Photo: Sthanlee B. Mirador
Hey, everybody! You know what's up. It's time to meet another 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 Chris Dinh.
Who are you?
C'mon, Phil. It's me, Chris Dinh! We've known each other for years!
What are you?
I'm a random pairing of 23 chromosomes from my mom and my dad. Who are also two of the most courageous, generous and loving people I know. I hope I can make them proud one day.
I'm also the beneficiary of a life that wouldn't be possible without the unimaginable sacrifices made by generations of Asian Americans who came before me.
Is that what you meant? Or did you mean what species am I? I am a human.
Where are you?
I'm currently in Los Angeles. Standing behind you.
Where are you from?
I was born in Little Saigon, Orange County. I grew up on a small farm in Hemet, Riverside. If you've ever bought Asian vegetables or herbs from a Ranch 99 Supermarket in San Diego/Orange County in early 2000s -- there's a good chance you may have consumed something that my family grew.
Growing up on a farm was great. Sometimes it was exactly how you would imagine it. For example, we would feed the chickens every day and I learned how to drive stick on my dad's tractor.
Sometimes it was just weird. For example, we had a goose who passionately hated our guts and would chase us around the chicken coop trying to peck us in the peepee.
What do you do?
I'm really fortunate in that I get to tell stories. I write, produce and act with really wonderful people in both new media and traditional media.
I've written and produced short content with Wong Fu Productions. I recently co-wrote (with Wesley Chan and Philip Wang) and produced (with Christine Chen and Clay Reed) Wong Fu's first feature film, Everything Before Us, which we're really excited about. It'll be available on Vimeo on Demand on June 3rd!
My hilarious writing partner, Viet Nguyen, and I also recently finished our first feature film, a horror-comedy, Crush the Skull. It was produced by Cherry Sky Films (Jimmy Tsai and Joan Huang) where I actually got my start as an intern! Our world premiere is also coming up! It's on June 11th at the Los Angeles Film Festival. Tickets are online here: https://goo.gl/LG98nj
What are you all about?
The entertainment industry can be a tough place to navigate at times. But what's great is that there are these pockets of incredibly kind, generous and passionate people all around us. I'm super lucky that I've found some of them. I wouldn't be able to do what I love without people like Joan, Viet, LCC Theatre, Cherry Sky, Wong Fu Productions. I'm all about them. I'm also about expressing to Viet how much I look up to him because emotions make him uncomfortable. I love you, Viet.
What makes you angry?
When Viet doesn't say, "I love you" back.
There are so many things that make me angry. In this context, people who constantly shit all over other people's creative works makes me angry. As a community, we've gone through so much to get to where we are today. And we still have a long way to go. Let's work on building each other up instead of waiting your turn to speak so you can tear other people down.
