oscars: same old story

Tonight's the Academy Awards, Hollywood's annual night of self-congratulatory pomp and circumstance. There is actually a noteworthy degree of Asian/Asian American representation in the awards, including Rinko Kikuchi's Best Supporting Actress nomination for Babel, Iris Yamashita's Best Original Screenplay nomination for Letters from Iwo Jima and Ruby Yang's The Blood of Yingzhou District, nominated Best Documentary Short Subject. I guess some people are pretty happy about that: Asians cheering Oscar inclusion. But should we really be all that pleased that Hollywood threw us Asians a bone? Considering what this really means for us: the same old story. I think I lean a little more with Bao Phi's point of view, nicely spelled out this essay he wrote a few weeks ago: One Cranky Asian During Oscar Season. Who's going to win tonight? Honestly, I'm not all that thrilled to care.