SDAFF: 'Fuku-chan of Fukufuku Flats'

You might giggle when you try to read the title of this Japanese or you might even offend someone who is adverse to four-lettered words. This 2014 movie, "Fuku-Chan of Fukufuku Flats" is a gentle story about good and bad karma and high school regrets.

In Japanese the four-lettered word f**k and fuku are pronounced differently.  In this case, the fuku stands for　福　or “good fortune.” Double good fortune is still good, yet fuku can also mean to mope.  And there's a lot of moping going around in this apartment complex.

Yosuke Fujita wrote and directs this movie which focuses on a likable guy who seems to embrace the solitary life. Yet it is not because he can't make friends. The Fuku-chan of the title is the 32-year-old Tatsuo Fukuda (Miyuki Oshima).  The auspiciously named flats is really a run-down apartment building that he has been living in since he moved to Tokyo  after his junior high school graduation.

Fuku-chan is the peacemaker for two other single men living in the same complex. They become unlikely friends. Like many people Fuku-chan's work isn't especially inspiring, and he doesn't try to make friends at work. In his spare time, he paints hand-made kites and flies them for fun. Flying kites seems like a solitary endeavor, but making kites for others is more sociable. You want people to like the designs. You want the designs to be admired.

The question then becomes: Why is Fuku-chan so withdrawn from others except those who are similarly single?

In another part of Japan, a young woman's desire to become a photographer and be less ordinary results in a disaster. She wins a contest and she finally meets the art photographer she admired. Her prize is to work with the man who turns out to be a lecherous old man who tries to turn the photo session into a make out session. Her idol now off of the pedestal, she is directionless.

Told that she has bad karma, the woman, Chiho (Asami Mizukawa), remembers a mean prank she once played in high school. As you can probably guess, it involved the likable Fuku-chan. Chiho sets out to find forgiveness from Fukuda and by doing so, change her karma.

"Fuku-Chan of Fukufuku Flats" is a small movie without great ambitions, but it does remind us that some acts that might be deemed cool are actually cruel. And those acts of cruelty can have long term effects on the victims as well as the perpetrators.  Unlike a Hollywood movie, the actors look like regular people, someone you might have known in high school or meet at your high school reunion.

"Fuku-Chan of Fukufuku Flats" was screening at the San Diego Asian Film Festival. The movie hasn't been released in the United States, but has also been shown at the New York Asian Film Festival, the Hawaii Film Festival and the Reel Asian International Film Festival. This movie is sweet and funny. It's a welcome change from the samurai movies that most people watch.

For those of us who were targeted by the mean girls and boys in school, this is a thoughtful look at life's choices and consequences. In Japanese with English subtitles.

Looking for the Dawn of the Planet of the Asians

My sister or mother once brought home a science fiction novel in which the white civilization was taken over by China. I don't remember much about the novel, but it undoubtedly played upon the same yellow perilism fear that brought about the anti-Asian immigration laws in California and the United States. What does that have to do with "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes?"

Check out the main characters and then ask yourself: Where are the Asian-looking people? Where are the strong women? When people go to San Francisco, what do they see? San Francisco is the city of diversity. Chinatown should be more than just a scenic backdrop for action (as it was on "Godzilla" 2014).

Although according to the 2010 census, the San Francisco population was 48 percent white (non-Hispanic white is 42 percent), 33.3 percent is Asian and only 6 percent African American, and the Latino population of any race is 15 percent, the representation in this movie is skewed. Chinese are the single largest ethnic minority with 21 percent. 

In terms of leadership, San Francisco had an openly gay mayor, George Moscone, who served from 1976 until his assassination in 1978. He was followed by the city's first female mayor, Dianne Feinstein, who served the rest of his term and then was elected in her own right in 1979 and re-elected in 1983.  The city has also had an African American mayor (Willie Brown, 1996-2004) and currently has a Chinese American mayor (Ed Lee). 

Yet in casting, the human characters for this movie, we had white people as our main characters. Jason Clarke, who plays the main human character Malcolm is an Australian. Keri Russell (an American) is white. She plays Malcolm's second wife. Gary Oldman, who plays the leader of the human survivors in San Francisco, is a white British actor. Australian Kodi Smit-McPhee plays Malcolm's and is very white. Joco Sims, who is black, plays Werner, the radio tech. Two actors are Latino, Kirk Acevedo and Enrique Murciano.  Acevedo is Puerto Rican and Chinese, so he represents the Asian population. Murciano is of Cuban descent. 

With a location that is 33 percent Asian (of that 21 percent being Chinese), it would seem a perfect opportunity to to cast an Asian, particularly a Chinese American as a lead or secondary character. Instead we, get a two-fer in Acevedo who is one of the first to die. 

In a city that has had a woman mayor, it would also seem like a good opportunity to write in strong female characters instead of relegating them to supportive, traditional roles and occupations--that goes for both the human and the ape cultures portrayed in this film . The female characters do not speak up, they are not a part of the policy-making. 

In the 1968 "Planet of the Apes" movie, the society was set up in a caste system. The gorillas are the law enforcement (police and military) as well as the hunters and manual labor. The orangutans are the bureaucracy--administrators, politicians, lawyers and priests. The chimpanzees are the intelligensia--intellectuals and researchers. Humans are the slaves, experimental subjects and hunted animals. They are not known to speak.  Roddy McDowall played Cornelius and he would return to play Caesar in "Conquest of the Planet of the Apes."

Cornelius was a scientist as was his wife, Zira (Kim Hunter). It was Zira who took a special interest in the astronaut George Taylor (Charlton Heston).  

In "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes," Caesar's mate, Nornelia (Judy Greer),  is sick and attended by what looks like a harem of female chimps. None are individualized. We don't distinguish the mates of the other male primate characters such as Koba (Toby Kebbell), the bonobo who is Caesar's adviser, or Rocket (Terry Notary), the common chimp who is Caesar's second in command or Maurie (Karin Konoval) a Bornean orangutan. We have two teenaged male chimps--Caesar's son Blue Eyes (Nick Thurston) and Rocket's son Ash (Doc Shaw), but no teenaged girls. 

In "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" the few female characters--both chimp and human--are help mates as if the Feminist Movement was fought in a different dimension, an alternative world. And apparently, the simian flu killed off a significant number of the Asian population of San Francisco, or multiculturalism has become a cast-by-numbers one-demographics-fits-all proposition. 

This casting isn't as egregious as the whitewashing in "21" or the Hawaiian segments of "Cloud Atlas," but still it is worth nothing.

Filmmakers and casting directors, when you think of a certain local, think of the demographics and not just ethnic backdrops. When will Asians including ethnic Asians become a part of the action. I'm waiting for a films to see Asians as anyone--earthlings, heroes and essential to the realism of a story, or a locale. I'm waiting for it to dawn on filmmakers that this is a planet that is 60 percent Asian and ethnic Han Chinese are about 20 percent of the world population (largest single ethnic population). 

Re-hashing hashtag activism in the #CancelColbert campaign

If you hadn't heard of Suey Park before last week, then you missed out on a short-lived hashtag activism in 2013: #NotYourAsianSidekick. That hashtag campaign might have put the Korean American feminist on the list of some people including The Guardian who named her as one of the top 30 young people in digital media, but her more recent hashtag campaign #CancelColbert has brought her increased attention and not all of it good.

Before her #CancelColbert campaign, Park was number 12 on The Guardian's list and defined as a writer and organizer based on what the paper called "a much-needed debate about Asian-American stereotypes" because Park argued "she did not feel represented by white feminism." According to The Guardian, the hashtag "trended for days, demonstrating just how much it meant to so many Asian women."

And yet, at number 11 is an 11-year-old named Robby Novak AKA Kid President.  At number 1 is a Yemeni journalist, campaigner and columnist Farea Al-Muslimi. He has only 7 thousand followers and also has a YouTube channel. The Guardian may be biased toward journalists, because Park has 21.7K followers on Twitter. I am one of them, but a hashtag doesn't substitute for content or context.

When I saw the #NotYourAsianSidekick trending, I didn't think it particularly pertained just to Asian and Asian American women. Asian and Asian American women have to put up with stereotypes, but they seem to fare better than Asian and Asian American men who are often neutered wise men and helpmates. When we were still watching "Glee," my husband counted the number of lines Chinese American Harry Shum Jr. got as the character Mike Chang and my husband noted that the Asian American woman Tina who was played by Korean American Jenna Ushkowitz got more lines. Moreover my husband is often discouraged by the romantic pairing of white men and Asian women in movies and TV.

Suey Park has taken her cue from the popular Angry Asian Man and named her Twitter account Angry Asian Woman. Angry Asian Man is Phil Yu, also a Korean American. His Internet blog launched in 2001. He's still angry and he's educated--he received an MA as I did from USC. Park is listed as a freelance writer.

Anger is something I know a lot about. The Monji temper is a legacy of a past that includes battles, a castle, samurai and daimyo. Anger can be a good thing if it is channeled into social activism and steadied by thoughtful research and analysis. There's always a need for anger management and that's something Park may need if she wants to be taken seriously.

Park doesn't want to talk about context, but I think it would give some perspective on the issues. I'm not sure that young women want a place at the table of feminism--white or otherwise. Even when I was an undergrad, feminism seemed to have become a distasteful word and feminists were pictured as shrill, lonely women. A study published in 1987 noted that the female subjects were "highly aware of gender inequality and supportive of the women's movement, although they were also reluctant to identify themselves as feminists."  A more recent 2004 study noted that "Many women, even as they embrace feminist principles, are loathe to be labeled feminists."  Both studies would seem to indicate that even white American women don't want a seat at the feminist dinner table and obviously this isn't because of the racial tokenism Park complains about.

We forget that historically, the first feminists, the people who fought to give the American women the vote also gave time and space to minority women to speak, most notably to Sojourner Truth in 1851, before the Civil War (1861-1865). Surely in the 1860s there were women and men, eager to get the women the vote, who also didn't believe in freeing the slaves and there were probably those who also didn't believe people of Northern European descent were equal to people from other areas, particularly Africa and Asia. Yet they came together for a single cause.

Today, there are many causes and even feminism differs from country to country. Women in Japan do not necessarily want equal pay for equal work because some work schedules inspire the word karōshi (過労死) or death due to being overworked. Asian Americans are often minorities in their hometowns, but not always (e.g. Monterey Park, CA or the state of Hawaii) and some groups have been in the U.S. long enough that we are several generations in--fifth, sixth generations. This means they have different issues that need to be addressed. 

While I can support some causes and write about them, I can't support the #CancelColbert campaign and am disappointed that Suey Park took it on. She writes that she is off of Facebook. Her Twitter account does let one know she is available for speaking engagements, but what will she speak about?  Hashtag activism and free form conversations that are only 140 characters deep? Fleeting alliances? Gathering trolls and whipping them with words into a frenzy? Is this her solution to racism?  

Recent dog-related events on FB have shown me that people are quick to assume guilt, without waiting for a trial. Suggestion of violence followed. The mob mentality quickly takes over what might have begun as a civil discourse in many instances on social media.  In the case of the short-attention span required for avid Tweeters, some Twitter users couldn't even take 22-minutes to watch "The Colbert Report."

My husband and I are both fans of "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and "The Colbert Report" on Comedy Central. Stephen Colbert portrays himself as a fictional character who is more bluster than brains   and is "factose intolerant."   "The Colbert Report" is a parody of news commentators like Bill O'Reilly and his show, "The O'Reilly Factor."

"The Colbert Report" on Wednesday (26 March 2014) had a segment poking fun at Daniel Snyder. Snyder has defended the name of his team, the Washington Redskins, against claims it was racist,  and decided  to improve his image by founding the Washington Redskins Original Americans Foundation. Colbert countered with a Ching-Chong Ding-Dong Foundation to Sensitivity to Orientals or Whatever." It wasn't this segment that raised the ire of Park. It was the Comedy Central Twitter account for the Colbert Report that on Thursday just furnished the punchline--"I am willing to show #Asian community I care by introducing the Ching-Chong Ding-Dong Foundation for Sensitivity to Orientals or Whatever"--that caused Park to jump into hashtag activism.

The topic trended on Twitter and showed the best and worst of social media. By Friday, Park had an interview with the Huffington Post.  Park's interview with HuffPost Live's Josh Zepps didn't make Park sound any better from my perspective. Zepps asked, "Why Cancel Colbert?"

Park's reply distanced me even more when she said, "Unfortunately people usually don't listen to us when we're being reasonable." She didn't appreciate that Asian Americans are always a punchline.

Such sweeping generalizations make weak arguments.

Zepps asked Park if she understood satire, to which she replied, "Of course I understand satire; I'm a writer." Yet she also said, "I don't really think we're going to end racism by joking about it." That's her opinion. I don't share it.

To be fair to Zepps, it was Park who first interrupted Zepps as he was reading a comment by Colbert. Zepps has the confident speech pattern and quick delivery you'd expect from an experienced broadcast commentator.   Park does not. Zepps is from Australia and worked on radio.

Park chose to close down the argument by telling Zepps that "as a white man I don't expect you to be able to understand what people of color are actually saying with regards to CancelColbert." She began to say something that sounded like "he has a history" but didn't complete the sentence. She did complain saying that "white men definitely feel entitled to talk over me" and said that Zepps was "offensive and patronizing."

To be fair to Zepps, in most languages, men tend to dominate conversations. That's not just white men talking over women of color. Sociolinguistics have also done studies that show difference styles and practices between native English speakers from different ethnic groups and regions that can lead to misunderstandings. The classic sociolinguistic examples were series of white and black interviewers and interviewees in and out of sync.

Park had an opportunity to explain, but decided it would be "unproductive" and that's a shame. Park's words alienated Caucasians that might have been sympathetic. She's probably already alienated white women as well as men and women of any color who feel that reasonable argumentation and humor are good tactics in eliminating racism.

I might be faulted  as I sometimes am when I discuss Korean and Korean American celebrities and issues, because I am Japanese American. So in my defense, I cite that other Korean Americans did not agree with Park, including Deadspin's Tommy Craggs and Kyle Wagner who wrote "Gooks Don't Get Redskins Joke" and Jay Caspian Kang who spoke with Park and who posted the blog entry "The Campaign to 'Cancel' Colbert"  for The New Yorker.

Kang spoke with Park and she told him, "There’s no reason for me to act reasonable, because I won’t be taken seriously anyway. So I might as well perform crazy to point out exactly what’s expected from me.” That statement seems to trivialize not only Park and her indignation over her interview with Zepps, it also trivializes all those who tweeted to support her. I want to ask (I did attempt to contact Park), if by performing crazy and doing what's expected of her if she isn't being a stereotype? We rarely see the authentic Stephen Colbert. How can we know when we're seeing the authentic Park?

For me, the Ching-Chong Ding-Dong Foundation for Sensitivity to Orientals or Whatever is not offensive (but I also wrote a letter to a publication claiming to be a dog from the Scottish Collie Anti-Defamation League). It's a shame that the #CancelColbert took attention away from Snyder and the issues of Native Americans. That makes Park's hashtag activism seem thoughtless at best or at worst, self-serving. Park had previously helped with Native American hashtag activism such as #NotYourTonto and #NotYourMascot.  Yet Park's behavior has lost her friends among the Native American community according to an account by Jennie Stockle. Stockle notes that she and others hadn't originally seen the show and after seeing it Stockle became aware that many Native Americans felt betrayed.  Stockle also noted that Park reacted to a Wall Street Journal article about "weaponized hashtags" by childishly declaring that the writer, Jeff Yang, should be fired. Is this a trend? Anytime one disagrees with a public figure, one should start a hashtag campaign?

The debate did make for exciting TV. Colbert and his writers had to come up with a response and they did, while reminding his viewers of the real issue was being overlooked. "The Colbert Report" for 30 March 2014 began with employees leaving its offices and a collage of images that included the faux Native American (Italian American Iron Eyes Cody) crying from that famous  "Keep America Beautiful" PSA, and Colbert waking up dressed in Washington Redskins wear to find B.D. Wong ready to analyze his dreams.

During the 22-minute show, Colbert destroyed the offending Twitter account, fired his supposedly only Asian American employee whose name he repeatedly mispronounced (Ja-mes instead of James), made a crack at a high profile supporter of the #CancelColbert campaign (Michelle Malkin), and noted that there was more of a frenzy about a non-existent organization than the one he meant to skewer.

Colbert also upheld free speech and good manners by calling for an end to personal attacks and threats of violence against Park saying, “She’s just speaking her mind, and that’s what Twitter is for, as well as ruining the ending of every show I haven’t seen yet.”

Yet Colbert kept in character, saying, “I just want to say that I am not a racist. I don’t even see race, not even my own. People tell me I’m white, and I believe them, because I just spent the last six minutes explaining how I’m not a racist. And that is about the whitest thing you can do.”

Colbert's special guest was not Park, but Twitter co-founder Biz Stone who helped Colbert terminate the Colbert Report Twitter account. It was a good choice, considering Park's stated intent and continued behavior.

Like Angry Asian Man, I don't agree with Park in her stated intentions or in her way of attracting attention. Playing the race card should be saved for when it counts and it's unfortunate that her hashtag activism took attention away from the real issues.  You can't really fault the news media, including printed publications. News--broadcast and printed--is a business. What attracts readers is controversy. I used to be annoyed that too often the feminists or whomever was chosen to comment on an issue was so extreme and alienating, but I understand from a business point of view, people with extreme opinions are more likely to spark passionate arguments and sell papers or attract clicks online.

When I write, I  attempt to make a reasonable arguments and that might not attract as much attention. I want to be taken seriously  which is something that women of any color sometimes have trouble with, particularly in the company of men. It saddens me that young women like Park still feel the need to "perform crazy" to fulfill expectations.

My husband feels Park has made it harder to be Asian American and that you can't really deny the power and popularity of satire.

Reality TV may have deadened us to the concept of people being fired, even in this economy, but we shouldn't call for the cancellation of a TV series or the firing of a person for minor mistakes, particularly if the reasons that aren't heartfelt or as minor as differing opinions. Democracy is built on free speech and lively debate.

Hashtag activism has its limitations and depth is one of them. To resolve the problem of racism, I believe we need to engage and not alienate people of all races and if we want people to understand the reasonable and logical points we put forth against racism, then we need to make reasonable arguments and eschew mob mentality campaigns. Women would not have won the vote without men and racism can't be resolved without men and women of all races becoming engaged in earnest conversations and life is too short not to laugh at our shortcomings.  Laughter is the best medicine and it is one that I believe will ultimately help us find a more peaceful way of life.

--This was also published on RogerEbert.com. 

Fonda Theatre and Hollywood events: Blue Palms Brewhouse for hearty food

This time we didn't have a chance to go before, but after we'd spent some time at the Edwardian Ball in the Fonda Theatre, we dropped by the neighboring Blue Palms Brewhouse. You can watch sports (we watched the Olympics) while you eat and check out the people going into the Fonda Theatre.

Since this is a brewery, as you might guess, there's a lot of alcohol in the cuisine so there are actually few things that I can get. I got the Wild Boar Andouille ($8 with a garnish and two toppings). Ian got Smoked Venison (also $8).  The Lobster Mac N Cheese as a side dish is also $8.

This was our anniversary dinner and Ian was finally convinced that Mac and Cheese can be a good thing.

Blue Palms Brewhouse

6124 Hollywood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90028
Neighborhood: Hollywood

(323) 464-2337

bluepalmsbrewhouse.com

Wild Boar Andouille 

Lobster Mac and Cheese. 

Venison sausage. 

Sweet potato fries for $6

Fortifying comfort food at Andersen's

We didn't plan it that way but both coming and going on the I-5 to San Francisco, we stopped at the famous Andersen's. Ian have never had their split pea soup. The split pea soup is good, but they give a good old-fashioned California fruit salad.

We had enough for a second meal and thus didn't go out to eat for dinner in San Francisco.

The banana bread was too sweet for me and I'm not a fan of pre-buttered toast, but we think of Andersen's in Santa Nella as a good deal.

12411 S. Highway 33 
Santa Nella, CA 95322

 Website

(209) 826-1685

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Waffles, waffles everywhere in a dog-friendly hidden venue: More Than Waffes

If you want to sit back and relax and even listen to a few tunes, try More than Waffles in Encino. This was another shopping expedition find--no we didn't buy anything. We did help set up a garage sale and asked the person in charge about a good place for brunch.

Go early, because this place gets crowded fast! We waited and waited--apparently someone near the door took our reservations for two so our wait was longer than usual. Still we listened to the person with the red merle Aussie play some tunes, and even danced a few tangos.

We were rewarded with a beautiful pumpkin spice waffle ($9.25 with low fat frozen yogurt) and a very well-stuffed crepe: Ika's. See below for what all is in it.

Ika's - organic spinach, turkey sausage, organic basil, garlic, mozzarella, feta, scrambled with eggs, topped with melted mozzarella, served with home fries or fruit

11.95

This is a family-owned business that was started in 1975 and is well-worth the wait (but not a double wait). It's tucked into a courtyard that you can't see from the road or even from the parking lot of the mini mall.

• 17200 Ventura Blvd
  Ste 109Encino
• Get Directions
• Phone number(818) 789-5937

Thai food in Northridge: Lum-Ka-Naad

We went on another shopping expedition out to Northridge. We didn't end up buying anything, but we did find an exceptional Thai restaurant. What we liked was the unusual tastes and the vast, vast menu. We asked for everything at medium spicy.

The duck noodle soup didn't have enough duck for our tastes, but the broth was rich and not overly salty and it was enough for both of us.

I usually love eggplant, but Ian liked the eggplant salad better than I did.

Pla pling ($9.95) is a very spicy fish wrapped in banana leaves. I liked it better than Ian.

The menu is divided into Southern and Northern cuisine so you get to learn something about the Thai cuisine past the usual.

Lum-Ka-Naad

8910 Reseda Blvd
Northridge, CA 91324

(818) 882-3028

Duck noodle soup ($8.95) 

Tum makua (eggplant salad at $7.95) 

Pla pling ($9.95)