Following in the footsteps of fellow musicians Lee Juck and Horan, Epik High’s Tablo is coming out with a short-story collection, to be published next month.

“When the book is released, I’m sure people will ask, ‘Did Tablo really write this?’ In my university days, I was known as a literature geek.” The now-28-year-old refers to his education from 1998 through 2001 at Stanford University, which is when he wrote the stories, which are set in New York and feature a diverse cast of characters. The collection contains approximately ten “human drama” stories, and Tablo is adapting and translating the stories that were originally written in English.

He explained, “The image I’ve displayed to the media and the public these past years has been different from the real me. There have been a lot more instances where the image has been distorted rather than accurate. I’m grateful for everyone’s interest, but I want to be judged only by my music.” (And, I presume, now his stories.)

As for Epik High, they’ve just released their first mini-album, Lovescream, featuring their new single “1 Minute 1 Second.”

Via Kuki News

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Tags: star extracurricular activities, Tablo

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Actor Lee Minki (Mixed-up Investigative Agency and Dal Ja’s Spring) is lending his hitherto-unknown vocal talents to a track with Korean electronica/pop singer Sheean in a collaboration with Japanese electronica/Shibuya-kei artist FreeTEMPO. The song, titled “Power of Love,” was released as a digital single today.

Lee Minki managed to squeeze in recording time with Sheean in between his busy film schedule; he is currently working on the film Haeundae [해운대], which also stars Ha Ji-won and Seol Kyung-gu. FreeTEMPO (aka Takeshi Hanzawa) flew to Korea in August to work on the project.

Lee said, “I’ve always liked FreeTEMPO and electronic music, which is why I agreed to this project. It felt really awesome to work with artists I already liked.”

Lee also is to appear in the music video (catch a preview below). Meanwhile, FreeTEMPO and Sheean are set to perform “Power of Love” live at the Pusan International Film Festival on October 3.

Via Herald Biz and poweroflove.kr

SONG OF THE DAY

FreeTEMPO X Sheean - “Power of Love” feat. Lee Minki. Written, arranged, and programmed by FreeTEMPO, lyrics by Sheean. I’ve featured both FreeTEMPO and Sheean before; check out Sheean’s other songs here and here. [ Download ]

You’ll probably recognize FreeTEMPO from the two tracks featured in Coffee Prince, which you can download here (and listen below).

FreeTEMPO - “Immaterial White”

FreeTEMPO - “Sky High”

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Tags: Lee Min-ki, singers, star extracurricular activities

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Note: What they’re talking about in this article is a step up from the ubiquitous “sel-ca” photos, or “self-taken” photographs, that we see online everywhere. A lot of the photos in question do feature the celebs themselves, but this is referring more to the trend of stars becoming amateur photographers, publishing books and putting their work out for display.

“What’s the reason for the celebrity photographer trend?”

Actors aren’t merely models who always stand in front of the camera. Sometimes they stand behind the camera and see the world through the eyes of photographers. Some publish photo collections like Park Ji-yoon (Secret Garden), Bae Doo-na (Doo-na’s Tokyo Fun), Lee Byung-jin. Others operate photo studios themselves, like Jo Min-ki (Seoul Cheongdamdong St. Zio) and Bbaek Ga (Seoul Shinsadong BY100).

A number of others are photography fans boasting a bit of skill, such as Bae Yong-joon, Boa, So Ji-sub, Song Il-kook, Uhm Tae-woong, and Jung Jong-chul. Let’s take a look at the reason for the trend of celebrities getting behind the camera lens.

(You mean, other than vanity?)

SONG OF THE DAY

Misty Blue - “너의 별 이름은 시리우스B” (Your star’s name is Sirius B) [ Download ]

More star photographs >>

Tags: Bae Doo-na, Bae Yong-joon, Moon Geun-young, Park Ji-yoon, Shin Ae, Shinji, So Ji-sub, star extracurricular activities, Yoo Ji-tae

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Remember So Ji-sub’s recent MV for digital single “Isolated Life”? (In case you don’t, So appeared in the video for the song by new rapper G featuring female quartet Amazing Soul — who are set to debut January 2009 — and the so-called “G project” released its single last month.)

Apparently “G” was actually So Ji-sub. Rapping.

So Ji-sub: “I’ve always loved music and enjoyed rapping, and I’ve wanted to participate in a recording project for a while.”

I’ll bet everyone’s listening a little closer to the song now, eh?

Via Newsis

SONG OF THE DAY

G (aka So Ji-sub) featuring Amazing Soul - “고독한 인생” (Isolated life) (reposted from previous post) [ Download ]

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Tags: So Ji-sub, star extracurricular activities

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On August 9, actress Han Ji-hye took her place in front of the mic at Intersound recording studio in Seoul.

She was there to sing the (or should I say one of many) Olympic theme song “Friends” with a guy identified merely as “Chinese star William.” (Using those details, I’ve been unable to Google anything more relevant than William Hung — and Naver gives me, alternately, Prince William or Tony Leung — and I know that’s not right. Anyone got more info on the guy? Thanks for the identification, he is Leon Jay Williams.)

Han was brought to this project via a proposal from the Chinese Olympic committee to sing “Friends” as the official swimming theme (er, is this new? Does each event get a theme song? Cuz I’d like to hear what they’d call the theme for boxing (“Hit Him”? “No Longer Friends”?) or, say, badminton). The song will mark the men’s 400m freestyle event taking place on August 10, at which 18-year-old Korean swimmer (and gold-medal hopeful) Park Tae-hwan is to compete.

Han isn’t a total rookie in the recording studio — she surprised with her singing for the OST of her recent movie Humming. She says, “Do you know that my dream as a child was to be a singer? I’ve always loved dancing and singing, so there was a time I briefly thought, ‘I should become a singer.’” She put those dreams away when she became an actress instead, but sees this as a chance to do something new.

“I’d love for this theme song to cheer on our athletes even a little. I hope that they meet with good results befitting the amount of hard work they’ve put into this,” she said.

The recording session was rushed, as Han Ji-hye is in the midst of filming East of Eden. Finally — can’t wait for that show to start airing so we can stop hearing about how it’s about to start airing.

Via My Daily

Tags: Han Ji-hye, Park Tae-hwan, star extracurricular activities

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