It’s nostalgia day!

Old ’90s vocal duo The Blue is back with comeback activities, which means its two actor-singer members (Kim Min-jong and Sohn Ji-chang) are back in action and promoting their reunion.

Thus the two old friends recently appeared on Sang Sang Plus 2 and shared old stories about their earlier days, namely the hit 1994 youth trendy drama Feelings [느낌], which I LOVED.

Kim and Sohn played twin brothers in the drama (Sohn was the “elder” of the two), which was also the launching pad for a then-unknown young actor who would become a top movie star, (my!) Lee Jung-jae (of Typhoon, Air City, and soon to be seen in Triple). But according to Sohn Ji-chang, Lee Jung-jae was only cast at the last minute through a fateful chance encounter.

Drama brothers Sohn Ji-chang, Lee Jung-jae, Kim Min-jong

SONG OF THE DAY

Feelings OST – “너의뒤에서” (Behind You) by JYP. This was one of the main love themes of the series, sung by Park Jin-young — yes, that Park Jin-young — and featured on his first solo album.
[ Download ]

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Read the rest of The Blue reunite, reminisce on Sang Sang Plus (370 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2009. | Permalink | 24 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: comebacks, Feelings, Kim Min-jong, Lee Jung-jae, old-school, Sohn Ji-chang, variety shows

Omona, ajumma!

Okay, this one’s for us old fogeys out there, with some news about old (oooold)-school kpop.

The popular-in-the-’90s vocal duo The Blue — aka actors Kim Min-jong and Sohn Ji-chang — are reuniting.

*sound of crickets*

Yeah, I know most of you don’t know who they are or care, but back in the Internet-less Ages, aka the ’90s, these two were The Shiz. They were perhaps the original pretty boys, alongside newbie actors like Jang Dong-gun and Lee Jung-jae, with whom they starred in some very popular dramas. Their projects kicked off a couple trendy-drama trends, back before Hallyu was Hallyu.

SONG OF THE DAY

The Blue – “나의 곁엔 언제나” (Always By My Side). I can’t say that I was ever in love with their music, but they do bring back some very fond memories. [ Download ]

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Read the rest of The Blue is back! (450 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2009. | Permalink | 30 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Feelings, Kim Min-jong, old-school, Sohn Ji-chang, The Last Match

Anyone’s who’s been watching kdramas for a number of years has probably, at some point, noted the same thing as the following article. Early Hallyu kicked off the hallmarks of The Korean Melodrama (And Boy Do I Mean Drama!), and I think more recent offerings are unfortunately still colored (dare I say tainted?) by the tropes established in the early stuff. For instance, the impoverished but virtuous female, the Prince Charming who rescues her, the evil and jealous second female lead who’d do anything to sabotage the main romance, the second male lead who never had a shot, the cancer, the tears, the angst. Consider: Autumn Fairy Tale, Winter Sonata, Stairway to Heaven, Star In My Heart, Glass Slippers, All About Eve…

Judging from those early dramas alone, I wouldn’t blame people outside the culture for thinking, “Boy those Koreans sure have a lot of young rich studs and poor beautiful damsels in distress. Imagine how productive the country would be if everyone stopped trying to futz around with each other’s love lives and just got their act together.”

Anyway, many dramas these days still play on the old stereotypes, but the tenor has changed. The stage is gradually shifting, perhaps most notably in the female roles:

Female Characters, Boundless Transformations

Where’s the end to actresses’ transformations? Nowadays, female characters in every kind of drama and film are evolving. In particular, with the success of projects depending less on plot than character, actresses are taking “meaningful risks” in going for a different image or acting that evokes audience sympathy.

TV miniseries in the ’80s and ’90s employed the “Cinderella story” formula in search of success, and brought about a general trend following the “Candy”-esque [the manhwa] philosophy: “Though I’m loney, though I’m sad, I don’t cry.”

In these stories, a kind and obedient female would overcome all sorts of adversities to realize her success in the form of love with a successful man. As a result, popular actresses cultivated innocent images that would elicit a protective instinct. Typical examples include Shin Aera of Love In Your Arms [Sarang eul gudae eui poom ahn ae] and Choi Jin Shil of Star in My Heart.

SONG OF THE DAY

My Name Is Kim Sam Soon OST – “She Is” by Clazziquai. This song makes me totally nostalgic every time I hear it. [ zShare download ]

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Read the rest of Drama leading ladies, oh how you’ve changed (1,066 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2008. | Permalink | 29 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Bulhandang/Robbers, Gong Hyo-jin, Kim Sun-ah, Lee Da-hae, My Name Is Kim Samsoon, old-school, Thank You

Oh man. What a trip back to the old-school days of Korean drama.

The Voice, aka Lee Seon Kyun, recently recorded an episode of the MBC talk-variety show Yoo Jae Seok and Kim Won Hee’s Let’s Play airing on the 23rd, wherein he shared a story about his acting “senior” and friend, supa-star Jang Dong Gun.

Back in his university days, Jang Dong Gun was playing basketball with fellow basketball enthusiast Lee Seon Kyun, when one day he turned to him (Lee) and said, “Your shoes look too worn — it must be uncomfortable playing with those.” With that, he handed him a pair of shoes, saying, “These are my sneakers from when I filmed The Last Match — if that’s okay with you, wear them instead” — and gave them as a gift. Lee Seon Kyun was so touched by the gesture that afterward, he always wore those sneakers when playing basketball.

(Of course, things got tricky when the sneakers started to smell because off Lee Seon Kyun’s peculiar habit of wearing them without socks! File that under “too much information”?)

Dude. I remember The Last Match fondly because it was one of the first Korean dramas I ever watched, way back in 1994, and was one of the earliest projects for two of the most famous all-time Korean actors, Jang Dong Gun and Shim Eun Ha. Along with Jealousy [Jiltu] (starring a very young Choi Jin Shil and the current sageuk pro Choi Su Jong) and Feelings [Neukkim] (which I’ve mentioned here and starred a very young Lee Jung Jae and Kim Min Jong), those three dramas composed a early-kdrama trifecta that helped shaped my current trendy-drama watching habit.

Source: Newsen

(Old-school soundtrack) SONG OF THE DAY

The Last Match OST – “다시 시작해” (Start over) by Lee Chang Kwon. Thanks to the Thanksgiving holiday, I was able to raid some of my long-ignored stacks of ancient kpop and kdrama CDs. Yay nostalgia. This was one of the most prominent themes of the series. Played a lot while Jang Dong Gun was off running around (literally, i.e. basketball training). Also played while he did a lot of pulling-up by his metaphorical bootstraps. [ Download ]

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Read the rest of Stepping into Jang Dong Gun’s shoes (374 words)

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Post tags: Feelings, Jang Dong-gun, Jealousy, Lee Seon-kyun, old-school, Sohn Ji-chang, sports dramas, The Last Match

It made me nostalgic for Lee Jung Jae’s first series — one of the first kdramas I’d seen growing up and one of the first of the “trendy dramas” — KBS2’s 1994 Feelings (느낌 / Neukkim). I’ve always had fond memories of Feelings, but since it’s so old, I had a hard time locating it. But thanks to the wonderful purpletiger and the entire With S2 fansubbing crew, we were able to track down all the episodes.

Left: Feelings (1994). Right: Air City (2007).

Look at that. Thirteen years and barely any change. Now that’s good genetics.

Our lovely team has decided to take on Feelings/Neukkim as a special side project, and will be releasing subtitles so you can all enjoy old-school drama goodness! (I suspect our team’s rampant Lee Jung Jae love has a little something to do with it too. Oh, right. The story’s not so bad either.)

SONG OF THE DAY

Neukkim OST – “Feelings” (느낌) by Hong Jae Sun (홍재선) [ Download ]

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Read the rest of Feelings / Neukkim / 느낌 (1994) (907 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2007. | Permalink | 28 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Feelings, Kim Min-jong, Lee Jung-jae, old-school, Sohn Ji-chang