Elva buying Red wine

There was a rumor that Elva wanted to buy red wine because she was heartbroken. Well, this ties into another rumor of Liou Zhen, who is a celebrity dancer. She dances mostly um, things like cha cha, the rumba, waltzing, etc. Yeah. Well anyways, she is supposedly to have stolen Elva's rumored boyfriend. That's why there was need of a bottle of red from the supermarket. this is quite ridiculous if you think about it, though. Why can't she enjoy wine just for herself? Maybe she's inviting friends over or she's having a nice meal with the family (her brother was pictured with her). People speculate too much (including me sometimes) and it can't be helped. At least I'm not the one following her around and taking sneaky pictures of her. the paparazzi don't even count as real journalists. It's such a shame they can do this to people. Oh well, without the paps, they wouldn't be in the news all the time and then they wouldn't be famous. Ha, there's something to think about.

Elva's friends

I read somewhere that she has over 200 people on her msn! I don't have that many. Well that's because half my friends don't have msn or I didn't ask them what it is. Still, I bet that most of them are other celebrities. Plus, how can you talk to them all? Normal people don't even time to spend with their families. She has a number of very close friends too. One of them is filming this show about a 30-something women who falls in love with a 20-something guy who at the beginning doesn't seem to have anything to his name, so she rejects him. I've never seen it before, though. This is according to a commercial I saw at home. anyways, I saw a few videos of Elva on YouTube yesterday, it was hilarious. It's this cooking show, which I'll find later to post on here. The hosts are sisters. Well, really famous for show-hosting. :)

Elva at concerts

Elva has been seen attending a lot of concerts lately. First one I remember is Avril Lavigne, and more recently is Guo Fu Chen. Ok, I'll look up the Mandarin words later. I want to see his concer t too! There's supposed to be a pool and he gets wet, along with some of the audience. Lots of big stars attended his two concerts.

end of semester nostalgia

I can't believe one whole semester has passed already! It still feels like it should be summer and I'm just coming here from Vancouver after a year of snow, lots of rain, great friends, nice professors, food, and other stuff. There was a bit of drama last year. Some people learned some hard lessons. I think I learned a lot this semester about myself. The learning that occurred in the classroom wasn't really as uh deep as I'm used to, but some subjects were interesting. The teachers work very hard, and we should all be thankful to all teachers everywhere. Well all hard=working teachers everywhere :) I'll miss my friends when they all go home for winter break, especially one in particular who won't be coming back next semester. sigh. I don't want to think about bad things right now. I'm going to concentrate on finishing this week first. :)

My brother is now taller than me!

Yup, it's true! He is almost as tall as Mom now. I'm thinking by the end of the school year he'll be taller than Mom and possibly almost as tall as Dad. Too bad Dad isn't around to watch Jonathan grow. He must miss us terribly sometimes. I hope he gets to 180 cm at least. Then he won't be bullied anymore in class. the problem with him growing taller is that he'll lose his chubby cheeks. He told me he didn't want to lose them, because then "my childhood will be over!" he's so cute! I wish he could stay 5 years old forever. He's like almost 12 now. I can't believe how fast time has gone. Even I can look back ten years! Geez, pretty soon I'll graduate from college and be one of those unemployed nerds with nothing to do. No, if that happens mom will most likely kick me out of the house. Hahaha.

Kenting Trip during New Year's

Omg! I can't believe I didn't publish a post about New Year's! All I can say is that I saw this guy on TV and he is really hot when he dances! I'll look up the name later.

Oh yeah, I ate barbequed squids. Three of them. What can I say? I was hungry, we were on Kenting's Main Street, and there were food stands every two feet! I'm going there over the summer again. I'll plan my own trip. Who wants to go?!! My friends coming from outside Taiwan are automatically included, of course. :)

I think I'm a bit like forest Gump

Simple-minded, follows directions to a tee, worries are few (well actually this doesn't fit me), does what he wants because he wants to. OK, I think that's where the similarities stop. Oh wait, yeah I'd get shot in the butt for my friends, too. the ones who stay and are loyal. The ones you can have long conversations with when you;re supposed to be doing homework or studying for a test because he/sh has a problem they really want to share or you have exciting news. Those are the friends you can get shot for. It's special to have one really good friend. If you have more than one, it's very lucky indeed.

Another similarity is with the following directions. I think I've made myself become a follower. Like, I can think for myself, sure. A lot of teachers think I am individualistic because I'm very blunt and I don't hide the truth. It's very hard for me to lie for any good reason. It shows in my writing. I'm not afraid to tell the truth. Sometimes I feel like a mouse that a lion is going to pounce on just for fun. No one really understands me the way I mean for them to understand me because I always become very reserved and quiet when arguments happen. It seems that I'm scared or afraid of speaking up, but I just don't like arguing with people. It's a waste of time when you can just not get mad and talk about things. It makes me uncomfortable when I get criticized for this because it makes me feel like I'm an idiot or even worse, like I'm useless. I know it's most likely all in my head, but what people think and what people say are two different things. the only people worth trusting are your family. You can't even trust yourself sometimes, because you'll do something extremely wrong and feel like dying. Then, some people really go and kill themselves. I wonder if it's possible to become emotionally neutered.

Celluloid Closet Questions

1. One stereotype that comes to mind of Chinese people in American film and/or TV is the immigrant with broken English. The term FOB generally describes Chinese people. This slang term is an acronym for "Fresh off the Boat," which refers to any imigrant that goes to a foreign land who wears clothing tha tlooks "funny" or "weird." Another common stereotype is probably the grocery store or restaurant owner. Even Taiwanese and ABCs use these stereotypes on stage and in autobiographies. I saw a play recently that used this stereotype of a woman who sold baozhi (包子）and who only spoke Taiwanese, while everyone else spoke Chinese. In Fred Wah's autobiography, he talks about his father being a short order cook in order to raise his family in Canada. Other stereotypes include the effeminate male, the karate/kungfu-knowing male with gang relations, and women as sexual objects or sensualized/exotic beings. We talked about these kinds of stereotypes in my Women's Studies course at UBC. It's surprising how few of us (Asians included) consider how people are portrayed around us until we're asked . I suppose that's partly what a stereotpye is: a representation of a group of people's characteristics that we see over and over again until we take it for granted.

2. Some stereotypes of other groups of people are:
1, Unemployed Mexicans who have moustaches, also they have broken English, wear cowboy hats, driven beaten-up trucks, and drink Tequila.
2. Black characters are usually figureheads or symbolic, for example most are seen as athletes (basketball players) or gansgsters involved in illegal dealings who get into trouble often and go to jail.
3. Blondes as unintelligent but they are sexy and sensuous, or evil and bitchy.
4. Goths: black lipstick, strange hair, white makeup, black clothes, dog collars, chains.
5. Jocks: Letterman jackets, tall, gelled short hair, arrogant, bully others (usually younger, shorter Indian or Asian nerds and other social misfits). This is the opposite of the All-American male who defends his country, normally a cop, family man, etc.

3. I think people can't deal with male-on-male affection because men aren't supposed to be seen as touchy or sensitive in the society's stereotypes of what and how people should act and behave. Women can be emotional and intimate because supposedly, it's hard-wired into them through genetics. Women are considered as showing sisterly affection, and that's ok becuse a lot of people consider lesbianism as a phase in a woman's life. Like, women get over it and eventually will be heterosexual because they want to settle down when they get their nesting instincts. When a man acts affectionate towards another man, though, it's perverse and unnatural. Something is automatically wrong with those men. They don't act tough, the way we're brainwashed into thinking that men should act (ie: strong, defending women, macho, breadearners, etc). We're so caught up with what our parents, society, etc teaches us how things are supposed to be that we forget to be accepting, open-minded people. People in Taiwan are too conservative and uptight to accept homosexuals as just people with different preferences. After all, some people prefer maybe drinking coffee over tea. Why can't we all get along and just acknowledge that some people choose their sexuality, just the same way as when people are out buying ice cream. Vanilla or chocalate? Why not accept that there are both flavors and some choose one over the other?

Poem Post

I'm going to pick Langston Hughes' "Dream Deferred." I've studied Robert Frost and Maya Angelou in high school, so I am quite familiar with their poetry. I want to try something new. I don't believe I've really read anything by Hughes before. I know that he was one of the major forces during the Harlem Renaissance. From this, I assume that in the poem "Dream Deferred" he is talking about many different kinds of dreams. One of these is the African Americans' dreams for a better future and more opportunities. Another, although related to the first, is the American Dream of improving yourself and achieving whatever you want in a "free" land. Hughes probably knew how hard it was to get a job as a black person and all the obstacles that blacks faced. White people "deferred" African Americans' "dreams'" by denying their basic human rights and treating them as if they were objects or less than dirt. In this way, their dreams and aspirations become self-deprecating mirrors of what whites said they could be. Another type of dream Hughes refers to is the personal goals of each individual and the hopes we had as children being shelved because of fears of an unknown future or rejection. The ability to dream as we were children.

Hughes compares lost dreams to many images of decaying and rotting foods. Fresh food is supposed to be good for the soul, rotten food causes us to become sick and possibly might cause infections or fatal diseases. the same thing happens when we give up our dreams- they fester inside of us and we become corrupted with our own self-loathing and pity for giving up what we really wanted to accomplish. We live with the regrets of either failure, missed opportunity, and sometimes fear at what we could have been. Many dreams remain as just dreams because no one tried for it or wanted it enough to pursue them. Still other dreams fade away and are let go because they seem unrealistic or impossible to become reality. Then there are the ones that might "explode" because we kept it in too long, letting the dream fester and build itself up like a tumor that expires within its host when it becomes too large to bear. Never living up to our own expectations of what kind of life we wanted or could have lived eats away and corrodes us until there is nothing left, or until we are fed up with it and then explode merely because there is nothing to hold onto anymore. I think Hughes accomplishes his effect on his readers through his image poetry, making the audience think they're not like that, but in fact every one has let go of something they dreamed of as children. Growing up makes our dreams decay and rot, it's not just passed up chances or blowing an opportunity that destroys dreams. If we don't believe in them, then of course our dreams will corrupt us because they have no where to go to become real. So instead, they eat us up inside out.

This was a nice assignment, it gets me in touch with poetry again. I think I'm going to write some poetry on my blog, too.

Elva's Net Worth, and other news

Supposedly, she gets twice as much annual salary from her recording contract than Jolin Tsai does! I'm happy. Although, Joline gets a lot more from endorsements and other events. Anyways, they both make tons of money. I once asked my mom which one she like more, She said about the same because she doesn't really enjoy pop music, but that Elva is more elegant. :) I have to stop obsessing. Yeah it's amazing though how I can follow on her and write homework at the same time. that was such a dumb things to say.