Granted, I was only in the Philippines for a few days and I didn’t get out of Manila for long. But I really couldn’t pinpoint for a long ass time why I was so uncomfortable there. All the time. Until I got back stateside. That’s when I realized how undeniable the class system was there. And how the class system was entirely based on skin color. And how skin color was a legacy of Spanish Colonialism. And how I really didn’t like Filipino food or days on end of all deep friend food. Wait, that last point was unrelated to the others.
So it didn’t surprise me when I saw this FHM magazine cover. All those skin lightening products and all that white make-up powder sales. Ridiculous. More on this story here. Video interview with Padilla below.
Bad karaoke can feel like an assault on your senses, but who knew that it can actually lead to assault in the first degree?
This NY Times article reports that so many fights and even homicides have occurred in the Philippines over Sinatra’s beloved karaoke songs (one ditty in particular: “My Way”), that it merits its own crime category: ” My Way Killings”.
Croon at your own risk
Photo by Jes Aenar for the NYT
The story attributes this phenomena to several possibilities: “a natural byproduct of the country’s culture of violence, drinking and machismo” (this passes for journalism?!), to the lyrics of the song itself, to Filipinos’ “lower tolerance for bad singing” and violations of karaoke etiquette.
And karaoke-induced violence is not limited to the Philippines — there are recorded cases in Malaysia, Thailand, and Seattle, where a woman criticized and then punched a man for singing Coldplay’s “Yellow” (I swear it wasn’t me, I only throw dem ‘bows if someone effs up “Baby Got Back”).
Now I know ya’ll Pilipinas/os take your karaoke very seriously, and I’m sure there’s endless riffs that can be made about magic mics and your Tito’s BBQ last summer etc. etc., which I’ll leave for the comments section. But what’s even more interesting is the way in which they’ve effectively and creatively dealt with the tension — with gay men as karaoke buffers — using humor and neutrality to diffuse potential scuffles. Maybe karaoke joints could also take a pointer on musical harmony from those MJ prison dancers…
UPDATE: Travis Kraft is half-Filipino according to ultimatepinoyhunks.org (DO NOT OPEN AT WORK. I’m at a cafe and its already awkward enough).
Where the hell do I even start. After some discussion with my roommate, JipShady, we’re not sure if this guy, Travis Kraft (actor/director/model/cook/Asian aficionado) of TravisKraft.com is meant to be satire.
The man became (in)famous for this video, where he teaches us how to cook Chicken Adobo while SPEAKING TAGALOG. Considering only ONE of my 2 billion Catholic school Filipino classmate friends speak Tagalog, this guy must really be into the culture (and yes, I definitely consider this a fetish cause he loves the culture so much, he actually digs Filipino food). You know I’m not kidding, right? Cause I actually do appreciate me some Adobo.
If you like this guy that much, you can buy an authenticapron with a Filipino flag on it (or a dvd, which is weird cause the videos are free on YouTube).
Sobrang sexi itong lalaki!
And in case you want to see him in other videos:
How to Make Dinuguan (YUM! Pork Blood Stew! Not kidding, I like pork blood):
How to defend Asian people against the Blacks:
Him being interviewed by a Filipino TV station:
And in case my Korean American friends in K-town feel left out, here’s an amazing video montage of LA K-town that ends with an Asian brother getting strangled. THIS IS ART.
Just another case of the White Man appropriating Asian culture? Sure. Anything we can do he can do better? Maybe. Is it funny? Kinda. Do I hate the man? Yes.
Filipinos have always been as American as Cup o’ Noodles and Rice-a-Roni. Although they were never interned during World War II like Japanese Americans or thrown into baskets carrying dynamite like canaries during the building of the railroads like Chinese Americans, Filipinos have always been shafted by The Man. From the Philippine-American War years, to President Taft stating that “our little brown brothers” would need “fifty or one hundred years” of close supervision “to develop anything resembling Anglo-Saxon political principles and skills”, up to World War II where Filipinos were asked to fight alongside American soldiers in exchange for money and citizenship, which President Truman later denied. But this week, Hawaii Democratic Senator Daniel K. Inouye‘s Filipino reparations bill was slipped into Obama’s stimulus package as a way of gettin’ it done. Congrats to doing what was right while urking the neocons.
2012 LOS ANGELES ASIAN PACIFIC FILM FESTIVAL PRESENTED BY VISUAL COMMUNICATIONS
Southern California’s Largest Asian Film Festival Runs May 10 – 20, 2012, Will Present 188 Films From Over 20 Countries Featuring World Premieres, Sneak Previews; Showcasing Documentaries and Narratives Focusing on the Voices of Asian Americans and Asian Peoples from Around the World.
MAY 10 – 20, 2012 28th LOS ANGELES ASIAN PACIFIC FILM FESTIVAL A VISUAL COMMUNICATIONS PRODUCTION www.vconline.org/festival
Bookish Bitchin
Its gonna be hard as hell to write a review of a book like this without spoilers. So let me just say this book has gently nestled its way into my Murakami top 3, just under Wind Up Bird Chronicles and barely inching above Norwegian Wood. This means a lot cause I'm a fanatic over his ish and spend way too much money on multiple copies of his books... If you're a veteran Murakami reader, you'll love how long this book is. More time before the Murakami-withdrawal hits. You'll also like hearing from a female protagonist for the first time. If this is your first Murakami book, I'd read one of his books with less magical realism first, After Dark or Kafka on the Shore then move up to 1Q84 about 3-4 books later. Also, you might wanna buy the digital version (although the US hardcopy is a sight to behold) cause this book be phat!
