Top 12 Reasons Against Gay Marriage

thousands hit the streets of LA last night after california supreme court upheld prop h8 which denies same sex couples the right to marry. my friend regan reposted this list which hit the web in february of '04, the author is unknown to me.

Top twelve reasons homosexual marriage should not be legal:

1. Homosexuality is not natural, much like eyeglasses, polyester, and birth control.

2. Heterosexual marriages are valid because they produce children. Infertile couples and old people can’t legally get married because the world needs more children.

3. Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.

4. Straight marriage will be less meaningful, since Britney Spears’ 55-hour just-for-fun marriage was meaningful.

5. Heterosexual marriage has been around a long time and hasn’t changed at all; women are property, blacks can’t marry whites, and divorce is illegal.

6. Gay marriage should be decided by people not the courts, because the majority-elected legislatures, not courts, have historically protected the rights of the minorities.

7. Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That’s why we have only one religion in America.

8. Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.

9. Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.

10. Children can never suceed without a male and a female role model at home. That’s why single parents are forbidden to raise children.

11. Gay marriage will change the foundation of society. Heterosexual marriage has been around for a long time, and we could never adapt to new social norms because we haven’t adapted to cars or longer lifespans.

12. Civil unions, providing most of the same benefits as marriage with a different name are better, because a “seperate but equal” institution is always constitutional. Seperate schools for African-Americans worked just as well as seperate marriages for gays and lesbians will.

-tadillac

Fatgums X Bambu Release Party Video

i finally cut some of the footage eric and i shot at last month's release party for fatgums and bambu's "a peaceful riot" ep. as you can see and hear, it was an amazing day at the beatrock store, one of those events that really makes you thankful for the community we've created down here:

Under The Influence

someone made the mistake of nominating me for angry asian man's 30 most influential asian americans under 30, and the angry guy picked me! it's a huge honor to make this list which includes karen o from yeah yeah yeahs and the co-founder of youtube. i really have to thank phil yu (aka. angry asian man) for always covering my back, his blog is phenomenal and continues to inform and unite asian americans across the country.

speaking of karen o, "zero" is one of my favorite songs this year:

Remember to Vote Tomorrow 5/19!

last friday teachers and community members protested LA unified school districts' proposal to lay off 5,400 teachers, staff and faculty. read the LA times article here. our education system is already shit, please support these educators in their struggle to prevent it from getting even worse.

please remember to vote yes on propositions 1A - 1F in the cali special elections tomorrow (May 19). if these measures pass they will free up some money to start repaying some of the public education funding cuts and will help protect schools from even deeper cuts. if both prop 1A & 1B pass it will repay $9.3 billion to state schools and community colleges. read more about the propositions on the california teachers association website.

the janelle monae experience

on thursday cindy and i got to check out janelle monae for free at royce hall. i had heard how amazing she is from the homies kori and phatty, but after giving her ep "metropolis: the chase" a spin, i thought she was a little overrated...but now i totally get it! besides her amazing voice and creativity, janelle is a flat out performer who posses a power that i haven't felt since the first time is saw erykah or bjork live.

if james brown and grace jones had a love child and then was adopted by bjork and andre three stacks, the result would be janelle monae:

Visual Communications Interview

during their film festival, visual communications (vc) posted an interview with me on their website. i literally grew up at vc as both my parents were working there when i was born and had to take me to the office with them.  

LA Asian Pacific Film Festival Part 2

here's more from the LA asian american film festival that ended last thursday. song screened in a very strong shorts program at the festival. from left to right; director of no joke burma li-anne huang, director of parallel adele adele pham and festival director abe ferrer:

eric answering questions after the world premiere of his film sounds of the new hope:

eric and his mom:

cindy, aj from xylophone films, eric and anna at the after-party:
thanks to everyone who came out to the "what's the matter with asian american film?" panel. i hope me and spencer didn't offend anyone too much:

some heavy hitters like scholar oliver wang (talking below) attended and participated in the panel. others who came out were asian american film legends robert nakamura, renee tajima-pena and curtis choy:
after the panel - from left to right: jeff liu from vc, spencer, me, lou nakasako, alex tse (writer of watchmen) and dustin nguyen (the asian guy from 21 jump street!):

Next Day Air Opens Tomorrow

my brother-in-law david checel's new movie next day air is opening in theaters tomorrow. he cut the whole film! its directed by benny boom who's done music videos for everyone including snoop, nas, and 50. if that doesn't sell you then here's the white man co-sign, roger ebert gave the film a great review.

download the next day air mixtape

Filipinos: The More you know PSA

my boy patrick epino's good deed for the year...
check out patrick's upcoming feature mr. sadman -tadillac

LA Asian Pacific Film Festival Part 1

mass movement tv invaded opening night of the LA asian pacific film festival last week. none of the photographers wanted to take our picture in front of the backdrop so we had to ask someone to take one with my camera.

eric nakamura felt sorry for us so he interviewed me for the directors chair site

dj phatrick and o-dub on the 1's and 2's

beau sia lookin hecka hard in a shimmery green scarf

e.t. with michael chen the star of the opening night film children of invention directed by tze chun

sometimes there's a lot of hollywood bullshit at these kinda things, it is LA. but i can always depend on a handful of down-to-earth filmmakers have fun with. from left to right: michael velasquez (who did all the photo effects in song), patrick epino, phuong tang and tim jieh.

-tadillac

Al Robles Rest In Power

we lost a true community treasure on saturday. that night, while i was seeing his face and hearing his voice, al robles passed away. i was at the LA asian pacific film festival, eric had just premiered his film and we were watching manilatown is in the heart: time travel with al robles. the film ended with al reading a poem as photos from his life were projected on screen. when the film was over, the lights went on and director curtis choy walked up to the front of the theater and announced that al had just died.

please visit alrobles.manilatown.org to learn more about this wonderful man and the work and art he brought to his community.

i had the privilege of talking with al a couple of times. the most memorable was when me, eric and my dad were filming at manzanar and al (in plaid shirt) and bill sorro (far left) along with a couple of friends walked up and started taking with us. it was a surreal experience talking to two legends in the middle of the desert. two years later bill sorro passed away and now al is gone.

rest in power al. thank you for all the inspiration.

SONG Gets Mention in LA Weekly

song got at really dope write-up by ernest hardy in the la weekly this week!  peep game:

"Also recommended is Tadashi Nakamura’s hugely moving short A Song for Ourselves, which celebrates the life and legacy of the late Asian-American musician-activist Chris Iijima, an unsung hero of America’s progressive political movement. The film illuminates the roles Asians played in the 1960s civil rights movement, forging political alliances while asserting their own identities, while the portrait of Iijima himself — his oldest son’s anguish at not having his father around; his wife’s teary confession that the world makes no sense without him; his own words on how he came to create himself — will make your heart ache."

Thank You Claremont!

had a lot of fun screening the film and building with the students of asian american 187 at the claremont colleges.  shouts to soon-to-be prof. nancy park (standing to the right of me) for inviting me to her student initiated course on asian american arts & activism:

note to any students who plan to bring guest speakers to campus, a spiderman gift bag goes a long way!