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Pop Culture under the lens: '€˜The MTV Show'€˜ returns

New VJs Alan Wong (left) and Hanli Hoefer

Kindra Cooper (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Sun, April 14, 2013

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Pop Culture under the lens: '€˜The MTV Show'€˜ returns New VJs Alan Wong (left) and Hanli Hoefer. (Courtesy of Viacomm International) (left) and Hanli Hoefer. (Courtesy of Viacomm International)

New VJs Alan Wong (left) and Hanli Hoefer. (Courtesy of Viacomm International)

Social media has conferred the average Joe the equivalent of his own megaphone '€” and MTV is listening.

Remember when Kyle Patrick balanced six dice on a plastic knife clenched between his teeth in Season 1 or when Nelly Furtado was grilled on her knowledge of the video music awards (VMA) trivia or when we learned that all it takes is aired-out coffee beans and a sparkler to create enormous fireballs?

New VJs Hanli Hoefer, a former model, and Alan Wong, a seasoned event host, hope to bring the same chutzpah to the show'€™s second season as their predecessors Holly and Rich did.

'€œIn this season they'€™ll be very involved in developing content and crafting segments so that the show is theirs as well,'€ explained the show'€™s executive producer, Sari Trisulo, during a recent Google Hangout session with The Jakarta Post.

VJ Alan, whose unforced wit and utter nonchalance in front of the camera makes him take to his new role like a second skin, concurred.

'€œIt'€™s really cool being a part of a project rather than just a face in front of the camera,'€ he said.

Casting a magnifying glass over all things pop culture, The MTV Show recaps and analyzes what celebrity antics, music and movies are generating brouhaha, with input from social media activity.

Half-German, Singapore-bred VJ Hanli, cannot wait to pick the brains of famous faces, of which there will be ample opportunity on the show.

'€œI would love meet all of the big names ['€¦] like those who really have a social influence like Lady Gaga, Nicki Minaj and Justin Bieber; the people who represent this type of music right now,'€ she said, referencing three music industry trailblazers, the latter two actually credit social media sites MySpace and YouTube respectively for their breakthroughs.

'€œIt would be cool to talk to some of the artists that started their entire process through social media, because that'€™s what we'€™re going to be doing,'€ interjected VJ Alan.

The new season of The MTV Show enlists a policy of complete transparency, prolific tweeting and updating on Facebook to forewarn followers of celebrity appearances and the added opportunity of suggesting questions to be asked during airtime.

In addition to blogging and weekly online videos of behind-the-scenes footage '€” '€œYou'€™ll get to see what we are like when we are not on camera and just messing around with each other,'€ explained VJ Hanli. '€œI'€™m definitely going to be '€˜pranking'€™ Alan all the time!'€

Hanli and Alan will be vetting '€œInstagram Dedications'€, where viewers submit photos via the website and relate it to a music video they would like to request.

While tabloids and online gossip sites favor rehashing news about the same few paparazzi-courting personalities, The MTV Show makes a conscious effort to pay homage to lower-profile industry veterans who rocked the airwaves five, seven or 10 years ago '€” think No Doubt, T.A.T.u and The Black Eyed Peas.

The new '€œPeople'€™s Chart'€ enables viewers to select their top 10 favorite songs from a list of 100, selecting from a list of ten for each year from 2003-2013.

 '€œSo you can pick up Nelly and put him back on TV so we can watch him do something crazy,'€ said VJ Alan.

While VJ Alan considers himself a movie buff and VJ Hanli'€™s domain is music, both expressed enthusiasm about the show'€™s mainstay movie segment, featuring interviews with the stars, announcements of impending releases and reviews that, in a departure from the show'€™s democratic ethos, won'€™t be swayed by social media outlook.

'€œIt'€™s our genuine opinion. If we don'€™t like it we will say,'€ said VJ Hanli. '€œI am so excited for Iron Man 3. You can'€™t even imagine,'€ she remarked when asked what movie release she anticipates most.

'€œWith the movie segment, it is not always necessarily going to be [about] movie releases,'€ said VJ Alan. '€œSometimes we will have a thematic list '€” for example, just off the top of my head: '€˜Top 5 Movies to watch at Home on a Rainy Day'€™ , or '€˜Top 5 Movies for Valentine'€™s Day'€™.'€

'€œ'€˜Top 5 Movies You Don'€™t Want to Watch with Your Parents'€™,'€ chimed in VJ Hanli, cue raucous agreement from all the Google Hangout participants.

'€œI love [Quentin] Tarantino, so I'€™m going to go ahead and say Reservoir Dogs is one of them,'€ VJ Alan said when asked what three movies he would recommend to viewers.

'€œHonestly, I love Dark Knight. I think Heath Ledger'€™s performance as the Joker in Christopher Nolan'€™s Batman movie was amazing. And that is one of my favorite performances of almost any actor, ever.'€

VJ Hanli'€™s top three picks were The Holiday, Secret Garden and Bridesmaids, admitting, '€œI'€™m quite the chick-flick girl!'€

VJ Alan, who has acting aspirations, dreams about starring in a James Bond movie.

'€œI'€™d love to be the first half-Chinese James Bond. That would be amazing. If there'€™s any way you could get Mila Kunis to be my co-actress in that movie, I would melt.'€

As MTV'€™s new brand ambassadors, VJ Alan and VJ Hanli are commitment to keep up appearances extends beyond the screen. Leaning heavily on social media is a double-edged sword, requiring the new VJs to occasionally show footage of Skype conversations with friends and relatives and share potentially unflattering information.

'€œI think these days, things are different. Because social media has really changed the way people interact. The type of information that is going out about us '€” people are [sharing] that on a daily basis. People are really honest about things. I think more so than when you meet someone walking down the street or at school, I don'€™t think you'€™d really be as honest as people are on Facebook and Twitter,'€ opined VJ Alan.

Likewise, VJ Hanli'€™s attitude is pragmatic to no-holds-barred openness as part of her job description.

'€œAt the end of the day, everything that we put out there is really who we are and what we'€™re about. And we'€™re not ashamed of who we are. Some parts are a little embarrassing because we had awkward teenage years and all that, but it just comes with the package.'€

The chemistry between Alan and Hanli is evident, yet the teasing and repartee is more genteel compared to former VJs Holly and Rich'€™s sarcastic-though-good-natured digs at one another.

'€œI look at her as a little sister, so I don'€™t want her to be sad or upset or hurt,'€ VJ Alan says of his co-host.

'€œI remember when we first met, we were supposed to work on a script and try to memorize it. I hadn'€™t even got the job yet. Hanli had already been accepted into the MTV family. We didn'€™t work on the script at all,'€ he recalls with a laugh. '€œWe really just sat there and talked, talked about anything.'€

'€œIt was more of a debate. We were arguing about superheroes. My favorite superhero'€™s Spiderman,'€ supplied Hanli.

'€œWhich is incorrect, because obviously Batman is!'€

'€œWe still haven'€™t agreed,'€ Hanli said, cutting him off. '€œWe were fighting about it and then we just took it in front of the camera,'€ she says of their first audition together.

'€œMTV and being here '€” it'€™s just something incredible and we are both so grateful for it.'€

The MTV Show second season premieres on April 20 and airs every Saturday at 10:00 a.m. WIB on MTV Southeast Asia.

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