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The World Embraces Liu Wei, Armless Piano Player
Perhaps, like me, you’ve already watched video of China’s Got Talent contestant Liu Wei, thanks to the magic of the Internet. Liu is a 23-year old musical prodigy who was electrocuted during a game of hide-and-seek at age 10, costing him his arms but not his passion for piano–he now plays miraculously with his toes.
Maybe, like me, you shared the video with everyone you knew, because the combo of Richard Clayderman tuneage and this adorable, spirited kid’s incredible story were simply too much to keep to yourself. And then of course you watched it with your parents; together you cried, commented, and mentally hugged (to actually hug might’ve been too awkward). And even though they thanked you for sharing the video with them, you could tell they were also wondering why, given your many lessons and ten fingers, you never made anything of your piano playing.
Continue reading The World Embraces Liu Wei, Armless Piano Player
Filed under: Adorable-ness, Armless Piano Player, Awesomeness, China's Got Talent, Chinese Pianist Plays With Feet, Everybody Loves a Winner, Hardass Asian Parents, Liu Wei, Piano, Piano Lessons Are Required, Plays Piano WIth Feet, Plays Piano With Toes, Talent
BIRTHDAY CELEBRASIAN! Elton John
Happy birthday to honorasian Elton John, who turned 63 today!
Why Hardass Asian ladies love Elton:
* He, like all grownup Asian ladies, loves bedazzled evening outfits.
* File Under: Easy Listening
* 5 Grammy awards, an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award and a Tony Award. (Who cares if you don’t watch the Tonys? It’s an award!)
* A distinct love for tiny dancers.
* Five important words: Was friends with Princess Diana.
* He turned those piano lessons into somethin‘!
* Guaranteed to rally for karaoke.
* He gives songs as gifts. And by jove, H.A.L.s love presents!!!
Filed under: Bedazzler, Best Kinds Of Friends, Best of the Best, Careers In Piano, Elton John, Honorasians, Karaoke, Musicians, Piano, Piano Lessons Are Required, Piano Players, Presents, Princess Diana, Singers, Tiny Dancers
AMAZIAN OF THE WEEK! Cho Seung-jin, Piano Prodigy
Everybody Loves A Youngest-Ever Winner
Jen and I not particularly well-versed in the goings-on of the International piano competition community (Sorry, Moms), so we hadn’t heard of the Hamamatsu International Piano Competition–a prestigious classical piano showdown that occurs every three years in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan–until we read about its newly-anounted champion today.
South Korea’s Cho Seung-jin took first prize in the 7th Annual competition, a two-week affair that culminated today, making him the first-ever Asian person to nab the top honor (All winners since the contest’s 1991 inception have been European) of the Asia-based tournament.
OH. He’s also 15.
So he’s the youngest-ever winner of the competition. And our Hardass Asian Parents’ wet dream.
Cho typically practices piano for three to four hours a day (six during heavy competition), and what we love about him is that he seems to be both a consummate professional and fun, dreamy, adorably innocent kid.
The Korea Times pulled this excerpt from the judges’ interpretation of his second-round performance, depicting the nuance and wisdom of a veteran:
Continue reading AMAZIAN OF THE WEEK! Cho Seung-jin, Piano Prodigy
Filed under: Cho Seung-Jin, Everybody Loves a Winner, Exceptional Young People, First Asian, Hamamatsu International Piano Competition, Hardass Asian Parents, Japan, Music, Musical Geniuses, Piano, Piano Lessons Are Required, Prodigies, Teen Wonders, Youngest-Ever
ROPID: Cuter Than A Baby Prawn
Meet Ropid (Rapid + Robot), a new robot just unveiled by scientists in Japan that jumps, responds to directions…
…and is about 10,396,574 more adorable and fun to watch than your obnoxious little cousin with 1 year of ballet and 4 years of piano lessons under her belt, who your aunt dresses up in stupid party dresses every time there’s the teeniest, mundane family function going on–who she will HUSH AN ENTIRE ROOM FOR (sometimes even an NBA Playoff game) so that the little fucker can sing a song and dance it out, then follow with an encore presentasian of a plunked-out, shitty Sonatina on the piano.
10,396,574 more adorable and fun to watch than your cuz. And you can turn it off.
[BBC News: Jumping Robot An 'Entertainer']
Thanks, Jasmine!
Filed under: Adorable, Adorable-ness, Asian Families, Awesome Inventions, Baby Robot, Cousins, Cute Things, Dope, Dopeass Stuff, Family Functions, Fun, Japan, Performing, Piano, Piano Lessons Are Required, Robots, Ropid
More Stuff and Stuff
I recently became addicted to Tila Tequila’s “Hot Spot”–which is in fact, not her clitoris, but her blog. How else would I have learned that, God willing, she plans to walk away from fame once she finds her mate in A Shot At Love 2?
She writes:
“My Life After ‘A Shot At Love’ Is Over!!!“
I mean. We Wish.
She continues by quoting herself from Entertainment Weekly Magazine:
I wanna do meaningful stuff. After a while you reach your goals and then what? You just prance around like Paris Hilton all day long and feel like you have to find the next scandal to stay big. This lifestyle is fun and I worked hard for it, but I think in the long run, it’s a lot. I just wanna be in love for the rest of my life and move to an island and have kids.
Oh, that Tila and her “stuff!” After reading this incredible declarasian, we feel compelled to figure out what goals she’s reached in life:
1) Mastering a musical instrument
2) Being on the cover of a national magazine
3) Writing a book
Done, done, and done! She really has come so far. And I agree… with nothing left to accomplish, she should move on to the meaningful stuff!
Oooh! It looks like she’s already started: check out her new track, a duet with Hotrod called “I Like to Fuck.”
At least she’s finally saying something that she means.
Source Source Source Source Source
Thanks, jRu!
Filed under: "Fuck", Celebutards, Girls That Shouldn't Talk, Lofty Goals, Meaningful Stuff, Piano Lessons Are Required, Sad Accomplishments, Shut the Stuff Up, Tila Tequila, Useless People
ROCK OF ASIAN: We Only Want More Maia Hirasawa
We fell hard for Maia Hirasawa last summer for a number of reasons: we love her voice, face, wardrobe, ganas, nationality, ethnicity, tunes, dance moves, and name…. for starters.
Ms. Hirasawa debuted a new single (and a bitchin’ new coif) last month called “The Worrying Kind,” which is currently killing it in Sweden. We only wish she would non-worry herself over the pond to the States.
Enjoy!
Source
Thanks again, jRu!
Filed under: Beautiful Ladies, Coifs, Day Makers, Hot New Singles, Ladies Who Rock, Maia Hirasawa, Piano Lessons Are Required, Swedes, Why Worry?
ROCK OF ASIAN: Exit Clov
We’re basically suckers for any project fronted by two rocking Asian females that don’t hesitate to use the word “fuck.” I suppose that’s why we like DISGRASIAN so much.
It may also explain why we’re fascinated by Washington, D.C. indie quintet Exit Clov, which features two teensy Asian frontwomen that have clearly funneled their young years of piano and violin lessons into something a little more, y’know, “D.C.” Exit Clov’s dreamy ditties prove as furiously dreary as those from Toronto outfit The Metric, but as painfully cute as songs sung by LA’s Ditty Bops–all with a little something extra. Call it cooperasian.
Check out some tunes on their MySpace page here.
Filed under: "Fuck", D.C. Indie, Exit Clov, Frontwomen, Girl Cooperasian, Piano Lessons Are Required, Talented Asian Girls, The Ditty Bops, The Metric, Violins, We Like Ourselves Too
ROCK OF ASIAN: Lim Jeong-hee
Saucy, sassy, pretty South Korean “diva of the streets” Lim Jeong-hee, a 26-year old known for staging mini street concerts and blessed with both a woman’s voice and a studious child’s dexterous fingertips, is teaming up with everybody’s favorite hip hop duo OutKast for her first American release this year. This announcement was made only a year after Lim made the initial leap to New York to learn English.
Can’t quite picture such a match up? Check her out in the video below spanking covering Alicia Keys’ “If I Ain’t Got You,” and you’ll start salivating for the first release.
Filed under: Alicia Keys, Asian Ladies Rock, Divas, Outkast, Piano Lessons Are Required, South Korea
