Asian Culture, Lifestyle and Entertainment
Promotion image for upcoming Korean drama Protect The Boss, a comedic-romance flick starring Ji Sung, Choi Kang-hee, Kim Jae-joong and Wang Ji-hye.
This would be popular singer Jaejoong’s first starring role in a Korean drama series, thus garnering plenty of attention from the media and fans.
Screen cut from Korean telecinema Heaven’s Postman, with the main leads Kim Jae-joong of boyband TVXQ and actress Han Hyo-joo sharing a kiss…
The movie was made in early 2009 but was only released recently after much delay. There’s some dating rumours between the duo during the filming, and the rumours are reignited once again following the airing of the film.
As far as I know the two hadn’t responded directly to the earlier rumours. Who knows, there might actually be something in between them lol.
Recent photos of Korean actress Han Hyo-joo partying with pop singer Jaejoong from boyband TVXQ have sparked huge interest online.
The photos were taken at a staff party for telecinema Heaven’s Postman which they are starring in; and the two were getting a bit too close from some points’ of view, sparking rumours that the on-screen couple might be dating for real.
Well, it’s common for young people to get a bit cozy with each other after a few drinks, but it turns big deal when it involves celebrities… especially when it involves member from one of the biggest boybands.
As expected, not all responses are positive with the possible “relationship”. The actress is currently one of the hottest rising stars, but a few of TVXQ’s fans still think that she’s not good enough for their idol. The majority seems neutral and supportive to the “couple” though, thank goodness.
Hallyu stars are dominating the Japanese Oricon singles chart for the past two weeks. The Koreans claimed the top three spots at the singles’ sales chart last week, and keeping their momentum with three of the top four spots this week.
Pop group TVXQ (known as Tōhōshinki in Japan) tops the singles’ sales chart for two consecutive weeks with their 24th Japanese single “Jumon-Mirotic”. This is their 4th chart topping Japanese single in 2008.
Actor turn singer Lee Byung-hun claims the 2nd spot also for two weeks in a role with his debut single, “Itsuka”; while Ryu Si-won dropping from 3rd to 4th with his 8th single “Kimito Boku”.
To be frank, I’m quite puzzled how the songs managed to lead the charts. I can understand that Mirotic is appealing to some audiences (although not to my liking), but the other two are just so average. Anyhow, sharing all three music videos below…
Japan’s Count-Down-TV [Jp] has 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.
Top 20 Japan’s most wanted girlfriend 2008
1. YUI – 2. Kaori Mochida – 3. Ayumi Hamasaki – 4. Ai Otsuka – 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. Sho Sakurai – 11. Koichi Domoto – 12. Akihito Okano – 13. Kentaro Kobuchi – 14. Ryo Nishikido – 15. Yusuke Kamiji – 16. Yuya Tegoshi – 17. Masaki Aiba – 18. Haruichi Shindou – 19. Teppei Koike – 20. DAIGO
Note that in Japan the term “artist” often refers to singers, so there aren’t any “pure” actors/actresses in the list. Korean stars BoA and Jaejoong are the only two non-Japanese celebrities who made the top 20.
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.