Lee Yo Won to costar Kwon Sang Woo in "Bad Love"

Actress Lee Yo Won will be co-starring Kwon Sang Woo in the KBS drama series "Bad Love" as In Jung.

In Jung is a character who struggles with love between the rather cold and rebellious Yong Ki (Kwon Sang Woo) and Soo Hwan (Kim Sung Soo) who is already on a path to success.

Her agency commented, "We selected this role as it offers a challengeable character from a lady in love to an outgoing and brave personality."

Lee Yo Won, who starred in "Surgeon Bong Dal Hee" and the movie "Splendid Holidays," costarring Kwon Sang Woo who is returning to the TV screen in 2 years and 8 months after "Sad Sonata," has been gathering attention. The series is scheduled to be aired starting December 3rd.

(source: broasia)
(photo source: donga)

Sohn Ye Jin, appearing in new film.

Son Ye Jin is one of my favorite Korean actresses. I love most of her films especially "The Classic", "A Moment to Remember" and the TV Series "Summer Scent".

It's good to hear that she recently had an interview regarding the new movie she's starring in.

"This was too dramatic change of character for me and I had hard time making my decision after reading the script" said the actress Sohn who acted as a leader of pickpocket gang, Baek Jang Mi, in the movie 'The Unprotected City'.

She took it as a challenge and an adventure for her career and that's how convinced herself to make the decision.

The interview was held in the city of Busan, where PIFF (Pusan International Film Festival) was held.

Sohn also said that "For the first time in my acting career, this is the first one that made me to think about what the viewers would think of me when they see this movie."

Her character will play out and show two different sides of a woman who can kill the others for her own good but also holds the weak emotional points of woman at the same time.

This 'The Unprotected City' will crank up next month and be released to the theaters in January.

(source: broasia)

Jeong Da Bin Committed Suicide?

South Korean Actress Jeong Da Bin, 27, allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself. It is said she was found dead in the bathroom of her boyfriend's apartment in southern Seoul. Her boyfriend said, "She was under a lot of stress as she was unable to find work in recent months."

I'm not sure about this news but if this is true, I am really shocked. I don't understand why some of Korean stars commits suicide? Remember actress Lee Eun Joo and pop singer U-nee they also commited suicide. What is happening to these beautiful and popular stars? Tsk... tsk... May their souls rest in peace.

Jeung Da Bin is the female lead actress of Attic Cat TV Series,



My 19 Year Old Sister in Law TV Series,



and He was Cool.

Lee Dong Wook in Manila!

W-h-a-a-a-t? Yes, you read it right. Lee Dong Wook is here. I never knew that he’s coming. I seldom watch TV. But just this afternoon, out of boredom I was looking for a nice tv show when I luckily catch sight of Willie R. noon time show “Wowowee”. Lee Dong wook was invited as guest.

They started with a song. The two girls Mariel and the other one (I forgot her name) sang their hearts out while LDW was just standing there… smiling to his Filipino fans. After the song, Willie interviewed him. First, they called an interpreter, because he doesn’t speak English. He only speaks Korean.

The Interview:
Willie asked if he has a girlfriend.
And he said “No”.
And the fans were shouting with joy. (As if they have a chance with him…) hehehe…

Question: “What do you like in a girl?”
LDW (speaking in korean): Smart and wise.

He was told, that he is famous here in the Philippines because of the Korean TV Series “My Girl.”
LDW: I couldn’t believe that I'm famous here. And I feel great about it.

Question: “How do you find Filipino women?
(I notice this question is always asked to the foreign artists. I don't know why.)
LDW: “Beautiful and Attractive.”
And then Mariel said “Ay, I like you na.”

Q: You have an upcoming horror movie called "Arang"?. How do you feel about it since it's a different genre compared to your previous films?
LDW: It’s good because it’s a challenge and a new image for me.

Then he bid farewell by saying “Mahal ko kayo” (I Love You) and “Thank you”.

And the girl fans were like going crazy. Some Philippine actresses / performers were also making “beso-beso" with him. Then he was led to the backstage for exit.

Comment during the Interview:
I didn’t like what Mariel and the other girl did. They were shouting at the top of their lungs (with their mike on) while the interview was going on. It didn't look good. I was the one who felt embarrassed for the way they acted. They were the hosts at that time not an audience. They should have at least showed professionalism and composure. I just don’t like the thought that it might give a bad impression to us Filipinos. I hope not.

Tomorrow, he will have a one-on-one interview with Kris on the afternoon show "The Buzz".

Some pics during his childhood days.















PROFILE:
Name: Lee Dong Wook 이동욱
Date of Birth: November 6, 1981
Height: 185cm
Weight: 78kg
Education: Saejung University

FILMOGRAPHY:
TV Series My Girl (SBS, 2005)
Hanoi Bride (SBS, 2005)
Precious Family (KBS2, 2004)
Island Village Teacher (SBS, 2004)
Wooden Horse Carousel (MBC, 2003)
Alcohol Land (SBS, 2003)
Loving You (KBS, 2002)
Live The Right Way (SBS, 2002)
Let's Go (SBS, 2002)
Drama City "천국보다 기쁜 (Happier than Heaven)" (KBS, 2001)
A Dreaming Family (KBS, 2001)
Pure Heart (KBS, 2001)
School 3 (KBS1, 2000)
School 2

MY PIC WITH LEE DONG WOOK:
Eat your hearts out gals! Look at the picture.
I’m with your idol Lee Dong wook! mwe..he..he..he




















Ooops…my hubby might see this.
But nah! He knows that I'm a fan of Korean films. He'll understand. I did it just for fun of course.

ADDITINAL INFO:

Supporters of actor Lee Dong Woo aka Julian, swarmed the ABS-CBN compound for just a glimpse of the Korean hottie. His shy smile and gracious answers during his press conference yesterday made him more endearing to his followers specially the females.

Staying in the country for 4 days, Dong Wook is also in the Philippines to promote his very first movie, Arang. The suspense thriller, which also stars famous Korean actress Song Yun Ah, is based on a Korean folklore about a Minister's daughter who died defending her honor when one of her father's servants attempted to rape her. Arang will retell the tale in a more up to date setting. Lee Dong Wook will be playing one of the detectives who got involved in solving the case. He describes his character as very complex, a far cry from his character Julian on My Girl. It was psychologically hard and it was a great challenge for him as an actor. He thinks his personality is more like Julian, a bit serious and ‘shy around girls.’ His most memorable scene on My Girl was when Jasmine or actress Lee Da Hae gets the star on top of the Christmas tree. "It was really freezing that day. My hands and feet were frozen!" he shared. "But I also enjoyed our kissing scenes." he added playfully.

At only 25, Lee Dong Wook has come far from his debut as an actor when he was just 18 years old. He humbly described himself as a ‘simple high school boy’ in his junior year. He wasn’t blessed like other actors who easily entered the business when they were discovered by talent scouts. He enrolled in acting school and went to one audition after the other until he landed an acting job. "Acting isn’t really easy. That’s why I am always trying my best," he told the press through an interpreter. He likes reading books or spending time with friends, like actor Jo Insung (Memories of Bali and Spring Day), whom he has known for 7 years. (credits to beanniebaby from pex)

A Love to Kill

這該死的愛 A Love to Kill, theme song



Casts:
Rain - as Bok Ku
Shin Min Ah - as Cha Eun suk

Synopsis:
Rain plays Bok Ku, an orphan who has sworn to spend the rest of his life with his childhood friend Han Da Jung (Kim Sa Rang), to repay her for saving his life many years previously. However, much against his will Bok Ku falls in love with his own brother's ex-girlfriend. Her name is Cha Eun Suk (Shin Min Ah) and is a famous actress. Bok Ku secretly blames her for his brother's accident that has now left him in a coma. He wrongly believes that she betrayed him and swears revenge. Bok Ku gets a job working as her bodyguard so that he can be close by, and inadvertently falls for her.

Eun Suk, however is stuck in an engagement against her will. Kim Jun Sung (Lee Ki Woo), heir to a huge family conglomerate - The Hankuk Group - is caught with Eun Suk, and so to avoid a scandal that could damage his family and his company, the couple is force to get engaged.

Spoiler:

Do you like a bittersweet / tragic ending? Well, that’s not my cup of tea. But I still watched this drama because of Rain/Bi. He's cute especially when he smiles, nawawala yung mata hehehe….

In the beginning I was completely immersed in the story, but then again on the second half, my excitement faded.

I remember my niece Ailah asked me "Tita papatayin ba niya yung babae? Hmmm... nope, he he didn't. Even though he promised his older brother that he will seek revenge for him, bok ku knew deep down that he was falling for her.

And I can’t fully understand why they can’t be together. There was a scene when his older brother whispered his final message to bok-ku.. before he passed away. Telling him to take care, protect and love Eun-suk more. I knew that bok ku's brother was everything to him. But he gave already his blessings. Why do they have to make themselves suffer? Why make things complicated? When it's not. haaay...

To make the story short, they finally met and decided to completely go crazy and do the things they wanted to do just for one day. But after that, they have to go on leaving their separate lives.

They did what they had agreed. Days, weeks, months had passed... both had been busy with their lives. But then one day… Eun-suk disappeared. Worried and troubled that Eun-suk was gone, Bok ku went to the place where they had met before and looked for her earnestly for a very long time... until he saw her unconsciously lying down in the snow. In a desperate attempt to wake her up, he gently embraced and hold her closely, rubbed her arms and body to make her warm and put his jacket to her; while apologizing profusely, hoping and praying that she'd regain consciousness.. but to no avail.

The next morning… he was still holding her in his arms in the snow. Both were unconscious and looked very pale. Until Bok ku’s hand dropped lifelessly into the ground and Eun-suk opened her eyes just for a few seconds and closed her eyes again. And... and... they rest peacefully together.

Some Scenes that caught my attention:
Scene 1:

I was shocked at first when I saw the kissing scene of Rain and Shin Mi nah. Gooosh! That was a very passionate one, as in full-on, open mouth kiss. (wooh!) I’m used to those simple smack kiss only and it is rarely shown in korean tv series. So, I’m not really sure if this will be shown on tv. But for me it was done in good taste and there's a reason behind it.

Scene 2:
I can't believe that I'm seeing the snot or nasal mucus of Rain spilling from his nose, when he was crying heavily. That was a scene in the hospital with his brother.

Scene3:
Rain's brother was also crying, you can see the snot running down from his nose and... Rain even manage to wiped it with his bare hands. (Uhm… sounds gross, right?)

But I salute them both by acting out the role of a character in a very natural way.

My Girl (Korean TV Series)

Theme: Romantic Drama/Comedy

Synopsis of MY GIRL:

Seol Gong-chan (Lee Dong-wook) is the grandson of a large company. His grandfather while bedridden, thinks about the past when he severed ties with his own daughter (Gong-chan's aunt) because she fell in love with a man not suitable in his opinion. His daughter also gave birth to a child. He learns that his daughter and her husband died in Japan due to an earthquake. Gong-chan's grandfather regrets turning his own daughter (Gong-chan's Aunt) away and swears to find his granddaughter before it's too late.

Gong-chan meets Joo Yoo-rin (Lee Da-hae) a bouncy, energetic girl, who closely resembles his aunt. In order to appease his grandfather, he gets a crazy idea and asks Yoo-rin to pretend to be his cousin...thus starts a tangled relationship between the two....

SPOILER: (Don't read this, if you don't want to know the ending.)
Gong-chan and Yoo-rin are not related to each other. Gong chan’s ex-girlfriend revealed their secret to his grandfather. And Yoo-rin was thrown-out of the house. But in the end the grandfather will accept Yoo-rin to be with Gong-chan.

And guess who’s the granddaughter? It’s none other than Han Chae-Young (the lead actress in “My Sassy Girl, Chunyang TV Series), she appeared in the latter part of the film together with Jae Hee as her husband (the lead actor in My Sassy Girl Chunhyang).

It was interesting in the first half of the series but after that eventually my excitement faded away. Plus, I like Lee Jun Ki than Lee Dong wook.

My Rating: 7/10

IL Mare & The Lake House

I didn't watch the romantic movie “The Lake House” starring Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves, directed by Alejandro Agresti. This movie is a remake of the Korean Film "Siworae" or “Il Mare”. I watched the Korean movie two years ago in dvd.

So, I’ll just focus on the movie “Il Mare”. Il Mare is a South Korean film made in 2000, starring Jun Ji-hyun and Lee Jung-Jae. The title, Il Mare, means 'The Sea' in Italian. And is the name of the seaside house which is the setting of the story. This is a romance movie added with a time travel complexities through a mysterious mailbox that somehow bridges time. Trying desperately to connect each other by exchanging letters, the hero and the heroine gradually fall in love until they discovered that they were two years apart of time.


I like the first half of the movie because I was a bit intrigued of what’s going to happen between them. How are they supposed to meet since they’re two years apart of time? But some portion are a little bit confusing. After I watched it, I've had so many questions (???) repeatedly popping up in my mind. How did it happened? How come the man is still alive? And how come the girl doesn't know him? My point of view is -a miracle happened, an event that appears inexplicable by the laws of nature.



Originally the movie is slow pace, melancholic and the scenario is unrealistic. But the love between the two is sensible. In real life, the intense emotional attachment or love toward a person is really a gradual process, that needs time and understanding. The film is well-shot, nice cinematography. But, I just thought the movie wasn’t my type. Well, that’s just me. Maybe I’m just a lover of romantic comedies. I like also drama romance but it depends on the story.

The heroine of the movie Jun Ji-hyun is also the lead role of the movie My Sassy Girl, a complete contrast from her demure character to a wacky one.

.

Jewel in the Palace

I'm back, after a one-week summery hot vacation in the province. phew! And these coming weeks, I’ll probably be very busy inputting all the photographs that we had.

Magnificent! Superb! Breathtaking! Wonderful! Brilliant! Glorious! Marvelous! Bravura! Outstanding! Excellent! Grand! These are the words that I can say about "Jewel in the Palace". Of all the Korean TV series that I watched, this is the number 1 in my list. It's a 10/10 rating for me.

I watched this TV series long time ago; it wasn't aired yet in channel 7. The DVDs are19 discs in all, 76 episodes more or less. That means you'll have to spend 76 hours just to watch this drama.

I'm sooo in love with the story of Janggeum, her perseverance, struggle, hope and dedication and most of all her "love story". The story has its unique combination of two themes: the successful rise of a female, which is rarely covered in historical genre, and the elements of traditional food and medicine.

"The TV miniseries Daejanggeum, or Jewel in the Palace, which aired on GMA-7 is the highest rating primetime Koreanovela here in the Philippnes and even in other Asian countries. The series is based on the story of a real historical figure (Jang-geum) who was the first and only woman to serve as head physician to the King in the rigidly hierarchical and male-dominated social structure of the Joseon Dynasty."

"Your fate will be decided by three women. The first one, you didn't want to kill her, but she will be killed. The second one, you will save her, but she will die because of you. The third one, she will kill you, but because of this, will be the saviour of many ...'"

FACT FILE:

• In actual history, the King did fall in love with Jang Geum, but he can't do anything to save Jang Geum after his death...

(Nothing much is written about Jang Geum in history, so the above statement is FALSE!)!

• King Jung Jong's Wife-Queen, Queen Munjeong was a major historical figure in Korean History. She ruled Korea from behind the veil with absolute power for 8 years. Thus, Jang-geum was not the only woman who broke through barrier of gender inequality and sexual discrimination. A touch of this was mentioned in the series.(Gerry Tan)

• During the reign of Jungjong (the 11th Joseon King) there was a major conflict between two Confucian factions. One is the Yanban, to which the Right Minister Oh belongs. These Yanban were descendants of the group responsible for King Sejong's (4th Joseon King) accession to the throne, and as a result of this service, accumulated a great deal of power and wealth ever since. The other faction is the Shilin to which the Left Minister Pak and Min jung-ho belongs to.They (Shilin) believe that a person should be suited for a position based on merit and not on breeding and connections,thus in direct opposition to the Yanban code.This is truly the Shilin philosophy and the King took it a step further by appointing Jang-geum as his Personal physician and bestowed her the title of Daejanggeum.(Gerry Tan)

• Dae Jan Geum is the one and only female to be a King's Personal physician. Until today even the Presidential Personal physician is still a male. (Gerry Tan)

• The King tried to push for reforms by appointing Jo Gwangjo to his administration who tried but failed and suffered tremendous setbacks.He was subsequently exiled. In 1521, an event occured when the Yanban pressed for Jo's execution rather than exile. This served as a historical basis for the Sulfur Duck incident where Lady Court Han was accused to be in league with Jo. (although the character of Jo is not seen but references to him were made throughout the story, I think it is common knowledge that the Koreans know this historical incident but we are oblivios to Korean Joseon History are keep in a limbo on who Jo was. Gerry Tan)

• There was a person named Min Jung-Ho, but he had no romantic relationship with Jang-Geum at all.

• Geum Young(Jing Ying) and Court Lady Choi existed in actual history. However,the historical Court Lady Choi was 10 times worse than the one portrayed in the show.Apart from making Jang-geum's life miserable,she allegedly even forced Geum Young into being one of the King's concubines.

• There was supposed to be a kissing scene of Lee Young Ae and Ji Jin Hee, but Lee Young Ae thought it was not appropriate, hence they did not.

• Court Lady Han's character(played by Yang Mi-Gyeong) was supposed to die earlier.However, due to the fans' protest, the director 'delayed' her death scene.

• Park Eun-Hye was originally cast to take the role of 'Seo Jang-Geum', but later on when it was confirmed that Lee Young Ae acting in the show as well, Park Eun-Hye was re-cast again to take over the role of 'Yeon-Sheng'.

• Kyun Mi-Ri was supposed to play the role of Court Lady Han(Han sang goon), but later on Yang Mi-Gyeong took over the role.

• On sunday, (May 1st 2005) TVB (Hong Kong television network) has finally finished airing this series in Hong Kong, and the last episode broke the golden record by achieving 44 average rating as well as 49 at the highest point. This series just beaten 'Nan Chan Lui Aui'/War of Genders acted by Dodo Cheng and Davo Wong in year 2000 by only one point.

Reference: http://hkadb.net/index.php/