It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these, huh?

• Newlywed Park Eun-hye is returning to work following a recent miscarriage of what would have been her “honeymoon baby” (she wed in April). She plans to attend the upcoming Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF), which screens her film Night and Day.
• Speaking of which, Kim Rae-won (Gourmet) and Han Eun-jung (Lawyers of Korea) will take a particular place on Wednesday’s opening-night red carpet at PIFF, as brand models for the festival’s sponsor, L’Oreal Paris.
• Song Il-kook had his day in court and won; the reporter who accused him of assault (whom he countersued for false accusations) has been sentenced to a year’s imprisonment. Ouch. We may never know the truth of whether he struck her as claimed, but a year in the slammer seems harsh. Well, that’s what happens when you go up against a rich actor with powerful connections.
• Sigh. Things are hard enough for Ahn Jae-hwan’s widow Jung Sun-hee, whose husband killed himself over large amounts of debt, and has endured accusations of kidnapping Ahn by his sister. She underwent an additional round of police questioning, spending four hours at the police station on the 29th. Jung roundly denies Ms. Ahn’s claims, and also denies rumors that she’s heading overseas for rest (which doesn’t sound like a bad idea, actually — the press was all over her collapses at Ahn’s funeral, and she again collapsed after emerging from the police station).
• I don’t think many people outside of Korea are watching cable drama Chosun Police [조선과학수사대 별순검], but the MBC Dramanet fusion sageuk gained a following as a “Chosun-era CSI” and is now set to launch its season 2. The production press conference was on the 29th, featuring lead actor Lee Jong-hyuk, who admitted he’d purposely avoided watching Season 1; he wanted to differentiate his character from its original actor, Ryu Seung-ryong.
• Kim Min-jung (26, of New Heart) has been cast in the lead of MBC’s drama 2009 Foreign Baseball Team, which was originally a hit manhwa in the ’80s. Actors Yoon Tae-young (Legend’s Hogae), Park Sung-min (Legend’s Saryang), Park Jung-hak (Kingdom of the Wind), Song Ah-young (Moon Hee), and Kim Sun-kyung (Legend’s Lady Yeon) are also cast. There’s a whole lotta Legend there. It should air sometime next year.
• After spending most of his recent energies trying to make a dent in the international film scene, Rain is back to kpop after two years away with his fifth album. He’s announced that his title track will be a dance song, followed by a ballad, to go on sale in October. Rain, here’s a fundamental rule of showbiz: Show, not tell. We’re happy to welcome ya back if your work is good, but g/d I’m sick of hearing so much about it.

 
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Tags: Ahn Jae-hwan, bad deeds, film festivals, Han Eun-jung, Jung Sun-hee, Kim Min-jung, Kim Rae-won, Lee Jong-hyuk, news bites, Park Eun-hye, Rain, Song Il-kook

Filed under: Celebrity News by javabeans - 12 Comments →

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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Tags: Hollywood, ninjas, Rain

Filed under: Chungmuro/Film by javabeans - 15 Comments →

As announced, supa-star Rain held his fanmeeting and birthday party (called “Summer Vacation with Rain”), at Olympic Hall in Seoul’s Olympic Park on July 27.

The event commenced at 3pm, hosted by MC Kim Jae-dong, who made his TV debut around the same time as Rain’s singer debut. That familiarity made for a light-hearted time with lots of joking around as Kim interviewed Rain. The star also sang “A Day” (haru do) and “How to Escape the Sun” and danced to “Instead of Saying Goodbye.”

Approx fans 1,300 were from overseas, making for an overall total of around 3,000.

Some interview highlights:

His “worldwide album” planned for September has been pushed to next year, mainly in part because of his filming schedule for upcoming film Ninja Assassin. However, he does plan for an “Asia special album” for October, to be released — and performed, and promoted — in China, Japan, Thailand, Hong Kong, and throughout Asia. He explained, “The Asia special album is about 50 percent complete. Actually, I’m holding up completing the remaining half because I want to perfect it.”

(What does “worldwide album” even mean? Is that a euphemism for his U.S./English-language album? Is this his way of backing off from Western ambitions without actually admitting to it? Did he finally realize that despite overwhelming domestic popularity, the U.S. watered-down-R&B-pop-music machine is saturated with homegrown pop-star aspirants? Is he going to sing in multiple languages?)

As for his Hollywood film, Rain trained rigorously for his role as the titular assassin, learning swordplay as well as how to throw a blade attached to a chain. He lost a lot of weight while training, although he expressed having a hard time with the strict diet: “If I stayed away from food for too long, I’d end up overeating, and my insulin levels would shoot up, which isn’t healthy.” Thus he mostly stuck to a 30-30-40 diet (30 percent protein, 30 percent fat, 40 carbs, aka The Zone diet).

Rain also revealed, “I thought filming a Hollywood movie would allow for more sleep and more comfortable shooting, but I was wrong. Because daily production costs are so high, I ended up sleeping five hours a night and started filming at 8am and continued all through the day.”

Asked what event in his six years of fame has left the strongest impression, he answered that it was meeting with the now-deceased cancer patient Ahn So-bong: “When I visited the hospital room, he was sadly in the late stages of cancer. Afterward, we spoke many times over the phone, but because I was working overseas, I couldn’t visit again, which was painful for me. Up till that point in my life, that was probably the one really good thing I’d done with my celebrity.”

His cooking? “I’ve cooked for myself a lot,” he explained, prompting Kim Jae-dong to ask for the recipe for his kimchi chigae. (He’d cooked onstage at a previous fanmeeting last year.)

Acknowledging that he’s spent quite some time away from home, he promised, “After I release my Asia special album in October, I’ll be doing promotional activities so much that my fans will get sick of me.”

(Restraining… self… from retorting… to last comment…)

Via Hankook Ilbo

SONG OF THE DAY

Rain / Bi - “태양을 피 하는 방법” (How to Escape the Sun). A repost. [ Download ]

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Tags: fanmeetings, Rain

Filed under: Kpop News by javabeans - 18 Comments →

First he had that (as predicted) rather forgettable turn in Speed Racer. Then there was that Kung Fu Panda theme song he recorded that was overshadowed by Cee-Lo’s better (and “official”) version, after which he spent some time in Germany bulking up to shoot Ninja Assassin.

After such an extended stretch of time away from singerly (and actorly) activities at home — his last album, “Rain’s World,” and last domestic acting project, I’m A Cyborg, But That’s OK, were both back in 2006 — “world star” Rain is coming back to Korea to resume activities there, beginning with a fanmeeting on the 27th.

Rain held a fanmeeting in Tokyo on June 30, while this event is expected to draw a capacity crowd (approx 3,000) at Seoul’s Olympic Hall, and attract his fans from all over Asia. Hopefully he still has some left after his less-than-stellar “world tour” last year ended in mass cancellations, slipshod planning, and tons of angry fans, many of whom weren’t able to recoup ticket prices or travel expenses after flying across the country (some across the world) to attend his U.S. (non-)appearances.

The fanmeeting will be emceed by Kim Jae-dong and is being called “Summer Vacation with Rain.” According to his company, JTune Entertainment, Rain is currently busy at work on his next album, aiming for an October release.

I think Rain is at his best when he’s not overextending himself and trying to do a dozen different things simultaneously in his attempt to conquer the world; hopefully this marks a return to more successful endeavors.

Via Herald Biz, Asia Today

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Tags: comebacks, fanmeetings, kpop, Rain, singers

Filed under: Kpop News by javabeans - 18 Comments →

• Ara and Jang Geun Seok are dolling up and gettin’ down in an online teaser ad for a cosmetics brand, showing off what is being dubbed their “techtonic” Tecktonik dance. Touted as sexy and cute, I’d use any another term — dorky-cute, disco-lite, uber-goofball? — instead.
• 21-year-old Moon Geun Young opens up in an interview about her feelings about how her fame has affected her younger sister, who has explained that it’s hard being the little sis of Korea’s Little Sis — she’s always being compared or treated with awkward curiosity. Now a high school student, younger sis lives abroad and studies in Australia, where Moon Geun Young explains that she can hopefully “stand on her own without being in my shadow.”
• According to the director of Rain’s company JTunes, Rain hasn’t mentioned any interest in a woman in the past seven years. (What about guys?)
• Fashion designer Andre Kim (who’s had a long career but hasn’t seemed to have a new idea in years) tells The Star Show that of all the numerous celebrities he’s worked with, sob queen Choi Jiwoo is the star with the perfect body. (He lists Lee Byung Heon as the most charismatic male actor.)
• Yoo Seung Ho (that young cutie who played young Yonsama in Legend) has been cast in the music video for “Don’t Go, Don’t Go,” R&B duo Brown Eyes‘ comeback single. (Starring opposite is new Japanese actress Ishizaka Yuri.) His role entails “emotional” and “heartbroken” acting; looks like he’s trying his best to shed the child-star image.
• With only a week till his new drama airs, Lee Dong Gun is lining up the CF offers, promoting pre-harvest rice sales and fielding more proposals from beverage, clothing, and construction companies. While it’s common for a new drama to bring the CF offers, it’s cited as being unusual for the offers to come in before the drama has even begun. Maybe they’re just happy to see him back onscreen after his recent rough patch.
• Some of JYP’s teen-sex-kitten proteges the Wonder Girls had a few words to share about their Svengali-master on MBC’s Brain Battle (isn’t that shooting a little high?). Apparently JYP gets “sensitive” when he’s hungry (unlike the rest of us robots); Yoo Bin explained that while recording their album, he’d gotten so hungry once that he’d scolded her. After a snack, she saw him being affectionate with another member and felt sad. (Maybe he was upset with, I don’t know, her work? I’ve seen her performing.)
• Singer JOO cites an occasion prior to her debut when JYP had commented on her weight, saying, “What’s with this [flab]? It’s like tofu.” Because teenage girls don’t already have enough issues about their looks — thanks, Mr. Monkey-man.

 
SONG OF THE DAY

Alex - “깍지껴요” (hold hands), from his recent first solo album “My Vintage Romance.” Overall, the album sounds a lot more mainstream than his previous work, going more into ballad and pop territory. He does have the voice for it, even though I prefer the more innovative music of Clazziquai. [ Download ]

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Tags: Choi Ji-woo, Go Ara, Jang Geun-seok, Lee Byung-heon, Lee Dong-gun, Moon Geun-young, news bites, Rain, Wonder Girls, Yoo Seung-ho

Filed under: Celebrity News by javabeans - 20 Comments →