‘Rebuilding the Bridge’ Charity Event: AMAZING

Jul 13, 2008 09:11PM | by Alvin Lin in Community Events News Community Entertainment Fashion People

On Saturday night I was privileged to watch the ‘Rebuilding the Bridge’ charity event at Pace University, to raise money for Chinese earthquake victims.  Talk about an AMAZING show loaded with huge stars.  I finally got to see why Phil Lam and Hoc Poeng (fearless generals of Ningin) were so busy the past few weeks working to put the show together, and this extravaganza definitely didn’t disappoint.  There were lots of logistics not to mention controversies that I’ll let other people comment on if they want.

The show was largely hosted by Miss Info of Hot 97, who was clearly passionate about this charity and used her Rolodex to pull in some amazing and talented names from around the entertainment industry.  The show included appearances or performances by Beau Sia (you might know him from this eloquent video), J-Lim, JYP, Ryan Leslie, Rik Cordero, DJ Cipha, DJ Delinger, Nas (!!), and also a meet and greet with the JabbaWockeez.

(52) Comments

Interview with Far East Movement

Apr 21, 2008 04:56PM | by Alvin Lin in News Culture Entertainment Politics

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.

Here is link to their Myspace where you can check out some of their songs.

Here is a link to their own website.

If you want to purchase their first album ‘Folk Music’, you can find it here.

(27) Comments

Article on ‘21’: Casting Discrimination Unjustified

Apr 1, 2008 02:57AM | by Alvin Lin in News Community Culture Entertainment Offensive People

My piece in today’s MIT Tech (main newspaper)
----
http://www-tech.mit.edu/V128/N15/21casting.html

Several years ago, when I first heard that the best-selling book Bringing Down the House would be made into a Hollywood movie, I was beyond excited. However, now that ‘21’ is out, no matter how much I try to rationalize the casting decisions behind this film, I remain outraged as an American. I will attempt to explain why Hollywood’s discriminatory casting process behind this film is offensive, why over 600 members on a Facebook group have called for its boycott, and why several prominent newspapers and blogs have criticized this movie, with one writer even calling it “moving Asian Americans to the back of the bus.”

Some background information must be introduced. First, the real-life team, which this non-fiction book and inspired film were based on, consisted of mostly Asian American men, who have recently revealed themselves as Jeffrey Ma ’94 (the character Ben Campbell), Michael Aponte ’95 (Steve Fisher), and John Chang ’85 (Mickey Rosa). In a March 25 Boston Globe interview, the real-life Jill Taylor (Jane Willis, then a Harvard Law School student and ringleader of the blackjack team) confirmed the ethnic makeup of the team: “I think it dawned on him that we could play blackjack and also give the team, which was mostly Asian and male, a little diversity.” It should be reiterated that ‘21’ is not about any other blackjack team; new versions of the book ‘Bringing Down the House’ even have the movie poster as its book cover.

Second, according to the non-fiction book, the team’s Asian ethnicities were central to the plot and their ability to gamble huge amounts of money without notice. Here is an excerpt from the book: “The MIT team thrived by choosing [Big Players] who fit the casino mold of the young, foolish, and wealthy. Primarily nonwhite, either Asian or Middle Eastern, these were the kids the casinos were accustomed to seeing bet a thousand bucks a hand. Like many on the team, Kevin Lewis was part Asian, and could pass as the child of a rich Chinese or Japanese executive … ‘… White 20-year-olds with $2 million bankrolls stand out,’ explains Andrew Tay, one of Lewis’ teammates.”

Third, before seeing any auditions, the movie studio had initially intended to write out all of these Asian American males in the cast. In a 2005 Tech interview, here is what the book author Ben Mezrich had to say: “Mezrich mentioned the stereotypical Hollywood casting process — though most of the actual blackjack team was composed of Asian males, a studio executive involved in the casting process said that most of the film’s actors would be White, with perhaps an Asian female.”

(5) Comments