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just finished administering the ucla Test of Oral Proficiency. this is the test international grad students have to pass if they want to TA here. it's a weird and conflictive authority to have. there's a very smart electrical engineer from taiwan who won't have a teaching job because we didn't like her final phonemes or rhetorical organization.
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now, running to Hollywood, to pick up Amalia's headshots. it's gonna be hard to make it there, then down to the conference in time (way off in Newport Beach). i swear i'll try to make it there. my film class group wants me to go help them edit this afternoon. whatever, i'll see them tuesday. same goes for my "minority education" class group, they'll get my powerpoint slides on immigration, pero mas despues.
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at the NALIP conference. we saw Illegal Tender last night. produced by John Singleton and directed by Franc Reyes (Empire). it was good and violent as hell. in the talk afterwards, the filmmakers mentioned how for so many Latino/a actors, the only options are hos and thugs. watching this movie, a friend pointed out that these college kids were learning to act like thugs (while protesting "i'm not a gangsta"), and how exactly is that an expansion of the possibilities? yet it was a good film. well made, well acted, interesting plot and dialog. a strong, badass female lead. and i suppose there are some "moral" lessons. i worry that what people will remember, though, is the bling bang.
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after the screening, went to a late night eye-talian place with Amalia and Frances. ate huge plates, there was a cover band that played - not in this order -
Journey, "Any Way You Want It," "Open Arms"
Rod Stewart, "Maggie Mae"
Rolling Stones, "Honky-Tonk Woman"
and a Cuban song i can't remember the name of.
their version of Journey was very close. we swayed together, i sang along and mangled the vocal line:
"She says Ho-ol-don! ho-ol-don! ho-oh-oh-oh-ol-don!"
Amalia hits all those notes better than me. always has, always will.
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but when they did Honky-Tonk Woman? damn. speaking as a white boy, they played a version so white, it made the original - which was performed by white boys - seem like it wasn't white at all, by comparison. it was like if pat boone had done Rolling Stones (in addition to Little Richard). i'm glad that cover band didn't try to do soul music or something. i would've had to leave if they'd butchered Al Green or James Brown. we all have limits. you gotta know your limits.
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then i left, at 2am, drove back to inglewood. and got way too early for the damn T.O.P. at least i get paid for it. so we can afford a hotel tonight.

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