Entertainment

10 things we learned about Hyun Bin at the Smart Hallyu Hangouts

We crashed K-drama actor Hyun Bin’s fan meet

Published

August 4, 2021

Over the weekend, Korean superstar Hyun Bin had a virtual fan meet with his Filipino supporters. Through Smart’s Hallyu Hangouts, thousands of fans were able to watch the interview hosted by Sam Oh and Park Kyung-Lim.

A couple were also given the chance to ask Hyun Bin some questions, one of them even showed off their prowess in speaking Korean. It was a fun evening for everyone, especially his biggest supporters whose dreams of attending his fan meets were hampered by the pandemic. Thank goodness for technology and fast internet, Filipino fans still got to spend with the actor even virtually.

During the hangout, we picked up a couple more interesting things about Hyun Bin that makes him more than just the characters he plays on screen.

He’s a perfectionist

While shooting for the Smart commercial, Hyun Bin admitted that it took a while to learn his line. “Simple, Smart ako” might be a short and easy sentence to say for Filipinos but “simple” proved to be quite tricky for him. He took some time to learn it and even asked people for help.

He says that he’s always been like this and while filming for dramas, he would even be quite hard on himself. There are times when his directors are already happy with the scene but he would still want to iron out his acting.

He had a fan club when he was in high school

Before entering show business, Hyun Bin already had his own fan club. Talk about being extremely good looking! He was modest enough to say that he didn’t know much about it, though.

He’s a news junkie

We love a well-rounded oppa and Hyun Bin admits to reading all sections of the news. “It’s nice to know what’s happening in the world I’m living in,” he said during the live.

He doesn’t watch his own work

He admits to going on OTT platforms a lot to watch series and movies but never the ones that have him on them. In fact, he has never seen Crash Landing on You (CLOY) after they filmed the drama.

Hyun Bin is passionate about golf

He says he would love to become a golf player. This, after getting hooked on the sport. He admits it’s just a hobby and that if he weren’t so busy, he’d probably be doing it more often. It’s also something that relaxes him.

He rarely cries IRL

Hyun Bin admits that he doesn’t cry much in real life. Maybe it’s because he does it a lot for work or maybe because he’s just extremely happy right now.

He searches his name online

Rarely does any celebrity admit to Googling oneself so this was quite refreshing. He says he does it about once a day. “I want to know if there’s something about me that I don’t know of. I also want to see how events like these are covered by the media,” he added.

He knew how to play the piano

Hyun Bin learned how to play the piano as a child. However, he forgot most of it as he rarely used the skill. So, when they were filming for Crash Landing on You, he would practice in his hotel room using an electric keyboard they brought with them all the way from Korea.

He would’ve loved to play two other CLOY characters

It’s hard to imagine Hyun Bin as anyone other than Ri Jeong-hyeok in CLOY. However, he says that he would have been open to playing the villain, Cho Cheol-gang and the wiretapper, Jung Man-bok.

He has an upcoming movie

They just finished the sequel to Confidential Assignment and he promises that it will be bigger and more international than the first one. “In the first movie, it was just North and South Korea that were involved. In the sequel, the US and other countries will also play a part in the story,” he shared.

Smart Hallyu Hangouts was powered by Smart, one of the country’s top network providers. Internet metrics company Ookla recently cited Smart as the country’s fastest mobile data network in the second half of 2020 after it achieved a Speed Score™ of 24.99, with average speeds of 20.08 Mbps for download, and 7.42 Mbps for upload.

Related Topics:Hyun Bin K-Drama Korea Smart Communications

Entertainment

There’s a real Super Mario movie coming with Chris Pratt

Coming next year

Published

September 24, 2021

Luigi Leonardo

Earlier today, Nintendo hosted its Nintendo Direct presentation for the month of September. As expected, the presentation teased a barrage of amazing titles coming for the holiday season. However, amid the new titles, Nintendo also announced a stranger title that didn’t fit in with the rest: an upcoming Super Mario movie.

If you grew up in the 90s, you might be familiar with the old Super Mario Bros. Super Show, a live-action adaptation of the iconic gaming franchise, and a more controversial movie. Though it was watchable fare for kids, the series never made an impact especially compared to the original games. Some people even view it with ironic appreciation. Undoubtedly, the new announcement is raising its fair share of eyebrows all over the world.

Nintendo has not shared any plot details or a trailer for the film yet. However, we do know that it will be an animated film from Illumination Entertainment, the same studio who made the Despicable Me series. It will also feature all the familiar characters from the franchise.

Marvel actor Chris Pratt will voice the titular plumber. Opposite him, Anya Taylor-Joy will voice Princess Peach. Charlie Day will voice Mario’s brother, Luigi. Jack Black voices the franchise’s villain, Bowser. Keegan-Michael Key makes an appearance as Toad. Finally, Seth Rogen is Donkey Kong.

The upcoming film is set for a 2022 launch.

Entertainment

Shopee’s 10.10 K-Pop performer is ITZY

Following sister group TWICE’s footsteps

Published

September 16, 2021

GadgetMatch

Image from @ITZYofficial on Twitter

Shopee is on a roll. After securing performances from K-Pop supergroup TWICE, the online shopping company has also secured performances from K-Pop 4th Gen superstars ITZY. The group is set to perform on their 10.10 Brand Festival Shopee live.

Shopee has yet to reveal what else they have in store for 10.10. But what we can expect for sure is another generous round of vouchers and giveaways.

ITZY is a five-member girl group featuring Yeji, Lia, Ryujin, Chaeryeong, and Yuna. The group debuted with the song “Dalla Dalla”. In 2020, they launched the shoulder dance craze with their comeback “Wannabe”. On September 24, the group will release their first full album called Crazy In-Love with the title track “Loco”.

Early Shopee Christmas

In the Philippines, Shopee is already kickstarting its Christmas campaign. They are welcoming the holidays essentially the voice and face of Christmas in the country — Jose Mari Chan. Shoppers can catch the singer-songwriter on holiday-themed in-app games such as Shopee Catch and Shopee Collectibles from September to December.

The singer-songwriter will also give out treats via ShopeePay come December. He’s doing it along with other celebrities and influencers. Look for ShopeePay Celebrity Pamasko on your homepage and play the game to receive ShopeePay credits.

You can activate your ShopeePay wallet by clicking on the ShopeePay wallet bar, entering your personal information and OTP, and creating and confirming your ShopeePay PIN.

Entertainment

Netflix, WWE announces interactive film Escape The Undertaker

Premiering in October

Published

September 8, 2021

Luigi Leonardo

Since the release of Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, Netflix has invested more and more in interactive content. In fact, besides its growing library of interactive content, the company is also working on its own video games for the future. Amid the rise of interactive content, Netflix is also working on a new collaboration to bolster its library. Netflix and WWE are releasing an interactive movie featuring The Undertaker.

Escape The Undertaker is an interactive Halloween film from both WWE Studios and Netflix. As the title indicates, the film stars Mark Calloway, otherwise known for his in-ring persona The Undertaker. Viewers have to guide the members of The New Day, a faction consisting of WWE stars Big E, Kofi Kingston, and Xavier Woods, to… well, escape The Undertaker. The fearsome legend invited The New Day to his mansion. Unbeknownst to the trio, The Undertaker’s mansion is filled with traps which The New Day have to escape from.

WWE Studios is no stranger to cinematic experiences. Before the age of Netflix, WWE produced and released action and horror films featuring their superstars including Steve Austin, John Cena, and Kane. In recent history, the company’s more creative arm got a breath of fresh air with last year’s cinematic matches. Because of the pandemic, WWE held more cinematic matches to compensate for the pandemic’s limitations. Coincidentally, one of those matches also included The Undertaker’s final match before retiring.

Escape The Undertaker premiers on Netflix on October 5.