Asians Breaking into the Industry

Before youtube, talent and passion were nowhere to be found in the equation. The definition of an "artist" was someone who is attractive and is acquainted with big industry folks. Therefore, leaving so many artist with potential to inspire sadly unnoticed. This dilemma was common among Asian artist whose soft-spoken timid stereotypical personality have rendered them helpless and defeated despite their great talent and work ethics. It was so rare to find Asian artists in the big screen to the point that if we were fortunate enough to find one, the normal response would be to rush towards our laptops, and anxiously search for his or her identity. Fortunately, that was just the past, and the future provides us with new opportunities through the phenomenon of youtube. This time, fame is not about having a hot booty or who you know, it's about what you can bring to the table. Thanks to Youtube, Asian artists can now be judge for their work, talent, and passion. This ultimately leads to the rise in well-known individuals or groups such as: Wongfu productions, Kevin Jumba, Niga Higa, Jason Chen, and of course the upcoming talent

Brian Lee (a.k.a BeLeeve)

The beautiful, humble, and yet sensational Kina Granis on the left and upcoming music and film artist Brian Lee on the right.

I ask Brian for his opinion about the future for Asians-American in the industry. He gave me a very informative idea of what we should expect in the future:

“I feel that YouTube has been the "go-to platform" for not just Asian-Americans who want to display their talent, but for all people who share an interest in sharing their passion and love for the craft they do.

Yes, Asian-Americans have been typecast in the Entertainment Industry. Before the time of Bruce Lee, Asian-Americans were never shown on screen, but now we've been typecast as kung-fu warriors, asian mafia (triads), or the comedy factor.

Granted all of that, I'm starting to see more incorporating of Asian actors into roles, but there is still no sign of Asian-Americans being cast into a leading role unless a film is of Asian-American Interest

One of the pioneering actors is Ken Jeong from the Hangover series. He's really funny, but he gets typecast into being the same character in every movie even in Transformers:Dark of the Moon

YouTube does however allow for social commentary to be expressed that wouldn't usually be expressed otherwise. Look at Timothy De La Ghetto. He addresses issues of Asian American interest, but does so in a way that is funny, makes a point, but shouldn't be taken too seriously.

Also, the pool of Asian-American talent is endless on YouTube. Singer/ Songwriters like David Choi, Kina Grannis, Jane Lui, and AJ Rafael along with many others have been able to breakthrough into different fan bases in different countries. That being said, Asian-American artists, especially on YouTube look to be accepted for just being "artists" without having to fit within a mold of being "Asian-American" because in the end, that's only a part of who "we" are."

I was very impress with Brian's views about this whole concept, and with his permission I decided to show you:

A True Artists at Work

Excellent guitar skills, meaningful eye contact, very melodic vocals, and dominant rapping skills. Don't believe me, I will just let the music speak for itself

BeLeeve- Shadow (Original)

"Call me Mr been there done that, top model chick to your every day hood rat. Less than all, but more than a few, but I never met one like you" ~Neyo

Ne-yo- One In A Million (Cover)

What changes do you think will take place for Asian-American Artist in the future?

Is Legally Blonde an insult to female lawyers?

I love Legally Blonde, every time it's on tv, I just have to watch it.I've seen this movie a billion times, but it never gets old. The movie is about this sexy, ditzy blonde, who decided to go to Harvard Law school to get her boyfriend back. It's hilarious, she doesn't fit in with these top notch intellect, but at the end she prevails, and becomes top of the class. This was inspiring, it shows that you don't have to be the geek or the nerd, and you can still succeed in whatever the geeks or the nerds do. My lawyer friend on the other hand would beg to differ.

My friend who just graduated from law school instant message me one night and demanded that I stop watching Legally Blonde. I thought she was joking, but apparently she wasn't. She claims that Legally Blonde depicts a good lawyer as any women who is hot and can read a book. The movie basically makes fun of the law career as something that anyone with a pulse or a brain can do. She got even more upset when I told her about this Korean show called Prosecutor Princess, which is about this hot fashionable women who just graduated from law school. She continue to explain the complexity and obstacles that law students must conquer in order to reach their goals: the abstract thinking process of the LSAT, the amount of case studies that they have to go through, and the bar exam is no joke.

I do feel her pain, she graduated with huge amount of debt, and the job she obtained is barely enough to pay for food. This reminded me about the time when I ask this high schooler what she wanted to do in the future. Without hesitation, she shouted out "I want to be a lawyer because I can argue really well and because I am pretty." Her parents agree though, they said she is pretty good at back talking therefore she should be a lawyer. That's hilarious because the law career is not about arguing, back talk, or even physical appearances, it's about providing factual evidence, support, and debate in a professional manner to save your client from getting his or her ass sued. Because of their ignorance, I recommended her daughter to buy a strip pole, it could come handy in the future.


Anyways, my lawyer friend continue ranting about how doctors are getting overpaid. She explains that a doctor and a lawyer has about the same amount of debt from school. However, after a doctor completed his residency, he or she will bring in over $200,000. Some even get as high as half a million, and yet they are still out there complaining about meds school loans, not being paid enough, and not getting the respect. I couldn't help but laugh, and change the conversation about the show Scrubs. Scrubs pretty much make fun of doctors and nurses. Look how lazy these idiots are, and yet they are qualified to save people's lives, doesn't that make fun of the medical career? She counteract my argument by explaining that even though they have the lazy, comical demeanor, the show nevertheless depicts their actual intelligence. It's true Elliot from Scrub is the hot blonde, but she prove herself worthy by performing her tasks the way a real life doctor would do. Her medical vocabulary is adequate and her procedures are done correctly. Elle Woods from Legally Blonde on the other hand just looks like a chicken running around with her head cut off.

She further argue that Elle Wood only won the case because she got lucky, she got the case where hair and fashion are involve. Elliot on the other hand received her promotion to private practice was due to her work ethics. This was a tough one, my friend does have a good point, and because she was very upset, I decided to do my best to win this argument. I asked her, "have you seen Children's Hospital in Adult swim?" She nodded her head, and I continued,"do you think it's even remotely possible to heal a critically ill patient with the medicine of laughter AKA Clown Medicine?" She cracked up really hard and said "I take back everything I said about lawyers being disrespected in the media."

Bottom line is, the media makes fun of everything, so don't take it seriously!!!!