Hey this is for all you aspiring young artists out there. If you want a hip hit music video burning up the charts, then be sure to include anything related to Asia. Bling bling, Badonkadonk hoochies, and fast cars are so yesterday.
Get with the program and cast some Asian extras. Any will do as chances are your viewing audience won’t know the difference which ethnicity they’re from anyway. And if you have a real budget, well, heck, fly the whole crew to Tokyo or Beijing. If your low on cash then try Chinatown or Koreatown.
Take some lessons from the pros: If you’re Gwen Stefani then draw inspiration from Japanese culture and fashion by using four back-up dancers known as the Harajuku Girls in your videos and concerts. (Click here to see video).
Kanye West’s recently released single, Stronger, uses ‘it’ girl and hottie Blasian, Cassie and was originally shot for nine days in Japan. A genuine Japanese motorcycle gang was used in the video which included the BAPE store and the BBC shop as locations.
Wanna top that? Then why not rent out the entire Forbidden City in Beijing. That’s what Jared Leto and his vanity band, 30 Seconds to Mars did. In fact, they were reportedly the first American video ever to be shot entirely in the PRC. How did they show their gratitude? By donning some traditional Chinese garb and kicking some major local ass in the video - Hai yaahhh!
Finally, if you have no real storyline concept but just want to jump on the ‘Asian contagion’ bandwagon then just throw in some trendily dressed but disinterested looking Asians. Daddy Yankee opted for a big name duet singer in the form of Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas for the video Impacto. This is a half hearted effort but if you’re new at the exploitation game then, by all means, take it slow.
Good luck!: DaDump hopes this abbreviated workshop helps fulfill your Billboard dreams and gets your video on MTV’s daily rotation. If you are having trouble coming up with fresh new ways to take advantage of the exotic notion that is Asia, let me know. But please do not use Asian import models… unless you’re an up and coming hip hop act with a truly limited imagination.
And you thought mild indigestion was the worst that could happen at an eating contest? Well, think again.
Takeru “Tsunami” Kobayashi, who has won six straight Nathan’s Famous hot dog eating contests, suffered a serious jaw injury while training for the July 4 event.
The Japanese eating legend was diagnosed with jaw arthritis and can barely open his mouth. In an entry on his blog entitled “Occupational hazard,'’ Kobayashi said: “My jaw refused to fight any more.'’
“I feel ashamed that I couldn’t notice the alarm bells set off by my own body,'’ he said. “But with the goal to win another title with a new record, I couldn’t stop my training so close to the competition. I was continuing my training and bearing with the pain but finally I destroyed my jaw.'’
Half brothers Julian and Sean Lennon have begun speaking to each other again.
Their reconciliation follows Julian’s eight-year feud with Sean and Sean’s mother, Yoko Ono, the widow of the men’s father, Beatle John Lennon, the New York Post reported.
The rift stemmed from comments Julian made about Yoko Ono, he told the Post. Julian’s mother is John’s first wife, Cynthia.
“I thought it time to make big changes in my own life,” Julian, 44, told the Post in what the paper said was his first interview since 1999. “Part of that has been to get Sean back into my life, because I love him so much.”
After contacting Sean’s tour manager this year, Julian surprised his half brother backstage after a show in Prague. “We just hugged and held each other,” Julian recalled.
Julian joined Sean, 31, on the tour bus, sleeping on the floor and traveling through Croatia and Slovenia, he said. [Y!]
…and when DaDump says ‘Fragrant’, he ain’t referring to the aromatic odors of blossoming flowers. Hong Kong is hot now, people! And so are the first pics of the making of Ayumi Hamasaki’s latest music video, Glitter fated, starring Hong Kong’s own Shawn Yue as her love interest.
Move over Hollywood. The star-studded, red-carpet premiere was once the almost exclusive property of Tinseltown. But now Tokyo is grabbing the limelight.
The fifth Harry Potter film, “The Order of the Phoenix,” will be out in Japan ahead of other markets, with Warner Bros. officials confirming that Daniel Radcliffe and other key castmembers will fly in to Tokyo when it makes its debut here June 28 — ahead of the glitzy July 3 event scheduled for London.
“Spider-Man 3″ got the trend off the ground with a spectacular launch in Tokyo on April 16, while the third installment of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise — “At World’s End” — made its Asian splash here May 23.
“Japan has always been the biggest territory outside North America, and the final boxoffice figures in Japan have sometimes outgrossed the U.S. take,” said Noriyuki Sano, head of the publicity division at Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan.
Sin City beauty Devon Aoki have posed nude for a new book. Devon has already bared all for art photographer Marc Baptiste’s new book ‘Nudes’, along with ‘Bring It On’ star Gabrielle Union and ‘Traffic’ actress Erika Christensen.
Aoki is already used to posing for photographers. Before her big break in ‘Sin City’ she was an acclaimed fashion model.
The pictures are to be unveiled at a lavish launch party at New York’s Milk Gallery.
Devon Aoki @ Lancome Resolution Skincare Launch Party
Cameron Diaz and her alterego, Princess Fiona, made the long trek over the Pacific to the Japanese premiere of Shrek The Third on Monday at NHK Hall in Tokyo. Diaz posed with Japanese beauty queen, model and actress Norika Fujiwara.
The press conference, held earlier, was held at the Park Hyatt Hotel. Shrek 3 will open on Wednesday, June 30 in Japan.
Hoping to spread the magic of heavyweight champ George Foreman and his Lean Mean Fat-Reducing Grilling Machine to Asia, Foreman and Jackie Chan just finished shooting an East-meets-West infomercial in Hong Kong.
“The Asian market doesn’t know George well, but they know hamburgers and they know Jackie,” says Foreman’s business partner, who came up with the pairing of the grill and the boxing champ in 1994.
The only market the grill has not penetrated is Asia. Chan was looking for endorsement opportunities, and after months ironing out conflicting schedules, the filming of the infomercial came together.
The launch of the ad campaign in China is planned for August, with Japanese and Korean versions to follow.
Zhang Ziyi recently visited Tokyo with movie director Feng Xiaogang to premiere their movie “the Banquet”. She’s been quite the busy bee this past week walking the red carpets in Cannes, chatting with her online fans on her website and dodging questions about her current flavor of the moment, Vivi Nevo.
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