Browsing Tag

Hollywood

Rewind and Re-watch: Legally Blonde

To kick off a new category and series of HOTS blog posts, I’ve revisited one of my favourite chick flicks: Legally Blonde.

I first saw Legally Blonde at a theatre at The Eaton Centre, which isn’t there anymore. It was 2001. Little did I know at the time that the film about a blonde sorority girl disproving others’ perception of her by going to Harvard Law School would spawn sequels and propel Reese Witherspoon’s career much further than Election could accomplish alone.

As I re-watched it for the umpteenth time on DVD, I was more attuned to the product placement. Not just the Red Bull that Elle’s sorority sister drinks while exercising or the stack of Cosmopolitan magazines on Elle’s dresser, but especially the OPI nail polish bottles scattered across her colourful room. Even when Elle has the revelation at a nail salon to enroll in law school to win Warner back, the back cover ad on the magazine she’s reading is for OPI. I also thought about the contrast between Elle’s nerdy classmates on black PCs and her brand new orange Apple iBook.

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September 23, 2012 by

Behind the Books: David Yoo

Name: David Yoo

Best Known For: The Choke Artist: Confessions of a Chronic Underachiever (2012), The Detention Club (2012)

Current Employment and Projects: I teach in the MFA creative writing program at Pine Manor College, and at the Gotham Writer’s Workshop. Currently I’m working on a nonfic project tentatively titled CHASING THE SHIRT, a book about my ten years desperately trying to win a measly/pointless adult co-ed intramural soccer league championship.

Favourite memoirs & essay collections: This Boy’s Life – Tobias Wolff, Me Talk Pretty One Day – David Sedaris

Favourite magazines: I can’t afford to buy print magazines regularly–at this point I only allow myself this small luxury when I’m in an airport, in which case I usually buy Vanity Fair or something chunky that will a) last a while and b) make me smell like I’m going to my junior prom. I do read Deadspin and AV Club with regularity online, given that I’m an armchair athlete who has a verging-on-creepy reverence for really lame movies from the 80s.

Professional role model: Stewart O’Nan, who somehow manages to write a lasting, beautifully written novel every two years or so. When I feel overwhelmed by the seemingly un-climbable mountain in front of me, I think about how he’s already, in the same space of time, heading down the backside of it. His latest, The Odds, is that rarity: an engrossing, memorable short novel. What I’d give to be so concise…sigh.

In The Choke Artist, you admit that you “felt depressed about my crappy academic standing, yet at the same time more frustrated than ever that everyone still assumed I was an academic genius because I was Asian.” Describe how you feel about stereotyping in 140 characters or less:

I’ve never texted before + clueless re Twitter. Regarding stereotypes: surely I’m the only Asian guy who has never owned a cellphone…sigh.

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August 17, 2012 by

Uncertainty

I re-watched Up In The Air for the first time since it inspired my debut blog post for Hot On The Street and picked up on different elements. Keeping in mind the themes of (un)happiness and uncertainty that it shares with Take This Waltz, I realized that those must be two of the defining social issues of this era.

When Up In The Air was released, America was in the middle of the recession. Now the economy is in recovery mode and people are still feeling uneasy and lonely. Magazines, movies and the like promote romance, offering tips to help you acquire it if you’re single, but ultimately leave people unsatisfied enough to make them continue subscribing and buying, hoping for that one life-changing tip.

Despite all the critics’ rave reviews, I walked out of Take This Waltz wishing that I hadn’t over-hyped it in my mind since its premiere at TIFF, which I missed because I was too busy needed to be in London for school. Then it had another special showing in New York at Tribeca Film Festival, which coincided with my first-ever trip to the Big Apple, but I couldn’t attend because it was sold out. It wasn’t a matter of being in the same place at the wrong time; sometimes there are circumstances beyond your control. Anyway, I was frustrated because I had such high expectations for a single film, and then walked out feeling disappointed.

Did I laugh when Lena Dunham tweeted praise for Take This Waltz? Absolutely. I tweeted her right back, with my fingers crossed that she would respond. She’s the girl who a lot of my peers look up to, waiting for her to put on HBO exactly what’s on their minds, yet they’re shy about expressing out loud. Part of the reason I’m drawn to her is that she’s got spunk. She doesn’t pretend like she rolls out of bed looking like a Hollywood diva; she allows herself to be seen by millions with somewhat messy hair and she just appears to be someone who goes with the flow. But as seen on TV with her character Hannah, we all have bad days. Girls feel miserable when they don’t have their periods. Just ask Dove. Those are the times when companionship matters most.

It’s not just about having someone to lean on when you get fired. People sweat the small stuff too – it happens. That’s when you need to recruit your personal support team – family, friends, professional mentors, even trustworthy acquaintances who may not call you a ‘friend’ per se, but you think the world of and respect.

If you have time to casually surf the web and read my blog right now, take a few extra minutes to compile a list of people to whom you can turn when times are rough and you can’t sleep peacefully anymore. Make the list and store it somewhere. Don’t publish it on Facebook and tag them all in it. Keep it in your nightstand drawer for easy access. If you never have to use it, consider yourself lucky.

July 8, 2012 by

Women Who Should Be Famous

Songstress-turned-humanitarian Mandy Moore’s entrance onstage at The Carlu on Tuesday night was a walk to remember. Dressed as conservatively as her character Jamie Sullivan, Mandy was an excellent host for Dove’s first ever live-streamed event.

Dove could’ve easily called for a dress code of “girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes” because the featured guests donned Dove’s colour scheme, and anyone in a LBD stood out. Complete with hors d’oeuvres, photo walls and mocktinis, Dove and its agency partners hosted a classy event for a good cause.

I’ve supported Dove’s self-esteem project for many years. In fact, I got into an argument with a professor last semester after she screened the Evolution and Fotoshop videos, mainly because Ben Barry’s speeches about how the concept came to life turned me into a brand advocate. That class helped me identify a conflict between my MIT and Women’s Studies programs: in media classes, Dove’s campaign has been discussed (and praised) ad nauseum, whereas in the Women’s Studies culture jamming class, discussing the benefits of the campaign from a business perspective was not a priority whatsoever.

Speaking of school, the honoured women reflected on their high school years and shared what young girls can do to achieve their goals. Spoken word artist Toni Blackman made a great comparison between internal and external confidence. She was a homecoming queen who climbed the social ladder, yet lacked self esteem inside, despite what her prom photos imply. Her recommendation is to “write out a plan and put that plan to action with determination and absolute focus.” Likewise, Fahima Osman admitted to being a nerd growing up who decorated her bedroom with A+’s to remind her of what she needed to do for medical school entry. Fahima is now a general surgeon and Canada’s first Canadian-trained Somali physician at that.

Inspired by the statistic that second to Mom, 32% of Canadian girls cite celebrities as their top role models, Dove felt compelled to recognize admirable women working outside of Hollywood. During the presentation, scientist Arlene Blum modestly shared tales of climbing the world’s tallest mountains and David Suzuki’s daughter Severn described how she scrambled to prepare notes last minute for a speech to UN officials when she was merely 12 years old.

After Mandy Moore formally introduced the four women, Sharon MacLeod, vice-president of marketing, Dove Canada, led a Q&A session. Preteens barely old enough to have Facebook accounts quickly formed a line and articulately posed questions. Thankfully the girls never said the word “like,” and that confidence will definitely help them stand out as eloquent public speakers someday. What would truly be incredible is if the 4 featured role models spoke at upcoming Canadian graduation ceremonies.

Within just a few months, I shook Nicholas Sparks’ hand and sat a few rows away from Mandy Moore. When’s Shane West coming to Toronto? He’s cute…

June 30, 2012 by

Less Than Impressed: Award Shows

Sometime after the People’s Choice broadcast and my simultaneous live tweeting session ended, I realized watching the awards show was a waste of time. I hadn’t voted in any of the categories this year. In fact, I waited until the day of to even look at the nominees list. All I knew was that this was going to be a buzz worthy televised event, so I had better watch to stay in the know.

After the credits rolled, however, my response could be summarized as indifference.

There’s usually one winner at each award show, typically a young Hollywood star, who mentions how they’d watched the show growing up and could then only dream about attending, let alone winning and now voila, here they are; it’s so incredible, they boast. I’ve let my dreams of becoming famous on the silver screen subside, with little to no expectations of ever performing or working in a role constituting its own category amongst the likes of Best Performing Actress. Entertainment PR professionals are recognized at less glamorous events, with ironically less publicity.

If it weren’t for the social component of watching the Golden Globes with a group of film-obsessed writers and fans, I wouldn’t have been much more entertained than I was the Wednesday night prior.

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January 30, 2012 by