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 of bibimbap” suggest that he’s got some researchers who are earning their keep, which is good. But you have to take your hat off to him for his efforts at singing in Korean, and overall I found myself amused rather than bemused. I found it vaguely interesting that the standard US references for things Korean, reflected in Colbert’s lyrics, are kimchi and M*A*S*H. The KTO has its work cut out in updating these stereotypes.
In addition, in a canny piece of marketing to ensure their new movie Speed Racer is watched in Asia, the Wachowski brothers have given Rain the role of a driver. It may be a bit part, but the spin put out by Rain’s (new?) manager is that the role is the glue which will keep the whole film together.
Meanwhile Kim Yun-jin (right) never seems to be out of the news at the moment. She is adding to the growing pile of celebrity autobiographies with her upcoming book “Hollywood Story” (I’m not sure how common a celebrity autobiography is out in Korea, but the UK reading public is overwhelmed by the volume of often ghost-written celeb fodder thrust upon us). There’s a hilarious demolition job on the Chosun’s report of Kim’s experience of alleged Hollywood racism over at Party Pooper.
Links below.
Links:
- Rain Lands Part in Hollywood Movie, Chosun, May 17
- Rain: the light drizzle tour – A blow-by-blow account of how Asian netizens propelled Rain to the top of the Time readers’ poll of influential people – at Party Pooper
- All by Myself (Don’t Wanna Bi), Korea Pop Wars reports on Rain’s break with his manager, 12 May
- Kim Yun-jin Reveals How She Made It in Hollywood Chosun, May 15.
- Kim Yun-jin to Write on Her ‘Hollywood Story’ – Korea Times 14 May
- Kim Yun-jin cries discrimination; sells more books, Party Pooper, 17 May
- Who is Stephen Colbert? Wikipedia article