Photo by David Studarus

She was the shy, cute singer with the soft voice. Next to gospel singers with booming vocals that easily won audience applause and wows from the judges, NBC’s The Voice contestant Dia Frampton seemed a little out of her element.

Then, on June 7, Frampton delivered a unique, stunningly haunting performance of Kanye West’s “Heartless” that left everyone breathless. Her manager Mike Kaminsky recalls the moment: “You felt the air get sucked out of the room, and everyone collectively gasped. And when she finished that song, you just knew her life was going to change.” Continue Reading »

Check out the behind-the-scenes video of singer/songwriter Dia Frampton!

Dia graces the cover of KoreAm‘s October 2011 issue. Videographer Kelly Li shot and edited this rare look at what it takes to make a magazine cover. The gorgeous photos were shot by David Studarus with hair/makeup by Marylin Lee with stylist Kayla McGee.

Buy the October 2011 issue for $5.95 here.

Blake Shelton Announces US Arena Tour, Dia Frampton To Open
Hollywood Reporter

Shelton will hit 27 cities on the “Well Lit & Amplified Tour 2012” starting in January in Toledo and ending in March in Las Vegas. His opening acts include country singer Justin Moore and his mentee on NBC’s The Voice, finalist Dia Frampton, as reported by All Access Music Group.

Local Politicians Press to Win Korean-American Vote
Patch.com (Annandale, Va.)

Dozens of candidates for public office gathered in Fairfax Thursday night to try and win votes from within the Korean-American community.

Often starting out with a greeting in Korean, the candidates by and large stressed the importance of relief for small businesses, family values, opportunities for immigrants and access to better education while speaking to a packed audience during the 2011 Korean American Association of Virginia/Korea Times Candidates Night.

‘Bling Ring’ Burglar Pleads No Contest
angryasianman

Remember Rachel Lee, one of the alleged masterminds behind the so-called “bling ring”? She and her accomplices were accused of targeting wealthy celebrities, breaking into their homes and making off with millions in luxury goods and accessories.

Last week, Lee appeared in court and pleaded no contest to one count of first-degree residential burglary in the 2009 break-in of reality star Audrina Patridge’s house. She is expected to be sentenced to four years in state prison as part of a plea bargain.

Lee’s mother is an immigrant from North Korea, according to Vanity Fair, and her father is a businessman living in Las Vegas.

South Korea stares down demographic dilemma
Reuters

Kim, a doctoral student in her 30s, personifies many of the qualities that make South Korea such an economic force — relative youth, education and ambition.

The trouble — for corporations and policymakers — is that she is equally typical by not wanting to have children.

“I just want to live happily with my husband without having to worry about kids or making sacrifices for them,” said Kim, asking to be identified only by her surname.

N.Y. Choi, Lewis improve women’s golf ranking
UPI

Choi Na-yeon and Stacy Lewis each move up one place, causing minor shifts in the world women’s golf rankings, updated Monday.

The LPGA heads into an Asian swing with tournaments in South Korea, Malaysia and Taiwan this month as the 2011 schedule begins to wind down. Choi moved past South Korean countrywoman Shin Jiyai for fourth in this week’s world rankings.

Warrant issued for US soldier over rape
Korea Times

A local district court issued Saturday a warrant to arrest a U.S. soldier on charges of raping a young Korean woman, citing concerns that he might flee the country.

The 21-year-old Army private, identified only as “K” who is assigned to the 2nd U.S. Infantry Division in Dongducheon, is accused of having raped an 18-year-old girl near his unit at around 4 a.m. on Sept. 24.

Prosecutors are expected to indict the American soldier soon.

She was watching TV alone when he broke into her house, according to the police. Police officers identified the American soldier through a surveillance camera installed near her house and informed the U.S. military of the case.

Piano Prodigy Wants to Use Berklee Scholarship to Help Society
Chosun Ilbo

Kang Chae-ri, 16, ranks as the youngest person ever to be admitted to the prestigious college, which stands as a world authority in pop music. She is also first Korean recipient of the coveted Presidential Scholarship, which covers full tuition and living expenses.

DVD of the Week: Woman on the Beach
New Yorker

The filmmaker-protagonist of the South Korean director Hong Sang-soo’s dryly comic 2006 romantic drama, “Woman on the Beach”, is at work on a project of peculiar abstraction—the sort of silly idea that comes from spending too much time alone and at a desk—and is having trouble finishing his script. The adventure that follows from his efforts to unblock himself—which also entails some emotional and erotic unblocking, with two women who, he thinks, resemble each other—becomes the basis for his new film.

Seoul Taco introduces Korean fusion to St. Louis
Washington Life (Washington Univ.)

For those who didn’t grow up in a large city, it’s completely understandable not to have heard of Korean food served in a tortilla. But St. Louis native David Choi is trying to change that, one taco at a time.

Choi and his business partner Andy Heck are the owners of the Seoul Taco food truck, which serves traditional Korean food with a Mexican twist. The truck serves traditional Korean food, such as bulgogi (literally, “fire meat”) and spicy pork, on a taco or inside a quesadilla. Seoul Taco is only in its third month and makes a weekly stop at Wash. U. on Thursdays.

HyunA Ranked 17th on Under-21 Billboard Chart
Billboard.com

Nineteen-year-old South Korean pop singer HyunA got her start with pop girl group Wonder Girls in 2007. After overcoming health issues, she left the group to become lead rapper and vocalist of 4Minute and embarked on her own solo career. But HyunA’s career really took off when she became the star of her own show.

2010 saw the debut of her first single “Change,” and in July of 2011 she released her first mini-album “Bubble Pop!,” the video for which was deemed “too sexy” for some Korean TV outlets. The controversial star displays a sexiness and stage presence far beyond her years, and is well on her way to becoming one of the key faces of the global K-Pop movement. HyunA, now a fixture in South Korean pop culture, is set to perform on the Korean version of “Dancing With the Stars” in June 2012.

Tow truck crashes into Yoshinoya restaurant in Koreatown; 6 injured
Los Angeles Times

A large tow truck crashed through the front window of a Yoshinoya restaurant in L.A.’s Koreatown on Thursday, injuring six people, according to the Los Angeles Times.

“The truck is halfway in the restaurant,” said eyewitness Mirna Lopez, who works at the dental clinic above the restaurant.

Lopez described a chaotic scene. She said a couple employees suffered injuries and one woman was thrown across the restaurant.

She said she overhead the truck driver apologizing for the crash. He told customers and employees at the restaurant that his brakes failed.

Dia Frampton keeping busy with ‘Voice’ tour, planning solo debut
Las Vegas Review-Journal

Dia Frampton is currently writing songs for her debut solo album, according to the article.

“To be honest, I was a little bit desperate,” Frampton says of her decision to audition for “The Voice.” “With the band, I never would have thought I would have gone to TV. But we’d released our record, and it had come and gone. I was still living at my parents’ house. It got to the point where we were like, ‘Well, let’s go on tour this fall,’ and our guitar player would be like, ‘I have a job and I need to keep it. I can’t go out on tour and make $100 a week.’ It was kind of the same thing with Meg. She has a jewelry business right now, and she’s like, ‘I can’t stop making jewelry. This is how I pay my rent.’

Seoul Sets Terms for Resuming Talks With North Korea
New York Times

North Korea must suspend all activities at its nuclear facilities and allow United Nations inspectors to verify the freeze before six-nation talks can restart to discuss economic and other rewards for the country in exchange for ending its nuclear weapons programs, the chief South Korean nuclear negotiator said on Friday.

Forever 21’s cheap chic
Financial Times (U.K.) (registration req’d)

The retailer, famed for its cheap clothes and fast-changing fashions, sells nothing priced over £40 and shuns sales, believing “the first price should be the right price”. The Oxford Street store is the third of 20 it is opening across Europe, and with three outlets planned in China later this year Forever 21 considers itself a “global retailer”, joining the ranks of H&M and Zara. It poses a clear threat to UK chains New Look, Primark, Peacocks and Matalan, which are struggling to increase sales as consumers trim their spending.

Leadership Hall Of Fame: W. Chan Kim And Renée Mauborgne, Authors Of “Blue Ocean Strategy”
Fast Company

We continue our examination of the business book Blue Ocean Strategy with an interview of authors W. Chan Kim And Renée Mauborgne. We explore their motivation for writing the book, and why more companies are using their strategies.

Winning Scaffold Design Provides Lift Above, Movement Below
New York 1

The Department of Buildings unveiled Tuesday the winning design from an international competition to create a new standard of scaffolding in the city.

Known as the “Urban Umbrella,” the design was chosen through the agency and the American Institute of Architects’ “UrbanSHED International Design Competition.”

A total of 164 different scaffolding prototypes were sent in by architects, engineers, designers and students from 28 different countries.

The winning structure was submitted by New-York based designer Young-Hwan Choi, who teamed up with city-based design firm Agencie Group to take his creation to the next level.

Amateur Video of Recent Mudslides in South Korea

Persistence Pays Off as South Korean Town Wins Olympic Bid
The New York Times

If the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics were a coming-out party for a young democracy that was building a fast-growing economy from the ashes of the Korean War and through earlier military dictatorships, then holding the Winter Olympics, South Koreans say, will give a lift to their country’s “national prestige,” as all national dailies editorialized Thursday.

‘Hangover 2′ Star Ken Jeong to Receive Just For Laughs Honors
The Hollywood Reporter

Bridesmaids director Paul Feig is to receive the comedy director of the year award at the upcoming Just For Laughs festival, while The Hangover 2 star Ken Jeong will pick up the breakout comedy star of the year trophy at the Montreal yukfest.

Dia Frampton and Miranda Lambert May Record Together
PopCrush

“Once Dia figures out what her plan is, you’ll probably see her and Miranda write together,” Shelton revealed. So even though Frampton, who shook the rafters with her reimagining of Kanye West’s ‘Heartless,’ did not have ‘The Voice’ crown placed atop her head, her future is still limitless. Shelton even said that his wife was rooting for Frampton just as hard as he was.

Stressed and Depressed, Koreans Avoid Therapy
New York Times

It can sometimes feel as if South Korea, overworked, overstressed and ever anxious, is on the verge of a national nervous breakdown, with a rising divorce rate, students who feel suffocated by academic pressures, a suicide rate among the highest in the world and a macho corporate culture that still encourages blackout drinking sessions after work.

More than 30 South Koreans kill themselves every day, and the suicides of entertainers, politicians, athletes and business leaders have become almost commonplace. The recent suicides of four students and a professor at Korea’s leading university shocked the nation, and in recent weeks a TV baseball announcer, two professional soccer players, a university president and the former lead singer in a popular boy band killed themselves.

Pakistan’s nuclear-bomb maker says North Korea paid bribes for know-how
Washington Post

The founder of Pakistan’s nuclear bomb program asserts that the government of North Korea bribed top military officials in Islamabad to obtain access to sensitive nuclear technology in the late 1990s.

North Korea steps forward as new cyberwar villian
IT World

In March North Korea — whose impression of a cartoonishly extreme Evil Empire has set the standard for smothering repression, campily ridiculous Fearless Leaders and quiet dignity among the starving masses – launched a DDOS attack that knocked down a handful of South Korean web sites, according to an investigation conducted by security software vendor McAfee.

Except for the home page of the U.S. Forces Korea – which is primarily a PR site used by the U.S. Eighth Army to distribute information to civilians, not for actual military communications – all the 14 sites hit were South Korean companies with no particular political significance, despite indications North Korea is training a coterie of cyberwarriors at foreign colleges.

The tipoff that the attack wasn’t just part of an extortion attempt or bit of ordinary vandalism was that it was far too meta to be the work of casual or commercial hackers, according to a report from McAfee, which assembled its information with the help of the U.S. and South Korean governments.

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