Korean superstar Rain has been featured in U.S. business and financial news magazine Forbes once again. The singer and actor was featured earlier this week on Forbes.com as one of ten celebrities representing major cell phone brands from across the globe.

Rain is the face of Samsung phones in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan and was chosen as Samsung’s “Olympic Brand Ambassador” for the upcoming Summer Games in Beijing because he is viewed as “Korea’s answer to Justin Timberlake.”

Other celebrities on the list include tennis star Maria Sharapova and singer Usher for Sony Ericsson, Hong Kong star Andy Lau for LG’s Shine phone, and soccer’s David Beckham for the Motorola RAZR2.

Joo Ji Hoon Rilis Buku Foto

Belum lama ini Joo Ji Hoon (aktor Princess Hours) melakukan pemotretan di Pulau Bali dan Paris. Foto-foto hasil pemotretan itu akan dirilis dalam buku yang berjudul Landmark pada 19 Oktober ini.

Aktor yang juga bermain dalam serial The Devil ini selalu tampil cool. Kali ini ia menunjukkan sisi aslinya di depan kamera. Buku foto ini memuat foto-foto yang dibuatnya sendiri dan foto semasa kecil. (Sumber: Asian Plus).

mengapa Rain(jung ji hyun) disukai bayak orang

Mengapa Rain begitu “digila-digilai” oleh banyak orang? Tidak hanya di Korea, tetapi juga Asia, bahkan Amerika dan Eropa?

Menurut saya ada beberapa alasan menjawab pertanyaan tersebut, di antaranya :

* Namanya lebih mudah diingat dan dilafalkan, tidak seperti aktor Korea lainnya, yang mana kita harus berjuang mengingat namanya.
* Meski matanya sipit, Rain mempunyai postur yang tegap dan tinggi —bahkan ini telah menjadi ciri khasnya sejak duduk di SD, ia selalu menjadi setidaknya paling tinggi nomor 4 di kelasnya, meski sewaktu SD ia tidak mempunyai prestasi dan sangat pendiam.
* Rain memiliki bakat menyanyi yang istimewa, meski ia menempanya dengan latihan bertahun-tahun. Ini dibuktikannya dengan lahirnya album Korea Rain: Bad Guy (13/5/02), How to Avoid the Sun (16/10/030, It’s Raining (10/10/04), Rain’s World (16/10/06); plus beberapa album dan singel Jepang
* Rain juga mempunyai bakat akting yang luar biasa, ini terbukti dengan banyaknya penghargaan yang dihadiahkan kepadanya. Selain itu Rain juga memikat hati banyak orang lewat penampilannya yang memikat dan pas untuk perannya. Yang susah dilupakan adalah saat dia menjadi aktor Lee Yong Jae dalam serial Full House yang dibintanginya bersama Song Hye Gyo, dan jadi bodyguard di drama serial A Love to Kill bareng Shin Min Ah.
* Yang paling bersentuhan lama dengan dirinya adalah bakat menarinya. Ia mulai menunjukkan bakat tersebut kelas 6 SD, di saat teman-temannya memandang rendah dirinya sebagai anak pendiam, tidak berprestasi, akhirnya mengagumkan banyak orang di saat ia mengajukan diri mewakili kelasnya. Saat itu yang ada dalam benak Rain adalah tampil baik dan ia mulai mengingat-ingat dan menirukan tarian yang pernah dilihatnya di TV dan jalanan. Bakat itu pula yang membuat masa remajanya suram, karena ia begitu tergila-gila dengan dance, sehingga bolos sekolah dan bergaul dengan para seniornya, hingga ia jarang pulang, yang lebih menyedihkan nilai rata-ratanya waktu ulangan pertama di SMP hanya 4,5 saja. Selain itu ia juga tidak sempat memperhatikan kondisi kesehatan mamanya, hingga mamanya meninggal karena komplikasi diabetes dan penyakit lainnya.
* Untunglah Rain tetap memegang teguh janjinya kepada papanya, meski bergaul dengan anak-naka nakal untuk bisa belajar menari, dia tidak pernah merokok dan berbuat hal-hal buruk.

Ada yang lain gak ya? Menurut kamu, gimana? Apa daya tarik Rain?

Nama Ngetop: Rain Bi Nama asli: Jeong Ji-hoon Julukan: Collie Pup Tempat/tanggal lahi: Seoul, 25 Juni 1982 Debut: 28 April 2002 Tinggi/ berat: 184 cm/ 75 kg Golongan darah: O Hobi: Nonton film, dengar musik, koleksi sepatu Warna favorit: Hitam, putih Aktor favorit: Charlie Chaplin, Han Suk Kyu Artis favorit: Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Usher Lagu favorit: R&B, hip-hop, funk Olah raga favorit: Basket, renang.

The Singger Of Rain

Singer Rain has been invited to the headquarters of ABC TV in New York.

Rain was recently selected by the U.S. weekly magazine TIME as one of the “100 Most Influential People in the World” (Time 100). He will leave Seoul on the morning of May 7 to attend a “Time 100″ party to be held at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York on May 8 at 8:30 p.m., local time. The trip has garnered attention, as Rain is expected to meet a senior executive of ABC TV, one of the major American TV networks, at the company’s headquarters in New York.

According to a person close to Rain, he will visit the ABC TV headquarters in New York on May 8 at noon before heading for the “Time 100″ red carpet ceremony. He is visiting ABC at the company’s invitation. During his visit, he is expected to have a meeting with a senior executive at ABC to discuss the possibility of his appearing on the TV network.

An official from his agency, JYP Entertainment, has recently said, “Some time ago, we were contacted by an official from ABC TV. The official asked about Rain, his plans, and the possibility of his appearing on ABC TV.”

Under these circumstances, if his meeting with the ABC TV executive results in his appearance on the TV’s nationwide network, it will have a positive effect on enhancing his recognition in the United States. Rain officially declared his plan to advance into the American market in February, when he gave a solo concert at the Madison Square Garden in New York, a first for an Asian singer.

Following his attendance at the “Time 100″ party, Rain will return home on the morning of May 10. Upon arriving, he will head for Busan to act in director Park Chan-wook’s new film “I’m a Cyborg, But That’s Okay,” the first film he has ever acted in. Since late March, Rain has been staying in Busan to shoot the film.

Stormy Weather

Up until recently I missed the stormy weather of the Midwest (as I noted in a post awhile back). Well the past few days Vienna has been making up for that but I must admit I haven't been missing such weather as much this year with all that you people in U.S. have had to deal with. Even the storms we've had in Vienna have been a bit of a pain with Euro 2008 in town (luckily they have left everything standing though). Two nights ago those of you in the U.S. lost the game's TV feed while I watched the storm from our balcony. The company behind our flat was hosting a nice party for their employees and I stood outside and cheered on the storm as it sent a roller-cart full of dirty dishes flying towards a car with two waiters chasing after it (the wind/cart duo won the race). Later it really picked up so I got Kathi to join me for the show that was now being presented free of charge from our living room window. After a few minutes half of the tents set up for the party were ripped out of the ground, sent flying up about 7 stories, then sent crashing into the side of the building (the office not our flat), before finally smashing into the ground (all to near the guests). Luckily no one was hurt and they moved the event inside after the unexpected entertainment, but they were really lucky as the next morning we realized the tents were heavier then they appeared as 5-10 windows had been shattered and a few marble-like side tiles were destroyed. All-in-all a very impressive storm for Austria, but in the future you can keep those on the U.S. side of the Atlantic as I become more and more accustomed to only the occasional rain and small clap of thunder.

Lemon Battery

Creating a battery from a lemon is a common project in many science text books. Successfully creating one of these devices is not easy.


Batteries consist of two different metals suspended in an acidic solution. Copper and Zinc work well as the metals and the citric acid content of a lemon will provide the acidic solution.Batteries like this will not be able to run a motor or energize most light bulbs. It is possible to produce a dim glow from an LED.The picture at the top of this page shows a basic lemon battery, a lemon, copper penny and zinc coated nail.

The lemon : A large, fresh, "juicy" lemon works best.
The nail : Galvanized nails are coated in zinc. I used a 2" galvanized common nail.
The penny : Any copper coin will work. (Canadian pennies from 1960 - 2001 all worked)


Creating the battery: Insert a penny into a cut on one side of the lemon. Push a galvanized nail into the other side of the lemon.

The nail and penny must not touch.


This is a single cell of a battery. The zinc nail and the copper penny are called electrodes. The lemon juice is called electrolyte.

All batteries have a "+" and "-" terminal. Electric current is a flow of atomic particles called electrons. Certain materials , called conductors, allow electrons to flow through them. Most metals (copper, iron) are good conductors of electricity. Electrons will flow from the "-" electrode of a battery, through a conductor, towards the "+" electrode of a battery. Volts (voltage) is a measure of the force moving the electrons. (High voltage is dangerous!)


I have connected a volt meter to our single cell lemon battery. The meter tells us this lemon battery is creating a voltage of 0.906 volts.Unfortunately this battery will not produce enough current (flowing electrons) to light a bulb.


To solve this problem we can combine battery cells to create higher voltages. Building more lemon batteries and connecting them with a metal wire from "+" to "-" adds the voltage from each cell.


The two lemon batteries above, combine to produce a voltage of 1.788 volts. This combination still does not create enough current to light a small bulb. Note the red wire connecting the batteries is joined from "+" (penny) to "-" (galvanized nail).


Four lemon batteries create a voltage of 3.50 volts. We should be able to light up a small device like an LED (Light Emitting Diode).

Note the connecting wires go from "+" to "-" on each battery.


LED
To turn on an LED you must determine the "+" and "-" connections. If you look closely at the red plastic base of an LED you will notice a "flat" spot (indicated by arrow above). The wire that comes out beside the flat spot must connect to the "-" side of a battery, the other wire to the "+" side.

Important information about LEDs: LEDs are designed to work at very low voltages (~ 2V) and low currents. They will be damaged if connected to batteries rated at over 2 volts. LEDs require resistors to control current when used with batteries rated at over 2 volts. Lemon batteries produce low current. It is OK to connect an LED to a lemon battery.


In the above image, electrons flow from the "-" (nail) end of our lemon battery through the LED (making it glow) then back to the "+" (penny) end of the battery. This is an electronic circuit. The LED glows dimly with this configuration.

Improving your battery.


The quality of the copper and zinc can be a problem for a battery like this. Pennies in particular are rarely pure copper.

Try substituting a length of 14 gauge copper wire (common house wire) for the penny. Experiment with different lengths and configurations of electrodes. Other sources of zinc and copper may be found in the plumbing supply department of a hardware store.

The first battery was created in 1799 by Alessandro Volta . Today batteries provide the power for an amazing variety of devices, everything from flashlights to robots, computers, satellites and cars. Inventors and researchers continue to improve the battery, designing batteries that last longer and that are more friendly to our environment.

Understanding how batteries actually work requires a knowledge of chemistry. The most important factor in battery design is the electrical relationship between the two metals used in the battery. Some metals give electrons away while other metals accept extra electrons. Chemists have investigated metals and created an "electric potential" table comparing different metals.