Exploitative?

I just read a blog on MSNBC where some critic is ranting about why he won't see Michael Jackson's "This is It" movie concert (which is basically a bunch of clips from MJ's rehearsals, pieced together to look something like an actual concert) and it's leading me to post my own whiny rant.


The whiny blogger says, "Perhaps to some, it feels like a way to celebrate a great entertainer. But if so, why not just air it on television? Why charge admission?" and the whiny commenters on his blog all seem to agree (http://testpattern.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/08/26/2044676.aspx).

Now I personally agree that the Michael Jackson movie is slightly exploitative, but let's not forget that MJ had hundreds of millions of dollars in debt and the concert promoters took a huge loss when he passed away-- so it completely makes sense for them to strike while the iron's hot and try to cut their losses (possibly even turning a profit).

The reason I'm annoyed, though, is that there seems to be more outcry over this movie than there was over another set of movies about a sensitive subject that I don't like to think about (or even really talk about) too much: September 11th.

When they made two movies (i.e. "United 93" and "World Trade Center", which starred that horrid Nicholas Cage) about the 9-11 attacks, I found it incredibly distasteful and was pretty angry when critics gushed over how well-made the movies were. (FYI, I refused and still refuse to ever watch those movies.)

As a New Yorker who attended school just two blocks away from the World Trade Center and continues to fast each year on 9-11, I found the idea of Hollywood profiting off of the attack-- just five years later (in 2006)-- to be in extremely poor taste.

I asked the question, "If these producers really wish to educate the public about 9-11 and want to honor the victims' memories, why not create a documentary or movie that can be seen on network TV and available to the public?"

I find it extremely disturbing that the public could be so outraged over a concert film about a pop star (and let's not forget that people who wanted to see the concert would have had to pay a ton more than they would for a movie ticket), but have no such protest for films that are clearly trying to profit off of one of the most horrific events in American history.

I'm seriously hoping that at least the dollars will speak and that the MJ movie will gross significantly higher sales than the two 9-11 movies did.

But on a happier note, the Yankees just beat the Boston Red Sux. Go Yanks!!

The Witching Hour

It's past 4AM on Friday night and I'm unable to sleep.

Of course, I know exactly why. I woke up this morning in order to make it on time for a client meeting (from one of my classes this semester), spent an exhausting day walking through the site and collapsed as soon as I got home at 7PM-- only to re-wake myself at 9:30PM to go to a good friend's birthday party on the Lower East Side.

Now, I'm back at home, awake and annoyed, because I need to meet someone else at 8:30AM.

Another friend, who I'm meeting at noon, just texted me and my neighbor is playing his cello.

So odd that there are so many random people awake at this hour, but none of us are actually interacting with others...

For some reason, my imagination is starting to get the better of me and I'm thinking of ghosts and other supernatural beings.


And this is all reminding me of being back in the Philippines this summer...

For a strongly Catholic country, there were definitely a lot of superstitions going around.

As an example, this one rural village in the mountains that I stayed in had a creek where people would bathe. But nobody would go there after dark, due to the frequent sightings of ghosts there. The story went that there was a scorned woman in that village, who ended up hanging herself on a tree in the mountains. Now, she appears as an attractive ghost to unsuspecting men that follow her-- ultimately off the edge of a cliff, meeting her in the afterlife.

And I also met some other interesting folks who actually said that they were able to see spirits-- similar to the kid in "The Sixth Sense".

Imelda Marcos-- the crazy first lady of the Philippines from the 1960's to 80's-- did some horrible things to people in her country and there are tons of stories of angry spirits still restless in certain areas of Manila.

Oddly enough, some of the Filipinos I know who have visited NY haven't noticed anything strange at the World Trade Center (i.e. 9-11 attacks) site.

They theorize that perhaps the way that the country united in the immediate aftermath calmed the souls...

Strange late night ruminations I'm having, huh?

Grasshopper's Role Models

All of this advising first year students has also got me thinking about who my idols are and it's interesting to see that they're all a bunch of odd couples from reality TV! (This is in addition to the list that includes Martha Stewart, by the way).

First up: P!nk and Carey Hart

It takes real balls for one to write really edgy songs about not fitting in at high school, questioning the crazy president's policies, or not putting out and P!nk does just that!

Even more fascinating is the fact that she comes across as being really level-headed, despite her crazy stage persona. I kind of wish I could have her courageous outspokenness, commanding stage presence and rational thoughtfulness...

And I always thought that P!nk was a lesbian, but her boyfriend, motorcyclist Carey Hart, was actually one of the star particupants of "The Surreal Life: Season 5".

What impressed me most about Carey was the fact that underneath his uber-tattooed exterior, he was a super chill guy who remained very nonjudgmental and pretty calm (even when he had to deal with jerks like Jose Canseco and crazies like Omarosa and Janice Dickinson).

Carey's cool demeanor, juxtaposed with his insane exterior, makes him a pretty cool foil to Pink and a nice role model to kids out there. I really wish I had his type of management skills.

Secondly: Christopher Knight (i.e. "Peter Brady") and Adrianne Curry (i.e. America's Next Top Model)


I know this looks like the portrait of a washed-out old man with a gold-digging supermodel wife, but Chris and Adrianne had one of the coolest and most hilarious love stories in "Surreal Life" history.

It was so obvious during season 4 of the D-list reality TV show that the producers wanted Adrianne to hook up with the male Calvin Klein model, but I was pretty shocked when showed that she cared about more than looks and fell in love with Christopher Knight instead. It was seriously the sweetest pairing I've ever seen-- and it provides hope to many of us ordinary guys out there!

But it's more the individual personalities of Chris and Adrianne that make them my celebrity power role model couple.

In addition to his former stardom, Chris is a successful businessman and really showed himself as caring husband with a lot of foresight and intelligence.

And Adrianne, while being slightly offbeat, really came across as being incredibly caring and supportive of her crazy housemates and demonstrated a lot of depth when she thought long-term and hooked up with the stable, dependable man, rather than the underwear model.

This couple gets my best wishes for their future in expanding their family!!

And finally: Dr. Drew Pinsky and Adam Carolla


Dr. Drew is probably the most articulate, analytical psychiatrist out there and he shows a genuine concern and tremendous wealth of knowledge to every patient he comes across.

Adam Carolla (who was also the voice of Spanky Ham in "Drawn Together"!) was an awesome wing-man to Dr. Drew on "Loveline", always cracking hilarious jokes with impeccable timing.

I hope that others out there also strive to have Dr. Drew's knowledge and Adam Carolla's sense of humor.

Wow...

So I have to say that I'm pretty impressed by how quickly the summer went by. My time in Manila (followed by a week in Singapore and Thailand) ended in a flash-- but more on this later. Right now, I feel like reflecting on the past week of my life.

It was over a year ago that I entered the crazy world of business school and began to feel completely incompetent, compared with many of my more talented peers. In an effort to fit in, I started attending a bunch of drinking events that were totally out of my element and realized quickly that it wasn't my thing.

However, this past week, I was an advisor to the new first year students and had to attend many activities at which I spent only a few minutes the previous year. This series of events brought me back to confronting my social awkwardness and I somehow feel like I've grown by repeatedly being forced out of my comfort zone...

Here is some photographic evidence that I was actually doing my job, by socializing with the new kiddies (this is a one-armed shot of one of my advisees with me):


I still can't fully articulate how I've changed through the week, but it was really something for me to have the opportunity to practice my public speaking and leadership skills in front of a big group of students.

One student from China actually told me about how she's used to a more "elegant" manner of socializing (by the way, she wasn't using the word "elegant" to imply that her culture is better than the western norms-- it was just an uncommon choice of words...) and I could totally understand her feelings. She mentioned how in China, they don't usually do small talk the way Americans do; they try to actually get to know a person and talk one-on-one for an extended period of time-- and there isn't this emphasis on these superficial features, such as one's job, the weather, etc..

And this got me thinking about my Asian values again.

I always see some Asian Americans who can "work the room" really well and I've never been one of those people-- so I've never really been able to blame my lack of social etiquette on Asian culture. I always just thought that I'm a big dork! But I'm beginning to wonder if I'm just an odd hybrid of Asian and American values that left me as a socially awkward person, who judges others pretty harshly when they act out of the norm.

Hmmmm...

But in any case, I feel inspired right now to spend more time helping the quieter kids fit in and feel like they're really a part of my business school community. I think it's important for everyone to feel included during their first weeks at school.
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In related news, there was this fellow advisor with whom I was working that everybody thought was gorgeous. The thing that surprised me, though, was that none of the first years seemed to be able to provide her with any feedback about her work as an advisor, besides "you're hot".

And funnily enough, this girl also has stories of people who've drunkenly walked up to her and said "you're the prettiest girl I've ever seen!" only to run off a second later.

I have to say that I still envy people with such superior looks, but it's interesting to see the challenges that one faces when nobody is able to get past one's looks.

What an interesting week I've had...