Instant Superstar Aimi Eguchi: The Best of Everything

Do you remember the Andrew Niccol movie "S1mone" starring Al Pacino and Winona Ryder? It's the story of one film producer's soon-to-doomed response when his star walks off set so he creates a digital actress he names S1mone. She becomes an overnight sensation and fools people that she's real, as in human.

The S1mone example is a not so far-fetched idea at all. Although graphic artists have done the amalgamation of several features of different individuals rolled into one before in print and photography, we are yet to see this digital "manipulation" of sorts to take off and flourish on TV and Film creating a "real" superstar like S1mone (but of course sans the drama).

In 2007, Japan released a female performing hologram character named Hatsune Miku. She became an instant hit and was showcased during live events and was aggressively featured in mass marketing campaigns.

And now, the Japanese candy company Ezaki Glico is making waves, wows,oohs, and ahas when it featured in its most recent candy commercial the newest addition to the famous Japanese girl brand group AKB48, which serves as the candy's major endorser.

Her name is Aimi Eguchi and she definitely is beautiful and the best of everything (or everyone).

Watch her charm you with her typical Japanese cute shyness:

Aimi Eguchi created a fuss among AKB48 millions of fans when she was first introduced as the girl band's newest member through a candy commercial and not the same way as before, which was in an internationally televised popular awards show.

Watch the girls and let them make you think that you need a candy right now:

She's real.

She is real as real according to most of her fans. She has her own profile in AKB48's official website detailing her hometown and age. She appeared together with the group in several print and photo ad campaigns.

But she's not what you think she really is. There's no major birther controversy here. Have a look how she came into being:

No doubt, Aimi Eguchi is appealing, delightful, and really attractive. She's the best of everything after all.  

Les Miz Polish Flash-Mob Singing

For the Les Miz super fans or those familiar with the musical, you won't be needing translation because you know this song by heart.

For the uninitiated, the video features the artists in the 2011 Polish Original Cast Album recording of Les Miserables promoting the album's release through flash-mob singing in one of Warsaw's largest shopping malls.

I know some people who won't be able to resist in joining the chorus if they happen to be in that mall. They might steal the show too but their movements are for Cats the Musical only.

Jose Antonio Vargas: Define American

There are an estimated 11.1 million illegal immigrants in the US right now. Many of these illegal immigrants are faceless, nameless, and with no permanent home.

Tell me if this person doesn’t fall into the definition of the usual American:

• He grew up in Mountain View, California.
• He attended Crittenden Middle School, Mountain View High School, and San Francisco State University and studied Political Science & Black Studies
• Even before he graduated, he has already worked in publications like Mountain View Voice, San Francisco Chronicle, Philadelphia Daily News
• After finishing college, he was hired by the Washington Post
• In 2007, he and other colleagues were awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting for their coverage of the Virginia Tech University shootings
• Writes an online column for the Washington Post called “Clickocracy”
• 2009, he joined The Huffington Post as Technology and Innovations Editor
• He’s a true master of the social media 
• Co-producer and writer, The Other City, a documentary about the AIDS epidemic

His name is Jose Antonio Vargas. His stellar accomplishments certainly eclipse many of the curriculum vitae and résumés of a lot of ordinary Americans like him except that his life story is more than extraordinary.

Vargas came to the US as a 12-year old child. His mother sent him to the US to live with his grandparents in the Bay Area with someone introduced to him as his “uncle.” This “uncle” (a person who facilitates the border crossing of illegal immgrants) was his ticket to the American life, totally unbeknownst to him then.

He lived 20 years of his life afraid, extra careful, and vigilant because he doesn’t want people to know his secret, which he only found out when he went to DMV to get a driver’s license when he was 16, one of the passports to official adulthood, and found out that his permanent resident card or green card was fake.

In an article he wrote today for  The New York Times Magazine, Vargas officially outed himself as an undocumented immigrant. He recounted the details of his Moses-like story except that there there was no threat to his life when he left the Philippines. His mother wanted a better life for him. He made good use of the opportunity he was given and he succeeded.

"I'm an American, I just don't have the right papers." - Jose Antonio Vargas

In the hopes of re-directing and re-igniting a constructive dialogue on immigration reform especially concerning illegal immigrants in the education system, he founded "Define America." What really is the definition of an American? What is a true American?  


Jose's life story is just one of the many other stories of undocumented immigrants in the US today. He may have successfully surpassed many obstacles during his 20-year ordeal, he now hopes that Americans will listen to the stories of the others who are still undocumented. He wants to make a change. Watch him tell his story and define what is American:

The Father, the Son, and the Sparrow

The young boy asked his father, "Dad, let's go camping this weekend?" The father, busy watching a football game on TV the said, "We'll see. I have a game of golf with our clients. It's important."

When weekend came, sure enough the boy's father left early at first brush of sunlight to head to the golf course. 

Ten years later, the teenager asked his father, "Dad, can you take me to the DMV to get my driver's license?"

"Son, ask your mom. I have investors coming from Europe to entertain. We need that for our business. I'm sure you understand that," the Dad said.

"But Mom is busy with her book club and bake sale," the son replied.

After 30 years, the father now a retiree, paid his son a visit in his top-floor corner office downtown. 

"Son, let's go fishing. I still have the fishing rods you gave me when you got your first pay cheque."

"Dad, I'm sorry but I'm busy. Next time, call my secretary first it's a long way to town. I have a board meeting this weekend and I'm heading to Russia next week for business. Next time, we'll go but call me first."       

The story above needs no explanations. No matter how pressed you are with time, always devote a special moment with your love ones whether it's a brief phone call, a sweet text message or email, a charming postcard, a cute Post-It reminder, and other small but meaningful gestures of affection and generosity,   

"Minor things can become moments of great revelation when encountered for the first time."                                                       

                   - Dame Margot Fonteyn, English premier ballerina 

Here's an interesting video that proves beautiful moments shared with love ones can really change a life, a person's future, and relationships:

Well-Lived Life: World's Oldest Living Person, 114, dies

Guiness Book of Records' Oldest Living Person has died.

Brazil's Maria Gomez Valentim died in the hospital on Sunday after suffering from pneumonia, which was later on complicated by an infection. She was 114 and only days away from her supposed to be 115th birthday on July 6.

Born on 1896, she was born in the time of Brazil's Old Republic (1889-1930) when women like her were barred from voting. She survived a military dictatorship and witnessed her country's rise to superpower status in South America.  

She had one son, four grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren, and five great-great-grandchildren. 

   

World Refugee Day 2011: Stories of Finding Refuge

"To all the survivors out there, I want them to know that we are stronger and more resilient than we ever knew. We survived, that should be enough but it isn't. We must work hard to become whole again, to fill our soul with love and inspiration, to live the life that was intended for us before it was disrupted by war and horrors, and help rebuild a world that is better than the one we had just left." 

- Loung Ung, Cambodian-American human rights activist, refugee advocate

Short Film Feature: 

Finding AMERICA from MPD - SI Newhouse School on Vimeo.

In the 1990s, the Bhutanese government ordered more than 107,000 of their own minority citizens to leave their homes. In response, the United Nations founded the Bhutanese Refugee Resettlement Program in 2008, arranging permanent refugee resettlement in seven countries. 

The Koirala family began a new life in America in January 2011, ending their 20-year struggle to find a place to call their own. 

By Matthew Freire

Series of Short Films for World Refugee Day 2011

A young Afghan-Swedish journalist's journey to her country of birth

Where My Heart Beats - Trailer from Chris StPierre on Vimeo.

The story of Buddha from the Bronx

Buddha from Dori Cohen on Vimeo.

FEAR + HOPE

Fear + Hope from The Refugee Art Project on Vimeo.

The many faces of refugees

VISIT their website at www.scottishrefugeecouncil.org.uk/ to know more about their AMAZING work.