Interview with David Michaels (11/14/2016)

HalfKorean.com Interview: David Michaels

David Michaels

David Michaels (박승리) is a professional basketball player who, at 23 years old, was the youngest of the recent mixed Korean players to play in the KBL (Korean Basketball League) when he was drafted by the Seoul SK Knights (서울 SK 나이츠) in 2013. He played three seasons for the Knights from 2013-2016.

David had an exceptional senior season in 2012 at Whitman College when he averaged 20.0 points and earned many accolades including 2012 Northwest Conference Player of the Year and an invitation to the prestigious annual Portsmouth Invitational Tournament where he was the only NCAA Division III player invited that year and the first since 2004.

Upon graduation from Whitman, the 6’7″ forward played professionally in Holland for Aris Leeuwarden before joining the KBL. Although he is not playing professionally at the moment, David hopes to return to the KBL in the near future.

Direct Link Here

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Priscilla Ahn Releases Children’s Album “La La La”

Singer-songwriter Priscilla Ahn is releasing her latest album, La La La, on October 28, 2016.

HalfKorean.com is working on a new interview with Priscilla to catch up with her and follow-up the interview we did with her in 2011.

Here is the official press release regarding the new album (Courtesy Sugar Mountain PR):

Priscilla Ahn Releases ‘La La La’ October 28

Los Angeles, October 2016 – Ethereal-voiced folk-pop musician Priscilla Ahn will release an album of 12 original songs for children and their grownups, La La La, on October 28.

“I’ve always wanted to create an album for children,” says Ahn, who has toured around the globe and who wrote the theme song for the Oscar-nominated 2014 animated film from Studio Ghibli, “When Marnie Was There.”

Long in the planning, the spark that brought La La La to fruition came when Ahn and her husband, actor Michael Weston, welcomed the birth of their son in November 2015. By turns whimsical, playful, and loving, the album’s dozen tracks include “Body Sounds” (“Hey, you got a nice belly bongo/ It likes to go wherever you go”), “Dust Bunny” (which provides reassurance for scary times) and the soothing “Desert Lullaby.”

A stirring interpretation of parental tenderness and childhood reverie, La La La is Ahn’s kid-style return to her grown-up hit songs “Dream” and “A Good Day.” Ahn says that the new album is “kind of hopeful sounding and innocent and simple in its instrumentation, with songs that I feel kids can relate to, emotionally and sonically.” No matter the age of her target audience, the Korean-American artist says, “Being genuine in my lyrics and in my connection to my songs—for that to come through—is really important to me.”

Growing up in Pennsylvania, Ahn shared her dad’s love for artists like Neil Young, the Beatles, and Pink Floyd. Ahn later found personal resonance in female artists Ani DiFranco, Jewel, Sarah McLachlan, and Feist. Throughout her career, she has toured with Willie Nelson, Amos Lee, and Ray LaMontagne, and collaborated with Tiesto, Sia, Inara George, and Dave Sitek. Such varied influences have made for a strong personal style. Her songs have enhanced numerous TV shows and films, from “Grey’s Anatomy” and “The Ghost Whisperer,” to “Bride Wars,” Guillermo del Toro’s “Pacific Rim,” and the upcoming 2016 Ewan McGregor film, “American Pastoral.” Her 2014 album Just Know That I Love You (Anata no Koto ga Daisuki in Japan) was written and recorded by request of Studio Ghibli producers, and it is based on the film “When Marnie Was There” and the related children’s book.

La La La features whimsical artwork by Ros Lee, and little listeners will be able to color the pictures on the CD packaging. A coloring book and other merchandise are in development, and Ahn is planning concerts in Los Angeles and San Francisco to celebrate the album release.

Sources/Links:
HalfKorean.com Interview with Priscilla Ahn (10/6/2011)
Official Website
Official Facebook
Official Twitter
Official Instagram





Image courtesy of Sugar Mountain PR

 
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Interview with Scott Coker (7/5/2016)

HalfKorean.com Interview: Scott Coker

Scott Coker

Since taking over as President of Bellator MMA in mid-2014, Scott Coker has applied his vast martial arts and fight promotion expertise and created an increasing buzz for the mixed martial arts company.

While general MMA fans may only be familiar with Dana White and UFC, knowledgeable fans know how important the founder of Strikeforce has been in the innovation and evolution of MMA as a sport.

Strikeforce was founded in 1985 originally as a kickboxing organization and eventually evolved into becoming the number two MMA organization. It has now been 10 years since Strikeforce’s first MMA event and five years since Zuffa (UFC’s parent company) bought Strikeforce. Strikeforce’s legacy continues to this day with many of their fighters going on and becoming UFC champions including Ronda Rousey, Daniel Cormier, Luke Rockhold, Robbie Lawler and Miesha Tate.

Scott has been a lifelong martial arts practitioner, both as student and teacher, who lives and breathes martial arts and applies the concepts and principles to his career. His devotion to martial arts shows in the fight world as he is admired throughout the industry, including by rival promoters.

Last November, we were able to sit down with Scott at the Bellator offices in San Jose, California and discussed his personal upbringing, martial arts background, fight promotion and the world of professional mixed martial arts.

Direct link here

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J.Lately Releases New “Let’s Just Be Friends” Album

Independent hip hop recording artist Jeremy “J.Lately” Namkung has recently released a new album titled Let’s Just Be Friends.

J.Lately says, “I recently released my new album “Let’s Just Be Friends”, which is a soulful hip hop album touching on the complexities of relationships, personal development, and the human experience in general. The album, which is composed of nostalgic hip hop tracks with a modern twist, features Filipino-American rapper Bambu, as well as Von Pea, Shark Sinatra, and more.”

Please make sure to also check out our April 2012 HalfKorean.com Spotlight feature on J.Lately.

An interesting side note is that one of Jeremy’s cousins is Victoria Namkung, with whom we also did a feature on this past August. What a talented family!

J.Lately ft. Shark Sinatra – “Breathe”

Links:
Download J.Lately “Let’s Just Be Friends”
HalfKorean.com Spotlight – April 2012
J.Lately Official Website
J.Lately Official Facebook
J.Lately Official Twitter

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Image courtesy of J.Lately
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HalfKorean.com Shout-out from Scott Coker

Check out this shout-out from Bellator MMA President Scott Coker!

We had the chance to meet up with Scott to interview him last November at the Bellator office in San Jose, California.

We plan to post the interview with Scott on HalfKorean.com very soon!

For more HalfKorean.com videos, please check out our YouTube Channel!

Sources/Links:
Scott Coker – Official Twitter
HalfKorean.com Official YouTube Channel

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