Saturday, February 26, 2011

B2ST’s Yoseob responds to ’sasaeng fans’


After reprimanding B2ST’s sasaeng fans for their irresponsible behavior via Twitter, Yoseob took direct action by cleaning a fan’s scribble off a wall.
On February 26th, B2ST’s manager tweeted, “Please don’t make our Yoseob suffer!” and uploaded a picture.
In the picture, the idol is shown wearing rubber gloves and cleaning various scribbles on the wall.
On the same day, Yoseob tweeted his sasaeng fans “Keep scribbling away“. His reaction is a result of the sasaeng fans showing too much love for the idol.
Sasaeng fans often belong to idol groups, and they follow and stalk their favorite members by using taxi as a mode of transportation. They have caused many problems and have even been reported in the news.
B2ST’s Yoseob is taking the first step to encountering this big problem.

Fatigued Heechul tweets a pic (and still looks fabulous)


Super Junior’s Heechul tweeted a picture of himself while in the Philippines.
On the 27th, Heechul uploaded the above photo from Manila, and let his fans know that he wasn’t feeling that well. He wrote, “I wasn’t feeling well but Philippines’ passionate cheering made me feel better.”
Though he’s professed to be ill, Heechul managed to still look runway-ready, as he’s seen outfitted in an avant-garde T-shirt with  a pair of  thick-rimmed glasses. This ordinary photo has been gaining so much attention that it’s even the #1 celebrity news on Nate.
Fans can’t get over how pretty he looks in the photo, as they gushed How can someone look that good when they’re sick?and “He’s prettier than me. This is crazy.”
Get well, Heechul!

What happens when you morph all nine SNSD faces into one?


What kind of face would you get if you morphed all nine faces of SNSD into one?
On February 25th, KBS 2TV’s “Sponge Zero” introduced their viewers to ‘faceresearch.org’, a site that can be used for morphing multiple faces together to create an image.
The show decided to use all nine profile pictures of Taeyeon, YoonA, Sooyoung, Hyoyeon, Yuri, Jessica, Tiffany, Sunny and Seohyun to provide an example of what the site could do. The result? A baby-faced female with all the unique facial characteristics of each member.

Netizens who watched the program left online comments such as, “The face is an oriental beauty”, “I wonder if there are girls who look like that”, and “I wish my face looked like SNSD’s morphed photo.”
Other examples used in the program were the Super Junior members and some of the nation’s most beautiful actors and actresses; additionally, the representative announcers of the three major broadcasting companies were also cited, along with the top ten CEOs of the country.

Are music programs from the ‘Big Three’ biased?


With the same faces being seen over and over again on music programs from SBS, MBC, and KBS, it’s not surprising to hear rumors of favoritism and bias against the three public broadcasting networks.
Chosun collaborated with music critic Kim (of the Chugye University for the Arts) to research the number of broadcast appearances celebrities made from January through November of last year. Their results were alarming, in that they proved the domination of the ‘Big Three’ – SM Entertainment, YG Entertainment, JYP Entertainment.
SM Entertainment came out on top as the entertainment agency with the most amount of broadcast appearances.  SNSD, SHINee, f(x), Super Junior, and many others appeared a total of 187 times on the three networks, basically boiling down to over four appearances a week.
SM artists performed in 60 episodes of KBS’s “Music Bank“, 67 episodes of MBC’s “Show! Music Core“, and 60 episodes of SBS’s “Inkigayo.”
Following SM Entertainment was Cube Entertainment, who currently houses artists such as B2ST, 4minute, and G.NA.  Cube Entertainment artists appeared a total of 114 times in all three networks, while JYP Entertainment followed with 107 times, then Core Contents Media, and finally YG Entertainment.

When looking at the artists alone, B2ST came out on top with a total of 49 appearances on all three channels. CNBLUE followed up with 44 appearances, and SNSD and SHINee tied in third with 41 appearances.
The results show that idol groups were obviously the most-loved, but it was the expense of other artists, who were unfortunately ignored. Male group Norazo appeared on KBS and MBC 15 and 13 times respectively, but only once on SBS. Meanwhile, December appeared on KBS and SBS 14 and 12 times, but only once on MBC.
But just because you’re an idol group doesn’t mean that you’re secured a position in the limelight as well. DNT and Tae Sa Bi Ae (殆 死悲愛) both released new tracks last year, but only appeared one time on all three channels the entire year. They’re not alone, as results further showed that there were 50 to 60 other teams who were barely given an opportunity; at their expense, hotter stars were given more room and more airtime.
CEO Kim Woong of Drug Record, who manages Crying Nut, commented, “Ever since six to seven years ago, we’ve given up even anticipating making music program appearances. The problem is the imbalance of the music that TV programs air.”

Much of the “favoritism” comes from the need for the networks to keep their other programs alive. In order to secure a steady flow of cast members and guests for their variety programs, they inevitably try to stay in the good graces of the big power companies. Since they’ve lost viewer ratings value, music programs have become just another venue for networks to appease entertainment agencies with.
All three of the major music programs have dropped to 5-6% in viewer ratings, so it goes to show that under all that glitz and glamor, music programs are basically nothing more than another business deal.
One CEO of an entertainment agency revealed, “In order to get celebrity B to appear on their variety program, they’ll let celebrity A, who’s under the same agency, onto their music program. This ‘give and take’ deal has grounded itself in the industry, and it makes it harder for anyone else to appear on shows anymore.”
Critic Kim concluded, “As long as this ‘cartel relationship’ exists between the big agencies and the broadcast networks, the public cannot expect to be able to hear a variety of music. TV viewers always complain that there’s no longer music ‘worth listening to,’ but they have to realize that the music they hear from the TV is very limited and biased.”
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Check out the full results below:

‘Top 10 entertainment agencies that appeared on the most music programs in all three public networks in 2010′:
1. SM Entertainment – 187
2. Cube Entertainment – 114
3. JYP Entertainment -107
4. Core Contents Media – 97
5. YG Entertainment – 95
6. Pledis Entertainment – 82
7. Star Empire – 76
8. FnC Music – 70
9. DSP Media – 63
10. Starship Entertainment – 57
‘Top 10 artists who appeared on the most music programs in all three public networks in 2010′:
1. B2ST – 49
2. CNBLUE – 44
3. SNSD/SHINee – 41
5. SISTAR – 40
6. SECRET – 38
7. Rainbow – 37
8. 2AM/2PM/After School – 35

Friday, February 25, 2011

Forbes Korea ranks SNSD as Korea’s #1 power celebrity

The results of Forbes Korea’s 8th anniversary “Korea’s Power Celebrity 40” are in, and SNSD has been selected as Korea’s top power celebrity. Figure skater Kim Yuna, who had placed number 1 for the past two years, has now dropped down to number 3. On the other hand, soccer star Park Jisung beat out Kim Yuna for 2nd place, as he took the title of Korea’s representative sports star.
This year’s number one, SNSD, has ranked in the top three for a variety of categories, such as number of articles, TV commercials, and internet searches. According to the Hanteo charts, SNSD sold over 270,000 albums, which is over 20,000 more than 2nd place, which went to Super Junior.
The songs in their album also had about 11,730,000 online downloads, and they ranked 3rd place in the number of articles written, and had filmed a total of 25 advertisements.
It has been analyzed that SNSD has had over 100 billion won in sales through their music, commercials, and TV appearances.  With their activities in the Japanese market, they even further exceed this. Since their Japanese debut through ‘Genie‘ in September, all of their released songs have made it to the Oricon charts.  According to SanK Sports, SNSD made about 120 million won in profits from their Japanese album sales.
Thanks to SNSD’s success, SM Entertainment’s stock has risen in value, as evidenced by the price of a share going up from 5,000 won to 20,000 won in one year. Also, Lee Soo Man’s appraised holdings jumped from 250 billion won last year to 880 billion won this year.

Super Junior-M releases their “Perfection” mini album!


Having released their “Too Perfectmusic video earlier, fans have been waiting patiently for the official release of their album on February 25th in Taiwan, followed by March 3rd in Korea.
It’s been almost 3 years since Super Junior-M debuted with “Me” album, and the group has since undergone member changes, with Hangeng not involved anymore since he filed a lawsuit against SM Entertainment, and Eunhyuk and Sungmin coming in.
Besides the title track which we have already heard earlier, the album also contains five brand-new Chinese songs, including HENRY and Zhou Mi’s compositions, “Off my mind” and “True Love,” as well as “Love is Sweet,” written by Jay Chou.

Super Junior’s Leeteuk angers some radio listeners


Some fans are frowning upon Super Junior Leeteuk’s harsh joke.
On February 22nd, KBS 2FM ‘Super Junior’s Kiss the Radio’ featured a K-pop in China special. In place of Eunhyuk, SHINee’s Key filled in to join Leeteuk as a host DJ. On this day, Kan Mi Yeon, miss A’s Jia and Fei appeared as special guests.
When the DJ’s asked Jia and Fei, “When will miss A come back,” the girls answered, “We’re still in preparation for that.” Leeteuk responded with, “I guess we’ll know more when KBS 2 drama ‘Dream High‘ ends.” Then he suddenly exclaimed, “Suzy needs to lose weight first.”
After this statement, both Jia and Fei told Leeteuk to “knock if off.” Kan Mi Yeon also disapproved with what Leeteuk said. Leeteuk quickly tried to move on with a smile after saying he was just joking, but his comment angered many listeners.
Listeners expressed anger saying, “That was too harsh for a joke,” “Think about how Suzy would feel when she hears it,” “How could you ever tell a girl to lose weight, that’s so rude!”

Nam Ji Hyun’s childhood pictures released!

4Minute’s Nam Ji Hyun has revealed her childhood pictures!
Through “4Minute Mr. Teacher,” Nam Ji Hyun revealed her childhood pictures with her family. In these pictures, netizens noted that she did not look that much different from now, acknowledging her natural beauty.
In another picture was Nam Ji Hyun with her brother. About her brother, she stated, “When I was a senior in high school, my brother would come out at dawn to greet me when I came home. My brother is currently a senior in high school but because I am busy, I cannot go out and greet him when he comes home. I feel really sorry about that.

KARA temporarily return to Korea for “emergency Korean schedule”


On February 26th, KARA returned to Korea through Gimpo Airport after completing their Japanese activities.
Due to the controversy surrounding their lawsuit against DSP Media, the girls were met with media attention immediately upon their arrival. Remaining silent, they stayed behind their bodyguards and left the airport.
The girls were originally scheduled to stay in Japan until March 20th, but returned due to an emergency Korean schedule. They’ll be leaving again two days later in order to film for TV Tokyo’s “URAKARA.”
Leader Gyuri will be attending the press conference for “Alpha & Omega” on the 27th, and will be leaving with the rest of the KARA members for Japan on the 28th.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

U-Kiss Kim Kibum shares his feelings, claims to be kicked out of group


Former U-Kiss member Kim Kibum recently confessed his feelings about leaving the team.
“I didn’t quit, they canceled my contract,” said Kim Kibum in a phone conversation with Newsen on the 23rd. Kibum added, “the agency first told us they are going to replace two members. They demanded me to sign an agreement on canceling my contract, so I did.”
Kibum was puzzled about the news that said he had quit the group. “I feel sorry to our fans,” said Kibum.
Kibum posted a long tweet to his fans:
That tweet began with, “안녕하세요 유키스 기범, 아니 정확히는 유키스로 활동했던 김기범입니다/ Hello, I am U-Kiss Kibum, no, I was U-Kiss Kim Kibum.”
Kibum says he didn’t voluntarily quit U-Kiss to focus on his Piro Piro character business but was required to sign the contract cancellation agreement and leave the group. Kibum says his business never distracted him from his U-Kiss activites and prioritized U-Kiss over anything else.
“가족같이 아니 그 이상으로 멤버들을 생각해왔습니다 이렇게 헤어지게 된것이 정말 섭섭한 마음이지만 제가 모자란 부분이 많아 유키스에 교체가 필요할 것이라는 전 소속사의 의견또한 존중하는 바입니다 / I thought of the members like my family…no, more than that. I’m so sad to say good-bye to them like this but I do respect the agency’s decision to replace me with someone better.”
Kibum thanked his fans and promised that he’ll continue to appear on air by himself as both a talent and business man.
This was also the case for member Alexander. “I did leave U-Kiss,” said Alexander on the phone with Newsen. “But it wasn’t because of school like they stated.”
U-Kiss’s agency NH Media will be replacing Kim Kibum and Alexander with new members, believing that it will strengthen the group vocals and bring about a change to U-Kiss.

Jung Yonghwa and Park Shin Hye in a new drama?


CNBLUE’s Jung Yonghwa and actress Park Shin Hye may get a second chance at love!
The two have been asked to star in Producer Pyo Min Soo’s new MBC drama, ‘Festival’, which is planned to air in June.
“‘Festival’ is a youth melo drama based on a school of performing arts,” a production staff member relayed while on the phone with Newsen on the 24th. The staff member explained,  ”The male lead is a band member at school. We couldn’t decide between choosing an actor who could play an instrument or a singer. We offered the role to Jung Yonghwa because he has acted before.
Jung Yonghwa is seriously considering taking the role. His agency FNC Music confirmed that Yonghwa did get the offer, but his conflict lies with CNBLUE’s comeback, slated for the fourth week of March.
Meanwhile, Park Shin Hye’s agency Aba Entertainment said that they liked the story-line. “We think Park Shin Hye can show off her charm by acting as a lively young girl,” said the agency. “The script is funny. We are currently in talks with the production team, and we’ll decide soon.” Park Shin Hye, who starred in the movie ‘Cyrano: Dating Agency’, is about to begin classes at Joongang University.
The two have already acted together through the 2009 SBS drama, ‘You’re Beautiful’. At that time, Park Shin Hye played ‘Go Minam‘, who fell in love with Jang Geun Suk’s character, ‘Hwang Taekyung‘; however, Jung Yonghwa’s character, ‘Kang Shinwoo‘, loved ‘Go Minam’ intensely.
Many “You’re Beautiful” fans are already buzzing over the possibility of another drama with Yonghwa and Shin Hye, as they portrayed a popular couple together.

4minute’s Hyuna and Sohyun impress with selcas


These cuties!
4minute member Hyuna has garnered attention by posting a cute photo she took with another group member, Sohyun.
Hyuna posted this photo with the caption, “Interview interview interview, when they’re finished, music program music program! Puffy faces… I wonder if they’ll come back to normal around evening?
In the photo, Hyuna produced cuteness by blowing air into her cheeks, and the two opened their eyes roundly and proved they were worthy of the ‘Goddess of Selca’ title with their various poses.
Upon seeing this, netizens reacted with comments like, “Can’t tell who’s the older and younger one!”, “How can they both be so pretty”, and “Cute! Black hair completely suits Hyuna”.

Yesung to take Eunhyuk’s place on “Kiss the Radio”


Super Junior’s Yesung will step up to be the new DJ for KBS Cool FM’s “Super Junior’s Kiss the Radio“!
Starting February 28th, Yeseung will be joining leader Leeteuk on air so that member Eunhyuk could focus on his promotions with Super Junior-M.
The three will be DJing together on the 28th, as Eunhyuk will say farewell to his listeners and introduce Yesung to the show.
Although Yesung had previous experience with DMB radio program, “Super Junior Yesung’s Miracle For You,” this will be his first time on a public broadcast radio program.
If you can, tune in to KBS Cool FM’s 89.1 MHz!

Yonghwa & Seohyun reveal a photo from their wedding photoshoot


Last week, fans of the ’sweet potato’ couple were in ecstasy after seeing some footage from Seohyun and Yonghwa’s wedding photoshoot. Though it was only a preview, the explosive interest it garnered inspired the producers of “We Got Married” to unveil a single photo ahead of the episode’s broadcast.
Producers commented that their wedding photoshoot was done under the concept of ‘their history’, which brought out sensitive emotions between the two as they reflected back to the memories they’ve created together.
It’s said that upon seeing Seohyun in a pure-white wedding dress, Yonghwa’s jaw dropped to the floor at her angelic beauty.
Stay tuned for more updates on February 26th!

2AM’s Seulong and Jo Kwon discover a 500 won thrill


2AM’s Seulong and Jo Kwon are cracking up their fans with a recent photo they snapped together.
On February 25th, Seulong posted the above photo onto his Twitter with the caption, “Kwon and I put in 50 cents into the machine at the rest stop.  It started speeding up too fast, and since we didn’t have seat belts, it became such a thrill!  An out of body experience…!”

The boys are seen chilling on two children’s rides, and netizens found it adorable that the the two held tightly onto the machines in order to avoid falling off. Cheerfully they praised, “These cuties!” and “Don’t break the machine!”
2AM has been busily preparing for their February 26th “2AM Nationwide Tour Concert: Saint o’clock” in Daejeon.

Park Shin Hye thanks her fans on Twitter + reveals pictures of gifts


Actress Park Shin Hye recently revealed a set of pictures thanking her fans for their gifts.
Through her Twitter, she wrote, “Thank you. I’m such a lucky person. I’m sorry for delaying this. I can say nothing else besides ‘thank you’. I’ll become a better actress. Will you be with me along the way?“.
The pictures show Park Shin Hye expressing her gratitude for receiving such warm gifts from her fans. She also showed her newly changed hairstyle, which she teased about in an earlier tweet.
Previously, the actress revealed a blurry close-up picture of her hairstyle, piquing the interest of many netizens. She emphasized her cuteness by cutting her hair short and coloring it black, creating a fierce look.
Netizens commented, “Your hairstyle is so cute“, “You received a lot of presents! I’m jealous“, “I’ll always be supporting you!“, and “Unnie, you’re such a cutie pie“.

Saturday, February 19, 2011

SHINee reveals a ’sexy’ photo, drinking habits, and Taemin’s mental age


SHINee fans were delighted with the candid interview the boys had on the February 18th episode of KBS 2TV’s “Entertainment Relay“.
The interview kicked off with member Jonghyun revealing that he didn’t think himself to be handsome. This prompted the members to ask Jonghyun about what his mother thought, and with a laugh, Jonghyun responded, “She thinks I’m handsome.”
He then shared a childhood photo where he’s posing in just his swim trunks. He grinned, “I was a lot prettier as a child“, and the show put up the caption “Sexy Jonghyun” next to the photo, which amused viewers greatly.
When asked to choose a physical attribute that he was confident in (aside from his looks), Jonghyun replied, “Shoulders, maybe?”

During the show’s ‘truth’ corner, member Minho was asked to choose his ideal woman, to which he shyly replied, “I like women older than me.”
When asked why, he continued, “For some reason, I like older women more than younger women.  I feel more comfortable and at ease.”
The reporter then revealed that she had heard Onew was quite the drinker.  Although Onew refused to admit it, Key confessed, “Onew-hyung pours the alcohol!  He doesn’t just drink it, he pours it into his body!”

Taemin was then asked whether he thought he had the oldest mental age in the group. He replied, “False!“, and then attempted to go into a long and serious discussion to have some fun with the question.
Minho continued, “When we aren’t able to take care of him, he always tells us it’s okay and is always trying to be understanding.”

B2ST’s Doojoon falls again during their encore concert


B2ST’s Yoon Doojoon kept his nickname as “Clumsy Doojoon” firmly in place.
On February 18th, Doojoon slipped and fell during the opening performance of their encore concert, “Welcome Back to B2ST Airline” – which was held at the Seoul Olympic Gymnastics Stadium in Bangi-dong, Songpa-gu.
Doojoon was running towards the center stage when he lost his balance right in front of the fans in the standing section, surprising everyone. He got up quickly and continued as if nothing had happened.
Doojoon stated, “Following the concert last December, I fell again. I’m so embarrassed, I could die.” To this statement, fellow team member Son Dongwoon responded, “My pants ripped” – amusing the audience.
Also, the sequel to the “Beautiful” music video featuring Apink’s Son Na Eun was revealed during the concert – raising much interest. Supreme Team’s Simon D, F.T. Island’s Lee Jaejin, and others, attended the concert on this day.
B2ST will continue their second solo concert until the 19th.