…to date. Here it is, on the BLOCKBUSTER® Hit List for the week ending June 20, 2010. Thanks, Terri, for this information.
Haha. Go, Raizo! — Stephe ^@@^
World Cup Updates: Day 12, Tuesday.
•June 23, 2010 • 3 Comments
REALITY: FIFA World Cup 2010
Uruguay 1 — Mexico 0
South Africa 2 — France 1
Argentina 2 — Greece 0
South Korea 2 — Nigeria 2
With this tie, Team All The Reds makes it into the next round and all of South Korea is in rejoicing. “Dae… han-min!guk! HOH!” Don’t forget, Team USA will be on the pitch today (Wednesday) against Algeria. C’mon boys—go for it.
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FANTASY: MTV World Cup of Rock 2010 (in progress)
South Korea (RAIN): 93% of the vote
South Africa (Dave Matthews): 7% of the vote
Rain’s first match-up against Coldplay is definitely over and done and in the bag, Clouds (87% to 13%). And looks like this second one will follow right down the same path to victory. It’s cool to see Team Tae-Guk doing well in both reality and fantasy play, and Rain must be absolutely tickled by it.
Have a great day, everyone. — Stephe ^@@^
A taste of Love Song… in Japanese!
•June 23, 2010 • 3 CommentsOh-em-gee, he is so awesome. This is the mark of a true World Star… when you can just throw your song at someone in their own language. And Rain does this quite a bit. Always has.
Our hearts have melted all over the floor. Gosh, he is wonderful.
— Stephe ^@@^
Fan cam, Love Song partial audio, Japanese version, at ZEPP Tokyo. (courtesy of unity0630 / tip: scorpiola)
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Edited To Add: The full Japanese version, courtesy of popponao25.
The Ninja Assassin soundtrack: Check it out.
•June 23, 2010 • 3 Comments
There have been several questions concerning songs on the Ninja Assassin OST lately, and we’re just now realizing we don’t have that information anywhere on the WebBlog. Oh, the shame of it! We must correct that immediately! 🙂
This info is now included on our Discography 2009-2010 page. We have also included an order link over to the right, down in our blog sidebar. And we have a taste of the music over on our NINJA ASSASSIN page.
NINJA ASSASSIN: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (various artists)
Original release date: 11/23/2009
Label: New Line Records
2009 Warner Bros. Entertainment1. Ninja Assassin · Ilan Eshkeri · 6:17
2. Training · Ilan Eshkeri · 6:35
3. Kiriko Runs · Ilan Eshkeri · 2:26
4. Mika’s Apartment · Ilan Eshkeri · 4:43
5. First Kill · Ilan Eshkeri · 1:26
6. Skyscraper Rain · Ilan Eshkeri · 3:24
7. Escape from Safehouse · Ilan Eshkeri · 6:30
8. Healing · Ilan Eshkeri · 5:14
9. Soldiers Attack · Ilan Eshkeri · 3:15
10. Raizo Vs Ozunu/Freedom · Ilan Eshkeri · 7:09
11. Being Boiled (2003 Digital Remaster) · The Human League · 4:17
12. Heroes/Helden (2001 Digital Remaster) · David Bowie · 6:03
13. Shazam! · Spiderbait · 2:06
14. The MC Remix · Ryuzo · 3:56
15. Legacy [Explicit] · Raekwon feat. Xzibit & Murs · 3:45
You can purchase the soundtrack as an audio CD, or as an mp3 album, or as individual mp3 tracks. You can also listen to the songs on site.
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The NA soundtrack only has about half the songs from the movie on it. The reelsoundtrack blog has an informative write-up on the subject, as well as all of the extra music and their download links. We liked this.
» Read the reelsoundtrack blog on the sounds of Ninja Assassin HERE.
Shazam! by Spiderbait. (courtesy of ANIMALfaceless)
— Stephe ^@@^
[images] Japanese Clouds love their ZEPP show stash. :)
•June 22, 2010 • 3 Comments(image credit as tagged)
[images] Practice makes perfect.
•June 22, 2010 • 2 CommentsAs we understand it… rehearsal at ZEPP Tokyo. Just look at that awesome hair. Perfectly in place, of course. 🙂 — ^@@^
(credit: DC / source: soompi / tip: sixtofive1982)
[alert] Rain & the Tae-Guk warriors’ second match is on.
•June 22, 2010 • 8 Comments
… in MTV’s World Cup of Rock. Right now. Heheheheh. We’ve got one match already in the bag. Let’s go for two. Have fun, Clouds. 
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» MTV World Cup of Rock: South Korea versus South Africa is HERE.
“South Korea has been tearing up their opponents thanks to the power of Rain and his incredible online fan base. Though South Africa has a diverse attack, they are currently falling short to England in another match and could really use the boost. But can the Dave Matthews-lead squad overcome the awesome power of the South Koreans? Only you can decide!”
(MTV Newsroom blog 6/22/10)
Well… I hate to be cocky, really I do… but the answer is no. 😛
— Stephe ^@@^
Piano man.
•June 22, 2010 • 5 CommentsHow about some Rain on stage? Yes, we are definitely in the mood for that. (Of course, there is plenty of Rain on stage over on our IN CONCERT section pages.) 🙂
— Stephe ^@@^
Rain’s Comeback performance on M!Countdown, 2008. A Love Story performance to rival other Love Story performances. Slow it down for us, Ji-Hoon. (courtesy of Kpopcorner @YT)
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[fan account] Rain’s first Love ZEPP Tokyo hall concert.
•June 22, 2010 • 2 Comments
Credit: swisschoco @soompi / Courtesy of ratoka @rainHK
Hey guys! I just got back from Zepp and it was AMAZING! He did all of his famous hits, including hip song and love song.
The venue was pretty small and I managed to squeeze into the front 3rd of the floor. He danced and sang excellently and had a translator translate what he said in Korean. He mostly spoke Korean but did say a few things in Japanese.
Highlights: During one of his costume changes, the sheer curtain fell over the stage with a light behind him so you could see his silhouette (sorry sp?…) and he took off his cuffs and shirt and started unbuttoning his pants, when he was like ‘haha fooled you’ and ran off stage to finish changing. He also used a hand camera to film the crowd and then pick out a fan who got to go up [on] stage and he sang to her while sitting next to her…so jealous. The ending was REALLY energetic and everyone was jumping around screaming ‘jung ji hoon’ and they release some balloons that the front half (myself included) managed to grab. They were only selling some of the goods…Some hadn’t come in yet.
No pics or video allowed [so] sorry for the lack of fancams. [Jihoon] oppa is amazing, going from sexy to cute and back to sexy. His facial expressions are so much fun to watch! The only annoying bit was that the stage was pretty low so people couldn’t really see below his waist, but I guess what counts is that we got to see him so who cares really. Can’t wait to go tomorrow night again! Just wanted to add that there were quite a few guy fans. The guy next to me was such a fan boy…he [knew] all of the lyrics to the songs.
— swisschoco
Love the part about the silhouette tease. You know everybody was screaming like they were going to see something… hahaha! And the fan boys. I think I would have paid to see that. 😉
Thanks so much for sharing this, swisschoco and ratokta. — Stephe ^@@^
(all images credit as tagged)
It’s Raining all over the Japanese news.
•June 22, 2010 • 2 CommentsZOOM IN News. (courtesy of amekame888)
Nihon TV News. (courtesy of amekame888)
Ten News. (courtesy of amekame888)
— Stephe ^@@^
Saitama gets another Love Tour poster.
•June 22, 2010 • Leave a CommentAnd we like it. ^@@^
(image: teamjihoon625)
도망자 (Do-mang-ja) Check.
•June 22, 2010 • 1 Comment
PopSeoul 6/22/2010 — Rain’s upcoming drama is picking up a stellar cast!
The “Secret Lovers“ actress isn’t keeping her love of the new KBS drama a secret—Yoon Jin-seo is the latest talented star to join in the chase. She joins fellow actors Rain, Lee Na-young, Lee Jung-jin and Daniel Henney in the upcoming detective project. Jin-seo will portray a quirky and energetic detective paired with Lee Jung-jin’s character. Her duty is to chase after Rain and Lee Na-young….
» You can read this post in its entirety on the PopSeoul blogsite HERE.
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HanCinema 6/21/2010 — Korean-American actor Daniel Henney is the latest actor to be cast alongside Rain and Lee Na-young for upcoming TV series “Fugitive”, according to his agency Apple Of The Eye on Monday.
Apple Of The Eye announced in a press release that the actor will play the role of a shipping tycoon, who falls in love with Lee’s character Jin-yi and tries to help her with his wealth and power.
“We are happy that Henney will be appearing in a high-quality drama that will be a collaboration between the best director and writer”, an official at Apple was quoted as saying. “Daniel Henney is focusing on studying his character and is highly looking forward to meeting viewers on the small screen for the first time in a long while”.
The series will be directed by noted television producer Kwak Jeong-hwan and written by Cheon Seong-il, the duo behind the recent hit TV series “The Slave Hunters” earlier this year.
Chun has revealed that he “had Henney in mind” since first creating the character, whom he described as having “a cold-blooded charisma underneath a warm smile.” ….
» You can read this article in its entirety on the HanCinema site HERE.
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Finally Henney gets a decent write-up. And welcome to the Runaway family, Jin-Seo!
— Stephe ^@@^
Japanese news spot featuring Rain.
•June 22, 2010 • Leave a CommentThis brand spanking new spot features Rain’s ZEPP Love Tour press conference and the June 23rd release of the Back To The Basic Japanese edition of his mini-album. He looks great. Enjoy!
— Stephe ^@@^
(courtesy of ratoka @YT)
[sticky] World Cup Updates: Day 11, Monday.
•June 22, 2010 • Leave a Comment
REALITY: FIFA World Cup 2010
Portugal 7 — North Korea (DPR) 0
Chile 1 — Switzerland 0
Spain 2 — Honduras 0
OUCH, North Korea… my goodness. South Korea will be on the pitch today (Tuesday), against Nigeria. C’mon, Tae-Guk Reds!
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FANTASY: MTV World Cup of Rock 2010
Today’s match-ups were Argentina versus Italy, and Brazil versus Spain. As the votes seem to be counted beyond a single day, it will be more efficient to report these outcomes sometime tomorrow.
» Rain/S. Korea (87% of the vote) versus Coldplay/England (13% of the vote) FINAL
Our man hasn’t been up on the MTV Newsroom Blog since this first successful match-up, so you know MTV is about ready to throw him into another one… watch out.
— Stephe ^@@^
Rain will hit the ZEPP Tokyo stage…
•June 22, 2010 • 1 Comment… in roughly an hour. And he’s in good company: NAS, Blink 182, Mika, Bob Dylan, Marilyn Manson, Evanescence, Onmyouza, Bon Jovi, and many other world artists were there before him. In fact, Dylan was finishing up his ZEPP Japan run this year just as Rain was first announcing his. And Rain himself sang at the Tokyo venue during a past fan meet, so this really is old hat.
Enjoy the special intimacy of this tour, Ji-Hoon. We know the Japanese fans will, for sure. — Stephe ^@@^
» Rain Loves ZEPP Tour, ZEPP Tokyo.
[images] More Rain at his ZEPP Love Tour press conference.
•June 22, 2010 • 1 Comment(source: rain-cloud)
Rain on The Examiner: Can he move those hips!
•June 21, 2010 • 6 Comments
The Spokane Examiner 6/20/2010 — Rain or Bi is a major singer dance artist in Korea and Japan and he has plenty of fans over in America as well. For the Korean ad campaign for “The Karate Kid” remake which will be known as the “Best Kid” in Korea, where people know the difference between kung fu, karate and taekwando….
It tickled us pink that not only did they showcase Rain becoming part of the Karate Kid legend with the Hip Song music video, but that they also gave a taste of his recent farewell comeback stages with second video to boot. A two-fer.
Yes, Rain can move that body. The real question is… can you handle it? 😉
— Stephe ^@@^
It’s time. Rain is ready to ZEPP.
•June 21, 2010 • 3 Comments
Asia Today 6/21/2010 — Actor and singer Rain (real name Jung Ji-Hoon, 28) has hit the road to Japan for his ‘Rain Loves Zepp Tour’ which will begin on the 22nd.
Starting with his two-day concert in Tokyo on the 22nd as part of his Zepp Tour, it’ll go in Fukuoka on the 25th, Osaka on the 28th and 29th, Nagoya on July 12th, Sendai on July 4th, and in Sapporo on July 5th.
Before his concert, he held a press conference in Tokyo’s Cibacoen (芝公園) and stated his feelings, “I’ll try to hold my concert with a sense of closeness as if I date with my fans.”
Also, the Japan version of his special album ‘Back To The Basic’ released in Korea last April, will be unveiled in Japan upcoming June 23rd.
credit to Asia Today http://news.nate.com/view/20100621n19571
Brief translation by rain bird @rain-eu.
(press conference graphic source: Kyodo News, Japan)
— Stephe ^@@^
Fan account: I bumped into Rain near where I work…
•June 21, 2010 • 1 Comment
[blog source: rain-eu. — ^@@^ 7:15 am EST]
“I bumped into Rain near where I work.
My friend had shouted at us, “I saw Rain in front of 7-Eleven next to my shop, when I went to the store to buy some ice cream.” So I had burst out, “How come you only saw him!”
But I also had a chance to see him, so I continued to press the shutter, following him around everywhere at that time.
And then when I went to Dongdam, the sound of his hit song ‘Love Song’ came from the loudspeaker in the nick of time. At the same time I was so excited.
Oh, Rain! I’ll be seeing you again!
Let me go undercover in front of my store. ㅋㅋ.”
—
** That’s probably what happened around June 19th.
Credit: boom @DC
Site credit: gall.dcinside.com
brief translation by rain bird
And they just keep coming. ;)
•June 21, 2010 • 2 CommentsThanks, Innolife! (Well, MCM/Lotte should be mighty happy to see that backpack on him…) ^@@^
World Cup Updates: Day 10, Sunday.
•June 21, 2010 • 4 Comments
[*ETA: Wakkitakki (aka arashi) has stated her concerns about MTV World Cup of Rock inconsistencies and started a thread to address them over on the MTV Discussion Board. Have a look. Do any of you have concerns as well? My main irritation is the fact that there is no clear cut-off for matches. When are they no longer “live” and the scores final? And quite frankly, I would have a better time at MTV if I could GET LOGGED ON when I LOG ON. What is up with that?
Somebody’s got some ‘splainin’ to do. ^@@^]
REALITY: FIFA World Cup 2010
Paraguay 2 — Slovakia 0
Italy 1 — New Zealand 1
Brazil 3 — Ivory Coast 1
Reminder: South Korea’s next match is tomorrow, on the 22nd, and Team USA will take the field again on the 23rd.
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FANTASY: MTV World Cup of Rock 2010
The Rain/S. Korea (87% of the vote) versus Coldplay/England (13% of the vote) match-up held steady at that score all weekend, so this may be the final. The MTV Newsroom Blog also took its weekend break, so posts should start flying fast and furious over there sometime today (Monday). I have an event that I must attend this afternoon, and Terri has an appointment as well… so keep an eye on MTV, Clouds. Just in case.
Did everyone have a nice weekend?
— Stephe ^@@^
Rain’s Love Tour Press Conference.
•June 21, 2010 • 4 Comments
Rain held a press conference in Japan today (the 21st) for the launch of his 2010 Rain Loves ZEPP/Rain Summer Love Tour.
“It’s been a day since I [got] here, so I’m not tired yet. Now my mind is completely occupied by my concert,” he is quoted as saying, after first giving a polite greeting in Japanese.
When asked why he chose the ZEPP halls throughout Japan for this tour, Rain is quoted as responding: “Up until now I’ve asked that my fans come to [me], but in this case I’m making the move to [come close to them]…
…My ZEPP Concert Tour will be very open and friendly, as if I have a date with you. My concert at Saitama Super Arena, by comparison, is a very splendid stage that has a lot to see [and is not as intimate].”
(Thank you to rain bird and Rain Europe for this information from Daum, Benamoo, Japanese Clouds, and DC. What you see in brackets are loose translations of what I believe Rain is trying to convey. I am being very careful, as I have no intentions of misrepresenting Rain’s words in any way. But there are times when this is needed for some American audiences, as many Korean and English words have no true counterparts.)
— Stephe ^@@^
No one can get in the way of what we feel for you.
•June 21, 2010 • Leave a Comment“When the rain is pouring down, and my heart is hurting… you will always be around. This I know for certain.”
— from “No One”, Alicia Keys
Snapshots from the past twelve months in a poignant fan made video. Well done, lunaluna. As always. Please take it to heart, Ji-Hoon. Every word is so very true.
— Stephe ^@@^
Rain & Cloud: Congratulations and Happy Birthday… (credit and edit: lunaluna / courtesy of eye0rain)
Rain on Innolife at Narita.
•June 21, 2010 • Leave a CommentInnolife TV was on the scene when our Ji-Hoon touched down yesterday, though it looks like the rep was batted about a bit by the masses. Still, some good, close shots, which is why we’re bringing this to you. You can never get too much Rain.
— Stephe ^@@^
(courtesy of ratoka @YT)
New on the blog.
•June 21, 2010 • 1 Comment
* ADDED: Rain’s first interview with CNN’s Talk Asia (that we know of), from 2005, on our » Documentaries & Interviews page.
* ADDED: Rain’s second interview with CNN’s Talk Asia (that we know of), from October 2009, on our Documentaries & Interviews page.
* ADDED: TIME Magazine’s 10 Questions To Rain interview, from 2008, on our Documentaries & Interviews page.
We don’t see how anyone could possibly leave our D & I page not knowing what a dynamic individual Jung Ji-Hoon is, and feeling closer to him. Everything he’s ever wanted his fellow human beings to know about him is there.
— Stephe ^@@^
Japanese Clouds are very happy: More Rain at Narita Airport.
•June 20, 2010 • 1 CommentWord on the street is there were a good 500 fans there, and had been for around three hours.
Have a good time, Japanese Cloud sisters. Show Rain some love! 🙂
— Stephe ^@@^
(credit: teamjihoon0625 / courtesy of hanururain @YT)
(source blog: Rain Angel / courtesy of hanururain @YT)
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(source blog: Rain Diary / courtesy of 0625jihoon @YT)
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(source blogs: RainSaranhe, Rainkokkoya)
World Cup Updates: Day 9, Saturday.
•June 20, 2010 • Leave a Comment
REALITY: FIFA World Cup 2010
Ghana 1 — Australia 1
Netherlands 1 — Japan 0
Denmark 2 — Cameroon 1
South Korea’s next match is on the 22nd, and Team USA will take the field again on the 23rd.
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FANTASY: MTV World Cup of Rock 2010
The Rain/S. Korea (87% of the vote) versus Coldplay/England (13% of the vote) match-up has been holding steady at that score all day long, and the MTV Newsroom Blog appears to be on its weekend break, so this may be the final score for this round, Clouds. Nice job! Give yourselves a well-deserved rest.
— Stephe ^@@^
Uno. Dos. Tres…
•June 20, 2010 • Leave a CommentFrom Mens UNO. You could count all day long just looking at that. ^@@^
Rain arrives at Narita Airport.
•June 20, 2010 • 1 CommentAnd he stopped for a quick moment of flash photography. Very nice. Only two more days… and our man will be ZEPPing! Are you ready, Japan? — Stephe ^@@^
(fan cam courtesy of mitunabasaki @YT)
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(image credit as tagged)
My word! Rain & Henney? Can this be TRUE?
•June 20, 2010 • 8 Comments
[*ETA: Well, this news appears to be all good, folks. We really liked Henney in the poignant 2007 movie My Father (which he won a Best New Actor award for), in the 2009 CBS prime time drama Three Rivers here in the US, and in 2006’s Korean drama Seducing Mr. Perfect. You may recall he also played Agent Zero in the 2009 Hollywood film X-Men: Origins.]
Money Today’s Star News is reporting that, after a stint away from acting, Daniel Henney will be joining Rain, Na-Young, and Jung-Jin in Rain’s upcoming fall drama Runaway (Domanja).
The article also gives more hints at the plot line, particularly that love will blossom between Ji-Woo (Rain) and Jin-Yi (Na-Young) as they play a cat-and-mouse game involving a huge cache of long-lost war money. This game will unfold in many cities all across Asia, and… here we go!… Henney’s character will act as Jin-Yi’s very protective guardian angel, which of course should bring about that infamous drama vehicle we’re all familiar with—the love triangle. Dun-dun-DUN!
(Thanks to rain bird and Rain Europe for this information.)
The original Star News article translated as Daniel “Hay,” but here is the actual picture that Star News printed with it (from the Hangeul write-up), and it looks like Daniel Henney to me. We haven’t seen Henney’s reps confirm this in print, so… We’ll continue to read around, and if there is anything askew, either concerning the picture or the write-up, we will bring you an update. This news is really fresh—I can’t find anything else about it out there now, but later on today there should be plenty and we’ll know the real scoop one way or the other.
I’m telling you, if this is fact, if our Ji-Hoon is going to be in a love triangle with Henney on Runaway, I don’t know if my heart can take it. Some women get all the luck! How many of you would sell your souls to be Lee Na-Young right about now? 😛
— Stephe ^@@^ 4:25 pm EST
Cloud USA 