Entertainment - The Korea Times

Local TV documentaries awarded in NY

By Kwon Mee-yoo Korean broadcasters scooped five awards at the 54th New York Festivals International Television and Film Awards, last Friday. MBC’s “Tears of the Amazon — Tristes Tropiques” earned a silver world medal in the Cultural Issues section, while SBS’ “Story of Seung-il — What It Means to Live” won silver in the Family Programs section. “Tears of the Amazon” received rave reviews in Korea when it aired last year, portraying the basic energy and dynamic life of the region. “I am glad that the documentary was recognized not only in Korea but overseas,” Jung Sung-hoo, chief producer of the program, said after attending the award ceremony. Another documentary from MBC, “Lion Queen,” was given a finalist certificate in the Nature & Wildlife section. “Story of Seung-il” documented the life of former professional basketball coach Park Seung-il, who has been fighting against Lou Gehrig’s disease for eight years. It filmed Park for a year, showing how patients of the rare, incurable disease live. The program also won Best Documentary Program at the 2

Apr 19, 2011By Kwon Mee-yoo

Hallyu stars beckon fans from France

By Kwon Mee-yoo Hallyu, or the Korean wave, has reached Europe and 55 fans of K-pop from France are visiting Korea for two weeks to meet their favorite stars. They are from the Korean Connection, a French organization enamored of Korean culture, especially K-pop. Most of the members are in their late teens or 20s, but some of them are older. Maxime Paquet, 30, leader of the group said the visit is really exciting. “This trip is a dream-come-true for many of us. We actually saw Korean singers we like!” Paquet said. Last Friday, they went to KBS to watch “Music Bank,” a K-pop music show program. The program featured top singers such as Girls Day, CNBLUE, 4Minute, ZE:A, U-Kiss and Tony An among others. “After the show, we met U-Kiss,” he said. Paquet started learning Korean about three years ago and a video clip of Big Bang a friend showed him led him to plunge into the music. “I was bored of American and British music. When I heard K-pop, I felt totally different. The melodies were beautiful and Korean singers sing very well,” he said. “Their look and style is w

Apr 19, 2011By Kwon Mee-yoo

Rain tops online poll for Time 100

By Chung Ah-young Korean singer Rain topped the 2011 Time 100 Poll in the magazine’s online voting to select the 100 most influential people of the year. Time closed the online poll on April 16 with Rain as the 2011 readers’ choice among 203 candidates — gaining 444,401 votes. Rain was also No.1 in the poll and included in the final list of the 100 most influential figures in 2006 and ranked first in 2007 and second in 2008. Rain was followed by Taiwanese singer and actor Jay Chou with 232,696 votes and British singer Susan Boyle with 170,138 votes. Time describes Rain saying: “This South Korean sensation has been making waves in his native country for years, but his catchy beats and hot dance moves have made his popularity soar internationally. Who can forget that dance-off with Stephen Colbert, or his parts in the movies Speed Racer and Ninja Assassin?” Rain, whose real name is Jung Ji-hoon, is popular not only as a singer with his trademark powerful dancing, but also as an actor starring in the two Hollywood films. Beyonce ranked fifth and Barack Obama

Apr 17, 2011

Cultureline

Eric Benet cancels Seoul concert Soul singer Eric Benet has cancelled his Seoul concert, originally scheduled for April 12 at AX-Hall. Due to the recent earthquake and nuclear leaks in Japan he has postponed his concert tour to Asia and Europe. The agency said they would reschedule the concert in the fall. "So sorry we had to postpone the Korean concert date due to the situation in Japan, but I look forward to rescheduling my show and to visiting Korea again. Thank you to all my Korean fans for your understanding," Benet said in a letter to the Korean agency. This follows a series of cancellations of international stars’ visits to Korea after the March 11 quake in Japan. British singer Fran Healy, pop star Ke$ha and rock band Beady Eye all cancelled or postponed their concerts in Korea. LG Art Center launches mobile application LG Art Center, located in Yeoksam-dong, southern Seoul, launched a mobile application to provide information on the art center and the performances to be held there. Developed by LG Uplus, the theater’s programming schedule and introdu

Apr 8, 2011

Wilderness in the raw: Lee ventures to document Serengeti in 3D

By Kwon Mee-yoo His white hair was like a lion’s mane — though he was in the urban center of Seoul, he projected an atmosphere of wildlife in his image. Lee Jong-ryul, 43, is a wildlife documentary director based in Tanzania. He is now stepping up to the next level of documentaries through 3D technology. “The Serengeti is a wild plains ecosystem, which has the largest number of mammals in the world. It is about the size of North Gyeongsang Province, but some 2 million wildebeests have been migrating on the plains for more than 1,000 years,” Lee said in an interview with The Korea Times, Monday. He is visiting Korea to recruit staff for the new documentary. Lee first visited Africa in 1996, when he was filming a documentary. He later went on a cross-continental trip with SBS in 1999. He produced MBC’s “Wild Plains, Serengeti” and “Tanganyika Chimpanzee” and participated in “Lion Queen.” “As I have shot programs in Africa for about five years, I became an expert on Africa in Korea, which was not intended,” Lee said. Falling in love with the nature of Africa,

Mar 29, 2011By Kwon Mee-yoo

Troubled I Am a Singer Aprils shows cancelled

By Kwon Mee-yoo April’s MBC talent shows of “I Am a Singer” have been cancelled but will continue broadcasting in May as new producer Shin Jung-soo will take over the program, replacing Kim Young-hee. “As the new producer needs some time to reorganize the program, we will air new episodes in May,” an MBC official said. The broadcasting station will air a Korean wave concert in Thailand in April. Before doing so, two episodes of the program will be aired this Sunday, revealing the second elimination. The program sees top singers Kim Gun-mo, Baek Ji-young, Yoon Do-hyun, Kim Bum-soo, Lee So-ra, Lena Park and Jung Yub compete based on their singing ability. In last week’s episode, veteran singer Kim Gun-mo received the lowest score and was supposed to leave the show. However, the decision was made to give him another chance and this drew fierce criticism as it disregarded the rules of the show. After the snowballing controversy, Kim decided to drop out of the program, apologizing for staying despite the jury’s decision. Shin joined MBC in 1995 and directed programs su

Mar 25, 2011

More celebrity donors rush to help Japan quake victims

By Lee Hyo-won An increasing number of local artists and cultural organizations, including “hallyu” celebrities and religious groups, are making donations to earthquake-struck Japan. On Monday evening, actor Song Seung-hun, popular in the neighboring country through TV soaps, donated 200 million won for emergency relief to the Salvation Army Korea Territory, said the organization. "In light of such a distressing event, it’s the least I could do and I hope it can provide a little bit of consolation and inspires others to help,” Song said. Some 30 donors combined have given over 13 million won to the local Salvation Army according to its website. The organization also plans to hold fundraising events in some 20 locations around Seoul on Friday and Saturday. The Jogye Order, Korea’s largest Buddhist sect, held an emergency meeting Monday to set up an aid organizing committee headed by Ven. Hyekyung. It has decided to send five representatives to Japan and plans to send some 500 volunteers that can provide help onsite. The Jogye Order has already donated 100 million won for

Mar 15, 2011

Yonsama donates 1 bil. won for Japan quake

Korean 'hallyu' celebrities reach out to victims in cyberspace By Lee Hyo-won Korean “hallyu” stars including actor Bae Yong-joon are expressing their condolences to Japanese earthquake victims via donations and Twitter messages. Bae, affectionately called Yonsama by fans in the neighboring country, gave 1 billion won to a Japanese governmental organization, Monday, said his agency Key East. The endowment is intended to provide displaced victims with first aid kits, meals and other daily necessities, said the agency. “Mr. Bae was very concerned when he heard how victims are under inadequate conditions, without enough food or water in this cold weather. He insisted that the cash gift be used first and foremost for emergency relief such as foodstuff, blankets and other essential items.” “My heart aches to hear about the increasing damage and aftershocks. I will look for the best way to help,” Bae wrote on his official Japanese website Monday morning, prior to making the bequest. Meanwhile, singer-actor Kim Hyun-joong also gave 100 million won to his Japanese agency D

Mar 14, 2011

Hallyu stars return from quake-hit Japan

Safety confirmed via Twitter, upcoming tours cancelled By Lee Hyo-won In the aftermath of the massive earthquake that hit Japan, Korean “hallyu” celebrities including actress Han Hyo-joo and girl group Kara have safely returned home. Others were confirmed to be unharmed through social networking services, while upcoming events featuring Korean stars have been cancelled. Actress Han Hyo-joo and producer Lee Byung-hun, who flew to the neighboring country last Thursday to promote the TV drama “Dong Yi,” survived the earthquake Friday and returned safely Saturday morning at Gimpo Airport. “Han and Lee were supposed to stay until Sunday but everything was cancelled due to the earthquake. They were on standby at Haneda Airport and fortunately were able to buy tickets to return a day earlier,” said Han’s agency BH Entertainment. “We heard that it was chaotic in Haneda, with everyone trying to purchase tickets, and we are very thankful they were able to return safely.” Han and Lee were at the NHK Tokyo headquarters for a press conference Friday afternoon, when the quake

Mar 13, 2011

TBS eFM launches new line-up from Monday

By Kwon Mee-yoo All-English radio station TBS eFM (101.3MHz) will revamp its programming beginning Monday to present listeners with a refreshing new start of the season. The weekday programs for the 2011 spring-summer season will offer more interesting information, current issues and as always, great music. Ahn Jung-hyun will host "1013 Main Street," a talk show on lifestyle from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and former "This Morning" presenter Henry Shin returns to the station with a current affairs show "Primetime" from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. "Night Vive," from 10 p.m. to 12 a.m., will feature DJs Pinnacle and Elliot with a lineup of cool songs to end your day. The weekends also feature a wider variety of music. Heather Willoughby, a pansori (Korean traditional opera) performer, will present traditional Korean music in "Sounds of Korea" at 5 a.m. on Sundays. Also not to be missed is Ray Kang who will introduce Korean underground music during "Indie Afternoon" starting at 2 p.m. every Sunday. A news show, "Weekend Edition: Live" will also be aired for two hours from 10 a.m. on Satu

Mar 11, 2011

Shows & Dramas