Philippines: Bonifacio Global City

...or Star Wars: Force Awakens central.
I loved visiting BGC whenever I was feeling homesick because it was the only place in the PH that reminded me of home.

Philippines: Quezon City Memorial Circle

Gusto ko sa QC!

Quezon City Memorial Circle just opened a museum outlining the history of the city, and though the tour was really long, it was super interesting & offered lots of photo-ops! 

Philippines: Luneta

Luneta is one of my favorite places in the Philippines. Maybe for it being right by the bay, or its history. But if you want to get to the heart of what the Philippines is: Luneta is a good place to start. Next time I go to the Philippines, my goal is to explore this place more. There are certainly many parts of it that I missed, but here's a small glimpse of my time there.

the empire state.

 I realized that I haven't shared any photos of my home, my love: NEW YORK !

Central Park

writing, writing, writing

I'm getting back into the swing of working on my manuscript after (temporarily) disliking it. I figured, I worked so hard on for such a long time, and I love it a lot, but I only discarded it because I tried to be someone I wasn't.

I like Stephen King's definition of being a talented writer : "If you wrote something for which someone sent you a check, if you cashed the check and it didn't bounce, and if you then paid the light bill with the money, I consider you talented." Granted, there are great writers and there are good writers and bad writers, but their value lies in the reader, not the majority.

I guess, my point is:

"Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self."

-Cyril Connolly

I want this manuscript to have a reader. I love my characters, and not to toot my own horn, I really love the story. Just because it's written for a certain age group doesn't make it less valuable.
I'm going to work hard to make this story the best to my ability, and I want to send it to agents, THIS YEAR.
Wish me luck and I wish the best for your own writing.

Oscars So White (?)

The Academy Awards is coming up and after a second year in a row, the nominations for best performance by an actor are all white. Immediately after the nominations were announced, people were complaining and reactions ranged from "oscars so white" to "don't blame the academy" to "don't be racists towards whites." Since then, the academy announced plans to change the voting pool and acquire people of diverse backgrounds. But is this enough? Is this the way we can change the lack of diversity on the big screen?

My answer: yes and no.

It starts with us. The audience. The people buying tickets.
It starts with us. The writers. The people with stories.
It starts with us. The film-makers. The people with the power to cast people of color.

I think the Academy Awards isn't to be blamed at entirely. It is merely a small reflection on what the industry had to offer in the past year.

The real people to blame are the ones who decided to cast Emma Stone as a half-Asian woman in Aloha.

The real people to blame are the ones who ignore stories of people who aren't "white."

The Oscars isn't so white. The entire movie industry is.

Of course, there could have been a lot done like nominating Idris Elba for his role. (I, however don't think Will Smith deserved a nomination). Point is, a lot of people felt like they were snubbed because of their color. But it didn't begin there.

I had a tiny toe through the threshold of acting and this entire industry and already I felt like I was being snubbed out because I'm Asian. I didn't even travel far and already I could see the road ahead and how hard it was going to be for people who aren't Caucasian. Every single casting called for a white person, even going so far as to asking for a blonde hair blue eyed doll-face. Those stories aren't even historical ones where the character HAD to be played by a white person. The casting director simply wanted a certain aesthetic.

That's the real problem. That's the point where we should all be mad and raise our hashtags furiously. As audiences, we should be demanding for diversity. Don't limit yourselves to remakes of the past (because, let's be honest, most of the films coming out now are just remakes). Open yourself to tales of different countries, different languages.

As I dreamt of becoming an actress in a too-white industry, I looked through dozens of roundtable interviews online. One of them included Oprah, and she said something that was all too disappointing. She said, diversity won't come because audiences don't want to see names that are too unfamiliar (she used Chinese names as an example.) Really, Oprah, really?

The Oscars isn't so white. The audience is.