Harper’s Bazaar magazine (Chinese edition) held their sixth annual charity gala in Beijing last Friday (Aug 22) with the attendance of some 300 celebrities, including A-list stars like Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi and former UK’s Prime Minister Tony Blair etc.
The 2008 gala managed to raise 10.35 million Yuan (~USD1.5 million) which will be channelled to the relief work in quake-hit areas in Sichuan province.
Japan’s “CountDown TV” has recently concluded their annual poll for ‘the most wanted artist as girlfriend/boyfriend’ in 2008… with YUI and Jin Akanishi topping the girlfriend and boyfriend category respectively.
CDTV’s Japanese countdown video below which gives a fast glance on the trend setters in J-pop these days… [Hat tip to Thierry]
Top 20 Japan’s most wanted girlfriend 2008
1. YUI 2. Kaori Mochida 3. Ayumi Hamasaki 4. Ai Ōtsuka 5. aiko 6. Ai Takahashi 7. Ai Kawashima 8. Kiyoe Yoshioka 9. Maimi Yajima 10. Yui Aragaki 11. Nocchi 12. Namie Amuro 13. Ayaka 14. Kaela Kimura 15. Kumi Koda 16. Misako Uno 17. Hiroko 18. BoA 19. Mai Kuraki 20. Reina Tanaka
Top 20 Japan’s most wanted boyfriend 2008
1. Jin Akanishi 2. Kazuya Kamenashi 3. Hyde 4. Jun Matsumoto 5. Tomohisa Yamashita 6. Takahiro 7. Takahisa Masuda 8. Jaejoong 9. TAKUYA∞ 10. Shō Sakurai 11. Kōichi Dōmoto 12. Akihito Okano 13. Kentarō Kobuchi 14. Ryo Nishikido 15. Yusuke Kamiji 16. Yuya Tegoshi 17. Masaki Aiba 18. Haruichi Shindou 19. Teppei Koike 20. DAIGO
It seems like only singers are being shortlisted for this poll. Korean stars BoA and Jaejoong (from TVXQ) are the only two non-Japanese celebs that made the list.
Korean actor Lee Eon died in a road accident early this morning (August 21).
Lee was on his way home on motorbike after attending the wrap party for drama “Strongest Chilwoo” and crashed into a guardrail. It’s reported that he was already pulse-less when he was sent to the hospital. He was just 27.
The model turned actor was most memorable with his role in drama “Coffee Prince”.
Rest in peace Lee Eon. My condolences to his family.
“Le Grand Chef” (식객 - Shikgaek) is a Korean movie based on Heo Yeong-man’s popular comic book. The movie was directed by Jeon Yun-su and starred Kim Kang-woo, Lee Hana and Lim Won-hie etc.
Besides “You and Me” the official theme song, there are a dozen of two other theme songs that are endorsed by the Beijing Games organiser. I have shared “Beijing Welcomes You” and “Olympics in Beijing” previously; here are a few more that’s worth mentioning…
Sun Nan & Zhang Hui Mei - Forever Friends
“Forever Friends” (永远的朋友), composed by Italian composer Giorgio Moroder and Chinese pianist Kong Xiangdong. The English lyrics are helped by Michael Kunze, while Chinese lyrics by Huang Xiaosheng.
This is my favourite candidate for the official theme song. Moroder, having wrote the popular “Hand in Hand” (theme song for Seoul Olympics 1988), certainly understand what makes a good theme song. It might not be the nicest song among all, but I think it’s the best that fits the occasion.
Sharing here is the Chinese version sang by Chinese singer Sun Nan and Taiwanese star Zhang Hui Mei; the English version is sang by Sun Nan and Hong Kong singer Coco Lee…
The third season of The Amazing Race Asia (TARA) is set to premier on September 11, 2008 on AXN Asia. The franchisee of the popular US reality show is gaining popularity among Asians since making their debut in late 2006 and is back for good.
Hardcore Amazing Race fans might not like TARA for the fact that they are overusing celebrity participants to boost the ratings, as some fans felt that reality shows are meant for ‘real’ people.
Regardless, the strategy seems to be working well for AXN. The likes of Thai actress Paula Taylor and Pinoy model Marc Nelson seemed to gain lots of interest for the race in season two… and it’s not surprising to see that TARA3 is loaded with celebs’ participants yet again.
Among the notable celebrities are Malaysian TV hostess Bernie Chan and actress-producer Ida Nerina, Australian-Filipino model Geoff Rodriguez and Russian-Canadian Miss Universe 2005 Natalie Glebova who run for the Thais (her husband is famous Thai tennis star Paradorn Srichaphan) etc.
The fun part for me about TARA is the variety of people from different nations. The ‘usual suspects’ are from Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.
A Korean pair is joining the race for the first time in TARA history… gone were the Indonesian, Japanese and Australian team, which I hope they will be back again next season.
Allan Wu again the host. Hoping for a good race and entertaining show.
SM Entertainment, the Korean talent agency that boost the likes of BoA, Kangta, TVXQ, Super Junior, SNSD, Ara and Lee Yeon-hee etc. will be holding the “08 SM Entertainment Global Audition” in Sept/Oct 2008.
The auditions will be held from September 19 to October 25 in Hawaii, Los Angeles, Washington DC, Orange County (CA), New York, San Francisco, Toronto and Vancouver. Nationality doesn’t matters, but it seems like they are looking for Asian faces only.
It’s embarassing that SM is calling it a ‘global’ audition when in fact the locations are limited to US and Canada. Regardless, it’s a chance for young Asian talents to try their luck if they are interested with the entertainment business.
Set aside the publicity purpose, SM do mean business with the auditions. If not mistaken Tiffany from SNSD and Henry from Suju-M were discovered from previous auditions… there might be a few more that I’m not aware of.
Check SM’s website for details and updates. Good luck if there is any taker here.
“Haru Haru” (하루 하루 - Day by Day) is a song by Korean pop group Big Bang from their third and latest mini-album “Stand Up” which was officially released just a couple of days ago. The music video features actress/model Park Min-young as the MV model…
