Pop legend Michael Jackson died on Thursday. He collapsed at his home in LA and pronounced dead at 2:26 pm local time. He died of cardiac arrest, with suspicion of overdosed on his prescription in some news reports.
I grew up listening to his songs, and despite all the controversies surrounding his life, Michael will always be the King of Pop in my heart… he will be sorely missed.
Rest in peace Michael.
Bird’s eye view photos by architecture photographer Benny Chan, showing the busy traffic in Los Angeles. It’s ironic that these beautiful photos are based on one of the most hated stuffs endured daily by urban folks; ironic, but cool…
The 7th Annual Korea Times Music Festival (2009) will be held on May 9th at Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles. Arguably the largest K-pop concert in America, the concert tickets are selling like hotcakes.
[Updated] The confirmed performers for this year’s concert include SS501, Girls’ Generation, SHInee, Baek Ji-young, Kim Tae-woo, Lena Park, Tae Jin-ah and Son Ho-young (emcee) etc. Check the event website for updates.
Sharing some 2008 pics below of TVXQ, Chae Yeon, SG Wannabe and Girls’ Generation; image via its official website…
Japanese pop group Morning Musume is going to perform at the Anime Expo (AX), America’s largest anime convention that will be held on July 2-5, 2009 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
J-pop fans in the region should be pretty excited about the news despite the fact that Morning Musume’s popularity has been fading a bit in recent years… the all-girls group is an icon synonymous to Japanese pop culture after all.
Some self-proclaimed hardcore anime fans might not be too happy though; I’ve known a few people that don’t fancy pop stars intruding anime/manga conventions, especially those whose previous works are totally not related to anime culture.
Japanese leading entertainment agency Avex, which boost the likes of Ayumi Hamasaki, Koda Kumi, Amuro Namie and Ai Otsuka etc… is holding AWA 2008, its first ever worldwide audition in celebration with the company’s 20th anniversary.
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 funny 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.
4.30am in the morning… just completed a phone interview with Korean superstar Rain, who is in Los Angeles to promote his Hollywood debut movie, the “Speed Racer”.
The interview was arranged by Warner Brothers. I somehow thought that it was going to be a conference call alongside other medias, but it turned out to be an exclusive interview… luckily I made enough preparation to fully utilise the 8 minutes.
I know lots of you are eager to hear what Rain has said during the interview, but you will have to wait until Monday to read the whole story (as requested by Warner Bros).
To be frank I feel a bit gay right now… never thought that I would be so excited talking to a guy… my heart is still beating in joyous mode and would probably last that way for another few good hours.
Thanks to Warner Bros for the arrangement, and thanks to Rain for accepting the interview. My female friends are going to be really jealous about this :)
[Update April 28] The interview is up.
