Kim Heechul to rejoin Super Junior

SEOUL: K-pop boy band Super Junior’s Kim Heechul was officially discharged on Friday, after completing his 23-month stint as a public service officer in lieu of military service, reported Korean media.

The star was allowed to serve as a public service officer instead of a soldier because he suffered a leg injury in a car accident back in 2006.

Kim announced that he would go on a photo uploading spree on photo sharing service Instagram to celebrate, shortly after his discharge.

Super Junior’s management agency revealed that Kim will join the boy band on its current concert tour once he has had sufficient preparation.

The boy band had held concerts across Asia in countries like Indonesia, Japan as well as Singapore earlier this year, and will perform in China, Malaysia and the Philippines in the following months.

source:CNA

G-Dragon, Daesung and Seungri to Participate in “Running Man”

 

Another awesome news for Big Bang fans today!

First, G-Dragon recently dropped the music video for “Coup D’Etat” from his second full-length album of the same name. Second, it’s being reported that three of the Big Bang members are filming right now just outside of Seoul at Icheon.

An agency representative stated, “The members took part in filming ‘Running Man’ to coincide with G-Dragon and Seungri’s album promotions. Daesung, who has a special connection with the staff from ‘Family Outing’ back in the day, also participated in the filming.”

Big Bang drew attention for appearing on the program in February 2012 as a whole group. Fans of the group and fans of the show are curious to see what kind of twists and turns are in store.

source:soompi

SM, YG, JYP Earned Combined Sales of $155 Million USD in 2013

The three major entertainment agencies, SM Entertainment (KOSDAQ: 041510), YG Entertainment (KOSDAQ: 122870), and JYP Entertainment (KOSDAQ: 035900), have published their earnings reports for the first half of 2013. The new reports showed that the combined total sales of all three  agencies have hit a new high for the industry with both YG Entertainment and JYP Entertainment showing improved results compared to the same period last year.

For people that don’t like reading lots of numbers the results can be summarized as such. 

• Combined Sales for the 3 agencies broke new records at approximately $155 million USD (An increase of $53 million USD compared to 2012)
• SM Entertainment has broken new sales records at $96.31 million USD, but has seen substantial profit losses for the first half of 2012 due to substantial losses in music exports and increase in expenses
• YG Entertainment has broken every record, sales, operating profits and net profits. However, it was still below investor expectations and they expect less growth through the year due to the absence of the YG Family Concert and 2NE1′s Arena Tour this year
• JYP Entertainment continued to see losses, but managed to reduce them somewhat. Parent company JYP might potentially be better off

Now that is out of the way, here is the full results for the three agencies in SM Entertainment, YG Entertainment and JYP Entertainment order.

The published reports show that the three KOSDAQ listed agencies earned total combined sales of approximately $155 Million USD in the first half of 2013 (Converted at current exchange rates of 1000 KRW to 0.90 USD). This figure is a new sales record with the three agencies earning total combined sales of approximately $102 Million USD during the same period last year. This is approximately a 50% increase in total sales.

Given the fact that the three agencies take up a substantial portion of the overall K-pop industry in terms of market share and revenue, the new increased figures show that the industry is still relatively healthy and showing healthy year over year growth rates.


The total combined sales split over the three agencies are as thus. SM Entertainment’s total sales for the 1st quarter of 2013 were approximately $51.3 million USD and combined sales for the first half of 2013 were approximately $96.31 Million USD. Sales figure wise, this is SM Entertainments best results since being listed on the KOSDAQ a decade ago.

However all is not well SM Entertainment despite increased sales. Operating Profits for the 2nd quarter of 2013 were approximately $3.29 million USD and combined operating profits for the first half of 2013 were approximately $7.86 million USD. Net profit for the 2nd quarter was USD$626,739 with combined net profit for the first half of 2013 approximately USD$2.4 Million.
 
 

SM Expects EXO’s rise in the Chinese Market to help improve their profitability in the latter half of 2013

But big numbers are meaningless without some context, so here is the context. Second quarter operating profits are down 32% year over year, 1st half Operating Profits are down 6o% YOY with 2nd Quarter net profit down 54% YOY. SM Entertainments attributes this loss to a 68% decrease in exports for their music sales and a 47% increase in overall expenses. However, SM Entertainment expects to see improved results in the 2nd half of the year with successful sales of EXO’s album (Currently selling over 700,000 units), f(x)’s album along with concert sales for DBSK, Super Junior along with their large scale SM Town concerts being held across the globe.

 

SM C&C will continue to aggressively expand their field of operations
SM’s new contents division, SM C&C, is also expected to do its part to increase overall profitability for SM Entertainment in the 2nd half of 2013, which will be aggressively pushing new business ventures like mobile gaming, video content production,  and acquisitions of rival production groups such as Woolim Entertainment.



Meanwhile YG Entertainment has once again enjoyed another quarter of increases. YG Entertainment’s total combined sales for the 2nd Quarter of 2013 was approximately $27.5 million USD with total combined sales for the first half of 2013 coming to approximately $54 million USD. This is a 49% YOY increase in total sales for the first half of the year and is YG’s best ever results since being listed.

Profits were also positive for YG Entertainment with second quarter operating profits coming to approximately $4.95 million USD with combined operation profits for the first half of 2013 coming to approximately $10.62 million USD. Context wise, Operating profits for the first half of 2013 rose 53% compared to 2013 and were once again YG’s best ever results. 

 
New albums like Seungri’s second Album expected to increase music sales for YG in the 3rd quarter of 2013


The string of good results continued to agency’s net profits with 2nd quarter net profits at approximately $4.93 million USD and combined net profits for the first half of 2013 sitting at approximately USD$8.68 million. The results mean that YG Entertainment has seen its first half net profits rise 47% YOY and the results are once again a new record for YG Entertainment. However, the results were lower than expected due to an absences of music sales in the first half of this year.

 

However the lack of a YG Family Concert in 2013 is expected to reduce overall sales in 2013

YG Entertainment, however, expects a much healthier third quarter thanks to the release of albums from Kang Seung Yoon, G-Dragon, Seungri along with G-Dragon’s concerts. However the weakening of the Yen might affect their growth for the rest of the year along with the absences of major concerts this year such as the YG Family Concert and 2NE1′s Arena Tour. Also of note was the relative disappointment of PSY’s “Gentlemen” compared to “Gangnam Style.”

 

Finally, JYP Entertainment (A subsidiary of the parent non-listed company, JYP) saw decent first half results for 2013. Total sales for the 2nd quarter were approximately $2.5 million USD with combined sales for the first half of the year coming to approximately $5.08 million USD, which is a staggering 92% YOY increase.

 

Advertising revenue from artists like Suzy continue to make up a sizable portion of JYP Entertainment’s overall sales

In terms of operating profits, JYP Entertainment saw losses of approximately $1.2 million USD in the 2nd quarter and combined operating losses for the first half of the year comes to approximately $2.1 Million USD. Net Losses were also approximately $1.4 million USD and $2.36 million USD for the 2nd quarter and combined first half respectively. Despite continuing to run losses on their business, JYP Entertainment has managed to reduce their losses YOY with 1st half operating losses dropping 8% and net losses dropping 8.3%. 

 
2PM activities might have helped increase sales for parent company, JYP

Despite losses seen by subsidiary JYP Entertainment, parent company JYP might have seen increased sales. Results for parent company JYP are unknown as they are a non-listed company. Artists such as Wonder Girls, 2PM and 2AM are contracted under the parent company while Park Jin Young and Miss A is contracted under the subsidiary company, JYP Entertainment.

ZE:A's Hyungsik talks about his 'Real Men' woes

 

As a cast member on the hot MBC variety show 'Real Men', ZE:A's Hyungsik got a taste of what life would be like in the South Korean Army. In an interview on 'Section TV', Hyungsik shared that it wasn't an experience he would like to repeat!

 

"I came in nervous, and we had to do things like guerrilla training, chemical warfare demonstrations, and helicopter rappelling," he recounted.

"The chemical warfare training was the worst," he said, talking about a training segment where cadets would be locked into a room pumped with chemical gas, as a simulation of real-life chemical warfare.


"I lost my mind," he said. "I said out loud, 'please save me'. I had no idea that snot could run that long."


source:allkpop

91'ers Min, Nicole, Jinwoon, Jaejin, and Soyu fool around backstage at the 'Incheon Korean Music Wave 2013'

 

The famous 91-liners are back with another photo!

As we all know by now, the 91'ers in K-pop are famous for their close friendship. miss A's Min posted a photo of herself, KARA's Nicole, F.T. Island's Jaejin, 2AM's Jinwoon, and SISTAR's Soyu (Soyu was born in February 92, making her an 'early 92' which is considered the same as the 91'ers).

Min wrote, "Not everyone came out well."

The photo seems to have been taken backstage at the 'Incheon Korean Music Wave 2013', and the five of them look like they're happy just to be seeing each other!

source:allkpop

ahhh...91's liner not complete without KEY... -_-

KARA Damaged Lady MV

Heechul addresses the issue of his sasaeng fans

It's been all but 3 days since Heechul was discharged from the army, but it looks like he's already suffering from sasaeng fans. 

He posted a photo of a cartoon on his Instagram and wrote, "[Laugh].. I still have sasaengs who stick around.. I'm feeling really good lately, but I don't know if I should just be cool about it or make a fuss.. I think I got too nice....".

The photo itself reads, "I'm just going to cut off your wrists!!!", showing how angry he was, and perhaps suggesting the sasaeng fans were grabbing at him.

What do you think about the matter of sasaeng fans?

 

 

Sulli, Suzy, and HyunA for Chosen for Most Alluring Faces

Which female idol has the most alluring face? f(x)‘s Sulli, miss A‘s Suzy, and 4Minute’s HyunA were chosen by beauty experts to have the most alluring faces. 

 

On August 28 the show “Get It Beauty” from On Style channel did a feature on makeup that allures men. The show taught viewers how to make yourself more attractive with the right makeup. On the show beauty experts stated that an alluring face is the combination of blushing pale skin, fine arched eyebrows, eyes that are long and sharp, thick rounded sides of the nose, and lips that rise up at the ends. 

 

The experts also chose female idols that best matched the description of an alluring face. They chose f(x)’s Sulli, miss A’s Suzy, and 4Minute’s HyunA. Interestingly enough, all three are known for their rabbit like image. Out of the three, HyunA had a 100% match to the description of an alluring face. 

miss A’s Jia Practicing Hard for Idol Athletic Championships

It is that time of year again! The time of year when idols of all ages, shapes and sizes do battle on the field, pool and range to determine who is the better athlete. Why yes I am indeed talking about the now annual Idol Athletics Championships held by MBC during the Chuseok holidays.

 

As one of the major idol related events in the calendar year, most participants tend to take it a bit seriously. miss A’s Jia happens to be one of those participants and if her recent tweet is anything to go by then she is definitely practicing hard for the Idol Athletic Championships.

 

 

miss A’s Jia recently posted the above picture on her Twitter account along with the following message, ” For the sake of the Idol Athletics Championships~ I’ve come to practice my archery shooting!~ I did well right!? keke.” The picture shows miss A’s Jia in the standard even stance and a shot of her arrow grouping on the target.

 

(I actually happen to be a hobbyist archer so I feel inclined to point out that you actually shouldn’t be gripping the riser in a full fist.The riser being the middle body of the recurve bow. It should actually be sitting on the palm of your hand. You should also be wearing a sling when using a stabilizer, the long stick thing at the front of the bow, so that the bow swings out of your hands as you shoot but I’m just being pedantic at this point.)

 

As for the score, it appears that miss A’s Jia shot 2 rounds of 3 arrows. Since the scores go from 10 to 1 from inside ring to outside ring, she scored a total of 50 points out of a possible 60 points. Not a bad score to be honest. Arrow grouping is also pretty good except for the single outlier at 5 points.

 

 

This year’s MBC Idol Athletics Championships will involve around 160 idols featuring idols such as 2AM, miss A, Henry, BEAST, Infinite, MBLAQ, ZE:A, Secret, Rainbow, Girl’s Day, A Pink, Dal Shabet, Teen Top, B1A4, EXO, Crayon Pop and Son Jin Young.

 

Entertainer Kim Jae Dong and Jun Hyun Moo will be the main MCs while comedian Lee Byung Jin and Announcer Huh Ill Ho will be responsible for casting the new futsal event. Meanwhile BEAST’s Lee Ki Kwang, Defconn and comedian Maeng Seung Ji will be responsible for on ground reporting. The Idol Athletics Championships will air in September during the Chuseok holiday (September 19).

Donghae opens a new taco store 'Grill 5 Taco'

If you like tacos and if you like Super Junior, you're in luck because Donghae has just opened a taco branch under 'Grill 5 Taco'!

He introduced his new restaurant via his Twitter and Instagram, writing, "'Grill 5 Taco' location Chungdamdong 88-10 bunji. I love Taco# everybody enjoy Taco."

 

 

Kangin, Siwon, Eunhyuk, and Sungmin also went over to congratulate Donghae on his opening day. Donghae took a photo with them and wrote, "We are now ^^ At Chungdam's Grill5Taco ^^ Good Night !! Thanks today, ELF ^^".

 

source:allkpop

What role does miss A's Suzy want to take in her next film?

 

 

After enjoying success as an actress with hits such as 'Introduction to Architecture', miss A's Suzy is hankering for her next movie role!

 

In an interview on 'Section TV', the idol star dished on what kind of role she'd like to play next. Perhaps influenced by the 'Twilight' series, she said she wanted to be a bloodsucking vampire!

 

 

When the host clarified whether she wanted to be bitten by a vampire or be an actual vampire, she confirmed, "I want to be an actual vampire".

We look forward to seeing vampire Suzy on the big screen!

 

source:allkpop