It’s kind of unnerving how all the news right now is either Choi Jin-shil’s sudden death or the 13th Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF), and sometimes while looking through the news listings, it’s easy to confuse the two based on the thumbnail images. (Given the timing, as far as I can see, there were no overlaps in attendees — or at least, very few — between PIFF and Choi Jin-shil’s funeral viewing.)

October 2 saw the opening night to the nine-day festival; PIFF closes on October 10 and is the largest film festival in Korea, and one of the largest in Asia. Over the course of the week, more than 300 films will be screened from 60-plus countries.

Kim Rae-won and Han Eun-jung, above, came as brand models for PIFF sponsor L’Oreal. Other famous name actors showed up to the red carpet night; the opening film was Kazakhstan’s The Gift to Stalin, as well as the Hyun Bin & Lee Bo-young film I Am Happy.

PIFF’s red carpet >>

Tags: Cha Seung-won, Choi Jung-yoon, Choi Kang-hee, Eom Ji-won, Eugene, fashion, film festivals, Go Ara, Gong Hyo-jin, Han Eun-jung, Hyun Bin, Jang Dong-gun, Joo Ji-hoon, Jung Ryeo-won, JYP, Kang Hye-jung, Kim Ji-soo, Kim Jung-eun, Kim Rae-won, Kim So-yeon, Kim Sun-ah, Lee Bo-young, Lee Dong-wook, Lee Jung-jin, Lee Seon-kyun, Lee Wan, Lee Yeon-hee, Oh Ji-ho, Park Eun-hye, Park Hae-il, Park Jin-hee, Shin Hyun-joon, Shin Mina, Song Chang-eui, Yeh Ji-won

Filed under: Chungmuro/Film by javabeans - 46 Comments →

Lee Dong-wook, just coming off his recent dark drama La Dolce Vita (The Sweet Life), has been invited as a special VIP guest at the upcoming Bangkok International Film Festival, which takes place from the 23rd through 30th. However, as one of eighteen VIP guests, he represents the Hallyu world not on the basis of his recent drama work but an older series, the 2006 SBS trendy drama My Girl. Interestingly enough, while the other seventeen guests were invited on the basis of their movie work, Lee was the only one invited for a drama series.

In addition to walking the VIP red carpet, he’ll be holding his own fanmeeting and press conference, hosting his “Exclusive Party with Lee Dong-wook” on September 27.

A representative from his management company explained, “Because the drama My Girl and the film Arang were big hits in Thailand, Lee Dong-wook has a lot of fans there. As a result of holding one to two fanmeetings there, his interaction with his fans has made him popular.”

Via IS Plus

RELATED POSTS

• Falling through blue sky screen
• The Sweet Life with Lee Dong-wook

Tags: fanmeetings, film festivals, Lee Dong-wook

Filed under: Celebrity News by javabeans - 13 Comments →

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.

Clicky for more >>

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

Filed under: Celebrity News by javabeans - 47 Comments →

Lee Dong-wook falls (way, way) down in a scene for the upcoming finale for La Dolce Vita (The Sweet Life) airing this weekend. If you’ve seen the first five minutes of the series, you can kind of predict how this scene plays out. In the drama, this scene shot in the studio supposedly takes place from the penthouse of a luxury 32-story apartment complex.

MBC Broadcast Center, Magic Studio, Yoido.

Tags: La Dolce Vita, Lee Dong-wook

Filed under: Oh snap by javabeans - 9 Comments →

MBC’s When Night Comes, SBS’s Iljimae

 
The following article from OSEN takes a look at the difference between the types of dramas on the air these days. I find a lot of mainstream entertainment press to be oversimplified (I’m sure I’m just not looking in the right places), but it’s something to chew on, for those of us who are curious about the relationship between ratings and the popularity/quality/success of a drama — as much as we all like to say it doesn’t matter.

Popular Dramas, Buzzworthy Dramas — There’s a Difference

There are dramas that bring in high viewership ratings but don’t get talked about much. On the other hand, there are also dramas that don’t pull in strong ratings numbers but are constantly being discussed. A drama’s content, actors, and its PR are all potential factors in drawing attention, but they don’t necessarily correlate to good ratings. Because there are many ways to watch a drama these days, the significance of ratings is gradually receding, but it’s still the primary factor in deciding advertising, and is the standard for measuring popularity. …

SONG OF THE DAY

Gourmet OST - “너에게” (To you) by Casker. I’m still trying to catch up on Gourmet, but for now I will say it has a standout soundtrack. [ Download ]

 
More popular and buzzworthy dramas >>

Tags: drama ratings, Gourmet, Iljimae, La Dolce Vita, Lee Dong-wook, manhwa adaptations, mania dramas, My Sweet Seoul, Oh Yeon-soo, sageuk dramas, Sohn Ye-jin, Spotlight, Strongest Chil Woo, When Night Comes, You're My Destiny

Filed under: Drama Casting & News by javabeans - 32 Comments →