MOSF 18.8: A Modest Proposal: Vivek Ramaswamy Takes My Civics Exam

Ramaswamy did not come off as deep in either policy or understanding of any of the issues or histories, from domestic affairs to national security. He’s a flashy, elbows-out, sloganeering punk who can’t be taken seriously for a second. He deserves eye rolls, not eyeballs. Maybe he’s chumming the water to prepare for the second coming of the Great White himself.

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MOSF 18.7: “Shortcomings”: The Call Is Coming from Inside the Asian American House (EAAPAAO Part 4)

The beauty of Randall Park’s Shortcomings, based on Adrian Tomine’s award-winning graphic novel (which I somehow haven’t read yet), is that it comes at a time when decades of frustration about Asian American representation in media, and Việt Thanh Nguyễn’s more recent call for “narrative plenitude” have yielded actual palpable fruit. Shortcomings allows us to advance representation while also asking, “what do we really want?” This film gives us a splendid mirroring of Asian American insider talk and usually unseen and oppressively denied interiorities, and deserves a watching, and in my case, a rewatching.

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MOSF 18.4: “Joy Ride” and Asian Pride!

“Joy Ride” dives into all our communal cringes and pulls out comic gold and Asian pride. It’s the kind of film that makes me say “we gonna be alright.” The girls’ (and nonbinary’s) trip from “Joy Luck Club” to “Joy Ride” teach us how to feel, speak and shout joy in that still developing language of Asian American that’s being birthed in our souls.

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MOSF 17.14: Young, Asian American, and All the Feels: Hua Hsu’s Stay True (EAAPAAO Part 2)

Hua Hsu’s Stay True is a memoir, but also a cultural and mental health intervention, emphasizing that we stay true to the people in our lives and what truly sustains us. It is of particular interest for Asian American men and those who care about them. This review also contains particular notes for Asian American grief, and some snark thrown at therapists by Asian American memoirists!

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