• Tablo addressed erroneous rumors that he’s retiring from the music biz by posting a message on his homepage: “I’m not retiring.” He’s not happy with the state of the industry and its focus on singles over albums, but he assures his fans, “I’ll make music forever.”
• Ha Jiwon was invited to the New Zealand embassy in Seoul to welcome Prime Minister Helen Clark on the 15th. She’s been active in promoting films from New Zealand in Korea, and vice versa (Korean films in NZ). She also films her next movie in New Zealand at the end of the year.
• First it was a Girls Generation song (sung here); now figure skater Kim Yuna says she’ll be performing Jewelry’s “ET dance” next, using their chart-topping hit “One More Time” (song here) in one of her skating routines at the KCC Switzen Festa on Ice. Maybe she just really wants to be a pop star.
• MBC’s popular variety show We Got Married has brought several stars into the limelight, including Shinhwa’s Andy, dubbed “top husband material.” But did you know he’d already gone on a formal “seon” (marriage set-up date) years ago at the tender age of 25? His mother tricked him into going, saying it was merely dinner with a friend, but when he showed up the woman was there with a “young girl” — and the mothers quickly got up and left the couple behind.
• And with SBS gearing up to launch two new series, the promotion blitz sure is kicking in. All of a sudden, everything is about Iljimae (Lee Junki, Han Hyo Joo) and Gourmet (Kim Rae Won, Nam Sang Mi). Seriously, Lee Junki is everywhere.

 
SONG OF THE DAY

Andy - “Love Song” [ Download ]

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Filed under: News bites by javabeans - 8 Comments →

First, a disclaimer: This movie is probably going to suck.

But, I’m just glad to see Park Jinwoo acting in something again. Not that he’s been completely out of work — he apparently had a role in the sageuk drama Bichunmu, although that series was actually shot four years ago.

But I really liked him in the funny and heartwarming comedy Bad Family (Arrested Development, kdrama-style, sorta), the teen sex romp Dasepo Naughty Girls (even though the movie was kinda meh), and 2004’s My Little Bride as Moon Geun Young’s age-appropriate boyfriend. Oh, and can’t forget him in Nonstop 5. His projects haven’t exactly been artistically challenging, but I’ve always thought he was better than his roles. His comic sense is pretty decent for a guy who could coast by as a mere heartthrob if he wanted; he’s got a willingness to make a fool of himself that I dig (Bad Family). (Although, I’d like to see him take the Kim Hye Sung route and really push himself).

This time he’s starring in a romantic-comedy movie with Park Jung Ah of sexed-up kpop girl group Jewelry, Nal-na-ri jong-bu-jeon [날나리 종부전] (I don’t know a good translation for the title, but it basically means a party girl becoming devoted housewife).

The story involves a materialistic wild child (Park Jung Ah) who’s never met a man whose head she couldn’t turn with her flirty good looks. Then she meets one whose indifference stings her pride (Park Jinwoo) and before you know it, they’re married. One problem: He’s the only son from a rigidly traditional family. Hijinks ensue. (Sounds kind of like Vineyard Man and Bad Couple given the farce treatment.)

The movie had its press conference on May 14 in Seoul and releases on May 22.

SONG OF THE DAY

Jewelry - “One More Time.” I almost feel the need to apologize for posting this overplayed song… but it’s a Park Jung Ah movie and the song’s used in the trailer so… [ Download ]

Filed under: Actors, Stars, Movies by javabeans - 17 Comments →

Currently beginning filming for her upcoming sageuk drama The Painter of Wind, Moon Geun Young displays short hair and a thinner face in newly uploaded pics, which were deliberate changes made for the role (she plays a female artist who must dress as a man to pursue painting). The Painter of Wind airs on SBS in October.

Filed under: Oh snap by javabeans - 25 Comments →

I’m sure most of you have already seen pics of Rain rocking his newly slimmed (10 kg!) chiseled body — achieved through a strict chicken-breast-and-veggie diet — in preparation for his upcoming Ninja Assassin role. But what about this “Chocolate Abs” pic released on the 14th? (Dude, I don’t come up with the names, I just report ‘em.)

Rain is currently in Berlin working on Ninja Assassin, dreaming of samgyupsal (pork belly).

Filed under: Oh snap by javabeans - 32 Comments →

Um. I know it’s hardly accurate to judge a movie based on a 30-second trailer, much less a few photo stills. But, erm, based on these stills of the upcoming action flick G.I. Joe… it looks kinda lame.

Which is too bad, since, as usual, Korean fans are excited about the inclusion of another big-name star (this time actor Lee Byung Heon) in a Hollywood production. And G.I. Joe does boast some well-known Hollywood names, starting with director Stephen Sommers (The Mummy, Van Helsing) and actors Dennis Quaid, Sienna Miller, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jonathan Pryce, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, and Marlon Wayans.

I was more optimistic about Lee’s chances being cast as Storm Shadow (a ninja assassin with dual loyalties to both Cobra Commander and G.I. Joe) than, say, Rain’s criticized performance in Speed Racer, because Lee Byung Heon has at least distinguished himself more as an actor than Rain. But Rain will get another chance to redeem himself, playing (sigh) a ninja assassin in the upcoming Wachowski brothers production of the same name. Yeah, I know Lee’s role was supposedly changed from Japanese to Korean, but that’s just something to appease the Koreans — to the rest of the world, a ninja is a ninja.

Well, fingers crossed for more successful Hollywood crossovers for Jeon Ji Hyun (Blood: The Last Vampire) as a vampire-hunting warrior and Jang Dong Gun (Laundry Warrior) as an “Asian warrior assassin.”

(Seriously, Hollywood? Are you running down the Asian Stereotype Checklist and all just happened to get stuck in the “warrior assassin” mode? What next? A slew of movies about nerdy Asian scientists who speak Kong-Ching-Japlish (hey, they all sound the same, right?) who decide to engage the world in a new Red Terror and revitalize communism with the help of their doll-faced, subservient women? While acing the SAT, running convenience stores and bemoaning their lesser-endowed sexy parts? ‘Cause… yeah, we are not impressed. And by “we” I mean “me,” but I’m pretty sure also “we.”)

Filming began in February in L.A., and G.I. Joe plans to release in Summer 2009.

Via Star News

SONG OF THE DAY

8eight - “물어봅니다” (I ask) [ Download ]

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Filed under: Ranty/Ravey, Actors, Stars, Movies by javabeans - 23 Comments →