START

Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty
Presidents George H. W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev sign START, 31 July 1991
Type	Strategic nuclear disarmament
Drafted	29 June 1982 – June 1991
Signed	31 July 1991
Location	Russia Moscow, USSR
Effective	5 December 1994
Condition	Ratification of both parties
Expiration	5 December 2009
Signatories	George H. W. Bush Mikhail Gorbachev
Parties	USA USSR
Languages	English, Russian
v t e

START (for STrategic Arms Reduction Treaty) was a bilateral treaty between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) on the Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms. The treaty was signed on 31 July 1991 and entered into force on 5 December 1994.^[1] The treaty barred its signatories from deploying more than 6,000 nuclear warheads atop a total of 1,600 ICBMs, submarine-launched ballistic missiles, and bombers. START negotiated the largest and most complex arms control treaty in history, and its final implementation in late 2001 resulted in the removal of about 80 percent of all strategic nuclear weapons then in existence. Proposed by United States President Ronald Reagan, it was renamed START I after negotiations began on the second START treaty.

The START I treaty expired 5 December 2009. On 8 April 2010, the replacement New START treaty was signed in Prague by U.S. President Obama and Russian President Medvedev. Following ratification by the U.S. Senate and the Federal Assembly of Russia, it went into force on 26 January 2011.

Proposal[link]

Soviet SS-18 intercontinental ballistic missile

American LGM-118 Peacekeeper intercontinental ballistic missile

The START proposal was first announced by United States President Ronald Reagan in a commencement address at his alma mater, Eureka College on 9 May, 1982,^[2] and presented by President Ronald Reagan in Geneva on 29 June 1982. Reagan proposed a dramatic reduction in strategic forces in two phases, which he referred to as SALT III at the time.^[3] The first phase would reduce overall warhead counts on any missile type to 5,000, with an additional limit of 2,500 on ICBMs. Additionally, a total of 850 ICBMs would be allowed, with a limit of 110 "heavy throw" missiles like the SS-18, with additional limits on the total "throw weight" of the missiles as well. The second phase introduced similar limits on heavy bombers and their warheads, and other strategic systems as well.

At the time the US had a commanding lead in strategic bombers. The US B-52 force, while aged, was a credible strategic threat but was only equipped with AGM-86 cruise missiles, beginning in 1982, because of Soviet air defense improvements in early 1980s. The US also had begun to introduce new B-1B Lancer quasi-stealth bomber and was secretly developing the Advanced Technology Bomber (ATB) project that would eventually result in the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber. The USSR's force was of little threat to the US, on the other hand, as it was tasked almost entirely with attacking US convoys in the Atlantic and land targets on the Eurasian landmass. Although the USSR had 1,200 medium and heavy bombers, only 150 of them (Tupolev Tu-95s and Myasishchev M-4s) could reach North America (the latter only with in-flight refueling). They also faced difficult problems in penetrating admittedly smaller and heavily defended US airspace. Possessing too few bombers available when compared to US bomber numbers was evened out by the US forces having to penetrate the much larger and heavier defended Soviet airspace. This changed when new Tu-95MS and Tu-160 bombers appeared in 1984 equipped with the first Soviet AS-15 cruise missiles. By limiting the phase-in as it was proposed, the US would be left with a strategic advantage, for a time.

As Time magazine put it at the time, "Under Reagan's ceilings, the U.S. would have to make considerably less of an adjustment in its strategic forces than would the Soviet Union. That feature of the proposal will almost certainly prompt the Soviets to charge that it is unfair and one-sided. No doubt some American arms-control advocates will agree, accusing the Administration of making the Kremlin an offer it cannot possibly accept—a deceptively equal-looking, deliberately nonnegotiable proposal that is part of what some suspect is the hardliners' secret agenda of sabotaging disarmament so that the U.S. can get on with the business of rearmament." However, Time did point out that, "The Soviets' monstrous ICBMs have given them a nearly 3-to-1 advantage over the U.S. in "throw weight"—the cumulative power to "throw" megatons of death and destruction at the other nation." Shannon McDermott

Negotiations[link]

Continued negotiation of the START process was delayed several times because US agreement terms were considered non-negotiable by pre-Gorbachev Soviet rulers. President Reagan's introduction of the Strategic Defense Initiative program in 1983 was viewed as a threat by the Soviet Union, and the Soviets withdrew from setting a timetable for further negotiations. Due to these facts, a dramatic nuclear arms race proceeded during the 1980s, and essentially ended in 1991 by nuclear parity preservation at a level of more than ten thousand strategic warheads on both sides. This treaty also stated that the United States and Russia would have 6,000 fighter aircraft, 10,000 tanks, 20,000 artillery pieces and 2,000 attack helicopters.

Implementation[link]

365 B-52's were flown to the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona. The bombers were stripped of all usable parts, then chopped into five pieces by a 13,000-pound steel blade dropped from a crane. The guillotine sliced four times on each plane, severing the wings and leaving the fuselage in three pieces. The ruined B-52s remained in place for three months so that Russian satellites could confirm that the bombers had been destroyed, after which they were sold for scrap.^[4]

"It remains in effect between the U.S. and Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine. The latter three became non-nuclear weapons states under the Treaty on the non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons of 1 July 1968 (NPT) as they committed to do under the "Lisbon Protocol" (Protocol to the Treaty Between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms) after becoming independent nations in the wake of the break up of the Soviet Union."^[5][6]

Efficacy[link]

Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine have disposed of all their nuclear weapons or transferred them to Russia; while the U.S. and Russia have reduced the capacity of delivery vehicles to 1,600 each, with no more than 6,000 warheads.^[7]

A report by the US State Department called "Adherence to and Compliance With Arms Control, Nonproliferation and Disarmament Agreements and Commitments" which was released on 28 July 2010 stated that Russia was not in full compliance with the treaty when it expired on 5 December 2009. The report did not specifically identify Russia's compliance issues.^[8]

Expiration and renewal[link]

Soviet SS-18 inspected by U.S. Senator Richard Lugar before its destruction

START I expired 5 December 2009. Both sides agreed to continue observing the terms of the treaty until a new agreement is reached.^[9] There are proposals to renew and expand the treaty, supported by U.S. President Barack Obama. Sergei Rogov, director of the Institute of the U.S. and Canada, said: "Obama supports sharp reductions in nuclear arsenals and I believe that Russia and the U.S. may sign in the summer or fall of 2009 a new treaty that would replace START-1". He added that a new deal would only happen if Washington abandoned plans to place elements of a missile shield in central Europe. He expressed willingness "to make new steps in the sphere of disarmament," however, saying they were waiting for the U.S. to abandon attempts to "surround Russia with a missile defense ring." This referred to the placement of ten interceptor missiles in Poland, as well as an accompanying radar in the Czech Republic.

Russian President Dmitri Medvedev, said, the day after the U.S. elections, in his first state of the nation address, that Russia would move to deploy short-range Iskander missile systems in the western exclave of Kaliningrad "to neutralize if necessary the anti-ballistic missile system in Europe." Russia insists that any movement towards a new START should be a legally binding document, and must, then, set lower ceilings on the number of nuclear warheads, and their delivery vehicles.^[7]

On 17 March 2009, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev signaled that Russia would begin a "large-scale" rearmament and renewal of Russia's nuclear arsenal. President Medvedev accused NATO of pushing ahead with expansion near Russian borders and ordered that this rearmament commence in 2011 with increased army, naval, and nuclear capabilities. Additionally, the head of Russia's strategic missile forces, Nikolai Solovtsov, told news agencies that Russia would start deploying its next-generation RS-24 missiles after the 5 December expiry of the START-1 treaty with the United States. Russia hopes to change the START-1 treaty with a new accord. The increased tensions come despite the warming of relations between the United States and Russia in the two years since U.S. President Barack Obama took office.^[10]

As of 4 May 2009, the United States and Russia began the process of renegotiating START, as well as counting both nuclear warheads and their delivery vehicles when making a new agreement. While setting aside problematic issues between the two countries, both sides agreed to make further cuts in the number of warheads they have deployed to around 1,000 to 1,500 each. The United States has said they are open to a Russian proposal to use radar in Azerbaijan rather than Eastern Europe for the proposed missile system. The Bush Administration insisted that the Eastern Europe defense system was intended as a deterrent for Iran, while the Kremlin feared that it could be used against Russia. The flexibility by both sides to make compromises now will lead to a new phase of arms reduction in the future.^[11]

A 'Joint understanding for a follow-on agreement to START-1' was signed by Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitri Medvedev in Moscow on 6 July 2009. This will reduce the number of deployed warheads on each side to 1,500–1,675 on 500–1,100 delivery systems. A new treaty was to be signed before START-1 expired in December 2009 and the reductions are to be achieved within seven years.^[12] After many months of negotiations,^[13][14] Presidents Obama and Medvedev signed the successor treaty, Measures to Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms, in Prague, Czech Republic on 8 April 2010.

Memorandum of Understanding data for START 1[link]

Jimmy Carter and Leonid Brezhnev sign SALT II treaty, 18 June 1979, in Vienna.

See also[link]

• Strategic Arms Limitation Talks
• START II
• START III
• RS-24
• New START

References and notes[link]

External links[link]

• START1 treaty hypertext US State Dept.
• Engineer Memoirs - Lieutenant General Edward L. Rowny, ambassador for the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (START)

David Choi
Background information
Birth name	David Yong Choi
Born	(1986-03-22) March 22, 1986 (age 26) Anaheim, California, U.S.
Origin	Garden Grove, California, U.S.
Genres	Rock, pop rock, alternative, soul
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, musician
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, banjo, piano, violin, ukulele, mandolin
Years active	2000–present
Labels	Warner Chappell Music (left) Unsigned (present)
Associated acts	Wong Fu Productions Kina Grannis Ryan Higa Kevin Wu Chester See JR Aquino Shane Dawson
Website	David Choi Official Site

David Yong Choi (최데이비드용) (born March 22, 1986)^[1] is a Korean American musician and YouTube video producer living in Los Angeles.^[2] He performs a mix of original songs and covers of pop hits. Choi released his debut album, Only You, in October 2008.^[3] His second album, By My Side,^[4] was released on May 19, 2010. His songs and tracks have been heard on NBC, FOX, VH1, MTV, A&E, E!, Travel Channel, Style, PBS, Food Network, Disney, as well as in commercials internationally. He has worked with companies including Kelloggs, Starburst, the American Cancer Society, General Electric, YesStyle, Samsung, and J. C. Penney.^[5][6][7][8] On YouTube, he has over 900,000 subscribers, 102,000,000 total video views, and more than 13 million channel views. As of November 2011 he is YouTube's 15th most subscribed musician and 62nd most subscribed user overall.^[9][10] Choi worked as a songwriter and producer at Warner/Chappell Music, which signed him on after his participation in an American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) workshop.^[2] On February 21, 2009, he performed at the annual Kollaboration talent show.^[2]

His humorous song "YouTube, A Love Song" has received over 2.6 million views. The music videos for his singles Won't Even Start and That Girl, which are posted on both his and producers Wong Fu Productions' YouTube channels, has received a total of over 5 million views. He also posts non-music videos such as vlogs on his second channel. Choi often appears in online videos with fellow YouTube personalities, mostly playing a humorous character with a very straight face (his prominent trait). Some YouTube personalities, like Shane Dawson and Wong Fu Productions, often use Choi's music in their videos.

Early life and career[link]

Childhood and education[link]

David Choi was born in Anaheim, California on March 22, 1986. He is of Korean descent and comes from a musical family. His parents, Ray Choi and Jane Choi own a music store named "Grace Store" and his father plays the autoharp.^[11]

At a young age, David had to play piano and violin, which he did not particularly enjoy. However, he was concertmaster of his school orchestra.^[11] He never heard a pop song until he was in sixth grade, when he heard Smash Mouth's All Star. Soon he came across the song All the Small Things by Blink 182 and attempted to play it with the guitar. Choi stopped taking violin lessons in high school. In ninth grade, Choi began taking jazz piano lessons and began composing music. He entered a contest and submitted an instrumental pop song, and won his first award.

Start Of His Career (2002–2006)[link]

He started to compose his music digitally at first, with a program called Acid Pro. He learned how to use it himself a few days after downloading it.^[11] He learned a few songwriting tips from a friend named Judy.

In 2004, Choi won the grand prize in David Bowie’s Mashup contest. Appearing in USA Weekend Magazine with Usher, he received the grand prize for the magazine's John Lennon Songwriting Contest for teens.^[3] This marked the start of his musical career, at first as a staff songwriter/producer, when Warner Chappell Music signed him.^[11] In 2006, his humorous YouTube love song, entitled Youtube (A Love Song) was uploaded on December 30 that year, and brought him "overnight" fame. Since then he has been composing humorous songs, like "It's Rad To Pick Your Nose" and "I Think I Like You." "My Company" was also a half-humorous, half-love song. His YouTube love song, to his surprise, was posted on the homepage of the website. He stated in a blog post that he found out when a friend told him, "you're on the homepage."^[11] He soon received requests for new songs, a live performance and an album. He did want to release his songs in an album, but as he was a signed songwriter/producer at that time, he had to go through a lot of legal procedures and accept a lot of contractual conditions. Thus, he left Warner, and stayed unsigned so he could carry on with his album release.^[11]

Only You (2007–2008)[link]

David Choi released his first album in 2008 and it was entitled Only You. It contained mostly love songs, notably Love, Won't Even Start, Something To Believe and Only You. In 2009, David released a Korea Special edition of the album, containing three bonus tracks. Won't Even Start became his hit single, and he released a music video on it, collaborating with Wong Fu Productions in producing his first official music video. The album also bonded him with Korean fans, releasing a special Korean edition with three bonus tracks.

By My Side & That Girl (2009–2010)[link]

Within a space of half a year (4th Quarter 2009 to 1st Quarter 2010), David compiled composed songs into his sophomore album, which was released in 2010 on May 18, By My Side. He released a music video on the lead single "That Girl" that same date. The music video was produced by David Choi and his friends from production company Wong Fu Productions. He collaborated with them for the second time, the first being the music video on "Won't Even Start", and Julia Chang acted as 'that girl' alongside him.^[12] He also released a Korean edition, with two bonus tracks: Valentines and My Company.

Forever and Ever (2011–present)[link]

David sings "This And That" at the Esplanade in Singapore.

During his tours in 2011, David Choi sang two songs he wrote during 2010, "You Were My Friend" and "This and That is Life". He has blurted that a third album will include these two songs.^[13] On July 7, 2011, David released his third music video, for his single "By My Side", once again a collaboration with Wong Fu Productions. This music video features Jenny Ong.^[14] David also started to help his father, Ray Choi, in uploading YouTube videos of Ray playing the autoharp.^[15] His song "I Choose Happiness", of which the instrumental version is always used in KevJumba and Wong Fu Productions videos, was also chosen to be used in the 2011 film "Lucky". It was also featured in an episode of Make It or Break It David Choi announced that he is going to release his third album, "Forever and Ever" on October 25, 2011.

Tours[link]

Choi embarked on his first tour^[16] from November 12 to November 19, 2009. He sang live in the United States West Coast cities of San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle, as well as in Vancouver, Canada.^[17] In 2010 Choi embarked on his second tour singing live in the United States East Coast cities of Washington DC, New York, Boston, and Chicago as well as Toronto, Canada. The year after (2010) he visited the few cities again.

In August 2010, David Choi went to Singapore for vacation and tour. He was there for eleven days, one day being his vacation day where he went to Sentosa and Night Safari.^[18] In 2011, Choi went on a short tour around North America again, entitled "Spring Tour", this time including Houston, Chicago, and Hawaii. He also frequents Korea.

In the summer vacation of 2011, David announced another tour – this time his first continental tour (as he went around Southeast Asia), his Asia-Pacific Tour. He went to Hong Kong, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia and Australia. In Australia, David was supported by Australian acts Amelia Jae and Jayesslee. In Singapore, he had Inch Chua to do an introductory three songs and sing his and Kina Grannis' "My Time With You". Again, David went to small venues, like the Esplanade Recital Studio, which holds about 245 people.^[19]

David Choi at a concert.

Accompanying with tours, David also has meet-and-greet sessions, where he meets his fans.^[20]

In January 2012, David announced his Forever and Ever USA/Canada tour. All shows are all ages, with a full band, and a meet and greet session. For all shows, David is giving away pairs of Skunkjuice Earbuds to two lucky audience members. David's Forever and Ever tour will continue until April and tickets can be purchased on http://davidchoimusic.com/tour.

In May 2012, David started on his third tour to Asia-Pacific, Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney, Jakarta, Manila, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo.

Style[link]

Genre and lyrics[link]

David Choi's music genre falls mostly under the modern "ballad" genre, with his songs being slow, and mostly about love, relationships, and break-ups.^[21] His songs have been described as "often to melt girls' hearts" and they really seem like oldies, in contrast with modern love songs like Dynamite, which often involve partying and rapping, or Bruno Mars songs, which don't really describe relationships. This is probably because David grew up listening to classical and jazz music.^[11] His songs are like sources of motivation, for example "Valentines", which encourage singles to wait.

Portrait[link]

For quite awhile David was portrayed by netizens and fans as a sad and solemn guy with a poker face, having not smiled for two years (2006–2008). He promised he would not smile until he reached 77,777 subscribers, a goal he accomplished.^[22] The tune and melody he uses in his songs are often happy melodies, for example "Something To Believe"^[23] and "My Time With You".^[24]

Discography[link]

• Only You (2008 – CD (digipak) and iTunes)
• Only You (Korea Special Edition) (2009 – CD; only for Korea +3 bonus tracks)
• By My Side (2010 – CD (digipak) and iTunes)
• YouTube Covers Volume 1 (2010 – iTunes exclusive)
• YouTube Covers Volume 2 (2010 – iTunes exclusive)
• By My Side (Korea Special Edition) (2010 – CD; only for Korea +2 bonus tracks)
• Forever and Ever (2011 [released on 25 October] – CD and iTunes)

In other media[link]

Songs in other media[link]

Filmography and TV appearances[link]

Awards and nominations[link]

See also[link]

• Notable YouTube users

References[link]

External links[link]

• David Choi official website
• David's primary's channel on YouTube

Wong Fu Productions
Wesley Chan, Philip Wang, and Ted Fu introduce their feature length film A Moment with You during a 2006 screening event at Cornell University.
Born	Wesley Chan (陳德偉[1]) (1984-04-27) April 27, 1984 (age 28) Ted Fu (傅大誠[1]) (1981-10-26) October 26, 1981 (age 30)[2] Philip Wang (王振翔[1]) (1984-10-28) October 28, 1984 (age 27)
Residence	Los Angeles, California
Alma mater	University of California, San Diego
Years active	2001–present
Website
http://www.wongfuproductions.com/

Wong Fu Productions^{[Note 1]} is a Chinese American^[1] filmmaking group composed of Wesley Chan (born April 27, 1984), Ted Fu (born October 26, 1981), and Philip Wang (born October 28, 1984).^[3][4] The trio met at the University of California, San Diego in 2004 and produced a number of music videos and short films released on their website and later YouTube before establishing a professional media company, Sketchbook Media, after their graduation. Their works have been featured at a number of national and international film festivals, including the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, San Diego Asian Film Festival and the Cannes Film Festival.

As of April 2012, Wong Fu Productions' YouTube channel has over 1,100,000 subscribers and over 160 million upload views. ^[5]

History[link]

According to Philip Wang, Wong Fu Productions was unofficially established in 2001 during his high school junior year. Wang mainly utilized his family's digital camcorder to film school projects in collaboration with classmates.^[6] In his first year as an undeclared freshman at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), Wang and his friends released a music video of Justin Timberlake's song "Señorita".^[7] It was the first music video produced by Wang and, although he did not actively promote it, the video was quickly circulated among other fellow college students.^[8] The video was circulated in its original computer file format because it was released prior to the advent of the video sharing website YouTube.^[9]

In 2004, Wang met classmates Wesley Chan (graduated from Mills High School in 2002) and Ted Fu through a school production, and the trio began working on small scale projects in their spare time and for class assignments.^[10] They did not originally consider filmmaking as a career when they entered university; Chan explored an interest in animation, Fu had been a student in electrical engineering and Wang considered a career in economics.^[11] After graduation in 2006, the three moved to the Los Angeles area and continued their venture under the professional name Sketchbook Media.^[4][11]

After approximately five years of hard work, Wong Fu Productions finally hit 1 million subscribers in 2011. The members, Phil Wang, Ted Fu and Wes Chan commemorated this achievement with a special video. During this 12-minute short, many familiar faces appear, including Ryan Higa, Dominic Sandoval (D-Trix), Kevin Wu (KevJumba), Freddie Wong, Brandon Laatsch, Joe Penna (MysteryGuitarMan) and the Fung Brothers.^[12]

Notable productions[link]

If at the end of the day there's someone out there who has a better day because of us, then we've succeeded.

—Wong Fu Productions motto^[10]

Wong Fu Productions was initially known for its independent music videos of contemporary hit songs such as Maroon 5's "Sunday Morning" and Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours".^[13] Wong Fu released its first major short film called Yellow Fever on January 25, 2006.^[14] The film, which satirized the topic of interracial dating between Asian Americans and White Americans, brought Wong Fu into recognition among many college students in the United States.^[8]

A Moment with You, the group's first feature-length film, premiered on June 3, 2006, at their alma mater.^[15] It was also screened at the San Diego Asian Film Festival on October 18, 2006. The film revolves around two neighbors who share similar romantic situations, in which one person in each relationship cannot let go of his or her past.^[16] "A Moment with You" was promoted through a screening tour at high schools and universities around the United States and Canada.^[8] In a review for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's student newspaper The Tech, Tina Ro wrote, "Despite its large Asian fan base, Wongfu's [sic] movie has a cast of equal numbers of Asians and Caucasians. Furthermore, all the characters were shaped by their own characteristics rather than by their race, a refreshing concept for a movie."^[17] According to The Daily Texan's Katherine Fan, A Moment with You featured a "more mature, introspective mood than their previous work."^[8]

Following the success of A Moment with You, Wong Fu was approached to create a second film called Sleep Shift. However, the project was abandoned after producers disagreed with casting an Asian male in the film's lead role.^[18] Since the end of its first tour, Wong Fu has created music videos for rising artists and continued producing short films.^[9] The group's merchandise line, which included original T-shirt designs, was launched in conjunction with the 2007 film Just a Nice Guy.^[19] The short film The Spare was featured at the 2008 San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival,^[20] and two additional short films—At Musing's End and A Peace of Home—were shown at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival Short Films Corner.^[21] In September 2009, Wong Fu released the short film Poser!, a mockumentary on the history of the peace sign.^[22] As of November 2009, Wong Fu Productions has created more than 130 short films and music videos.^[18] Because the group does not require a fee to view its films, it gains a salary from being a YouTube partner, draws profits from merchandise sales, public speaking on university campuses, and music video production for rising Asian American artists.^[4]

On Sept 7, 2011, Wong Fu Productions announced that they have been hired by multiplatinum Taiwanese pop singer Wang Leehom to direct his upcoming music video "Still In Love With You".^[23]

International Secret Agents[link]

In the addition to the group's filmmaking career, Wong Fu Productions has organized a series of multidisciplinary concerts in California. The concert series, International Secret Agents (ISA), featured musical disciplines from urban dance to deejaying with Asian American guest artists such as Far East Movement. Additional guest performances included America's Best Dance Crew champions Quest Crew and Poreotics and Ryan Higa aka Nigahiga and Kevin Wu aka KevJumba and Jay Park and singers–songwriters David Choi and Kina Grannis.^[24] According to Chinese American rapper Jin, "ISA is about self-branding and viral marketing — using YouTube, MySpace, Facebook, and the Internet to promote yourself as an artist." He asserted, "We as artists are aware of this and make ourselves available [on these mediums]."^[25] Far East Movement member Virman Coquia said, "We want to give back to the community to show that Asians can have an influence today in the U.S." Additionally, Coquia believed that ISA presented the opportunity to present Asian American talent as cool and mainstream.^[24]

The first ISA concert was held in September 2008 at the San Gabriel Mission Playhouse in Los Angeles.^[26] A second concert was held in March 2009 at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, and both events were attended by a sold-out crowd.^[25] The concert returned to Los Angeles in September 2009 and was sponsored by department store J. C. Penney.^[21] In 2010, ISA was held in New York City for the first time. Wong Fu has also expressed interest in holding future ISA concerts in Washington, D.C. They also had another ISA concert in Los Angeles on September 5.^[18] Playing up the name "International Secret Agents," The LA leg of the 2010 ISA Concert was filled with surprises as secret guests like Nick Cannon showed up to join the performers on stage.^[27]

Impact[link]

Short films released by Wong Fu Productions have received, cumulatively, millions of views, and the group has several thousand fans.^[4] According to Wang, the group's website received 5,000 daily hits in 2009. He expected the audience size to grow "as online video becomes part of everyday life for the up-and-coming generation of movie-watchers" but believed that movie theaters will not become obsolete.^[28] University of Southern California digital media expert David Wertheimer also believed that "Wong Fu's use of new media to tell their community stories and build a business is the wave of the future."^[4] The group's success has allowed for growth in the popularity of Asian American comedians who promote themselves primarily through YouTube, such as Kevin Wu (KevJumba), Ryan Higa (Nigahiga), Christine Gambito (HappySlip), and David Choi.^[29] Although grateful for the group's success and popularity, Wang said, "Some people who go to film school, they'll make something great but it's only seen by like, two hundred people [...] It's kind of not fair."^[13]

In a feature by CNN, newscaster Ted Rowlands reported that Wong Fu's primary audience were "young Asian Americans who often can't find accurate depictions of themselves in mainstream media".^[4] Through its films, Wong Fu Productions hoped to break the different stereotypes of Asian Americans.

While we may not bring up [Asian Pacific American] issues in our work, we are not afraid to show that we are Asian. This is an issue in itself that we believe we're tackling head on. We want to show that APAs are just normal people, and shouldn't be stereotyped in the media and should have proper representation. We don't all do martial arts or have accents. We have stories that most everyone can relate to as human beings. We really want to show that our work and voice should and can be seen colorblind. The same way African Americans can now be accepted in the mainstream without a second guess, that's what we hope will someday be the case for APAs.

—Wong Fu Productions, Pacific Citizen^[9]

Despite this goal, Wong Fu's films were inspired by the members' life experiences rather than racial experiences. The group also does not promote political messages through their works but, rather, raises "many APA issues that we feel would fit our brand and image."^[9] They are often considered role models for Asian Americans aspiring to enter the entertainment industry.^[13] In response to this, group member Ted Fu said, "We actually didn't set out to be the 'heroes' of Asian Americans. It just happened by accident. But now that we're given this huge responsibility, almost, I feel like it's our duty to take it seriously."^[18] Wong Fu presented "one of the most antipicated workshops" on sustaining an independent production company at the 2008 Intercollegiate Taiwanese American Students Association Midwest Conference.^[30] They were also the keynote speakers at the Intercollegiate Taiwanese American Students Association 2010 West Coast Conference, which was hosted at their alma mater, UC San Diego.

In February 2012, the boys (Phil & Wes) flew over to Malaysia from Los Angeles for the first leg of their Southeast Asia Tour, meeting and greeting over 1000 fans. ^[31]They were also aired LIVE on HITZ fm, Malaysia's leading English-language station.^[32]

Notes[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Wong Fu Productions official website
• Wong Fu Store
• Wong Fu Productions's channel on YouTube
• Sketchbook Media official website
• [1] official interview