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Category Archives: Celebs

LKL Celeb of the month #4: Won Bin

21-Nov-08

Won Bin (원빈) was born Kim Do Jin (김도진) on 10 November 1977 in Gangwon province. His 1996 TV debut was little noticed, but then he hit the big time in the hit drama Autumn Fairy Tale (2000), the first part of the Endless Love seasonal series which includes Winter Sonata. Alongside Won Bin appeared other actors who are now in the celebrity A-list, including Song Hye-gyo, Moon Geun-young and Han Chae-young. He has been in some well-received appearances on the big screen. From younger brother in Jang Jin's gangster flick Guns and Talks (2001), via younger brother in Kang Je-gyu's blockbuster Taegukgi (2004) to younger brother in Ahn Kwon-tae's melodrama My Brother (2004), Won Bin hasn't been in a duff ...

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Lee Byung-hun on being the bad guy

11-Nov-08

Lee Byung-hun, in town for the launch of the London Korean Film Festival, took advantage of his trip to have some interviews and engage in other promotional activities. He impressed the crowds at the opening screening of The Good the Bad and the Weird, and again the next day at the post film discussion, with his command of English. He’s been improving language skills in order to target the western market. His debut Hollywood film - GI Joe: Rise of Cobra – is to be released next year, in which he plays bad guy Storm Shadow. Lee confessed that he finds the filming in English tough: being interviewed in English is hard enough, but having to worry about the quality of ...

Also filed in Autumn K-Film 2008, Event reports and reviews, Film, Lee Byung-hun | Tagged Ticker | Comments (1) »

Stars launch Korean Film Festival

08-Nov-08

In what must be the biggest-budget launch of the KCC’s third London Korean Film Festival, director Kim Ji-woon and actor Lee Byung-hun were brought to London to introduce the flagship film of the festival, The Good the Bad and the Weird. Tony Rayns, the UK’s most established Korean film expert, was also there to celebrate. A few introductory speeches – including a brief welcome from Lee Byung-hun - opened the evening on Thursday, before a capacity screening of Kim Ji-woon’s kimchi western. The party afterwards gave plenty of photo opportunities with the stars, while Barbican staff came round with glasses of soju and Korean-inspired dishes. Both Lee and Kim were generous with their time in posing for photos with guests. Inevitably it ...

Also filed in Autumn K-Film 2008, Event reports and reviews, Kim Ji-woon, Lee Byung-hun | Tagged Ticker | Comments (6) »

Things that just make me so sad

04-Oct-08

By Saharial It is becoming increasingly obvious to me, even as a distant overseas observer of the Korean Entertainment industry, that something is going seriously wrong. This morning seemed to sum up far too many of the ills for, when I woke up, the news had broken that there had been yet another suicide, making 2008 an appalling year for the entertainment world in terms of personal tragedy and loss of talent. The victim this time was Choi Jin-shil, a well respected, versatile actress, a mother of two children and the target of false rumours and accusations which in the end proved too much to cope with. Less than a month ago, Ahn Jae-hwan, a Korean TV show presenter and businessman was ...

Also filed in In the news | Tagged Suicide | Comments (0) »

Post-olympics celebrity and trivia round-up

31-Aug-08

It’s been so long since I did a round-up of celebrity news, and nowadays my knowledge of what’s hot in the celebrity world is derived from looking at my site’s statistics where I can identify the google search terms which have landing people on my blog. ((And why do they end up here? Because of my blogwatch pages which grab the headlines and opening paragraph of articles from other blogs more diligent than me in following the celebrity news. I win, because I see what’s interesting people, and the other bloggers win because I direct the traffic their way )) So here is a collection of random stories from the past few months Korean singers bookend the Olympics [caption id="attachment_4562" align="alignright" width="203" ...

Also filed in Lee Hyolee, Rain, VoDs | Tagged Ticker | Comments (0) »

LKL Celeb of the Month #3: Lee Dong Wook

21-Jul-08

Reviewing my website statistics one month I was surprised and delighted to find that there was so much interest in one of the artists I had written about. But then, when I saw that many googlers were not interested so much in his artwork as in seeing pictures of him naked, I realised that there was more than one Lee Dong Wook. So this little post is not about the young artist who specialises in sculpting tiny deformed human figures - even though he might look very nice in his birthday suit. It's about the Lee Dong Wook who appears in all the TV drama series. The actor Lee Dong-wook (이동욱) was born on 6 November 1981. He is sometimes known ...

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LKL celeb of the month#2: BoA

11-May-08

I had been planning on giving Lee Dong-wook the honour of being LKL's second celeb of the month. But Chinese netizens had other ideas. A massive spike in interest in BoA during the month resulted in certain posts about her getting ten times as many visits as any other page on this blog. So, BoA it is. Full name: Kwon BoA (권보아), born 5 November 1986. BoA is an artist that has LKL's quiet respect. While popstrels such as Lee Hyolee never seem to be out of the gossip blogs, BoA seems to be more focused on work than PR. That's not to say that she hasn't an eye to a bit of brand-building. She's just launched a range of jewelry. ...

Also filed in BoA | Tagged Ticker | Comments (1) »

LKL Celeb of the Month #1: Lee Da Hae

12-Apr-08

The first in a series - we select the celeb who's come to our attention this month, often driven by the number of times readers have searched for the name. Lee Da Hae (이다해), real name Byun Da-hae (변다해), born April 19, 1984. Best known for her role in My Girl (right), a TV Drama from 2005, which co-starred Lee Dong-wook (이동욱), Lee Jun-ki (이준기) and Park Si-yeon (박시연). LKL reader favourite Lee Eon-jeong also had a role. Other dramas include Love of a Thousand Years (2003), Sweet 18 (2004), Green Rose (2005), Hello Miss (2007) and Robber (2008). While best known for her appearances in TV dramas, she's also been seen hosting the 2007 Mnet Korean Music Festival, and starred in the ...

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Easter celebrity round-up

22-Mar-08

It's been a while since I rounded up some of the celebrity news as an excuse for posting some pictures, so here's some recent items: First - Brits with Korean connections: Korea Beat has a translation of an interview with David Beckham, recently in Korea with LA Galaxy Kate Moss gets an advertising contract with Korean fashion brand GGPX Next, Korean celebs with Chinese actors in Hong Kong: Jeon Do-yeon picking up Best Actress at the Asian Film Awards (for her performance in Secret Sunshine), with Tony Leung (best actor, for Lust, Caution). And Choi Ji-woo with Chow Yun-Fat. For full explanation, visit the Marmot. Next, Korean celebs earning money (or not) from product promotion Rain, who has been rather invisible of late, pops up in a Nikon ...

Also filed in Choi Ji-woo, Jeon Do-yeon, Jeon Ji-hyun, Rain | Tagged Ticker | Comments (0) »

Rain 8 - Colbert 4 (Cowell 6)

14-Feb-08

Devoted followers of Korean popular culture will remember the Rain v Colbert battle in Time magazine last year. The much smaller population of devoted LKL readers will remember that I did a straw poll of my US co-workers last year: how many out of an unrepresentative sample of US bank regulatory specialists had heard of the famous US comedian Stephen Colbert? The answer was 40%: 6 out of 10 had never heard of him. So I decided to repeat the exercise out in Hong Kong. At a similar team-building dinner yesterday, I asked the assembled company how many people had never heard of LKL Man of the Year 2006, Rain (above). The nationalities present were: 1 Indonesian, 1 Malaysian, 1 Philippina, 2 ...

Also filed in Lee Young-ae, Rain | Tagged Colbert v Rain | Comments (1) »

Deadly Elves and other recent tabloid stories

28-Aug-07

It's a while since I did a round-up of celebrity news, which means that I've almost forgotten all the things I was going to mention, and lost most of the links that I was going to use. So before things get completely out of hand, here's one of my not-so-regular posts shamelessly plundering the celebrity blogs. 1 Bada After my recent post defending Bada against the assaults of Popseoul I exchanged a few emails with the Popseoulites. They don't have an issue with her singing ability, just her sense of style. I'm coming round to their way of thinking, based on one of their more recent posts. A weird vision. And the singing ability? Well, I've now listened to Made ...

Also filed in Bada, Beauty, Honey Lee, Jang Dong-gun, Jeon Do-yeon, Jeon Ji-hyun, Kim Yun-jin, Lee Hyolee, Rain, SG Wannabe, Samsung, Super Junior, Uhm Jung-hwa, VoDs | Tagged Suicide, Ticker | Comments (0) »

The beauty of particular body parts 2

07-Aug-07

Thanks to Mrs Daeguowl for the nomination of Gong Yu (공유) for the competition of most sculpted six-pack. Here's a sample: And something I forgot to include in yesterday's post. With a big hat tip to Scott Burgeson ((Sourced from Korea Bug)), here's an itemisation of how the body parts for Miss Korea should stack up, taken from an article about the scoring sheet used by the Miss Korea judges, in the Korea Herald in 18 May 2001: The contestant's face should not be too big. If one has had plastic surgery on the eyes and nose, it should not be too obvious. Shoulders should fall 20 degrees from the neck. The size, position and lines of the breasts should be balanced. Arms and legs should ...

Also filed in Beauty | | Comments (1) »

The beauty of particular body parts

06-Aug-07

Browsing through the celebrity rags the other day I came across a report of a survey which struck me as rather distasteful: the actress with the most beautiful chest. I'm not sure why it struck me as distasteful, seeing as in the UK we have a light-hearted annual survey as to which female celebrity has the most shapely backside. Anyway, the owner of the finest pair was judged to be Song Hye-kyo (송혜교)... followed by Kim Hye-soo (김혜수 - also proud owner of Korea's most beautiful face - below left) and relative newcomer Han Chae-young (한채영) (below right) To even things up a bit, shouldn't there be something for the girls? How about Korea's most sculpted six-pack? Two contenders immediately spring to mind: ...

Also filed in Beauty, Han Chae-young, Honey Lee, Kim Hye-soo, Kwon Sang-woo, Rain, Song Hye-kyo | Tagged Ticker | Comments (1) »

How many Koreans have never heard of Rain?

20-Jul-07

I don't know the answer to that question. Maybe a reader can help. But seeing as I'm over in the States visiting my US co-workers right now, I thought I'd do a bit of market research. We had a team-building dinner yesterday. And on an impulse, I asked the person sitting next to me: so how famous is Stephen Colbert? "Who?" came the reply. And a similar response from the next person. In fact, on my table 5 out of 7 Americans had never heard of him. On the next table, the hit rate was slightly better. But overall I estimated that, in the extremely unrepresentative sample of university educated US investment bankers, 60% of Americans do not have a clue who ...

Also filed in Rain | Tagged Colbert v Rain | Comments (1) »

Lee Eon-jeong can’t seem to escape her past

15-Jul-07

I've noticed that every six months or so, a 3-year old article in the Chosun gets into the list of the Chosun's top five most-read stories. And that article has been in the ascendant this last week or so. The article in question is the one which started off as an innocent enough piece about the return home of Lee Sabi (real name Lee Eon-jeong), Korea's first Playboy model. But at some later date someone pasted some Playboy pictures on top of the article, obscuring some of the text. Although the pictures are nudes, the naughty bits are covered, otherwise I'm sure the Chosun would take action -- but right now it's generating the traffic for them, so why change anything? ...

Also filed in Lee Eon-jeong | | Comments (0) »

In defence of Bada

13-Jun-07

Monitoring my traffic statistics recently I noticed that Bada is surging in the popularity rankings. I approve of that, because her second album is my favourite mainstream K-pop album of all time (or, at least, in my rather small collection). So, in my semi-regular round-up of celebrity news and pictures which have caught my eye over the past few weeks, Bada is going to have a post all to herself. Like many of you, I'm a huge fan of PopSeoul. The site has completely demolished all competition in the celebrity blogosphere. Prolific in their posting, I don't know how they keep it up. And their unique selling point: most if not all of the material is, as far as I can ...

Also filed in Bada | | Comments (1) »

Kayageum player #4 in Miss Universe

03-Jun-07

Honey Lee, crowned Miss Korea in August 2006, studies traditional music at Seoul National University, specialising in the kayageum. Her mother is a professor at Ehwa, and was designated a "living cultural asset" in kayageum music earlier this year. Lee was a strong contender in this year's Miss Universe contest, recently held in Mexico. In fact, in the unofficial polling at Global Beauties, a site affiliated to the contest, Lee came top in many categories: Face of the Universe, Best National Costume, Best in interviews, Best in a gown, and overall unofficial winner. It is of course the real competition which counts, and Lee came fourth. A rumour over at Popseoul suggests that a poor translation service cost Lee her victory: Alert POPSEOUL! ...

Also filed in Beauty, Honey Lee, Korean traditional music | | Comments (0) »

Stateside celeb update

23-May-07

Avid blogwatchers will find this particular post surplus to requirements. This post is for my own benefit, just in case I lose the various links which are hot at the moment but which may soon cool off. Rain's ongoing efforts to achieve the unprecedented feat of winning LKL Man of the Year two years running continue, with recognition from Stephen Colbert on US primetime TV: I'm in two minds as to whether Colbert's mock challenge to Rain is funny or not. Calling Rain "Kid Jong-il" doesn't strike me as being terribly witty, "Rain, it is time to rein you in" is in the best British tradition of feeble puns, while "Rain, I'm gonna be all over you like egg on a bowl ...

Also filed in Kim Yun-jin, Rain | Tagged Colbert v Rain | Comments (0) »

BoA’s aching feet and other celebrity updates

04-May-07

I'm conscious that I haven't posted any celebrity pics for a while, so here's an update. [ad#small-horizontal] The relentless rise of Kim Yun-jin MSN's recognition of Kim Yun-jin isn't quite the kiss of death that I thought it was going to be. She's now made it into the Stuff's top 100 babes. A peculiar computer-enhanced photo of her accompanies the Chosun piece: The Chosun also reports on her new Korean film project, Seven Days, focusing on the coverage in the international media. Rain, meanwhile, not to be outdone, has made it on to a list of the world's most beautiful people. BoA's tired feet and blind dates You have to admire the dedication and hard work of BoA. Sacrificing her feet and love life to her ...

Also filed in BoA, Jang Dong-gun, Jeon Ji-hyun, Kim Yun-jin, Super Junior | Tagged Ticker | Comments (0) »

Bae Doo-na in London

05-Apr-07

Thanks to Mark Russell over at Korea Pop Wars for news of a photo journal of Bae Doo-na's visit to London. Can any Korean speakers out there have a read of what appears to be Ms Bae's official blog at Naver, and tell me how to get hold of the book? Update 11 April: It's OK, Seoul Selection have sourced it for me and it's now on its way to London, where it belongs... Links: Bae Doo-na blog at Naver Mark's Bae Doo-na post at Korea Pop Wars Bae Doo-na's official home page Bae Doo-na's Cyworld Minihompy Another Doo-na site (Images from the 두나 blog) Related posts:New! Broadsheet BlogWatch Following yesterday’s flashy launch of Celebrity BlogWatch, a more sober...New indie music sites Those who keep an eye on my ...

Also filed in Ask an expert, Bae Doo-na | | Comments (0) »

Photos keep celebs in the news

26-Mar-07

Our lives would be so much more drab without the occasional celebrity pic to cheer us up. So thanks are due to the paparazzi, the lads mags, the celebrity bloggers and, not least, the celebs' own PR teams, for adding spice to our daily fare. Here's some recent and not-so-recent pics. 1 Kim Yun-jin: Spot the difference Kim Jun-jin's photos from Arena last year have been recycled into March's Maxim magazine. I hope she got the fee twice over. I must say that she looks more comfortable in Maxim. Given the fact that photographers seem to think that models look better if they're put in a wind tunnel, the blue tones on the Arena cover make you think she's going to ...

Also filed in Jeon Ji-hyun, Kim Yun-jin, Lee Eon-jeong, Lee Hyolee, Lee Mi-sook | | Comments (1) »

Cyborg in Berlin

11-Feb-07

For a youtube of Rain at the Berlin film festival, visit PopSeoul. Just for once, he's sporting a sensible hairstyle. But I didn't realise he was so tall (or, alternatively, Park Chan-wook so short). Related posts:Park’s gong So what exactly is the Alfred Bauer prize? We...Classic K-film in Berlin Madame Freedom (above), plus Shin Sang-ok’s “The Guest &...A feast of Park Chan-wook I’m a Cyborg, but that’s OK finally gets a... Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Also filed in Film, Park Chan-wook, Rain | | Comments (0) »

Celebrity news round-up: January 07

09-Feb-07

Rain, LKL's man of the year 2006 has started 2007 on a low-note with a speeding ticket in Hong Kong at the start of his gruelling tour. He also underwhelmed one reporter at a Singapore press conference who found him just a little dull. This wasn't a reflection on his performance on-stage (and I've yet to find any proper reviews of these): more that, given Rain's broad portfolio of interests and abilities the reporter thought he should have had something a bit more interesting to say. If anyone finds a review of any of his World Tour gigs, please let me know. Meanwhile, here's a pic of his Malaysian gig, courtesy of Popseoul: Meanwhile Hyolee, chastened by her disqualification from the ...

Also filed in BoA, Lee Hyolee, Moon Geun-young, Music: K-pop, Rain, Travel | Tagged Ticker | Comments (1) »

New! Celebrity BlogWatch

28-Jan-07

Knowing that many of you visit my site looking for celebrity coverage, and knowing that I don't really satisfy your needs, I've been thinking about what to do about that. Also, I know that there'is a lot of English-language blogs out there which cover Asian celebrities, and it is almost a full-time job looking through them all. Enter the world of RSS feed aggregation, and a wonderful little gizmo produced by the folks over at the Oz Politics Blog (and yes, despite the cricket, a Pom can still harbour warm feelings towards an Aussie). And thanks to these technologies I bring to you Celebrity BlogWatchTM. The latest headlines from all those blogs, on one page. See what's hot. See which bloggers lead ...

Also filed in Bada, Geek stuff, Jung Woo-sung, Uhm Jung-hwa | | Comments (1) »

A date with Rain? I’d rather have my hair done

07-Jan-07

"Sorry, I'm washing my hair that night" is the familiar put-down you get when the girl of your dreams doesn't fancy a date with you. But it's also true of LKL visitors. They're much more interested in finding the best Korean hairdressers in London, or reading about the techniques involved in a "Magic Straight" perm, than in perusing articles about the biggest male celebrity in Korea (and LKL Man of the Year 2006). I've been trawling the site statistics for the second half of 2006, and here are some of the shock facts: Lee Sabi continues to be the most popular Korean in the known universe (or at least on my site) In the battle of the Samsung babes, Hyolee is twice as ...

Also filed in 2006 year-end posts, Geek stuff, Jeon Ji-hyun, Koreans in UK, Lee Eon-jeong, Monthly site updates, Rain | | Comments (0) »

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