WE DID IT

Renewed hope.  Pride.  Immense joy. 

Oozing out every pore.

I've forgotten what it feels like to actually care about what The President has to say during a public address and feel secure that he's got his head together instead of wincing like I'm at the piano recital of a blind, no-armed, no-footed man.  

I was 27 years old when I stopped caring about all matters political.  Now I'm 35.  That's a long time to come back from the void of apathy -- I could've gone through College again, twice.

I can't help but to imagine the wonderful chain of events this has set in motion.  The content of the classic Dr. Suess book "Oh, The Places You'll Go" has just 'clicked' in the minds of so many more young children.  Inner city youths who will now have another feasible aspiration once thought unattainable -- from them will rise a new bumper crop of leaders and pillars of society that will experience the intelligence, eloquence and empathy of a leader who was raised and loved by a white grandmother but yet was also exposed to her racism and fear towards African Americans. 

You can't just conjure up life-experiences like that which pertain to a country as diverse as ours.  There is no simulator to figure out ways to solve issues like these unless you've lived it. 

And now we'll have a leader in office that has... and is on a daily basis.   

But the coolest part for me personally is...

...  thinking about when my girls are old enough to be in school -- and they're looking up at the decorative borders lining the walls of their new classroom. 

The Alphabet. 

The Numbers. 

The Primary Colors. 

And that long row of US Presidential portraits. 

And now and forever, when they get to the 44th one -- they'll notice a change from that point on. 

And as those Presidential portraits accumulate over the years, my grandchildren and great-grandchildren will begin to hopefully see a new direction and growth of: diversity, equality and unity never seen before that sparked from what we as a nation did yesterday.

Halloween Short - 'THE TiVO'

For the past 10 years, Adam Green (the director of "Hatchet") has filmed a Halloween short for his supporters/family/friends - and it's garnered quite a cult following since.  This year, he was awesome enough to ask me to come and play.  So I present to you, The TiVO -- enjoy!

I love doing sketch/short stuff like this -- used to do it all the time with friends at college.  It also reminded me of the fun times I had shooting "Asia Street Comedy" a few years ago on the now defunct AZN Channel. 

My favorite parts are all the stuff that they added in postproduction.  Like with the stabbing scene at the end, on that take I had decided to: stab, sob, then start viciously stabbing again -- and in post, they added in TiVO noises in between to hint at TiVO being still alive, hence justifying my second wave of stabbings, Paul Solet adding his funny quips in between my phone conversations, syncing TiVO "boops" to its footsteps walking backwards after watching me sleep --  I love collaborative moments like that, where everyone pitches in to elevate the project as a whole.  

In three weeks I'll be getting back in the saddle with Adam again to shoot a pilot for XBox Live subscribers playing a cop in "Fairy Tale Police" with Rachael Leigh Cook as my partner.  It looks to be a darn fun time again.  Pretty sure I'm not supposed to reveal anything but let's just say we get to pull over a certain Jolly Bearded Man's sleigh and interrogate some reindeer!

If you dug the short above, last year's Halloween short, which I make reference to on the phone in "The TiVO", you can find here: The Tiffany Problem.  And the short the year before that, here: King in the Box.  Happy Halloween!

THE *SPARK*

This week Republican Presidential Nominee John McCain, running mate Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Rudy Giuliani and a laundry list of GOP-ers are out in full attack mode at the Republican National Convention in Minnesota -- each taking turns to poke at rival Democratic Presidential Nominee, Barack Obama with a majority of their "witty" statements fixated on this point:

"He's [Barack] never run a city, never run a state, never run a business, never run a military unit. He's never had to lead people in crisis," said former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.  "This is not a personal attack ... it's a statement of fact — Barack Obama has never led anything. Nothing. Nada."

As true as that may be, I find it humorous that they've all selectively darted around the fundamental definition of a leader.  It's a definition that's taught in any basic Management class, which is: 

Leadership is when others follow you because they want to, not because they have to.

A great leader inspires people to want to be better.  To want to stand up from the mire of apathy and cynicism that they've languished in for the past 8 years.  Hell, to get me off my a$$ to blog in support after enjoying 2 1/2 months of inactivity!  And 85,000 patriotic Americans in a packed stadium at last week's Democratic National Convention in Denver showed in spades how much they wanted to follow this man's lead.  

Additionally, good leaders are also good delegators.  I don't think anyone will doubt the enthusiasm and competancy level of the best minds this country has to offer, in every field, that will be clambering to work with Obama and can choose to surround himself with. 

Because really, when all is said and done, this country can pretty much run itself on autopilot regardless of whomever is in office.  Local governments are in place, tax dollars are allocated into different areas, all the cogs and gears that make this country move will continue to grind away.  Leaders will nudge us towards certain directions, etc.

But to have a reawakened interest in wanting to actively take part in shaping changes in this country for the better as opposed to just 'waiting out' an incumbent's term -- it's that intangible *spark* that has been missing, at least in my life since 2001, and been replaced by Barack Obama.  This man not only has the rare perspective of a minority (that you can really only possess by actually being a minority) but also the pulse and the heartbeat of the majority. 

Not to discount the support or service to this country John McCain has established but hey, it's gotta say something when arguably one of the most conservative political minds ever, Pat Buchanan, who has said stuff like this -- can't stop gushing over how great Obama's speech last week was. 

Yeah, yeah, I know he was only 'giving his opinion on the merits of Obama's speech' and 'doesn't consider him a good Presidential candidate' despite the praise. 

But let's go back to the videotape and look at his body language (especially at the 1:35 & 2:00 marks).  

The old man's excited. 

No two ways about it.  I play ALOT of poker and man, if that ain't an obvious tell like Teddy KGB chompin' on his oreoes cuz he's got a made hand (see: "Rounders") -- I don't know what is!  The hairs on the back of his neck got prickled -- but because of who he is,  he could never publicly endorse Obama no matter what he felt. 

No, he's got to put on his GOP game face and man-up.   Like Mitt Romney eating humble pie after losing his Presidential bid and having to publicly support McCain.   Like Ben Affleck having to say "This is the best movie I've ever worked on" during the press junket of "Paycheck". 

Unfortunately, we all know how the game's played being exposed to it so many times during the past 8 years -- nothing but spin, spin, spin.  Hearing the publicist make their statement and then trying to listen and decipher what the real story is beneath the 'official' press release. 

But it's that *spark*, the one that momentarily cracked the Grand Old Party's Pat Buchanan usual demeanor, and is lighting up something in others as well, that is going to get my vote come November.

Make sure you're registered to make a decision. 

ProjectMichelle.com

Michelle Maykin is 26 years old.  Diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia in February 2007, Michelle underwent chemotherapy for seven months but relapsed in May 2008.

She now needs to find a bone marrow match to save her life. You could be that person. Please consider registering as a bone marrow donor. To learn more, visit projectmichelle.com.

IT'S PING-PONG TIME!

Last week I mentioned the MADtv sketch, "Attitudes and Feelings, Both Desireable and Sometimes Secretive" that I shot.  Well, here it is!  I come in at the 2:30 mark.  Props to my mom and aunt for helping me with the Cantonese.  Enjoy!

MAASU, MADtv and... KORI

Just got back this weekend from speaking and workshopping at MAASU (Midwestern Asian American Student Union) and had a great time.  As most may be aware, in my workshops I have the participants "audition" for the roles that my colleagues and I read for as actors -- both the good and the bad. 

In doing so, it gives folks a real sense of how these roles seen by millions of viewers and will ultimately and subtly "trickle down" to the mass public's perception of Asian Americans.  That seeing an Asian American character described for the 20th time as:

"Office I.T. guy, nerdy and shy.  Awkward around women.  However has the ability to access information with lightning speed" or "fiercely intelligent (a nerd, even), and asexual" 

Leads to real-life statistics like this:

The authors of "Freakonomics" did a study of women who dated online and found 97% of white women preferred white men but responded equally to profiles of Hispanic Men if they made $77k+ more, Black Men if they made $154k+ and Asian Men if they made $247k or more. 

In the workshops, I ask folks how did the Asian American Male become so undesirable -- that only having a quarter million dollars in his pocket could even things out? 

My theory is it comes largely from the roles that are inundated in a medium that is seen all over the country and now the world with sites like YouTube.  Because honestly, who'd want to be with a guy whose fingers are only magic on the computer keyboard and not in the bedroom? 

So my intent in doing these workshops is to expose the future leaders and pillars of society to what is going on in the real world so that when they actually are in a position to do something about it 15 or 20 years from now... they'll hopefully do so. 

Anyway, it's always inspiring to see the younger generation get gung-ho about being proactive.  However, I do often wonder about how many follow-though once every day life gets to 'em after college.

Then a few weeks ago, Bobby Lee invited me into the Korean Drama parody sketch world of "Attitudes and Feelings, Both Desireable and Sometimes Secretive" on MADtv. 

Here's where they left off in the storyline last season and the saga will continue with Bobby, Sung Kang, Cathy Shim and myself (speaking Chinese in a Korean Drama, natch!) this Saturday, April 5th on MADtv, 11/10 central on FOX!  Not to give anything away but I can tell you the sketch has something to do with Ping-Pong! 

I saw Bobby at an event two Christmas' ago, and told him how much I loved the 'Attitudes' sketches to which he replied, "You wanna do one?"  To which I replied, "Hell yeah!"  And lo and behold, 15 months later when there was an opening, he was true to his word. 

When I met comedian Danny Cho at MAASU this weekend, he said Bobby did the same thing for him -- getting him in as "Pongo" on his Thailand Cable Access sketch on MADtv.  Check out when Danny cuts in on Carmen "Electrica" at 4:38 during the slow dance at the end.  Cracks me up all the time and apparently Carmen too - Danny told me that was part was all improvised.

Granted, the stuff isn't Shakespeare but here's a guy that's at least trying to use his position on a show to integrate as many Asian faces as possible and being a generous guy lending a hand out.  Good lookin' out, Bobby!

And then finally -- it happened again 2 weeks ago.  Low amniotic fluids in my wife's belly.  Baby needs to come out 3 weeks early.  Sound familiar?  Well that's because the same thing happened 3 years ago with Avery!

Although this time we got to schedule the C-section the next day!  Got to go home, shower, pack a bag.  24 hours notice -- sheesh, cake walk.  Anyway, please welcome... Kori Layne Shen at 5lbs 10oz, 19 inches long. 

Avery's been a great big sis so far. 

I took her to see "Horton Hears a Who" last week since I was going to miss her B-Day speaking at MAASU and this time I got her a pair of earmuffs to wear because the theater's loud sound system just freaks her out. 

She asked if Kori could come.  I said, "No, she's too small."  And she retorted, "But I'll share my earmuffs with her!"  Aww.  I have feeling I'm in store for a lot more "Aww" moments in the near future.

MARRIAGE PROPOSAL

I posted this 4 years ago explaining how I worked in my marriage proposal into the pier scene of "Better Luck Tomorrow" before the film ever came out.  However, this was before the advent of YouTube and describing it verbally or in text just never seemed to do it justice. 

I always thought it'd be cool for hard-core fans of the film to see it and I even suggested to MTV Films to include it as a hidden Easter Egg on the "BLT" Dvd but was shot down after being told of the escalating costs of getting the rights to the Backstreet Boys background music, paying actors, etc. 

But two days ago, I learned how to upload videos from my camera for a montage for Kollaboration this Saturday -- so as a result: Here it is below!

The Prep: I wrangled the "BLT" guys together to reshoot the scene under the pier.  Wrote a little script, got the director, Justin Lin, to work out the same camera angles.  Kept the continuity of the scene by sticking a tissue in my left nostril (since my character had a major nose bleed in the prior scene), went to Macy's to purchase the same clothes so they'd match, etc. 

The Plan: was to mail the tape to MYSELF, telling my then girlfriend that Justin had mailed me the newly re-cut scene of the cast under the pier. 

Then we'd watch the new footage -- and this time, instead of the gun being in the box (as it is in the theatrical release) -- a ringbox is there.  And when I turn towards the camera and the girl (Zooey Deschanel)  "throws" the ringbox off-screen and says, "Now, get down on one knee..." -- my real-self, OUTSIDE the TV screen, would pretend to have caught the ringbox. 

In reality, I would have the ringbox palmed in my hands to make "the catch" through the TV screen appear seamless.  I'd pause the tape (as my on-screen persona instructs me to do) and then propose in real-life, with ring in hand.  When she would hopefully say 'Yes', I'd unpause the tape and the cast on the TV screen would cheer.  Make sense?

But as we all know, things hardly ever go as planned.  Here's --

What actually happened: While Kim, my then girlfriend, was watching TV -- I opened the package with the tape.  I had the ringbox in my pocket ready to do "the catch".  Summing up the all acting ability I could muster, I coolly announced, "Hey look. Justin just sent me a tape of our reshoot footage under the pier.  Wanna see it?"

Now I must preface -- this was in November 2001 and the biggest cliffhanger on television at the time was on a show from the defunct WB called "Felicity".  And America was waiting on baited breath to see if Felicity (Keri Russell) would finally choose to be with her dependable Resident Advisor, Noel (Scott Foley) or long-time crush, Ben (Scott Speedman).  So her answer to my question was, "No!  I want to see who Felicity chooses!" 

Hmph.

So I proceeded to wait in my office for 30 MORE minutes (with ringbox still in pocket) until I heard her say, "Okay, we can watch your stupid re-shoot footage now."  (Keep in mind she'd already seen several cuts of the film at this point.)

I popped in the tape and the scene unfolded:  Roger Fan gives me the box, I open it, the ring's inside, Jason smacks me on the head (superhard, by the way.  Which I futilely attempt to shake off) I turn to camera and start gushing about all these feelings I have trapped inside, etc. 

And what was her response?

"Omigosh.  This is sooo lame..."  She actually thought the footage was real.  She thought Justin had switched the entire plot and now my character in the movie was proposing to my on-camera love interest Stephanie (Karin Anna Cheung).  Yes, even despite the obvious format change from Film to DV, the cheesy music playing underneath and looking DIRECTLY into the camera.   It was only until she saw Zooey Deschanel pop into frame (who I shot a movie with called, "The New Guy" and was in no way, any part of "BLT") did she realize that she was in the midst of a marriage proposal.  She exclaimed, "No way, no way..." and the rest played out perfectly.

But of course, since I already had all the guys there -- I had to have a bit more fun with the whole thing.  So as you can see, we had a ball shooting the "Plan B: In Case She Says No" sketch playing up Zooey and my makeout scene in "The New Guy" along with the "Deleted Scene". 

I love Justin popping out from behind the camera, Sung's non-verbal improvisation at the end of "Plan B" mouthing, "The ring's small but hey, whatcha gonna do?" and I still crack up every time Roger yells, "You will love her!" at the end of the last scene.  Fun, fun sh*t.

Anyway, thanks goes out to Evan Leong, Fabian Marquez, Justin, Roger, Sung, Jason and Zooey for making this an awesome memory for all time.

So if you're a fan of the movie, enjoy!  Nothing like good 'ole illegal, viral material (wait a second, I just realized - that besides the 5 sceonds at the top, all this stuff was orginally shot by us - so no studio studio owns it)!  And to this day, I still don't know who the heck Felicity did wind up choosing.

"HATCHET" on DVD - Dec 18th

The release of a film's DVD is pretty much the close of a project's journey. 

The DVD will be out everywhere on Dec 18th - so check it out on Netflicks, Blockbuster, Amazon, Best Buy (comes with a Hatchet Keychain) etc.  This is the unrated version that originally scored us an NC-17 rating with the MPAA for basically showing a  monster chasing kids around a swamp while other movies like "Saw IV" got an R-rating even though it depicts a guy being fed his own private parts.   Weird set of standards.

The film did very well in major cities like NY and LA - where we were actually the number one film that weekend in those theaters. 

However, we opened too wide in the first weekend -- in almost 80 theaters. 

So while we were pulling in $10,000 per theater in the major cities, the dozen theaters in places like Texas sat totally empty because we had no promotion.  Thus, those empty seats diluted our per screen average that weekend to about $1,500 per screen - not very  impressive by any means. 

Also, an early cut of the film got leaked onto the internet that weekend and was being downloaded like crazy-- like a few thousand times an hour.  Stop the ripping, people! 

A better way in hindsight would've been to open in a handful of theaters, even just one, and allowing word of mouth to catch on in addition to having a high per screen average to intrigue the audience and press.  But $1,500 per screen just doesn't raise any eyebrows.  It was a first theatrical release for the distributors, lesson learned I suppose. 

But now it'll be on video shelves forever to hopefully become a cult hit.  A funny tidbit to close out "Hatchet" -- the distribution company ran a contest where the winner received an all expense-paid trip out to LA to have dinner with the cast and director.  Long story short... the winner was a 'sweepstakes-a-holic'.  Meaning that she just enters tons of drawings/competitions to win prizes and trips.  She hadn't even seen the film!  It was a peculiar dinner to say the very least. 

More power to her for bucking the system and scoring a free trip but would've made any horror-fan boy/girl's evening to win.  Oh, and she also won a seat to the World Series of Poker two years ago but busted out early (she wasn't a poker player).  Again!  Some poker fanboy/girl (me!) would've loved to have won that and make a real run at the final table.

But with every project that comes to an end, a new one (hopefully) begins.  Enter: The Gene Generation.  The comicbook series entitled: 'DNA Hacker Chronicles' will kickoff in January -- to strengthen the audience base for the movie.  An interesting marketing strategy.  And interestingly enough, what's increasing the chances of distribution is the current Writer's Guild Strike.  Hardly anything's being made right now and there's a shortage of movies and ours is already done! 

Here's a new sneak peek:  

Stealing the Transcoder

Add to My Profile | More Videos

THE HELMET

Several years ago, I posted a list of pop culture items I'd like to someday own in my dream house. 

And about a month ago, I finally came to the decision that wanting something for 16 years was long enough.  So I sucked it up and purchased one of those items: The Rocketeer Replica Prop Helmet.

It was pricey but in my opinion -- way worth it.  The piece is even better than I'd imagined.  It's all brass, has leather straps, weighs about 3 lbs and is antiqued to look like it was from the 1930's.  The inside is nicely lined and padded.  It's basically the helmet!

Quick synopsis for those who haven't seen the movie: The hero (Cliff Secord) discovers a stolen experimental jetpack in his possession.  Unfortunately, there's no way to control the direction of the pack once it's in motion.  So his friend fashions a helmet out of a bronze space heater with a large rudder attached so that the wearer can steer by turning his/her head.    

When I took it out of the box, this tag was attached -- it reads in bold: "DO NOT PLACE ON HEAD!"  Which I'm sure is to legally protect them if kids get hurt wearing it.  However, I found myself immediately thinking, "Um, my A** -- that's the first place this sucker's going on!" 

I think it's a work of art that perfectly encapsulates and melds my love comics and movies. It's got absolutely no practical purpose whatsoever - but with something this cool, you just gotta shrug your shoulders and say, "Who Cares?"

I keep it in my office as my muse when I'm writing or editing the Secret Identities Anthology (each index card on the bulletin board represents on of the 28 different stories/creative teams in The Anthology and helps me keep track of what scripts/art we have from who, etc).  And the helmet is my thinking cap... well, that's what I tell my wife anyway.

Don't worry, I'm not planning to go overboard with this thing like this guy or this guy or even this guy.  However, the custom arcylic display case I ordered is on it's way.  I mean, I have to protect my investment, right?  

As you can see, Avery's gotten some influence in the superhero department as well.  We just found this cool Superman poncho/bath towel for her.  Look at the cape - it's the perfect length!  Saves me from having to tie a bulky towel or blanket around her neck that never winds up looking right in the first place. 

We go 'flying' around the house a lot these days, especially with the current Writer's Strike going on. 

And I'm sure we'll wrangle in her baby sister into our duo when she's born in April.  Afterall,  I've still got the Supergirl Onesie for her that my pal Ryan over at Blacklava made for me when Avery was a 'lil pup.

So yes, you read correctly -- we'll be expecting another Shen Girl in the household come next April.  Interestingly enough, that's also when the Secret Identities Anthology is due into the publisher. 

I recently was at a Finishing the Game event and told some folks about the baby and was also pitching the Anthology to an artist.  I mentioned that the book had an "April delivery date" -  and someone overheard and said, "Oh, for your baby right?"  And I replied, "Oh yeah... that too," realizing for the first time that I in fact have two delivery dates for April!

Anyway, you can catch more of me within the comic realm tomorrow, Wednesday, Nov 28th on CBS' CRIMINAL MINDS at 9pm ET/PT when I'll be guest starring as Bobby Kim, Frankie Muniz's demanding literary agent.  Muniz plays a popular comic book artist who is involved in the search for a serial killer.