February 2008

Korean stars Kwon Sang Woo

Kwon Sang Woo (born August 5, 1976, Daejeon, South Korea) is a South Korean actor. Prior to acting, he worked as a model.

Kwon was made known to Asian countries through his popular movie, My Tutor Friend (2003), but it was his character as Cha Song Joo in Stairway to Heaven alongside Choi Ji Woo that boosted his popularity, especially in Asian countries, as Stairway to Heaven was amongst the most popular Korean dramas in the Asian region. Another popular role was in Once Upon a Time in High School, set in the 1970s, highlighting the authoritarian nature of Korean society at the time.

In 2004, Kwon starred in a film, Love, So Divine, as a Catholic priest. In an interview, Kwon confided that his mother was a Roman Catholic, and was encouraged by his friends to receive baptism. Kwon also revealed that his mother was helping him to study the Christian faith.

With his handsome looks and impressive physique, Kwon is considered an example of the mom-zzang or "great body" movement.

Kwon is the primary spokesperson for The Face Shop in Korea, appearing in a variety of advertising.

Kwon's latest projects are movie “Fate” and TV drama “Bad Love.”

Top Star Jang Dong-gun

Jang Dong Gun (born March 7, 1972) is a South Korean actor and musician. Spending his childhood in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, he later went on to the Korean National University of Arts, dropping out before obtaining a degree. He made his debut in the MBC drama Our Heaven.Winning Actor Award in the Blue Dragon Awards again for his role as the dedicated cop in Nowhere to Hide. In 2000, he starred in the film Friend, which at the time was the highest grossing Korean film of all time. Jang gained widespread critical acclaim for his portrayal of a troubled high school student who joins the mafia, paving the way for him to star in the 2004 Taegukgi: The Brotherhood of War, about the Korean War, which again shattered box office records. His portrayal of one of two brothers drafted into the war earned him a third Blue dragon award.

He was also recently chosen to promote the Nintendo DS Lite in South Korea, which was released in January 2007. His commercials promote the English Training: Have Fun Improving Your Skills! and Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day!.

SONG SEUNG HEON is hot!

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Song Seung-hun (born Song Seung-bok on October 5, 1976) is a South Korean actor. He started his career as a model in 1995, modelling for the brand name STORM, and began acting in sit-coms and TV dramas in 1996. In 1999 he made his film debut in Calla and has since then gathered prominent fan base throughout Asia.

Song is noted for his role in Korean dramas like Autumn Fairy Tale (2000) and Summer Scent. Song, during his late teenage years, successfully evaded serving the local army by claims of heavy diabetes and high blood pressure. At 28, he was discovered by the South Korean government and forced to serve the army for two years. Many fans pleaded for the government of South Korea not to take such a drastic action. Song, feeling guilty of himself, apologised to his fellow countrymen.

Despite pleas from his fans to the South Korean government, they feared that by giving clemency to Song would spark off riots and strikes by the people's displeasure of breaching equitity among citizens. In the end, Song temporarily dropped acting to serve the army until 2006, although he was diagnosed with high blood pressure. Song was discharged on November 15 as a Corporal.

SONG SEUNG HEON

Fabolous Won Bin

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Won Bin (born September 29, 1977 as Kim Do-jin) is a South Korean actor. Won Bin made his screen debut in a 1996 KBS drama, and made his first big breakthrough in the movie Taegukgi: The Brotherhood of War, in 2004. Another movie, My Brother..., released in 2004, proved to be popular as well.

Won Bin was called into military duty in the South Korean Army in November 2005. He was stationed at the Korean border, a position for which he volunteered. On June 2, 2006, the military officially confirmed Won Bin's discharge.

The decision was made by the military when the actor sustained injury to his ACL. The actor has undergone surgery and has officially been discharged on June 7, 2006, after 191 days in the army.

HOT TAKUYA KIMURA

Hometown: Tokyo
Age: 33
Status: Married to fellow pop star Shizuka Kudo since 2000
Why He's a Star: He could be the Japanese Mark Wahlberg. Kimura, a father of two, got his start in his country's most popular boy band, SMAP, then exploded onscreen in teen TV dramas and films. Stateside, he popped up in Hong Kong director Wong Kar Wai's art house favorite 2046 as a romantic lead.
What Makes Him Sexy: He can laugh at himself. He poked fun at his heartthrob image in a series of Japanese credit-card commercials that riffed on his reputation as a dedicated boyfriend.

VJ UTT from MTV

Full Name:
Greg Uttsada Panichkul

Birth Date:
September 03, 1974

Weight:
65 kg

Height:
175 cm

Languages Spoken:
Thai, English

Joined MTV:
1998

Traumatic birth, hopeful recovery in Ethiopia

"A Walk to Beautiful," a new documentary opening Friday, focuses on five poor Ethiopian women who have suffered traumatic childbirth injuries.

After enduring sometimes more than a week in labor, these women delivered stillborn babies that left them with obstetric fistula, a hole in the birth canal that causes incontinence. Abandoned by their husbands, shunned by their families and villages, they live in shame and in hiding.

The film chronicles how their lives change at the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, where corrective surgeries have been performed since 1974. The hospital performs 1,200 fistula surgeries a year, free of charge.

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MERKATO 55 Africa

MERKATO 55 Africa is the emphasis, in both décor and menu, at this restaurant, where handcrafted artifacts surround the ground-floor bar and cafe as well as the second-floor dining room. Andrea Luz Bergquist, the executive chef, will turn out food that promises to be full of exotic touches from other ports of call, too, like the Caribbean and Asia. A glossary to explain menu terms like yassa (a Senegalese marinade) and sosaties (skewered spiced meat) would help. The restaurant will open on Friday without Marcus Samuelsson, its chef and creator, on hand. He is in Stockholm opening a branch of Aquavit: 55 Gansevoort Street (Greenwich Street), (212) 255-8555.

SOUTH GATE Spacious and dappled silver from faceted mirrors, this redo of Café Botanica in the Jumeirah Essex House, opening Friday, offers generous views of Central Park and hearty contemporary American fare like braised and roasted rib of beef from the kitchen of Kerry Heffernan: 154 Central Park South, (212) 484-5120.

GALLO NERO This Italian wine bar features cured meats and antipasti: 404 West 44th Street, (212) 265-6660.

ISLERO A narrow space made welcoming with dark wood and marble tabletops is the setting for Spanish food interpreted by Jessica Floyd. It opens today: 247 East 50th Street, (212) 752-1414.

MAMA’S MUDSLIDERS In the space that had been Li-Lac chocolates, Hali Horn, a pastry chef from Los Angeles, will turn out her versions of retro desserts, including a mud pie and frozen s’mores, and some savories, like cheese plates: 120 Christopher Street (Bleecker Street), (646) 414-4447.

PATA NEGRA Rafael Mateo has carved out a niche of Spain with his East Village wine bar, which opens on Friday: 345 East 12th Street, (212) 228-1696.

PINCH & S’MAC Pinch Pizza by the Inch, which closed, has teamed with S’mac and Ark Restaurants in this cafe that opened on Monday in the old Columbus Bakery: 474 Columbus Avenue (83rd Street), (646) 438-9494.

Looking Ahead

In late summer, Andrew and Jonathan Schnipper, the founders and former owners of the Hale and Hearty Soup chain, will open a casual restaurant, as yet unnamed, in The New York Times Building at the southeast corner of 41st Street and Eighth Avenue.

'Ethiopian Idol' TV show coming soon on ETN

Source:Ethiopianreview.com

The Washington DC-based Ethiopian Television Network will air a new show named "Ethiopian Idol." Watch the video announcement below. For more information, visit ouretn.com.

Actress Suvari On Visit Here As Goodwill Ambassador

Award wining American actress Mena Suvari is visiting Ethiopia in a sign of supporting a US-based foundation forwhich she is goodwill ambassador.

The actress is actively supporting the African Medical and Research Foundation-AMREF's programs which focus on Africa's most critical health issues, particularly those issues that affect women and children.

"I am rally pleased to be associated with AMREF-which is the largest health development organization based in Africa and run by Africans," Ms. Suvari told a press conference at the Edna Mall late on Tuesday.

"I also promise to strengthen collaboration to help African lower status people" she added with tears on her eyes.

The renowned actress is visiting the country from 10 to 16 February, 2008, in a program AMREF organized in association with the Addis Ababa Millennium Secretarial office to relate her visit to Ethiopia to the celebration of the Ethiopian Millennium.

On Monday, actress Suvari met and held discussion with Mayor Berhane Deressa At Edna Mall, a multi complex building which also houses a state-of the-art cinema hall the actress shared to the audience about her works and her personal life experience.

Ms. Suvari, who started her career as a child model, has become one of the most sought after young actresses in Hollywood.

Her extensive film credit include staring in the Academy Award wining American Beauty, American Pie, Spun, Factory Girl and, most recently, the critically acclaimed film stuck opposite Stephen Rea.

AMREF was founded in as the Flying Doctors of East Africa.

Today, AMREF is the largest health development organization based in Africa where 7% of staff is health to escape poverty infrastructure in Africa by closing the gap between the formal health system and communities who need health care services.

AM REF focus on the most critical health issues facing the continent: HIV/AIDS and TB, Malaria, clean water and basic sanitation, family and reproductive health, training health workers and clinical and surgical outreach.

A Walk to Beautiful - a film about Ethiopian women suffering from childbirth injuries

"A Walk to Beautiful" is an inspiring documentary film that tells the heartbreaking story of five Ethiopian women who suffer from devastating childbirth injuries. Rejected by their husbands and ostracized by their communities, these women are left to spend the rest of their lives in loneliness and shame. Instead they make the long and arduous journey to Fistula Hospital in Addis Abba where they reclaim their lost dignity. The trials they endure–and their attempts to rebuild their lives–tell a universal story of hope, courage, and transformation. (Running time: 1:25). In English, Amharic, and Oromiffa with English subtitles.

A Walk to Beautiful is now showing at the Quad Theatre near New York University. The following is short trailer of the film.

Penelope Cruz got hots with girls

Latina hot actress Penelope Cruz is seen doing a liplock scene with sexy celebrity Scarlett Johansson in the set of their latest Woody Allen film. They will appear in Vicky Cristina Barcelona as the two American girls having an affair with a painter. It is reported that the erotic scenes featuring in this movie will turned out to be the movie industry's biggest and finest. Apart from them, they will be joined by Javier Bardem and Chris Messina. Dubbed as "Spanish Enchantress", she started in television and music videos before her cross-over in Hollywood. A self-confessed vegan, she first loved dancing along with her younger sister Monica.

She claimed her fame in Pedro Almodovar's Todo Sobre mi Madre (1999) (All About My Mother) followed by her role as a chef in the movie Woman in Top. She apparently starred in films like Vanilla Sky in which is the remake of her Spanish film Abre Los Ojos, Gothika, Volver and The Good Night. She reportedly starred in her brother's music video "Cosas que Contar" giving her sister Monica a liplock. Can't get enough of her? See her in upcoming films Elegy, G-Force and Nine. Her relationship was as celebrated as her career. She got a three-year relationship with Vanilla Sky co-star Tom Cruise followed by her dating stints with Matthew McConaughey. Now, she's equally happy with boyfriend Javier Bardem and her lasting friendship with another Latin actress Salma Hayek. As far as her career's concern, she still emerge the "fittest" among her contemporaries because projects flowed upon her.

Liya launched a line of children’s clothes

Liya Kebede is one busy woman: The mother of two is a model, an actor, an activist, and a goodwill ambassador. Oh, and she’s just getting her feet wet creating a line of children’s clothes.

One of Liya Kebede’s proudest achievements came in the mail. Among the bills and catalogs was an envelope with designs for the tags to be sewn into every garment made by Lemlem, her new children’s-wear line. And there, in plain letters, were three little words that amounted to one big triumph: made in Ethiopia.

Bear in mind, the Addis Ababa native—who now lives in Manhattan with her husband, Kassy; their 7-year-old son, Suhul; and their 2-year-old daughter, Raee—has bragging rights to a few other accomplishments: In addition to being a top model (she first made a name for herself in 2000 on the Milan runways) and an actress, she was named a World Health Organization goodwill ambassador in 2005 for raising awareness of health risks to mothers and children in the developing world. In 2006, she launched the Liya Kebede Foundation (for which she received our Smart Cookie Award last April) to address the same concerns.

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Australian Monster Motorbike

Yeeha! Hope one day I got a chance to see this live. They called this the Australian monster motorbike from hell. It is build by Ray Baumann, he claims that it is much safer riding this monster crushing cars than it was to jump them on a much smaller machine. The monster weighs 130 tons and standing 10 feet tall and there’s no suspension at all, so don’t fall from the bike, also don’t let the bike fall on you. The frame comes in upside-down ladder design, with wheels and tires from Caterpillar. And last, the monster is powered by a Detroit Diesel engine mated with a 6-speed Allison automatic transmission. More pictures after the jump.

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