Thu 24 Nov 2005
Mr. W dropped me off back at home about an hour ago from Thanksgiving dinner with his friends and the friends’ family, and he’ll soon be on his way to Vegas. The Thanksgiving food was wonderful, the company was warm-hearted and light-spirited, the fire in the outdoor firepit was lively and mesmerizing, and my cheesecake was a success. (It really does taste better chilled, with dramatic dashes of Hershey’s lite syrup and a fluffy floral swirl of chocolate lite whipped cream.)
But this is what I actually wanted to blog about, and ask for feedback on.
The host’s niece asked me whether I watch “Gray’s Anatomy.” I don’t, altho I’ve heard it was a pretty good show. She said that there’s an Asian actress on the show and that I look “exactly like her.” No one else around the table said anything, altho they seemed to study me a bit. Before we left, the niece reminded me to watch “Gray’s Anatomy” on Sunday nights at 10pm on NBC because “you have to see that actress. I swear, you look exactly like her.” I asked if she remembered the actress’s name. She didn’t, but she suddenly remembered another movie that the same actress was in. I got a little excited. “What’s that movie when this woman just decides to go to Italy…” “Under the Tuscany Sun?” I asked her. “Yeah! That’s it! She played her friend.” Sandra Oh is the actress’s name.
Because everyone was leaving anyway, I didn’t say anything until Mr. W and I were back in his truck with the doors closed. I asked him if he knew who the actress is that the niece was talking about. He didn’t.
***
Margaret Cho is one of my favorite stand-up comedians. In one of her shows, she talked about an incident where a cab driver recognized her and raved on and on about how he loves her because she looks exactly like his sister. He then handed her a photo of his sister and Margaret’s first thought was, “Oh my God, she is sooooo ugly.” She then goes on, “Don’t you just hate it when people say how much you look like someone, and then you see the person they were talking about, and she’s sooo ugly?”
***
Even tho Mr. W said, “I think cross-racial identifications, especially on a first impression, aren’t exactly accurate,” I still felt compelled upon my return home to immediately take a photo of myself and give you guys a side-by-side comparison. So here is me, right now, no touching up whatsoever just the way the niece saw me, and actress Sandra Oh.
Photos of Sandra Oh courtesy of Yahoo!Movies:
Just for kicks, I’m even gonna show you guys a photo of me in which I look the most Korean:
I will say this: I take it as an extreme compliment that she’s really skinny.
For more comparisons of me to the few Asian celebrities in American media, see previous posts here and here.
Ok now how could anyone possibly think that Cindy looks anything like this actress. I have known her for over 4 years now, a friend, old roomate and personal trainer and I don’t think I have ever seen her look that bad even at her worst she is 10 times better looking. Come on now people why would you insult a woman in such a way?
HA! Ok, not to worry, I can clear this all up. NO! You don’t look like Sandra Oh (even in your remotest Korean-looking picture. =)
For one, she has a much longer, narrower face, and a much bigger mouth. Her eyebrows are even shaped differently.
So now you can take a little comfort. It’s not so true afterall. =)
I think your friend’s niece is just trying to link you to the closest Asian Actress that she knows. If she met you a few years ago she might have said you reminded her of Lucy Liu or something. You don’t look like Sandra Oh. You know this. Allyour friends know this but for someone that maybe doesn’t know that many Asian people you do. On a side note, sometimes people think you look like a certain actress because that’s who they want you to look like. Patrick says I look like this Filipina Actress named Heart Evangelista and I look nothing like her.
I wouldn’t mind being compared to Lucy Liu. Thanks, guys! I feel better now. It helps that Brian’s not Asian, too. (The niece isn’t, either.)
[…] Here’s a nice shot of the Queen Mary through the Queen Mary Lounge on our ship, the Carnival Paradise: If you’ve ever sailed on a cruiseship, you’ll remember the mandatory pre-sailing orientation/enactment/drill in case of an abandon ship order. You know how so many people think I look like Sandra Oh, and how I didn’t think I did? Well, check out who *I* think looks like Sandra Oh, at the very next table: I had been wondering whether I’d meet another Jordan on this cruise. If you’ve been reading my blog for some time (and/or Jordan’s), you’ll know I met our dear Jordana Banana on my first cruise. We hit it off, I gave her my blog addy, she checked it out after returning home to Florida, we started emailing and communicating thru my blog, I convinced her to start a blog “for therapy”, she did, and the rest is history. I didn’t meet another Jordana Banana, but we did hit it off pretty well with this couple. Steve and Sally are therapists the next city over from my work, turned out my courthouse refers people over to their counseling services all the time, both in criminal matters (drug/alcohol outpatient counseling) and in family law (family/marriage counseling). Steve is sort of like Jordan, but Sally is more like the other girl Nadia that Jordan and I met on our cruise. She’ll know what I mean. Steve, by the way, worked some therapist diagnostic magic on me and dropped my jaw during our last dinner together. See, I thought I was pretty introspective and psychologically keen, but he made a connection that I never saw, in regards to certain childhood experiences involving my mother’s behavior toward me and my worst adult fears today. How cliche, huh? haha. […]