Being Asian is More Than Just a Tan

So, many of you may be aware of the recent casting of all white actors in the live-action adaptation of Avatar: the Last Airbender. If you haven't: unknown Noah Ringer as Aang, Nicola Peltz as Katara, Twilight's Jackson Rathbone as Sokka, and Jesse McCartney as Prince Zuko. I don't really feel I need to express my opinion on this issue because everything I need to say has already been said. All I can say, as a Filipino-American and someone who would love to be an actor someday, the casting of all white leads in a film based on a show heavily influenced by Asian culture, is disrespectful to the original source and is a form of racism. 

Please visit the following links for more information and take your time to really read them. Don't just look at this situation as "hardcore fans accusing the production companies as racists." It is so much more than that. It's something that I believe everyone should be aware of whether you are familiar with Avatar or not. 

• Aang Ain't White: Saving the World with Postage
• Save the Avatar Movie Facebook Group <-- if you support this cause, please join this Facebook community
• Avatar: The Last Airbender "reaction FAQ"
• Airbending Racism in The Last Airbender
• Derek Kirk Kim blog
• "Zukartney's" radio interview <-- actors should educate themselves more on the roles they get

English is H.E. double L

It truely, truely is. And it's only the first week. I've actually had a whole lot more homework in Pre-cal than I've had in English, but it's English I've been stressing over. Just knowing how awful this semester is going to be gives me panic attacks. And because Mr.M thinks I haven't read Les Miserables. More than half the class has no idea what's going on, and he's pissed, even if he doesn't show it. All he does is smile and talks really calmy, but he looks like he's planning to kill us. And I know I'll be killed this semester. I can't survive English class. Just the very thought of it makes me have a heart attack.

But technically I DID read the book. Did I read it thoroughly and actually pay attention? No, but TECHNICALLY, I DID read the whole book. So TECHNICALLY, I'm not lying when I say I read the whole book. You can't accuse me of not reading it. And you know, I'm not afraid to admit that I don't know what's going on, I just don't want someone to think I didn't even try reading. Cause I did. So anyway, I have to write a paragraph about quotes or something from the book this weekend. That's sorta alright, except I don't wanna do it. But then, an ESSAY TEST on Monday. I'm so screwed. I so am. I have to like, re-read the book this weekend and I know I won't. I'm going to have so many distractions this weeks. My friend's sleeping over tonight and tomorrow night, and my Grandma's coming tomorrow night, and if my friend gets outta my house by Sunday noon, I'm gonna go out with my other friends to work on our math homework. I know I won't get to reading Les Mis this weekend. AGH I'm gonna fail!! And not only the test, the entire semester! Especially since I don't talk in class; I'm gonna get a zero in participation. I bet Mr.M hates me now! I can see it in his eyes! T.T

FFXIII US Site Launch!

The North American site for Final Fantasy XIII has officially launched! Go check it out now if you haven't: http://na.square-enix.com/ff13/

There's a new trailer with new scenes and gameplay footage and... drumroll please! Voice Acting! We finally get to hear the Japanese voices and the whole preview is just plain awesome. I was planning to get Versus before I got FFXIII but I might change my mind because the gameplay looks AMAZING. So go check it now!

And 2nd Semester Begins!

I just started 2nd semester today... yippee. No really, YIPPEE!! Only one more semester, and then Summer time! And no EOC classes. However, there are some downfalls to this. 

My schedule: Honors English II, Honors Pre-Cal, Chinese II, Art II. 

English and Pre-Cal will probably be my hardest classes of the year. Especially, English...

My English teacher (let us call him Mr.M) is not a bad teacher. He seems like a really awesome guy, and a really good teacher. My older sister had him, so I know this for a fact. He's into discussions and participation, and is very challenging. That's the problem. I do not talk during class. Like, at all. I don't write. I don't like having to answer questions where I have to "write a short paragraph about what the following passage means." I don't like presenting projects. I don't like analyzing literary works. I don't like English class period. Whether my teacher is cool or not, I have never, and will never, like English class. And Mr.M's English class is 100x worse than a normal one. I've heard about it from other people from school, and it's not one of those "Oh, he's actually not that bad; they're exaggerating" kind of situations. It's actually true. I don't want to get too worked up though because it'll drive me more crazy than it already is. All I can say for now is: I'm going to fail this class. And I say that about a lot of classes that I actually always get A's in, but this one: I know I'm gonna fail it. And he's already caught me rolling my eyes about the writing-3-days-a-week thing. But it's all good; I'm the secretary of the Chess Club of which he is the club advisor. =D

Pre-cal, I don't really have to say much about it except it's math. Without the use of my precious graphing calculator that I have learned to rely on for the past two years. So you get the idea. The second half of my day is the only good part about it. Lunch, Chinese where nobody does anything, and then Art, which is well, Art class. And from the assignment list, it seems we'll be starting out with hand drawing, detail drawing, then figure drawing. YES! I love Art II already!

Okay, that's it for now. I'm getting tired and I have to do the dishes. Peace out.

Introduction

Okay, first post. 

I'd like to start out by saying that this blog is something for me to just write whatever comes to mind. I'll write about my day, how I'm feeling, my comments on current events, or just a review of a movie or TV show, etc. Basically, most of my posts will probably be random and unrelated. I'll try not to get too personal though because I'd also like to write about things that you, the reader, would like to read about. If you have any suggestions about topics, please feel free to tell me. I'm interested in whatever's going on right now.

I always have a lot of things to say, so I'll probably be updating frequently. Mostly just about new things I heard about in the news. And by news, I'm usually talking about the sort of news that only nerds care about. You know, the latest Gundam 00 spoiler or that new video game coming out? Yeah, that one. However, I can get serious sometimes and will write about something that is actually important. I just don't know how often that will be.

But for now, enjoy! And remember, mermaids come from Neptune.