I’ve been hearing about this vague Kim Haneul–Daniel Henney joint venture called “Sweet September” for months now, and wondered why the heck so much media attention was lavished on one unremarkable photo. Granted, when you bring together two beautiful people, people will take notice for even the slightest of reasons, and from what I’ve been able to glean about Sweet September, it is indeed the slightest of reasons. It’s also been promoted with lots of vague buzzwords and not a lot of actual description, which is, to say the least, annoying. (Personally, I find the more you have to obscure the product itself to sell it, the less I can count on the product to be any good.)

Anyway. It’s now being touted as a “romantic photo movie” between the two leads, which leads me to ask: Huh? A photo movie? You’re either a movie or you’re a photo, but the two are kinda opposite things, yeah? — since one is stationary and one, well, moves.

Misnomer aside, Sweet September is a joint project between Elle Magazine and cable channel On Style and is composed of seven romantic love stories (the subtitle is “Seven days of love,” which sounds to me like seven days of lust might be more apropos, but okay). Here’s the preview:

(Who else cringed when Daniel Henney spoke his opening line? The two stars do look gorgeous together, though.)

The story/program/”movie”/whatever hits airwaves on August 23 on cable channel On Style and will be featured in September’s issue of Elle.

Via OSEN

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I don’t usually comment on fashion, usually because I don’t care enough about what makes fashion “good” or “trendy” or “cutting-edge.” But I DO know bad fashion when I see it, and while I was scrolling through a bunch of the latest photos hitting the (internet) wire, I was taken aback by how uniformly bad things looked at the Gucci 2008-2009 FW Collection, which attracted stars on the evening of August 7 at Seoul’s W Hotel.

For instance, Lee Dong-wook above? Freshly shaven after playing a scruffy bad boy in the recent drama La Dolce Vita, he looks youthful and handsome… from the neck up. I don’t know where he got came up with the rest of the look, though — an ill-fitting gray suit, with a brightly patterned scarf in the middle of sweltering summer? The end patterning on the scarf looks like a rug my parents own (albeit a very pretty rug), and has he lost so much weight that the ends of his belt trail down under the jacket to peek out over his leg? (And brown studded leather with pinstriped gray twill? Even I know that doesn’t go.)

And he’s not even the worst of the offenders. For instance:

(1) Lee Jin-wook’s headstone will soon read: “Death by Paisley Scarf.” Probably not the manliest way to go.
(2) Speaking of manly, someone hit it on the head recently when saying Jang Geun-seok is uncomfortable with his prettiness, because he’s always trying to overcompensate by overdoing it in the opposite direction. But instead of looking masculine, now he looks halfway between a lipstick and butch lesbian (both into biker chic), when he should just embrace his inherent metrosexshuality. OWN THE PRETTY, Jang Geun-seok! The pretty likes you.

(3) I know Lee Jia likes to think of herself as punk rock (really more punk rawk, and lite at that) but when you try to punk up your froofy ballerina tutu (cuz black is so badass), and then matchy-matchy your gold ruffly hem to go with your gold studded belt, you end up merely looking like Avril Lavigne Goes Kentucky Derby. Yee-haw!
(4) Kim Haneul is a pretty woman with bad lipstick, who looks stoned, and is wearing FRINGE on silk. With a sequined skirt. My eyes glaze over looking at all the weird texture combinations, sort of like Kim Haneul’s eyes here.

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Tags: fashion, Ha Seok-jin, Jang Geun-seok, Kim Haneul, Kim Jung-eun, Kim Sung-soo, Lee Dong-wook, Lee Eun-sung, Lee Jia, Lee Jin-wook, Lee Yeon-hee, Sung Yuri

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A couple more photos have been released in promotion for the upcoming broadcast of cable program Kim Haneul’s Travel Diary in Italy, which airs on August 6 and 13 as an On Style and ETN joint production.

Kim Haneul filmed the show back in April and traveled through Florence, Milan, Montalcino, and other well-known Italian cities. The camera follows the On Air star as she browses stores big and small, famous and hidden, showing off her fashion know-how and offering a glimpse into her daily travels as she navigates the streets with map in hand, talks with tourists, and of course, shops.

Ah, Italy. If I were going back there, I’d be interested in a lot more than just shopping for clothes and meeting designers. But then, I have no interest in being a fashionista, so I’ll leave that to stars like Kim. Give me a museum or La Scala any day.

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The second OST for On Air is out, and so is the track Kim Haneul sings.

The song is cute. Her voice is weak. (It sounds like something indie band Misty Blue could have performed — I would’ve loved to hear it recorded by someone with stronger vocal control.) She can carry a tune, but those high notes are wincingly off-key (what happened to audio correction software?).

Listen for yourselves.

SONG OF THE DAY

Kim Haneul - “Sky Love” [ Download ] [ Re-upped higher quality ]

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Well, her On Air co-stars Park Yong Ha and Song Yoon Ah both have songs on the series soundtrack (see below), so now it’s Kim Haneul’s turn. She’s showcasing her heretofore hidden singing abilities and recording a track to be released on the drama’s second OST.

She explained, “I’ve received so much love because of On Air, I wanted to repay that. This is my first time recording so I’m a little nervous.”

Is she any good, though? The music director thinks so, but we’ll get to form our own opinions when the disc, which contains ten tracks in all — Kim Haneul’s is entitled “Sky Love” — goes on sale tomorrow, April 29.

Via Segye.com

SONG OF THE DAY

On Air OST - “그림자” (Shadow) by actress Song Yoon Ah. [ Download ]

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• KBS’s new action drama Rivals, aka Kang-jeok-deul or Adversaries, premieres tomorrow. In striving for realism, Chae Rim visited a special attack squad and handled real firearms; Lee Jong Hyuk and stunt actors worked under a special-effects director and shot blanks from real guns. Now let’s see if the story’s any good.
• Kim Dong Wan, currently hospitalized after collapsing in the studio on the 11th, anticipates being released on the 15th, according to management. Reasons for his condition are attributed to stress from overwork; his solo album release will now be postponed until he is completely recovered, probably to early May.
• MBC’s upcoming Monday-Tuesday drama starring Kim Sun Ah and Lee Dong Gun, When Night Comes, is in the final stages of preparation and will soon start filming. The drama follows Yi San and is scheduled to premiere June 16. He plays an antiques-expert playboy with a thing for the virginal type; she plays a fervently patriotic spinster. The two share in romantic-comedy exploits as they search for national/cultural treasures. Kind of an oddly random assortment of details, though I suppose that’s not necessarily a bad thing.



• Lee Hana of the film Le Grand Chef and most recently in musician Jung Jae Hyung’s latest music video (see Song of the Day, below), follows her role in last year’s mania drama Merry vs. Daegu Battle in the upcoming KBS drama Woman in the Sun, also written by Merry scriptwriter Kim In Young. She’ll be acting alongside Kim Ji Soo (who makes her TV comeback after four years); the drama will follow currently airing Three Dads, One Mom.
• Last year, new pop group 8eight seemed poised for instant success, but faded fairly quickly out of the public eye after lots of hype. The trio says they’ve learned from the failure of their first album, born of an overly hectic schedule where they’d attempted too much, too fast: “We’d rushed through recording and our television debut, so the weak points were plain to see.” They’re now looking optimistically to their second album “Infinity.”
• Kim Haneul likes the comparison to her abrasive On Air character Seung Ah, and embraces her new nickname combining her real name with her character’s: “Kim Oh Seung Ah.” How is her character like herself? They’re both addicted to working out and have a love of sunglasses. For the past three years, she’s exercised three hours daily — sounds like someone’s got a bad case of exercise bulimia. (And no, I’m not being flip. That degree of fanaticism is very likely unhealthy.)

 
SONG OF THE DAY

Jung Jae Hyung - “Running,” whose video features Lee Hana. [ Download ]

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Tags: Kim Dong-wan, Kim Haneul, Kim Sun-ah, kpop, Lee Dong-gun, Lee Hana, music videos, On Air, overworking, Rivals, When Night Comes

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