Wednesday, April 28, 2010

chris: kick ass or kiss ass?

i've met TV personality Chris before(where the fuck did people's last names go)? nice enough guy, though our encounter was very brief.
some in taiwan have debated whether Chris is our Dave Spector, a famous foriegn TV personality in japan, known for his outspoken criticism of general stupidity there.
as far as i've seen, chris plays status quo, get along and get some airtime foriegner. i've never heard him say anything with balls. in fact, about the only foriegner who does that is me!
cause frankly, if it comes down to saying what people want to hear in order to get ahead, then people be damned. i'm going to give them an earful of the truth as i see it.
i have serious doubts about chris ever becoming a dave spector. he's married into the entertainment profession. he's a good little foreigner, doing what he would (maybe) never have a chance to do back home.
not totally dissing the guy. he's likeable. i like him more than curly hair, prime time ass kisser Jeff whatever.
tell you what Chris: stand up for us. tell those assholes your wife works with to stop calling us high nose/lao wai on TV. you couldn't call Asian people "slant eyes" on broadcast TV in the US. why should they have the right to SLANDER us here?
respect. everybody should be respected.
use your position for the good of other foriegners. do something.
i'm giving you a challenge, Chris.

Saturday, April 24, 2010

"little fat" singer illustrates taiwan music industry's stupidity and hypocrisy




first, the music companies demanded that their singers be beautiful models (since that's where most of their income comes from, the songs are just a vehicle to make them famous). now it seems the worse they look the better.
not to put down anybody's looks. i'm not the dashing handsome man myself. but why now is ugly the fashion? and why these stupid singing contests every night?
because the taiwan record companies can think of nothing better to do. they are fucking out of ideas. they are groping in the dark for a new money making idea, and they can't find one. and the reason they are groping is because they've rejected the one idea that DOES work : long term investment and support of quality artists.but that takes time. too much time for the quickie investors (fucking neo taiwan yuppies) who claim to "love music that's why i'm investing in it". what they love is the idea of investing in music. but what they really want is a quick turnover.
these investors are the primary problem. but there's more......
these singing contests are merely a way for taiwan companies to showcase a singer (let's not call them artists shall we) that they were already considering ,ie some investor's daughter or son, or a friend of a friend of a friend. in other words the same old neputism that has plagued the industry from the beginning.
also, these contests are a way of homogenizing music in taiwan. since a large percentage of income comes from KTV royalties, they want nearly ALL of taiwan's music to be KTV singable. but most importantly, they want people to only love songs that they themselves could imagin singing in a KTV to impress their friends , ie appealing to taiwan's narcisstic impulses. also, the companies hope to keep out any different forms of music that might compete with this monopoly on the mental image people here have of what constitutes "music".
now for the hypocrisy: taiwan music companies are falling all over themselves because this porker got on US TV. but they have spent every dollar and effort they could to block foriegners living in taiwan from entering THIS market, myself at the top of that list.
and what is little fat" famous for besides being fat? for singing somewhat like whitney houston. here tawian record companies really show their stupidity in typical fashion: "look at me! i can copy someone else!"

taiwan has chosen "the easy way", instead of fostering creative persons who would make long term contributions to musical culture and respectable profits. they need to go back to making music, not a debauchery.