a bird in the hand is worth a duck in the bush?

[literallyjohn]

for those who've been asking...this is my update on tammy duckworth. yes, i think she does have a chance. (kyoppolife feel free to jump in at any time.) much will depend on how much support she can gain...including financial donations for her campaign. mike honda wrote a letter endorsing her as well: Read more... )

Comments

[literallyjohn]

yeah...cegelis got something like 44% of the vote when she ran last time...and still lost. i can see why people might be a little sour, especially since duckworth doesn't really have much political experience. and cegelis hasn't been getting much funds for her campaign. but still, like the stock market, it doesn't depend so much on how things look on paper as does image and potential--and duckworth is holding some hefty cards that make her look good.

nice white text maneuver, btw. i'm gonna have to use that one day. [ok putting my nerd glasses on...] yes, king kong is very...colonial and represents, in a very grotesque form, the heart of darkness itself and all the trappings that come with demonizing the Othered world; however, also like the heart of darkness, it reveals how it's not so much the monster that's evil, but our civilization and the structural assumptions we hold. like jack black's character who embodies the colonial figure literally commodifying the representation of the loathsome and fearful, sensationalized heart of darkness...we learn that the darkness, in fact, does have a heart, and realize that jack black's character ruined everything and we feel bad he ever went in there to begin with. it's a formula, yes, like frankenstein or beauty and the beast, but a formula that works nevertheless. i understand the criticism, and i'm sure i'll feel uneasy about the portrayal of the 'natives,' (like every person of color--i.e. orcs--in lord of the rings or the essentialized happy-to-be-slaves oompa loompas in wonka's factory), but anything that attempts to humanize the Other is at least a step in the right direction for me.

most people, unlike you, who weren't born in, say, THE 80s, have seen the original so it's not really a 'spoiler'--haha. that's funny. oh you kids. it's almost like saying that anakin really becoming darth vader in the end is a spoiler. perhaps there's more to it though, as i know peter jackson obviously changed a couple of details. or maybe you're talking about how it can get a bit 'scary.' haha...again, oh you kids. we'll see...and i'm looking forward to it.

[fig_aruna]

but still, like the stock market, it doesn't depend so much on how things look on paper as does image and potential--and duckworth is holding some hefty cards that make her look good.

Yeah, that's what the.. the, uh, "head guy" said. (Sorry, I wasn't paying enough attention to remember his name :/)

But anyways, I just totally got schooled! (not making fun, it was a read I really appreciated actually). Although I've never read Heart of Darkness, that's kinda what I thought PJ was trying to get at in the film. ...It was just the representation of the natives that really struck me as disturbing though... Because they (imo) never are "humanized"... They're just really inhuman and scary and remain inhuman and SCARY. (And yes, I meant "scary" in the "omg, I won't ever sleep again, I swear ;__;" type scary, ehehe.)

There's a scene later in the film where Carl Denham tries to recreate the "Skull Island experience" for a high-brow NY audience that makes me think that PJ tried to 'warn' the actual movie audience of the distorted representation of the natives earlier in the film, but to be honest, that scene freaked me out about as much as the first one :/ (this one was freaky more in the conceptual sense though)

Anyways, I'll stop talking about this, so you can watch it yourself. I thought it was well worth the $5.50 I paid to watch it -- because the genre's kinda hard to pinpoint (at least for me), it was like watching 8 different movies.

[beamused]

yeah i had read some commentary about tammy taking the seat away from cegelis too, which made me uncomfortable...

but on a personal note, being Thai American myself, it's great to see some Thai American participation in electoral politics!! this is definitely a first, i think, although i could be wrong...

anyways i was thinking about working on her campaign, but it seems like what her campaign needs is money (something i don't have). any thoughts on helping tammy out in non-financial ways?

[literallyjohn]

hmm...good question. i'm not sure. but whenever her campaign kicks into high gear i'm sure she'll at least need people in the field.

also, and i'm not sure if it's even public, but there's someone who's been part of the usual suspects in the asian american community here who will be running for alderwoman in one of the wards on the north side. she'll definitely need help in non-financial ways and PAVE will be involved. i'm not at the center of things so i can't really make any claims, but if you want to get involved let me know and i'll see what i can do, as i'm rather invested in getting younger people involved in any type of social or political action.