BAM in Hollywood

I love the movies. My wife and I used to take in 2-3 movies a weekend when we were dating. That was significantly slowed down to 2-3 movies a month due to time, but I am still a huge fan of the big screen. I love all types of movies, from romantic comedies to action pack Michael Bay experiences to intense thrillers that keep you on the edge of your seat, so I am no snob. I actually paid to watch Pootie Tang, Phat Beach, Ultraviolet and among others in the theater.

Hollywood has always had a "special" place for the Asian actor/actress. Stereotypically they cast in rolls where they are martial artist or computer nerds.

Asian men aren't just a bunch of skinny guys who can fly through the air with crazy kung fu moves or fix your computer and do math. Our value to Hollywood isn't just martial arts and killer math skills. It should be in the range and complexity we can bring to a set.

The stereotypes out there presently is what is keeping more members of BAM out of Hollywood. When your 6'2 and 240lbs, its pretty difficult to think you can float at all, let alone float and fly across a tree line (ie Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon).

Let's break the mode and get BAM represented.

P.S And not just as sumo wrestlers.

BAM Defined

A member of BAM should be both tall and large. Take for example Yao Ming. He is extremely tall, yet does not have the bulk to qualify.

To truly qualify for membership, you need to be over 5'10 and 185lbs. Every inch of height after 5'10 will correspond to 15-20lbs of bulk. (i.e 5'11 would land somewhere in between 200-205 lbs)

In our eyes, weight is weight so you can be super buff or super fat or somewhere in between, we will still call you brother.

Street Fighter movie is a huge disappointment

This post is not really related to my cause of educating the masses of the plight of BAM, but it does speak towards Asians in general so I thought I would take a little time to talk about it.

This past weekend, I saw the new Street Fighter movie starring Kristen Kreuk.

I was excited since it was Street Fighter and it was Kristen Kreuk(she is super hot). The first 10 minutes of the movie was a sign of how bad this movie was going to be. Maybe it's just me, but Street Fighter is about martial arts and action. It's about fight scenes with over-the-top moves that only a video game franchise like Street Fighter could think up.

Needless to say, that is not what this movie is about. Instead of focusing on what the Street Fighter franchise is known for, they decided to make this movie about the personal growth of a young girl into a woman. In other words, they made this movie into a chick flick.

Don't get me wrong, no woman in the right mind would classify it as such, but if you really look at the direction and the message, it is undoubtedly the worst attempt to synergize two polar opposite genres.

The two groups that suffer here is obviously the fans and Kristen Kreuk. Kristen Kreuk will now be labeled as a bad actress and yada yada yada and not get any real movie roles. I think in that respect, the fans lose out twice.

On a side note, Chris Klein, famous for the line "Call me Nova....CasaNova" from American pie, was the single worst thing to happen in this movie. Trust me.

All in all, the original Street Fighter movie was better...yes I mean the one with JCVD as Guile and yes it pains me to say it.