My dream in this little old life is to have my own talk show. The possibility of that ever coming true seemed way too far-fetched even for my imagination. Then this woman, I’m not to sure if you’ve ever heard of her, but she goes by the name of Oprah, decided to give someone the chance to have their own talk show. So here I am auditioning and asking for you all to vote for me. If you believe in my concept and in me, please vote and give me the chance to represent minorities and to make a difference.
It’s been 9 months since their release, and now Laura Ling, one of the two captives detained in North Korea back in March of 2009, is breaking her silence on an episode of Oprah.
Watch a snippet here:
I’m incredibly interested in what she has to say about the experience and hope you all will be tuning in as well!
The 17-year-old singing sensation’s official music video of “Pyramid” premiered last night on her pal, Oprah’s website.
The concept is very simple and not overly glossy, but focuses on the youthful woes of rejection – you go through self-doubt because you didn’t make the cut. Then think, what am I about? After some soul searching, you finally have an Aha! moment.
You can also view the video on Oprah’s page since the one posted is missing the last few minute scenes.
credit: yardie aka Mr. World Premiere, Starmometer
Seems like Oprah and her talk show staff are in the midst of planning an upcoming, memorable episode with Charice. As the latest topic posted on the Queen of Daytime TV’s website is looking for Cha supporters to send O their personal stories, explaining why they genuinely admire the Filipina singer:
“How have you been inspired by Charice Pempengco’s moving story?
It’s been over two years since this pint-sized powerhouse singing sensation made her debut on The Oprah Winfrey Show with a jaw dropping performance! Since then, her career has soared – she has performed around the world and with her idols, including Celine Dion! Charice has also released her first single!
Are you a fan of Charice? Have you been following her career since you saw her on our show? Were you blown away by her performance and astounded by her musical talent? Have you been inspired by her story? If so, we want to hear from you!
If you are a huge fan of Charice, The Oprah Winfrey Show wants to know! Please tell us what you love about Charice and why.”
For submission guidelines and other details, click here. Who knows, you might get an invite to attend the show and meet the songstress herself. Good luck!
While the starring water-cooler fodder of yesterday’s Oprah episode seemed to surround Jessica Simpson’s take on John Mayer’s most recent attack of verbal diarrhea, I chose to focus on the infinitely more fascinating topic of China’s massive physical attraction transformation.
For her “Beauty Around the World” assignment, Lisa Ling traveled to her motherland and discovered an eye-opening (literally & figuratively!) pretty-centric reality. Thousands of thousands of plastic surgeries, especially eyelid ones, (which Oprah still had trouble figuring out, haha, oh O…) are performed each year in Shanghai alone, and Ling gave viewers an inside glimpse into the world of the increasingly popular bone-lengthening, height-increasing procedure.
Up until relatively recently, Chinese women kept their appearances androgynously drab due to Communistic influences. Nowadays, Beauty is the 4th largest industry in the fastest growing economy in the world. Ling was absolutely shocked about these turn of events, because her past personal experiences with Chinese women and their intentional lack of style.
However, she seemed really disturbed about the prevalence of the Western definition of beauty, especially after interviewing two little girls who had just purchased some Barbie dolls. They professed their admiration for “blue eyes” and unwaveringly proclaimed their preference for Barbie over a Chinese doll.
Is it a good thing when women are completely obsessed with enhancing their look and becoming more beautiful? It’s a hard one to say because we all sort of are. … But is it a little sad? It is, because it has changed so quickly. It’s, I think, always unfortunate to see large groups of people becoming sort of slaves to the whole machine, if you will.
Yes, I agree Lisa, reaching for pretty perfection is an absolutely necessary double-edged sword for women today. However, the white-ification of beauty standards is an entirely different beast. I, myself, went through the whole wishing-I-was-blonde-haired-and-blue-eyed phase, but I grew up being surrounded by people who looked like this more or less. Thinking that there are a bunch of little Chinese girls, IN China, growing up thinking this way is a cause of unnerving concern for me.
Charice won by a landslide with 70 percent of votes in Oprah.com’s online poll, Best of 2009: Best Oprah Show Musical Performance category.
Her live performance, Note to God triumphed over second place winners Black Eyed Peas who received only 9 percent of votes for theirawesome kickoff party act, I Gotta Feelin’ with the Chicago Flash Mob Dance.
Other nominees included what the heck happened to her divalicious voice, Whitney Houston’s I Didn’t Know My Own Strength, Journey’s(fronted byFilipino, Arnel Pineda) Don’t Stop Believin’, Jennifer Hudson’sYou’ve Got The Best of My Love/I’m Every Woman, James Taylor’s How Sweet it is to Be Loved by You, Michael Bublé’sHaven’t Met You Yet, and Rascal Flatts’sSummer Nights.
If you tried to emulate the late Michael Jackson’s moonwalk or swaying your zombie claws left to right at least once in your life…please raise your claw. Only a handful of us in the world are successful or think we are at sliding our heels, MJ style. But there is the exception with a cross-cultural twist.
Signature, a comedy-dancing duo from England fuses the King of Pop with Bhangra (Punjabi dance music that originated in India and Pakistan). Suleman Mirza, a British Muslim of Pakistani descent and Madhu Singh, a British Sikh first made waves when they auditioned for last year’s Britain’s Got Talent.
They danced to Tigerstyle featuring Kaka Bhaniawala’s “Nachna Onda Nei.” A Bhangra song remix of Billie Jean, and Queen and David Bowie’s “Under Pressure.” Mirza opens with pelvic thrusts and a moonwalk across the stage. Soon after, a culture clash erupts. Singh enters as a cleaner interrupting Mirza, busting out some Bollywood-esque and hip-hop moves. But put two in two together, the guys realize they dance the same beat.
After Signature’s Britain’s Got Talent audition was posted on YouTube, the video surpassed five million views. They were crowd pleasers with the judges and audience, coming in as runners-up for the final.
What’s more appealing besides their unique act, the two friends are ordinary guys with ambitions. Mirza, a trainee lawyer. Singh is a PC World salesman in London’s Heathrow Airport, Terminal 5. They met in 2000 for a talent show. A year later, Signature was born.
Despite not winning Britain’s Got Talent, Signature’s careers are rising. They performed at the “Hit Man: David Foster and Friends” concert in Las Vegas. Signature also attended The Pearl in the Palms: “Las Vegas Celebrates the Music of Michael Jackson,” a tribute event for what would have been Jackson’s 51st birthday.
And the pair appeared on Oprah, spotlighting the world’s most talented entertainers.
Signature also showed what they could do with a Bhangra Thriller during the Semi-Finals on Britain’s Got Talent 2008.
These two prove that if you are passionate enough about something your heart is set on accomplishing, anything is possible. And your ethnicity does not hinder, but solidifies your own Signature talent. As cliché as that sounds, it’s the truth.
“How have you been inspired by Charice Pempengco’s moving story?
