tokio

So the conversation with my middle-aged, Chinese father went like so:
"I remember the movies that impacted me the most when I first came to America"
"Titanic"
"No, Charlie"
"Dad, what the hell is Charlie? I've never heard of it before?" a low-budget, 90s film perhaps?
"nononono...You know the one with the 娃娃(doll) with the scar. Scary"
"A doll? You mean Chuckie?"
"Yeah. That's what I said. Scary doll, scared the shit out of me"
"Really? Did you understand english then?"
"哎呀(onomatopoeia of exasperation-aiyah!) I didn't need to. So. Scary. At first, I watched by myself, but then I was too scared so I convinced your mother to watch it with me. She was pregnant with you at the time, I think. She thought the movie would influence your birth, but I was scared so there were no other options"
"...So you risked your firstborn's birth to watch Chuckie?"
"...Yes"
"Any other movies, Dad?"
"Oh, Star Wars. Those were important too"
"I love Star Wars. Which one did you like?"
"Oh you know, all of the earlier ones. The ones later on were pretty bad. Especially with the Count of Bookoo"
"The Count? of Bookoo?"
"Yeah. Bookoo"
"You mean Count Dooku?"
"I already said that"
Thanks Dad. No really. Your words never fail to inspire.