VIMEO NOTES. Wenxiong Zhang, Yihuan Wu, and Yue Qiu all knew their lives and careers were set to change after they were admitted to Columbia University's prestigious Graduate School of Journalism. But after completing a rigorous year of study in New York, the three aspiring reporters faced a less-than-ideal choice: stay in the U.S. and navigate a job market that remains bleak even for local journalists, let alone foreign-born ones, or return home to China, where business is booming but they will have to work under the constant threat of censorship.
Xiaoran Liu is a Chinese multimedia journalist and documentary filmmaker based in Beijing. Her 40-min documentary about novice Chinese journalists is coming out this December, with screenings in both New York and Beijing. Email ritaliunyc @gmail.com for more information.
VIMEO NOTES. One of the most coveted types of visas are those which allow foreigners to live and work in the U.S. if they can prove they have extraordinary abilities in their fields. In 2010, Anisha Dadia came to New York from the U.K. to pursue a career in acting. After graduating from a two-year conservatory program at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, she wanted to stay in the city. Juggling student film auditions and babysitting gigs, Dadia kept working on her acting portfolio so she could apply for an O-1 visa, which would allow her to extend her stay in the United States until 2015.
http://youtu.be/wyI3XzSr-OM < ‘Blood, Sweat and Tears’ Official Video sees two UK hip-hop legends, Klashnekoff and Lowkey, reflecting on their careers and their roles within the music industry. See YOUTUBE NOTES.
As lightning strikes and thunder pounds Over the grey skies of London town Prophesy K returns from the underground Signified by the people’s trumpet sounds cry Yeah the system it tried to shut me down But I’ve been on my ting before Onyx was flinging guns around Blood, sweat and tears for years Feels like my career’s been in the dumping ground Yeah this is how hunger sounds And I’m the hunter now – Lash the lionheart AKA the man behind the iron mask For ten years straight I’ve been raising the iron bar Trying to breathe the life back into this dying art So why try and par when you’ll meet the same fate as the lion scar This game’s fake, full of two-faced lying raas Who would sell their soul and arse just to climb the charts But me, I put in too much time in the graft Refining my craft, for majors to sign me for a minor advance Picture K-Lash miming on trance Now picture Dr Dre beats, Lash rhyming with Starks It’s all fate, and I’ve got mine in my grasp They’re all snakes, let them die in the past Who knows what the future holds These NWO soldiers will probably shoot me cold All because the truth was told You should know I did it from the heart
I don’t do this for the happy ravers or the aggy haters I do this for the warriors and the gladiators Do this for those whose lives you never cared about Can’t pronounce their names, their origins or their whereabouts Those brought up around tragedy and sadness Who adjusted and found normality in the madness Fight the power, til I’m out of breath like Malcolm X You empower the powerful, I empower the powerless They’ll play you on the radio if you rap about a Gucci belt But rap about the government and you might as well shoot yourself Industry fairies say I rap about conspiracy theories Just to hide the fact they lyrically fear me Got the eye of a tiger, the heart of a lion The mind of a lifer, my stance is defiant I rise like a phoenix, immediate from the ashes My existence is inconvenient for the masses Though we are equal I despise an imitation I live for my people and die for liberation I stand as a visionary, some have got plans of killing me To literally vanish me physically like Aborigines Hannibal with the mask, an animal with the bars I’m grappling with my shackles, I channel it through my art Feel it in the ambience, champion, heavyweight My life is nothing, but my pride is something you can never take They think I’m elusive or think I’m a nuisance I swear these major labels must think that I’m stupid Keep your 360s you’re convincing these dudes with Like I’ll give you the blueprint for pimping my music I say that like K-Lash, he’s another lion Every hardship from getting scarred to my brother dying I spit all of it, with or without a big audience Through the blood, sweat and tears I stand victorious
I’m still here, pushing after several years I’m still here, standing strong, never in fear I’ll be still here after the dust settles and clears I’ll be still here after the blood, sweat and the tears
Art will be the last bastion when all else fades away. ~ Timothy White (b 1952), American rock music journalist _________________
by Allegro » Wed Oct 30, 2013 12:27 am 
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