Veteran actress Choi Jin Shil (40) (most recently of the romantic comedy/family drama The Last Scandal of My Life) — whom I love and have thought was adorable since I first saw her act in Jealousy in 1992 — has been granted the right to legally change her two children’s surnames from that of her ex-husband to her own. While this isn’t necessarily a rare occurrence, it’s a formerly impossible but now growing practice in a society that until very recently was strict in its application of Family Registry Law (the patriarchal system requiring children to be registered under the father’s name). (Women keep their names upon marriage in Korea, which I used to think was oddly forward-thinking, but which I’m now inclined to believe has more to do with keeping a woman as an outsider when she marries into her husband’s family.)

Following Choi Jin Shil’s 2004 divorce from baseball player Jo Sung Min, her 7-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter will take her surname Choi. The court granted permission saying they based the decision on the fact that she’s been the childrearing parent for the past four years.

Choi explained she doesn’t intend to remarry, but as her ex-husband has remarried and she wants to live her own life, she wanted to her children to proudly bear her family name. (Apparently the kids didn’t see the occasion as a big deal; when she told them of the name change issue, they were expecting it as an obvious outcome.)

According to the article, 80% of applicants in cases like this involve divorced women who want to remarry, whose children will take on the last name of their stepfather. Those who intend to raise their children as single mothers make up the other 20%. A source with the court explained that in cases like Choi’s, the name change isn’t made to sever ties with the children’s biological fathers, but in affirmation of the care their mother has provided and an assurance of that relationship. (In ye olden days, the rigidity of Confucian-based values favored men and gave many women the shaft in regards to family relationships, their children and custody. Recent law changes are expanding women’s rights and giving them more freedom, although the changes are still new and the shifts bound to be gradual.)

Via Joins.com

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Peppertones – “Diamonds” [ Download ]

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Episode 13 is probably the most serious episode of the series, and perhaps appropriately so given the subject of the current plot. It continues some of the relationship reversals begun in the previous episode and we have some more solid acting all around (although I think Byun Jung Soo as Na Yoon is a marked cut below the others). And thankfully, although the gravity of the situation is a necessary development, the drama doesn’t remain mired in gloom for too long.

SONG OF THE DAY

Lee Eun Mi – “사랑하다는 말” (Saying I love you) [ Download ]

 
THE LAST SCANDAL OF MY LIFE Episode 13 >>

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Bae Yong Joon arrives in Japan to an adoring crowd of approximately six thousand fans, many of whom spent the previous night at the airport to await their cult leader idol star. Other cast members (including Moon Sori, Philip Lee, Park Sung Woong and Lee Jia) were also on hand, albeit mostly ignored in favor of Yonsama. The 2008 Taewangsashingi [Legend] Premium Event takes place in Osaka on June 1.

May 30, Osaka Airport.

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So, who enjoyed their short week?

I have to make the half-shameful admission that the highlight of my TV-viewing experience this week wasn’t a kdrama for once (meh, they’re so boring right now) but the return of So You Think You Can Dance. I wasn’t even aware it was coming back till it popped up on the ol’ Tivo. It’s OMG so in-your-face cornball and unabashedly cheesetastic. Cat Deeley is adorable — she’s the perfect cheesy-reality-show host: enthusiastic and never condescending of the material no matter how low it sinks. (And boy, does it sink pretty low sometimes.) Although it’s a show, like Top Model, that you really can’t watch without the fast-forward button at the ready.

SONG OF THE DAY

City and Colour – “Save Your Scissors.” You haven’t really heard this song till you blast it over headphones. Seriously, it’s a different experience altogether — like you’re floating in an ocean of harmonies. [ Download ]

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Oh, pleeez.

Kim Ah Joong is putting out a book and has announced plans to donate proceeds to a hospital for handicapped children. She’s co-editing with Koryo University’s writing professor Kim Kwang Su, and the book Emotional Communication goes on sale on May 30.

The book is described as dealing with a study on the spectrum of human emotions as classified into several categories such as horror, anger, sadness, love, happiness, etc. It takes a look into several academic fields in its synthesis of the human emotional experience, such as neuroscience, physiology, and psychology.

Professor Kim explains that he’d come up with the concept of the book in early 2007, and was impressed with Kim Ah Joong’s enthusiasm and insight when she attended his lectures on the topic (read: He saw his ticket to publication). He apparently approached her and suggested her participation, and thus the collaboration.

Yeaaaah, I’m sure. A pretty young actress and jeans model, whose claim to fame is a mainstream romantic comedy fluff hit, seemed like the perfect partner for compiling an examination of human emotions using an “academic approach”? A university professor works on a book for more than a year, brings in a student, and now they’re “co-editors”? I wish the workload balance tilted in this direction when I was a college student.

Hey, maybe she has a knack for the subject (also, maybe not) — but no matter how bright a student is, no way does a college intro-lecture-attendee have any sort of business co-authoring a book bearing this description. This is no slam against her — it’s miles away from Horan’s essay collection, Yoon Eun Hye’s craft projects, Jung Ryeo Won’s sketchbook, or Park Jiyoon’s photography. Even pop- and pseudo-science ought to require the bare minimum in the way of academic credentials.

Via Star News

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Bless – “남자답게, 옴므” (Homme) [ Download ]

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