Clazziquai, a Korean fusion group (think electronic + jazz + house), has a new mix album coming out on Nov. 26th, called Mucho Beat! The first single off the album is Ping (핑). Based on what I can tell from the teaser, it’s the kind of video that makes me miss partying in Seoul =p

P.S. I love her blue dress. I think I’m going to steal her style… ㅋㅋㅋ

Fresh out of China, Hua Mulan 《花木兰》 is kind of like that Disney movie we all know and love, but live-action and with a hardcore amount of fighting! I don’t know that it can possibly compare to the animated feature, which manifested penultimate brilliance in the form of the song “I’ll Make a Man out of You”, but I may give it a chance anyway. It’s directed by Hong Kong filmmaker Jingle Ma (马楚成) and features an all-star cast.

Vicki Zhao Wei (赵薇), a veteran of historical action films, plays Mulan in this version of the classic tale. Starring alongside her, as her steamy hot romantic interest, is Chen Kun (陈坤). The two worked together previously  in the film Painted Skin (画皮) in 2008. Let’s throw in a picture of him:

Apparently Jackie Chan’s kid, Jaycee Chan (房祖名), is also in the film…

I found all that info out on the promotional site on Sina and was thinking to myself, “okay, cool, seems like your usual Chinese historical action movie, but with a girl lead kicking the ass”.

Then, all of the sudden, I see this random white dude ~!

Wait! Hold on, hold up, hold the phone! A white dude was sooooo not in the Disney version of this film. What’s this random white guy doing in a Chinese period piece? No, really, who in the world is he?

So, I dug around the internet a little bit and I discovered that he’s the Russian pop star Vitas (维塔斯, in Chinese). Of course, it makes perfect sense that a Russian pop star would be hanging out in China, in Chinese garb, during the Northern Wei Dynasty. Why was I confused? It’s all good.

No, but, really….wtf? I guess I’m going to have to watch the movie to figure this one out. If it’s going to be the new fad to hand out Chinese historical roles to white people, sign me up!

You can see the trailer below:

I’ll be the first to admit it, I’m totally and irrevocably googoo gaga for Kim Bum ^^ As a result, I am super-highly anticipating his new film Flight (비상)!

I’m not gonna lie, he’s the reason I even made it through the 6 episodes of Boys Over Flowers (꽃보다남자) that I actually watched.

He’s just adorable.  I can’t wait for the film. Apparently it’s got a release date of December 3rd.

You can check out the trailer below~ have fun with the fan-girl-style-epileptic-seizures:

I recently discovered the site chinaSMACK and found myself totally distracted by some rather racy pics.

It turns out the Chinese version of FHM, 男人装, is stirring up a bit of controversy with its sexy shoots. Seeing as how there’s over a billion people in China, it’s difficult to contend that the Chinese don’t get jiggy with it. Nevertheless, following economic reform and liberalization in 1978, China seemed to be slow on the sexual liberation front. We may perhaps be witnessing the lead-in to 改革开放 v. 2.0, “opening and reform: China floods the world markets with hawtness”.

Could the world’s porn industry withstand such an onslaught? I think Japan’s adult market would be seriously threatened by this…  I can just imagine the numbers of economists, consultants, and bankers who would jump at the chance to do the research to make projections based on the potential of the Chinese market ^^

I would suggest the best angle for FHM to take, should Hu and the rest of the government decide for a moral push at some point, is to maintain that this magazine is merely promoting “Socialism with Chinese Characteristics” and abides by the regime’s principle of “harmony”.

I’ve gotta admit, not all too long ago I watched a video by Super Junior-M (check out their official website)and was decidedly unimpressed. I thought their Mandarin songs were mediocre at best and although it was interesting that the Korean entertainment industry was finally trying to tap into the Chinese market by using Mandarin, I wasn’t buying it yet.

Well, this single, Blue Tomorrow (到了明天), has changed my opinion of the group for the better. Their Mandarin singing has really improved! Whereas previously I somewhat cringed at the heavy Korean accents on the Mandarin, I started listening to this and didn’t even notice!

I was shopping in a nifty, little Chinese bookstore in Alhambra, CA, Kingston Culture, Plaza, when I heard that famous riff, “D-I-S-C-O”, but what followed was not, as I was expecting, Korean lyrics, but rather Chinese!!! I was like, “wtf, mate?”

It turns out there’s a cpop version of D.I.S.C.O., sung in Mandarin, by the artist Landy Wen (溫嵐). You can check it out below:

Check out Uhm Jung Hwa’s Korean version of D.I.S.C.O. here:

Do cpop stars like Landy buy the right to the song and the video concept and style or just rip it all off? Haha, I mean, I know IPR isn’t really respected in the Chinese world, but sometimes it’s just ridiculous.

Word on the street is her dress was too short for the Korean censors, so she’s got an 18+ rating on it and it’s banned from being broadcast on major networks. I’m vaguely reminded of the Britney Spears and Lindsey Lohan crotch shots that were so popular the other year. Whatever, Ivy’s dress and song are both hot. You go, girl ^^