Living inside the box #1

Here's a personal column that I want to start.
Topic for the day: S.W.A.G. phenomenon in Youtube

Sitting down immersing myself in YouTube contributing to the amounts of hours the world spend watching YouTube made me realize that there are so many untapped talent out there. YouTube stars rising such as singers, production, short films, comedy and so many more. Other than trolling, bashing, flaming and several others, the videos in YouTube are great. However, one particular group stands out. This is not a racist comments but through hours of time loading Youtube videos. C'mon, Secondhand Serenade is the results of posting videos online. Definitely, there is an opportunity for all!

S.W.A.G. (Something We Asians Got). This term caught my attention and I begin exploring this term in YouTube. No disappointment here as I found so many talents in there. Let's just give it a rest about the battle between indie vs mainstream thing. Is it pleasant to your ears? Is that really music to you? Yes? Then that's all it is to it. Good music is when you actually enjoy what you are listening to.

First off is the already super famous Cathy Nguyen.



Definitely a great music right? Personally, I think that this is better than the original song. And she is collaborating with another great Youtube star (Andrew Garcia, American Idol, anyone?). This shows you the power of ordinary people out there. For those who are interested in who this Youtube "chick" is, just click here to find out more. She made a lot of covers of other people's music and even written her own. All I know is that this is real talent. Sign her a contract already!

She already have her own fanbase and it is steadily increasing. Of course with that, there are a lot more and another great singer is a guy called AJ. His original is literally the "showstopper." Check it out:



Again let me shout "C'MON" because with voice and good song writing skills, this guy is also up for the big guns. And he does have his own studio record of this version but I prefer this version more. Last but not least from the music section is this girl. It is a shame to say that I don't know her but she got great voice and she sings a Chinese song! Worth listening too:



Of course there are others that I didn't mention such as Jason Chen and Alexa Yoshimoto who earn so many viewership in the matter of weeks.

Well, that is just music posted up by them. What about those great productions. No, not the one you see in the movies or television. Again, the one in YouTube. Some of the better ones are definitely this gold mine field. All it takes is to search for it. This production team needs no introduction (thanks to my girlfriend who introduced this to me) as they are famous outside the Internet too. Wong Fu Production.

They do videos from comedy to romance to "tips for guys" to short film. You get the idea. Here is one of it. Definitely funny to watch as it pokes fun at people who use the peace sign:



Subtle humour? Yet resulted in a funny production. Also, don't forget to take a look at Wong Fu's The One Days: HK series. Not a bad one. In Malaysia, indie production is going up too and that sparks new talent in the industry. With YouTube, they can share their talents too. Let's not forget our own nation. This can definitely be used for cinema before any movie starts:



Of course, with all these things going on, there those who have a hard time making it big even in YouTube and being bashed for it. Just goes to show that you still need some skills to do things rather than taking up a camera and start recording.

There are of course other talents out there too other than the Asian community. But for now, let us celebrate what we have been looking at. You got to admit that these people has great skills and talents going on for them.

If people say you got some S.W.A.G. going on, hold your head high and be proud. In these over saturated market that is full of hopefuls, sometimes, you need a little S.W.A.G.

Living inside the box is a column where the writer writes and discuss his findings while surround himself with screens. Television, mobile phones, computers, handheld consoles, game consoles and anything with a screen comes in mind. You face all these in a daily basis and it may sound like you are trapped in a box (of screens). People wants you to break away from such thing by saying "Think outside the box."

I spend hours in the "box" and turn out OK. I say lets embrace it and hence "living inside the box."