ISSUE 19: Puno
THE YELLOW PAGES is a weekly newsletter recommending Asian and AAPI films, music, writing, and other inspiration — all the artsy things I wished for growing up!
When I wrote about my awards shows feelings in back in Issue 11, I was secretly hoping this Oscars season would be different. And it is!
🎧 Hong Chau on Marc Maron’s podcast: Years ago, I am pretty sure that I saw Hong Chau at the library. I noticed her because she was checking out a very large stack of books/DVD’s. Or maybe she was returning them? I recognized her immediately from the show Treme (sidebar - in my opinion, still one of the best theme songs for a series ever), and I remembered hearing that she was going to star in the Matt Damon movie Downsizing. I figured she was doing research for a role, but I can only assume. She doesn’t have a social media presence and her personal life/process has always been a mystery to me. Since then, I’ve become a bonafide fan of Hong’s, and I think of her every time I visit that library… although now I’m not sure if it even was her. Nevertheless, I was so excited to hear her discussion with one of my favorite interviewers. I knew Marc would get in deep and I really related to her feelings about representation and feeling accepted in the Asian community (spoiler: there was no mention of libraries).
📰 ‘I Don’t Take a Single Second for Granted’: Asian and Asian American Nominees on the Oscars (NY Times): A beautifully photographed spread by Justin J Wee, words by Robert Ito:
For much of the academy’s 95-year run, this sort of article would have been impossible. Only a relatively small number of Asians and Asian Americans have ever been nominated for Oscars, and rarely have there been enough in one year to justify a congratulatory roundup.
The possibility of seeing this many Asians honored on Oscar night has been a long time coming, and is a reason to rejoice for moviegoers who have clamored for greater representation in films — and in the awards shows that celebrate them.
🎨 Domee Shi Reveals the Secret to 'Turning Red's Success: 'Embracing the Cringe': I’ve loved Domee Shi since I first saw Bao, which won the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film in 2018. A.Frame, the digital magazine of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recently interviewed her for Turning Red, nominated this year for Best Animated Feature. In a later issue, she also shares her list of 5 films that inspire her animation.
📼 Stephanie Hsu’s ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once” audition tape: Before the internet the only example of an audition tape we got to see was the one clip of Henry Thomas crying over E.T. (that circulated on shows like E.T.) — seeing others’ work feels very personal because auditioning acting is a specific skill, very unlike acting on a set. That said, in Stephanie’s audition you can feel all the character work right there. It’s not in the action or what she’s wearing or whether she produces tears or not. It’s whether we believe her and what she’s saying. And we do. And so does the Academy.
Follow Puno: www.ilovecreatives.com
Name:
Puno Puno
Where are you?
Los Angeles, CA
What do you do?