Puberty Sucks

Here is a special treat for you. A sneak peak at a book I am working on about the making of The Motel (actually, it's turning more into a making of me book). 

FYI This will be posted in parts. Enjjoy Part 1:

The Impotence of Being Ernest

When people ask me where did the character of Ernest come from, I have to admit that he is the product of a my own horrible puberty. He personifies everything I thought of myself during that time. Awkward, scared, clueless, ignorant, a bad decision-maker, aimless and fat. He is the embodiment of puberty.

Continue reading "The Impotence of Being Ernest Pt 1" »

Posted by Puberty Sucks at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here is Part 2 of the continuing saga of "the Impotence of Being Ernest." Read Part 1 here.

Enjoy:

I grew up in Providence RI. Which in retrospect I believe was the perfect-sized town to grow up in. With a  450,000 population, it was just big enough to not feel sheltered but small enough to make you want to get the hell out.  It was also an academic town, with two major campuses Brown and RISD there. There was always culture around -- two art house movie theaters, Trinity Rep Theater and plenty of live music and coffee houses. And many of my friends’ parents taught at one of the two schools.  Somehow I managed to befriend mostly the children of artists and English professors.

Continue reading "The Impotence of Being Ernest Pt 2" »

Posted by Puberty Sucks at 06:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Just a reminder for all you New Yorkers out there. The final screening of The Motel's two-week engagement at Film Forum will be tomorrow Tuesday July 11. Please come see it on the big screen before it goes away.

But back to the matter at hand. I was informed by an old high school friend that he didn't quite remember my recounting of the school play in the same way -- for some reason he is convinnced that he was the one that stole the show. I was sad to have to correct him. My interpretation of the Indian Chief was the finest performance on the Classical High School stage in all history. Sadly, I do not have any direct proof, but I can firmly stand behind that fact.

In the interest of accuracy, I just want to state for the record now, that everything I am writing here is true. The only thing I have done is change the names of the players so as to protect the innocent.

Okay, enough jibber jabber, here's part three. (You can read Part 1 here and Part 2 here):

I was cursed by two things early on in life: low self-esteem and the ability to write. The first (low self-esteem) was easily traceable to so many influences -- no real role models, always feeling like an outsider, being one of the only Asian kids in my school, etc.

Continue reading "The Impotence of Being Ernest Pt 3" »

Posted by Puberty Sucks at 07:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The continuing saga. Welcome to Part 4. (I wish I had some clue as to whether people were even into this story. Oh, well, I guess it doesn't matter, I'm gonna finish what I started no matter what). BTW you can read Pt. 1 here, Pt 2 here and Pt. 3 here. Enjoy:

I was the token artsy weirdo Asian kid. I was obsessed with “A Clockwork Orange” and used to wear fake eyelashes on one eye. I had a rat tail. I had blue hair. I would usually try to find a hat for each year of high school to be my trademark like Jughead in the Archie comics. Freshman year it was a grey panama hat. Sophomore year, a Greek fisherman’s hat worn backwards. Junior year I wore my mom’s nursing cape because I thought it looked cool. Various second-hand trench coats. Leather biker boots. Bandanas tied in all sorts of places other than my neck. An earring in the left ear (the non-gay one). Robert Smith Cure hair circa “Head On The Door.” Anything to not be the geeky Asian kid. For the most part it worked despite my honors grades, but it really didn’t help in the area of girls. 

Continue reading "The Impotence of Being Ernest Pt 4" »

Posted by Puberty Sucks at 01:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

In honor of our West Coast premiere of The Motel, I thought I should get back to continuing on with my story. So here it is, I hope I still have readers.

The Impotence of Ernest Pt 5...

(Read Pt's 1, 2, 3 and 4 first)

It wasn’t my lack of exposure to girls who binge drank and had equally low self-images either. There were plenty of opportunities where I was drunk enough to have an excuse and the girls were drunk enough to not care. But I think the root of my ineffectiveness with women was that something always stopped me from shamelessly owning my horniness. I was ruled by my insecurities. I castrated myself.

Continue reading "The Impotence of Being Ernest Pt 5" »

Posted by Puberty Sucks at 08:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)