Showing posts with label ASIAN. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ASIAN. Show all posts
Monday, November 12, 2012
Gangnam Style wins 'Best Video'
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ASIAN,
NEWS,
VIDEOS
Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber shared the spoils in Frankfurt on Sunday at the MTV Europe Music Awards, each scooping three prizes at one of the biggest nights in the pop calendar outside the United States. Meanwhile, dance sensation Psy won Best Video for his record-breaking hit "Gangnam Style."
American country singer Swift, who left the Country Music Association awards empty-handed less than two weeks earlier, picked up honors for Best Female, Best Live and Best Look.
"Drei? Drei? I can't believe you gave me three awards," Swift, who was nominated in five categories, told the boisterous crowd of 7,000, trying out her best German.
One of the night's most popular performers was YouTube sensation Psy.
Skipping through the venue and on to the main stage in a sparkly blue jacket with his horse riding-inspired dance, he became the first South Korean artist to perform at the annual
awards.
"This is beautiful. This is my very first time to participate, perform, be nominated, as an Asian artist, as a Korean artist, so I don't know what to say," he told journalists backstage.
He added that his next album would have more English songs on it. Gangnam Style has been viewed more than 670 million times on YouTube and received a record-breaking 4.9 million "likes" on Facebook since being released in July.
Host Heidi Klum, who this year filed for divorce from singer husband Seal, also teamed up with Psy for a tongue-in-cheek performance of the dance.
"It was pretty," Psy said of the duet.
Watching the Gangnam Style Video here
Empty-handed
Rihanna, who led the nominations with six, failed to pick up a single award.
Canadian teen heartthrob Bieber matched Swift's tally, claiming Best Male for the second year in a row as well as Best Pop and Best World Stage.
Compatriot Carly Rae Jepsen went home with two awards for Best Song ("Call Me Maybe") and Best Push recognizing up-and-coming talent.
MTV chose a circus theme for this year's awards at the 100-year-old Festhalle venue, and Rita Ora opened the show by belting out her No. 1 British hit "R.I.P." from a giant bird
cage.
Swift embraced the concept for the show's finale, popping out of a magician's box and passing her top hat to a clown riding a miniature bicycle.
"I had a blast during the performance," Swift said. "All the circus acrobats and everything like that. It was so much fun."
Before the show began, performers on the red carpet included rapper Ludacris, who debuted his new video "Rest of My Life."
"The fans are ecstatic right now. Hopefully we'll be back at the EMAs next year performing this track," Ludacris told journalists amid the din of screaming fans.
Stars like the Jonas Brothers, who received one of the biggest cheers from fans on the carpet, and Kim Kardashian said they were looking forward to Thanksgiving dinners.
"There's always a lot of food, but we're still figuring out how to get all of us together," said Kim, referring to the sizeable celebrity Kardashian clan.
Despite being billed as the Europe Music Awards, the majority of nominees are traditionally North American, and 2012 is no exception.
Alongside Psy, acts who took the stage at the show included Swift, 14-time Grammy winner Alicia Keys, the Killers, newly reformed No Doubt and Jepsen.
MTV honored the late Whitney Houston with a Global Icon award. Houston, who was found dead in a Beverly Hills hotel bathtub on Feb. 11, was the third artist to be given the award,
following Bon Jovi and Queen in 2010 and 2011.
"We will always love you Whitney. Forever!" Keys said, presenting the prize.
Last year's awards in Belfast attracted 23 million viewers on all platforms, while this year's nominations attracted a record 184 million votes online and on mobile devices to decide
the winners. — Reuters
Friday, July 8, 2011
Japan's current account surplus falls sharply in May
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ASIAN,
NEWS
By BBC
Japan's current account surplus fell sharply in May, as the 11 March earthquake and tsunami continue to affect exports.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Monday, May 30, 2011
Yuan at record high versus dollar after Treasury report
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ASIAN,
NEWS
China's yuan has hit a record high against the US dollar after the US Treasury department said the Chinese currency was undervalued but not manipulated.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Plastic surgery boom as Asians seek 'western' look
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ASIAN,
NEWS
Lee Min kyong stretches on the ballet bar in the dance studio. The 12-year old is a little awkward and nervous in front of strangers, until the music begins.
Min-kyong moves to the classical tune, springing easily onto her toes, the very picture of childhood grace and poise. But when the music stops, she falls back into an awkward stance.
She lacks confidence, explains Min-kyong's mother, a problem she hopes will be solved when her pre-teen undergoes plastic surgery, to westernize her eyes.
"If I get the surgery, my eyes will look bigger," explains Min-kyong. Everyone, she says, points out her small eyes. It's why she doesn't think she's a pretty girl. A surgery which cuts a fold into her eyelid to create a double fold will widen her eyes. The effect will also be to give her a slightly more western look.
Gallery: Teen's quest for 'prettier' face
"I'm excited. I think I'll look better than I do now," she says shyly, breaking into a small smile.
Her mother, Jang Hyu-hee, says her daughter didn't ask for the surgery.
"I'm having her do it," says Jang, "because I think it'll help her. This is a society where you have to be pretty to get ahead. She's my only daughter."
The definition of pretty, explains their plastic surgeon, is not the standard Asian face, but closer to a Caucasian face. Dr Kim Byung-gun is the head of Seoul, South Korea's biggest plastic surgery clinic, BK DongYang. The clinic is a dozen stories tall, with all of its operating rooms full on the day of Min kyong's surgery.
Dr Kim says his clinic, one of the most successful in a city dubbed the "plastic surgery capital of Asia," performs 100 surgeries a day, ranging from eyelid surgery to nose reshaping to facial contouring.
The Chinese and Korean patients tell me they want to have faces like Americans
--Dr Kim Byung-gun
--Dr Kim Byung-gun
"They always tell me they don't like their faces," says Dr Kim, explaining what his patients request prior to surgery. "They want to have some westernized, nice faces. They want to have big eyes like westernized people, high profile, nicer noses.
"The Chinese and Korean patients tell me that they want to have faces like Americans. The idea of beauty is more westernized recently. That means the Asian people want to have a little less Asian, more westernized appearance. They don't like big cheekbones or small eyes. They want to have big, bright eyes with slender, nice facial bones."
"We can see potential huge growth, with the number of patients from China. The Chinese people want to have the westernized face. They don't like their faces. They have big cheekbones, big mandible angle without double fold, and a low profile nose. They are seeking to have westernized face, high profile nose, slender nice cheekbone, and mandible bone."
Dr Kim believes in the global economy, investing in plastic surgery to slightly westernize the face will bring a return on the investment of 100 times, through more confidence, a better job and obtaining a better marital partner.
A global ideal doesn't stop at the face, says dental surgeon Jung Hak. Dr Jung says he's been fighting a trend. Korean mothers who have been bringing in their toddlers to have the muscle under the tongue that connects it to the bottom of the mouth surgically snipped.
The belief, explains Dr Jung, is that it will help a Korean speak English more clearly. People from the Asia Pacific region have difficulty in pronouncing the "L" sound, says Dr Jung. But he calls the surgery, if it's only for pronunciation, misguided, and caused by the hyper-competitive drive in Korea.
"For 10 years, there's been this crazy drive for early English education. Mothers long for their kids to have better English pronunciation," says Dr Jung.
Editor of Giant Robot magazine and Asian American commentator Martin Wong, sees these westernization surgeries as far more insidious than just simple procedures. He sees it as a form of "cultural imperialism."
"They're making a statement about their own race, about where they come from, who they are," says Wong. "They're not doing it on purpose. They're not saying that they think they're inferior looking. They're not saying they're ugly, but that's the message that they're giving nonetheless."
Message or not, for Min-kyong, the 20-minute surgery has been well worth the cost and post-surgical discomfort. A few weeks later, she and her mother email to say she's happy with her new look. And when this 12-year-old stares at herself dancing in the studio, she no longer just sees her eyes. She sees a prettier girl.
By CNN
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