Entertainment | Due-East.org

Check out Neocha.com for Chinese indie music

孙智谦 on 29 Jun 2008

Are you tired of Chinese popular music? I am. Over all, it stinks. I mean, I’m a huge Jay Chou fan, and I like almost everything Sun Yan Zi and Wang Li Hong put out. But for the most part, Chinese pop music - like pop music everywhere - all sounds the same, and it’s all pretty mediocre. No creativity, no individuality. I really appreciate the traditional Chinese value of putting the group over the individual and not rocking the proverbial boat, but sometimes it just doesn’t work. It absolutely fails when it comes to music. Music is supposed to be creative, so just following along with the crowd definitely doesn’t cut it. Thankfully, in every culture there are always those independent people who like to experiment with new sounds and ideas and create something fresh. (Really, if you haven’t checked out InLove, do it. Yes, Lu, I’m always advertising your music!). I recently came across a post at Lost Laowai reviewing a great site called Neocha (aka “new tea”). I won’t go into what the review says since that would be totally redundant. Just check it out for yourself or head on over to neocha.com to get connected with great (and of course some not-so-great) Chinese indie music.

Chinese video sites: an obnoxiously long list

孙智谦 on 25 Apr 2008




I was looking up Chinese video sharing sites after my buddy teople introduced me to a few, and I came across a great post on Danwei.org with an overly-lengthy-in-a-good-way list of them. Careful not to overdose, Chinese junkies. And if you’re interested in seeing a good comparison of the sites, check out this post on China Web2.0 Review.

Nobody concentrates harder than old Chinese ladies

孙智谦 on 02 Apr 2008


I found the video below on blog.howma.com and had to post about it because of how awesome it is. Yeah, it’s pretty cool how well the guy in the video dances, but the real story is the old lady on the couch behind him…

If you had a guy in your living room wearing a suit coat with no shirt, pajama bottoms, and slippers, and he was dancing all up in ya face like MC Hammer, you’d probably laugh hysterically, right? Or you’d glance up once in a while to watch for a few seconds, right? At the very least, you’d giggle or something. I think most Westerners would. But not old Chinese ladies! The one in the video just keeps on knitting/sewing/doing-whatever-she’s-doing and pays absolutely no attention to the guy whatsoever. It’s like the he isn’t even in the room! I don’t think it’s possible to concentrate any harder than that. And that’s why if I ever find myself in a tag-team Operation competition, I’m taking an old Chinese lady as my partner.

Rain Vs. Stephen Colbert

孙智谦 on 28 Mar 2008

I never would’ve guessed it, but apparently Stephen Colbert and Korean pop star Rain have been battling for supremacy in the Korean pop scene for years. And based on the examples in the video below, I gotta say that Stephen Colbert has Rain beat hands down. He’s so much more manly and tough and a much better singer than Rain…

Lee Hom, Jeong Hee, and Rain - Perfect Interaction

孙智谦 on 28 Mar 2008

Cross-genre music is awesome, but cross-cultural music is the best. Check out Perfect Interaction (完美的互動) by Wang Li Hong (a.k.a.: Wang Lee Hom), featuring Lim Jeong Hee and Rain (who isn’t actually IN the video for some reason). This song puts me in a good mood when I hear it. Love the sound, and their voices go together perfectly, which is I guess why the song is named what it is. A catchy song in 3 different languages with English subtitles in the upper left of the screen? I can’t ask for a much cooler video experience than that! It’s too bad there aren’t a lot more of these kinds of cross-cultural collaborations in music.

Hey, Jealousy

孙智谦 on 21 Mar 2008

You know how when you were a kid you’d have these highly implausible fantasies about totally awesome things happening to you, and no matter how unlikely it actually was that those things would ever happen, somewhere deep down inside you thought they might some day? My fantasy when I was a kid was that I would be at my favorite band’s concert and then for whatever reason my thirteen-year-old mind could come up with, I would get invited up on stage to sing along with or instead of the singer of the band. I used to lie in bed at night and drift off to sleep imagining that kind of thing happening. But in the words of Noel Gallagher of Oasis, “While we’re living, the dreams we have as children fade away.” Reality eventually set in, and I realized that kind of thing doesn’t happen…unless you’re a Sammi Cheng fan in Singapore. Check out the video below:

Well, it’s pretty close to the fantasy, anyway. My Cantonese is horrible (read: all but nonexistent), but someone in the comments section on Youtube said something about Sammi making fun of the girl for being fat or not sexy (but in a good-natured way?!). Being called fat in front of thousands of people? That’d sting a bit, but it’s a small price to pay for being given the chance to live out a fantasy like that. The next time I’m at a Jay Chou concert (probably never), I’m bringing a poster that says, “Let me on stage to make a fool of myself in front of thousands!” or maybe just “Can I have Landy Wen’s phone number?”

Paur McCarrney - Or a small Korean child sings Hey Jude

孙智谦 on 16 Mar 2008

This is pretty cute. Not as cute as the 3-year-old girl telling the story of Star Wars, but still cute. And it’s related to Asia, so you’ll watch it and you’ll like it. He can carry a tune pretty well for a child his age! I’ve included lyrics below, so feel free to sing along!

Hey Jude, don make eet bad.
Take a sad song and make it beh-urrr
Rerember to rerrerr into yer haaaar
Then you can staaarrrrr to mrake eet berrer
So rerrir owr an rerember to rerrerr into your haarr
*grunt*
Then you can staaar, hmm, hmm, to make eet beh-rer
hmm, hmm, Hey Jude, mhmmhmm, don mayafray, mhmm, mmh
You rere maydoo cole-owrt in keterr
Remember to rerrer into your har, mhmm, mmh,
Den you can staaar, hmm, hmm
To make eet berrer, berrer, berrer, beherr, beher, aaaaaaaah!!!
*cue awesome guitar solo* Na, na, na, na-na-ah-na, na-na-ah-na, Hey Jude
Do-Do-ee-dut-deh, naaa…

Cutest. Kid. Ever.

孙智谦 on 26 Feb 2008

This has absolutely nothing to do with Asia, but it’s too entertaining not to post. It’s an adorable little three-year-old girl sort of giving a synopsis of Episode IV of Star Wars (that’s the original Star Wars for you non-geeks). Comments from the author below:

From www.fistofblog.com

Here is my daughter, age 3, explaining the plot of Star Wars Episode IV.

She explained the whole movie to me in much greater detail but unfortunately I didn’t have the camera going. When I finally caught her talking about the movie again she delivered this truncated, but still funny, version.

Edit: Thank you all for the nice comments. Maybe I will print them out for her and someday and when she’s all growed up she’ll get to read them herself.

A little more about the video: She wasn’t coached to say anything, nor was she forced to make the video. She rarely stops talking. Those of you with children understand this: sometimes it’s harder to turn the faucet off than to turn the faucet on.

Believe it or not, she has the seem the movie only once, and I spread it out over 3 days so it wouldn’t be too much all at once for her.

The video was edited to make it shorter, more cohesive and hopefully funnier. I did move some of the lines around so it would make more sense.

Please visit the mother blog at www.fistofblog.com.

No matter how cool you think your ballet is, it’s not as cool as China’s

孙智谦 on 22 Feb 2008

How did China get the monopoly on cool acrobatics? I have no idea, but I’ve never seen another country come up with acrobats even remotely as talented as China’s. Check out the video above, and I’m sure you’ll agree that China just needs to go ahead and send out a letter to the rest of the world:

Ni Hao, Kai-Lan premier

孙智谦 on 08 Feb 2008

Ni Hao, Kai-Lan finally premiered yesterday on the Nick Jr. TV network, and Tim Goodman over at the San Francisco Chronicle has posted a review on SFGate.com. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, read the excerpt below from the review:

“Ni Hao, Kai-lan” takes the “play along, think along” concept that was popularized by “Blues Clues” and adds the ethnic element that helped fuel “Dora” as a major hit with kids. Like those shows, Kai-lan (who is 5 “and three-quarters,” if you must know) goes on a variety of adventures and asks children viewing at home a string of questions. (This interactive trick has proved quite successful in the children’s programming arena. Kids love to shout out their answers.) Along the way, everybody learns a valuable lesson.

His review is pretty helpful and points out some interesting aspects of the show that are pretty different from the way Dora does things. It sounds as if it’s a pretty quality show. Of course, that’s only one review. If you want more information on it, click here to go to its official site.

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