JITNEY REVIEW!

Why didn't I think of this earlier lol.

After watching Jitney on Wednesday and having a few days to think about it, I now present my review!
Hopefully, reviews will become a regular part of this blog. I'll go back and review Grizzly Man and possibly Into the Wild later.

First Impressions: At first, I thought that Jitney would be about A) A child named Jitney and his short, tragic life in Pittsburgh's black community B) A restaurant that struggles to stay alive in face of the projects or C) Jitney is a play within the play, and the cast is the cast of Jitney's Jitney. In short, something rather cliché and more white-guilt inducing. I'm really glad that Jitney wasn't this. Even though the play was set in a jitney station (and deals with the lives of its employees like B and A, but really what else could you do?), it was very well done. 4/5

The Setting: The set itself is lively, from the grass in the pavement to the way you can still see the road outside as it goes off stage. Making the station the only set was a very good choice. It makes the play seem more intimate, as the character's main interactions are in the station, despite all the action that influences them outside the store. The station becomes not only jitney headquarters, but a sacred place for the characters. Here, they run away from their troubles at home or force them into the open, changing the atmosphere of the place completely. Youngblood sleeps on the couch one night due to trouble with Rena, and his anxiety is reflected into the room with excellent lighting. I especially liked the role the phone had in the play. The phone may be a stronger character than the set itself. Its ringing is like the play's metronome. The phone would ring at all the right moments. It rung in times of trouble to bind the characters to the station. It rung in casual moments to give a sense of normality. If the scene was dramatic enough the phone would continue to ring and never be picked up. It's not always clear who's on the phone, but this draws more attention the the station and is very clever. 5/5

The Story: What a story! Just about everyone is connected to each other in some way (if not, Turnbo will surely connect it with his merciless gossip) through the past or present. This story is told mostly through it's subplots. Rena and Youngblood, Clarence and Becker, Becker and the station, Turnbo and everyone's business, and even the hotel boy and plaid suit man's love lives are great subplots that all get their own screen time without being crowded on top of one another (how this was pulled off is another thing!) Even Youngblood and Fieldings, who are completely different people, bond through their war experiences. The pace starts out slow at the beginning and reaches light speed by the second act. This is a bit jarring for me. In the last scenes of the first act there were confrontations and revelations galore, but they were all spaced nicely. The second act is a tsunami that doesn't let up for quite some time. It was a lot to take in all at once and I felt like the only real relief was when Fieldings and Youngblood had their war talk. However, it wasn't so bad that I lost track of the plot, so I won't deduct anything. 5/5

The Script: I liked the script a lot! I found the arguments to be particularly well-choreographed. If I had to pick the most well-written scene in the whole play, it would have to be Becker and Clarence's fight. Both sides have solid stances and exchange points fluidly, transitioning from Becker's submission to the landlord for Clarence's welfare to Clarence's need to be independent from his father as justification for his crimes smoothly. Clarence is angry and stubborn. He only sees the physical events in life. He is easily influenced, having taken the failure of a childhood dream and turning it into a belief. He wants to live well and doesn't like the idea of anymore stopping that. But his anger is unrefined and most of his checks are evaded. Becker is old and tired. He focusses more on the emotions behind the events. Although his arguments are more experienced, he is not without fault. Becker admits that he was too ashamed of the community's response at himself for Clarence's crime to visit Clarence. The scene is very long and has no music or special lighting. It carries itself with all the force of a father-son relationship gone sour. You can really feel the emotions and thoughts behind the characters of Jitney, and that's mostly thanks to the script. 4/5

The Cast: WOW! What a cast! As if the script and the setting weren't good enough, the cast makes Jitney really amazing. The script is full of emotional scenes and is very demanding. The cast was able to capture them all. They were so good, Youngblood's actor cried at the end. My favorite actor was Turnbo's actor. His walk and movements were so fitting of Turnbo and I really loved how he phrased his lines. I really don't have any complaints for this section. The play calls for passion and they have it. 5/5

OVERALL: 4.75/5. Jitney is impressive. I'd give it a full 5, but I'm reluctant to be so giddy in just my first review. Definitely worth watching, thanks for giving us the opportunity to watch it, Mr. O'Connor and Mr. Bolos!

Why Psy? An Introduction.

'Gangnam Style', a massively popular music video by Korean rapper Psy, has been gaining massive American recognition. With over 194 million views and appearances on shows such as SNL, the Ellen Generes Show, and the Today Show, Psy is THE Asian Sensation of 2012.

To an average American, Psy is simply an awesome guy from Korea. But from an Asian pop culture enthusiast's perspective, Psy is history in the making. No Asian has yet to achieve major mainstream success in America, with the closest being Far East Movement with 2010's 'Like a G6'. However, several attempts have been made to break into the American market by Asian acts already. A partial list includes: 

• Jin Akanishi
• Utada Hikaru
• Wonder Girls
• BoA

Although this list is alien to most, the names listed here are all top tier acts back in their respective countries, setting new records and commanding huge fan clubs. Yet despite their domestic success, this list remains irrelevant to American pop culture (more on this later!). Psy himself stated that he made 'Gangnam Style' with no hope of international acclaim. Despite his ten year career, he never achieved great success until now. So the question is this: Why can some of Asia's best can't succeed at attempting to break into the American market but Psy, who never even tried to, can? 

In a most unlikely twist, Psy has beaten his superiors in wooing America BECAUSE he never tried! Psy's 'Gangnam Style' is unique and naturally fun. Instead of following trends, Psy continues with his own style. Psy is a trailblazer with 'Gangnam Style' because it is not a gimmick. It's genuine and memorable. He didn't change who he was to try and debut in America. Instead, America came to him and appreciated his individuality. Memorable and unique are two traits that are needed for American success because they reflect our American values. America was the first free nation and has always tried to exceed in its own way. America stands out because it's original and passionate. America's success is built on it deviating from international norms and seeking its own way to profit. And Psy has done just this. Psy is popular in America not because of who he is in Asia, but because of who he is as a person. Why can't other Asians do this? TO BE CONTINUED.

Sentimentality Over a Steak

My parents have always struck (figurative! no need to call CPS lol) me as models of the American dream. Both of them came from rather poor backgrounds but studied and worked their way to where we are now. Their jobs have always influenced our lives. What I remember now is our vacation homes. Tonight, we went to a steak restaurant in a small Wisconsin town. On our way there, we reflected on how we used to go to this restaurant before with friends. We went because it was near Twin Lakes, where we had a vacation house. So we decided to look back at all the fun we had at Twin Lakes. This made me think about how our vacation places have changed with my parent's jobs. It's dripping with sentimentality to the point of tackiness, but still seems very American to me.
When my parents adopted me, they lived in Libertyville. They had a nanny or my maternal grandparents watch over me when they were busy with work, but always did their best to spend time with me. We had a vacation house in Twin Lakes with a pool and a cheap boat we'd take on the town's namesake lake. Although I have many happy memories of Twin Lakes, I realized that it's no luxury destination when we came back tonight. Cheap, broken boats compete for roadside property with Wal-Marts and Menards stores so large they could house two circuses. The people we dined with were, to put it gracelessly, white trash. The entire scene is middle class and seems to scream "AMURICA!" with every American fast food establishment per square yard. But it's not shameful. I felt nothing but pride in this little town as we drove to our restaurant. This is where some great memories took place. This was like a nursery for me. I thought about all my neighbors and all the fun times we had dragging our cheap boat across over-commercialized waters. I thought about our vacation house perched on top of a hill at the end of a long driveway. I thought about how most of the restaurants in the area were awful tourist traps, which is what made the one we ate at tonight so good.
I believe that this rambling is extremely American. My biased affection for this town is about as American as it gets. I'm proud of this town, that it's just like I always remember it. And although my family has moved on to better vacation areas, this town is sacred to us. It's the vacation house my parents bought and renovated themselves. It's the pool I got prunes in every summer day. It's the neighbors we've always loved and still do even though we don't talk anymore. We remember where we came from and are proud. We respect this humble town because this was our very first haven. Although America is a diverse nation, I've yet to meet someone who doesn't know their origins. Chinese, French-Irish-English-Scottish, German-English-French-Austrian, etc. We are a diverse nation but we always remember where we come from, because that's what makes us who we are.

An AMERICAN post?

Well, I suppose I have to write about something particular American once a week on this blog. However, I don't know if I can come up with enough topics to last an entire year. I can talk about Asian pop culture, knitting, camp, family, and maybe piano in a way that talks about America. Other than that, I don't know what I can do. I really don't know what to write. How do I make my posts emulate America?
I'll start with some insecurities I have over my nationalities. Being adopted from China and raised by Americans, I'm often torn between two countries and two races. I didn't want to accept it earlier (more about that later), but I think Chinese and American people are very different. China is a far older nation with a more conservative mentality. America is bright and optimistic. The Chinese people are more conservative and trend-following. Americans are more outgoing and aim to stand out. It's insensitive of me to pick apart my own nations this way, but I don't know how else to explain what I think. Maybe I don't know how to be an American. Or maybe I don't know how to be Asian. Chances are that my American upbringing makes me very different from my Chinese friends. But being Chinese has always made me unique. And I have many friends who are studying abroad from China who completely betray the stereotypes I just said. There are Americans who do the same. I want to believe that nationality doesn't change human nature, that no matter where you are born, there will be different kinds of people with unique personalities. But I can't deny that China and America are very different countries. I can't deny that my ideas about human nature are unsupported and idealistic. So I hope that this blog will show me how to be American.