North Korea’s rant about Channel 4’s planned TV series has now been translated into English on the KCNA Japanese website. Like most of their rants, it’s entertaining in small doses. I’ve often wondered why they invest in a translator that is only semi-competent. Here’s a select quote from the press release: The British authorities should … [Read More]
Category: Light reading (page 2)
Some amazing street art of Bae Doona
Thanks to @Sean_Macdonald_ for posting on Twitter a photograph of some street art of Bae Doona in Cloud Atlas. The painting is about a 5 minute walk from King’s Cross Station on the Caledonian Road. [Read More]
The Kimchi Slap (in case you haven’t seen it elsewhere)
Here’s the full clip from the MBC TV Drama Everybody, Kimchi. The incident in question is at 1’30”: If you’re happy with .gifs, here’s the cut-down version. I wonder how many shirts were ruined rehearsing this scene… [Read More]
Dance videos, tasteless films and hair promotions – different ways to annoy the DPRK authorities
It’s not just the Americans and the Brits who annoy the North Korean establishment with their irreverant lèse-majesté. Now the Chinese are doing it too. So far the video has been left online: And a reminder of the two other things that recently got the DPRK establishment annoyed: an upcoming American comedy film, and a … [Read More]
Eating yeot, or not
Ask A Korean has a great post on the reason why a disgruntled fan might want to lob a few toffees at the returning Korean football team. He has a few explanations why “Eat Yeot” is considered an insult. The article prompted an LKL reader to add a different story about eating yeot as a … [Read More]
Kim Yuna’s Lark of Emergency and other popular classics
Browsing in the Hankyoreh yesterday I came across some charming pictures of Queen Yuna. This particular one, with the famous yellow logo on the CD cover … … got me googling for Deutsche Grammophon compilations of Kim’s backing tracks. And I came across this: Scrolling down to the tracklist I find that the label hasn’t … [Read More]
Jungho Oak’s extreme yoga and Sun Salutations
One of LKL’s favourite exhibitions of 2013 was Oak Jungho’s solo show at 43 Inverness Street. And that wasn’t just because at the opening viewing, if you sneaked into the kitchen and asked nicely, you were given a glass of single malt instead of the more usual wine or beer. Whisky, at a private view? … [Read More]
Some Quite Interesting Korean folk expressions
The witty comedy quiz show QI is now in its 11th series for the BBC, focusing on Quite Interesting facts connected with things that begin with the letter K. Plenty of scope for things Korean to crop up, then. In the episode that screened on 21 September, a series of Korean folk expressions came up. … [Read More]
Burberry Prorsum gets a celebrity upgrade
Last year at London Fashion Week, Burberry Prorsum fielded a few members of Girls’ Generation at their show. This year, at their September show, they get Jeon Do-yeon. Source: Joongang Daily, 18 September 2013 [Read More]
How can they be so dumb?
I’m just wondering how a TV station can broadcast anything that is so obviously a wind-up. Needless to say, the YouTube videos of the stupid newscast have been removed, with the TV station claiming breach of copyright. The KTVU announcer was careful to pronounce Mr Fuk so that his name rhymed with “Luke”, rather than … [Read More]
Saharial’s Entertainment Weekly: another car crash of a week in the world of Korean celebrity
Rain is still on a no-show as a witness in the lawsuit against him by a fashion company investor citing that he is a soldier. But as he has had time to meet his girlfriend Kim Tae-hee, this excuse is not going down too well. This case is related to the debacle back in 2010 … [Read More]
It’s The Sun that broke the news
Possibly the oddest outcome of the extremely odd encounter between Dennis Rodman and Kim Jong-un is that it is through an interview that the American basketball player gave to Britain’s favourite tabloid The Sun that the news is broken to the world that Kim Jong Un has a baby daughter. Source: NK News [Read More]
Saharial’s Entertainment Weekly: it’s going to be one of those years…
It’s going to be one of those years. If you hadn’t already guessed from the propofol and Park Shi Hoo case, the rather dirty side of K-pop and celebrity has started to show itself. The propofol investigation has almost reached its conclusion. Still limited to four celebrities, Hyun Young, who had it administered 42 times, … [Read More]
What can be had at McD’s in Korea
First, the Potato Party story, which was first broken by Rocket News, in which a crowd of kids bought $250 worth of fries at McDonalds and set about them with gusto. “Stop causing trouble, you brats! Get out of here!” an attendant is reported to have said. The story even made it into the Guardian. … [Read More]
Is this for real? I’m so dead!
“A fine for a person who exposes his or her skin is too much. Is this for real? I’m so dead!” Lee Hyori is said to have tweeted in this week’s non-story. Park Geun-hye’s cabinet approved a revision on 11 March that regulates certain “inappropriate” social behavior such as stalking and public indecency, which includes … [Read More]
Saharial’s Entertainment Weekly: the week of the younger siblings
The Park Shi-hoo scandal, as predicted, still has a lot of mileage. The full Kakao talk conversations between the trainee and her actor friend have been released by his law firm. They indicate the trainee and her friend were in communication after she had filed charges – contrary to her claims they were not. The … [Read More]