It’s a busy filming year for Uhm Tae-woong; he next takes a stab at a manager role in the new thriller Cell Phone [핸드폰], directed by Kim Han-min of last year’s mystery-thriller Paradise Murdered [극락도 살인사건].

Following his recent roles in films Forever the Moment and You’re Far Away, Uhm spent five months filming the creature feature Chaw with up-and-coming actress Jung Yumi. Now he returns from a brief break to film Cell Phone, which purports to be full of twists and unconventional material, although the premise sounds straightforward enough: Uhm plays the manager of a top female actress who’s being threatened with blackmail. He risks all to seek the truth and protect his client, facing off with the blackmailer in a two-man showdown.

The other male lead will be cast soon, and although the title immediately brings to mind the movie Cellular, the film is described, rather, as “a Chaser-like thriller.” Gee, everything’s Chaser-like these days, ain’t it? I guess that’s what happens when you follow the money trail.

Via DongA.com

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Ara celebrates being twenty with her first trip as a legal adult, taking off for Tokyo in a program for cable lifestyle channel O’live, She’s O’live: Ara’s Twenty-Year-Old Story (or, Ara’s Story of Being Twenty).

In the program, Ara visits the sights in several of Tokyo’s fashionable districts, stopping by hip spots like the pop artist Yoshitomo Nara’s café and browsing the expensive stores of Harajuku, yes, that home of the uber-trendy fashion aesthetic bastardized by Gwen Stefani. Ara has a chance to show her apparently impressive Japanese skills as well.

Throughout the trip, she tells anecdotes of her life, like this one that surfaced when dropping by a store selling Christmas items (it’s only August!): “When we found out that [SPOILER?] our parents were really Santa, my younger brother and I would pretend to be asleep while my mother set up the presents, and once we even sneaked outside to open our presents, then rewrapped them and went back to sleep.”

The program airs in two segments, the first of which ran August 30, and the second which shows on September 6.

Photos of Ara in Tokyo >>

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On August 30, Rain attended the wedding of a rep for his company, JTune Entertainment, at Lotte Hotel, so naturally the press took the chance to ask him about his career plans. Rain spoke of his second Hollywood outing (having previously acknowledged that the first try, Speed Racer, was “a failure”): “Ninja Assassin has been set for a worldwide release in March 2009.”

The reporters picking up this story note that this is the “first concrete news of its release date.” Which isn’t exactly true. Sorry to tell you, Rain, but the Interwebs has already known for a while, and it contradicts you: Various other sites (Imdb, Wikipedia) list the film for a January 16, 2009, premiere. (If you Google for yourselves, every English-language source lists that January date, although I’m sure it only takes one person getting it wrong to spread misinformation.) And it’s not that Korea gets a different premiere date; the film is slated for a simultaneous worldwide release, according to Rain.

So which is it, January or March? Uh, someone want to get his new Hollywood agents to put in a call and make sure they’re on the same page with their star?

In any case, Rain is busy at work on his full-length “Asia special” album, as well as planning a “comeback show” to air on MBC. He leaves for the U.S. in September to do post-production ADR (recording) work on Ninja Assassin, and there have even been rumors he’s considering a new drama role. (For a while, there were whisperings that he’d co-star in a drama with Jeon Ji-hyun, but those are mere rumors.)

Via Star News, Sports Khan

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I do apologize for any perceived delays, but unfortunately for me, recaps don’t write themselves (not that I haven’t tried to make them), and I need to sleep as well as study. I also work from the csubs, and this usually adds a day or two to the time between airing and recapping. Hope you all understand.

This one looks really funny, if only because we have our beloved Dal Pyung, random Byun Shik and drag-licious Razor Sis starring as the demon. His real name is Lee Won Jong.

SONG OF THE DAY

Dynamic Duo - “Don’t Say Goodbye” (feat. J) [ Download ]

Hometown of Legends Episode 7 >>

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Fans lined up en masse on August 30 to get a look at their favorite movie heartthrob before he officially goes off the market. After all, Kwon Sang-woo only has about a month left of bachelorhood before tying ye ol’ marital knot to Sohn Tae-young on September 28.

He signed autographs and shook hands at his last fan-signing event before his marriage, at a Home Plus (a retail store) in the city of Cheonan in South Chungcheong Province.

(Maybe this is just me, but it doesn’t it seem like kind of a, erm, weird event for such a huge star? I mean, would George Clooney sign autographs at a makeshift booth at Wal-Mart? I’d betcha Yonsama wouldn’t.)

More fansigning photos >>

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(First thought at seeing the photo: Why don’t I have a disco-ball swing?)

Rapper MC Mong performs to 8,000 concertgoers at Seoul’s Jamsil Stadium on the evening of August 30. DJ KOO opened the show; MC Mong performed a duet with Park Jung-hyun (”Love you to death”), and also had special guests Sohn Ho-young and Cool.

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