First we saw Lee Jia’s supposed transformation into an ugly duckling, now we see her dapper co-star in the telecinema project Love Is Blind [내눈에 콩깍지], Kang Ji-hwan^(mine).

It does seem that due to Kang Ji-hwan’s “visual impairment,” the unattractive and unpersonable character played by Lee Jia will be portrayed at least some of the time using the actress’ usual stylish appearance. Aside from that, there’s not much to add about the plot since that’s been covered in previous posts. Love is Blind opens on November 5.

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Read the rest of Love Is Blind stills featuring Kang Ji-hwan (43 words)

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Post tags: Kang Ji-hwan, Lee Jia, telecinema project

Here’s the newly released poster for Love is Blind [내눈에 콩깍지], the segment of the telecinema project starring Lee Jia and Kang Ji-hwan. The romantic comedy features Kang Ji-hwan as a good-looking, capable, and charming guy who falls for an unattractive woman (Lee Jia) while experiencing a visual impairment that makes him see unattractive people as attractive.

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Read the rest of Stills from telecinema project Love is Blind (157 words)

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Post tags: Kang Ji-hwan, Lee Jia, telecinema project

Finally, some more news about that large-scale, multiple-installment, Korean-Japanese co-produced “telecinema project.” The release date has been set as November 5 for the segment starring Kang Ji-hwan (Level 7 Civil Servant) and Lee Jia (Style), which has a new title: Love Is Blind [내눈에 콩깍지].

I think the new title is a big improvement, since the tone of the film is much lighter than the initial working title, which was the much more unwieldy — and serious-sounding — The Relationship Between Faces, Hearts, and Love.

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Read the rest of Kang Ji-hwan, Lee Jia in telecinema project (480 words)

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Post tags: Kang Ji-hwan, Lee Jia, telecinema project

I stopped watching Style a while ago (I couldn’t take it anymore, it got on my nerves), but I’m still keeping an eye on the news about it, since it’s holding steady in the ratings in the mid-upper teens. (It hasn’t yet broken 20%, and has recently slipped into second place behind KBS’s weekend drama Iron Empress.) It doesn’t surprise me that the drama is now being criticized for its excessive shilling of products — as the article below points out, product placement in and of itself is fairly common these days, but when it crosses the line, viewers will notice that the drama starts feeling empty of actual story.

“A magazine 100% free of advertising? Are you joking?”

That’s a line of dialogue that magazine editor Park Ki-ja (Kim Hye-soo) fires at Seo Woo-jin (Ryu Shi-won) in SBS’s drama Style. Replace the word “magazine” with “drama” and you’ll hit the mark regarding Style.

Watching Style, with its fancy visuals, is like watching an hour of advertising. To some extent, it’s unavoidable to show what the characters like to drive, wear, eat, and use. However, Style is also coming under fire for this display and the characters’ conspicuous dialogue.

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Read the rest of Style criticized for excessive product placement (432 words)

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Post tags: drama production, Kim Hye-soo, Lee Jia, Style

I tend to agree with viewers of SBS’s Style that, despite its title, the fashions and feel of the drama lack a certain stylish flair. (Kim Hye-soo is looking fierce, but everything and -one else feel somewhat bland.) However, the drama sure isn’t skimping on the parade of luxury cars, and are adding yet another in this weekend’s upcoming episode.

Thus far, Kim Hye-soo’s fashion editor character, Park Ki-ja, has been seen driving around a Maserati Quattroporte S, valued at approximately $130,000. Her romantic interest, the famous macrobiotic chef played by Ryu Shi-won, has equally fancy wheels with the Maserati GranTurismo S, valued at approximately $140,000. However, as though that’s not enough, one of the Maseratis gets upgraded in an upcoming episode to a Ferrari.

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Read the rest of Luxury cars turn heads in Style (123 words)

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Post tags: Kim Hye-soo, Lee Jia, Style

As announced, weekend drama Style has some upcoming star cameos in the works, and it looks like they’re using them all up in the same episode. The crew shot the scene (a party for the fictional Style magazine’s 200th issue) on August 10 and has released some behind-the-scenes images. As we know, Kang Ji-hwan is one of those stars, but joining him on the faux red carpet were members of pop group 2NE1, singer Bada, actress Cha Ye-ryun, and others.

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Read the rest of Style abounds with star cameos (169 words)

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Post tags: 2NE1, Bada, Cha Ye-ryun, Kang Ji-hwan, Kim Hye-soo, Lee Jia, Lee Yong-woo, Sandara Park, Style

So, Style. SBS’s new Saturday-Sunday drama is off to a great ratings start (mid-to-upper-teens), and given its competition (Friend, Our Legend and Iron Empress), it’s likely to stay that way.

I have mixed feelings about this show so far. It’s somewhat watchable, although the degree of one’s enjoyment is probably tied closely to how appealing one finds the characters. That’s one of my big blocks: there is not one character I like. I don’t hate them either, but there’s a slickness to this drama that coats the surface with its superficial sheen and makes it difficult to see the heart inside. If there is one. Still, there are pleasant, light parts that make up for some — but not all — of the weirdness of the plot.

SONG OF THE DAY

House Rulez – “Maldives” [ Download ]

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Read the rest of Style: Episode 1 (2,693 words)

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Post tags: episode recaps, Kim Hye-soo, Lee Jia, Lee Yong-woo, Ryu Shi-won, Style