New Actress winner Park Bo-young

Awards!

The 45th Baeksang Arts Awards were held on the evening of February 27, which means: lots of awards for film and television stars, and lots of clothes to gawk at.

There were no real surprises in the winners list; they’re mostly a variation of the same lists we’ve been seeing from the other ceremonies in the winter awards season. Some film winners include A Movie is a Movie and My Dear Enemy, while acting honors went to many of the Daesang winners from earlier awards, like Kim Myung-min, Moon Geun-young, and Sohn Ye-jin. Oh, and a little actor going by the name of Lee Min-ho took home one of the newcomer awards — but a stumble on the red carpet keeps him humble.

Check out all the winners (and the clothes!) beyond the jump:

Yeah, this page might take a while to load >>

Filed under: Chungmuro/Film by javabeans - 119 Comments →

The film Portrait of a Beauty [미인도] held its press conference and VIP preview on November 4, and a bevy of VIPs showed up to catch an advance look at the risqué period film. It has attracted much comparison to the drama series Painter of the Wind (see trailer below), as both deal with the life of the Joseon artist Shin Yoon-bok. They also seem to share a similar cinematic flair, although obviously there are key differences between a film and a drama series.

The cast also talked to reporters at a press conference, led by lead star Kim Min-sun and her co-stars Kim Young-ho, Chu Ja-hyun, and Kim Nam-gil, who for some reason has changed his stage name from Lee Han (of Goodbye Solo, When Spring Comes). I don’t get this whole changing-names-mid-career thing (see also: Go Jun-hee). Why bother at this point?

Portrait of a Beauty opens to the public on November 13.

More from the VIP event >>

Filed under: Chungmuro/Film by javabeans - 25 Comments →

Lame, lame, lame. I’d kind of figured that the newish Seoul Drama Awards would be bland (it’s their third year) based on the voting and nominees, so the results weren’t as disappointing as they would have been if I’d taken the Seoul Drama Festival seriously. As it was, there was a total lack of drama.

First off, the actual awards themselves were kind of… wonky. With dramas from all over the world competing (33 countries, 152 entries), the actual Korean series entered for judging (and which advanced) were hardly Korea’s best work of the past year.

Secondly, and perhaps for the above reason, there was a serious absence of stars — aside from the ones who were either presenting or receiving awards, that is. I wouldn’t call the red carpet and pre-carpet events “beyond pitiful” as one paper did, but when the only way to get actors to come to your event is to bribe them, you know you’ve still got a road ahead to being taken seriously.

I can understand awarding the online popularity award to Nam Sang-mi (adorable) and Lee Junki, above, both of the thriller drama Time and Dog and Wolf. But Golden Bride? Jungle Fish? Erm……

Onward to the red carpet and ceremony >>

Filed under: Drama Casting & News by javabeans - 40 Comments →

(Singer-actor Eugene)

Shortly after posting this entry about Tim’s educational background, I saw the following (edited) transcription of the “Star News report” (you can watch the video clip of the segment at that link as well), which discusses celebrities and the way in which they gain admissions to universities in Korea.

It’s a topic that comes around every year, around the time that school starts, when once more national ire flares over the unequal treatment of universities in how they admit students, favoring entertainers and pandering to them in order to woo them to their respective institutions.

On top of the easy admissions, there’s resentment from bona fide students, because the celebrities hardly carry on a normal student lifestyle once enrolled. Even the more distinguished institutions (which are generally more strict in admitting students based on merit) get their fair share of accusations of unfair treatment for stars.

The segment is pretty toned-down in its criticism — the issue provokes much more heated commentary in real life, as it’s a lightning rod for critique and debate. But you can read between the lines and get the general idea.

 
SONG OF THE DAY

Vinyls – “환각” (hallucination) [ zShare download ]

Who’s enrolling in college this year? >>

Filed under: Pop Culture & Society by javabeans - 30 Comments →