As she’s a devoted Christian, there are messages that accompany the
drawings that refer to her faith. She posted the notice on her cyworld
page, and explained that her pictures were drawn purely out of
enjoyment: “I haven’t received formal instruction, it’s just that I
wanted to express myself.”
Jung Ryeo Won’s Sketchbook is planned to be released in bookstores, but no publication date has been given.
SONG OF THE DAY
Park Jiyoon - “겨울봄여름가을 그리고 다시 겨울 (Extended Edit)”
(”Winter, Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter Again”). This actually
comes from a mini-album of instrumental tracks that are meant as a
companion piece to Park Jiyoon’s photoessay collection, called simply
“Background Music for Secret Garden.” [ zShare download ]
In other news, Han Ye Seul recently gave an interview in which she named Jung Ryeo Won as the star who’s the “best fashionista”:
“She’s also a friend, but Ryeo Won has a certain quality
where she can express herself well and find things that suit her. She
wears clothes well, in a way that the average person can easily follow.”
I’ve got to agree with the fashion part; Jung Ryeo Won has always
struck me with her innate stylishness. She’s not the most traditionally
pretty but she always looks great, in a self-assured, individualistic
way.
Lots of other stars look good; that’s no big deal since
that’s part of their job description. But Jung Ryeo Won always looks
really comfortable in her clothing, like it’s an effortless thing for
her to throw something on and make it look interesting and fashionable.
She’s also the only actor I’ve seen modeling clothing who actually
makes me want to wear the clothes.
Actress Han Ye Seul is coming out with her first film, Careful Miss Shin, and she’s pretty proud of herself: “This may sound arrogant, but as my first film, I’m extremely satisfied.”
But the big question that everyone (else) is wondering is whether
she’s going to be any good. It’s interesting that she’s constantly
being compared to Kim Tae Hee in the press, which is never a good thing
when the point of comparison is the acting. Han Ye Seul’s situation
offers a little more hope, though, I think: Although she was known for
being on the weaker end of the talent scale for her previous work
(i.e., Tale of the Nine-tailed Fox), 2006’s Fantasy Couple surprised everyone with her delightfully abrasive and funny portrayal of Sangshil/Anna. I thought she was atrocious in Nonstop but her stiff speech patterns worked very well in Fantasy Couple. I don’t think I’d buy her in a more ‘natural’ role, but she might be decent at playing extreme characters.
As for Careful Miss Shin, it’s described as a comic drama wherein Miss Shin dates many men “as though she’s shopping for them.” It releases on the 18th.
Will Han Ye Seul Awaken from Song Hye Gyo and Kim Tae Hee’s Nightmares?
What three things do Song Hye Gyo and Kim Tae Hee have in common? They’re beautiful top stars. They’re elegant. And their film debuts left a bitter taste behind. …
SONG OF THE DAY
Wow - “JeJe 힘들어 하지 말아요” (JeJe don’t have a hard time) [ zShare download ]
Having risen to top star status through television and CF work, a good
many beautiful actresses found themselves in harsh waters in their
big-screen debuts. Song Hye Gyo co-starred in her first movie, My Girl and I, with Cha Tae Hyun and flopped; her second was the historical epic blockbuster Hwang Jini, which disappointed its expectations.
Kim Tae Hee’s situation is similar. Generally recognized as having
the “best looks, middling talent,” she attempted to challenge herself
in The Restless with Jung Woo Sung at the end of last year, but it was a fruitless effort. The production costs of Song Hye Gyo’s Hwang Jini and Kim Tae Hee’s The Restless add up to more than 20 billion won — enough to produce five films or more.
Although Hwang Jini’s performance was seen as a failure,
Song Hye Gyo did receive some praise for her stable performance, and
Kim Tae Hee’s complete image turnaround in the recently released Fight raises expectations for a new side to her.
Here we have one more TV beauty with her film debut just in front of
her. It’s “kkoraji” Han Ye Seul [her catch-phrase from her breakout
series Fantasy Couple,
meaning “What a sight”]. Having worn monpe-style pants and flower-print
blouses and devoured jajangmyun on television, she’s once again
“ruined” her image in her transition to the silver screen. It’s Careful Miss Shin (Dir. Park Yong Jip, Sidus FNH Productions).
She acts pure and innocent, then wails at the top of her lungs,
dances in a bookstore, and wears a white veil to sing hymns. That’s
because her sly “Miss Shin” character knows how to change herself
perfectly to fit the man she’s angling after. The film is a lively
romantic comedy featuring the advertising executive Shin Misu, who
lives by the motto “Two-timing’s a given, three-timing’s easy, I’ll
find my man myself” as she shops around for men.
Co-starring as the third-generation chaebol Joon Seo is the comically deft Kwon Woo Joong, Surgeon Bong Dal Hee’s
Kim In Kwon as law student Yoon Chul, and Son Ho Young as the sexy gym
guy. In the film, Han Ye Seul customizes her efforts to captivate each
of them. According to producers, Han Ye Seul acts whole-heartedly, even
appearing without makeup. Dancing in the streets, wailing at the top of
her lungs and so forth, she thoroughly “ruins” her image.
Fans who are eagerly anticipating whether Han Ye Seul will be able
to break the jinx of beautiful stars like Song Hye Gyo and Kim Tae Hee
who flopped in their first screen challenges will head to theaters at
the end of the year to find out.
Okay, this article is part valid, and part RIDICULOUS.
“Pretty actor curse”? HA.
How about this-is-the-result-of-mediocre-talent-not-being-enough-
to-sustain-otherwise-pretty-stars-
in-the-harsh-world-of-film-criticism? I mean, it’s hardly fair to make
it seem like these poor actresses are the victims here, and that the
quality of their work had nothing to do with it.
I’m not saying Han Ye Seul is necessarily in the same category as
the others (I’m rather hoping she proves to be a decent actor), but
call a spade a spade.
I would’ve thought the thrall of Hallyu’s arguably biggest hit, 2002’s drama Winter Sonata,
had long since faded. I know Bae Yong Joon’s still hot shit in Japan,
but he really hasn’t had a hit of the same magnitude since, Legend
notwithstanding. But that isn’t stopping producers from Korea and Japan
from joining together to tackle a joint animated venture, bringing Winter Sonata into its third incarnation (first: drama series; second: theatrical production).
The animated version is being planned as “long-run contents,” which
I can only presume means a long-running series. Korean company Key East
is partnering closely with the Japanese Total Promotions in the
investment and production costs: “With Bae Yong Joon’s brand power and
the combined efforts of Korea and Japan’s animation planning and
skills, we can make a genuine and meaningful production that represents
Asia.” Original production entity KBS Media has also promised their
cooperation.
The intent is for the animated Winter Sonata to broaden its
initial fanbase of watchers of the original drama and Bae Yong Joon
devotees, expanding to draw in new audiences throughout the world.
Key East rep: “We estimate that the animated Winter Sonata
can take the success of the original series and far surpass what it
earned. In addition to the animated production, Key East will branch
out into business ventures with the derivative entities, like the OSTs,
DVDs, publications, characters, games, mobile services, events, and
other products.”
I mean this gently, but: Tough cookies. I think they’re overestimating the appeal of one long-seen, long-over drama that, while popular in its day, is probably best left to fond memories and maybe
an annual pilgrimage to former filming locales for the die-hards. I
really don’t think it’s quite the ever-blooming money tree these people
would like to believe it is. Then again, I may be biased — I thought Winter Sonata was a total bore. But my mom sure liked it.
Some early Bandit / Robber / Con Man pics of Lee Da Hae’s
character “Dallae” in bygone days in her wedding dress. The character
loses her husband (judging from the dress, either sometime in the ’70s
or in a frump-disco-era time-warp zone), and now lives with her
daughter and mother-in-law after her husband dies.
Now I wonder if the title should more accurately be “Bandit” in the
singular tense, since it only seems to refer to Jang Hyuk’s dissolute
scoundrel character… Apparently her love turns him into a new man or
something. Erm. Not really feeling it.
(I’ve been hard on Lee Da Hae lately, but it’s just because she’s been so blah. She was good in what I’ve seen of Green Rose; I loved her in My Girl
even though I agree with complaints that she was too over-acty. Still,
I found her cute and I loved the story and the humor. She was over-acty
in Hello Miss (disregarding the mediocre story) even though
she was great when she WASN’T trying to act cute. Unfortunately, she
tries to act cute almost all the freaking time. She really doesn’t need
to. You know how some people are cool because they don’t care about
being cool? She’s like the opposite of that. If she were able to let go
of her vanity just a little (okay, a whole lot), she could be a really
great actor.)
Kim Sun Ah’s legal troubles have been settled.
She’s won the lawsuit that was brought against her by the film
production company Yoon and Joon for breach of contract on the film Thursday’s Child. Perhaps now she’ll finally be able to relax instead of worrying over legal tangles that have hampered her post-Samsoon career.
The production company blamed Kim Sun Ah for walking out on
production a year ago and held her liable for their losses of more than
2.3 billion won. They sued the actress for breaching her contract and
recompensation of her salary (of which she returned 400 million won in
June), demanding the rest of the 1 billion won (nearly $1.1 million).
However, the ruling found that Kim Sun Ah bore no responsibility for
the shutdown of the movie.
The judge said, “The plaintiff is responsible for the insufficient
preparation that caused the production’s start to be delayed on the
film Ms. Kim was hired to appear in. After the film’s progress was
halted in October 2006, a new director was not brought in, and the
film’s screenplay remained unfinished. It was not possible for the
defendant to continue filming, or to comply in that situation.”
Kim Sun Ah’s legal troubles have been settled. She’s won the lawsuit that was brought against her by the film production company Yoon and Joon for breach of contract on the film Thursday’s Child. Perhaps now she’ll finally be able to relax instead of worrying over legal tangles that have hampered her post-Samsoon career.
The production company blamed Kim Sun Ah for walking out on production a year ago and held her liable for their losses of more than 2.3 billion won. They sued the actress for breaching her contract and recompensation of her salary (of which she returned 400 million won in June), demanding the rest of the 1 billion won (nearly $1.1 million). However, the ruling found that Kim Sun Ah bore no responsibility for the shutdown of the movie.
The judge said, “The plaintiff is responsible for the insufficient preparation that caused the production’s start to be delayed on the film Ms. Kim was hired to appear in. After the film’s progress was halted in October 2006, a new director was not brought in, and the film’s screenplay remained unfinished. It was not possible for the defendant to continue filming, or to comply in that situation.”
(Whenever I see distinguished actress Lee Young Ae, I think she looks so classy.)
She’s deciding on her drama comeback next year (she’s been away from
television for four years, last seen in her mega-hit series Dae Jang Geum aka Jewel in the Palace), which’ll come sometime in the first half of 2008, and SBS is trying to woo her over to their upcoming series Daemul.
At a December 13 press conference revealing SBS’s broadcasting plans
for the next year, an SBS rep explained their plans to adapt hit manhwa Daemul. The series is the work of artist Park In Kwon, who also created War of Money,
the series that brought SBS a lot of success this year as a “national
drama” (so classified because it pulled in over 30% viewership
ratings).
Though
casting isn’t settled, SBS is in negotiations with Lee Young Ae for the
lead role. (She’s their top pick, but also in consideration are Kim Sun
Ah, Sohn Yejin, Lee Na Young, and Jang Jin Young.)
About Daemul:
It comes described thusly:
“Love is one part of a man’s life, but everything in a
woman’s. … So if you could discard one part to gain the whole, wouldn’t
you try?”
The manhwa bears an “adults only” restriction and centers on “the
love and ambition that unfolds when a male escort seduces the female
president.” Ooh la la.
(I learned a new word today! “Zeroth” or “0th” (in Korean, 0순위)
refers to the place in front of “first” — which seems kind of
redundant, doesn’t it? Acting as the antithesis of made-up words
“umpteen” or “kazillion,” it essentially means top choice but is SO
top-choice that the number 1 is insufficient to denote its
super-duper-special-oneness. Which is ironic since only “one” means
one. But apparently zero is more “one” than one? Anyway. Lee Young Ae
is SO in the top choice position that she’s the “zeroth” choice.
Languages are funny.)
SONG OF THE DAY
“Braves” by 흰수염고래 (White-Bearded Whale) or Whale
with a White Mustache, which has a nice ring to it. I freely admit the
only reason I checked out this group was because of its name. I’m
shallow like that. Heh. [ zShare download ]
Thanks to everyone who took my blog reader survey! By far the most interesting factoid: this blog readership is a whopping 95% female.
Whoaaa. (Either that or guys reaaaally don’t like taking surveys.) I
kinda figured the readership was female-skewed but I had no idea the
tilt was that extreme. Rock on, ladies.
And you’re (we’re?) young! 90% of readers are under 34. Whoaaa. I’m starting to feel like Keanu Reeves here.
Anyway, what’s up? I’ve been swamped with work lately and haven’t
been getting much sleep. What’s weird is, I can pull an almost-nighter
or get four hours of sleep and feel great the next day — but the day after
I’m a total wreck. I barely slept in college and generally felt great,
but now that the body’s aging I find that EVERYTHING catches up to you.
You know that thing you used to do habitually with no repercussions
that was supposed to be unhealthy but never affected you and
you thought you were totally invincible? And you were all, “Yeah I know
OTHER people shouldn’t do it, but I think I’m immune”???
IT CATCHES UP TO YOU.
I know that’s probably obvious to the average adult, but like I
said, y’all are young. You’re probably all like, what’s a typewriter?
What are these cassette tape thingies I keep reading about in books?
What’s the Brady Bunch? Anyway, let me be the one to warn you: It’s
like while your brain undergoes the whole quarterlife-ing awfulness,
your body starts to fall apart. Nobody is safe. No, not even you,
binge-fast-food-eater-with-amazing-metabolism guy. Or you,
I-can-run-ten-miles- without-training-properly-
because-I’m-just-naturally-athletic girl. Or me, (former) proud
insomniac.
Under appreciated actress Kim Gyu-ri was more known
for her clothing line business than her acting career, but now she’ll
be synonymous with plastic surgery gone bad. From her recent pictures,
it’s obviously that Kim Gyu-ri completely re-did her face. Her eyes are
still puffy from another round of double eye-lid surgery, her lips are
grossly plump after filler injections and her jaw line is disgustingly
sharp.
Ironically Han Aeri, the plastic lover in denial is enjoying the attention she’s getting from her plastic surgery gone bad.
The girl uploaded a recent picture of herself to show the world that
she is doing fine and to squash the rumors about her surgery, but that
obviously did not happen because she covered up the facial feature we
are all dying to see, her jaw line.
This news is losing its steam in Korean media, but it’s getting picked up by other international newspapers such as Singapore’s Electric New Paper bringing fame to Han Aeri, POPSEOUL! and POPSEOUL! commenters. Congratulations Helloakon, Qin, Kezrel & Ana
- your thoughts were heard loud and clear. So our passionate readers,
comment away because there’s somebody out there who’s interested in
what you have to say.
Former Babyvox Rev member Han Aeri is recovering fast from her plastic surgery gone bad.
The plastic addict is out of intensive care and is well enough to write
her thoughts on her cyworld minihompy. According to her diary entry,
Han ate some rice porridge and took a walk yesterday. She’s also very
happy that she’s still alive because not only will she be a bad
daughter, but it’ll also be very embarrassing if she died during
plastic surgery. Then this basket case rambled on about how reporters
misinformed the public about her surgery. Han explicitly stated that
she was getting cosmetic dental surgery, not jaw line surgery because
her face is naturally long. Then she bragged that she already had big
breasts but she got a boob job because everybody else was getting them.
Similar to singer-actress Park Jiyoon’s photoessay compilation “Secret Garden”, Jung Ryeo Won’s Sketchbook contains drawings and writings that the actress herself has drawn/written.
Though
