"Lots of PB&J"

I finally got internet at SAG today, which--combined with my iPod--made today fairly enjoyable. The week's been pretty routine. Waking up, driving in traffic, sitting at my desk, looking up APIs in the industry, driving in traffic, sitting at home.

My project is pretty cool. I've begun to recognize some major API ballers just from tracking down names of producers, directors, writers, actors, etc. and have complied a list of like, 500 movies I didn't know existed but sound fantastic and feature API actors. Rice Rhapsody, White on Rice, Princess of Nebraska, The Motel, Why Am I Doing This?... and movies to watch out for that haven't hit the market yet: A Conscise Chinese English Dictionary for Lovers, Color Me Love, Seeing Red, Surrogate Valentine, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Almost Perfect.

Something that I've noticed, though, is the methodology which I've been employing. I sit and think to myself "Oh yes, Jackie Chan was in Rush Hour. Let's add that to my list." So Rush Hour and Jackie Chan go on their respective lists, and by clicking on Jackie Chan I can get a huge number of other movies that have APIs in them (because, duh, Jackie Chan's in it at the very least). And, as with any good API persona in the entertainment industry, Jackie's done an 'API film'--i.e. produced, directed, written by and for APIs with APIs cast--and while API films are not independent of non-API help (financing, writing, what have you), those are the gold mines. Generally speaking, if you have an API director like Ang Lee, Wayne Wang, or Gurinder Chadha, you will also find a high concentration of API actors and some of the only API producers. (Save for M. Night. The only connection he has is through the large number of APIs he cast in The Last Airbender, and we know how that turned out for him).

Speaking of which! First protest tomorrow!

But, yes, let's return to the topic at hand before it slips away again. API actors lead you to API directors. API directors lead you to API actors in lead roles. APIs in other movies are movies about Asia--usually centuries ago and across oceans, like Memoirs of a Geisha--and focus on a white character. Think The Last Samurai or The World of Suzie Wong. In my mind, this seems to suggest some sort of problem, although I don't know how to solve it. I'd love to write and produce films, but I'd write about API topics and cast APIs and... I guess you could call me an API writer, falling into the same pattern. Huh. I could pretend to be white and get discredited for not understanding the API experience. I could pull a M. Night and cast whites in hero roles to distance myself from an API genre, if there is such a thing. Yet neither of these options seem that appealing.

Now, don't get me wrong. Wayne Wang, Ang Lee, and Gurinder Chadha have all done non API films. And I think that's freaking awesome. This is probably the best solution I could have come up with. Do both.

But then there's the problem of all these films existing and I had no idea! Films in the last decade, even, not the mid 80's and 90's API film renaissance that I've learned about in school. Another time, another place, I suppose.

And until then I leave you with quote I saw on wikipedia while researching my project: "In reply to a studio executive who said 'I suppose Woo can direct action scenes,' Quentin Tarantino has been quoted as saying 'Sure, and I suppose Michelangelo can paint ceilings!' " (John Woo is noted for his fight scenes in movies like Face/Off and Mission Impossible: 2)