Jang Keun-suk Donates W1.2 Billion to His Alma Mater!

 

Korean Wave star Jang Keun-suk has made a huge donation of W1.2 billion (US$1=W1,151) to his alma mater, Hanyang University. 

The 24-year-old actor entered the college in 2006, where he has been majoring in film and theater. He deposited the money in one of the school’s bank accounts on Tuesday without informing anyone, but the cat was soon let out of the bag when a list of donors was posted on the university’s site.

Jang’s donation currently ranks as the highest amount given by a student or graduate of the school.

Jang said he felt embarrassed when the news leaked to the public. “I hope it will help students who are having a hard time, financially or otherwise,” he said. The university said it plans to create a special fund under his name and use it to support students with the same major.

‘Punch’(Wan duek lee) Holds on to Tops Spot in Movie Charts

The film “Punch” topped the box office over the weekend by attracting 360,000 spectators.

According to the figures from the Korean Film Council on Monday, “Punch,” starring Kim Yun-seok and Yoo Ah-in, lured 367,853 film goers on Saturday and Sunday,

 bringing accumulated audiences to 3.37 million and maintaining its hold on the top spot for a fourth week.  

“Punch” is based on a bestselling book of the same title which has sold over 700,000 copies.

Angry Park Ha Sun

Photos of Korea Actor Jang Keun-suk’s new drama emerge

Stills from actor Jang Keun-suk’s new drama series “Love Rain”

 were released on Dec. 8, according to Yoon’s Color, a production

company of the drama series. In the stills, Jang, who is clad in a white

dress shirt and black apron, is intently drawing. His character Seo In-ha

from the drama series is an art college student. In the drama series,

Jang plays a double role: Seo In-ha, an art college student in the 70s

who is devoted to his love and Seo Jun, a professional photographer with

a cold heart, alive in 2012. Famed producer Yoon Seok-ho, famous for his

previous hits such as “Autumn Tale” (2000) and “Winter Sonata” (2002),

will depict two different types of love stories, one in the 70s and one in

modern times. Jang pairs up with Yoona from Girls’ Generation.

The drama series is slated to air sometime in the next year.

[HanCinema's Film Review] "The Truth"

The characters in "The Truth" are all actors and staff for a theater company. For the audiences, they perform a sorrowful tale of love and loss. But the minute they get backstage, or are just among themselves, the characters in this film turn to immediate vicious back-biting at the slightest provocation. They're mean bullies with absolutely no self-awareness. And yet, as actors, they think themselves in possession of some profound truth and wisdom behind the way the world really works.

There's laughable humor in these kinds of horrifically disgusting people. At one point one of the actors makes a strong dramatic statement about the inherently nihilistic and hopeless nature of the world. What's astonishing is that this person isn't even trying to rationalize personal repulsive behavior. It's just a simplistic ideal about an inherent nature of the world that ignores personal agency. No one in this film can reasonably claim to be ignorant of the vicious bullying that goes on. Any time evidence arises stating as such, it's simply dismissed as being the manifestation of some other person's inherently selfish desire.

Horror film protagonists are often stupid in the way that they make bad decisions. The cast of "The Truth" is relatively unique in that they're not idiots just for the sake of the story. They're completely incurious, negative-minded cynics who rather than express concern for someone getting mysteriously injured or killed, just jeer and mock that person's perceived weaknesses and selfishness. The relationships in this film are pathetic, piecemeal, and inherently degrading. By far they make up the most interesting part of the narrative.

While the characterization is top-notch, the actual story is awful. A mystery is set up some time into "The Truth". It seems to have a simple solution, as does the event that immediately follows it...and that's exactly all there is to it. The ending isn't predictable, but that's only because the movie arbitrarily hides important clues until the climax. The mystery could have been solved almost immediately by a police detective just checking everybody's alibi. Apparently this was just too much trouble, even though a specific point is made of the police going to the trouble of taking one character into custody completely.

Similarly, it seems like we're supposed to be getting a sense of comeuppance as the movies crawls into more horrific paths. One scene stands out where a character is punished brutally in a way that directly connects to unrecognized personal sin. This is never followed up on. The exact disfiguration isn't important, and later victims aren't even really disfigured at all. Literal punishment is prioritized over thematic punishment, which is a huge cheat. The main part about these awful people worth watching is their sociopathic tendencies. In the end, they're all defined by boring mainstream emotions that really don't get across just how awful they really are.

"The Truth" is not a good movie. It has plenty of interesting, innovative ideas, but the movie doesn't understand why these ideas are interesting, so it just ends up retreading very dull genre ground instead. The result is a fairly big disappointment. Sociopathic characters are common comedic fodder these days, and a very effective statement could be made from a film that exposes "wacky" sociopathic behavior as just being cruel and vicious out of context. As it is, "The Truth" is an opportunity squandered.

“Invincible Youth” trailer shows Girls' Generation's Sunny in a bikini

The episode of KBS's “Invincible Youth Season 2″ that aired on March 3rd ended with a trailer that showed Girls' Generation's Sunny in a bikini. In addition, miss A's Suzy was seen dressed in a sexy hot spring outfit, sending the hearts of their male fans fluttering.
The episode shows the G8 girls (Girls' Generation's Sunny, Jewelry's Yeeun, Sistar's Bora, miss A's Suzy, KARA's Kang Jiyoung, Rainbow's Ko Woori and f(x)'s Amber) visiting a hot spring and having a water fight.
What caught the viewers' eyes, however, was Sunny's glamorous figure and Suzy's bare shoulder. Bora's makeup-free face also added to the buzz.
Viewers who watched the trailer said, “I can't wait to see the girl group members enjoying the hot spring”, “My eyes are enjoying themselves”, “Sunny is pretty and has such a good figure” and “Suzy looks cute even when she exposes her shoulder”.

'Cold Eyes' Invited to Toronto Int'l Film Fest

"Cold Eyes" has been invited to the Gala Presentations of this year's Toronto International Film Festival. The film fest, the largest of its kind in North America, will take place for 10 days from Sept. 5, drawing many moviegoers and industry figures from around the world.

Other films to be presented in the same section include "American Dreams in China" directed by Peter Chan, Ron Howard's "Rush", "The Art of the Steal" directed by Don Argott, and John Wells' "August: Osage County" starring Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts and Ewan McGregor.

"Cold Eyes" is the third Korean film to be invited to the film fest's main section, followed by "The Good, the Bad, the Weird" in 2008 and "The Housemaid - 2010" in 2010.

The movie has been sweeping the Korean box office since it was released on July 3. It revolves around a group of detectives who track down high-profile criminals.
Source : english.chosun.com/si... ( English Korean )

Yoo Sungeun loses 10kg in preparation of upcoming debut

Mnet “Voice of Korea – Season One” runner-up contestant Yoo Sungeun has successfully lost 10kg as she prepares to make her official debut in the music industry.
On June 27th, her agency WS Entertainment posted a recent photo of Yoo Sungeun, revealing her transformation.
Her new coke bottle figure is distinguished through her tight, black mini-dress assemble. Her agency states, “Yoo Sungeun will show off her new image, in which she gained loosing 10kg through a combination of exercise and diet.”
Yoo Sungeun's vocal abilities were discovered through the Mnet talent show “Voice of Korea.” She is preparing to make a debut next month.