Archives For reasons why my dad is cool

Identity and DNA

July 1, 2016 — 4 Comments

We’re living in a world obsessed with identity, origins and DNA. I’m starting to believe this is a conspiration to get us all to test our DNAs -paying and very much willingly- to see where we ‘really come from.’ No, like- really, where YOU REALLY come from. First it was this overly dramatic flights company, Momondo ad. Followed by this DNA test Buzzfeed video, which got me really really wondering.

Then this Joanna Rants Flama video about hyphen identities~~~ with a shout out to Asian-Peruvian (Protestant)! xD Which in the end sent my head spinning mainly because of my dad’s side. Peruvian isn’t really a racial identity, though some would differ. I don’t know much about my dad’s side of the family, but I know more than my mom’s side~~~ one thing is certain, I’m positively certain my mom is 99,9% East Asian xD which makes me, at least, half East Asian (if not half full Chinese, despite having two Chinese last names~)

I know my grandpa on my dad’s side was mixed Chinese and I know my grandma on his side was mixed Spanish-Afro-Peruvian, but not certain on percentages. I’ll have to ask my aunt around now. But that would make my dad, at least, half Spanish creole (if not more) Afro-Chinese Peruvian xD and that would make me…… Chinese Spanish creole Afro-Peruvian? xD A Queer Catholic-by-culture Franciscan-by-school Agnostic Chinese Spanish Creole Afro-Peruvian. And that doesn’t even paint the political colors. xD

But interesting.

I’m totally into the idea of finding out what’s in me, but at the same time, I’ve been watching too much Orphan Black. lol

They all come to me~ xD

Bjork, Miyavi, Big Bang, JeA~ Too bad I don’t have my dad to be my music companion :( He would’ve loved seeing Laura Marling in a cozy musical setting. He was that kind of person. We would also be waiting for Adele, Shiina Ringo and Faye Wong. lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ta7OMbqfVc

So I’m late to the party (as always), and just started watching this year’s season of Sing my Song (中国好歌曲), which has been airing for a couple of weeks. It’s honestly my favorite of these many music contests because it’s new songs. I never ever stay through the actual contest, but… I do enjoy their blind auditions for the surprises!

Episode one, so far, has given me that awkward moment when Laurence Larson 罗艺恒 sings better Mandarin than me… nobody turns for blues singer 黄晓宁 Huang Hsiao Ning which makes David Tao cry (and reminds me of my dad, hence also making me teary), and gives us the meta moment of the night (and probably of the season) when Liu Wei 刘维 sings Because You Are Mavis Fan (因为你是范晓萱), using many Mavis music and lyrics cues, to make Mavis herself cry.

I’m a Mavis fan and I love I Want Us to Be Together to bits, so of course I loved it.

The song is available for download over at QQ (apparently, officially), but you gotta download their APP, sign up for an account (maybe pay to get the 320kbps version)… and for sign up, it’s asking for a mobile number to send a verification code, and I don’t use a phone, so I can’t sign up [Hipster First World Problems]~~~ so I only got myself a 128kbps from somewhere murky on the net LOL. If you happen to get the 320kbps one, do share it with me pretty please.

And it’s not like EVERYTHING is available on iTunes. On time.

Oldie song, but new performance at… what seems, the Bird Nest Stadium in Beijing.

Mayday has just released the Nowhere Concert Movie in four editions: 3D BR + Live in Live Making-Of the concert DVD, Simple BR, Free Region DVD, and the DVD with the Making-Of.

They’ve also re-released their albums in Chinese versions, and I’ve seen (super expensive) Vinyls, as well.

I still can’t believe Asian Blurays are so expensive compared to their US counterparts. Now we all gotta way for Asian movies to be released in America.

Though I haven’t made successful contact with Milk@Coffee on Weibo, they’re still one of my favorite Chinese mainland artists, though I feel like they peaked with Give You a Little Color (给你点儿颜色) in 2010. Last year, they released Shine of Memory (时间的光) [Xiami] and though I picked Young Conviction (信仰年轻) as one of my pick songs of 2014 [1], Occasionally Still Think of You (偶尔还是会想起你) is the song that brought the most feelings ‘coz it made me think of my dad (even though it’s totally a love song).

Milk@Coffee just released a music video for it.

My dad’s bday is this Saturday.

The lyrics go something like this:

Occasionally still think of you
in the middle of the night, when people are quiet.
Maybe I’m still not used to being without you.

Occasionally still think of you,
repeating over the familiar scenario-
similarly, I still can hear the sound of your voice.

Joe Cocker was one of my dad’s favorite musicians, so I guess he’s now enjoying the music wherever they may be.

It’s hard to imagine that it’s already been a year. A year since my dad’s passing. As I sit here writing this a whole week ahead of the events that happened a year ago, I see the signs, the memorable -or maybe not so memorable- but etched in my mind as the most important things we did together. The things we ate, the things we watched, listened to and laughed about. His smell of cigarettes and mint candy, the roughness of his coarse beard, yet the softness of his now-clipped hair. His laugh and his unique way of ringing my doorbell.They all seem so distant, yet so close to my heart.

dads-1st-death-anniversary

Papa, wo ai ni. Wo hen xiang ni.

The Boy and the World screen print that reminded me of my dad, who is ‘turning one-year old’ this week. Us, sitting together and looking up at the sky.

o-menino-e-o-mundo-dad
But you know what takes the cake? O Menino e o Mundo opened in Brazil on my dad’s bday: January 17th. You gotta be kidding me.

I’m still not so sure about Miyavi’s lyrics in English, but I do appreciate the fact that he tries and works the field for non-Japanese fans. Very much appreciated~ I will always remember his concert, and attending it with my father.

But Miyavi and his guitar, man. That goes beyond language.

… or maybe I’m just projecting too much, but I thought 2013 had a lot of Father/Son-Daughter relationship movies. Even when it wasn’t literally a blood-relation, like in the more clear case between Idris Elba and Rinko Kikuchi (et Ashida Mana) in Pacific Rim, or the more blurred relationship between Jiao Xu with Mr. Go in Mr. Go.

movies-dads-of-2013

I cried in a couple of these ones, but I won’t tell you which. LOL

From left to right, top to bottom: Koreeda’s Like Father, Like Son; Miracle in Cell No. 7; Metro Manila; Pacific Rim; Saving Mr. Banks; Silent Witness; About Time; Police Story 2013; Instructions Not Included; and Mr. Go.