The two love birds officially obtained a marriage license back in May but haven’t held a formal wedding yet. They will be holding their wedding at the Patio9 Chapel hall in Seoul.
In their wedding pictures that were revealed, the couple looked beautiful and very much in love.
Due to the opening of the ‘2012 London Olympics‘, a number of SBS variety shows and dramas are on the verge of canceling future episodes.
SBS has turned their focus to the live broadcasting of the games, unlike KBS and MBC who have decided to go ahead with the broadcasting of their shows, ‘Invincible Youth 2‘, ‘Immortal Song 2‘, and ‘Infinity Challenge‘.
Aside from ‘BoA 4354‘ and reruns of episodes 17 and 18 of ‘Gentlemen’s Class‘, SBS will be dedicated to running Olympic programs for the entire day on July 28th. The entire line-up for Saturday was canned, with the men and women’s judo preliminaries and the women’s handball preliminary taking the place of ‘Star Junior Show‘ and ‘Star King‘.
‘Gentlemen’s Class’, which has been consistently seeing a high rating of 20%, is also at risk of being canceled, although nothing has been confirmed quite yet.
SBS stated, “We’ll decide the broadcasting of the 19th episode of ‘Gentlemen’s Class’ according to the results of the Korean athletes participating in the judo and shooting tournaments.” Should the Korean athletes pass the preliminaries and continue on, fans will most likely have to wait. On the contrary, should the Korean athletes drop out, the drama will air at an earlier time of 9:30 p.m.
Variety shows ‘Law of the Jungle 2‘, ‘Running Man‘, and ‘You & I‘ will also be replaced on the 29th with the men and women’s judo preliminaries, and the male handball preliminaries of Korea vs Croatia. ‘Gentlemen’s Class’ will also not air depending on the progress of Korea’s soccer team.
With the ‘New Evolution‘ New Jersey and California tour coming up next month, 2NE1 is hard at work getting ready to showcase their very best on stages all over the world!
The girls have joined forces with well-respected names in the industry like Travis Payne, Stacy Walker, Divinity Roxx, and Michael Cotten to put together what is sure to be an amazing performance!
YG Entertainment wanted to thank all the international fans and gave allkpop 6 pairs of tickets to send our readers to the ‘New Evolution’ tour.
3 pairs of tickets for August 17th, 2012 Newark, New Jersey; Prudential Center
3 pairs of tickets for August 24th, 2012 Los Angeles, California; Nokia Theatre.
Anyone is eligible to enter, however allkpop is ONLY providing concert tickets to winners, all other expenses including: travel, lodging and food will be the winners’ responsiblity.
To win these tickets all you have to do is:
1) Make sure you are following allkpop (@allkpop) and Global Blackjack (@globalblackjack) on twitter.
The ‘2012 Jisan Valley Rock Festival‘ kicked off its 4th year on July 27th at the Jisan Valley Ski Resort located in Incheon, and to help promote her upcoming summer movie ‘R2B: Return to Base‘, actress Shin Se Kyung recently held an autograph session at R2B’s event booth at the festival.
Looking vibrant and feminine in a teal-colored top, the friendly actress smiled for the fans as she signed autographs.
In addition to the autograph session, the booth held a number of events including one where participants could snap photos in Air Force uniforms.
The film ‘R2B’ follows the story of Taehoon (Rain), the youngest pilot of the special acrobatic Air Force team, Black Eagle. The movie, which will also be starring Lee Jong Suk, Jung Suk Won and more, will be making its premiere on August 15th.
On July 10th, 2012, seven-member rookie group A-JAXreturned with their second digital single, “Hot Game“. So, just how hot was it?
A-JAX’s prologue single, “Never Let Go“, released on May 21st, was a piano-driven R&B ballad about lost love. The video, starring KARA‘s Hara, played with the idea of a twisted childhood, and possibly with themes of child abuse; it’s hard to tell because it was done in a very artistic, editorial style that didn’t follow a linear narrative. It was definitely creepy, but the song was really pretty.
Debut single “One 4 U“, released at the end of May, featured an action-movie-esque instrumental, utilizing thunderous timpani, dramatic violins, even an organ, and what sounded like a harpsichord, with lyrics about fighting for love. The video featured big, elaborate sets and CGI effects, while their live performance gained attention for the dangerous “back down” choreography, which involved the members falling onto their backs from standing positions with nothing to catch them or cushion their fall.
With “Hot Game“, A-JAX has opted for a more standard dance track, a more fashionable look, and a far less complicated video. Instead of wowing us with elaborate sets and expensive CGI, it’s just the song, the band, and their lovely guest star, KARA’s Nicole. The boys sing about falling for a flirtatious girl and begging her to stop “playing a hot game” to settle for one guy. If the video’s anything to go by, their pleas don’t do any good, and she just keeps hitting on whomever shewants at the moment.
The stylized, echoing sounds provide a dramatic intro to the track. This abruptly changes to a second intro, which introduces electronic dance sounds reminicent of and arrangement to give it some dimension and keep things from getting repetitive. The is really interesting for it has a very big, full sound to it with tight harmonies, and sometimes feels like it would fit well in a stage musical if it had a different instrumental. The vocals and instrumental balance each other well, and the arrangement has a really nice ebb and flow to it, with nothing feeling out of place.
I think the biggest complaint I would have about this song is that the arrangement falls a little flat on stage, as the digitally-edited, pre-recorded back-up vocals don’t mesh well with the singers’ natural voices in a live performance. With all the dance numbers currently being promoted, this could prevent them from catching the attention of new fans on music shows.
While I like most of the choreography, I have to comment on one little thing; I am tired of guys drawing hourglasses/s-line figures with their hands to represent women (see SHINee‘s “Juliette“, Super Junior‘s “Sexy, Free, & Single“, Big Bang‘s “Bad Boy“, etc.), a move that A-JAX pulls out just thirty seconds into the song. My friends and I call this the “snowman dance”, and I think it’s about time it was retired. That one move aside, the guys are pretty good dancers. When they perform live, you can tell they are having fun and really love to perform.
“Hot Game” is a cool little song that could get lost in the shuffle under the many big-name comebacks that we’ve seen in recent weeks. DSP has made it clear that they’re willing to try unconventional things with A-JAX, so it’ll be interesting to see what comes next for this group.
On the 28th, Core Contents Media shared that it would make a major announcement about T-ara on July 30th.
Through official reports released to the media on the 28th, Core Contents Media revealed, “CEO Kim Kwang Soo, who is currently in Japan for T-ara’s concert, will return to Korea on the 30th, and at 1 pm, he will make a major announcement regarding T-ara.”
Fans are curious to hear what this will be about as it’s pretty rare for an agency to give a forewarning about an upcoming big announcement about its idol groups, and because no specific details have been revealed about what the announcement will be about.
It is speculated that the announcement will have something to do with T-ara members’ recent tweets, which have come under criticism for they seem to refer to Hwayoung‘s inability to perform on stage due to her injury.
On July 27th, new still cuts of actor Song Joong Ki‘s transformation into a medical student were released for his new KBS drama, ‘Nice Guy‘.
Song Joong Ki plays the leading role of ‘Kang Maru’, a medical student with an IQ of 158 and an innocent heart. The drama will see his him use his brains and showcase his exceptionally handsome looks to steal the hearts of other ladies.
Although he’s a softie to the one woman he loves – ‘Han Jae Hee’ (played by Park Si Yeon) – he also has a dark side where he uses another woman named ‘Seo Eun Gi’ (played by Moon Chae Won) to act out his own revenge.
A representative stated, “Viewers will be able to see how Maru, who’s lived and worked hard despite obstacles and without losing hope, will overcome the wounds of his past and get revenge. We’re sure everyone will be surprised at Song Joong Ki’s abilities to play two contrasting roles at once.”
Rookie idol group NU’EST has been named the opening artists for the ‘K-Dream Live‘ concert to be held at the Tokyo Dome in Japan on July 29th.
The group has been earning praise for their charismatic and impactful performances as well as their stable live skills, combined with their ability to upgrade themselves with every new stage. The boys will be opening for the concert with a big start at the ‘K-Dream Live’ while steadily increasing their recognition in the market.
Netizens commented, “It’s surprising that a rookie is performing at the Tokyo Dome”, “Will NU’EST grow up to become a Hallyu idol too?”, and “I hope that they earn more success as they work hard”.
The concert seats 55,000 people, and other attending artists include Supernova, MYNAME, INFINITE, and more.
Singer Psyrevealed that his former agency (before he joined YG) once held a discussion about his looks.
On the July 27th broadcast of SBS ‘GO Show‘, Psy began, “My agency held a discussion about my looks after they saw my face for the first time.” When the MCs asked him if he had any auditioning experience prior to being cast by the agency, he replied, ” I never auditioned before.”
The popular singer continued, “It’s become a lot better now because a variety of images and style are being accepted, but when I first debuted, there was more emphasis on appearance.”
He added, “At first, I was picked because of my voice. I posted my song online, and an associate of the company said that my he liked my voice when casting me.”
Psy brought the studio to laughter when he further revealed,”But when they saw my face when I came into the office for the first time, they started discussing what to do right in front of me. The CEO turned to the manager, who picked me from my voice online, and asked, ‘what are you going to do about this?’”
On July 10th, 2012, seven-member rookie group 
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