Hiatus

I’m sorry, dear readers and friends, but real life is placing demands on me that require all my attention, so I’m going on hiatus(a blogging break) for at least the rest of July, probably more depending on how things work out. Stay well, and stay in love with Asian entertainment!

PS. I’m still updating my Twitter, so come follow if you want!

Newsbites

It’s been a while since I did this.

-Lady Castle has been renamed as Take Care of Agasshi and stars Yoon Eun Hye(duh), Yoon Sang Hyun of Queen of Housewives as the butler with whom she falls in love, and Jung Il Woo of Return of Iljimae as her rich, icy fiance(bummer. I was really hoping prettiness Woo would be the drama lead. But Sang Hyun looks decently good-looking and at least he’s not a drama newb so we shall see)

-The trailer for China’s version of Boys Before Flowers came out-

and, as one of my friends so succinctly put it, “It makes Korean BOF looks like a masterpiece but you know what is sad? I am going to be watching this. It’s nice to see, however, that we have a clear winner for the most unattractive F4 (pardon me, H4) ever.”

-The trailer for high-profile Lee Byung Hyun/Kim Tae Hee/half the big-name stars in the K-entertainment world-starring upcoming drama Iris has finally come out English-subbed it in high quality.

-Brilliant Legacy’s most recent episode(22) hit the 40.1% mark, making it officially a huge success.

And, in honor of that, here is a delightful MV someone made.

Spring Waltz, eps 3-5

Spring Waltz is beautifully shot, carefully arranged, filmed in stunning locations around the world and set to hauntingly lovely classical and indie music(Loveholic’s “One Love” is the main theme). It is so sophisticated and restrained, in fact, that I am sick to death of it. Spring Waltz is so consumed with how it looks and feels that it forgets about the part where it’s supposed to draw viewers into the plot and lives of the characters portrayed. You get the feeling that Yoon Suk-Ho, the drama PD, was so focused on the surface aspects of this film, on painstakingly creating a beautiful look and sound – which he succeeds at so well(filming locations include picturesque, snow-drenched Salzburg and Hallstat in Austria) – that he forgot to put emotional heat and heart into the film, with the result that it feels like a still canvas, a painting – beautiful to look at, but not alive. His characters seem almost like puppets, wandering on and off screen without any clear idea where they are or why they’re here. There’s a deep sense of disorientation in the drama’s first few episodes, springing partially from the fact that all the characters are in Austria, a place not native to them – but instead of being a symbolic echo of the characters’ sense of dislocation, as other works such as Lost in Translation have done succesfully, the disorientation feels at once overt and unintentional. It’s as if, in trying to tell us that his characters are lonely and emotionally locked away, Yoon Suk-Ho instead makes us also feel the chill of that winter, so that instead of feeling sympathy or empathy with his characters we just get gradually depressed. Such at least was my impression after watching the first 5 episodes.

And who could blame him? you say. Yoon Suk-Ho, who almost single-handedly launched the Korean wave with Winter Sonata and Autumn Fairy Tale, famed drama PD, of immeasurable renown…and that I think is exactly the problem. He got complacent – became so fixated on bringing out certain facets and aspects of this fourth drama in his Seasons quartet – especially the theme of winter versus spring – that it was some time before he got around to realizing that he should be bringing his characters, not just their setting, to life. If I could meet him, I would tell him in one sentence what he needs to do: Stop being so clever and get on with the story.  It doesn’t help that all the actors, with the exception of Daniel Henney(and don’t even get me started on his acting ability/screen presence) are relative newbies and clearly didn’t quite know what they were doing(I’m watching Han Hyo-Joo in the currently-airing Brilliant Legacy as well and I assure you, the difference is incredible, and lies not just in the difference in her roles – she grew a lot as an actress). It’s not that any of the actors are terrible – in fact Han Hyo-Joo seems just fine so far -but Seo Do-Young as lead Jae Ha/Su Ho possesses all the expressionless reserve and icy calm of the traditional emotionally cut-off hero(who will be opened up by heroine) without any of the saving graces of charisma or extreme good looks(he’s pretty, but in an extremely boyish way, and not exceptionally so). While Daniel Henney…well, I said I wouldn’t talk about him, so I won’t. Let me just say that I personally find him annoying as both an actor and a character, and I cringe whenever he comes onscreen.

However, I think I’ve talked myself into sounding like I dislike Spring Waltz more than I do. I don’t hate Spring Waltz. I don’t even really dislike it so far. It’s more that I’m disappointed in it – I am disappointed in its pace, its lack of forward plot movement and chemistry and fire between the leads. But Spring Waltz isn’t all bad – I really really like the set-up: an icy genius pianist who finds his childhood love again and falls for her outgoing, warm personality – and I’m interested enough in all the great possibilites of that set-up, as well as a few hints of future things the drama has dropped – to keep going, even after 5 episodes of boredom. Which must say something. And it’s not that the beautiful setting and soundtrack detract from it, on the contrary they’re one of the few things keeping me going. I just wish I didn’t have to fall back on them. For now, the verdict is still out.

Kim Bum and Kim So-Eun Dating?

Hot off the Popseoul presses – evidence strongly suggests that Kim Bum and Kim So-Eun are a campus couple! Heeee!!!! You know, I adored them both in Boys Before Flowers, but I wasn’t a rabid fan until after the drama, when looking back they were one of the highlights of that addicting mess. It would be too adorable for words if this is true:) Also, they’d hands-down win the award for most photogenic young couple ever(apart from Vic Zhou and Barbie Hsu, of course…).

and, because I love em-

Shining Inheritance/Brilliant Legacy

Shining Inheritance hit over 40% with its most recent episodes:) I have to say, I’m quite proud of this baby. It’s not exceptional, but it is very very good, and it has all the charm and accessability of a Boys Before Flowers storyline without any of the gigantic screwups/melodrama that dragged that story down.

You know, I personally don’t find Bae Soon Bin’s character Junse compelling at all in this drama, but I’d be excited to see him in other roles. See following picture for proof positive of his um, acting potential.

I thought this sequence of caps was hilarious – the first is an actual scene from the drama and the next is a behind-the-scenes

Aw. So adorable!! The more I see of the actors behind this drama the more I like them, particularly Lee Seung Gi.

And here, in one cap, is why Eun-seung and Hwan are both meant to be together and the cutest couple ever . Matching expressions!

You can watch online on Viikii or download the RAWS from Aja-aja and the softsubs from D-Addicts

Shining Inheritance Eps 19-20 photos and spoilers

Spoilers and photos of this weekend’s upcoming Shining Inheritance/Brilliant Legacy have been released, and while the (frelling) site won’t let me save or hotlink the photos, Eun Sung’s can be found here(Han Hyo Joo is so my new girl-crush, along with Lee Soo Kyung) and Woo Hwan’s here(Lee Seung Gi gets both cuter and more hot every episode – how is that possible? He’s one of those rare actors – along with Gong Yoo – whose smile transforms his entire face)

Spoilers for episodes 19 and 20 follow

Top 10 Dramas-Part 1

I’ve seen somewhere between 30 and 40 dramas in my 2-year drama watching career, and out of all of them, the following are my personal favorites. Not the best, or the most creatively/artistically successful, but simply the ones that made me smile, laugh, occasionally cry, and most of all just had a spark of magic that made me fall deeply in love with them, whatever their flaws. These ones remind me why I watch dramas when I’m flagging after a spate of bad ones.

Now, with no further ado, I give you my top 5(next 5 to follow later).

Kamenashi Kazuya-”Kizuna”

One of my favorite performances/songs of all time, from one of the more popular members of powerhouse Jpop group Kat-Tun. Kame is hot:)

Download mp3

BoA making her mark

NY1 recently interviewed BoA and Allkpop has the news. Also, go vote for BoA on the NY1 poll over whether she’ll be a star in the US, and check out their profile on her.

The interview is below.

To my extreme pride, her English has gotten distinctely and noticably better:)

Hyun Joong and Lee Seung Ki: New Singles

Hyun Joong has released the teaser for his solo song/upcoming MV, and I must say I’m quite amused by it.

I mean, we all know I love KHJ passionately, but I’m quite entertained by he how seems to have amped up the sexy/hard-ass side ever since BOF, as if he’s playing the two-edged sword of allowing himself to be more in the spotlight/play up more obviously the sex-god side of himself because of the popularity from BOF, while simultaneously rejecting that role by being in every way the opposite of his sensitive, reserved, clean-cut BOF character.

The song is just as catchy as SS501′s usually are, however, with that lovely forward driving beat I really love about them.

And, in almost more exciting news, my recent Shining Inheritance love, star Lee Seung Ki, has released his first single in over a year(yes, he has a legitimate career as a singer aside from his new-ish acting career). And I quite like it, though it’s not written by him so I’m not quite sure what that counts for.