Entertainment Weekly created a power list to rank the currently known contestants who are heading to Hollywood for the finals of American Idol (Season 9).  Interestingly, the Korean-American college kid from Illinois was ranked #1 this past week. Go John Park! Hopefully he’ll make it into the finals.

1. John Park (New this week; pictured, left): The rich, buttery baritone he displayed on Blood Sweat & Tears’ “I Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know” was perhaps the tastiest treat to come out of the first four audition episodes of season 9. Plus, his lips, teeth, and bottom end have Shania Twain’s stamp of approval. How can you not get behind the guy?

EW.com is letting everyone rank the contestants.  Go to EW.com and submit your vote.

The very popular TV show LOST kicks off its final season on Tuesday at 9pm EST on ABC.  LOST was the first time we saw a Korean couple kiss on an American television program, and what was also remarkable about LOST is that the Korean couple played significant roles in the show as the only married couple on the island.  Daniel Dae Kim plays Jin, the very stoic and subdued husband of Sun, who’s played by Korean actress Yunjin Kim.  It was awesome seeing their relationship evolve over the course of 5 seasons but sadly Jin’s death on the show was a shock which shook the series and further created twists in the already crazy story lines of LOST.  Sadly for the viewers, the show is finally concluding this season but we can look back and say that this show was the first to break ground in revealing Korean relationships.

Here’s an excerpt from a recent interview with Yunjin Kim regarding the final season of LOST.

What were your expectations when you signed on as a cast member?

When I read the script, I thought it was like a movie script. I had never seen anything like this on television. I thought, “Either this is going to be the best TV show or the worst TV show.” And when I say it had the potential to be bad, I mean so bad that we would be made fun of for years!

What do you think of the journey of personal growth that Sun has taken over the years?

Sun has come such a long way from the pilot. If you remember, she was very subservient, a really quiet, scared woman who did whatever she was told by her husband. Now you cut to Season 6 and she’s a very different woman and very much her own person. That’s something that [producers] J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof promised from the beginning. I was concerned that I was playing into this stereotypical image of that Asian woman. But J.J. said, “You’re going to end up loving this character.”

Sun and her husband Jin (played by Daniel Dae Kim) differ from most of the other characters. Your thoughts about their relationship?

Sun and Jin’s stories have touched a lot of people, I think, because we are the only married couple on the island. We do have Rose and Bernard, but they’re guest stars. They sometimes show up and sometimes don’t, and they’re loved by fans as well. But Sun and Jin represent the only marriage and the most real and most tangible relationship on the island. And people root for us. They can’t wait to see us get back together and into each other’s arms. People really want to see a happy ending for Sun and Jin. It’s really touching.

What will be your most cherished memory of working on the show?

I had a such good feeling about it once I stepped into the set of Lost for the first time and saw that chopped-off half plane sitting on the beach. That was my first impression: “Oh, my God, is that a real plane chopped up in half?” And they said, “Yeah, we brought it in from L.A.” This beautiful Hawaiian beach and the chaos of the crash site to contradict it, it was quite stunning. I think I will always remember that first moment of just going, “Wow!”

For the promotion video of season 6, go to ABC.com and find a few spoilers.

Sources: ABC.com and Star Telegram

The South Korean movie “Mother” is coming to theaters in limited release this March.  It has won critical acclaim from multiple international film festivals: Toronto, New York, and Festival De Cannes.   If you watch the preview, you can feel the movie’s intensity and just watching the short clip made me scared.  It’s directed by Bong Joon-Ho who’s artful direction was previously seen in The Host and Memories of Murder. The film press is praising Bong Joon-Ho’s latest work with high praise in the name of Hitchcock.

“BY MILES THE BEST THRILLER I’VE SEEN THIS YEAR. Riveting and darkly funny, Bong Joon-Ho is a brilliant filmmaker.”
— JOHN POWERS, VOGUE

“Go! As he previously did for the police procedural (Memories of Murder) and the monster movie (The Host), South Korea’s sublimely talented Bong Joon-ho takes another venerable pulp genre — the wronged-man thriller — and enthusiastically stands it on its head.”
— LA WEEKLY

Synopsis
Hye-ja is a single mom to 27-year-old Do-joon. Her son is her raison d’être. Though an adult in years, Do-joon is naïve and dependent on his mother, and a constant source of anxiety, often behaving in ways that are foolish or simply dangerous. Walking home alone one night down a nearly empty city street, he encounters a young girl who he follows for a while before she disappears into a dark alley. The next morning, she is found dead in an abandoned building and Do-joon is accused of her murder. Thanks to an inefficient lawyer and an apathetic police force, Do-joon’s case is quickly closed, but his mother refuses to let this be the end of the story. Trusting no one, Hye-ja’s maternal instincts kick into overdrive, and she sets out to find the girl’s killer and prove her son’s innocence.

Nobody in the world has faster thumbs than Koreans.  Don’t you love the New York Times because once again, they publish some odd esoteric story about Koreans, and this time it’s about how excellent we are at texting.  Actually, Koreans are the kings of texting with the fastest thumbs in the world.  Apparently Team Korea trounced the international competition this past month in a phone texting tournament that was held in New York city.  The goal of the competition was to determine who could send text messages the fastest and most accurately from a cell phone.  For some of my friends, it takes hours to get a text message returned.

Bae Yeong-Ho and Ha Mok-Min were the winning duo for Team Korea that beat out 13 different teams/countries at the Mobile World Cup, which coincidentally was sponsored by Korean chaebol LG Electronics.  They won a $100,000 cash prize and came home as conquering heroes, or texting heroes really.

Sadly, this may not be a good thing as the New York Times notes that they are part of the “Thumbs Tribe” – youngsters who feel more comfortable texting than talking.  Whatever happened to old media of talking to each other?  Human interaction through words formed from the vocal chords used to be the way we used to communicate to each other.  But people from the Thumbs Tribe like Mr. Bae text anywhere from 200-300 messages a day.  The irony in all of this is that Bae Yeong-Ho may be communicating via his thumbs but he’s studying to be an opera singer.   For the full article, go to the New York Times.

Source: New York Times

KBS’s megahit IRIS will be premiering on DramaFever on Thursday, Jan 28. IRIS will be available in high quality streaming video with English subtitles. All three Korean broadcasters (MBC, SBS, and KBS) have now joined with DramaFever to bring the best Korean dramas online to the U.S. and Canada. IRIS will become part of a growing library that includes recent hits such as Shining Inheritance, Boys Over Flowers, and Queen Seon Duk, as well as classics such as Coffee Prince, My Lovely Samsoon, Land of Wind, Gourmet, Stairway to Heaven, My Girl, Hotelier, Sandglass, Jewel In The Palace and Jumong.

And DramaFever will soon be carrying more than just dramas. The documentary series Shocking Life will be DramaFever’s first non-drama series. Part Real Sex, part Ghost Hunters, and part Ripley’s Believe It or Not, Shocking Life examines the oddities and the unusual from Korea. Shocking Life premieres on DramaFever on Thursday, Feb 4.

ABOUT IRIS
A blockbuster hit and one of the most talked-about dramas of the year, Iris premiered to stunning ratings of 24.5% and had crossed 30% ratings by its 8th episode. With a budget of 20 billion won (almost a million U.S. dollars per episode), this explosive action-spy thriller uniquely utilized many aspects of American television and action film genres to create a high-octane, large-scale production with international flare and exotic shooting locations.

Megastar and Hallyu icon Lee Byung Hun gives the performance of a lifetime as a daredevil secret agent who transforms into a driven, tormented spy on the run from powers he doesn’t understand. He is ably assisted by a star-studded cast including Kim Tae Hee (Hallyu star for Love Story in Harvard and Stairway to Heaven), Jung Joon Ho (2008’s hit Last Scandal), Kim So Yeon (Gourmet), and T.O.P. (mega Kpop hiphop boyband Big Bang). Having tried and succeeded in blending the tension and fast pace of American spy series such as 24 with the romance and character depth of Korean dramas, Iris’s innovative style, heavy-weight leads and big budget have enabled it to become something of a minor phenomenon (the broadcast rights have already been bought by seven other countries). It could very well become a Kdrama classic.

About DramaFever
DramaFever.com is the premier online destination for North American audiences to enjoy popular prime-time television shows from Asia in high quality with English subtitles. DramaFever has built up one of the largest licensed collections of popular Asian TV content for the North American market with programming from Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) Media, Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) Distribution, Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS) International, Group Eight, ISplus, and JS Pictures. For more information, please visit http://www.dramafever.com

Koreans in Korea are apparently huge fans of plastic surgery, but we
don’t need to go to such extreme measures.  All you need is a little
makeup, a little practice, and I think you’ll be pleasantly
surprised with the results.

Contouring is a trick that Makeup Artists use to create slight to
dramatic changes .  It’s like plastic surgery without the surgery.  So
before you decide you want a nose job, try these tips and tricks to
help you get the nose you’d like.

What you need:
A Makeup shade darker than your natural skin tone
Blending Brush/ Fingers

In order to contour, you need something darker to create depth. You can use foundation or powder.

I use foundation on my clients, but have recently started using a taupe eyeshadow on myself.

You can also use a brown matte Eyeshadow or Bronzer.

* The darker you go, the more dramatic the effect.

Step 1
- If using foundation, use a thin brush or your finger to create a
straight line from where your eye starts to the tip of your nose and
curve in towards nostrils. Repeat on the other side.
* If you want a more dramatic look, you can start from the top of the
eyebrow and work your way down.
* Take a Blending Brush (a small to medium sized brush) and blend in
small circles
-  If using a powder formula, you can do the same with a brush or your finger.  I find that the powder formula is less work, but make sure you have the right color for your skin tone.

Step 2
- Take a lighter foundation/powder and put on the outside of your nose (Where it curves).
- You can add the lighter color to the top of your nose and blend
(Approximately from eye level to tip).

Step 3
- To create High Cheekbones, find where your cheekbone is and put
darker foundation/powder right below.
* To find your cheekbones, suck in your cheeks (Make a Fish Face) and feel for where the bone is.
- Blend foundation with Blending Brush in small circular motions.
- For more contrast, take a lighter foundation (or one that’s your
exact shade) and put directly from where your cheekbone ends.  Blend with a larger Powder/Blush Brush.

Step 4
- To create more definition, put the darker foundation/powder right
underneath your face (from ear to chin)
- Blend foundation with Blending Brush
- To hide a double chin, use bronzer (or darker foundation/powder) on double chin and blend from side to side

Remember- It’s all in the blending!
It may take some practice (and you’ll probably be surprised when you first look like Simba with the darker foundation), but with the right blending brush and a little work, you will look fabulous… without the surgery!

*~ Have a Beautiful Day!~*

http://irenekimmakeup.com
http://irenekimmakeup.blogspot.com
http://twitter.com/irenekimmakeup

Christina Lee hosts Korean Beacons Weekly Monday Mashup highlighting some of the weekly headlines in Korean American news.

This week, January 25, 2009 we talk about:

Korean American Idol?
Judge Lucy Koh
Justin Chon speaks on behalf of CPAF
Kollaboration New York 5

Send comments to: beacon at koreanbeacon dot com

In the 2010 PGA golf season, keep an eye out for Kevin Na.  He finished 15th in Fed Ex Cup standings last year and is already off to a hot start, making the cut at the Sony Open and finishing in 8th place at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic (a nice payday of $150,000).  For those of you who don’t know who Kevin is, he is a South Korean born golfer whose family moved from South Korea to the United States when he was 8 years old.  He was one of the top junior golfers in the country and was so talented that he ended up skipping his senior year of high school and turned pro in 2001.  Since then, Kevin has had much success on the PGA tour proving he can play with the best and finish at the top.   You can follow him on Twitter at @thekevinna or his facebook fan page.

Check out Kevin in this interview video

Now this is progress!  Lucy Koh was nominated by President Obama for a federal judgeship in California’s Northern District Court.  This would make her the very first Korean-American federal judge in the U.S.

“Judge Koh brings a wide range of experience — not only as a judge but as a federal prosecutor and a litigator in private practice,” said U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, who recommended Koh’s nomination.

Although relatively new to the state court bench — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed her in 2008 — Koh has an extensive background in federal practice as a lawyer, working as a federal prosecutor in Los Angeles and Washington. Koh also was a partner at the McDermott, Will and Emery law firm in Palo Alto, representing technology companies in patent, trade secret and commercial civil cases.

Before her state court appointment, Koh was an assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California from 1997 to 2000. Previously, she served as special assistant to the U.S. deputy attorney general in Washington, D.C., and special counsel for the U.S. Department of Justice.

What’s with the last name Koh and lawyers?

Source: The Mercury News

Wired Magazine interviewed Justin Chon and speaks out against violence against Asian women in the United States and of course he talks about the Twilight series.  He notes how the Asian culture is very quiet and that there may be many Asian women who are not speaking up about possible domestic violence.

What if all it took to help a charity raise $1 million was a simple online vote? Would you help then? The Center for the Pacific Asian Family hopes so, as the nonprofit competes with 99 other charities in the Chase Community Giving contest on Facebook.

CPAF, which helps Asian Pacific Islanders who have been victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, has lined up some impressive supporters for its star-powered public service announcements, including actor Justin Chon from the Twilight films. Other CPAF supporters include John Cho (Star Trek), Sandra Oh (Grey’s Anatomy), Aaron Yoo (21, Disturbia), Archie Kao (CSI), Joe Hahn (Linkin Park) and Lisa Ling (Oprah).

The Chase Community Giving contest, with its social media angle and the involvement of so many celebrities, is a great way to get some attention to organizations like Center for the Pacific Asian Family, which runs a 24-hour support line, emergency and transitional shelters, and counseling services for victims and their families. All it takes to help out is a vote, whether it’s for CPAF or one of the other 99 charities. It won’t cost you a dime. Winners will be announced Saturday.

To find out more about CPAF and its mission, I shot off some questions to Chon. The queries were handed to a film crew that filmed the actor’s responses. Check out the video above for some firsthand insight into the charity as well as some Twilight: Eclipse tidbits for Twihards.

Oh, and what can moviegoers expect when The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, the second sequel in the teen vampire series, hits theaters this summer? “You can expect it to be very similar to the book,” Chon said, “but there will be a lot more action, and a lot more lovin’ because … the guys are tryin’ to get with Bella.”

Read More http://www.wired.com/underwire/2010/01/justin-chon-charity-twilight/#ixzz0dat5gt58

Source: Wired