On October 12th, Hitomi Shimatani will release her new CD+DVD combo album, “Heart & Symphony”. The DVD includes interview with Hitomi Shimatani, PV shootings, recording sessions, photograph sessions for the covers and her performance at A-Nation ‘05.
For more info, visit Hitomi Shimatani on AvexNet.
Popular Korean Female singing group FINKL is back again! For the first time in three years, they are releasing a digital single for the title track “Fine Killing Liberty”. The music video for the track shows each of the four members, including pop megastar Hyori, seducing model and actor Jun Joong Hong.
The media has rumored and speculated over the last three years that FINKL had broken up, each member going their seperate ways. Hyori of course went on a solo singing and modeling career. Ock Ju Hyun released two albums and is currently appearing in the musical “Aida.” Lee Jin and Sung Yuri have even moved companies to Star J and Sidus HQ respectively to propel their acting careers.
The digital single which will contain three songs will be released in early October. The single album will not be sold in stores but will be available for download online for a fee. There are no plans for broadcast activities for it by the group except for the music video. Meanwhile Hyori is preparing her second solo album which is scheduled to come out in mid-October.
Arirang reports that the popular Korean drama “Stairway to Heaven” will be airing in Central and South America from next month. The hit program starring actress Choi Ji-woo will be broadcast in eight countries including Mexico, Peru and Costa Rica. The program is being provided via this station Arirang which settled contracts with national broadcasters in those countries.
Arirang hopes the local airing of the program will help widen the market for Korean broadcast material and promote the surging popularity of Korean pop culture dubbed the Korean Wave phenomenon.
KBS Global reports that Actress Ha Ji-won has accepted an offer from the New Zealand Embassy to the Republic of Korea to act as a spokesperson for the 1st New Zealand Film Festival. Ha decided to take on the new responsibility despite her busy schedule in order to contribute to promoting cultural exchanges between Korea and New Zealand as well as the development of the local movie industry.
New Zealand embassy officials made their offer to the actress when she visited New Zealand to learn English after finishing the filming of her upcoming movie “Duelist.” Ha will deliver a congratulatory speech at the opening reception ceremony of the festival to be held at the Seoul Art Cinema on Oct. 13 at 7:00 p.m.
The 1st New Zealand Film Festival, the largest public event ever held by the New Zealand government in Korea, will take place from Oct. 12 to Nov. 9 in five Korean cities: Seoul, Busan, Daegu, Gwangju and Jeonju. It will feature 13 movies, including “River Queen,” directed by Vincent Ward.
Ha’s upcoming movie “Duelist,” which opens Sept. 8, has earned the actress wide acclaim from preview audiences for her impressive acting skills in action scenes and her character’s exquisite portrayal of feelings.
Ha is set to emerge as the top movie star in the second half of this year, as “Duelist” has already topped various ranking charts prior to its opening, becoming the most-searched item on movie-related Web sites and beating its rivals in terms of advance box-office sales.
Yukie Nakama will be starring in a ninja adventure flick called “SHINOBI – Heart Under Blade”. SHINOBI is a SEGA produced arcade video game turned film. One of my all time favorite games I might add! Shinobi’s Road Show tour will begin on September 17th in Japan. Yukie Nakama plays the role of ninja Oboro with Joe Odagiri starring in the role of ninja Gennosuke Kouga. Swordplay films rock, and with Yukie Nakama in the Shinobi mix, I’m sure it’ll be a success.
Singer Ayumi Hamasaki made a surprise guest appearance yesterday at the premier of the new movie “Shinobi.” Starring Yukie Nakama, currently one of the hottest actresses in Japan, the movie features Ayu’s “Heaven” as the theme song. The singer’s surprise appearance on the stage of the Marunouchi Piccadilly movie theater in Yurakucho, wearing the tiniest of mini skirts, sent the audience into a frenzy. Her new song is due for release as a single on September 14, while the movie opens on the 17th.
Hong Kong pop king Andy Lau has been fully occupied from earlier this month with the shooting of “All about Love,” a romance starring Lau, Charlie Yeung and Charlene Choi. Lau has invested HK$20 million (US$2.6 million) in the making of the film, which is expected to be a moving vivid depiction of people’s inner feelings. Andy Lau plays two roles in the film — a doctor and a hairdresser. While the two roles are very different in terms of personality, both are said to give audiences a taste of the bitterness of love when the characters’ romances come into conflict with cruel reality.
The doctor, an upstanding male figure, loses his wife in an accident and learns to treasure what he has left. The hairdresser, a selfish and short-tempered character, gets bored with what he sees as the tedious love of married life and finally leaves his wife.
Lau decided to shoot the film after sensing there was shortage of good cinematic love stories. “I have not seen a good love story for years,” he remarked. “The last one I watched was Yee Tung-shing’s‘C’est la Vie, Mon Cherie’ in 1994. I want to make one like that.”
Lau’s HK$20 million investment does not include any payment for himself, as he acts for free. Although he is thought to be the right person to act the two roles in the film, Lau confessed that he did not invite other actors for the sake of saving money.
Despite forking out such a large sum, Lau said he never thought of earning money from the film. “I made a calculation and understood that I might lose a maximum of HK$4 million all in. I’m prepared for the loss and it will not affect my life,” he said.
According to Lau, female audiences should learn from the film that there were no perfect men in the world. Every man is selfish to some extent and hopes to keep his privacy. Women should respect their husbands or boyfriends, said Lau.
Charlie Yeung and Charlene Choi, who play the wives of the doctor and hairdresser, said they were honored to appear with Lau, who they regard as their idol.
Both noted how they were impressed and encouraged by Lau’s hard work. “He is my example,” Yeung said. “He can work for 18 hours for filming and then go to the TV station for programming. I am very stimulated by his example.”
Screening of “All about Love” has been scheduled for mid October.
The music group “Jewelry”, which has been making appearances at various concerts and shows since the release of its fourth album “Superstar”, in March, will take a one-month break in September starting from Korea’s Thanksgiving holiday.
But even during the break, the group will perform at the KBS TV Open Concert to be held in Hanoi, Vietnam on Sept. 10, and participate in a hallyu star event slated for Sept. 24 in Saitama, Japan.
Jewelry’s agency, Star Empire, said it will not set performance schedules for the group in September, except for the overseas performances, as its four members need a break to recharge their energy after six straight months of activities.
Each of the group’s members is currently busy preparing for solo activities. Park Jung-ah is choosing her next role to resume her acting career, which she suspended after starring in the movie “The Big Scene”, and is also considering going solo. Lee Ji-hyun plans to continue to star in the satellite DMB drama “Yap”, while Cho Min-ah, who used to act on television as a child, is preparing her debut as a grown-up actress. Finally, Seo In-young will begin preparations to debut as a solo artist next spring.
Jellybean Recordings proudly presents the third volume of its hit Anime song remix compilation project, “AnimeToonz Volume 3: Kristine Sa”. The two separate editions (Lemon & Lime) of this continuing series will release simultaneously on October 4, 2005. Each edition will feature different, hard hitting, dancefloor-packing remixes of theme songs from popular Anime TV series including Cowboy Bebop, Gundam Seed, Inuyasha, Ranma 1/2 and Urusei Yatsura. All lyrics remain in their original Japanese language.
This time around, singer/songwriter and Asian-American pop star Kristine Sa brings her sultry vocals to the project. She has been lauded in numerous major publications such as “Newtype” magazine and has performed at some of the largest Anime conventions in the U.S., including Otakon and AnimeFest. Kristine’s great love of Anime and J-Pop shines through in each song on Anime Toonz 3. Watch for her appearances at Anime conventions across the nation in 2005 and 2006!
Remixes were crafted by a hard hitting team of DJs led by Anime Remixer extrodinaire DJ Jinnai. Well known to Anime fans through his regular sets on Keiichi.net and Japan-A-Radio as well as gigs at FanimeCon, Oni-Con, and AnimeVegas, Jinnai has built a reputation for turning J-pop sugar into hard candy.
“AnimeToonz Volume3: Kristine Sa” represents the first time the producers reached out to a true Anime remixer for this popular series. Other remixers include superstar DJ John Creamer, Gomi, Masi & Melo, Archtekt 9, Bit Shifter, YMCK and Beta.
For more about Kristine Sa: http://kristinesa.com
For more about DJ Jinnai: http://djjinnai.com
Kristine Sa and DJ Jinnai appear courtesy Nemesis Records.
The 16th single album of pan-Asian star BoA, 19, reached the fourth spot on the Oricon daily chart on the day of its release on Aug. 31. The new single album, entitled “Make a Secret”, fell behind the single “Glamorous Sky” (the theme song of the movie “Nana”, which stars popular Japanese singer Nakashima Mika) and the singles of the Japanese music group W-inds and the rock band Orange Range. So far, all of BoA’s singles topped the Oricon daily chart on the days of their release, but this time her new single didn’t do that well, which is in part ascribable to the fact that she has mostly concentrated her activities in Korea since the release of her fifth album.
We expect her to catch up in September, during which she will perform in Japan on weekdays and in Korea on weekends,” said SM Entertainment, BoA’s agency. Aside from the title track “Make a Secret”, BoA’s new single album also contains the song “Long Time No See”, which she wrote herself.