I foresee this may start getting repetitive, but here’s another red carpet from the Pusan International Film Festival (we saw opening night’s red carpet yesterday).

This time, the event was the Asian Pacific Actors Network (APAN) Star Road. It seemed some of the stars who were at opening night were noticeably absent at this event, most likely because they traveled back to Seoul to pay their respects to Choi Jin-shil.

Pics beyond the jump.

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Tags: Choi Jung-yoon, Daniel Henney, fashion, film festivals, Jung Ryeo-won, Kang Hye-jung, Kim Ji-soo, Kim So-yeon, Lee Jung-jin, Lee Min-ki, Lee Wan, Oh Man-seok, Park Jin-hee, Song Chang-eui, Yeh Ji-won

Filed under: Chungmuro/Film by javabeans - 13 Comments →

It’s kind of unnerving how all the news right now is either Choi Jin-shil’s sudden death or the 13th Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF), and sometimes while looking through the news listings, it’s easy to confuse the two based on the thumbnail images. (Given the timing, as far as I can see, there were no overlaps in attendees — or at least, very few — between PIFF and Choi Jin-shil’s funeral viewing.)

October 2 saw the opening night to the nine-day festival; PIFF closes on October 10 and is the largest film festival in Korea, and one of the largest in Asia. Over the course of the week, more than 300 films will be screened from 60-plus countries.

Kim Rae-won and Han Eun-jung, above, came as brand models for PIFF sponsor L’Oreal. Other famous name actors showed up to the red carpet night; the opening film was Kazakhstan’s The Gift to Stalin, as well as the Hyun Bin & Lee Bo-young film I Am Happy.

PIFF’s red carpet >>

Tags: Cha Seung-won, Choi Jung-yoon, Choi Kang-hee, Eom Ji-won, Eugene, fashion, film festivals, Go Ara, Gong Hyo-jin, Han Eun-jung, Hyun Bin, Jang Dong-gun, Joo Ji-hoon, Jung Ryeo-won, JYP, Kang Hye-jung, Kim Ji-soo, Kim Jung-eun, Kim Rae-won, Kim So-yeon, Kim Sun-ah, Lee Bo-young, Lee Dong-wook, Lee Jung-jin, Lee Seon-kyun, Lee Wan, Lee Yeon-hee, Oh Ji-ho, Park Eun-hye, Park Hae-il, Park Jin-hee, Shin Hyun-joon, Shin Mina, Song Chang-eui, Yeh Ji-won

Filed under: Chungmuro/Film by javabeans - 46 Comments →

• Park Jin Hee juggles two handsome leading men (Jo Han Seon and Lee Ki Woo) in her upcoming romantic comedy, Time of Memory and Loss. Maybe the casting can inject some humor and spark into a tired formula: an awkward old maid cannot forget an unrequited love of her past, which prevents her from moving on to her next love. The plot gets going when she’s in a car accident with said old love, and pretends to lose her memory so she can come live in his house. His friend catches on to her lie, and thus the triangle begins.
• Actor So Ji Sub explores his penchant for photography in a new camera CF, which he recently shot in Hokkaido, Japan. He explained, “It’s when others become curious about me through the photos I’ve shot, which allow me to share my feelings with the viewer, that I feel best.” Way to make narcissism sound poetic!
• Dancing and lip-synching provocateuse Lee Hyori is slated to make a cameo appearance in the upcoming SBS drama On Air, which premieres February 27 and is written by the scribe behind the Lovers series (in Paris, in Prague, and plain Lovers). She’ll play the part of a top pop singer handled by Lee Beom Soo’s manager character. Well, if you can’t act, might as well play yourself.



• Wonder Girl Ahn So Hee admits to having been a huge Rain fan prior to her debut. Why the past tense?
• …and speaking of Rain, he’s partnered with Samsung to promote their Anycall line for the next year, in promotion for the 2008 Olympics. “Particularly, these ads have stirred much interest with the announcement that Rain will sing Anycall’s Olympic theme song.” The wording confused me initially as to whether the song in question is AN Olympic song for Anycall, or if Samsung is sponsoring THE official theme song for the Beijing Olympics. Further reading shows that all signs point to the latter. Please keep the bashing to a minimum!
• Oh, and Gong Yoo began his military service today. See ya in two years!

SONG OF THE DAY

Rain - “난 또 니가 좋은거야” (I like you again) [ zShare download ]

 
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• News bites: December 6
• Korea, calm down. Stephen Colbert doesn’t hate Rain.

Tags: army duty, Gong Yoo, Lee Hyori, news bites, Park Jin-hee, Rain, So Ji-sub

Filed under: Celebrity News by javabeans - 22 Comments →

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SBS’s new Wednesday-Thursday drama, War of Money (쩐의 전쟁), kicked off to a healthy ratings start in the 16%-17% range, then jumped up to above 24% for its second episode. That’s enough of a leap to be considered noteworthy. (And anything above 20% in its first week is quite a feat.)

This drama had quite some buzz leading up to its premiere, probably mostly due to the casting of lead actor Park Shin Yang, who is perhaps best known for his role in Lovers in Paris. As for me, the only actor I’m familiar with is Shin Dong Wook, from Cloud Stairway and Soulmate.

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SONG OF THE DAY

War of Money OST - “Simple Life” by Sweet Sorrow
[ zShare download ]

Not a full episode summary, but there are spoilers for Eps. 1-2 >>

Tags: episode recaps, Kim Jung-hwa, Park Jin-hee, Park Shin-yang, Shin Dong-wook, stuff that bugs, War of Money

Filed under: Drama Recaps by javabeans - 32 Comments →