Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
“I didn’t really know what hip hop and rap was when I was in (South) Korea,” San E says. “And then I moved to Atlanta when I was in middle school and just naturally started paying attention to it, because it was everywhere. I was lucky, even though I didn’t think so as a kid. Atlanta has a lot of great musicians. The music scene is pretty diverse and I was just going with it.”
After winning two bronze medals at the PyeongChang Olympics this year, Alex and Maia Shibutani made history by becoming the first skaters of Asian heritage to medal in ice dancing. “It was really special, because there hadn’t been a tradition of ice dance success for Asians,” says Alex, 26. “Whenever we compete anywhere in Asia, we always feel adopted and embraced by the locals.”
Do you think it’s appropriate to refer to a person who was born in the United States as an “immigrant”? Yeah, me neither.
Steve Aoki — a world-famous, Grammy-nominated DJ and producer — has collaborated with artists such as will.i.am, Linkin Park and Fall Out Boy. Most recently, he worked on the remix of BTS’ hit single, “MIC Drop,” which was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America. Known to foodies as the son of Benihana founder Rocky Aoki, he does philanthropic work through his Aoki Foundation, which supports brain science and research areas.
The PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics will mark Julia Marino’s debut as an Olympian. A gold medalist at the 2017 X Games, the 20-year-old snowboarder specializes in Slopestyle and Big Air. A resident of Westport, Connecticut, Marino says that the best souvenir she hopes to bring home from Korea is a medal for Team USA.
Voted by fans as DJ Mag’s No. 1 DJ in the world, Martin Garrix was also handpicked last summer to be the face of Armani Exchange. Some of his collaborations include “Scared to Be Lonely” with Dua Lipa and “So Far Away” with David Guetta. Asked what he enjoys most about working with other artists, Garrix, 21, said, “I love to see how everyone works with music in a different way. I think for every artist, it’s interesting to see how someone else is working. Lana Del Rey is still on my wish list for collaborations and I would love to go into the studio with Shawn Mendes.”
This is for the A.R.M.Y! I wanted to do something fun and special for you… and this is my (small) way of thanking you: I am giving away some copies of my newspaper article and a copy of my book about the TV show, “Friends.”
BTS’ Rap Monster remembers being blown away by the opulence of Las Vegas during his first trip there: “I was last here in 2009 when I was 15. What I remember the most was the inside of the Bellagio. It was amazing. I had never seen a hotel like that before, where there was a whole world inside the hotel. It was beautiful. I got to see Cirque du Soleil’s “O” show. It was so nice. I remember the night view of Vegas, which was tremendous. I remember all the lights and people having fun. I saw a lot of people drinking, which was shocking to me then (since I was so young).”
“If I’m to be completely honest, I picked the northern suburbs (to live in) because of John Hughes’ movies,” says DJ White Shadow. “I tried to buy the ‘Ferris Bueller’ house. It was listed at $1.5 million, which doesn’t seem like a lot for the Ferris Bueller house. But it was a teeny, tiny house in a state of disrepair. It would’ve cost a lot to fix it up.”
In a review that ran in the New York Times, film critic Jeannette Catsoulis gave “Ode to My Father” a big thumbs down for being “syrupy” and for having “packaged pain … likely to leave Western audiences cold.” While there is no doubt that director Yoo Je-Kyoon would’ve loved for American audiences to embrace his movie, it’s also undeniable that this film was not made with Western moviegoers in mind. It was made for Koreans.