Phew, lots to talk about today:

• Get ready to welcome Go Soo back from the military! He completes his mandatory service this week; he’ll be released on the 25th and plans to have a fanmeeting that very day in Seoul. He gets back to work immediately in a play (read here) which premieres in May.
• On Air, which is doing very well in the ratings, has its next batch of all-star cameos lined up. They’ve already featured Lee Hyori and Jeon Do Yeon, among others; now they’ll feature Shin Dong Wook, Lee Dong Kyu, and comedian Kim Jae Dong. The series has been extended three episodes for a total of 23.
• As for other extensions, On Air’s timeslot competitor Who Are You? has been rumored to be extended by one episode to 17 total, and while I think this may be likely, I’m not ready to get excited until I see it confirmed somewhere outside the fan message board. (No offense to fans — they often have the earliest info, but I’d rather play it safe with an official statement.)
• Chae Rim suffered an injury over the weekend while filming for her new series Rivals. In a scene where her character argues with Lee Jin Wook’s bratty presidential-son character in a ramen restaurant, Chae Rim slipped on some fallen ramen on the ground and hit her hip on a sharp corner (of, I assume, a table). She was taken to the hospital, but no bones were broken and the injury appears to be manageable.

• Choi Jin-yi, the lead singer of rock band Rumble Fish, is set to go solo with her first single “Brilliant Days” (she’d already recorded a song with the group MC The Max earlier this year). Wait, Rumble Fish is still together, right??
• Singer-actor Lee Ji Hoon (Hello Miss, New Heart) takes his next role starring with Girls Generation pop star Yoon Ah in the upcoming KBS daily drama You’re My Destiny. He’s also set to release his sixth album (his first in four years) on May 13.
• At the wrap party for their film I Feel Good on the 18th, stars Eugene (Three Dads, One Mom) and Lee Seon Kyun (Coffee Prince, White Tower) engaged in an impromptu mini song battle. While singing karaoke, the two were prodded on by continuous encores, so they complied and sang four or five songs. In the film, she plays an pop-singer idol; it also stars Lee Soo Kyung (Soulmate, Golden Age of Daughters-in-Law) and Lee Minki (Mixed-up Investigative Agency, Dal Ja’s Spring), who were also in attendance, along with approximately 100 staff members.

 
SONG OF THE DAY

Rumble Fish - “으라차차” (eu-ra-cha-cha) [ Download ]

RELATED POSTS

• Rivals (KBS)
• Who Are You: Episode 13
• News bites: April 13, 2008
• Broadcast delays for Who Are You?, On Air
• On Air: First impressions
• Anticipating Go Soo’s comeback
• Eugene and Minki back together

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Three Dads, One Mom is… not a good show.

You know how sometimes you might be watching a drama, say, and something happens in the latter part of the drama that is exactly like what happened earlier in the drama? For instance, the mother of the rich hero tries to buy off her son’s poor girlfriend, or a misunderstanding causes a rift between two people. Or two people arrive at the same crowded venue looking for each other and just barely miss each other as they walk by, oblivious to the other. These are just examples of overused and super-trite occurrences that I may put up with once in a drama, but when they appear again later, it’s irritating because clearly they are out of ideas.

Anyway, it’s like that for Three Dads, only instead of occasionally, it’s every single episode, and the repetition is in triplicate form. It’s bad enough for a contrivance to push along your plot, but when that contrivance continually happens THREE TIMES in a row, it’s aggravating. There’s very little story going on (who needs story when you can just repeat stuff three times?).

Plus Eugene is really starting to get annoying — it’s partly her, and it’s partly her stupid character. (How they squandered such talents in their supporting cast I will never know.) So given that the two problematic roles are the lead female and the lead male…

I considered following along and recapping the series anyway just for the fun of it, but I can just see the initial humor of the situation degenerating into frustration. There’s a fine line between “so bad it’s fun(ny)” and “so bad I want to shoot something.”

SONG OF THE DAY

As One - “Zza Zza La!” from their latest “Sponge Remake 2008″ single.
[ Download ]

 
THREE DADS, ONE MOM Episode 4 >>

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I wasn’t sure I’d be continuing to cover Three Dads, One Mom (and I’m still not convinced), but I had time to watch it tonight with its competition postponing its episodes for the day. (The drama received a hefty ratings bump as well, nearly tripling from its very low premiere numbers of approx 5% to somewhere in the 14% vicinity. The true test will be seeing if the upward bump sticks, or was a mere blip because of a lack of counterprogramming.)

I think I’ve also narrowed down my issues to the drama. Sorry to say, his name is Jo Hyun Jae. That’s not the only aspect that gives me pause, but it is the most prominent. I don’t hate him — I want to like him, really — and the problem isn’t that he’s a bad actor and incapable of better. It’s precisely that he IS capable of doing better that makes it seem more glaring that he’s kinda phoning it in. I know it’s just a simple romantic comedy, but Jae Hee and Shin Sung Rok are playing equally simple characters and yet they’re throwing themselves into their roles with gusto. Jo Hyun Jae seems to be coasting along.

Eugene, on the other hand, may not be the world’s most skilled actress, but she’s cute as a button and her slight overacting seems to fit with the drama, so I’m not too bothered. Yet.

SONG OF THE DAY

Three Dads, One Mom OST - “Everything” by Eve [ Download ]

THREE DADS, ONE MOM Episode 3 >>

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Finally caught the first two episodes of the new KBS Wednesday-Thursday drama Three Dads, One Mom, and have a bit of a mixed reaction. On one hand, there’s a very cute quality to the drama, helped in no small part by its appealing cast — and while they’re not quite superstar-famous, all four main cast members are fairly established and known names.

There are some things I like about the series and the setup; there are other things I don’t. Right now, I’m not sure which way the balance tilts. Eugene is adorably gorgeous as the one mom amidst three possible dads, best-friend bachelors played by Jo Hyun Jae, Jae Hee, and Shin Sung Rok. Their interactions, laced with a healthy dose of good-natured male camaraderie, are one of the more appealing aspects of the drama for me. I’ll wait to see how things develop before making a final judgment; for now, I plan to catch a few more episodes.

SONG OF THE DAY

Instant Romantic Floor - “Same Thing (Song For Me)” [ Download ]

THREE DADS, ONE MOM Episodes 1 & 2 >>

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…onscreen, that is.

They last acted together in the drama I Really, Really Like You, and are next cast as a couple in the upcoming film I Feel Lucky. Coffee Prince’s gentle and comforting Han Sung, actor Lee Seon Kyun, is also cast, paired with the lively actress Lee Soo Kyung, who’s currently popular for her role in Golden Age of Daughters-in-Law but will forever be in my mind the lovable everywoman from 2006’s Soulmate.

And for once, I don’t have to do any translating! Oddly enough, this following news article was printed in its original Korean, but came supplied with its own English translation, courtesy of Segye news:

Actor Lee Sun-Gyun and Lee Su-Gyung, Lee Min-Gi and Yu-Jin become couples in love.

A movie ‘I feel lucky’,(directed by Gang Chul-Woo, produced by DRM entertainment-SBSi) portraying a film-like romance of four people whom they met on a strange place, has the four above actors cast as lovers.

Lee Sun-Gyun, with rising popularity from the movie, ‘Our town’, plays CEO named Jae-Hyuk, who is bossy and cool-headed, but feels sadness in his heart, and actress Lee Su-Gyung, drawing attention nowadays with her bubbly and charming performances takes on the role of cheerful Su-Jin who is becoming a romantic couple with Jae-Hyuk in the movie.

A singer turned a successful actress Yu-Jin and actor Lee Min-Gi from movie ‘A good day to have an affair’, who is now enjoying overwhelming love from female fans, each appears as a top star Ga-Young and an ordinary guy Jung-Hwan unfolding an interesting romance. ‘I feel lucky’ is a romantic comedy about men and women who departs from their usual and lands on a dreamy Boracay Island with their own tales.

The shoot is scheduled to begin in mid-December in Seoul and take off in full-scale from next month in Manila, Philippine and Boracay Island.

SONG OF THE DAY

Peppertones - “High Romance” [ zShare download ]

RELATED POSTS:

• Stepping into Jang Dong Gun’s shoes
• Lee Seon Kyun’s dream role

Filed under: Chungmuro/Film by javabeans - 36 Comments →

Speaking of SES, the ladies of the pop group are in the news again. Or at least two of them are.

Eugene and Shoo (wither Bada?) have just opened their new website selling their brand at the “SES Mall” (www.sesmall.co.kr), and have named their new fashion line SHB — which stands for “SES Happy Brand.”

This isn’t the first time actors and pop stars are branching out into fashion — singer-actress Uhm Jung Hwa capitalized on her sultry sex-kitten image with a lingerie line, actress Lee Hye Young has her own fashion brand (”Missing Dorothy,” sold via home shopping), as do actresses Lee Seung Yeon (the “About Elle” line), Hwang Shin Hye, Byun Jung Soo, and others.

But Eugene and Shoo are attempting to set themselves apart from the other stars-slash-fashion-brands by having their own styles directly infused into their line, incorporating Shoo’s “cute and lovable” and Eugene’s “feminine, soft” styles. (Apparently Bada’s absence is explained because of her contract with a different line, which prevents her participation.)

Congrats to them, but what’s with every star these days wanting to be a mogul in every possible avenue available to them, rather than focusing on one or two things at which they actually excel? Next thing you know they’ll all be peddling novelty edible cosmetics, or random perfumes with terrible juvenile names.

Take a look at the ladies modeling their line after the jump.

SONG OF THE DAY

SES - “Just a Feeling” (remix version). This song reminds me of mid-career Mariah Carey, kind of. You know, the “Emotions” and “Fantasy” days. [ zShare download ]

Take a look at some of the fashions being sold >>

Filed under: Kpop News by javabeans - 10 Comments →