Hello, my friends. Meet the Angry Reader of the Week, spotlighting you, the very special readers of this website. Over the years, I've been able to connect with a lot of cool folks, and this is a way of showing some appreciation and attention to the people who help make this blog what it is. This week's Angry Reader is Milton Liu.
Who are you?
I'm Milton Liu, the youngest (or the "mistake") of a family of five. I was supposed to be named "Michael" but my mom said there were too many "Michaels." My father being an economist, (and possibly after a few shots of Johnny Black) quickly dubbed me "Milton," after Milton Friedman... probably due to the resemblance. I guess it could've been worse. The guy could've been named Shitstain Friedman. But then that would mean my high school gym teacher would have been right all along. Either way, Jill "don't call me Mom" Liu would still tell me that I was found in a garbage can.
What are you?
I've been told that I'm cynical, jaded and crotchety. Yet deep-down I'm comprised of soft gooey innards. Like a king-sized feather bed covered in 1,000 count Eqyptian cotton sheets (or Pima cotton if you only have access to a Jo-Ann Fabrics) and a duvet stuffed with Morrissey's chest hair, that Carly Rae Jepsen must sleep on as she dreams of chinchillas playing tug of war with a cashmere scarf. As Blondie stated - cold as ice cream but still as sweet. Oh, and as of reading this paragraph, I'm also a tremendous douche.
Where are you?
I'm at home in Silver Lake, the hipster capital of the world (suck it Wicker Park and Billyburg!). I only wear skinny jeans because I have chicken legs. And my donning of lens-less tortoise shell glasses is just because I'm cursed with 20/10 vision.
Right now I'm writing the 5th and final installment of the webseries Awesome Asian Bad Guys. I've somehow convinced the National Film Society, made up of two intelligent guys who went to the University of Chicago and NYU, that I can do this. But given my affinity to bad 80s and 90s movies, coupled with attaching Tamlyn Tomita, Randall Park, Aaron Takahashi, Al Leong and Yuji Okumoto, I'd have to be a self-absorbed wanna-be hipster to screw it up.
Where are you from?
According to my mother I was an Immaculate Conception (see above) growing up in the Midwest. But as there was a dearth of similarly-looking people in Shawnee Mission, Kansas, I knew she must be kidding. After 6-months of abandonment, I was able to track down my family, and Jill, to the suburbs of Chicago. After graduating from the University of Illinois, I settled down in a finance job, living in Wicker Park (again, not a hipster). Growing despondent of diamond-encrusted shoes and Faberge Eggs, I quit and started a film production company called Kulture Machine in NYC with friends from Columbia University's Film School. At Kulture Machine we produced a few award-winning short films and a feature film that Jill still doesn't believe was ever made.
What do you do?
At the same time I was producing films, I started writing screenplays. Well one screenplay. But that screenplay led me to winning the Tribeca All Access Award, and then moving out to Los Angeles to become a Disney Feature Writing Fellow. That year the WGA strike happened, and then Disney shuttered the feature fellowship after some 30-odd years. I'd like to take full credit for that.
I am still writing and producing, but what I'm truly proud of is my position at Visual Communications as the Director of Programs and Artist Services. There I work with dedicated and selfless people producing the LA Asian Pacific Film Fest, along with numerous workshops and programs such as the Armed With a Camera Fellowship, the Project Market, the Film Development Fund and the Conference for Creative Content (C3), coming up at the end of October.
Whoa! That was full of so much positivity that I just lost some of my anger. So the real reason I work at VC is that our offices are located at the Union Center for the Arts in Little Tokyo - the same location used in John Carpenter's The Prince of Darkness. The one in which Alice Cooper is covered in maggots and starts stalking the building. The one in which the guy from Simon & Simon had a porn 'stache and was all about getting laid while Mephistopheles is chasing after him. Yep, that's our offices in the corner of the poster.
What are you all about?
Long John Silver's. It is my goal in life to eat at a LJS in every state in the US. Hushpuppies, extra krumbs and ringing the bell? Sold.
Honestly, just about giving everyone a chance. Everyone deserves that chance. But if you are on the receiving end of that chance, don't fuck it up. It's hard out there for everyone right now. Don't be that douchebag that takes it for granted.
What makes you angry?