me and the cast of n*w*c

me and the cast of n*w*c
Originally uploaded by Joits.

right to left: rafael agustin, miles gregley and allan axibal.

"the play with the name that no one wants to say"... n*gger, wetb*ck, ch*nk. a play about stereotypes and the minority experience of stereotypes told by three amazing and talented actors; rafa, miles and allan. each one representing the three controversial words in their play. you don't need me to tell you who represents who from this pic do you? hehe. the funny thing is that rafael is from ecuador and allan is from the philippines. nevertheless, all three have experienced being grouped into one general category and through the use of brutally honest comedy, they entertain and educate the audience.

my reasons for seeing this play was not only because i knew it was good, but i actually knew one of the guys in the play, rafa... we both worked at video 94 in la puente sometime in the late 90s if i remember correctly. i distinctly remember rafa telling me that he wanted to be an actor and i also remember thinking... that's gonna be tough, mainly because he was a minority and you don't have to be a genius to know how hard it is to become an actor especially if you're a minority. but look at him now... a masters degree in theater and writing and starring in a play with two of his friends from school. i saw this play a few years ago and just came to support rafa but i was blown away then just as i am again today by how amazing this play was. of course there are updates to the pop culture references and a few others but its still got the same message and values within.

getting people to see this play was a bit tricky, most because of the name. its not easy to say those three words and not be worried that someone who might accidentally overhear me say one of the words and then think i'm racist. but once i do say the name i'm usually greeted by a mixture of reactions. i've had one person give me a sort of dirty look and say that they shouldn't be using those words and wouldn't listen to my explanation and then i've had reactions of curiosity and interest by a play that would dare use those three words in its title. i definitely do try to get the word out not just because of how great the play is but because a friend of mine is in it and i'm just really proud of what he and everyone involved in this play have accomplished.

"there's only one race... the Human Race" ~ n*w*c

seems like a good place to read...

seems like a good place to read...
Originally uploaded by Joits.

having finished the book yesterday and having seen the movie just last week, it was pretty much a harry potter week for me... i saw a clip on youtube that showed dan radcliffe, emma watson and rupert grint at the mann chinese theater. i've been here quite a few times but with not much to do after work, i took my bro and met up with my buddy megz and we headed to this spot. neither one of them had ever been there before so at least they got to experience it. there were a lot of tourists but it wasn't too hard getting our shots. i actually wanted to pose with the book lying down on my side in a lounging pose... but i settled for something easier. i also saw one of those people dressed up as movie characters and one dude was dressed up as snape... i dismissed him at first but when i decided that if i took a pic with him it would be fitting since i came out here to see the harry potter trio's prints... but he had already taken off... ah well. just thought it would be funny since the question about whether snape is a good dude or evil dude is one of the most discussed topics amongst fans.

i really like doing things like this... making spontaneous treks out to see something and then capture it for my flickr stream... yeah its a bit of a drive... but i think we had fun. also had dinner at palm thai restaurant, one of my favorite thai restaurants. the thai elvis impersonator was no where to be seen however. heck it was still early and we headed over to the paramount lot to see if the huge bumblebee transformer robot was still on display... alas it was no longer there. a friend of mine snapped a shot of it with her camera phone and i really wanted to take one too. i wonder where it is now.

harry potter and the deathly hallows

harry potter and the deathly hallows
Originally uploaded by Joits.

the long wait is finally over. ten years. of course i didn't start reading the the books right away... never even heard of them when i first saw the movie trailer for sorcerer's stone. didn't start reading until after watching the second book. i liked it, they weren't too bad. it was a kids book which i liked because i identified with the whole "boarding school" situation. but still... it was a kids book and there were a lot of elements that made me think it was just okay. the more i watched the movies, the more i read the books and the older the series got... the more i liked the series. so yeah... i'm a huge harry potter fan... something that i know might make a few people go... wtf... maybe because of my age... but i really don't give a shit. i like what i like and i really like this series.

(no spoilers, don't worry) there was always the fear that the final book would be a letdown, basically because its rare for any medium to totally match or surpass the hype that precedes it. the hype for star wars: episode 1 was monumental and see what happened with that. but with this book, jk rowling in my mind has written a book that lives up to the hype and actually surpasses all my expectations of it. its not a perfect book by any means and i did have issues with it... but there's more to love in this book and it far outweighs any negatives. it just really surprised me by how dark and just how much it differs from the earlier books. gone is the innocence and wonder of harry discovering magic... now people are dying left and right. the action starts almost immediately and there's so much tension and anger and it almost never lets up. this was easily my favorite book of the whole series and even though i know the movies always leave shit out... the movie for this book is going to be frikkin badass!

the whole week i was wondering where i wanted to read the book... should i go someplace like a park or the beach... in the end i spent most of the time reading in my room although i did go eat breakfast today at carrows... pretty damn good breakfast too and the most surprising thing was that i didn't bring my camera and take a picture of it. those of you who know me quite well know that when i really enjoy a meal, its almost guaranteed that i'm going to take a pic of it... but i actually forgot my camera! blame it on jk rowling! hehe.