Korean actress Jeon Do-yeon, 36, gave birth to a baby girl on Thursday afternoon (Jan 22), just a day after actress Kim Hee-sun gave birth to a baby girl at the same hospital in Seoul. Congratulations!
Some entertainment news from various sources…
China – Actress Zhang Ziyi (pic) wishing a Happy Chinese New “Ox” Year [Cri]
China – Movie “Look for a Star”, starring Andy Lau and Shu Qi, premiers in Beijing [Cri]
Hong Kong – Jackie Chan’s son, Jaycee Fang, has given up his American citizenship [Stareastasia]
Japan – Takuya Kimura is Japanese TV commercial king of 2008 [Stareastasia]
Japan – American actress Meryl Streep meets Japanese Empress Michiko [Japanprobe]
S Korea – Chance to win autographed Wonder Girls CDs in conjunction with the launching of WG’s Youtube channel [Coolsmurf]
S Korea – Actress Song Hye-kyo shows curves in Levi [K-popped]
USA – Nominee list of the 81st Annual Academy Awards [Oscar]
Japanese chocolate manufacturer Lotte is teaming up with popular ramen shop Menya Musashi to create a chocolate flavoured ramen (chocolate as garnish to be precise).
The name of the dish is Ghana Miso and will be available until February 15th in honour of Valentine’s Day, where Japanese women would give give men chocolate as an expression of love or friendship [via Cscoutjapan]
A cute stop-motion animation, “Sweet Dreams” by Kirsten Lepore. It’s about the adventure of a cupcake; there’s a nice moral behind the story… cool stuff but not entirely safe for kids lol [via Neatorama]
Some fun and offbeat news from various sources…
China – How many beer bottles can you carry in one hand? This man did 15… (pic) [Stareastasia]
Hmmm… The top 10 everything of 2008 [Time]
Japan – Rent a pet, rent a friend, rent a relative… rent a husband? [BBC]
Japan – Japanese learns English from Obama speech textbook [Reuters]
Japan – Calculator speed freaks [Japanprobe]
Nigeria – Police are holding a goat on suspicion of attempted armed robbery [Reuters]
Peru – Court ruled that workers cannot be fired for being drunk on the job [Reuters]
USA – 1,200 New Yorkers and the 8th annual No Pants Subway Ride [Youtube]
Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival is an annual winter festival in Hwacheon county, South Korea, which attracts over a million visitors each year.
The 7th edition of the festival is held on January 10-19 in 2009; as usual the highlight of the festival is ice fishing for Sancheoneo (cherry salmon), a mountain trout species found primarily in north-eastern Asia.
Besides fishing, the frozen Hwacheongang River also plays host to ice/snow sledding, snow castle/sculpture, bobsleigh, ice tubing, ice soccer, ice skating and other winter recreation activities [Sancheoneo Festival's official website]
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe is issuing a 100 trillion Zimbabwe dollar banknote (~USD33) as the country’s hyperinflation continues to worsen…
Mobile network operator T-Mobile pulled off a flash mob at London’s Liverpool Street Station to film their TV commercial…