Unforgettable 2009

KoreAm Journal threw a classy shindig by the name of Unforgettable last night. It was a star-studded gala held at the historic Park Plaza Hotel in downtown LA.

The ballroom was exquisitely decorated under the guidance of the ultra-fab event coordinator, Joyce and guests were treated to an amazing meal provided by Lawry's. I have been having a hard time cooking for myself at home that I wolfed my entire plate of spinning salad, prime rib cut, creamed spinach, corn, mashed potatoes and gravy and yorkshire pudding. My entire table clapped for me. I felt embarrassed but proud. (Ma, if you're reading this, I'm back to eating spinach and salmon fillets!)

I was brimming with anticipation to watch the entire show, so excited because I actually wrote the script for the show (with editing help from the ever-eloquent Julie) Words that I wrote, sentences that came out of my brain, ideas that I conjured up, were going to be uttered by hotshots like Sandra Oh, Daniel Henney and Joy Osmanski.

I think they did a pretty fine job interpreting it, don't you think?

Funnygal host Amy Anderson is so grateful for Unforgettable's sponsors that she sang a song for them. Okay, so it's to the tune of Sixpence None The Richer's Kiss Me. I'm not a musician, so sue me.

For your sing-along pleasure, below are the lyrics:

Thank you, thank you Park Plaza Hotel

For this, this big and lovely room

Where we, we can eat our ribs

Given to us by Lawry’s, where’s the bib?

Oh, thank you, Willow Hotel and Tiger Asia

So do, so do you Verizon Wireless

Can you hear me now

Premier Plastic Surgery and Ocean Radiation Oncology

We thank you

Time Warner, Kamsahamnida and SeAh Steel

Also, Sans Souci, Intertrend

K-T-A-N channel, Net Kal

Can’t skip Radio Seoul and Korea Times, oh

Oh thank you, to all our sponsors tonight

We couldn’t have asked for any more.

I lied, yes we can

Ten Communications, La Premiere, and Kollaboration

We thank you

There’s one more, group that’s really special

And that’s the, alcoholic beverage group

You know you love them too

So dear Johnnie Walker, lovely Jinro and delicious Hite

We thank you

We thank you

[seems like she’s done with the song, then strums up again]

wait there’s more

[strum guitar]

like Pan Com

[strum guitar]

or TVK24

[strum guitar]

KOTRA

[strum guitar]

IW Group

[strum guitar]

Waking up Media

[PAUSE so it seems like she’s really ending the song, but strums again]

and UNI Insurance

[strum guitar]

Insurance for you and I

[strum guitar]

And Future International

Wilshire Bank

[strum guitar]

and ABC Disney

[strum guitar]

and J.P. Morgan

[strum guitar]

and Wilshire Dental

[strum guitar]

And Kanye West

[strum guitar]

should get up here

[strum guitar]

and stop me nooooooooooooow

Sandra Oh teaches Daniel Henney a thing or two about being a television doctor.

Justin Chon is "Just Like Us!"

CS Lee wants to wrestle Daniel Dae Kim.

The show also featured beautiful performances by Priscilla Ahn, Lena Park and the hottest b-boys ever, Last 4 One.

As if the evening wasn't enough of a blast, there was a pretty sweet (if cold) after-party where I got to reunite with old friends.

And make new ones.

And shamelessly ask celebs to take pictures with me.

Near the end of the night, I chatted with Sandra Oh for a little bit. After I subtly (of course) mentioned I had written the script for the show, she told me that she thought it was the best Unforgettable script she had heard in the past 6 years.

"I usually have to edit the hell out of these things but you made it work," she told me.

Sure, she may have just been polite and was trying to make me happy but dude, the words came out of her mouth! I don't care if she was drunk, lying or crazy when she said it, she said it! Sandra Oh, one of my most admired and respected acting idols, said I made it work!

And that is truly unforgettable.

*Edit: Oh yea, and I also worked as red carpet interviewer. Check out what I got the celebs to say here.
*Edit Edit: We also ran into Rex Lee from "Entourage" at Hodori after the after-party. I'm so grateful he's not freaked out of his mind by my deathgrasp.

SHANNKKSS

Hey, you.

Yea, you in your glasses and retainers, a cup of coffee next to the table, getting ready for school.

Or you there in an uncomfortable button-up top, feeling a little claustrophobic and a whole lot bored, waiting 'til the clock strikes lunchtime, or better yet, closing time.

Or you lying in bed, fingers absentmindedly clicking between G-Chat, Youtube, and Google Reader as you think to yourself, "it's 2 in the morning, why am I not asleep yet?"

I have something to say to you.

Thanks.

I know Thanksgiving's not for another month but I just couldn't hold it in any longer. I've always had a big mouth.

I wanted to express my gratitude for every single Facebook wall posts spewed on my wall, every mention of a past post brought up when we hang out, and (the best) every comments replied to my blog entries.

I am truly delighted and touched that you guys enjoy my writing and even if you don't, that you care enough to read it (or if you had no other choice, well, too bad for you). I really enjoy spewing out my thoughts and things on this little blog of mine and to be able to have other people react to it, feel something by it, share it, and even like it, well, that's just some scrumptious cream cheese icing on a red velvet cake!

From close friends like Will (who's kind of my writing consultant) to long-admired family pals like Jean Jie (I even wrote a Xanga entry about her a long long time ago!), I appreciate every interaction I ever get from my blog. Even though I always moan how people never comment but rather just say things to my face or through other technological devices (I don't think I've gotten a hand-written note...yet), I've come to realize that...UMMM HELLO THAT'S WAY BETTER! I have people that actually talk to me!

So far, all the responses have been amazingly positive and encouraging and thank God for that because I'm not very good at taking critiques. Just ask my poor dad who just suffered an evening of sullen remarks all because he scolded me for not paying more attention when driving on the freeways. Sorry dad . I'm working on it though! Just insult me next time and see what happens!

Just so you don't think I'm all big-headed from all your praise, I will share with you a time when I received a not-so-nice comment from an old Livejournal entry... and my way-too-serious response to it.

Alright, Imma paint the scenario for you. By junior year of high school, I had regularly updated on my Livejournal, "Mizundastud." My oh-so-Pulitzer-worthy pieces of gem posts updated my loyal eight readers about my days. The usual, "what I ate-how I felt eating it-what I saw-how I felt seeing it" moan and groan. Reading back, I was such a cheeseball! (Haha, like I'm some black eyeliner-rimmed, tight jeans wearing deep philosopher now.)

But I didn't really care about what others read, I just wanted to write.

Or did I?

After this entry...

Current mood:	sick
Current music:	"I Like the Way you Move"-Outkast

Oh Man...
It's Friday night and you have a car. you have endless bounds of opportunity to do practically anything you want and go anywhere you please. (preferably within the state borders though) all your friends and enemies are out. why are you home alone?
If you're me...the answer is because you are SIIIIIIIIIIICK!!! yup...that's right. i thought i had escaped the contagious coughs, sniffles and sores that my fellow schoolmates had fallen victim into but NOOOOOO, here i am, not being able to complete a sentence without coughing my heart out. it's rotten, i tell ya.
but it's ok...at least right now, i have the *sexy phoebe voice* muahahahhaa....
the next few weeks are gonna be hell, i can just feel it. YAHOO! you all know how much i enjoy hell, don't ya? haha...i guess i would be glad to have so any things to do but the stress is terrible. im gonna have more drama rehearsals now. ooh yea! because anchal was no longer able to be in the play anymore, i took over her part. i feel bad because she really did do a great job playing leonata but i'd be lying if i say that i'm not happy getting a bigger part. i mean, c'mon! who DOESN'T like to be a big ham?? and tritia (yay!) lin is gonna be playing my old part. woot woot, trish! you can speak now! and some pretty lovely words too eh?? haha. y'all better come watch Much Ado About Nothing coming to Rowland areas near you. it's gonna be good. i mean, ivana lin is the star...how can it suck???! haha... i'm happy with my new role but it'll mean alot more memorizing! and rehearsals! oh yay...
man...im so worried about yearbook. there's so many deadlines and layouts to make and they all have to be don with computers! im so computer-illiterate! man...im gonna need some major help on that. i just hope i can meet the deadlines and produce some NICE pages. it better be good. it's the least i can do for seniors leaving this year on their last high school yearbook. *sigh...
on the bright side...
oh wait...there is no bright side. haha. jk jk...HOMECOMING is coming up! i really hope people will look past the whole hideout location issue because really, it's no big deal. so it'll be in the hideout. that place can still store 500-something bodies and ASB can make it into a place even nicer that the gym. and im not just saying that just cause im IN asb. shoot..i would go even if i weren't in ASB. 5 bux...man...you all are really missing out if you opt not to attend. Ooh! and good luck to all the seniors nominated for court! i hope you guys make top 6! how cool that would be...
oh wow...just got my new glasses back from the optometrist and they are THICK. haha...if you guys made fun of my "coke-lens" before, you should see them now...
hum...my sis is at the game. yea. she ditched diamond bar's HOMECOMING game for Rowland's NORMAL one. i hope she's having fun.
i feel like watching some TV. good ol' TGIF is back.
ciao!

I received this comment...

(Anonymous) 2003-10-17 07:45 pm UTC (link) Select

you can't be valedictorian, only IB candidates and besides, who would want someone who takes the easy way around things to be valedictorian?

And this was my response, in the form of another entry, to it... For that one person out there that enjoys making an ass out of himself hey. this is a reply to the person who made this comment... "you can't be valedictorian, only IB candidates and besides, who would want someone who takes the easy way around things to be valedictorian?" excuse me but i would just like to know WHERE in my entire journal entry had i written that i was going to become valedictorian???!! correct me if im wrong but there is not a single word in there stating that. and also...you are very mistaken in thinking that only IB candidates are eligible to become valedictorian of your class. there are us "normal" folks out there who are also competing (and i woud just like to inform you that i AM in the running, having a class rank of 1). please do not make jugdments like that without checking first. you just make yourself look stupid. who are you to judge what taking the easy way out of things is?? i am not saying that i have taken the hardest classes that i can possibly take but i do believe that the classes i am taking are suited to me and my needs and interests. Hard classes and getting good grades are not everything in life and they certainly DO NOT guarantee you a spot at the college of your choice. having a passion in doing things you like and enjoying life are far more important. i hope you enjoy this entry since it was the obvious intent of your rude and insulting comment. oh BTW...why leave your comment anonymous?? im sure the world (me especially) would love knowing the name of the person who has so much agitation towards me and the things i say on MY livejournal. thank you for COMPLETELY pissing me off. I wasn't joking when I said I don't take criticisms well. After that entry, 19 comments erupted with my friends coming to my aide and defending me from the big, bad anonymous commenter. I look back on it now and laugh but at the time, I was pissed. (As you can tell by the "current mood" of the post set to "pissed off) Nowadays, when celebs take their feud with naysayers to public, starting fights on Twitter and in press releases, I roll my eyes and say, "why bother?" Seriously, negative comments are not something to get mad about. Just ignore them or (if they're constructive), listen to them and change. You will never please everybody. But on the other hand, when you do get amazing positive feedback to your work, embrace it, enjoy it and appreciate it! Thanks.

Music Makes Me Lose Control

Music is one of the hardest things to put into words. It differs so much from ear to ear and means so many different things from heart to heart, how can any regular muggle translate a tune for the rest of the world?

I certainly can't. But that didn't stop me from trying.

In the April09 issue of KoreAm, I became the resident music connoisseur and gave a little rundown of cool Korean American artists rocking out.

I did what any soldier had to do for their line of duty. I rocked out to Yeah Yeah Yeahs, sighed wistfully as Maggie Kim crooned to me about love, and chuckled at foul-mouthed Steve Lee's indignation to Kim Jong Il.

When it came time to actually share what my thoughts on the songs, I pretty much racked my brains for all the descriptive adjectives I could find. (And there is a lot to look through, I'm prone to store up these things.) Then, I just inserted them into sentences like I was playing a round of Ad Libs.

Just kidding. I take my job very seriously.

Why don't you see if you agree or disagree with my opinions? Read over the reviews, check out the good works yourself, then tell me what you think. If anything, I highly recommend singing sisters Meg & Dia and this is not just because they gave me a free album.

As I said, I take my job very seriously.

Write On

The whole Hollywood writing and pitching process confuddles the hell out of me.

Because writing is not a very tangible skill and depends on a variety of things coming together--things like luck, timing, inspiration, motivation et. al.-- it's one of the toughest jobs in the industry that often receives the least amount of recognition. And there's also the romantic misconception of everyone in Los Angeles thinking they can take a shot at putting words to paper and striking it rich with a sold screenplay. Just take a look at the nearest Coffee Bean stocked full of artsy spectacles hunched over silver Macbook Pros.

As someone who has had the fortune of seeing my words play out on stage, I can say that it can definitely be worth suffering through months- possibly years- of poverty, frustrating writer's block, and mind-blowingly scathing critiques to watch audience members react to your vision, your story. It's an indescribable feeling - good or bad.

But no matter what, the key element of making it as a writer-at least in Hollywood- is to have someone take a chance on you.

That someone can be a Hollywood hotshot or a newbie intern, personal friend or stranger off the street. But if they know someone or are someone themselves, they can make things happen. They can lift your words off the page and onto a screen or stage. They can bring your vision to life.

How do you get them to raise you out of said Coffee Bean and onto a red carpet?

Well, first, write something.

Then, you suck it up and ask them to read your work.

However, one person I wouldn't dare ask to read my stuff is this guy...

A History of Violence penner Josh Olson may look all smiles and jellybeans here but you and your script better stay far far away from him.

The Oscar-nominated screenwriter repeatedly proclaimed to a recent Village Voice the annoyances of having people approach him with their works hoping to get his professional opinion on it. Olson retells the story of one particularly horrifying incidence through which an awful script dared pass through his oh-so-professional eye-line.

Though at times his reasons for not touching the scripts are valid, like how he has stacks of scripts by his bedside from agents and personal friends to finish and how sometimes people are really unappreciative and can't take criticism, I dare say he is a bit brutal into going on and on AND ON about how this amateur writer produced a terrible piece of trash and wasted a year of his life working on something that should have never seen the light of day. Can you say ouch?

I've always been terrified to have other people read my work (ironic, eh, Media Maid readers?) and Olson's piece only heightened my fears. But Olson-that cocky son of a gun-is right. He says:

If someone can talk you out of being a writer, you're not a writer. If I can talk you out of being a writer, I've done you a favor, because now you'll be free to pursue your real talent, whatever that may be.

You're a writer if nothing else can nourish your soul. You're a writer if writing makes your life move forward, makes your world go round, makes you feel alive, makes you feel like you're contributing to society. You're a writer if you have a story to tell and only you can tell it.

I sure fit most of those criteria.

I guess I'm a writer.

{ Deadline Hollywood }

Holy hotness! After much delay, I finally have digital copies of all my work for KoreAm Journal and Audrey magazine! Yes! I will slowly upload articles on days when my brain can't think of anything witty to blog about.

I feel the articles should be introduced in chronological order so you will be able to read the first pieces I started from when I was a lowly intern to where I ended as this almighty fancy schmancy contributor.

Here is my contributor bio. Look! I even have my picture in the mag! *squeal

So how did I end up here? Well, it all began with this little piece. Apologies for the outdated pop cultural references. It has been a few months.