Ara celebrates being twenty with her first trip as a legal adult, taking off for Tokyo in a program for cable lifestyle channel O’live, She’s O’live: Ara’s Twenty-Year-Old Story (or, Ara’s Story of Being Twenty).
In the program, Ara visits the sights in several of Tokyo’s fashionable districts, stopping by hip spots like the pop artist Yoshitomo Nara’s café and browsing the expensive stores of Harajuku, yes, that home of the uber-trendy fashion aesthetic bastardized by Gwen Stefani. Ara has a chance to show her apparently impressive Japanese skills as well.
Throughout the trip, she tells anecdotes of her life, like this one that surfaced when dropping by a store selling Christmas items (it’s only August!): “When we found out that [SPOILER?] our parents were really Santa, my younger brother and I would pretend to be asleep while my mother set up the presents, and once we even sneaked outside to open our presents, then rewrapped them and went back to sleep.”
The program airs in two segments, the first of which ran August 30, and the second which shows on September 6.
A couple more photos have been released in promotion for the upcoming broadcast of cable program Kim Haneul’s Travel Diary in Italy, which airs on August 6 and 13 as an On Style and ETN joint production.
Kim Haneul filmed the show back in April and traveled through Florence, Milan, Montalcino, and other well-known Italian cities. The camera follows the On Air star as she browses stores big and small, famous and hidden, showing off her fashion know-how and offering a glimpse into her daily travels as she navigates the streets with map in hand, talks with tourists, and of course, shops.
Ah, Italy. If I were going back there, I’d be interested in a lot more than just shopping for clothes and meeting designers. But then, I have no interest in being a fashionista, so I’ll leave that to stars like Kim. Give me a museum or La Scala any day.
Project Runway is coming to Korea. Cable channel On Style is producing and airing the competitive reality show for fashion-designer aspirants, having bought the rights to produce Project Runway Korea from the show’s international distributors, Fremantle Media.
Because the production rights have been bought from the purveyors of the original show, the Korean version will follow the exact format as the U.S. show, with twelve contestants completing one design challenge per week, each of which will result in one cut. The winner earns a cash prize and a spread in a fashion magazine, and just as U.S. finalists show at New York Fashion Week, Project Runway Korea finalists will present at Korea’s Fashion Week in the fall. Apparently there are strict guidelines that the show must follow regarding filming style, editing, set design, challenge content, etc., in accordance with the original format.
Project Runway has already been shipped overseas to countries like Canada and Malaysia, although this is the first time a well-known foreign format will be applied to a Korean reality show. Applications for contestants will be open until July 13, and the program plans to air in September.
I’m… interested to see how this shapes up. What I like about Korean reality programs, like I mentioned about Mnet’s cable reality show I Am a Model, is that they actually focus on the challenges and the stated purpose rather than highlighting interpersonal conflicts, which we see more in American faux-reality programming. (By the way, if you’re following I Am A Model on Imaginasian, it’s shaping up quite nicely. I dig that the pro models running the challenges, unlike Tyra, actually want their model-aspirants to succeed, and are frank about their business. I was actually pretty surprised that they would show one girl’s plastic surgery so honestly, although the actual procedure was so subtle that I could hardly tell the difference.) But then again, with the format so rigidly prescribed by the licensing company, maybe Project Runway Korea will just be more of the same. Which, granted, can be pretty decent as far as reality shows go.
Have you missed Shin Dong Wook (Soulmate, War of Money)?
He recently shot these promo pictures on a Seoul rooftop for his upcoming job as the new MC of cable reality show [Chasing Your] X-Boyfriend (on Mnet). He’ll be the third host following fellow actors Jae Hee and Jang Geun Seok for the show that tries to reunite men and women with their exes.
I’ve seen a few episodes of the show (it airs, subtitled, on the cable channel Imaginasian) and find it both oddly compelling and vaguely creepy — often the production team employs methods that might be considered illegal here in their attempts to track down the ex based on whatever information the seeker provides. Usually they’ll hide out in their production vehicle, stakeout-style, and film the target as “surveillance” for a bit before then trying to ambush the target for an introduction, and sometimes confrontation. Many times the ex doesn’t want to be on television or reunite with their seeker, which makes for awkwardness (but good TV?), although I suppose it also lends it an air of realism that’s missing in a lot of American “reality” shows. Something that painfully awkward — humiliating onscreen rejection! airing of embarrassing relationship dirt! — has got to be real, right?
In any case, I’d rather see Shin Dong Wook acting again, even if I haven’t liked some of his roles recently. But hopefully the host gig works well for him.
I just recently saw that Imaginasian TV just started showing the first season of Korean reality show I Am a Model, and tuned in out of curiosity. Originally aired on Korean cable channel Mnet, I Am a Model was pretty successful and has aired multiple seasons (three, I think). I never caught it, because I don’t watch Korean cable or reality/variety programs that much.
In the absence of AZN, Imaginasian’s got some decent programming (check your cable listings!), and I found myself liking I Am a Model. The episodes are subbed in English and similar to America’s Next Top Model, minus the shenanigans. If you’re like me, you watch America’s Next Top Model despite yourself — you know it’s predictable and most likely rigged and way too loaded down with exaggerated “drama.” Plus Tyra’s getting crazier and crazier, and not in a good way. But the premise is interesting, and you fast-forward through all the humdrum boring parts to get to the actual point — the photo shoots and judging. (There’s just no way to watch ANTM live, because the filler stuff will make you want to slap somebody.)
I Am a Model is less conflict and more about actual modeling (who’d'a thunk?). For that reason, it might be a dry watch for some viewers, but I liked it much more. It’s only up to the second episode so far and I know nothing about the model-contestants, but I kind of like it that way. I’d rather just see how they’re judged based on their evaluations and photo shoots.
Model-contestants Park Hee Hyun, Han Boram, Kim So Young, Kang Suji, Yoon Jihye, Park Eun Hye
