“Always Be My Maybe”: A Childhood Dream Come True

Photos courtesy of Netflix

Sasha (Ali Wong) and Marcus (Randall Park) in “Always Be My Maybe”

Something comes over me when I see humans, especially children, celebrating heritage and culture. My eyes tear up, and my nose starts to run. I think, in some small way, my soul is trying to express utter contentment and joy. My eyes were on-the-verge-of-tears for most of the movie when I was not all-out crying. I tried my best to keep my expectations reasonable and in check before seeing the move, but as the date neared, I could not contain my hopes and dreams for this all Asian-American-led romantic comedy.

Brandon (Daniel Dae Kim – Damn, Daniel!) and Sasha (Ali Wong) step-and-repeat

My love of romantic comedies is overt, unabashed, and has persisted since childhood from the very first time I watched John Hughes’ “Pretty in Pink” on a Saturday afternoon network broadcast preceded by the ubiquitous warning, “This film has been modified from its original version. It has been formatted to fit this screen and edited for content.” I almost never saw myself, or my friends for that matter, in the romantic leads, in their backgrounds, or in their stories. These rom-coms still made me long to find that one human who looked at me like Blane looked at Andie, the one who made me feel invincible, the one who just got me and felt like home. And yet, those movies left me wanting more. I wanted to see characters who looked kind of like me and struggled with some of the same culture clashes I did like filial piety and saving face while growing up in America.

Blane (Andrew McCarthy) looking at Andie (Molly Ringwald) lovingly

“Always Be My Maybe” is that childhood dream come true. The movie exceeded my lofty expectations. It was 100% rom-com without feeling formulaic. The characters looked like my friends and me. They grew up the way I did with the same struggles of living between cultures. I now have new vocabulary to use as reference. Sasha and Marcus have replaced Andie and Blane as my canonical rom-com allusions. Even the soundtrack closely mimicked what my friends and I listened to in high school (Thanks, Ms. Carey) and college. I felt seen. I felt represented.

Veronica (Michelle Buteau) and Sasha (Ali Wong) at Hello, Peril performance

The writing paid attention to so many details that I loved. Food is one of my favorite ways to celebrate heritage, and they made food a sizeable part of the movie and managed to throw in the age-old struggle between authenticity and innovation. We do not have to have thick accents to be authentic. The parents were free from caricatured accents and limited English proficiency. We are not the poster children for the Model Minority. No one was a doctor, lawyer, or accountant. The parent-child relationships were so real and raw. Resenting the parents who worked around the clock to give their child a better life, that long-rooted anger was visceral for me. We are not all Chinese. Sasha has a Vietnamese background, and Marcus has a Korean background. We are American, and we are diverse. We can be “dirty” hippies, chic restaurateurs, awkward B-boys, dude bros, eccentric artists, foul-mouthed fashion plates, and anything else we want to be. We are also capable of being all of those people and continue to respect our heritages and cultures. (Everyone remembered to take off their shoes in the homes. I still have to skip over the part in “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” where the eldest sister not only wears her Crocs into her middle sister’s bed, but then proceeds to pull the covers OVER the Crocs. An audible gasp could be heard across the country from Asian-American households.)

Sasha (Ali Wong) and Keanu Reeves (as himself)

This rom-com is everything I wished for ever since I heard the orchestral music swell at the beginning of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark’s “If You Leave”. Ms. Wong, Mr. Park, and the whole cast and crew, you have made something iconic. Watch “Always Be My Maybe” on Netflix today.

Left to right: Behind the scenes at Ragga with Tony (Karan Soni), Nahnatchka Khan (director), Marcus (Randall Park), and Sasha (Ali Wong)

A Community Holiday Party

In the concrete jungle, it can be hard to connect with people unless you are thrown together for a reason like a natural disaster or catastrophe. However, in the small community of Crow Hill in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, one woman is a natural born connector, Lily Dibia-Johnson, proprietor of Lily & Fig Tea Shop & Bakery. Celebrating three years in business, Lily always provides a warm smile, hot tea, and lovely conversation. Her friendliness is contagious and manages to bring together the community in the most fundamental of ways: around food!

Neighbors dined on amazing food, sipped on punch, and nibbled on dessert as we casually chatted and regaled each other about holiday adventures and familial obligations. All of the warmth frosted the windows of Lily & Fig.

Happy holidays, and a joyous new year to all!

Want to Hobnob with Artists This Weekend?

GO Brooklyn! is hosting tours of local artists studios all over Brooklyn. In Crown Heights alone, we have 50 artists who have volunteered their studios and time for you to watch, learn, and enjoy.

Stop by Lily & Fig, 727 Franklin Avenue in Prospect Heights/Crown Heights, Brooklyn to learn more and start your weekend.

Dessert and Wine Pairings: Lily & Fig Teams Up with Bed-Vyne

When: Sunday, August 26, 2012 @ 4pm
Where: Lily & Fig Tea and Bakeshop, 727 Franklin Avenue, Brooklyn, NY

Having lived in Spain, wine was pervasive. Pairing the wine with food was almost muscle memory for my brain, meaning I hardly had to think about it. It was simple red wine goes with everything . . . if you like it with your food, then it’s an acceptable pairing. I miss those days . . . life was far simpler debating over Spanish canons, nibbling at the free tapa that came with your wine, and not having to sound educated over food and wine pairings.

Well, if you want to learn about pairing the right dessert wine with the right dessert, stop by Lily & Fig’s and Bed-Vyne’s event Sunday, or just attend and enjoy dessert wines with delicious desserts.

It is 2:19AM . . . Thank You for a Lovely Night, NYC!

On the shuttle train home now, and I think how lucky I am to not have to think about designating a driver for a night out. I am thankful for eclectic bars where I can headbang to Black Sabbath while sipping on a stiff whiskey and ginger and nibble on a slice of mushroom and roasted garlic pizza I brought from Rosco’s in Brooklyn to this Manhattan bar called The Magician. If I ever decide to move on to a new adventure, what I would miss most is the late night cuisine culture of Manhattan.

After a long day at work and an even longer evening braving the throngs of paycheck recipients at Bed, Bath, and Beyond and Target, we decide on a slice before heading to a farewell party. I smiled when I saw a hipster and his gal bus their own table because the pizza parlor staff was so very busy.

At the bar, we saw old friends and made new ones. After a long night of drinking, I wanted to stop at CreperieNYC for a midnight (literally) snack. It had been my go-to late night snack spot in the Lower East Side since 2002. I was glad to see that it was packed. We sat near the crepe griddles and chatted with our crepe artist for the evening, Hana. Hana and my husband chatted in Hebrew while I listened and took little bites of my ham and cheese crepe, savoring each morsel – appreciative that it wasn’t Swiss cheese. Where else but in NYC could you have a 1AM discussion about linguistics with someone you just met excluding college/grad school?

Upon disembarking the shuttle, voices beckon our attention. My grad schoolmate/current neighbor and her best friend had just arrived from out of town on the same shuttle, so we slowly made our ways home as we chatted. A small town feel with all of the convenience of a metropolis and the suburbs within a 10-mile radius of home.

Why, yes! That is a photo of the stripmall parking lot in Brooklyn, not somewhere in Texas. Thank you, NYC, for reminding me why I put up with the noise and the humans.