Ok guys, here’s the latest roundup of the news of the past week (Monday 4th to Sunday 10th). Enjoy.

Super Junior-H with not so Happy news

Yesung of Super Junior Happy injured his back last Friday during the Music Bank Rehearsals. He tripped on a Power Cord and fell from the stage, he was sent immediately to the Hospital. The rest of the boys continued the performance like the troopers they are, check out the vid. My favourite of the lot is Ms. Patty (total lol soyboy!).

Get better soon and stay fit and healthy Yesung.

JYP ever the young’un

JYPs new album concept, ‘pimp’?

Park Jin Young the coolest Producer on the block doesn’t seem to notice that he can never be sexy. As much as I love this guys talent, I think he should stay away from these crazy photo shoots. JYP please be as great as you are in the recording booth but please put on some clothes and act your age? Just a tip. By the by to the random netizen that said, “He is as sexy as a gorilla. His stomach muscles are like chocolate.” Please be exposed to some more men, thank you, take a look at Kwon SangWoo for instance, and since when were gorillas sexy?

Big Bangs comeback

Well 08.08.08 has come and passed and Big Bang released their newest mini-album. There were some rave reviews by some and not-so-happy reviews by others. No matter what, Big Bang showed us that they are as popular as ever as their album sold an impressive amount in just pre-orders (100k). The album as covered by the staff earlier this week has a wide range of genres and as some people here in the international section are not so keen on it, Big Bang dominates the Cyworld chart as the Top 10 includes every track of the album, even the intro “Stand Up”.

Korean Films rock the movie theatres

One of the main reasons for plenty of people to get in to the Hallyu Wave has got to be their movies. I for one am a huge KMovie fan and finally, the movies are nabbing a nearly 50% market share of the Korean Movie Market, 47.7% if you’re going to nitpick. Awesome movies are out this summer and one of the best picks has to be the Korean western “The Good, the Bad, the Weird”, starring three of the most talented actors Jung WooSung, Lee ByungHun and the ever awesome Song KangHo. Keep watching those Kmovies people.

Kang HyeJung hits the US

Well, kind of. Young actress Kang HyeJung has been cast in ‘American’ movie ‘Wedding Palace’ about two people who meet in L.A and get married. It focuses on their different cultural backgrounds and will be shot mostly in the US with some scenes in Korea. Its produced by Korean American company TU Productions.

Monday Kiz goes solo

After the devastating death of Kim MinSoo of the talented duo Monday Kiz earlier this year, news has reached us that the other half Lee JinSeong will continue. Monday Kiz’s record label gave up finding another partner and wants Mr. Lee to try his luck as a solo singer. We wish him the best of luck in his efforts.

Hana Yori Dango still dangling in the air

It was announced earlier this year that Mr. Hyunjoong of SS501 was going to star as Hanazawa Rui in the Korean adaptation of Hana Yori Dango, and then not too long after that they claimed it was not confirmed. Group 8 who is producing this version seem to be meticulous in their casting project as it has been extended yet again. I know that it’s going to air next year but it’s getting ridiculous as they refuse to tell us who is going to star in the drama. Apparently 80% of the idol stars have auditioned for the drama but no one has particularly stood out yet. They are still deciding on who is going to make them rake in the most money without looking like they sold out.

Maybee wants you to be as inventive as ever

Pretty and talented Songwriter/Singer/DJ Maybee has allowed her fans to produce both her recent single and Music Video. The single was written and produced by 20 high school girls who are avid supporters of Maybee. It was released on the 4th last week as a digital single. Maybee is great to encourage and reward her fans for their own creativity. And its pretty nice that the song is dedicated to her. It’s called “Maybee Praise Song” if you were wondering.

Nell makes their way in to Japan

After a successful comeback earlier this year with their album “Separation Anxiety”, Nell find themselves being invited to the Japanese SummerSonic Rock Festival. Foot traffic reaches highs of 80.000 (concert-goers) and it’s good to think that they will be able to be exposed to the almost-eerie yet ear pleasing music of Seo Taiji discovered Nell. All those hours “researching” in that insane asylum paid off, right guys?

It’s time for this weeks Music chart, credit goes to Mr. Edward1849 as ever, from Soompi.

Weekly Music Chart – 2nd Week – August
1. Lee Hyori – U-Go-Girl
2. Davichi – 사랑과 전쟁 (Love and War)
3. Uhm Jung Hwa (feat. T.O.P) – D.I.S.C.O
4. Shinee – 누난 너무 예뻐 (Noona’s Pretty (Replay))
5. Wonder Girls – So Hot
6. Brown Eyes – 가지마 가지마 (Don’t Leave Don’t Leave)
7. Mighty Mouth (feat. Sun Ye) – 에너지 (Energy)
8. Alex – 그대라면 (If It’s You)
9. Sung Shi Kyung – 안녕 나의 사랑 (Goodbye My Love)
10.Zi-A – 사랑해 미안해 (I Love You, I Am Sorry)

Also, check out news for Dynamic Duos anticipated comeback…

For more news just head over to our forums. Check out exclusive celeb photos and videos by becoming an SYP member >>>
________________________________________

Full Credit When Posted Elsewhere
Source: Youtube, Soompi, Empas
Credit for ShenYuePop.com: noonoo_shoo
SYP Forums list full credits.

This piece of news is a little dated but interesting as it reported that Korean director, Kim Jee-Woon has recruited 3 Korean thespians and pitted these 3 acting giants together in the same movie.

Source: Variety, By Darcy Paquet, Feb. 7, 2007, 7:50pm PT

SEOUL — Three of South Korea’s top male stars have signed on for director Kim Jee-woon’s hotly anticipated Korean-style Western “The Good, the Bad and the Weird.”
Production company Barunson announced the Sergio Leone-inspired Western will star hot thesps Lee Byung-heon (“A Bittersweet Life”) as “the good”; Jung Woo-sung (“The Restless”) as “the bad”; and Song Kang-ho (“The Host”) as “the weird.”

Casting of the three top actors turns the pic into the biggest showcase of South Korea’s star system in recent memory.

The ambitious $10 million production will be set in Manchuria during the early 1900s, building off a string of Korean genre films from the 1970s that combined the aesthetics of the Western with outlaw movements aligned against Japanese colonial forces.

However, latest pic is expected to include more humor, along the lines of helmer’s early work “The Foul King” and “The Quiet Family.”

Pic is scheduled to shoot from April to June in China, with delivery planned for early 2008. Seoul-based seller Cineclick Asia will handle presales at Berlin’s EFM.
NB: There is also a discrepancy between the slogans on the posters against the report, i.e. JWS is the good, LBH is the bad.

Translated from Spanish:
The 3 Korean actors most mentioned of the moment, Lee Byung-heon (A Bittersweet Life) as the Good, Jung Woo-sung (The Restless) as the bad y Song Kang-ho (The Host) the Ugly (I think it should be The Weird) will contend against each other in the new work of Kim Jee-woon (A Tale Of Two Sisters) with a budget of USD10 million. The film will be inspired by the Sergio Leone original and will be shot in several locations in China although it is based on Manchuria in the 1900.

Note: There is a couple of discrepancies between the Darcy Paquet´s version which I take it to be more reliable as he is a Korean entertainment reporter against the Spanish version.

Translation from Spanish: Kwfong @ Shenyuepop.com
Source for picture & Commentary in Spanish: toede´s blog
credits: www.ShenYuePop.com
DO NOT REMOVE ORIGINAL CREDITS AND ADD OTHER CREDITS

Read more about this film from the URL below:

http://www.haf.org.hk/haf/pdf/project07/project9.pdf

Director Lee Chang-dong’s new movie “Secret Sunshine” was screened in competition at the Cannes International Film Festival on Thursday. Lee has been to Cannes before, when his work “Peppermint Candy” was picked for the festival’s Director’s Fortnight screenings. But it was the first time he has been invited to the official competition. In a press conference, Lee said he felt honored to have a work invited and was trying not to care about the decision of the jury. “I don’t like competition, so I tried to avoid competitive occasions even when I was at school.”

“Secret Sunshine” also opened in Korea on Thursday. The movie depicts the pain of the heroine, played by Jeon Do-yeon, who feels betrayed by both life and religion. Answering questions from reporters, Lee said the movie is about human beings, not about religion. “I wanted to pose question about the meaning of pain in our life. And I wanted to depict the process to heal the pain.” When a Danish reporter asked what it means that two Korean films are screened in competition this year, the director answered, “Essentially, the creative spirit of filmmakers is important in producing movies, not their nationality.” But he predicted it would encourage Korean filmmakers.
Questions about the movie’s stars were as warm as sunshine. Stéphane Boudsocq from French radio channel Radio RTL showered female lead Jeon Do-yeon with compliments, saying her acting was the most impressive in all the movies he watched in the competition. Jeon said her 10th film gave her new energy, and that was her biggest achievement. Song Kang-ho, who stars opposite her, also praised Jeon’s acting.

Eighteen of the 22 films competing at Cannes have now been screened. Promising contenders include the Coen brothers’ “No Country For Old Men”, Cristian Mungiu’s “Four Months, Three Weeks and Two Days” and Julian Schnabel’s “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”, with high ratings by film magazines like Screen and Le Film Français. The winner of the grand prix Palme d’Or will be announced on Sunday, when the festival ends.

(englishnews@chosun.com )
Updated May.25,2007 09:39 KST

‘Secret Sunshine’ Asks Existential Questions
“Secret Sunshine,” which opens May 24, asks the fundamental question, “Is life understandable?” The movie is already attracting plenty of hype, not just because it is director Lee Chang-dong’s first movie in four years but because it will be screened in competition at the Cannes International Film Festival. Ostensibly a melodrama, it repeatedly asks questions about the nature of human beings. Can human beings understand the truth, other human beings and God? Why is it so hard to find an ultimate answer despite all our efforts? The answers depend on the audience, though Lee’s movie certainly does not seem to have a happy ending.

The film follows Jong-chan, played by Song Kang-ho, a confirmed bachelor who owns a car repair shop and falls in love with Shin-ae, played by Jeon Do-yeon. He starts to follow her around. The two could not be more different: Shin-ae moved to the town only because it is the hometown of her dead husband, for whom she still grieves. Jong-chan is an ingratiating snob.

The turning point is the abduction of Shin-ae’s son. The little boy, who is everything his mother has left, is kidnapped by the principal of a tutoring institute he attends, and dies. Shin-ae becomes a devout Christian after the tragedy and decides to forgive the murderer. But she is utterly shocked when she visits a prison, where the murderer makes his confession with a smile, saying, “God has already forgiven me.” The movie, in other words, focuses on a woman who has been betrayed by both life and religion.

Lee has coaxed great performances from actors including Han Suk-kyu in “Green Fish,” Seol Kyung-gu in “Peppermint Candy” and Moon So-ri in “Oasis.” With Song Kang-ho and Jeon Do-yeon, he once again has two unforgettable leads. Song Kang-ho gives a fine performance, complete with convincing dialect, and Jeon Do-yeon proves her reputation by projecting the whole range from innocence to sensuality and horror.

The supporting cast are excellent. Mostly unknowns, some of them theatre actors from the Ulsan and Daegu region, they were selected through auditions.

At the end of the movie, Shin-ae’s brother comes to visit and asks about the town. Jong-chan answered in his rough dialect, “Not much different from other places. Milyang is the same as other cities where people live.” The movie induces a kind vertigo with a sense of how difficult life is to understand.

(englishnews@chosun.com )
Updated May.2,2007 09:53 KST

Source: International Herald Tribune
By Joan Dupont,Published: May 23, 2007

CANNES: It is difficult to picture Lee Chang Dong, the director of “Secret Sunshine,” going up the red carpet. Lee, who was minister of culture in Korea, is a shy person and surely the most discreet director at this festival.

His film, which is in competition, looks quiet too. “Secret Sunshine” opens on a fable: a gentle young widow, a piano teacher, goes to a small town with her child. It is her husband’s hometown, and the early signs are promising: people seem welcoming, the pharmacist smiles at her, and her small son adapts to his new school.

“I adapted the story from a novella,” the director said in an interview. “It was called the ‘Story of Insects,’ by Lee Chung Joon; I read it in the 1980s. It stayed with me.”

The director, 53, speaks in a whisper, which makes conversation tricky, especially at a lunch table – there’s no such thing as a quiet one at Cannes – and with an interpreter in the middle.

“The kernel of the story touched me. And I thought about it for a long time, before I even made films. Later, in between films, I thought about it again, and about the fate of the heroine.”

The woman’s child is kidnapped.

This is Lee’s fourth movie. A novelist and a professor who teaches film at the Korean National University of the Arts, he never thought he would become a filmmaker. But in the late 1980s, with video players in homes and the rise of what was called the New Wave, cinema became part of Korea’s changing society. Lee worked as an assistant on a film, “To the Starry Island” (1994) by Park Kwang-Su, a New Wave director.

Today, with only four films Lee stands out on the current scene, an intellectual who searches the hidden significance in ordinary lives. This is his originality, and what gives a sense of mystery to his films.

He is a director who switches genres: “Green Fish” (1997) was a gangster movie. “Peppermint Candy” (2000) has a story that goes backward, a time trip, partly inspired by Harold Pinter’s “Betrayal.” “Oasis” (2002), which he calls a kind of love story, won him the best director award in Venice.

In 2002, Lee was appointed minister of culture and tourism, which certainly got in the way of making movies. He resigned two years later and founded his own production house.

The movie was made on location in Miryang, a medium-size town far from Seoul, “an ordinary city, we just know that it’s a rough imitation of a big city,” the director said. The city, and the film’s Korean title, “Milyang,” where the action is set, means “a place with good sunshine,” he added. “But we have expanded it to make it secret sunshine.”

Lee shot in CinemaScope for the first time. “Most suspense movies aren’t made in CinemaScope,” he said, “but I thought it would be a good way to show the little things, the details in our daily life. I felt that CinemaScope could be a way of telling this story which is not just about what you see, but also touches on what is hidden. I tried to compose the scenes in such a way that you are not aware of the composition, only fluidity.”

We are not so much in a state of suspense, as stunned by each turn of the story. “I think that audiences today know everything, so my goal is to do something unpredictable, to show them something they don’t expect,” he added.

This is a movie that you can look at for the actors, but they are so good that they melt into the story. Jeon Do-Yeon stars as the frail heroine, and Song Kang-Ho, the popular lead of “The Host,” is her mysterious well-wisher. Both are stars in Korea.

Song, who made his film debut in Lee’s “Green Fish” as a gangster, uses his talent in a completely different way here. He behaves like a secondary character, a figure of fun because of his girth and clumsy ways.

“But if you watch closely, he is the focus of the film,” the director said. “And, in a way, the storyteller. His eye is always on her, but she keeps looking up at the sky. And when she walks, she can only go in one direction, straight ahead, she can’t look back. He has to follow her from a distance – if she looked behind her, she would see him.”

Romance is not on her mind, not when she first comes to town, and certainly not after the drama that befalls her.

“But my focus is not on the drama, but on what happens after,” Lee said. “All kidnapping cases have the same motivation and violence. It is the cruelest, most painful thing. I thought about making this film for a long time.”

There are evangelistic forces in Miryang and they get to work on the bereft woman. In no time, she is converted – but that is not the end of the story. In a densely written script, stories keep blossoming: some are unbearably sad, others funny.

“You see many crosses against the skyline of Korean cities,” the director said. “There are many religions and sects. My family has a Confucian tradition so I had no religion, but my wife’s family was Protestant, and I taught in a Protestant school.”

Lee says that things that happened in his own life made him feel close to this story. “The woman’s great despair touched me. She is in such pain, but in the end, she finds something inside herself.

“I think we keep living with faith because we need it. Even atheists believe in something – in something else. Yet, I didn’t want to make a movie about faith, really, but a reflection on what goes on inside us. Cinema is a great tool, a way to talk about the invisible through the visible.”

She also meets a car mechanic – a lumbering awkward man – who trails her, faithful-dog style.

But things are not as they seem and her life takes a tragic turn.

“Secret Sunshine” is mysterious and terrifying. At times, it feels like a thriller, with surprising twists, but it has a hidden core. It is a story of faith, how it can enter a life, and how it can vanish.