Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos was screened at the Reel Asian International Film Festival, which was likely the last time we get to see the Elric brothers in action. As a parting gift, we present to you what we thought were the Top 10 Moments of Fullmetal Alchemist.

Granted that there are many great moments throughout the Fullmetal saga, it was hard to pick only ten. More importantly, this list MOST DEFINITELY CONTAINS SPOILERS.

10. Hohenheim and Father’s origins.

After episodes (and chapters) of wondering why Father has the same face as Honhenheim, we get to see the origins of these two mysterious characters. It turns out that these two timeless figures were once friends, only to have an entire civilization wiped out, due to the greed of a “little one in the flask”. Hohenheim was forced to continue living with the souls of Xerxes citizens trapped inside of him, only to await the birth of his two sons to end it once and for all. The creation of Amestris, the Philosopher’s Stone, and countless wars were spearheaded by a little creature with a collosal God complex.

9. Alphonse sacrifices himself to revive Edward’s lost arm.

Close to the end of the Fullmetal Alchemist story, we are finally awarded with something we’ve been waiting for throughout the entire series – Edward getting his arm back! In desperation, after Ed is immobilized by a rebar impaling his left arm, Alphonse utilizes Mai’s long-distance Alkahestry to tramsmute his soul in exchamge for his brother’s long lost right arm. Renouncing loudly his younger brother’s idiotic decision, Ed valiantly fights back against Father with his reacquired right arm to end an epic battle with style.

8. Mustang incinerates Lust.

Just a fiery and intense battle between Colonel Roy Mustang and the Homunculus Lust. At first, Mustang getes stabbed in the gut by Lust, only to burn his wounds together and return the pain hundred-fold to the slutty monster. After a continuous sequence of explosions, Mustang was able to wear out the lives of Lust’s Philosopher’s Stone and claim victory to be the first to successfully kill a Homunculus.

7. Mustang takes revenge on Envy. Envy commits suicide.

Revenge is best served with FIRE! Mustang’s long awaited meeting with Envy was expected to be a fire-filled bloodbath celebrating the revenge taken for the late Maes Hughes, his best friend. Except, a few unexpected elements were added, including Mustang’s painful resistance from killing the conniving Homunculus, and also Envy’s eventual decision to take his own life. Not only did we see the moral side to this battle, where Mustang almost fell into darkness by killing for revenge, but also the sad and cruel truth of surrounding Envy. He has known for so long that humans will turn on each other when push comes to shove. But once the Fullmetal crew showed him the truly beautiful quality about humanity, it is revealed how envious Envy felt towards them.

6. Selim revealed as Pride.

This was possibly the biggest reveal of the series. Unlike the 2003 anime, where they misnamed a few Homunculi, revealing that the innocent-faced Selim Bradley as the First Homunculus was a jaw-dropping moment and a very high point in the series. Surprisingly, it was Lieutenant Hawkeye who first noticed the eerie air surrounding the Fuhrer’s son. This was also the first time we get to see Pride’s power and reach, where an ever-expanding abyssal creature with multiple mouths and eyes can spawn from Selim’s small stature.

5. Father opens the Gates of Truth of Heaven and Earth to obtain “God”

Fullmetal Alchemist at its epic finest in this scene. Utilizing the 5 human sacrifices (Ed, Al, Hohenheim, Izumi, Mustang) and the nationwide trasmutation circle surrounding Amestris, Father was able to open the Gates of Truth belonging to the Earth, which responded with the Gates of the Heavens, causing them to open as well. The planetary and celestial gates resonated with each other and Father was able to pull the “entity beyond the Gate”, whom he called God, into himself, along with thousands of souls of Amestrians. In short, he swallowed God whole.

4. Shou Tucker tramutes his daughter and dog into a chimera.

Early in the series and we’re shown what chilling dark waters Fullmetal Alchemist can take us. The Sewing-Life Alchemist, Shou Tucker, seemed friendly at first, but really is a psychopath whose skewed perception of success ruined his family and his life. Unable to provide convincing work leading up to his annual State Alchemist assessment, he resorts to transmuting his young daughter and his dog into a chimera who can speak. Toying with life at its finest, and most screwed up.

3. Edward finds Alphonse’s decaying body

Edward escapes the depths of Gluttony’s stomach by transmuting himself, ending up in front of the Gates of Truth once again. He then turns around and discovers another set of Gates opposite his own, and sitting in front of them was none other than Al’s malnourished body. Unable to bring it back without Al’s soul, he utters these powerful words, “Someday, I’ll definitely come back and get you. Just wait. Just WAIT!”

2. The ingredients to the Philosopher’s Stone.

Early on, we find out the necessary ingredients of creating the Philosopher’s Stone – living human beings. This legendary alchemic amplifier that was supposed to be the Elric Brothers’ key to getting their bodies back, was now not an option due to its barbaric contents. This was the point in the series where we find out Fullmetal Alchemist is much deeper than you see on the surface, and it only got deeper.

1. Hughes’ untimely demise.

This scene was probably the moment where many fell in love, and dropped their jaws, with Fullmetal Alchemist. It was an sad scene, but a pivotal one, that distinguished FMA from any anime series or manga of its time. Lieutenant Colonel Maes Hughes was the first to discover the nationwide conspiracy (that came to fruition towards the end of the series, check 5.), which sadly lead to his death. After a bloody fight with the homunculus Lust, he enters a phone booth attempting to notify Mustang of the conspiracy, only to be stopped by Envy, who took the appearance of his wife and shot him in cold blood.

Looking back, Arakawa-sensei’s decision to kill off a major character without any chance of resurrection, was extremely gutsy and unheard of at the time. This paved the way for success on all platforms for the franchise, marking Fullmetal Alchemist as an epic tale that was uniquely entertaining.

Spoilers end.

For more Fullmetal Alchemist goodness, check out our review on the entire franchise back when it came to an end over a year ago – Fullmetal Alchemist: A Closed Gate – A Review.

Philbert: @philbertlui
Banana Times: @bananatimes
Reel Asian: @reelasian

As a member of the Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival’s marketing committee, I’ve been given the awesome opportunity of reviewing films from this year’s lineup leading up to the festival. It is also an honor to be a part of Reel Asian’s very special 15th year (November 9 – 19). Up next, SAIGON ELECTRIC.

A realistically desolate story about a North Korean refugee, Jeong Seung-chul, who struggles to survive in Seoul, South Korea, The Journals of Musan is a drab portrait of a man desperately trying to find a better life in the endlessly cruel world of capitalism. Unable to find any respectable employment due to his North Korean identity card, Seung-chul is forced to post sleazy sex fliers across the city.

Unlike his roommate also from the North, Kyung-chul, who embraces the contrasting lifestyle of the big city through cheating and stealing, Seung-chul finds a little relief in a local church where he develops feelings for the pretty Sook-young. Even when he begins to work in the same karaoke bar as Sook-young, Seung-chul is constantly harassed by rival poster-boys, superiors, and his roommate, only to find comfort by adopting a stray white dog. With struggles coming in all directions, Seung-chul realizes the moral difficulties with adapting to the modern world.

Written, directed, and starred by Park Jung-bum, The Journals of Musan is a film about a topic that will never be in low demand. The tension between North and South Korea is ongoing and may be considered repetitive at times, but it will never be irrelevant. Adopting a very effective cinéma vérité visual style with hand-held DV images, which at times seems unexpectedly too truthful, catapults the hard-hitting realism of Seung-chul’s hardships into an almost painful perspective. Directed and acted superbly by Park Jung-bum, even among the constant traffic of Seoul, Park was able to create a palpable and bleak slice of a North Korean defector’s life, rather than a traditional story that goes from beginning to end.

Get your tickets to THE JOURNALS OF MUSAN (Sat Nov 12th 12pm) at Reel Asian here!

Philbert: @philbertlui
Banana Times: @bananatimes
Reel Asian: @reelasian 

As a member of the Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival’s marketing committee, I’ve been given the awesome opportunity of reviewing films from this year’s lineup leading up to the festival. It is also an honor to be a part of Reel Asian’s very special 15th year (November 9 – 19). Up next, SAIGON ELECTRIC.

Set in Saigon, the story begins with Mai, a traditional ribbon dancer who moves to the big city from the countryside with the goal of being accepted to the national dance academy. Unable to overcome her nerves, she fails her audition but befriends a street-smart hip-hop dancer, Kim, and the rest of her crew – Saigon Fresh.

The Fresh crew aims to compete internationally in South Korea but first they must defeat the reigning national champions at the Samsung Challenge, North Killaz from Hanoi, in order to represent Vietnam. Leading up to the challenge, Kim gets involved with a wealthy boy named Hai, and begins to distance herself from her friends. To make things worse, the youth centre they practice in is on the verge of being made into a hotel. With all these problems piling up, the outcome of the Samsung Challenge becomes more and more important.

In his sophomore feature, Stephane Gauger paints a vivid picture of youth dance culture in the bustling streets of Saigon. Although the narrative of the film may seem familiar, the characters in Saigon Electric highlight the class difference still existent in Vietnam, and in many other parts of Asia. Where Hanoi’s North Killaz “dance because they have nothing better to do”, Saigon Fresh dance because they have to. All three major characters of Mai, Kim and Do-Boy come from broken families, and they all seek refuge in dance and their youth centre. Gauger displays the growing phenomenon of hip-hop in Asia through a Vietnamese lens, showing how not only hip-hop, but also any art, should not be considered as a road to delinquency but a sanctuary for expression.

Get your tickets to SAIGON ELECTRIC at Reel Asian at the links below:
Toronto screening (Fri Nov 11th 8:45pm) or the Richmond Hill screening (Sat Nov 19th 1:30pm)

Philbert: @philbertlui
Banana Times: @bananatimes
Reel Asian: @reelasian 

As a member of the Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival’s marketing committee, I’ve been given the awesome opportunity of reviewing films from this year’s lineup leading up to the festival. It is also an honor to be a part of Reel Asian’s very special 15th year (November 9 – 19). Up now, SURROGATE VALENTINE.

Goh Nakamura plays Goh Nakamura in this very sweet film, where he resides in a place no guy ever wants to be in, but likely has been before – The Friend Zone. Surrogate Valentine follows Goh through his mundane life as a singer-songwriter in San Francisco, until it is talkatively interrupted by television actor, Danny Turner (Chadd Stoops). Danny shadows Goh as they tour the West Coast to methodically study the laid-back and quiet persona of the musician, for an upcoming movie role. Reluctantly placed in this odd road-trip pairing, Goh finds an unexpected friendship and new inspiration to get back the one that got away, Rachel (Lynn Chen).

In Goh Nakamura’s acting debut, he didn’t have to travel far to be present and entertaining on screen. Without much need to step into the skin of another character, it is clear that Nakamura’s innate real-life personality is quirky and wordlessly funny, so much so that he naturally carries the film. Driving the story just as well is Chadd Stoops, who portrays the overcompensating and annoyingly narcissistic Hollywood caricature in Danny Turner. The juxtaposition of the chilled out Goh and the cartoonish Danny was a delight to watch, showing that chemistry can be created even with distinct contrasts in character.

What Director Dave Boyle has done in this film was a clever repackaging of the overused “the girl that got away” plot. Instead of having it as the driving force of the narrative, which has been beaten to death by Hollywood rom-coms, Boyle seamlessly slips it in and out of the foreground to shift the focus onto his two leading men when needed. But when it comes down to it, Goh’s true motivation is blatantly Rachel. With the tasteful support of black and white visuals, and the white-on-rice compatibility of Goh’s own soundtrack, this well done indie comedy teaches us two very important lessons: If you’re a guy and you find the right girl, go for it. And if you’re a girl, be aware of the friend zone, it’s not fun to be in.

Get your tickets to SURROGATE VALENTINE at Reel Asian right here!

Philbert: @philbertlui
Banana Time: @bananatimes
Reel Asian @reelasian
Goh: @gohnakamura

As a member of the Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival’s marketing committee, I’ve been given the awesome opportunity of reviewing films from this year’s lineup leading up to the festival. It is also an honor to be a part of Reel Asian’s very special 15th year (November 9 – 19). First up, BLEAK NIGHT.

This South Korean film tells the tale of three best friends in an all-boys high school. The relationship between Ki-tae, Dong-yoon and Hee-june (aka Becky) is playful, based on insults, and at times violent. On the surface it is nothing out of the ordinary, but underneath lies a tension that causes a sudden rift between the trio. Not knowing how this conflict presented itself, these friends began to misunderstand each other and soon became divided, which sadly lead to tragedy. The victim’s father is then left to find the cause of this misfortune.

Director Yong Sung-hyun tackles the sensitive topic of suicide for his directorial debut, and he does so very carefully and ambiguously and resulted in a very honest piece of storytelling. Told non-linearly, rightfully complimented with hand-held documentarian camera work, as the viewer we tend to watch the narrative unfold through the perspective of the father. Like him, we slowly put the pieces of the story together through flashbacks, in attempt to find out why misfortune befell these three best friends.

At the young age of 29, Director Yong shows incredible promise in his future in filmmaking. BLEAK NIGHT displays the entailing complexity in taking one’s life and the subjectivity of teenage angst, such as in reality, there is never a clear answer to why a young mind would resort to suicide. Even as the film cuts to black, we cannot pinpoint the direct cause to the story’s sad events. Spearheaded by incredible performances by Lee Je-hoon, Park Jeong-min, and Jo Seong-ha (Ki-tae, Becky, Dong yoon respectively), the film was injected with a blatant adolescent voice rarely seen in recent cinema. Even on less bleak nights, friendships are fragile, and words are more damaging than they seem.

Get your tickets to BLEAK NIGHT at Reel Asian in the links below:
Toronto screening (Sat Nov 12th 2:45pm) or the Richmond Hill screening (Sat Nov 19th 4pm)

Philbert: @philbertlui
Banana Times: @bananatimes
Reel Asian: @reelasian 

Kollaboration Toronto is entering its 6th year and I am proud to be a big part of it. This is a video I made to highlight the lineup of this year’s show:’

If you didn’t notice, you may remember Ally & Kevin from several Heroic Melon productions such as expert.ordinary and the second season of the Awkward Compilation. Please support this global movement of “Empowerment Through Entertainment”! Save the date! March 12th 2011 at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre.

The finalists are: AJ Libramonte, Ally & Kevin, I Rock With The One, Patrick Simeon and Piano With A Beat

Featuring special guests: Boombox Saints, Esly, krNfx, J Reyez and Clara C as the headliner.

Tickets are available here!

www.kollaborationTO.org

-phibz.

To my fellow Bananas! Every felt like the “white” part of your cultural identity was undermined by your “more Asian” friends and family? Our Heroic Melon friend, Kevin, does a short video blog regarding that look people give you when you don’t display the appropriate amount of Asian knowledge or demeanor.

It usually boils down to language when this look of disapproval appears. Even in the 21st century, generational misunderstandings still exists between those who can speak their ethnic tongue and those who can not. Granted, with any language barrier there are bound to be linguistic misunderstandings. But in this case, the differences lie in a judgemental perception the older generation of Asians have on the younger generation of Asians. And this is where the term “banana” came about. A mildly derogatory term used to describe a younger generation of Asians whom the older generation thought were too influenced by Western cultures and societies. But today, we embrace this derogatory term as an identity to be proud of. Even if some of us can’t speak our mother tongue, we still proudly embrace the fact that we have Asian and Western traits within us.

Tell us your stories of people giving you the “Asian look of disapproval”! We’d love to hear it.

Cheers.

-phibz.

Its been a little dry on the blog side of The Banana Times as of late, but I assure you its for good reason. Just bask yourselves on poster above and you’ll know its for good reason. Before I get into what I’ve been working on in the past 2 weeks, I first want to promise I will write reviews on all the amazing films I watched at the Reel Asian International Film Festival, just as soon as things ease up a little.

Now, I am happy to say that I am once again part of the amazing movement of Kollaboration Toronto for their upcoming 6th annual show in March 2011. This year I will reprise my duties in producing videos for Kollaboration Toronto as well as being part of the marketing team. I can already FEEL the excitement of this year’s show, because I know it will be awesome. Here are the two videos I’ve proudly done for them so far. Pump. It. UP!

Kollaboration Toronto 2011 Volunteer Video
A mash-up and montage of sorts, highlighting the success of the Kollaboration movement across 11 North American cities (the video is missing Boston, I sincerely apologize..). Did you know Far East Movement was a winner at one of the Kollaborations in LA? Yes. The guys who brought you LIKE A G6 and ROCKETEER (:

An Interview with ESLY – Winner of Kollaboration Toronto 2010
A short interview with last year’s champion of Kollaboration Toronto 2010. She shares her relationship with Kollaboration, what it has done for her, and her overall musical background.

So what are you waiting for? Log on to the Kollaboration Toronto website and get your friends, families, foes to audition! Keep this movement alive! Empowerment through Entertainment. This year’s gonna be huge. 100% guarantee. Stay tuned!

-phibz.

PS: It’s not to say that I didn’t have some time to myself. I carved for American Thanksgiving (:

After working three days straight with TorontoALPHA’s historic Educator’s Conference 3 weekends ago, I had a lot to think about. There were a lot of thoughts roaming around inside my head regarding the events of World War II in Asia and how it is lost in most history books. A lost chapter in history it seems. So I tried to relate with the many scholars, speakers, and brilliant minds who voiced their thoughts throughout the conference, but ultimately, I couldn’t relate. Due to my lack of experience and knowledge with history and anything political, I did as I always did, I listened and admired. The only way I could relate is to connect with my own perspective and my own story. I had to see everything through the lens of a Banana. And thus, I wrote down a speech of sorts, and I voiced it in front of a camera. Enjoy.

A Dire & Personal Topic by Philbert Lui – A Banana’s “Embraced Contradiction” & TorontoALPHA:

The video is fairly long, but I hope you get something out of it. If you prefer reading, below is the written version of what I said (with slightly better grammar and sentence structure and more typos):

Hi there. I’m Philbert Lui of The Banana Times. This particular video blog is going to be a little different. Usually, traditional video blogs would have many cuts in the timeline to jump from shot to shot or scene to scene to make some kind of point. Well, that’s not happening today because of the nature of what I’m about to talk about, I feel that this has to be uncut just so my train of thought is evident.

For those of you who have been following my personal twitter account or the Banana Times twitter account, you might know that I have been working for TorontoALPHA. Now TorontoALPHA is a non-profit organization aiming to promote the education of the events of World War II in Asia. And three weekends ago, TorontoALPHA hosted a very significant conference for the educators of Canada and others; to help spread the word on this lost chapter of history.

Now, to summarize, or to attempt to summarize any of the topics and amazing speeches seen at the conference would do the entire event injustice. Due to the amount brilliant minds that congregated at the conference, me trying to relay any of it would be feeble and quite offensive. So in order to shed any light on the event, on what I learned and on what I feel, I would have to speak from my perspective. For the few people who actually read The Banana Times blog or watches our once-in-a-blue-moon video on Youtube, may have noticed that I take pride in recognizing my own bias and that I embrace the contradictions within myself.

When I say being a contradiction, I mean it on several levels. For one, I think many people who assimilate with the Banana identity, whether you think you’re completely Westernized on the inside or that you feel like you’re multicultural on the inside, sometimes unknowingly lack the understanding that you are on some level a contradiction. Now I say and mean this in the most inoffensive way I possibly can. When I say you or people, in this context, are a contradiction, it is not an insult or an attack. Rather I think it is something to be embraced, and is also what my team and I strives for in The Banana Times. Being a Banana requires a capacity to embody more than one set of cultural values and attitudes beyond your native Asian identity, thus making you a liaison between certain boundaries of society. Being a person of Asian descent and be influenced and inspired by Western cultures and societies, in its very basic, traditional and prejudice form, is a contradiction. But going back to the origins of the term “banana”, it was used by an older generation of Asians who considered themselves purely Asian, against a younger generation who have been brought up or influenced by Western cultures. In short, it’s a derogatory term. And yet today, we embrace it with pride. And with that pride comes an embraced contradiction. An acceptance that with this nation-less but global label, comes the ability to withstand conflicting forces of culture, society, politics, gender within yourself. A power to hold and contain contradiction, which otherwise have been deemed negative by many others.

Now even though I identify with this “embraced contradiction” it is only 100% guaranteed applicable to me. To say it is applicable to others is nothing less than presumptuous. With that said, I also take pride in expressing through the lens of my own bias. Everyone’s point of view, perspective or opinion is in itself a bias, and can be beneficial if embraced. Again, this is all me. I take pride in calling Craig Ferguson one of my modern day heroes because a few years back he said “I am no expert or alcoholism or anything, but I am an expert on my own story. I was there when it happened”. These two sentences stuck with me, and perhaps will continue to for as long as I live. I claim to have the ability of “embraced contradiction” and the recognition of my own bias, because this is my own story. Out of everything I will learn, or come to learn or teach in my life, I will only be an expert on one thing. Myself. And thus I take much pride in saying and indicating that I have a bias and that I walk with contradiction with whatever I express or create.

I constantly reference the “Banana” or “Banana culture” because it is a significant of my story. And being able to reflect on my own story as an expert, I discovered something. Sure, after hearing my theories on biases and inner contradictions being good things, always talking about Bananas makes a lot of sense. But this is also valid because it is a case study. Being a Banana, in my words, means you have a beneficial ability to withstand, contain, and excel with more than one set of values and attitudes within you, but this is not only applicable to Bananas. Rather, it applicable to any similar form that also has an embraced contradiction. Meaning that anyone of any race who were raised, inspired, influenced, lived in a different society or culture from their ethnic origin can have this embraced contradiction. The Banana is only a case study in which me and The Banana Times specialize in, there are many other case studies related to multicultural capacity that I would not be nearly qualified to talk about. But I urge those who are experts of their own story to explore this capacity, to embrace this contradiction, and to be proud of your own unique bias.

Now that I’ve talked a little bit about how I operate and how my mind kind of works, I’d like to return to the weekend I’ve had. TorontoALPHA held a historic and important educators conference last weekend, I believe the first of its kind since WWII, and I was lucky enough to volunteer for them as a videographer. They aim to raise global awareness on the history of WWII in Asia specifically, as many people don’t know about the atrocities that happened on that side of the world, especially those of us who grew up in the West. Many studies and books have been written about the European side of WWII with the genocide of the Jews, but there was also a similar Holocaust in Asia instigated by the Japanese Empire. And ultimately, TorontoALPHA aims to convince the Japanese government to make a sincere apology for their war crimes and admit to the atrocities they committed over 60 years ago. There were many speeches, testimonies, videos from many scholars and filmmakers, and to try to relay their knowledge would be egotistical of me.

But I would like to say this. I identify myself as a Banana. A person of Asian descent, more specifically Chinese descent, who was born in the West and have been influenced and surrounded by Western culture throughout his life, therefore creating a contradiction within myself as I said before. This contradiction is what I thrive on, and I tell stories and accounts of this contradiction through my own bias. And from this, I want to tell you something that I feel bananas are obligated to do. Learn about the events of World War II in Asia.

As members of the Banana community, we know more than one set of values and attitudes, that is our nature. But like any culture, it originates from history. The post-WWII era is a period in human history where mass-diaspora and migration increased, thus creating hybrid identities like Bananas. Not only do we need to learn about the events of WWII in Asia because of justice, but also to learn how identities such as the Banana came about. We are not only Asian or Western; we are international because of the nature of our identity. The Holocaust of Asia is not a Chinese problem, or a Japanese problem, or a Korean problem or an American problem, it is a global problem and a human problem that has yet to be resolved even after 60+ years.

Many of our grandparents were alive during WWII and without their strength and their vigor we would not be here. If there were a time where you should practice the Asian tradition of respecting your elders, this would be the time. Respect them by learning what they had to go through and what they had to endure for you to be here. Without our grandparents and their peers, Bananas would not exist. We would not exist. I would not exist.

Now what I have said comes out of the brief experience I have had with Toronto ALPHA. These are all thoughts from my own bias, and may be flawed. But if you are going to take anything way from what this contradictory, presumptuous Banana boy has said, take away this. If you believe you are a Banana, or have any other identity that enables you to have a multicultural capacity, and that you think that you have a contradiction within yourself that you can benefit and excel from, talk about it. Tell people your own story, because that’s the best tale you can tell. You are the expert of your own story. Learn more about the Holocaust in Asia and maybe that would become part of your life and part of your story as well. Banana Culture is a culture that is both local and global. If your voice is heard, it will travel far.

Good luck.

If you have any questions, feel free to shoot them my way – philbertlui@thebananatimes.com – I’ll be happy to answer them. I have to stress that everything I have said is only 100% applicable to me, for others it may be different. But even so, this is just a gathering of thoughts from a person who is trying to tell his own story, but I hope it connects with people in any way possible. Because what happened to our grandparents and forefathers during World War II in Asia must be heard and learned.

I wish you luck.

-phibz.

On July 20th, 2010, Jeremy Lin, was signed by the Golden State Warriors. After being undrafted coming out of Harvard University, the 6’3 point guard dazzled in the NBA summer leagues, including going toe to toe with the NBA’s 2010 first pick, John Wall in a summer league game against the Wizards. An American born to Taiwanese parents, his exciting and ferocious play in 5 games has turned Jeremy Lin into a fan favorite even before having an official NBA team. This, for more reasons than the average NBA fan would understand, matters.

Basketball to me has always been my favourite sport for a number of reasons. There’s pace, there’s drama, there’s tension, but most importantly, it is the most vicarious sport. Everyone has their inner athlete, or at least their yearning to become one, even though a majority of us are not athletically gifted. We go to playgrounds and rec leagues, trying an Iverson crossover, a Steve Nash behind the back, or a Lebron crab dribble drive (that’s called less and therefore easier to perform). Those who are lucky can pull off a Hakeem (and now Rondo) Dream -Shake, or God-forbid even dunk once in a while. We try these moves because we all want to be these athletes, and even though we can’t string all these athletic gifts together, we dream. It’s why we watch basketball; so that we can live vicariously through these amazing physical specimens that do what we cannot. They defy gravity. They will themselves to greatness.

This is even more important for the banana community.

There’s no arguing around it; Asians are generally less athletically gifted than most other people, and those that are are usually deemed finesse players (like in baseball), are gifted in sports that do not require pure athletic power (such as racquet sports), or need to be trained non-stop by their Government to produce results (diving, skating and gymnastics). Even back at Boston University, there was a rec league for Asian players 6’0 and under (which is about 90% of us). We need more than most others to live through our television sets, because if we can’t do, we can watch, and feel like we are taking part in something bigger than ourselves.

This is where Jeremy Lin comes in.

Yao Ming was no doubt one of the largest factors in marketing NBA and the sport of basketball to Asia, and specifically China. But even before Yao was drafted, people joked about how he was a creation of the Chinese Government, just a way to manufacture a player into the NBA like they have done in other sports. Even to some of his most die-hard fans, we were proud to finally have a Chinese star in the NBA, but didn’t really believe that a regular Chinese person ever could unless we were 7’6, never mind being put under a state controlled farm system. And this is why Jeremy Lin matters. A division II state champion in high school, Lin has always been about proving that Asians can play, and more importantly, showing that this sport can be had by the new breed of banana’s (whether it be ABC, BBC, CBC or other westernized Asians). Despite never getting a Division I scholarship or being drafted by an NBA team, Lin is trying to overcome stereotypes to realize his dream in the association, entering with a chip on his shoulder like many other Asian athletes may have had. Though he will not create a basketball buzz like Yao did back in 2002, he does have a drive and slash game that relies on his athletic gifts that previous Asian players like Yi Jian Lian, Yuta Tabuse and even Yao himself do not have; the type of game that fans of the game watch basketball for. Though he will not break all Asian stereotypes (there’s a joke I’ve heard a few times about how Asian parents wouldn’t let their children become athletes unless they graduate 4 years from an Ivy League school first), he will be an important stepping stone in proving that Asians have got game too, whether it be in dominating all-star games or contributing 10 minutes off the bench. And we all should be watching.

Just a little less vicariously this time.

-Garron
twitter/thegarz88