What 2009 meant for Ningin and Asian Pop Culture

Jinra Ilustrisimo on Thursday, December 31, 2009 5:00PM

If someone were to ask me what made my year personally, I’d have to say Ningin. 2009 had it’s share of highs and lows in the world of Asian pop culture and entertainment. Asian artists crossed over, made Hollywood debuts, fought illness and court battles. The best part of 2009 was that we were all present together as a community to experience it all! In summary, this is what happened in 2009 for us.

Cross-Overs in Music
This year, our most dearly beloved Asian pop stars established their attempts to achieve mainstream fame in the US; BoA, The Wonder Girls, Se7en and Utada (kind-of). To show our support this year, we were present for each artist crossing-over. The Wonder Girls blogged for us, we interviewed Se7en and Utada…not to mention all the cool stuff we gave away to promote them. It’s true that some did well than others in crossing over, but that doesn’t phase us at all. We’re still 100% behind our favorite pop stars!

Scandals
In comparison to supporting our favorite cross-over musicians, blogging and experiencing the court battles and mini-scandals that occurred this year was definitely a low that unfortunately dragged through half the year. We’re hoping that for 2010, justice will be served in the fairest way possible. In light of 2PM’s JaeBumGate scandal, we’ve all learned one thing: If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say it at all — especially on Myspace. Lastly, if your name is Vanessa Hudgens, it’s a good idea to be keeping your clothes on. If you do keep your clothes on and your name is Uee, people will still try to photoshop you naked. Clothes on or off, you kind of lose if you’re famous.

H1N1
The resurgence of the H1N1 virus didn’t just affect common folk. I can’t even begin to list all the names of Asian celebrities that were infected. Luckily, everyone that’s been infected has so far recovered or on the way to recovery. No one is ever off the hook when it comes to pandemic viruses.

Hollywood
Two words: Ninja Assassin. On a less depressing note, Rain, our favorite male pop star faired decently in his second Hollywood attempt. He was also nice enough to send me a birthday card and let us interview him. (Sorry, I’m never going to live down the fact that I have a birthday card from Rain.) Aside from Ninja Assassin, we were there for John Woo’s Red Cliff and its debut into the Hollywood market. Red Cliff star Takeshi Kaneshiro was kind enough to let us interview him about his role in Red Cliff! In addition, we also got to talk to New Moon’s Justin Chon and Dave Boyle on this year’s White on Rice film.

This year in television was a good one, seeing as we came up with a comprehensive TV special and list of all Asian American talents on TV this fall season. We even got the chance to talk to Harry Shum from Fox’s Glee!

You
You meant a lot to us this year and every year we’ve been in existence. Without you, who could anyone turn to, to talk about everything I’ve mentioned? And trust me, Ninginers…there’s more than what I’ve briefly gone over that happened this year. The world is a less lonely place whenever I’m interacting with you. How else could our EXP system and games be fun without you?

With that said, we thank you all for such a great year. Happy New Year!!!

PS. Since I know I might be missing a thing or two about this year, go ahead and let everyone know below!

This blog posting is part of The Ningin End of the Year Special.

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