Johnny K Wu - Producer & Director | Co-Founder Cleveland Asian Festival
Takeaways:
- The Cleveland Asian Festival is a vibrant celebration that promotes Asian culture and community, attracting over 50,000 visitors annually and featuring diverse food, performances, and activities.
- Johnny K. Wu, a prominent figure in Cleveland's cultural scene, co-founded the festival in 2010, aiming to unite various Asian communities and enhance cultural visibility.
- This year marks the festival's 16th anniversary, highlighting its growth from a one-day event to a major two-day festival filled with engaging activities, entertainment, and delicious food.
- The festival showcases a range of performances, including a fashion show celebrating Asian culture and a cosplay event, inviting attendees to express their love for Asian pop culture.
- Community involvement and volunteerism are key aspects of the festival’s success, with local artists and community members contributing to its planning and execution.
- The conversation touches on the importance of cultural appreciation versus appropriation, emphasizing the significance of understanding and respecting diverse cultural backgrounds.
Links referenced in this episode:
Transcript
All living in a world gone geek.
Speaker A:It's time to geek hard or go home.
Speaker A:The podcast is real.
Speaker A:Here's your host, grounded geek.
Speaker A:Greetings, programs.
Speaker A:It is I, Utah, running the ship.
Speaker A:I am the captain now.
Speaker A:Jeff is here.
Speaker A:Don't worry.
Speaker A:He is the silent partner, the man behind the curtain.
Speaker A:Still producing and will be editing this show, I'm sure.
Speaker A:So let's not make it too difficult for him.
Speaker A:Or do.
Speaker A:I don't care.
Speaker A:As always, I'm joined by another partner in crime, Aaliyah, AKA Aaliyah.
Speaker A:Hello.
Speaker A:Hello.
Speaker B:Hi.
Speaker C:I am waiting.
Speaker A:Greetings, Aaliyah.
Speaker A:How have you been?
Speaker C:I've been so good.
Speaker C:How are you?
Speaker A:You know, hanging in.
Speaker A:Life happens things.
Speaker A:Life events.
Speaker A:A couple of things.
Speaker A:Juggling in the air.
Speaker A:The last thing I did do that was fun though, was I was in the production of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory at Cassidy Theater in Parma Heights.
Speaker A:That was fun.
Speaker A:Had a good time with that.
Speaker C:Oh, wow.
Speaker C:How did that turn out?
Speaker A:Turned out great, actually.
Speaker A:I was a little concerned.
Speaker A:Tech week was a little stressful, but we made it through.
Speaker A:I played Mr.
Speaker A:Bucket, the one of the parents of Charlie that gets shunned and denied a tour of the factory.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:I mean, you know, you think about it, why would Charlie not choose the person that birthed him?
Speaker A:Birthed Charlie?
Speaker A:In our.
Speaker A:In our Charlie.
Speaker A:Charlie was a girl or, you know, her father.
Speaker A:But anyways, that's neither here nor there.
Speaker A:What about you?
Speaker A:Anything exciting for you, Aaliyah?
Speaker C:No, I actually don't.
Speaker C:I mean, I've traveled a little bit.
Speaker A:Yeah, I saw some hiking pictures.
Speaker C:Yeah, definitely a lot of hiking.
Speaker C:I have a backpacking trip coming up at the end of this month, and that's really about it.
Speaker C:Nothing too crazy over here.
Speaker A:Way to go.
Speaker A:Way to go for you.
Speaker A:All right, well, let's get right into it because we have a special guest who we want to make sure that we take advantage of the time that he has with us.
Speaker A:He is a true powerhouse in independent filmmaking and a cornerstone of Cleveland's cultural scene.
Speaker A:His name is Johnny K.
Speaker A:Wu and he's an award winning producer, director and editor with over 25 years of experience.
Speaker A: gn Imaging, or MDI, a film in: Speaker A:Johnny has produced more than 14 feature films, including the sci fi, the action film Bullets, Brothers and Blood, which has garnered many awards and secured global distribution.
Speaker A:He's had a documentary called History of Cleveland's Chinatown was featured on WKYC and wviz.
Speaker A:Beyond filmmaking, Johnny is a dedicated community leader.
Speaker A: l Gardens One World Day since: Speaker A:His contributions have earned him inductions into the International Indie Filmmakers hall of Fame and the Cleveland International hall of Fame.
Speaker A:Fluent in Chinese, Spanish and English, Johnny holds an MBA in marketing from Cleveland State University.
Speaker A:His commitment to diversity, storytelling and community building makes him a remarkable figure in both the arts and.
Speaker A:And civic engagement.
Speaker A:Welcome, Johnny.
Speaker A:Thank you so much for spending time with us here tonight.
Speaker B:Thank you for having me here.
Speaker B:I wonder whether you got those bio from the AI or something.
Speaker A:ChatGPT is your friend.
Speaker A:Look, you know what?
Speaker A:At some points I feel like we need to accept our AI overlords and I hope to befriend them once they take over.
Speaker B:Well, hopefully they don't take over.
Speaker B:At least they can make our life easier, right?
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:Well, that's the whole.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:It would be very nice if the AI deemed us worthy and perhaps kept us around.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker A:So thank you for joining us.
Speaker A:Johnny, why don't you tell us a little bit about.
Speaker A:Well, we've got the Cleveland Asian Festival coming up this weekend, which is a big deal.
Speaker A:You've been doing it for the past few years.
Speaker A:Why don't you tell us a little bit about it and your involvement with it?
Speaker B:Sure.
Speaker B: Well, back in: Speaker B:And me, Lisa Wong and Vihoon sat down and then we said, why don't we do something big like a festival like Columbus Asian Festival here in Cleveland.
Speaker B:We were like, maybe not gonna happen because, you know, we were having a problem with all the different AI AIPI community here who doesn't like each other.
Speaker B:So yeah, it can be a problem.
Speaker B:But we're like, let's try.
Speaker B:Let's say we got nothing to lose, right?
Speaker B:So we, we said, let's do a one day event.
Speaker B:Let's see how many people can put on.
Speaker B:Oh my God.
Speaker B:It was a lot of.
Speaker B:A lot of feedback, bad feedbacks.
Speaker B:But everybody say that that's not gonna work.
Speaker B:It's not possible.
Speaker B:You're not gonna make this work.
Speaker B:This is stupid.
Speaker B:You know, you cannot put a.
Speaker B:Get everybody working together.
Speaker B:This is ridiculous.
Speaker B:But we got, we raised lots of money and we actually pulled it off.
Speaker B:About 10,000 people showed up and after that, everybody changed their Tone, it's now like oh my God, this is such a great event.
Speaker B:We should do it more often.
Speaker B:Why don't you do a three days event?
Speaker B:I said hell no, we're not gonna do a three days event.
Speaker B:That's too much work.
Speaker B:So we decided to do a two days event Saturday, Sunday.
Speaker B: Since then,: Speaker B:So I've been doing that for 16 years now.
Speaker B:This is our 16 year celebration.
Speaker B:We do try to do a lot of different things every year but you know I waste the same thing eventually.
Speaker B:But the major, the main thing people like to go there is for the food, the performances, the atmosphere, the, the diversity we have there and some free screen that we offer to everyone.
Speaker C:That is incredible.
Speaker B:Well, the decide for this year Asian festival poster design.
Speaker B:So local Thailand.
Speaker B:Lisa Tang designed this whole poster.
Speaker A:Oh nice.
Speaker B:Looks really, really nice.
Speaker B:I really love it.
Speaker B:I mean animals.
Speaker A:Oh that's oh that's so cute.
Speaker A:I love the.
Speaker B:It's cats and fruits and cats and fruit.
Speaker A:Cats and fruits.
Speaker A:Leah, you have fruit on your counter.
Speaker A:You're halfway there.
Speaker C:Cat is.
Speaker A:Oh and you have a cat.
Speaker A:You're there.
Speaker A:See, look at that.
Speaker A:You've already.
Speaker A:You're already.
Speaker A:All you.
Speaker A:All you got to do now is.
Speaker A:Is show up this weekend.
Speaker C:Wow, that's amazing.
Speaker C:So when where did you guys originally.
Speaker C:Speaking of cats, I definitely see yours crawling around in the back.
Speaker B:Oh yeah, there she is.
Speaker C:I'm curious to know how you like where was it originally?
Speaker C:Because you guys are at the Cleveland Zoo so.
Speaker B:Well, not nothing to do with the zoo.
Speaker B:It's just more about we want to do something different.
Speaker B:So every year we we commission a local talent.
Speaker B:So we always looking for aapi designer artists to draw a design and this year we.
Speaker B:We don't want to do anything with horoscope related because snake ear.
Speaker B:The snake is not really something you want to showcase and poster.
Speaker B:And we thought about we're going to do let's do cats because cats is a symbol of.
Speaker B:Of good luck in Asia.
Speaker A:Good luck.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:In Japan, China, Thailand, Korea.
Speaker B:Good luck cat is always a good luck.
Speaker B:Especially c cats.
Speaker B:In Japan the hello Kitty came from.
Speaker A:Yep.
Speaker B:So we thought about that and then we say well what's going to work with cats would be something with fruits or vegetables and that we.
Speaker B:We mentioned that to Lisa Tang and she said easy.
Speaker B:So she do this really, really nice for us.
Speaker B:All the different fruits from different country, Asian country.
Speaker B:And then yeah she is at blurry.
Speaker A:Oh yeah, there we go.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker B:So yeah.
Speaker B:I don't even know what they call but you had.
Speaker B:You have pineapple up there, right?
Speaker B:You got the colorful cats over here, the orange.
Speaker A:Yeah, very cute.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And this design really looks really nice.
Speaker B:I really like it.
Speaker A:No, it's a great design.
Speaker A:Way to go, Lisa.
Speaker A:I had no idea.
Speaker A:No, I.
Speaker A:I had no idea that the Clevelandation festival have been going on for so long.
Speaker A:But it makes sense because like, because you had mentioned that at the very beginning it was very small, very difficult and you guys were kind of like, like you said, growing up as an Asian child on the west side of Cleveland, it always felt like the Asian community wasn't.
Speaker A:There wasn't one Asian community.
Speaker A:There were pockets and they never really coalesced or did anything together.
Speaker A:And so I can only imagine.
Speaker A:Was there a point where you were able to get everybody on the same page or did the.
Speaker A:Did that take years before?
Speaker B:No, actually after for a couple months of talking to everybody and, and make sure everybody understand that there's no who is a leader, who is not a leader.
Speaker B:It's all working together and we all volunteer.
Speaker B:Except for now.
Speaker B:Now Lisa and our co producer, we've been hired to do a job because there's lots of work.
Speaker B:But back in the beginning we were making sure that everybody have a great time, making sure everybody are the leaders.
Speaker B:We delegate tasks and because in the past I've done any.
Speaker B:I had done movies production.
Speaker B:So I understand about how to organize.
Speaker B:And prior to that, when I was 14 years old, I put together a mountain choir for the diplomatic community in Panama.
Speaker B:So I got experience how to do this together.
Speaker B: So when we did it in: Speaker B:So we start with a executive board and then we branch out to different committee chairs and every five committee chairs, they recruit the committee members, volunteers to go to the community members and from there going to the other volunteers.
Speaker B:So almost like a little Christmas tree.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:Spread it out.
Speaker B:And the reason doing that also ways to make sure that every community member or every chair only can do two different type of committees.
Speaker B:So this way they don't overload themselves.
Speaker B:So if you are a community chair for volunteer, you can do marketing and that's it.
Speaker B:If you are a vendor, you can do marketing.
Speaker B:That's it.
Speaker B:This way that we don't want to over kill each all of us because it's a lot of work.
Speaker B:But we also noticed that we really need to bring in new generation new leaders because we're getting old.
Speaker B:I mean, I'VE been doing this for 15 years.
Speaker B:I don't think I can continue doing this forever, but I probably have to because I have a mortgage to pay.
Speaker B:It is something that we would like to see younger generation say, say, hey man, you know, Johnny, you can take a break this year.
Speaker B:I'll take over your job and you can like, moving forward.
Speaker B:You know, they may do things differently, but we want to make sure that the future generation was.
Speaker B:Appreciate what we do and want to say, I would like to help.
Speaker B:I would like to be part of it.
Speaker B:I would like to become a.
Speaker B:Be a leadership position.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:And that's always, that always seems to be, I wouldn't say a struggle, but kind of a goal for a lot of these things.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Especially in the immigrant, immigrant communities where you've got first, second generation immigrants who are trying to put on these things and build community.
Speaker A:But you want to make sure that that legacy continues.
Speaker A:And so you've got to get the younger generations involved and interested and also invested too.
Speaker A:And so I can see, I can see how that is.
Speaker A:Did you set it up so that every, every ethnicity, every different type of Asian, Were they only in charge of their particular communities?
Speaker B:No.
Speaker A:Did it matter?
Speaker B:Doesn't matter.
Speaker B:If you want to be involved, we don't care what kind of AAPI community you with.
Speaker B:Just come in, do the work and then let's share the fruit of our event.
Speaker B:That's one thing that.
Speaker B:Yes, fruit and cats.
Speaker B:And that's one thing I like about the Asian festival is every year I'll be frustrated because there's too many people there.
Speaker B:But at the same time, I'm very happy to all those people, 40, 30, 40, 50,000 people showing up for one weekend event and they are doing, they are loving each other, enjoying each other's company, no matter what, no matter your color, your race, your sexual orientation, nothing.
Speaker A:Just, just that doesn't matter.
Speaker B:Family together.
Speaker B:Yeah, we don't have complaints about.
Speaker B:Yeah, we do have complaints about all the way.
Speaker B:Parking is difficult, but that's nothing to do.
Speaker B:People, nobody people.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:That.
Speaker A:That's a trick logistics thing.
Speaker C:Everyone complains about parking in Cleveland, though.
Speaker B:That's.
Speaker A:That's a univers.
Speaker B:That's for sure.
Speaker A:That's a universal truth.
Speaker B:Here's the funny part.
Speaker B:We also have, we do surveys every year to make sure we know what people like.
Speaker B:Majority of time every year there'll be three or four people say the weather is too hot.
Speaker B:We didn't have the weather.
Speaker B:Too cold.
Speaker B:The weather, it's raining.
Speaker B:I can't Control the weather.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:That's.
Speaker C:You can't.
Speaker C:I.
Speaker C:I thought you could, you know.
Speaker B:I wish I could.
Speaker B:Everything changed.
Speaker B:Like Thanos.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker A:Right, exactly.
Speaker C:So I know you guys were talking about, you know, the positive effect that it has within diverse communities.
Speaker C:But I am curious, like what, what ways has the.
Speaker C:The festival contributed to the growth or recognition in Asiatown?
Speaker C:Because that's.
Speaker C:I work right on Sinclair.
Speaker C:Then that's super cool.
Speaker B:So have you heard of the Cleveland Asia Festival?
Speaker C:Yeah, I have.
Speaker B:How long have you been hearing about it?
Speaker C:For at least the past like four year.
Speaker C:Three, four years.
Speaker B:There you go.
Speaker B:That's your growth.
Speaker A:Well, there you go.
Speaker A:There's the growth.
Speaker B:The Golden Asian Festival.
Speaker B:I should probably mention the date is it's May 17th 18th from 11 to 7pm and clevelandationfestival.org is the website.
Speaker B:The goal of festival is to promote the AAPI Heritage Fund because that's May also to celebrate our culture and festivities.
Speaker B:And last also with the one thing we also do is to bring economic growth into the neighborhood.
Speaker B:And because of the Asian festival for all many years we're doing it, it's been considered the kickoff event for the summer.
Speaker B:Every people in Cleveland say, oh, Asian Festival is the beginning of the beginning, early this summer.
Speaker B:So that's a kickoff event and we are the best organized event considered by the city of Cleveland because we are.
Speaker B:Well, they said that we have a tight ship.
Speaker B:We did everything.
Speaker B:Well, not really.
Speaker B:We just produce and produce and planning ahead of time to make sure everything works.
Speaker B:So that's.
Speaker A:Yeah, I was going to say that that that comes from your experience because you know you've got to get things planned and organized in order for something to go out.
Speaker B:Well, yes.
Speaker B:And then because of that event, Cleveland Festival did so well.
Speaker B: I was hired back in: Speaker B:And that's another pushback at the beginning.
Speaker B:Nobody want to know.
Speaker B:Nobody want to have an Asian guy run a European gardens.
Speaker B:All the gardens over there back then was all European except for right.
Speaker B:Vietnamese and Chinese.
Speaker A:Y.
Speaker B:So when I was the producer, I had a lot of pushback from Gardens because I feel like I'm not white enough to do the job.
Speaker B:But you, you, I, we learn.
Speaker B:We.
Speaker B:We hate each other.
Speaker B:We love.
Speaker B:We love each other.
Speaker B:We continue moving together.
Speaker B:And then because every year I'll be doing that with them.
Speaker B:They trust me now.
Speaker B:They don't ask me, they don't tell me don't do it.
Speaker B:They don't ask me anymore to bring me a proposal.
Speaker B:They already Automatically say, Johnny, you can do it next year again.
Speaker B:And we brought in one day event, brought in almost 45,000 people over there.
Speaker B:This is my 11 year doing it too.
Speaker B:So that can show that capability is what you can show people that who you are doesn't really matters.
Speaker A:No, it's true.
Speaker A:No, I remember, remember when the one World day was just kind of a small thing and just a handful of families, whatever, walking down the path down MLK to see all the gardens and stuff.
Speaker A:And I don't know if it's a coincidence or not, but I feel like you with your overhead Oakleys and your hoverboard really pushed.
Speaker A:Push the visibility of it up.
Speaker A:I'm half joking, but I do re.
Speaker A:I, I do remember seeing you in, in your overhead Oakleys and your.
Speaker B:Yes, I still bring in my overhead Oakley, which actually is over here.
Speaker A:Look at that.
Speaker A:There they are.
Speaker A:Yeah, the legendary.
Speaker A:The legendary.
Speaker A:Look at that.
Speaker A:See, this is, this is the Johnny I met and I remember.
Speaker A:That's awesome.
Speaker C:That's amazing.
Speaker B:Every year I'll bring this out for the Cleveland Asian Festival just because I like to showcase it.
Speaker B:Kind of funny thing about this is right now on tik tok and YouTube, every young influencer are talking about it.
Speaker B:Like this is ever happening right now.
Speaker B:Like, man, you guys are slow.
Speaker B:You guys, right?
Speaker A:Where, where have you been?
Speaker C:Everything comes back and we're not very original, you know.
Speaker B:So when I was wearing this, people said that I have bug eyes because it looks like bugs.
Speaker B:Or you tell me I'm wearing bra on my, on my head, women's bra.
Speaker B:So, yeah, we, I had all this pushback, but I'm still can't bring it out because now it's the hit thing to do.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Well, and that also still.
Speaker A:I mean, it's just such a unique thing, right?
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:It's kind of a trademark now.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And the good thing is I still have it and you can buy on ebay, but there are thousands of dollars.
Speaker A:Yeah, I know.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:So good on you.
Speaker A:Look at that.
Speaker A:See?
Speaker A:Trendsetter.
Speaker A:Before you even knew it.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, that's all I do.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker C:So how do your, like, other roles in like, in other cultural events, like one World Day, complement what you're currently doing with the Asian festival?
Speaker B:I, I would appreciate the culture more now that I've been working with the culture gardens for over 40 years now.
Speaker B:I love the people there.
Speaker B:I love how they embrace me finally.
Speaker B:And they're saying that I'm not just another Asian guy, but rather a guy who can pull it off, can make it happen.
Speaker B:It can make and promote culture.
Speaker B:I don't see a division between diversity.
Speaker B:I see everybody together as a family.
Speaker B:I don't see culture, I don't see different faces.
Speaker B:I see more one faces by different cultures that easily explain with the Asian festival.
Speaker B:I see a lot of people there.
Speaker B:I see Asian.
Speaker B:We see, we have Asian members, we have non Asian, we have blacks, African American and all working together.
Speaker B:But then when you go to the culture garden, you actually understand the different culture and what's going on.
Speaker B:All the politics that they had to deal with Ukraine, Russia, Pakistan, India now and all this happening and we had as a cultural groups, we are still loving each other, but unfortunately politics is a little bit different.
Speaker A:I think that's one of the great things about kind of the theme with, with your two projects is the kind of the uniting the community, whether it's just the Asian diaspora or just the different world cultures.
Speaker A:With the gardens is all about unifying about how we may look different and come from different places and have different traditions and different cultural things, but we're all part of the human race.
Speaker A:We're all, I dare say one world gone.
Speaker A:Geek.
Speaker B:Yeah, it was, it was, it was tough for me because in the gotcha garden there's about 49 different gardens back then and I had to memorize them all.
Speaker B:It took me about three years to actually got know where every garden at.
Speaker A:Find because they're all, they're very spread out along that path.
Speaker B:The culture garden is located over the MLK and East Boulevard.
Speaker B:So the whole stretch about eight miles distance, not eight miles, maybe four miles distant.
Speaker B:237 acres of land.
Speaker B:So all the different gardens have different culture there and there's 40 something gardens right now.
Speaker B:And it's, it's a lot for me to memorize when I start the beginning.
Speaker B:But I got it there.
Speaker A:You've had 11 years so you've got, you've got it down.
Speaker B:Yeah, I got.
Speaker B:Funny no, you can mention one in the garden.
Speaker B:I know exactly where you're going to be at.
Speaker B:So it's only maybe one or two smaller ones I don't remember but rest of majority I do.
Speaker B:I also memorize all the culture.
Speaker B:It's so beautiful.
Speaker B:When we had the culture gardens this year it's gonna be August 24th.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:Called the parade of flags where every garden dress out with a costume and parade throughout the whole street.
Speaker B:It was beautiful to see thousands of people wearing different kind of cultural outfit and parading themselves.
Speaker B:And speaking of that in this Cleveland Asia festival this year we brought back in the fashion fashion show, which is the colors of Asia.
Speaker A:Nice.
Speaker B:So this is something we stopped doing it for many, many years in the past just because we didn't have the main power.
Speaker B:But we don't bring it back.
Speaker B:We want to have all every different ethnic groups come out to stage and present the culture and the outfit they were.
Speaker B:So that's one thing we're doing this year a little bit different.
Speaker B:The other thing we're doing this year is cosplay.
Speaker B:So, yeah, cosplay is something that we haven't done many, many years, almost a decade ago.
Speaker B:And we're going to bring that back because we felt like K Pop, Apop J Pop, so popular now.
Speaker B:So why don't we bring something like this and to embrace the culture.
Speaker B:So anybody who like to dress up with an Asian themed cosplay playing, you are welcome to do so and come to stage and parade it.
Speaker B:I will be there.
Speaker B:I'll be both on the colors of Asia and cosplay wearing my armor.
Speaker B:So this is a real armor from the Ming dynasty.
Speaker B:Well, replica now.
Speaker B:And now we're wearing that and gonna be displaying that and showcasing a little bit.
Speaker C:You know.
Speaker A:Go ahead.
Speaker C:Sorry.
Speaker C:I was going to say this might be a little bit controversial and Jeff, you might have to cut.
Speaker C:You might want to cut it out.
Speaker C:But it gets in a little bit in the weeds.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker C:You know, a lot of people talk about like cultural appropriation and you know, people stealing other people's.
Speaker B:So you want to know what my view on that?
Speaker C:Well, I am very curious, but I also think too just in general, people absolutely love.
Speaker C:America loves the Asian, Japanese, Chinese culture.
Speaker B:Yeah, they.
Speaker C:They love that as a culture.
Speaker C:But we are always as accepting.
Speaker C:I think sometimes of.
Speaker B:So it's.
Speaker B:It's a.
Speaker B:It's a kind of the way to.
Speaker B:You have to distinguish.
Speaker B:There's a fine line between being appreciated culture and culture.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:So different is when you're marking a culture or you don't respect in the culture doesn't mean that you're not actually appreciating the culture.
Speaker B:That's the difference.
Speaker B:The quickest way the easy to do is for example, if you see a Japanese walking the street and you say nihau to Japanese guy, that is insulting racist comment.
Speaker B:Because Japanese don't understand word.
Speaker B:Nihau means.
Speaker B:Nihao is a Chinese word for hello.
Speaker B:But then if you say that to a Japanese Japanese person or going to the country Japanese culture, Japan do this, then you are insulting the Japanese and you are, you are not doing anything correctly.
Speaker B:So that's a racist coming.
Speaker B:And also can be considered as a cultural appropriation because you think it belongs to China.
Speaker B:So everybody else going to be understood the word nihau.
Speaker B:So another way, let's say you are a non Asian person and you decide to sell Asian clothing with and altering them to say it's your own.
Speaker B:That may be cultural appropriation, depending how you quote, unquote, design the design.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:I think it has a lot to do with intent.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:But the intent is very, I can give you a very good example.
Speaker B:Another thing is about Asian town.
Speaker B:We, we had this in happening past is two white people went into Asian town and tried to sell an event of West Asian town claiming to be authentic Asian culture.
Speaker B:Do you think that's appreciation or appropriation?
Speaker A:Yeah, right.
Speaker A:There's context there.
Speaker A:Because if at the face of it, you would think that that might be appropriation, but if those people actually researched and know about that did not reach.
Speaker A:Oh, see, if, if they were just.
Speaker B:Doing it for the money, then yeah, that's appropriation.
Speaker B:Not only that, they don't hire any Asian person in their group and they owe everybody money.
Speaker A:Yeah, See.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:It comes down to intent.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker B:Yes, intent.
Speaker B:So it's a, it's a fine word.
Speaker B:Also, the other thing you can also notice if somebody said to you, oh, I'm looking for Asian wife, that is kind of like a racist to say because you're not appreciating the culture because they are Asian, you actually want to have a trophy.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:That's what that, that, that, that goes into, like, what is it they call the fetish?
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:Where Kind of a fetish.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:They're not really appreciating the person or the culture.
Speaker B:Exactly.
Speaker A:They're, they're, they're more wanting the, like you said a trophy.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Or they're, they're more of an object than anything else.
Speaker C:Yeah, I think I was just meaning it in the terms of, like, especially in terms of cosplay.
Speaker C:You know, I'm trying to think of how I'm like wanting to phrase it, but I, I, I think sometimes we can get, we get excited about or to sell.
Speaker C:We can be excited to celebrate other cultures, but sometimes we don't always know the most about them or the people.
Speaker C:So I do agree with you.
Speaker C:It can be intent, but.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:So for cosplay, for example, if you're going to dress as an Asian character, research about the Asian character and make sure everything that you Your.
Speaker B:Your cosplay is correct.
Speaker B:All right.
Speaker B:So for another good example would be my friend Wayne, also executive director, executive board member for the Cleveland Asian Festival.
Speaker B:He wearing the yellow suit with a black stripe.
Speaker B:Most people nowadays think it's from the Kill Bill movie.
Speaker A:I.
Speaker A:I went straight to Bruce Lee.
Speaker B:There you go.
Speaker B:Big difference.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:When you dress like that, it's a Kill Bill movie.
Speaker B:So that's a culture because.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:It's not part of the Bruce Lee who created.
Speaker B:So it's again, it's a culture thing.
Speaker B:But if you want to.
Speaker B:And also the H thing, if you want to go cosplay any character, research a character, understand a character and understand why the character were doing certain way, wearing certain things.
Speaker B:And you know, you no longer appropriating the culture because you can explain this outfit, this side of the street, this sword is about, this weapon is about.
Speaker B:You can tell people what it's about.
Speaker B:Now you're not appropriating.
Speaker A:Yeah, right.
Speaker A:That's proof of your appreciation of the culture versus just.
Speaker A:This is a cool thing that I bought online.
Speaker A:I think it's awesome.
Speaker A:That's, you know, that's not quite.
Speaker A:That's not taking that extra step or doing that.
Speaker B:You know, you can, you.
Speaker B:You can see a lots of movies too.
Speaker B:Lots of American movies that have possibly a master ninja, but wake.
Speaker B:A kung fu uniform.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:It's again, conflating the Japanese Chinese.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:So, yeah, it's an intent too.
Speaker B:It's not understood the culture.
Speaker B:You, you know, I, I see a lot of movie also where people were using a katana in a Chinese outfit.
Speaker B:Like, no, Chinese people do not work, do not wear katan, use the katana as a weapon.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:That's not.
Speaker A:That, that wasn't.
Speaker A:Yes, exactly right.
Speaker B:That come back to one thing.
Speaker B:When I did my short film To Hunt, we have everybody wearing different colors period outfit.
Speaker B:So I have a white guy wearing a Chinese outfit and a black guy wearing Chinese outfit.
Speaker B:Then I explained to them, what are you wearing?
Speaker B:Is not appropriating because this hat is based on this time frame.
Speaker B:This outfit with a round rope color is all based on this time frame.
Speaker B:I explained to the time frame the kind of sword they need to wear use so they.
Speaker B:When they go outside and talk to people, they can appreciate the culture.
Speaker B:Instead of say, I, oh yeah, Johnny, just throw me this outfit together.
Speaker B:And then they said, this is a Chinese outfit.
Speaker A:Right, right.
Speaker A:And that.
Speaker A:And that.
Speaker A:So, and so not only does that show your appreciation of the culture, it gives them education.
Speaker A:So they Learn also about the culture and they can show their appreciation and then share that information further on.
Speaker B:This is how you.
Speaker B:You promote a culture and then not.
Speaker B:Not in avoiding the appropriation part of it.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:When you've got, you know, you put in the intent and the effort and that makes a huge, huge difference.
Speaker B:Exactly.
Speaker A:So was.
Speaker A:Is your Ming Dynasty armor part.
Speaker A:Was that your costume for the hunt?
Speaker A:Is that what.
Speaker B:Yep, that's the one I was wearing on hunt.
Speaker B:And we're gonna be.
Speaker B:I'm very happy to wear this on Sunday.
Speaker B:Is actually very good because 64 degrees.
Speaker B:Perfect weather for the outfit.
Speaker A:It's perfect weather for armor.
Speaker B:Heavy 28 pound.
Speaker B:It's gonna be.
Speaker B:It's very.
Speaker B:It's actually can be protect me from any starving for knife.
Speaker B:I mean it's not probably strong.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:So it's.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:It's not just, you know, it.
Speaker A:It's not really.
Speaker A:It's not just cosplay.
Speaker A:It's an actual.
Speaker A:It's actually armor.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker B:Steel armor plate.
Speaker A:So how heavy is it?
Speaker A:How much does that.
Speaker B:28 pounds.
Speaker A:Which.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker B:I lost 20.
Speaker B:I lost 10 pounds of it fit in there.
Speaker A:Just.
Speaker A:Just wearing it for the film.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Well, I.
Speaker B:I need.
Speaker B:I need it because otherwise I won't be the walk.
Speaker B:I mean I was two months ago.
Speaker B:I was 176.
Speaker B:And then we're in the thing about almost 200 pounds.
Speaker B:Like I can't do that.
Speaker B:I can't move around.
Speaker B:So I lost 10 pounds to wear down a little bit.
Speaker B:So that.
Speaker A:Ah.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:It'll be okay.
Speaker B:So bounce it out my weight.
Speaker A:Amazing.
Speaker A:Hey there.
Speaker D:Mike is working now.
Speaker A:Not only can we see you, but we can hear you.
Speaker A:You can hear me.
Speaker B:That's good.
Speaker D:That's good to know.
Speaker B:It's a little too loud.
Speaker B:Yo.
Speaker A:It's a little loud.
Speaker A:Can you turn down your gain?
Speaker D:Yeah, well, I mean it's already down.
Speaker D:I'll just step back a little bit.
Speaker A:Just.
Speaker A:Yeah, just step further back a couple steps more.
Speaker A:A couple steps more.
Speaker D:We got to see that armor at fan expo.
Speaker D:You were wearing it there.
Speaker D:And.
Speaker D:And I got a sense of how heavy that was.
Speaker D:That's insane.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's a.
Speaker B:It's a real thing.
Speaker B:It's a very heavy.
Speaker B:And when I was doing the short film, it was painful because I was waiting for about four hours.
Speaker B:I said I need to get out of this.
Speaker B:And then I had to put it back in for another three hours.
Speaker B:Like I.
Speaker B:I'm done.
Speaker B:I need to get on this.
Speaker B:I can't handle this anymore.
Speaker B:It's too hot.
Speaker A:Oh, where were you filming?
Speaker B:We were filming at Coran, Ohio.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker C:So how do you like balance everything between filmmaking and event planning?
Speaker A:And you know, he's still trying to.
Speaker A:I think he's still trying to figure that out himself.
Speaker B:Well, actually I probably kind of have an idea.
Speaker B:First thing, first thing, first thing is I go to bed at 9:30.
Speaker A:Oh, that's smart.
Speaker B:So I forced myself to have at least eight hours sleep.
Speaker B:So I also take about 20 minutes to 30 minutes nap after lunch.
Speaker B:This way I can build up so anytime anybody text me after 9:30, I just ignore to the next day.
Speaker B:However, I had a tendency to wake up about two or three o' clock in the morning because I had to go to your usual restroom.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:And when I use the restroom I just start thinking and I can't go to sleep for another hour.
Speaker B:So I'll be sitting the phone in bed for an hour for then until I get tired I go to sleep.
Speaker B:So it balance out my time frame what I do.
Speaker B:And that helped me in a way of relaxing because I force myself to relax so I don't get too tired and then I can balance it out to do everything else.
Speaker B:Making movies, lots of work.
Speaker B:So the older I get, the less I want to do that just because I don't want to carry heavy gears anymore.
Speaker B:Ah yeah, freaking heavy.
Speaker B:So the older you get, the less you want to carry the, the gear.
Speaker B:So you get younger generation people.
Speaker B:But then they're not always here.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker C:And we just want to like walk around with like a little phone on a stick.
Speaker B:It's not like oh y' all just.
Speaker A:On a little phone.
Speaker A:You don't know you can't do that.
Speaker B:No.
Speaker B:We have 4K cameras, professional cameras.
Speaker B:They need to bring all the lights and then bring on the lenses.
Speaker B:Then they bring all the different outfit and whatever.
Speaker B:So like that's too much work.
Speaker A:It literally is quite a production.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So we.
Speaker B:I'm doing more short film now because I can handle that a little bit better than doing feature film organizing event.
Speaker B:I just forced myself to be do a daily to do list and accomplish that in the morning and most of the time in the afternoon.
Speaker B:I have nothing else to do because I already did everything in the morning for four hours time frame spent.
Speaker B:I get up on 7 6, 6, 6:30, 7 o' clock, do about half an hour workout and then go, go do start working.
Speaker B:I see the kitty.
Speaker B:Hello.
Speaker A:There she is.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:After that I will just do work work until 12 o' clock, feed the cats, have my lunch, take a quick nap, wake up, do a couple hours and then watch tv.
Speaker B:If I don't force upset myself to be to relax.
Speaker B:I don't think I can be able to function that well.
Speaker A:Ah, okay.
Speaker A:So you, you make sure you set aside time to.
Speaker B:To watch tv.
Speaker B:I also have another reason why.
Speaker B:Because last year I almost have a heart issue.
Speaker B:Last year I almost died because of heart issue.
Speaker B:Apparently I have a heart smaller than most people.
Speaker B:It's not pumping enough to blood to my heart.
Speaker B:And I also have high blood pressure or low blood pressure depending the medicine I take.
Speaker B:So that forced me to take more naps and also go force myself.
Speaker B:I said it'll be more relaxing.
Speaker A:It's ironic that you have a medical condition where your heart is smaller considering how much you give back to the community.
Speaker A:I just want to point that out.
Speaker B:Before we go on point.
Speaker B:Go ahead Jeff.
Speaker D:I was just going to say tell us a little bit about how you got into filmmaking in the first place.
Speaker D:Like what was the impetus for that in your life?
Speaker B: So I started actually back in: Speaker B:I met this guy, Greg Petoski, good friend of mine and, and we dated and he, he was working for the Museum of Natural History.
Speaker B:It was a great photographer.
Speaker B:Every time you take a photo, it's beautifully you can capture your soul.
Speaker B:So I said to him, you know, I had a background in business business and I know how to organize if you can help me, let's put together a movie.
Speaker B:So he said sure.
Speaker B:He actually owns all the film cameras.
Speaker B:16 millimeters film cameras.
Speaker A:Oh.
Speaker B:So that was actually something fun to.
Speaker B:To help.
Speaker B:So we said we should be able to make a movie with.
Speaker B: m camera film stock for about: Speaker B: So that's: Speaker B:We said let's do it.
Speaker B:I wrote the script, we put together shot it.
Speaker B:We never developed the film because we were so busy doing something else.
Speaker B:And then he decided he doesn't want a lifestyle anymore because he see me doing movie with me.
Speaker B:And then he had to do it in movies do film photography stuff at work.
Speaker B:So that's too hard for you to handle.
Speaker B:So he decided to move on his life.
Speaker B:I said no problem.
Speaker B:And then the film start.
Speaker B:Just keep staying in the fridge forever till stir.
Speaker B:And then suddenly Kodak decided to shut down all the film development processes processing.
Speaker B:So we also shot our reversal film which means that it's harder to be processed.
Speaker B:But because of that I just continue doing movies and got fortunate enough to do what I can do.
Speaker B:I Do a pretty good job I guess until now.
Speaker A:Well, well, yeah, obviously you're still doing it, so.
Speaker B:So that's a full story basically.
Speaker A:So is it.
Speaker A:Is that film still in the fridge somewhere?
Speaker A:Is it still under.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's in my basement on the fridge.
Speaker B:A little small fridge that I have.
Speaker A:Oh my gosh.
Speaker A:I almost feel like we need to find out there's somewhere that can develop it like it.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker B:Is it.
Speaker C:Is that wrong?
Speaker B:Not going to be that expensive.
Speaker B:The problem is the, the main actor, one of the main actor named Sean ferris.
Speaker B:You can IMDb him.
Speaker B:He did a free Free Runner the movie.
Speaker B:He's actually was really big back then and then married to Asian girl and then disappeared for.
Speaker B:For filmmaking.
Speaker B:So I just.
Speaker B:This, this was his first feature film seventeen years ago back then.
Speaker B:So I'm not sure what.
Speaker B:I want to release it because he doesn't.
Speaker B:He's not as good as he is now, as I thought.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker A:That's amazing though that you still have it.
Speaker B:I still have that I wish I could develop but I haven't had a chance to do so.
Speaker A:That's like such a unique type of time capsule.
Speaker A:That's great.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker D:What were, what were some of your film influences?
Speaker B:My dad would be my major friend film influence because apparently film making was part of my, my extended family.
Speaker B:I did not know that until my mom, my dad told me the whole story.
Speaker B:I have a very big, well known film director in Hong Kong.
Speaker B:It's related, supposed to be related to me.
Speaker B:We never verified that.
Speaker B:So I don't want to talk too much.
Speaker B:But my dad, when he was younger, he will take me to see all kind of movies.
Speaker B:I remember still very vividly that he told me to watch 12 or 13 Bruce Lee movies in one day.
Speaker B:One day never ending.
Speaker B:I was driving me crazy.
Speaker B:But it's not about about movies or him.
Speaker B:It's movies about him, his funeral, how he died.
Speaker A:Oh my gosh.
Speaker B:It's like we were in Philippines and he take me to the movie theater.
Speaker B:We sat there all day long watching all the different.
Speaker B:All different version of Chinese Bruce.
Speaker B:How Bruce Lee died or conspiracy stories about how he died.
Speaker B:Oh, whether he got killed by mafia, whether he got killed by the studio, whether he got big, killed by a friend or whether he got killed by his girlfriend.
Speaker A:All the conspiracy theories.
Speaker D:I didn't know there were conspiracy theories.
Speaker A:Oh yeah.
Speaker A:Oh yeah.
Speaker A:I mean, so is there.
Speaker D:Is there a Bruce Lee is still alive thing?
Speaker D:Like Tupac and Elvis?
Speaker A:Yeah, I'm sure, I'm sure there's I'm sure, I'm sure people have seen Bruce lee at the 7:11 standing next to Elvis.
Speaker B:They said about, you know, Elvis, right?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Exactly how he died.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:That was.
Speaker B:That was ridiculous.
Speaker B:I didn't really expect.
Speaker B:There was another.
Speaker B:I think it's like hour long movie.
Speaker B:So he would take me to different theaters to watch it.
Speaker B:Well, I didn't know it's some boring now but back then it was crazy.
Speaker B:I just.
Speaker B:He was, he was.
Speaker B:He was also a diplomat.
Speaker B:So you get to meet a lot of celebrities behind the scene.
Speaker B:And he would take me to see and watch magicians performing and go me to backstage to show me how they do it.
Speaker B:Also when there's like a big circus, it's all those crazy stun shows.
Speaker B:He would take me to swatches.
Speaker B:So I.
Speaker B:I have been influent with all this kind of art environment.
Speaker B:But he always said you need to be a doctor.
Speaker A:This is always Malaysian father.
Speaker A:Yep.
Speaker B:Yep.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:So then when he got older, he started collecting Beta Max Movies.
Speaker B:Yeah, movies.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:At home he built a shelf.
Speaker B:Then he built a shelf and then put him bed in the middle.
Speaker B:The TV and the shelf surrounded him like four walls and he was sleep in there watching the movies.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker A:In bed surrounded in the shelf and.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Well because he didn't want to be his bedroom.
Speaker B:He wanted to use.
Speaker B:He wanted to.
Speaker B:He want me to use the.
Speaker B:We had two bedroom apartment.
Speaker B:So he was used.
Speaker B:He.
Speaker B:He decided use.
Speaker B:Let me use one bedroom and then he instead of showing saying the other bedroom, he just stayed there because he loved this movie.
Speaker A:Oh my gosh.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker B:And then it became 5,000 VHS tapes.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker A:Because Beta went away, right?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So mostly are movies, dramas, Chinese dramas.
Speaker A:Oh yes.
Speaker B:I loved it.
Speaker B:I watch it with him all the time.
Speaker B: before he passed away back in: Speaker B:I had a lot of way for the watch.
Speaker B:He enjoyed it.
Speaker B:Unfortunately I didn't appreciate him that much.
Speaker B:I was so young.
Speaker B:I was going crazy doing.
Speaker B:Going to the cops every night and getting drunk and.
Speaker B:And doing stupid things.
Speaker B:So I wish I spent more time with him now.
Speaker B:But you know, this is one of this.
Speaker B:My one major major regret.
Speaker B:I have my life that not spending my time with him.
Speaker B:So anybody watching, doing this, you know, spend the time you much.
Speaker B:You can't have much with your parents, your family because you only have them once.
Speaker B:Once.
Speaker B:And then if you regret it, you're not going to be able to get them back.
Speaker A:True.
Speaker B:So right now my mom, she wants something I Just say okay.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:She tell me to do something.
Speaker B:I said fine.
Speaker B:Even if she's wrong, I don't care.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:You don't want to bother with that because you don't want to get them upset.
Speaker A:It's true.
Speaker D:I love that.
Speaker A:That's funny.
Speaker A:No, I.
Speaker A:I remember my parents used to watch the Chinese dramas too.
Speaker A:They loved anything to do with the Monkey King or Three Kingdoms.
Speaker B:Yep.
Speaker A:Which was the biggest.
Speaker A:My dad just loved it.
Speaker A:And it's interesting now because our oldest son Who's he's now 21.
Speaker A:Jeff.
Speaker A:He's 21.
Speaker D:Stop.
Speaker B:Jesus.
Speaker A:But he.
Speaker A:He's very much into video games and he loves the Dynasty Warrior series which is all about the Three Kingdoms.
Speaker A:And so it's so great to see him learn about the Three Kingdoms through his gaming.
Speaker A:But then talk to my dad about the Three Kingdoms so my dad can tell him about about it from the Chinese dramas.
Speaker A:And so it's great to see kind of that generational bridge that was very true storytelling through the Three Kingdoms which I thought is.
Speaker A:Is just wonderful.
Speaker B:So yeah.
Speaker B:When I did the hunt I also did lots of research beforehand because I love watching a lot of Chinese movies.
Speaker B:I think just for my dad.
Speaker B:I can can forget that.
Speaker B:And so I realized how back in the days in Chinese movie they do salutation like this, right?
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:The new generation of Chinese movies they have salutation like this.
Speaker A:Oh.
Speaker B:Or this.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker C:Was.
Speaker B:Especially period movies like the Min Dynasty, Tang Dynasty, the Han Dynasty.
Speaker B:They were like the.
Speaker B:Basically it's a big stomach up and then covered it up.
Speaker A:Interesting.
Speaker B:So was that this is only the Qing Dynasty.
Speaker B:They just created.
Speaker A:Oh.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker B:So originally know that until I do a lot more studies.
Speaker B:Like that's interesting.
Speaker B:I didn't know about that was a younger.
Speaker B:I didn't realize.
Speaker B:I also realized the Chinese used to you have sword that's curved like the Japanese katana.
Speaker B:Before the Japanese katana actually was popular.
Speaker A:Huh.
Speaker B:The Tang Dynasty are straight sword curved a little bit.
Speaker B:Because they learned it from the Turkish.
Speaker B:The Turks are the ones who have the sword.
Speaker B:And then they reinvented make it more as a Tan Dynasty sword.
Speaker B:And then when the soldier from Han Tang and Tang Dynasty went to Japan they brought that with him to check that over and perfectionize it to become a better type of katana.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Because the Japanese did the folded blacksmithing that.
Speaker B:So I didn't know that.
Speaker B:I did not understand about the outfit too.
Speaker B:I thought every Chinese outfit was cross Cross connection.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker B:No.
Speaker B:There was round color ropes that they were back then.
Speaker B:And there's a lot of different things I didn't know that.
Speaker B:I wish I was knowing all this when I was younger, but I did.
Speaker B:I learned martial art, but I didn't know any of this style.
Speaker B:I thought you learn about shot.
Speaker B:You're like, oh, everybody doing like this, this.
Speaker B:So this is it.
Speaker A:That's all we knew.
Speaker B:Lots of different ways to do salutations.
Speaker A:That's so interesting.
Speaker A:So even now, even now as an adult, you're still learning these things.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So this is mostly important for when you, you're dealing with emperors.
Speaker B:You want to make sure that they have thumbs up.
Speaker B:There's a reason for everything.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:Women go opposite direction.
Speaker B:Men's go this way.
Speaker B:Oh, wow.
Speaker D:Interesting.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:What does it mean?
Speaker C:I'm sorry, please excuse me.
Speaker B:Great whimper.
Speaker B:We, you know, great emperor.
Speaker A:We.
Speaker B:We salute to you, great emperor.
Speaker B:Oh, and this for officers and peasants.
Speaker B:They do like this because, you know, you're the, you're officer and we, we embrace you.
Speaker D:Interesting.
Speaker D:Just different ways of greeting.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker D:Depending on who it is.
Speaker B:Yep.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Basically.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Your, your, your salutation will depend on your standing to the other person.
Speaker B:And also I wanted to find out about colors.
Speaker B:Every row, color means a ranking of the.
Speaker B:On the, on the palace.
Speaker B:On the royal palace.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:So purple is the highest rank.
Speaker B:I actually have a picture here on my phone because I have to remind.
Speaker A:Myself what it looks like.
Speaker A:This is why I like purple so much.
Speaker A:Wait, oh, Jeff, is that why you have purple in your background?
Speaker A:Oh, check it out.
Speaker A:So purple is the highest and then it goes all the way down to.
Speaker A:Is that blue?
Speaker B:Yep.
Speaker B:So this is their ranking system for officers in China in.
Speaker B:Back in the Ming.
Speaker B:Tang Dynasty.
Speaker A:So that's depending on the color robes that they wear.
Speaker A:You can tell they're standing or their rank.
Speaker A:Interesting.
Speaker B:My cat just felt.
Speaker D:Definitely gonna pay more attention to some of the period films and stuff that I watched.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker D:See where if they follow that representative.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's.
Speaker B:It's so interesting.
Speaker B:It's so interesting because I didn't know that until, until I watched this.
Speaker B:All these Peter movies.
Speaker B:Like, this is a, this is a Ming dynasty sword.
Speaker B:She's cursed.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Just slightly.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:So that's, that's me.
Speaker B:I say.
Speaker A:I was gonna say.
Speaker A:And that's Johnny, by the way.
Speaker B:Very cool.
Speaker C:That's.
Speaker C:Huh.
Speaker C:That's really interesting.
Speaker C:I was, I don't even, I don't know if this is relevant, but I've, I was been re.
Speaker C:Watching Samurai Jack and so like the.
Speaker C:Him visiting literally only in the first episode.
Speaker C:But he was like revisiting or not revisiting.
Speaker C:He was going to all of these different places to learn their like fighting styles.
Speaker C:And that's what I was thinking, like kind of envisioning when you were talking about the different symbols, hand symbols and stuff.
Speaker B:Netflix you do.
Speaker B:If you guys have Netflix, check out the, the Chinese movie from there.
Speaker B:It's called the series called the Detective something.
Speaker B:I can't remember the name.
Speaker B:Oh, Detective D.
Speaker B:Judge D.
Speaker B:Mystery.
Speaker A:Yes, that's.
Speaker B:That's very much from the Ming Tang Dynasty and their culture, their outfit, everything is very, very realistic.
Speaker B:And there's another show you can, you can find on YouTube.
Speaker B:It's called the 24 the longest time in.
Speaker B:In Changan.
Speaker B:So it's in 24 hours.
Speaker B:Everything happened in this show and everything that, that show is authentically correct based on the time free.
Speaker B:The Longest day of the longest day, 24 hours in China.
Speaker B:So it's, it's a very good story because you can see how they fight.
Speaker B:They fight basically.
Speaker B:Like they watch you wearing real armor to fight with it.
Speaker B:So all the actors had to feel the weight before they can actually go into the bottle.
Speaker B:And the reason I said maybe, maybe I understand how realistic this movie the show is going to be.
Speaker C:So what is your favorite movie?
Speaker B:What kind?
Speaker B:European, Chinese, Americans.
Speaker D:I know it's hard, right?
Speaker D:People ask me that question and I have to break it down by genre.
Speaker D:Otherwise you're getting Die Hard.
Speaker A:I knew it.
Speaker A:I knew it.
Speaker C:So you talked about Bruce Lee, but what's like a pivotal film, maybe that.
Speaker B:Like I, you know, surprising to say if American film wise.
Speaker B:I love Empire of the Sun.
Speaker A:Yeah, that's a great one.
Speaker B:But it didn't get a lot of attention because it came out with the same time with the Last Emperor.
Speaker B:Last Spirit actually did better, which makes sense.
Speaker B:Last, Better Emperor.
Speaker B:I felt as stupid in the theater watching Last Emperor.
Speaker B:So yeah.
Speaker B:Then the other movie I watch, I can watch forever and never get bored is Big Trouble in Little China.
Speaker D:Oh, my gosh.
Speaker B:I think I grew up with being.
Speaker B:Being a martial artist and grew up watching the cool thunder, lighting and rain.
Speaker B:The way that they acted.
Speaker B:I was like, oh, this is so cool.
Speaker B:This is so exciting.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker B:I get very, very, very much enjoying the whole show.
Speaker D:That's one I'm hoping that they, they never remake.
Speaker D:They've been the Rock.
Speaker A:They've been talking about it.
Speaker D:He's apparently got the rights at some point.
Speaker D:And I was like, if you play Jack Burton, I'm gonna be so upset if Anything they could.
Speaker D:I'm.
Speaker D:I'm fine.
Speaker D:If they want to like do one of those 30 years later.
Speaker D:Se.
Speaker D:Well, that's 40 now, I think.
Speaker A:40.
Speaker D:At least 40 sequels where you get Kurt Russell back.
Speaker D:You know what I mean?
Speaker D:You can bring in the Rock as his buddy.
Speaker D:I don't care.
Speaker D:But do a sequel.
Speaker D:Don't remake the original.
Speaker B:The original was, you know, was beautiful.
Speaker B:I, I enjoyed it.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker A:So it's a classic.
Speaker D:I want to ask the.
Speaker D:So several years ago, KE Huy Quan, who played Short Round in the Indiana Jones movies and Data and Goonies, he had quit acting because of the.
Speaker D:How difficult it was for as.
Speaker D:As an Asian person to get like roles that were significant.
Speaker D:And then he, in an interview, he.
Speaker D:He made his comeback after he saw crazy rich Asians becoming such a huge success and obviously immediate immediately won an Oscar too.
Speaker D:Like, I mean the dude.
Speaker D:Like, like immediately his first rollback, which is fantastic.
Speaker D:But do you feel like he, he saw that movie as being like kind of a resurgence of like where Asian characters are getting more seriously, you know, represented rather than just being, you know, you know, a specific character or a stereotype or a token.
Speaker D:Do you feel like we're moving in the right direction as far as Hollywood?
Speaker D:And would you say where would you think we could do more work there?
Speaker B:Well, that can do more work.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker B:Hollywood embracing a minority, African Americans, Asians and such is because of the pressure from everybody else.
Speaker B:And when movies like Rich Asian, all this movie came out, this opportunity for us when we started winning Oscars, that also bring you opening the door a little bit.
Speaker B:Unfortunately not.
Speaker B:Just because you win us and you win an Oscar doesn't mean that you will get lots of good roles in the future.
Speaker B:I mean, look at him right now.
Speaker B:He's.
Speaker B:He played a role the movie Love, Love Hurts.
Speaker A:I heard that wasn't very good.
Speaker D:I haven't seen it yet.
Speaker D:I want to though.
Speaker A:I want to see it.
Speaker B:I enjoy it.
Speaker A:I want to see it.
Speaker A:But like you said, it wasn't that successful at the box office.
Speaker B:No, it's because I think the storyline suffer a little bit.
Speaker B:But the fight sequence, cute.
Speaker B:And I enjoyed it and it.
Speaker B:But yeah, I enjoy him on the Loki.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:Yeah, I enjoy him and everything, but.
Speaker B:I don't in this way.
Speaker B:He just.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:I think sometimes because he gets stereotyped.
Speaker B:I don't want to see him being a fighter.
Speaker B:I want to see the other different roles that'd be better than anything.
Speaker B:It's like right now, if you see Ryan Reynolds in any movies, he will be the same character no matter what movie you see.
Speaker A:He's.
Speaker A:He's Ryan Reynolds with a different costume each time.
Speaker A:Exactly.
Speaker B:I cannot get rid of that.
Speaker B:It's almost like, oh, I'm looking at the same person over and over again.
Speaker B:I forget the character's name.
Speaker B:Marvel name.
Speaker B:Deadpool.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker A:Deadpool.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I've seen that character every minute, every time, every movie.
Speaker B:No matter what movie you see him, he's the same character.
Speaker B:It's hard to get out of the mold, but.
Speaker D:Well, especially when people.
Speaker D:I mean, that's what people pay to see.
Speaker D:They pay to see.
Speaker A:That's what they expect.
Speaker A:That's what they want.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Which is.
Speaker D:Is, you know, but then he just caters to that.
Speaker D:But, you know, he made some better choices when he was younger.
Speaker D:He made some movies where he actually had a little more range.
Speaker D:But now he does seem.
Speaker A:Not Green Lantern.
Speaker B:Sure.
Speaker D:But he does seem to play a very similar wise, cracking character in almost every movie now.
Speaker B:So I can.
Speaker B:I can do this back in.
Speaker B:Back in the days.
Speaker B:Asian representation in.
Speaker B:In Hollywood is horrible.
Speaker B:That's the reason why Bruce D.
Speaker B:Only can do one type of movies.
Speaker B:You know, they play Cato and Green Hornet.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:He did offer to try to get his movie warriors, the script written up to do the show warriors.
Speaker B:And they would say no, he was going to do Kung Fu.
Speaker B:They say no, that's right.
Speaker B:I'll.
Speaker B:Leon, good friend of mine who is also in Big Charlie China.
Speaker B:The guy with a mustache.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Long hair, long mustache.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Very good friend of mine.
Speaker B:He's.
Speaker B:He wrote a story, a script about a man turned into a bug.
Speaker A:Huh.
Speaker B:Guess what?
Speaker A:Familiar.
Speaker B:Oh, yeah.
Speaker B:It did Hollywood.
Speaker A:He couldn't get it made, but somebody else did.
Speaker B:Somebody stole the idea and made a movie.
Speaker B:The Eye man.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker B:And he tried to sue them and he didn't get anywhere.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker B:It was his script.
Speaker D:Which move.
Speaker A:That's.
Speaker B:I think they called the eye the.
Speaker B:The.
Speaker B:The fly.
Speaker B:The fly.
Speaker B:Let me double check.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:But now.
Speaker D:Oh, the.
Speaker D:Jeff Gold.
Speaker D:So that was a.
Speaker A:The remake of.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker D:So he wrote.
Speaker D:He wrote a script for the.
Speaker D:For a new fly and they made it, but didn't give him credit for it.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Well, they took the idea.
Speaker B:They take the concept.
Speaker B:The concept is some of the dialogue.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker D:Wow.
Speaker B:So he's.
Speaker B:He's very much said that he.
Speaker B:He have a hard time getting any supporting role or major role because of that.
Speaker B:And this is a guy who's been.
Speaker B:Back in the days and then Brandon Lee got better, you know, in.
Speaker B:In the Sense of.
Speaker B:They got a supreme role, people recognize him and they just die off.
Speaker B:You know, unfortunately, the, the 90s become ninja, so all the Japanese actors become popular.
Speaker B: And then the, the during: Speaker B:It's become just a dead thing.
Speaker B:And now because of all the different new movies coming out that in K pop, also influencing people, like indication culture a lot more.
Speaker B:All this coming back because they feel like there's, there's.
Speaker B:And you can see Netflix a lot of Asian movies in there.
Speaker B:Yeah, there's a huge popular need for that.
Speaker B:I really want to see something different.
Speaker D:We've been watching some K dramas, but I, I think my.
Speaker D:Our favorite one is Extraordinary Attorney Wu.
Speaker D:Okay.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker D:We adore that show is so good.
Speaker A:That show is fantastic.
Speaker B:I like.
Speaker B:Yeah, I like K drama better than Chinese drama because China drama is usually 36 episodes of 46 episodes, they did a three.
Speaker D:So last year or the last couple of years, they.
Speaker D:Netflix did a.
Speaker D:The Three Body Problem miniseries, but China released one at the same time.
Speaker D:And I'm like, oh, I think I want to watch that.
Speaker D:It's.
Speaker D:It is.
Speaker D:It's like 36 episodes long.
Speaker D:But the book is like, you know, I read the book.
Speaker A:Isn't that.
Speaker A:The book isn't that long.
Speaker D:Yeah, but I, I, you know, the, the Netflix drama really just kind of glazed over it.
Speaker D:So I'm very interested to see the Chinese one because obviously 36 episodes, I get bored.
Speaker D:They're gonna do it justice.
Speaker B:They, they basically page of the store, the book or whatever Chinese drama you watch.
Speaker B:Everything is based on the.
Speaker B:The somebody script or somebody's story.
Speaker B:Somebody books.
Speaker B:They just do page by page by page by page.
Speaker A:They don't, they don't, they don't cut anything.
Speaker A:That's the same thing with like a, A lot of the Three Kingdoms series, different series.
Speaker A:They don't cut anything out.
Speaker A:They don't try, you know, because a lot of times with American scripts especially, they're like, oh, you know, that's a subplot that we really don't need, or this, that, and the other.
Speaker A:But yeah, with Chinese dramas, a lot of times they're like, nope, this is the source material.
Speaker A:Everything is important.
Speaker A:We're doing it all.
Speaker B:Unfortunately, I don't think it works on TV or movies.
Speaker B:I think it works better in script, on books, because you can sit and read it throughout the whole thing.
Speaker B:In story.
Speaker B:It get very, very, very low.
Speaker B:I get bored.
Speaker B:I had to fast forward.
Speaker B:I'm watching right now a show called I Can't Remember the Show name now Some Kind of the Coroner, which basically is based on the Tang Dynasty and the Tang dynasty.
Speaker B:It's a 36 episode.
Speaker B:I had to fast forward because I can't.
Speaker B:I can't handle it.
Speaker B:Enough talking.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Enough about the chickens, move on.
Speaker D:And then people.
Speaker D:People complain that, you know, movies, they didn't include this one part from the book and it's like, it's the exact.
Speaker D:You don't understand if they did.
Speaker D:If they included everything, you probably.
Speaker D:If they really gave you what you think you want, you're probably going to like it even less.
Speaker A:Well, well, but then, you know, that depends, right?
Speaker A:Because like look at Lord of the Rings.
Speaker B:Well, it's only three books though.
Speaker B:I mean, three.
Speaker B:Three mov.
Speaker B:Three movies and hob movies or six movies.
Speaker B:But the books is what, 20 toy books?
Speaker D:Something like that.
Speaker D:But then they.
Speaker D:They still adapted and moved and.
Speaker D:And like.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:They did change things here and there.
Speaker D:Likely tell it in.
Speaker D:In the same order because it.
Speaker D:It's just easier in that medium to tell it a certain way.
Speaker B:Well, Harry Potter stuff's got to go.
Speaker B:Harry Potter is seven movies.
Speaker A:Yeah, same thing with Harry Potter movies.
Speaker B:And then.
Speaker B:Yeah, but again, it's not the whole book page by page.
Speaker B:More like condensing each book in one story.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:No, for some reason the.
Speaker A:The Chinese dramas, they just don't do that.
Speaker D:So you're telling me I should avoid that three body problem?
Speaker B:I'd say if you want to watch, Doug, it's an interesting storyline, so go ahead and watch.
Speaker D:I love the book.
Speaker A:Well, I would say if you love the book and you want a very thorough presentation of it in a.
Speaker A:In a visual medium, then.
Speaker A:Then I think it's Netflix one.
Speaker D:The Netflix one so much that it almost wasn't the same story.
Speaker D:Yeah, it was still good.
Speaker D:I thought it was still well done, but it just was it.
Speaker A:But it wasn't the same.
Speaker A:It wasn't the book.
Speaker A:Yeah, not really.
Speaker D:It didn't have a lot of the same.
Speaker B:But before I do that, watch the Judge D mystery because it's based on a Thai dynasty and.
Speaker A:Okay, it's really good.
Speaker B:I mean it's.
Speaker B:It's just D is a.
Speaker B:It's like a Sherlock Holmes.
Speaker B:It was a crate.
Speaker B:It's a real person, not like Sherlock Holmes, real judge, very smart.
Speaker B:And then.
Speaker B:But most of the story are made up by a writer who funny enough, and European or French writer wrote the book.
Speaker B:It got very popular based on what he found the historical papers.
Speaker A:Interesting.
Speaker A:So a French author was the one that succeeded and made it famous.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Quite interesting how.
Speaker B:It's very funny.
Speaker D:Interesting.
Speaker B:But again, now you are appreciating culture.
Speaker B:You're not appropriating the culture.
Speaker D:Yeah, correct.
Speaker A:There you go.
Speaker C:And that is one of the reasons why I was asking the question, because it can.
Speaker B:The lines can be blurred very easily.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker D:Well, Johnny, we want to thank you so much for being a part of the show today.
Speaker D:It's been such a pleasure to talk to you.
Speaker D:I can't wait to come out.
Speaker D:I'm gonna try to get out there on Sunday.
Speaker D:Seems like there's a lot of stuff going on on Sunday.
Speaker A:You can see him in armor.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:If you meet at 2 o' clock, you'll see me on armor on stage at 2 o' clock.
Speaker A:Are you going to be doing any scenes from the.
Speaker A:From the movie or just.
Speaker B:Are you crazy?
Speaker B:That's too much work.
Speaker B:Look around and then walk by out the station.
Speaker D:Well, before we let you go, tell everyone how they can find you either, whether it's on social media, things like that, and then also the.
Speaker D:The festival.
Speaker B:So the Asian Festival.
Speaker B:The Cleveland Asian Festival.
Speaker B:You can find them information at the cleveland asian festival.org or you can actually search on Facebook.
Speaker B:Cleveland Asian Festival, you can find everywhere.
Speaker B:As for me, all you have to do is search for Johnny K.
Speaker B:Wu and you'll find me everywhere.
Speaker B:Or MDI film.
Speaker D:Awesome.
Speaker A:That's nice.
Speaker D:All right, well, thanks again, man.
Speaker D:It's been a pleasure having you.
Speaker B:Thank you.
Speaker A:Having been fantastic, Johnny.
Speaker A:Always good to see you, Johnny.
Speaker B:Likewise.
Speaker D:Thank you for taking the lead at the beginning with all of our technical.
Speaker A:Difficulties, Captain, my captain.
Speaker D:We still got an episode in which is awesome.
Speaker A:Nothing wrong with that.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:Let me know, Jeff, when you.
Speaker B:When you have it available online, I can help.
Speaker B:I'll be happy to share it everywhere.
Speaker B:All right.
Speaker D:Yeah, we're going to try to drop this on Wednesday.
Speaker D:So if you're.
Speaker D:You're listening to it, it's already Wednesday.
Speaker D:So thanks for listening.
Speaker D:Thanks again.
Speaker D:We'll see you guys next month.
Speaker D:Hopefully we're going to be talking to the Cleveland Guardians.
Speaker D:No, not the baseball team.
Speaker D:The original Cleveland Guardians.
Speaker D:The Roller derby.
Speaker A:Roller derby team.
Speaker D:Yeah, we're going to.
Speaker D:We met them at Fan Expo and we're hoping to talk to them on the show.
Speaker D:So stay tuned, guys.
Speaker D:We'll see you.
Speaker B:Bye.
Speaker D:Bye.
Speaker B:Bye.
Speaker A:Thanks.
Speaker A:We're waving.
Speaker A:The podcast is Real is a world Gone Geek production.
