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Category Archives: Rain

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 Celebs, Lee Hyolee, VoDs | Tagged Ticker | Comments (0) »

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 Celebs, Choi Ji-woo, Jeon Do-yeon, Jeon Ji-hyun | 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 Celebs, Lee Young-ae | 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, Celebs, Honey Lee, Jang Dong-gun, Jeon Do-yeon, Jeon Ji-hyun, Kim Yun-jin, Lee Hyolee, SG Wannabe, Samsung, Super Junior, Uhm Jung-hwa, VoDs | Tagged Suicide, Ticker | Comments (0) »

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, Celebs, Han Chae-young, Honey Lee, Kim Hye-soo, Kwon Sang-woo, 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 Celebs | Tagged Colbert v Rain | Comments (1) »

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 Celebs, Kim Yun-jin | Tagged Colbert v Rain | Comments (0) »

Park’s gong

27-Feb-07

So what exactly is the Alfred Bauer prize? We know that Park Chan-wook was awarded it at the recent Berlin Film Festival for I'm a Cyborg, because there's this picture on the BBC website to prove it. Yet you read the various blogs and news websites and you get the impression that the prize is an award for the best science fiction comedy. So, in a crowded field of one, Park sweeps away all competition. Well, no. According to the official list of Berlin prizewinners, the prize is awarded "for a work of particular innovation", and if you want to be really pedantic it's awarded to the film, not the artist. Check out some of the stills from the film at HanCinema ...

Also filed in Film, Park Chan-wook | | Comments (2) »

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).

Also filed in Celebs, Film, Park Chan-wook | | 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, Celebs, Lee Hyolee, Moon Geun-young, Music: K-pop, Travel | Tagged Ticker | 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, Celebs, Geek stuff, Jeon Ji-hyun, Koreans in UK, Lee Eon-jeong, Monthly site updates | | Comments (0) »

The London Korean Links Awards 2006

31-Dec-06

In the year-end spirit of reviewing the highlights and lowlights of 2006, here are the winners of the first LKL Awards - a personal and unscientific selection. The awards are in the following categories: Man of the Year Woman of the Year Best cultural promotion: Briton in Korea Best cultural promotion: Korean in Britain Best cultural promotion: Non-Korean in Britain Best photo Best album Best book Best film London event of the year Headline of the year and some miscellaneous awards... Man of the Year I don't think there's any competition. Rain, Rain, Rain. Time's most influential entertainer, Seoul's tourism goodwill ambassador, a starring role in Park Chan-wook's latest film, a sell-out concert in New York, a Christmas eve gig in Las Vegas, a good selling album (below). What have I missed? He hasn't ...

Also filed in 2006 year-end posts, Bong Joon-ho, Business, Celebs, General book news, Humming Urban Stereo, Music: K-pop, Performance arts, Pictures, Samsung, Sport | Tagged Best of LKL, Ticker | Comments (6) »

Celebrity news round-up

08-Dec-06

I haven't posted about any celebs recently, so here's the latest clips I've come across: 1 Singers turned actors With an eye on the success of canto-pop stars on the big screen, K-pop stars and their managers have been looking to maximise brand value and revenue streams. Uhm Jung-hwa, I only recently noticed, has been prominent both as a singer and an actor for many years, while you have to have been living a fairly secluded life recently if you hadn't heard of Rain's part in Park Chan-wook's latest. So the Chosun decided to do a quick poll of the best and the worst acting talent among the former singers. Top of the list for the boys (above) is, surprise, surprise, Rain. "He ...

Also filed in Celebs, Jeon Ji-hyun, Lim Hyung-joo, Moon So-ri, Uhm Jung-hwa | | Comments (0) »

Rain #1: Bad Guy

11-Nov-06

Rain's first album displays his vocal qualities (it's a good voice), and the range of stuff he's prepared to sing. There's a problem though. The music isn't really distinctive. The ballads he sings are the sort of ballads which lots of K-pop stars are singing. The same key-shifts, the same use of that infuriating tingly bit of percussion. Track 5 is a typical example of the blandness of these ballad tracks. It's a mystery based only on these tracks why he's such a star (could it be something to do with his 6-pack - pictured right?) The more interesting tracks are the livelier, more urban numbers. Track 6, "Baby baby" has some good rhythms, and track 8 is has a guest appearance ...

Also filed in Bada, CD reviews | | Comments (0) »

Celeb news digest

01-Oct-06

By way of a Sunday colour supplement, here's a quick catch-up on some of the celeb news. In a sure sign that her modeling career is coming to an end, Lee Sabi (left) is now doing diet videos, which are selling like hot cakes in Japan. Cashing in on the success of Dae Jang Geum, another period costume drama is being made, featuring Ha Ji-won (right) as the kisaeng Hwang Jin-i. Ha finds the heavy wigs a pain in the neck. To keep up her strength, she is eating eels, which are believed to be good for stamina. Zhang Ziyi (left) has made a commercial for what appears to be Korean mineral water. She didn't need to learn many lines for it. You ...

Also filed in Celebs, Ha Ji-won, Jeon Ji-hyun, Lee Eon-jeong, Samsung, VoDs | | Comments (0) »

Celeb watch

10-May-06

A couple of items from today's Chosun which I didn't want to lose: (1) Lee Young-ae's Japanese fans tell her she looks as if she's 61 years old (2) Rain confirmed in Time 100 as one of the world's most influential entertainers. The KBS site has a rather more fetching photo of the star (right). Celebrity is a rather wierd thing though: Rain scored 4.53 out of 5, "which puts him in second place following actor Dane Cook", says the Chosun. Who he? I guess he must be famous in America.

Also filed in Celebs, Lee Young-ae | | Comments (3) »

Bi / Rain to make it into Time top 100?

19-Apr-06

This one's a story worth following, for the power of the Hallyu. According to the Chosun Ilbo, Rain is only just slightly behind Ang Lee and ahead of JK Rowling and George Clooney as the most influential artist / entertainer of 2006 in Time Magazine's top 100. You, along with thousands of K-Pop fans, can vote for him on-line at the Time website.

Also filed in Celebs | | Comments (0) »

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