In this Week in Review, stories of a lot of someones that we all know.
A day after the completion of her hit drama I Hear Your Voice, actress Lee Bo-young uploaded a hand written letter to her fan cafe informing everyone that she and long time boyfriend actor Ji Sung would be getting married on September 27th at the Walkerhill Hotel in Seoul. The two first met on the set of the 2004 K-drama Save the Last Dance for Me and three years later publicly announced that they were dating. It’s been a great year for Lee Bo-youg with two hit dramas (My Daughter Seo-young and I Hear Your Voice) under her belt and now she’s getting married. Seriously, 2013 is THE year for Korean celebrities to announce that they are dating or getting married. (Mwave, TVReport)
- G-Dragon probably wishes right now that he could take back that pic of him in black face paint that he uploaded to Instagram–or that he at least added the story of the pic to the description. Because now there are all kinds of stories as to what the pic was about, was it blackface, was it a misguided tribute to Trayvon Martin, was it just a pic from his upcoming album jacket? The pic and its story got so blown up that even Western media outlets like Spin reported on it prompting YG Entertainment to release their own story behind the pic. (SPIN)
- Wheesung got sentenced to three days in army jail for use of his personal cell phone without permission. He apparently used the phone while in the hospital when the accusations that he was misusing Propofol broke and he was speaking to his PR/management people. (StarNews)
- Rumors broke that KARA‘s Goo Hara and model/actor Lee Soo-hyuk were dating this week as paparazzi caught them shopping together in Japan. The agencies of both have denied the rumors and say that the both are only friends. (SportsChosun)
Actor Cha Seung-won‘s son, professional gamer Cha No-ah, is being accused of sexual assault by a 19 year old girl. The high school girl claims that Cha No-ah locked her in his grandfather’s vacation home where he beat and raped her over a period of time. Cha No-ah has denied the claims. This isn’t the first time he has gotten in trouble, earlier this year he was arrested after being identified as one of the people who bought marijuana from DMTN’s Daniel. (eDaily)
- SNSD represented for Korea Day at the LA Dodgers vs Cincinnati Reds game joining MLB players Ryu Hyun-jin and Choo Shin-soo. Taeyeon sang the Korean National Anthem, Tiffany sang the “Star Spangled Banner” and Sunny threw the first pitch. (XsportsNews, LADodgers)
In K-pop:
- 24K are adorable in their come back MV for “U R So Cute,” Kim Greem made a sexy come back with a song for “Just the Two of Us” featuring 2Bic‘s Jee-hwan and rapper Kanto from Show Me the Money 2,T-ara released an MV for “Bikini” featuring Davichi and Skull and a bunch of girls in bikinis–but none of them from T-ara or Davichi, the re-worked F-VE Dolls (no longer 5Dolls) with 6 members released the MV for “#1Soulmate,” rapper J-Slow released the MV for “I’m Dirty,” male trio Bohemian released “Send, Bye, Sorry,” the Brown Eyed Girls made a killer return with “Kill Bill,” and San E seems to be thriving after leaving JYPE and has released his latest comeback with a “Story of Someone I Know“–he does well with his raps about everyday life.
- Kim Hyun-joong released a sexy make out MV for his second release from Round 3 “Your Story” which features DOK2, VIXX released the MV for “G.R.8.U.,” the now seven member girl group Sunny Days dropped “Meet a Girl Just Like You“ and MIB try to create a blockbuster with “Men in Black.”
- After previously making fun of Exo‘s come back with “Growl” when the teasers were released I gotta bite my words… because it’s kind of awesome. “Growl” is a funky groovable jam that is totally enjoyable both audibly and visibly, but the title…
- Koyote release the Jung Jun-ha version of their new song “Hollywood” and the Brown Eyed Girls released a dance version of “Kill Bill.”
- K-indie band Dick Punks who made it mainstream with their appearance on Superstar K4 released the MV for their latest release “Sunglass.” Some post production work made this seeming simple MV into a lot of fun.
- Rookie girl group Queen B’z made a good debut with “Bad,” and YG Entertainment seems to be letting its artists find themselves musically. Their latest rookie to debut, Superstar K2‘s Kang Seung-yoon, released his second solo song “Wild and Young” and rocks out in the MV.
- The 20th anniversary of popular ’90s hip hop duo Deux will be celebrated with a tribute album and in the teaser for the album some of their now famous hoobaes talk about what Deux’s music meant to them, the Tasty twins released a teaser announcing their 2013 come back, new boy band M.Pire will make their debut–but “Can’t Be Friends With You,” with Ladies Code released a couple of disturbing teasers for “Hate You” and Ulala Session released a “Fonky” teaser.
In Kdramas:
- It was a sad week in K-drama land as three good dramas made their exit: the current ratings hit I Hear Your Voice whose last four episodes really should have been only two as it was painfully evident that they stretched the story for the two episode extension; the heart warming kids drama The Queen’s Classroom; and Monstar—Mnet‘s first foray into the K-drama world which was an excellent debut–LOVED this drama.
- Also sad news: Song Joong-ki will be enlisting for his two years of service in the military. He will be holding his last fan meeting on August 17th and will then report for duty on August 27th at the 102nd Reserves in Chuncheon for basic training. Joong-ki will be the first celebrity to enlist after the abolishment of the celebrity PR Unit.
Making a debut this week was tvN‘s new Monday/Tuesday drama Who Are You starring So Yi-hyun, 2 PM‘s Taecyeon and newly released from the military hottie Kim Jae-wook. So Yi-hyun plays detective hurt in the line of work and then in a coma for six years who suddenly wakes up fine, but can’t remember anything about the night she got hurt and can now see… dead people. It has a Ghost Whisperer vibe where it looks like she’ll be helping ghosts resolve their unfinished business and unsolved murders. Checked it out this week–it was better than expected.
- The “I see dead people” must be the new trend in K-dramas–we’ve already had body switching, time traveling, girls dressed as boys, etc.– as the Hong Sisters‘ new drama starring So Ji-sub, Gong Hyo-jin and Seo In-guk will debut next week and it’s female lead will also be able to see ghosts. Medical dramas seem to be making a come back, too as Joo won’s Good Doctor will debut on August 5th and the star studded Medical Top Team begins filming this month with stars Kwon Sang-woo, Jung Ryeo-won, Joo Ji-hoon, Ahn Nae-sang, Alex, Lee Hee-jin, and SHINee‘s Minho and is set to debut in October.
- ZE:A’s Im Siwan will join BoA and Daniel Choi in BoA’s debut drama Hope For Dating.
(Brand New Music; YouTube [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6]: tvN)
