Actor Kim Bum recently put out a single album in Japan — after showing off his vocal skills with the song he recorded on the additional Boys Before Flowers — and now he’s putting out a photoessay collection.

Kim Bum said, “After the broadcast ended for my drama Dream, I traveled to England. Over ten days from October 23, I toured London and the surrounding areas, and I’ve gathered the photographs I shot into an essay collection. You’ll be able to see it soon.” The photos aren’t solely vacation memories but aims to promote an environmental message.

He added, “I’ve wanted to release a book that I put my name on, so this is a dream come true. This was my first trip to England, and I really enjoyed myself. I feel great to be able to experience the culture of environmentalism myself and introduce it [to Korea].”

Meanwhile, Kim Bum has a movie still to be released (action-romance Bisang), and is enjoying a lot of popularity even if his last drama, Dream, flopped. Hopefully he’ll be more lucky with his next choice — given how busy he’s keeping these days, I’m going to guess we won’t have to wait too long for the next project…

Via DongA

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Post tags: books, Kim Bum, star extracurricular activities

Korea’s first capital-punishment-themed film Executioners [집행자], which stars Yoon Kye-sang and Jo Jae-hyun as prison guards, has also turned its screenplay (lauded as taut and solidly written) into a novel, which was just released on October 23. The publication precedes the film’s release next month, and to commemorate the occasion, the film’s lead actors appeared at a fan-signing event on the 24th.

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Actress Choi Kang-hee (My Sweet Seoul) published her essay collection at the end of September, and within only ten days it’s already become a bestseller.

The collection is titled Choi Kang-hee, A Little Child’s Little Happiness and has shot to the top ten of various bestseller lists. Currently, the volume has sold more than 32,000 copies and is heading into a fifth printing. The publisher’s initial printing produced 10,000 copies, but because of demand, they have upped the latest print order to 20,000 volumes.

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Post tags: books, Choi Kang-hee, Lee Hye-young, star extracurricular activities

Lee Junki, who enjoys strong popularity throughout Asia, is launching “Sawasdee Khrab,” his Thai photobook whose title is taken from the Thai phrase for hello. He revealed the book in Bangkok on September 27 and held a press conference before a hundred reporters from various Asian media outlets. Lee also received a special plaque from the Tourism Authority of Thailand in appreciation for his service in boosting Thailand’s image as honorary spokesperson.

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Last year, Clazziquai singer Horan put out an essay collection; now her bandmate Alex is coming out with an essay collection of his own, a food-related book called Alex’s Spoon. (The tagline under the title reads, “A food diary of a sweet guy living a delicious life.”)

This shouldn’t come as too much of a stretch for the vocalist, or be a surprise for his fans; Alex was reportedly a chef in his pre-singer days, and not long ago hosted a food program on Japanese television called Delicious Korea.

Although food is the main theme, Alex’s Spoon also contains essays describing childhood family memories, his thoughts about making music, and a look back at his love relationships. The book includes photographs, recipes, recommended restaurants, and so forth.

Alex is currently promoting the song “Tell Yourself,” and recently gave a solo concert at Akasaka Blitz in Japan on September 19. The book Alex’s Spoon will be published on September 23 — which, incidentally, is the same day that Yonsama’s own food and culture book, Journey in Search of Korea’s Beauty, will be released.

Via OSEN

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Bae Yong-joon, or Yonsama, has finally revealed the Korea-related book he has been preparing for many months, called Journey in Search of Korea’s Beauty.

In order to gather information to incorporate into his book exploring traditional Korean culture, Bae Yong-joon spent over a year traveling the country to research various topics; for instance, his first step was to visit countryside villages to learn the process for making kimchi in the traditional method.

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Actress Han Ji-min (Cain & Abel) has put out a book titled We’re Already Friends — Han Ji-min’s Philippines Donation Book, which includes stories of her time spent in a deep mountain village in the Philippines helping at a village school. (The book also contains drawings, which Han drew herself.)

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Post tags: books, good deeds, Han Ji-min