04.21.08
Posted in Interviews, Media and Entertainment, Blog at 5:28 pm by alvin_lin_guest
Last week I had a phone and email interview with the members of the Far East Movement (FM), whose songs have gotten radio play on the West Coast, and in movies like ‘Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift’, and ‘Finishing the Game’. They have a great sound and are starting to get some mainstream attention from TV channels like MTV.
Below is Part I of our interview.
Please introduce yourselves (names, ages, roles)?
The FAR EAST MOVEMENT.. FM ON YOUR DIAL.
Kev Nish, MC
Prohgress, MC
J-Splif, MC
DJ Virman, DJ
We’re all mid twenties.
How did you all meet, how did you come up with your initial name?
We were friends in highschool, freestyling in parking lots and recording on home computers with downloaded instrumentals. Back in 2001 we had the name ‘Emcee’s Anonymous’ because during those times we were unaware of Asian Americans in hip-hop and we had the thought in our mind that maybe people wouldn’t like our music because we’re not the ‘norm’ in hip-hop. One of the first songs we recorded was called “The Far-east Movement”, talking about what we want in music and mainstream media - a FAR EAST MOVEMENT. As we were recording the song, the name Far East Movement felt so strong it kicked us in the head and made us realize we can’t and shouldn’t hide the fact we’re Asian, especially during a time when there were few to no Asian American hip-hop artists… we had to make a statement with our name and change the way people view Asian American music by allowing ourselves freedom to sound however we feel - as fun as we want, as sexy as we want or as hip-hop as we want our music to sound. We met our manager Carl Choi in 2003 while putting at charity show called “Movementality” raising money for a drug rehab house in Koreatown and through workin with him in this event we felt we found someone who shared the same vision and goals, someone who had faith in us and someone we could build with. We’ve been riding this crazy ride as a team ever since… which lead us to find Dj Virman from LA radio station Power106 who has helped to take this team even further.
Who or what are your major influences, and what are you trying to be?
Our major musical influences are as scattered as an ipod playlist. We grew up listening to Tupac, the Dogg Pound, Gun’s n Roses, Nirvana, Biggie, Smashing Pumpkins, the Cure, Outkast and even the artists we hear on the radio today to keep our tastes relevant. Outside of music, the LA lifestyle and our journeys on the road from the cities we visit, the cultures we experience, and the people that bless us along the way are huge influences and inspirations to us. A motto we have is “We moving east, one city at a time until the whole world is folks and family to us”, and thats exactly what we’re tryin to be through our music.
How do you come up with your songs or make your music? Are there any main themes or messages you want to express?
When creating a song.. our goal is to make music that people in every city we visit can relate to while staying true to our character as Asian American dudes growing up in Los Angeles, and as rappers, song writers, producers, and fans of music, our main theme and message is to bring out an emotion from the listener through our beats and experiences… creating music that every listener no matter the race can relate to personally. When we get in the studio, our goals are the same as a platinum recording artist or a young rapper at home recording for the first time, to make a song that people want to listen to more than once! hahaha
For more, check out the rest of this interview portion here
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04.18.08
Posted in Media and Entertainment at 9:55 am by william_lee_intern
Fans of French film might be interested to know that Jean-Pierre Melville’s 1970 classic Le Cercle Rouge (starring Alain Delon, Andre Bourvil, Gian Maria Volonte and Yves Montand) is being remade in Hollywood by none other than Hong Kong action auteur Johnnie To. What’s even more weird is that Chow Yun-fat and Orlando Bloom are attached to the project.
Click here for the original article
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Posted in Media and Entertainment at 8:52 am by william_lee_intern
DJ Rekha, MC Kabir, Yogi B and Natchatra, Chee Malabar, Abstract/Vision: They might not be familiar to most American music fans, even to hard-core connoisseurs of hip-hop. But in some pockets of the United States—say, Chicago’s Devon Avenue or Jackson Heights in Queens, N.Y. —they are bona fide stars. Yogi B and Natchatra, a band of Malaysian Tamil rappers, performed for 20,000 people at a recent show in Toronto. DJ Rekha (aka Rekha Malhotra) draws thousands for her appearances at super-clubs in New York and London and Chicago’s Smart Bar.
Click here for the original article
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Posted in Culture, Media and Entertainment at 8:52 am by william_lee_intern
On Sunday, April 27th, 2008, Nancy Moran of ALTRA will be moderating two Asian American Entertainment and Media Q&A Panels at the Newport Beach Film Festival. The panels are free and open to the public at the Edwards Islands Cinemas from 3:15-5pm. ALTRA Magazine has teamed up with Southern California’s Newport Beach Film Festival to help kick off their “Asian Films Cinema” showcase (scheduled to begin on Monday, April 28th). The purpose of these two discussion panels is to honor and celebrate successful Asian American Media and Entertainment professionals in the US.
Click here for the original article
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04.17.08
Posted in Media and Entertainment at 9:51 am by william_lee_intern
Martial arts star Jet Li was honoured with the best actor prize at the Hong Kong Film Awards for his performance in the film ‘The Warlords’. The Warlords was also recognised for its cinematography, art direction and special effects.
Click here for the original article
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04.16.08
Posted in Media and Entertainment, China at 8:48 am by william_lee_intern
The filmmaker Arthur Dong was amazed when he uncovered the earliest known Chinese-American feature film which had been in one family’s possession since 1916 and which is still shedding light on the lives of Chinese Americans in the Bay Area. The American Academy of Arts and Sciences considers this a gem because the Asian images you see in this silent film are in stark contrast to the ones people were viewing in the big Hollywood movies of that time which portrayed Asians as mysterious, opium smoking deviants.
Click here for the original article
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04.15.08
Posted in Media and Entertainment at 8:55 am by william_lee_intern
When you mix “The Wizard of Oz,” “The Karate Kid,” “Rush Hour” and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”, you get a hodgepodge titled “The Forbidden Kingdom,” which will please its core audience but won’t enthrall anyone over the age of 16. You want to know the reason? Let’s check the review by Stephen Farber.
Click here for the original article
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04.13.08
Posted in Culture, Media and Entertainment, Sexuality, Fashion at 5:02 pm by alvin_lin_guest
Link
In my opinion, this is “must see”. It reminded me of some older Tyra Banks talkshow clips on the same subject, however this segment is even more blatant and clear so that there is no mistaking what is going on.
Link to the Tyra clip
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04.11.08
Posted in Media and Entertainment at 9:53 am by william_lee_intern
Film critic John Powers reviews Ang Lee’s film, Lust, Caution, which was recently released on DVD. He says that Lust Caution pushes against Chinese taboos. The movie sets during the Japanese occupation of China, the film tells the story of a resistance fighter who has an affair with a Chinese collaborator.
Click here for the original article
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Posted in Media and Entertainment at 9:51 am by william_lee_intern
The thrifty Rush Hour star JACKIE CHAN insists on washing his T-shirts, underpants and socks in his hotel suite, and then hangs them all over the room to dry. He refuses to let professionals clean his underwear when he’s staying in hotels - because it’s too expensive.
Click here for the original article
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