Month: August 2012

PSY’s Gangnam Style’s U.S. Popularity Has Koreans Puzzled, Gratified

Jae-Ha Kim

“People are surprised — bewildered, really — at PSY’s popularity abroad,” says Susan Kang, chief evangelist for Soompi.com, the mammoth online site dedicated to Korean pop music. “You have people saying, ‘We have all these beautiful guys and girls that have tried to break through to the U.S. market with little success. So why PSY?’ But of course they are embracing it to the fullest, and it’s causing a renewed interest in and respect for his music.”

Go Away With … Ywada

Jae-Ha Kim

R and B singer Ywada, who hails from Tampa, Fla., says that it didn’t come as a surprise to family and friends when she decided to pursue a career in music. Born to a singer and a sound engineer, she grew up in a household filled with music. Now 26, the mononymous artist is celebrating the release of her current single “Count Me Out.” She’s also working with the Women’s Breast Health Initiative (WBHI) to bring awareness to breast cancer — a disease her close family and friends have had to battle.

Go Away With … Steve Byrne

Jae-Ha Kim

When Vince Vaughn suggested that Steve Byrne create a sitcom, the comic — who’s Irish and Korean — came up with the premise for the TBS series “Sullivan and Son.” Vaughn — a longtime friend and supporter — is an executive producer of the show, where Byrne plays a fictionalized version of himself. “My daughter was born the day before the first table read,” says Byrne, 38. “My wife gave birth at 9:30 at night and I got in to work at 7 or 8 in the morning and I was beaming. The whole cast and crew were clapping and congratulating me. It felt like a good omen.”

Go Away With … Jason Kennedy

Jae-Ha Kim

“My boss told me to pack my bags for two days and head to the Bahamas to cover the death of Anna Nicole Smith,” says Jason Kennedy, the Los Angeles-based entertainment reporter for E! News. “I ended up staying four weeks, because of how the story developed. It was tough being away that long, but well worth it. I learned a lot about this business on that trip.”

Go Away With … Jason Lezak

Jae-Ha Kim

The 2012 London Olympics is the fourth Olympics in which American swimmer Jason Lezak, has competed. He swam in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay preliminaries, which helped the United States reach the finals, where they won a silver medal. While this race wasn’t quite as exciting as the same race at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 — where Lezak swam the crucial anchor leg that helped propel the U.S. to a gold medal — the California-based athlete says every competition at the Games has been memorable in its own way. Lezak, 36, spoke from London, about how swimming has given him an opportunity to see the world.