“The Host” (Gwoemul; 괴물) is a Korean movie which broke the record of highest grossing South Korean film of all time in 2006.
Themed as a monster movie, The Host offers a lot more than horror; in fact it hardly qualified as a horror movie… as it combines comedy, dark humor, suspense, action and just a bit of horror that was enough to scare kindergarten kids.
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71-year-old Japanese Katsusuke Yanagisawa (pic) became the oldest person to reach the summit of Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world.
The retired teacher was 71 years, two months and two days old when he reached the 8,850-metre peak on May 22, beating the previous record set last year by another Japanese climber, Takao Arayama, who was 70 years, seven months and 13 days old.
On the other note… Ken Noguchi (野口健), a Japanese mountaineer, has led an expedition team of Japanese and Nepali to retrieve 500kg of rubbish left by previous climbers on the way to the summit.
Noguchi estimates that he has collected some 9,000kg of rubbish from Mount Everest during his five trips to the peak. The peak has been often described as the “world’s highest rubbish site”.
Japanese girls love pika pika (sparkling or ‘bling bling’) stuff.
Lee Jung-hyun is popular Korean singer famous for her techno-pop music.
Lee Jung-hyun Profile
Name: Lee Jung-hyun
Korean name: 이정현
DOB: February 7, 1980
Birth place: Daegu, South Korea
Height: 158cm
Blood type: O
Profession: Actress and singer
(Also known as Lee Jeong-hyeon)
Lee Jung-hyun Biography
Lee Jung-hyun made her entertainment debut when she was 16 in movie “Petal” (꽃잎) in 1996; Lee continued to star in some movies before making her singing debut with single “Wa” (와; means ‘come’) in 1998 that topped the Korean SBS charts for 3 weeks.
Lee’s 3rd single, “Bakkwo” (바꿔; means ‘change’) achieved greater success by eventually becoming the most broadcasted song of the year. Not only that her techno-pop music attracted many fans, her performance style and fashion sense were talk of the town too.
Lee released her debut album, “Let’s Go to My Star” in 1999.
Lee Jung-hyun became popular across Asia when Hong Kong pop star Sammi Cheng released the Chinese remake version of Bakkwo in 2002, which became a superhit in Chinese region. Sammi also sang a few other remakes of Lee’s songs after that.
Besides Sammi, other Asian singers that have remake Lee’s song include Taiwanese stars Evonne Hsu, Cyndi Wang and Vietnamese singer Veronica Ngo.
Lee Jung-hyun released her first Japanese single, “Heaven” in 2004. She released her debut Japanese album “This is Hyony” in 2006.
Lee Jung-hyun Related Websites
Official Website (Japanese) ll Lee Jung-hyun Forum ll Buy Lee’s Albums
Riyo Mori from Japan is crowned as Miss Universe 2007 in Mexico City on May 28.
Excerpt from the Miss Universe website…
Ms. Mori is 20 years old and has been dancing since she was 4. She loves travelling the world and enjoys visiting museums and watching musicals.
The judging panel for the 2007 Miss Universe Pageant included NBC’s “Heroes” James Kyson Lee, NBC’s “Deal or No Deal” briefcase model Lindsay Clubine, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, rocker Dave Navarro, World and Olympic figure skating champion Michelle Kwan, fashion designer Marc Bouwer, Novela Star Mauricio Islas, “Project Runway” judge and Elle magazine fashion director Nina Garcia, and former Miss Universes Dayanara Torres (1993) and Christiane Martel (1953).
Throughout the two-hour event, contestants from 77 countries around the world competed in three categories: swimsuit; evening gown; and personality interview. Zuleyka Rivera, Miss Universe 2006, crowned her successor at the conclusion of the two-hour primetime telecast, before an estimated worldwide viewing audience of more than 1 billion in over 170 countries.
Riyo Mori is the second woman from Japan to hold the title; the first Miss Universe winner from Japan was Akiko Kojima, way back in 1959.
I didn’t think that Riyo Mori is the best looking girl or the most outstanding pageant in the contest; I guessed that Miss Korea Honey Lee would have a better chance to emerge as the winner prior to the finale (Honey ended up as 3rd runner-up).
Mori showed lots of confidence in the final stages though (evening gown and interview), that probably made a huge difference for her crowning.
Japanese can use cell phones for everything. Ok, not really everything, but they certainly have the most multi-functional cell phone usability in the world… and they are starting to use cell phones to control diet.
Recently health care providers have developed systems which allow calorie-conscious Japanese to send photos of their meals to nutritionists for analysis and recommendations.
The battle of the bulge is a growing obsession as Japan slowly loses its reputation for low-calorie fish-and-rice diets and slim waistlines. As people have turned to bigger portions and more meat and fried foods, obesity and related illnesses such as high blood pressure have become a rising concern.
Japanese are still the longest living people on earth, but other countries are catching up fast.
I am actually wondering if using too many cell phones will affect their health.
An international manga award to honour foreign artists working in the comic book genre is set to be presented in July 2007.
The award, probably the first of its kind, is being promoted by Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso, a self-professed manga fan…
“I want to make the award like the Nobel Prize of manga, to enhance the voice of Japanese pop culture and subculture.”
[Update June 30] The award is won by Hong Kong artist Lee Chi Ching, with his popular Chinese comic “Sun Zi’s Tactics”. His historically themed adventure series ran from 1995-2006 in Chinese, and has been translated into numerous languages. [IHT]
Pepsi is planning to release a special cucumber-flavoured soda drink in Japan this summer.
I wonder how it would taste like… I know I know, it’s going to taste like cucumber; but will it taste like vegetable juice or like Pepsi + cucumber flavour. I doubt I would fancy it either way, not that I would have a chance to taste it though.
[Hat tip to Japanprobe]
