really don't think i will be seeing this movie. watch the trailer for princess of Laos below and you'll see why pretty durn fast:
bad.
but what's good is reading all the crazy youtube comments under the preview. many of them are just people of differing opinions fighting back and forth, but the best ones are the comments from the filmmaker, mychal mitchell, and wow... so many things get lost in translation. i am going to post a few here, and so if you happen across my blog and see your comment... well, then you and you're comment are crazy.
i will start with this -- many of the comments noted that the girl playing the princess looks mixed Lao/african american. see some of them below:
I am not a racist person, but isn't the princess in this movie black? doesn't make sense to me. Laos is in Southeast Asia, not in Africa.
Laos in Asia not in Africa, we have no black people here.
Actually..Lao woman is Beautiful more than women in this Video^^
now just read a few of the many many responses by the filmmaker:
i just googled Laos and i found out it is in Africa.
i filmed this movie, i wrote it, i have been married to my Lao wife for 23 years......then someone who doesn't know anything about making a movie says to me (as if i'm stupid) "Laos is not in Africa" because the lead actress appears to be African American....so anyone with half a brain would think i made a movie with over 50 Laotians, have been to Wat Lao 100 times, and think i don't know where Laos is? In the words of Monday Night Football crew C'MON MAN!!!!!!!!
and
ur a 26 year old dummy go watch a show thats more befitting to your intellect like Jersey Shore
if you're trying to promote your movie, why would you go the sarcasm route? and did you really just try to say you understand Laos because you found a Lao woman who'd put up with you for 23 years? or even better: "i'm not racist, i cast 50 Lao people in a movie."
now look at this comment from a youtuber:
I'm very interested in seeing this movie but this trailor gives me a headache trying to sum up what the whole meaninng of the film is about. How is she a princess who inherited a Kingdom when there iz no more Royal Family in Laos. Was this supposed to all happen before the end of the Vietnam War Era... How come my contact Prince Solivang Sovang never mentioned anything about this history? This must be fairytale for entertainment reason, but all in all it should be an interesting watch.
here is the filmmaker's response:
Headache? The story is fiction/drama, i hope that clears your headache. Its a movie just like when you went to see Avatar the flying blue alien. The story is modern day. The untold story is the fact that the lead actress is INDEED the great granddaughter of a woman once married to Kind Sisavangvong around 1910. You can meet her family by visiting the website for the movie www.princessoflaosmovie.com. Im glad you want to see the movie. Have the prince contact me please.
here is one more from our dear filmmaker in answer to a question about when the movie would be released. this comment was coupled with a criticism that the movie was "embarrassing" due to its fictional content:
why do you want to know when an embarassing movie is coming out?....when the movie comes out just stay at home
so my point is this: now i'm not seeing this movie based on my dislike of the guy that made it. mr. mitchell - seriously, why go through all the trouble to make a movie and then bash on people for their crazy comments? at some point, you must have realized that not everyone is going to like your film; so why not just answer all inquiries gracefully? or next time, instead of making a film, you might want to just stay home.
but one more comment from a youtuber. i like this one - not because he still doesn't get it that this girl could be mixed-race of an african american father or mother, but because he has such a good explanation as to why she is dark-skinned:
Can a Cambodian/Khmer guy like myself try to explain this. Many peeps here can be shallow. History revealed that the first Lao Kingdom was built by dark skinned Khmers. So there you go.
Also..., during colonial times Laos has 2 kingdoms. Laung Prabang and the lesser known Champasak. The Champasak kingdom was a minor kingdom in the south. And you know how south Laos is, the lower you go the darker the skin. SPOILER ALERT: The girl is most likely from the NaChampasak Royal Lineage.
nice.
bad.
but what's good is reading all the crazy youtube comments under the preview. many of them are just people of differing opinions fighting back and forth, but the best ones are the comments from the filmmaker, mychal mitchell, and wow... so many things get lost in translation. i am going to post a few here, and so if you happen across my blog and see your comment... well, then you and you're comment are crazy.
i will start with this -- many of the comments noted that the girl playing the princess looks mixed Lao/african american. see some of them below:
I am not a racist person, but isn't the princess in this movie black? doesn't make sense to me. Laos is in Southeast Asia, not in Africa.
Laos in Asia not in Africa, we have no black people here.
Actually..Lao woman is Beautiful more than women in this Video^^
now just read a few of the many many responses by the filmmaker:
i just googled Laos and i found out it is in Africa.
i filmed this movie, i wrote it, i have been married to my Lao wife for 23 years......then someone who doesn't know anything about making a movie says to me (as if i'm stupid) "Laos is not in Africa" because the lead actress appears to be African American....so anyone with half a brain would think i made a movie with over 50 Laotians, have been to Wat Lao 100 times, and think i don't know where Laos is? In the words of Monday Night Football crew C'MON MAN!!!!!!!!
and
ur a 26 year old dummy go watch a show thats more befitting to your intellect like Jersey Shore
if you're trying to promote your movie, why would you go the sarcasm route? and did you really just try to say you understand Laos because you found a Lao woman who'd put up with you for 23 years? or even better: "i'm not racist, i cast 50 Lao people in a movie."
now look at this comment from a youtuber:
I'm very interested in seeing this movie but this trailor gives me a headache trying to sum up what the whole meaninng of the film is about. How is she a princess who inherited a Kingdom when there iz no more Royal Family in Laos. Was this supposed to all happen before the end of the Vietnam War Era... How come my contact Prince Solivang Sovang never mentioned anything about this history? This must be fairytale for entertainment reason, but all in all it should be an interesting watch.
here is the filmmaker's response:
Headache? The story is fiction/drama, i hope that clears your headache. Its a movie just like when you went to see Avatar the flying blue alien. The story is modern day. The untold story is the fact that the lead actress is INDEED the great granddaughter of a woman once married to Kind Sisavangvong around 1910. You can meet her family by visiting the website for the movie www.princessoflaosmovie.com. Im glad you want to see the movie. Have the prince contact me please.
here is one more from our dear filmmaker in answer to a question about when the movie would be released. this comment was coupled with a criticism that the movie was "embarrassing" due to its fictional content:
why do you want to know when an embarassing movie is coming out?....when the movie comes out just stay at home
so my point is this: now i'm not seeing this movie based on my dislike of the guy that made it. mr. mitchell - seriously, why go through all the trouble to make a movie and then bash on people for their crazy comments? at some point, you must have realized that not everyone is going to like your film; so why not just answer all inquiries gracefully? or next time, instead of making a film, you might want to just stay home.
but one more comment from a youtuber. i like this one - not because he still doesn't get it that this girl could be mixed-race of an african american father or mother, but because he has such a good explanation as to why she is dark-skinned:
Can a Cambodian/Khmer guy like myself try to explain this. Many peeps here can be shallow. History revealed that the first Lao Kingdom was built by dark skinned Khmers. So there you go.
Also..., during colonial times Laos has 2 kingdoms. Laung Prabang and the lesser known Champasak. The Champasak kingdom was a minor kingdom in the south. And you know how south Laos is, the lower you go the darker the skin. SPOILER ALERT: The girl is most likely from the NaChampasak Royal Lineage.
nice.
Monday, December 19, 2011
a christmas carol
so i made it home to louisiana for the holidays! my step mom led the choir singing christmas songs at church on sunday, and she was real nervous, but i thought it turned out alright... kinda like gift giving: it's always been the thought that counts. but here is the one problem with the ward choirs - there ain't a tryout or nothing. so inevitably somebody gets in there that sounds a little less extraordinary than what you wish they did, and the rest of the choir is left teeter-tottering between the howl of a farmhouse hound and the grace of a Higher Power to pull them to safety. in this case the offending party was... well, i won't say his name, but b.h.h. (bless his heart,) he really got all into the christmas spirit, when the other 20+ people up there were wishing he'd gone a bit more scrooge and shut up. my father was one of them people. somehow my dad ended up right next to him when they got up to sing, and i could just see his face trying to remain neutral - but how do you stay neutral when you got that sound blaring in your ear? one woman in the alto section couldn't stop chuckling when he'd hit some real bad notes. well, luckily - there were enough parts when only the women were singing and enough other parts where it was all in unison, so that it weren't too bad. 'cause even the worst of singers do pretty okay during the unison parts.
but my point here - i do like me some christmas music, and they sang some good ones. i know a few of yall get all uptight when the radio goes all christmas, (and i do try to use terms like "holiday tree," and i try to remember to say "happy holidays" to people instead of "merry christmas," cause i know that the latter can be kinda isolating if you ain't somebody that celebrates christmas,) but i really do like this time of year. and especially here in louisiana; manger scenes everywhere, store employees saying merry christmas in the shopping malls (they ain't never heard of a non-christian down here), and 70 degree weather too. yeah, i can get behind a christmas like this one. (last year was in Laos, and the weather was even warmer than this, but there wasn't no christmas tree out in the village where i was staying.)
so here it is - my favorite christmas albums. and i don't care what anybody says, these are the best. (and the harry connick jr album is real bad, so don't even come up to me with that mess.)
4. our finest gifts, the nw boychoir and vocal point. i guess you can't buy this one no more, but they got a bunch of others; just go to their website. (i found this album in a 2nde hand shop in the university district, and then i looked em up online to see when they'd be performing. so i ended up seeing them back when their concerts were free; now they cost too much, but this is the best alternative. besides, who else can justifiably sing little drummer boy?)
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
the battle rages on...
i am an outsider; i almost feel like i am watching two students fight on the first day of high school. i don't know who they are, but the joy of watching them punch each other is still the same. only i can't say this is joy that i am feeling. well, below is the clip - posted on youtube of course - and i encourage you to go to youtube's site, (well, maybe the word encourage is too strong. maybe i'll just say "you can go to the site if you'd like,") so that you can read the comments posted underneath, (even after the person that put up the video requested that no hate speech be posted.)
but let me explain: some amount of controversy exists over the present-day borders in southeast asia.
and so the war goes on and on. i've heard this for years: thailand took Laos' land and cambodia's land, and they are still trying to claim the khmer temples as their own. cambodia's land was taken over by the vietnamese. the vietnamese stole land from the cham. well, here is an animated map that shows the rise and fall of these kingdoms from 100-1550 ad. and the video is unbiased - it proclaims the map is based on historical fact. watch those early kingdoms move all over the place. it looks like something from the weather channel when a scary storm front is moving in...
but back to the comments... all that swearing? is it really necessary? be nice to each other. if i've learned anything, it's that southeast asians have much more in common (including ancestry for many of them) than what they have in differences. but for now i guess i'll just sit back and watch.
heading home to louisiana for christmas...
but let me explain: some amount of controversy exists over the present-day borders in southeast asia.
and so the war goes on and on. i've heard this for years: thailand took Laos' land and cambodia's land, and they are still trying to claim the khmer temples as their own. cambodia's land was taken over by the vietnamese. the vietnamese stole land from the cham. well, here is an animated map that shows the rise and fall of these kingdoms from 100-1550 ad. and the video is unbiased - it proclaims the map is based on historical fact. watch those early kingdoms move all over the place. it looks like something from the weather channel when a scary storm front is moving in...
but back to the comments... all that swearing? is it really necessary? be nice to each other. if i've learned anything, it's that southeast asians have much more in common (including ancestry for many of them) than what they have in differences. but for now i guess i'll just sit back and watch.
heading home to louisiana for christmas...
Wednesday, December 07, 2011
hell yeah
woo hoo! this is the best thing ever. finally an easy to follow recipe for the best Lao dish ever: tammakhoung. and yes, she does use padek! Jai Lao padek to be exact. buy your padek on the Jai Lao website! anyways, this makes me very happy. and la is funny too; juicy papaya salad means your husband loves you hahahahahahaha!
hell yes.
hell yes.
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