Lee Young-ae is one of those A-list stars whose next project is highly anticipated, but fans will have to wait a bit longer for her comeback, because she has announced that she is going back to school for her doctorate.

Lee Young-ae graduated from Hanyang University with a degree in German, then attended graduate school at Joongang University and earned her master’s in theater and film. She will be starting her program at Hanyang’s graduate school of theater in film for the latter semester this year.

Lee’s management explained that she isn’t going for her doctorate with the specific goal of becoming a professor: “She merely has a strong interest in studying, and after she earned her master’s degree she wanted to keep going with school. She won’t stop working because of her doctorate course.” She plans to begin her studies in early June.

The 38-year-old actress has been selective with her projects and hasn’t acted much in recent years after her hugely successful drama series Dae Jang Geum in 2004 and the film Sympathy for Lady Vengeance in 2005. No doubt her return project, whatever it ends up being, will be met with a great amount of interest.

Via Break News

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Following her acting Daesang win last month for her role in the sageuk drama Painter of the Wind, Moon Geun-young is returning to school.

Moon has mostly kept a low profile from the entertainment sphere while she’s been at school; the 21-year-old actress enrolled in university in 2006 (she studies Korean literature at Sungkyunkwan University) and completed four terms before taking her first leave to return to acting. (The last project she did prior to Painter was the 2006 film Love Me Not.)

According to her management, she has no plans for her next acting job; Moon is currently resting up at home and will re-enroll when the school term begins in March.

Via E Daily

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Lee Jung-jae — whom I LOVE! He was my Original Korean-Star Crush, waaaay back when — was awarded his master’s degree from Dongguk University on August 22. He received his degree from the Department of Theater & Film Art in the Graduate School of Cultural Arts.

Now, I’m all for further education, and master’s degrees must command a level of respect. But get this! His dissertation was titled “Approach to Acting in the Role of Kang Se-jong in the Film ‘Typhoon’” — ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

(I mean, the guy could have at least TRIED a little, right? Maybe I should apply to Dongguk for a master’s degree in Interdisciplinary Procrastinatory Studies; or perhaps Analyses of Celebrity Exploits with a minor in Netizenery would be more apropos?)

Well, can’t accuse him of not trying to wring the most bang for his buck. He turned his high-profile role in a super-expensive blockbuster starring opposite Korea’s darlingest heartthrob (Jang Dong-gun, for the unfamiliar) into a graduate degree. Talk about enterprising!

Via Star News

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Oh, pleeez.

Kim Ah Joong is putting out a book and has announced plans to donate proceeds to a hospital for handicapped children. She’s co-editing with Koryo University’s writing professor Kim Kwang Su, and the book Emotional Communication goes on sale on May 30.

The book is described as dealing with a study on the spectrum of human emotions as classified into several categories such as horror, anger, sadness, love, happiness, etc. It takes a look into several academic fields in its synthesis of the human emotional experience, such as neuroscience, physiology, and psychology.

Professor Kim explains that he’d come up with the concept of the book in early 2007, and was impressed with Kim Ah Joong’s enthusiasm and insight when she attended his lectures on the topic (read: He saw his ticket to publication). He apparently approached her and suggested her participation, and thus the collaboration.

Yeaaaah, I’m sure. A pretty young actress and jeans model, whose claim to fame is a mainstream romantic comedy fluff hit, seemed like the perfect partner for compiling an examination of human emotions using an “academic approach”? A university professor works on a book for more than a year, brings in a student, and now they’re “co-editors”? I wish the workload balance tilted in this direction when I was a college student.

Hey, maybe she has a knack for the subject (also, maybe not) — but no matter how bright a student is, no way does a college intro-lecture-attendee have any sort of business co-authoring a book bearing this description. This is no slam against her — it’s miles away from Horan’s essay collection, Yoon Eun Hye’s craft projects, Jung Ryeo Won’s sketchbook, or Park Jiyoon’s photography. Even pop- and pseudo-science ought to require the bare minimum in the way of academic credentials.

Via Star News

SONG OF THE DAY

Bless – “남자답게, 옴므” (Homme) [ Download ]

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Go Ara

It’s graduation season in Korea, and as with everything else, stars always attract the most attention.

Fifteen-year-old So Hee of the teen pop group Wonder Girls has just graduated from middle school (ceremony was held on the 15th) — MIDDLE SCHOOL — which just tinges the group’s exaggerated flirtiness and coquetry with unsavory overtones, doesn’t it? I mean, it’s one thing for an adult to dress up as a schoolgirl and indulge one’s own adult fantasies, but when you put a middle schooler into that role and teach her how to dance and dress suggestively to cater to that same sexual fetishization, it kinda grosses me out. (And that doesn’t even have anything to do with the Wonder Girls’ tepid brand of weak-vocaled bubblegum pop. I will forever resent JYP for inflicting “Tell Me” upon the world.)

Graduating on the same day, but from high school, were So Hee’s fellow groupmate Ye Eun and actress Go Ara (Sharp 1 & 2, Snowflake). Ye Eun plans to enroll in Kyung Hee University’s art design school (postmodern music department) as a vocal major. Go Ara, who seems to be dropping her last name more and more to go by simply “Ara,” will move on to study theater and film at Joong Ang University’s performance and media school.

Other new high school graduates include Girls’ Generation’s (Sonyeo shidae) Tae Yeon on the 11th and Yuri on the 14th. Both SoShi girls have decided to forgo education in favor of their, um, artistic pursuits, and gave up any ideas of taking the national college entrance exam. (Wonder Girl Sun Ye, on the other hand, failed her attempt to pass the exam and plans to retake it.)

As for college grads, the 15th was ceremony day for actress Lee Yowon and comedian Choi Hyung Man, both theater and film majors at Dankook University. Lee Yowon, who starred in last year’s popular medical drama Surgeon Bong Dal Hee and the recent melodrama Bad Love, graduates late (after nine years), while Choi Hyung Man has accomplished the task in just six semesters, graduating early with honors.

Lee Yowon

Via Sports Seoul, Sports Khan

SONG OF THE DAY

Garina Project – “공부해” (Study) A little literal, perhaps. Oh well. [ zShare download ]

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