Is love in the air, or what? (Well, it IS spring…)

Well, Mr. Voice is off the market — Lee Seon-kyun of dramas Coffee Prince, White Tower, and My Sweet Seoul is getting married to his longtime girlfriend, Jeon Hye-jin.

The couple has been dating for six years, and is looking to marry next month (May 23, to be exact). Lee explained, “Hye-jin recently went on a solo trip for a month, and during that time I really missed her. I realized how empty it was without her. I want to be with Hye-jin forever.” The couple will hold a press conference on April 11 regarding their wedding plans.

He won’t have much time for a honeymoon, however, given that MBC’s drama Triple premieres in June. (Yaaayyy!! Okay, I gotta stop doing that. Must… keep… expectations… down…) Meanwhile, Jeon most recently acted in the movie The Naked Kitchen. She played So Ji-sub’s older sister in the drama I’m Sorry, I Love You, and I particularly liked her in the love-n-sex-themed cable drama Romance Hunter, where she was a career woman saddled with a dickish boyfriend.

Meanwhile, another wedding has been announced, this one for On Air actor Ricky Kim (28), who will marry musical actress Ryu Seung-joo (32). Kim is a half-Korean actor who grew up in Texas, and has been dating Ryu for the past two years. Ryu is currently performing in the musical Dreamgirls in the role of “Michelle Morris.”

Their ceremony will also take place next month, on May 4.

Via Hankook Ilbo, E Daily

RELATED POSTS

• Lee Hana added to Triple
• My Sweet Seoul: Episodes 1 & 2
• Coffee Prince Store #1: First Cup
• Wouldn’t be an On Air event without a hyped-up cameo
• Romance Hunter: Episodes 1-5

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Post tags: Jeon Hye-jin, Lee Seon-kyun, On Air, Ricky Kim, star romances, weddings

2007 was a rich year for drama-land. There was something for everyone, whether your tastes ran toward dark thrillers (Devil), intense dramas (White Tower), heart-warmers (Thank You), off-the-wall eccentrics (Mixed-up Investigative Agency), trendy fare (Coffee Prince), romantic comedies (Dal Ja’s Spring), and so on.

2008, on the other hand… not so much.

Every drama has its good and bad points, but it’s a lot easier to decide how you feel about one when those qualities are expressed in the extreme — i.e., very good, or very bad. When everything is a muddle in the middle, though, it’s harder to draw the lines.

That’s why in contrast to last year’s “Best” and “The Rest” designations, this year I don’t really distinguish “good” versus “bad” — or even “favorites” and “hated dramas” — and can only grade on a spectrum. I call that spectrum “MEH” with the extreme poles representing “generally watchable” and “generally unwatchable.” It’s just been that kind of year.

SONG OF THE DAY

Painter of the Wind OST – “색” (Color) by JOO [ Download ]

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Read the rest of Finding Merit in the Mediocre [Year in Review, Part 4] (4,967 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2008. | Permalink | 75 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: A Star's Lover, Beethoven Virus, Bulhandang/Robbers, East of Eden, Gourmet, Hong Gil Dong, I Love You, Iljimae, Love & Marriage, On Air, One Mom, Rivals, Strongest Chil Woo, Tazza, The Last Scandal of My Life, The World They Live In, Three Dads, One Mom, When Night Comes, Who Are You?, year in review

The K-drama world rolled into 2008 still riding the high that was 2007, a year in which a startling number of quality dramas were made, and enjoyed. Maybe it rolled in too fast. It ended up getting smothered by the waves of its previous success. In fact, you could say that it even got hit on the head by a stray surfboard, and sunk to the bottom of the ocean.

Depressing enough intro for ya?

But seriously, 2008 was a dark year for the K-entertainment industry, with not only dramas, but also movies suffering and generally showing poor quality. And not only that, but the economy went kablooie, and we suffered a sobering amount of tragic K-celebrity news.

Personally, this was a supremely frustrating year for a longtime and devoted K-drama fan like me. Before this year, I always gave dramas the benefit of the doubt, and would usually watch at least a certain number of episodes before I passed judgment on them, and decided to continue or discontinue watching. But this year, with every stomach-churning dud, I became more and more impatient, and started going through drama episodes like a vulture searching for roadkill. And boy, did I find a lot of roadkill.

I’m pretty sure 2008 was a record year for me in terms of abandoning dramas. And to think that I used to be the girl who would finish every drama she started, no matter how bad or how boring they were! But the older I get, the less patience I have, and the more critical I become. Besides, I’ve now realized just how precious my time really is. I don’t want to waste it on useless pap, thankyouverymuch.

Still, despite all that, there were a small handful of quality dramas this year. None of them quite matched the heights of some of the dramas of 2007, but still, any kind of quality was more than welcome in this gloomy year.

SONG OF THE DAY

La Dolce Vita – “사랑 꽃” (Love Flower) [ Download ]

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Read the rest of Dahee Fanel’s 2008 Review [Year in Review, Part 3] (4,255 words)

© Dahee_Fanel for Dramabeans, 2008. | Permalink | 57 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: A Star's Lover, Beethoven Virus, East of Eden, guest bloggers, I Love You, Iljimae, Kingdom of Wind, La Dolce Vita, My Sweet Seoul, On Air, Rivals, Spotlight, Strongest Chil Woo, Tazza, The Painter of Wind, The World They Live In, When Night Comes, Who Are You?, year in review

How should one convey bad news in writing? By creating a buffer first. Avoid traumatizing your audience with the bad news all at once, but instead cushion the blow so that you can maintain goodwill. That textbook approach (business communication, by the way) would be dandy if the crop of 2008 dramas I watched was anything like the stellar quality of 2007. But no, this was a harvest to make one downright grumpy.

This time last year, eight dramas vied to be in my Top 3. Even the ones that disappointed weren’t half bad and at least I finished them. Not this year. I picked up around twenty dramas and dropped at least fifteen. “Dropped” is putting it mildly. I ran from some of them like a kid fleeing an apparition: hands in the air and hair standing on end. As the year wore on, my patience wore thin and my grumpiness increased.

So, no, I can’t use the buffer approach when reviewing this year’s dramas. Hedging doesn’t work for this grumpy cookie. I will present to you the worst dramas first, followed by the so-so ones, and then the few gems of 2008. Even though the year was overcast and gloomy, the sun broke through the clouds occasionally and when it did the effect was glorious. Let’s get the bad news out of the way and we can enjoy the good stuff, shall we?

SONG OF THE DAY

Jin Yi-han – “This is the Moment” which he sang (live!) in Episode 3 of Who Are You. [ Download ]

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Read the rest of A Grump Reviews 2008 [Year in Review, Part 2] (4,881 words)

© thunderbolt for Dramabeans, 2008. | Permalink | 87 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Beethoven Virus, Bulhandang/Robbers, Conspiracy in the Court, East of Eden, Gourmet, guest bloggers, Hong Gil Dong, I Love You, Kingdom of Wind, La Dolce Vita, On Air, One Mom, Rivals, Strongest Chil Woo, The Last Scandal of My Life, The Painter of Wind, The World They Live In, Three Dads, One Mom, Who Are You?, year in review

Nominees are out for the 2008 Korea Drama Festival awards, and the list is rather ho-hum. For example, the nominees for Best Drama are: Legend (MBC), Mom’s Dead Upset (KBS), Dae Jo Young (KBS), and Gourmet (SBS).

At first I was disappointed in the list of nominees, but then I thought back to the year and realized it’s just been a ho-hum year for dramas overall. Although, if we’re nominating Legend for Best Drama, which premiered over a year ago in September 2007, surely there are other series that have been overlooked.

The Korean Drama Festival runs from November 1 through 5 in Jinju; see the nominee list beyond the jump.

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Read the rest of Nominees for the 2008 Korea Drama Festival Awards (315 words)

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Post tags: awards, Beethoven Virus, Choi Su-jong, City of Glass, East of Eden, Han Ji-hye, Hong Gil Dong, Jang Geun-seok, Kim Bum, Kim Haneul, Kim Myung-min, Lee Jin-wook, Legend, New Heart, On Air, Sung Yuri, You're My Destiny

Coffee Prince’s scene-stealing “Harim,” or actor Kim Dong-wook, is taking the stage for his musical debut in the lead role of frank and straightforward “Alex” in the production of On Air: Season 2.

On Air: Season 2 is described as a “cheerful romantic musical” that takes place at a radio station, centering around a younger DJ and a stiff older female PD (gawd, run that older-female trend/cliché into the ground, will ya?). Despite sharing its name with the popular SBS drama series, the two On Air musicals (Season 1 ran earlier this year) share only a tenuous link to the drama; this isn’t an adaptation or sequel, but rather a loose spin-off.

Kim Dong-wook’s character in the musical takes some of its cues from real life, it seems. Apparently Alex in Season 1 was a idol singer who faced lip-synching accusations. But now in Season 2, he’s called away to fulfill his military service, and finds himself coming back after his discharge to unexpected public attention. He dreams of making a grand comeback while working as a radio DJ.

The musical runs from October 7 through January 4 of next year.

Via Star News

RELATED POSTS

• On Air: First impressions

• Shiny, bright new faces
• Shameless Prince eye candy
• Coffee Prince Store #1

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2008. | Permalink | 12 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Kim Dong-wook, musicals, On Air

I was thinking how I’ve been watching lots of first episodes of dramas these days, but haven’t found anything to dive into since the end of Who Are You? It’s starting to feel like going on a string of disappointing first dates — measuring up expectations versus performance, anticipation versus letdown, etc.

You know, there’s that date you’re really looking forward to, so you get dressed up and put on your heels and makeup and count down the hours, and he turns out to be a total dud. Or the date you agreed to because it was easier to give the guy your number than to try to invent an excuse not to because those excuses always come out embarrassingly half-assed — like you say you don’t have a phone and then it rings, or something — but then you end up having a good time.

I didn’t exactly intend to go off on an extended metaphor, but when I thought about all the recent dramas I’ve caught, they all seemed to fit (more or less).

SONG OF THE DAY

G.O.D. – “Falling” [ Download ]

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Read the rest of First-date dramas (1,378 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2008. | Permalink | 106 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Bulhandang/Robbers, Coffee Prince, Hong Gil Dong, I Love You, Iljimae, La Dolce Vita, On Air, ranty/ravey, Rivals, Spotlight, stuff I dig, The Last Scandal of My Life, Tokyo Showers, Who Are You?, Why Did You Come To Our House, Yi San