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Jang Dong-gun Returns to Primetime Drama
Feb 03 2012
ctor Jang Dong-gun is returning to primetime TV drama after a 12-year absence. He decided to appear in a 20-episode weekend drama called "A Gentleman's Dignity," which is scheduled to air from May on SBS, said his management agency AM Entertainment.
This comes over a decade after the 40-year-old actor starred in MBC's "All About Eve" in 2000. According to the agency's press release, his upcoming drama is about the careers and love lives of urban professionals.
"The drama will portray in a sophisticated way the lives of men in their 40s, which have rarely been dealt with compared to other age groups," the agency said.
Jang shot to stardom by appearing in a series of soaps and gaining huge popularity specially among teens after his debut in 1992. But since 2000, he has concentrated on movies, with notable hits including "Friend," "Taegukgi" and the recently released "My Way."
Chosun Ilbo
Choi Kang Chang Min of the star group Dong Bang Shin Ki will make his first appearance in a Japanese Movie. According to the agency SM on February 2, Choi Kang Chang Min has been cast for one of the major characters in the Japanese Movie "Run Away with Gold."
The movie is based on the original novel with the same title written by Takamura Kaoru, and it tells the story of six men who fight each other for gold in Osaka. Choi Kang Chang Min will play a North Korean spy who disguises himself as an international student named Momo. "Run Away with Gold" will be directed by the director Kazuyuki Izutsu, who is well-known for his movie "Love & Peace" in Korea, and star actors such as Tsumabuki Satoshi and Tadanobu Asano will appear. The movie has already begun filming from January and it will be released nationwide in Japan this upcoming autumn.
KBS Global
Kim Hyun-joong Sweeps Japanese Charts
Feb 02 2012
Singer Kim Hyun-joong is enjoying huge popularity in Japan since his solo debut there. He had already gained a steady fan base there with boy band SS501 and his part in the hit drama "Boys Over Flowers."
Having released his Japanese debut single titled "KISS KISS/Lucky Guy" on Jan. 25, Kim held on to the second place on the Oricon weekly charts by selling over 100,000 copies in the first week. He is being bombarded with requests for appearances on major music programs on NHK, TV Asahi and Fuji TV.
Kim will meet over 20,000 fans to celebrate the release of the album in Yokohama Arena on Sunday.
Chosun Ilbo
It has been confirmed that Big Bang's 5th mini album "Alive" will be released this 29th of February. YG Entertainment has released the official tracklist of the album through their official blog and the last song revealed was a solo song from Daesung titled "Wings".
On when they will be starting their promotions, YG Entertainment made their statement saying, "Big Bang will be performing their first comeback stage through their exclusive concert. Their album will be released on the 29th of February and 2 days later their concert (Big Show 2012) will occur on the 2nd to the 4th of March. Also, Daesung will show his composing and music abilities through this album along with G-Dragon. First round of tickets for their concert are already sold out last 31st of January and we will be having another round of ticket sales two days later. We have yet decided on what will be the title track and their comeback stage on broadcasting stations will still be determined".
Big Bang will be performing their new songs on their Big Show 2012 concert, however there is no title song chosen from the songs in their mini album yet and no details have been set on when they are going to make their comeback performances on music shows.
Shared by Eliza@BIGBANGWORLD
SEOUL: Korean singer Lee Hyori's management company B2M Entertainment announced on Tuesday that Lee is in the midst of preparations for her new album, which will be released later this year, reported Korean media.
"She is now selecting songs and will start recording the tracks for the album once they have been confirmed," said a spokesperson.
Lee's upcoming album will be her first since her 2010 offering "H-Logic", which was mired in controversy following allegations of plagiarism.
The "H-Logic" scandal had resulted in Lee calling off all promotional activities for the album and suspending her singing career after the album's release, though she continued to appear in advertisements and occasionally hosted television programmes.
Lee, who is currently dating Korean singer-songwriter Lee Sang Soon, was the leader of now-defunct 90s K-pop girl group Fin.K.L before going solo and releasing her debut single "10 Minute" in 2003.
CNA
K-pop still targeting American market
Feb 01 2012
K-pop stars have proven their influence in Asia — most of them taking their first steps entering the Japanese pop music scene.
Encouraged by the success in the neighboring country, the agencies — SM, JYP, and YG — are looking to the United States. Or rather, the agencies are once again eying the American market.
Surely, there exists a teen-driven market for stars like Justin Bieber and Senela Gomez. Still, even that niche is difficult to crack into, as seen in the case of BoA of SM and Wonder Girls of JYP. Yet the failed attempts are not stopping the star makers who are preparing to play the American game once again this year.
BoA pioneered the exporting of home-bred artists in 2001 with the Japanese version of her debut album “ID Peace B.” It took her a while to become a star in the island nation -she spent most of her career in Japan much to the Korean fans’ despair. SM tried to make BoA a star in America in 2009 with the album “Eat You Up.” Though the press and the agency hyped things up for the album and the music video’s release, the talk died down quietly — whether BoA was even noticed is questionable.
SM recently flaunted that Girls’ Generation got on the plane Monday to meet with multiple press like the Associated Press and E in America.
The group will appear on the “Late Show with David Letterman” at 1:35 p.m. today (KST) as well as “LIVE! with Kelly” at 11 p.m.
Though Girls’ Generation has been successful at translating the catchiness of their songs in Japanese versions, the English versions of their songs are ambiguous like the line in their title track, “The Boys,” which goes “Call all ..... (article cut to save bandwidth)
It's no secret that Se7en has been having trouble attaining the level of popularity he had enjoyed before taking off the the US to attempt a debut there.
His first long-awaited comeback created waves, but was lukewarm compared to his "it boy" status years before.
Well, after 1 year and 6 months, Se7en has made his comeback with the song "Even If I Can't Sing", off of his second mini-album on February 1st. And the song immediately soared to number one on many of the major real-time music charts.
The new ballad was a collaboration between the singer and producer Park Jin-young. The honest and direct lyrics mixed with the heartfelt melody has clearly won over k-pop fans.
Park composed and wrote the lyrics for the song that's being described as an emotional R&B track with a calming feel, yet a hint of Se7en's unique dance flavor.
This is all the more significant being that it's the first time any YG Entertainment artist (such as Se7en) has used an outside song source.
KBS Global
Actress Song Ji-hyo has confirmed reports of her love life. While confirming, she did make sure to add that the two were still in the early stages of their relationship.
According to Song's agency on February 1st, Song has been dating the head of C-Jes Entertainment, Baek Chang-joo. The agency said that they wouldn't comment any further than that being that this involved Song's private life.
Song switched over to C-Jes Entertainment last summer. According to one media source, Song was won over by Baek's gentle heart and thus the two started cautiously dating.
Baek's agency manages the popular trio JYJ and Park Yoo-chun's younger brother, Park Yoo-hwan along with Song.
KBS Global
The Japanese media is already printing about the upcoming debut of "Korea's Younger Brother" in the country. This comes ahead of Lee dropping his first digital album, "Dating Time", in Japan on March 6th. The album will feature the songs "Dating Time" and "But We're Friends".
According to reports on January 31st, the local press even mentioned Lee's concert at a dance hall in Japan, scheduled for this June. To start off with his first concert at such a venue, after only three months since his debut, says a lot about the kind of popularity he is expected to receive.
Lee held a press conference in Japan on January 30th, where he said, "Not anyone can hold a concert at that venue. I'm so very happy to be able to open a concert at such an extraordinary venue."
The young multi-faceted entertainer also mentioned the idol groups that have already made their own debuts in the country. Lee said, "Idol groups like KARA, Girls Generation, and Shinee all continue to pursue active promotions here, but please also look forward to solo artist debuts like myself and IU, who also debuted not too long before me."
KBS Global
K-Pop Sweeps Thai Music Charts
Jan 31 2012
K-pop has completely dominated Thailand's Top 50 songs of the year for 2011!
Thailand's Channel V recently released their "2011 Asian Music Top 50," and results showed that out of the 50 total songs, an impressive 48 of them were Korean! From BEAST to JYJ, TVXQ, Super Junior, and SNSD, K-Pop stars dominated the charts. The only non-Korean acts on the ranking included Taiwanese stars Jay Chou and Wang Leehom in 37th and 47th place.
The top 10 saw a complete wipe out by male groups. First place was taken by BEAST's "Beautiful," followed by JYJ's "Ayy Girl" and TVXQ's "Keep Your Head Down." Kim Hyun Joong, Super Junior, 2PM, GD&TOP, and CN Blue followed.
Girl groups also fared well, with SNSD dropping four songs in the top 24. T-ara's "Bo Peep Bo Peep" took 21st while 2NE1's "Ugly" took 25th.
The group that had the most songs rank in was none other than Big Bang. Big Bang's "Tonight" (16th), "Love Song" (29th), GD&TOP's "High High" (7th), "Baby Good Night" (13th), "Knock Out" (42nd), Seungri's "VVIP" (32nd), and finally Taeyang's "Wedding Dress" (34th) rounded out the rankings.
taken from soompi
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