harold and kumar go to white castle

on its face it is just another stoner movie. and it is just another stoner movie, but it is peppered with so many inside jokes that can only be understood by east coast second generation asian-americans who attended ivy league institutions (and their jewish friends) that it was fucking hysterical and... scary.

1) let's just get this out of the way first... apparently, i'm not the first one who tried to fuck up her medical school interviews on purpose.

2) when a 22-year-old asian american investment banker rolls back into his alma mater, he will be mobbed by the asian american association and have his ass kissed by these wide-eyed undergrads who all want to get his job. and he hates his job but tells the little twerps he loves it. why? he hates the little twerps and wants them to suffer his fate by making them want his job even more.

3) sixteen candles is mentioned several times in the film. viewers who are not familiar with the film's significance asian-american culture will miss the reference entirely. sixteen candles had a character called "long duk dong" who was a complete social misfit / geek / nerd, and had a chinky accent. since then, asian american watchdog groups have responded to the "long duk dong" effect -- anything in the media that negatively stereotypes or demeans asian americans (like the details magazine spread "gay or asian"). when kumar tells harold that he has issues for liking sixteen candles, most people will think that it's because he thinks it's cheesy, but when kumar rolls his eyes just a little too much... we all know it's because harold's out of the "long duk dong" loop.

4) the jewish guy says something about how asian chicks are hot. there is an ongoing urban myth among asian women that jewish men have asian fetishes.

[more to come! i went on a beer run, and now i'm eating dinner. sorry, food and drink = more important than this post.]