TAFers start a mobile funnel cake business

Hello Everyone!
My name is Jason Lee and I have been a TAFer since 1998. Fun fact, I have some 15 or more cousins who all have been to TAF as well, and one president uncle! I’ve spent the past few years as a counselor for JH and Youth.
I’ve recently graduated, but over the last four years, when I wasn’t at TAF, I was studying at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign under a created major in Asian American Film and Media. Essentially, I took lots of Asian American Studies, Media Studies, and Cinema Studies classes, and studied how they relate to representations of Asian Americans on TV, movies, magazines, and so on. For example, when our classmates judo chop at us and say “Waaaahhhh” as if it were a question, it is a direct legacy of how much influence images that people see on TV and in the movies have on people’s perception of us.
I am especially interested in how many Asian Americans like you and me are counteracting the stereotypes we see created and recreated over and over again in the media by producing music, movies, poetry, and other art that represent Asian Americans in a more three-dimensional and complex light.

You see, something I’ve heard thousands of times throughout my life is the question, “Can’t some stereotypes be good?” And my answer is this: “Stereotypes are never good because we are unique individuals and stereotypes tend to simplify us into these one-dimensional cartoon characters with very little personality”.

That’s exactly what we learn at TAF. Everyone there is Taiwanese, but as we find throughout the week, everyone is quite unique and complex and amazing in very individual ways. That’s why I want to get into film… because movies have so much power in changing perceptions. Think about your favorite movie. Is it your favorite movie because it had awesome explosions or a really hunky actor? Maybe. But it’s also your favorite because watching it made you feel a certain way. Movies have the ability to engulf its audiences and make them feel what the actors are feeling in very physical ways (i.e. when we cry, laugh, cover our eyes). That’s why, while Hollywood has created many simplifying stereotypes of Asian Americans over the years (i.e. geeky business man or subservient geisha) film can also be a great medium for giving Asian Americans more spotlight as real, unique individuals.

For my senior project, I wrote, fundraised, produced, and directed a short film that put together many of the ideas and themes that inspired me during my college career. It’s called Doughboy: Inventor. Entrepreneur. Funnel Cake Hero. It’s a twelve-minute dark comedy about an Asian American male who decides to continue his late father’s American dream of making funnel cakes as easy to find as a hot dog. So he builds a mobile funnel cake suit inspired by his ultimate hero, Data Wang from The Goonies. The reason why I wanted to write this week’s blog was because TAFers took a crucial part in making Doughboy come to life.

I raised funds to make the movie through a website called Kickstarter, where supporters back projects they like with various amounts of money in exchange for goodies that come out of the project. I was incredibly humbled by the amount of support coming out of the Taiwanese American community, including a large donation from TaiwaneseAmerican.org. By the end of the fundraising campaign, my project was 143% funded!

Then it came to production. About twenty people traveled from all parts of the country to Los Angeles to help me make Doughboy come to life. There was a little joke going around because it seemed like while all of the actors were Korean, all of the crew was Taiwanese. That is because many TAFers volunteered their time and talents to help me make my college dream project a reality.

It was a very hectic week. It seemed there was always another problem arising that we could not foresee just as we found a solution to the problem preceding it. However, a leadership quality we learn at TAF is the ability to step up where help is needed and fill in the gaps to get things done. For many of our crew members, it was about getting Doughboy made and many people volunteered to take care of the many details that needed to be done, from making funnel cakes to filling out paperwork for the Screen Actors Guild.

In the end, it was a very trying week. But it was amazing to see so many people coordinating and working together for a common cause. I am wrapping up the project now and have thanked many people for their support throughout the process. However, I wanted to take this opportunity to make a big shout out to the my friends in the Taiwanese American community. I could have never made Doughboy without the support of so many talented TAFers or the skills TAF has instilled in me throughout the years. Thank YOU.

You can’t watch Doughboy online yet, as I can’t publicly release it online if I want to get it into any film festivals. Perhaps you will be lucky enough to know someone receiving the DVD, who helped out with the fundraising process a few months back. Or perhaps you will be able to watch it on the big screen at an Asian American film festival near you! Whether you are able to watch it or not, I appreciate your continued to support, not only for my work, but also for me as a friend, a counselor, or someone I would call my brother or sister.


TAF Real World – Week #32 of 51

Hello! Apologies from the TAFBlog admin that this is posted a wee bit late. We’re already through weeks 32 and 33ish (less than 20 weeks until TAF ’11)! sTAFf applications are out and conference dates have been set. Don’t forget to apply, mark your calendars and invite your friends! Speaking of friends, here are Stephanie, Kristin and Jennifer with a LOVE OUT LOUD refresher crash course.


HAPPY HOLIDAYS TAFers! WOOSHA!

Seasons greetings to all, and may your holidays be spent with your family and the friends that have become like family. The tafBlog happily gifts this most excellent minute-long video clip of WOOSHA from TAF2010, aka the amaZOMG family group game. For the TAF alum who don’t know what WOOSHA is, think of it as Big Booty multiplied by 20 with a square root of awesome.

WOOSHAAAAA!


TAF Real World – Week #19 of 51

Can you believe it’s WEEK 19 (only 32 weeks ’til TAF!)???!!! It’s been amazing seeing how TAFers are making a difference in life beyond Manchester by LOVING OUT LOUD this year. We would love to collect more stories. Sign up HERE for a week to post.

Since we didn’t have a volunteer this week, we’re going to do a little flashback to August. Juniors remind us that it’s not just important how we LOL, but also, why we LOL. Here are some reasons why Juniors love their families.


Almost music

After TAF week (some of us during TAF week), I’m not sure what hurts more – my throat from the shouting or my ears from the screaming. Or my abs from laughing so hard.


RECAP: INTERPRETATIONS – a Communication Workshop

During Wednesday of this year’s TAF, the tafLabs program was asked to run a workshop for the JH and Youth programs. Obviously, with tafLabs’ collective interest in the arts and media, we wanted to incorporate those topics into our session. However, we’ve already spoken at length about the importance of media along with other subtopics like Asian American representation, etc. We wanted to do something a little more unique and interactive, and thankfully, the yomyomf.com-hosted film contest Interpretations was the perfect workshop content!

The premise of the contest is this — each filmmaker uses the exact same script, in the exact same order. There are only four lines, and they are:

– It’s not something I’d do.
– Well?
– It’s not what I expected.
– You sure?

Each of the Family Groups at TAF came up with their own ideas, some funny, some serious, all incredibly creative. They showed a wide range of interpretation, which is an important part of Communication (ding ding ding!). We sometimes overlook or forget that just expressing ourselves is not enough for good communication. You have to try to do it in a way so that others can receive your message, and vice versa. The point is, good communication is a two-way street and the sending of the message is just as important as the decoding or interpretation of a message.

In the end, tafLabs chose one story idea to film at TAF. Based on the storyline as well as the feasibility of filming it within the time constraints of TAF’s programming (we’re fast because we have to be, but that doesn’t mean we can’t make it easier on ourselves!), we chose the Bacon Family Group’s entry. We filmed the story immediately after our session as a follow-up workshop, which gave the campers a chance to be actors IN media, and to see a side of communication from a different perspective than they might be used to.

And now, we happily present to you the finished piece!

OUT OF ORDER

Now, we also mentioned that we had to choose which story to film partly based on our abilities to film within the constraints of TAF and Manchester College facilities, which means we could not have shot all the stories at TAF even if we had the time. Thankfully, Youth camper Ryan Yang was encouraged to take his story idea and film it in Chicago after TAF ended — and boy, are we sure glad we did. Ryan’s Interpretations submission is a moving piece dedicated to his friend Will Kelley, and others like him, who have battled cancer.

ETERNAL PIECE

Eternal Piece, A Dedication from Kinema Group on Vimeo.

If you have a moment, you can check out other film entries with the Interpretations Film Viewer, and please sign up and leave some love for Out of Order and for Eternal Piece!

Two other notable pieces to check out:
Karen Lin’s “Little Blue Angel” and Jason Lee’s “Strangers in a Park,” which may have content unsuitable for those under the age of 13 — Parental Discretion advised.

Congrats to all the filmmakers and storytellers out there, and we’re proud to see all the creativity connected to TAF and our Taiwanese American community 🙂


TAF Real World – Week #4 of 51

It’s story time with Liz for WEEK 4 (or 48 WEEKS ’til TAF!)

Put on your PJs and bring your teddy bear…

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We want to hear/see/read/experience your thoughts on LOVING OUT LOUD! Whether it’s how you showed love to someone, or how someone loved on you, or maybe even both!

We need a few more volunteers to post, so please LOL and sign up here!

Encourage your friends to sign up. Feel free to buddy up and post together.

Instructions are listed on the spreadsheet.
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TAF Night 2010 CHOIR ACTS

:*)

Youth Choir – Across the Universe by The Beatles

JH Choir – Everybody by Ingrid Michaelson

Juniors Choir – Don’t Stop Believing by Journey


TAF Real World – Week #3 of 51

Sherry dances with love during WEEK 3 (or 49 WEEKS ’til TAF):

Honk! I Will Dance.

Hey TAF!

This is Sherry Lin here (a JR counselor this past year at TAF for those that don’t know me). For this week’s Love Out Loud post, I wanted do something to put smiles on people’s faces after a long day of classes or work by dancing in the streets of Chicago! I got the idea from Jaeson Ma’s “365 Days of Love” Project. I thought this would be a great way to make people smile. So, I grabbed a bunch of my friends (some Tafers, some not) to do this with me. Hope you enjoy the video (edited by Andrew Lo, thanks!) and keep spreading the looooove!

Untitled from Andrew Lo on Vimeo.

Location: intersection of State and Wacker, Chicago.
Special thanks to Andrew Lo, Bettina Chang, Kevin Chen, Jireh Pua, Elaine Pua, Eshan Pua, David Chang, Peter Tan, Shirley Yang, Vivian Moy, Vanessa Moy
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We want to hear/see/read/experience your thoughts on LOVING OUT LOUD! Whether it’s how you showed love to someone, or how someone loved on you, or maybe even both! If you didn’t sign up for a week for the TAF Blog to post your entry during TAF2010, please sign up here!

Instructions are listed on the spreadsheet.
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