Are you watching SBS’s Family Honor? No? Will this shower scene from an upcoming episode featuring Park Shi-hoo (Iljimae) change your mind?
The weekend drama is enjoying healthy ratings (its last episode on the 23rd garnered a 21.1% rating, according to AGB Nielsen Media). This particular episode showcasing Park Shi-hoo’s hard body airs on November 29.
(Shower scenes will also seem more creepy than sexy to me — thanks, Psycho! — but I presume a half-naked Park Shi-hoo will be reason enough for many a viewer to tune in. Enjoy.)
[I’m happy to feature another review from guest blogger and kdrama watcher extraordinare, Dahee Fanel! Hope you enjoy as well. --javabeans]
Have you ever felt the urge to throw something at your T.V. screen? Something heavy, but that can still fit fairly comfortably in your hand? Something like, oh, say…A brick?
I have. Numerous times. In fact, I felt that urge just the other day, as I was watching Beethoven Virus (on my laptop though, as I unfortunately do not currently own a T.V.). Luckily, I stopped watching after about fifteen minutes, so that desire didn’t manage to overwhelm me, not quite. I really do like my laptop, after all, and I’d prefer if it didn’t get overly damaged.
But with some dramas, I manage to get hoodwinked long enough to sit through them until the bitter, bitter end. That metaphorical brick is always in my hand, mind you, scratching at my palm, but I’ve been blinded by something - an actor’s admirably well-developed abs, per se, or some lovely cinematography - and it’s that something that keeps my eyes focused. Well, focused enough, anyway.
Iljimae was a lot of things to a lot of different people. But to me, it was one of those dramas that conned me into watching it, and thus caused me an awful lot of (stomach) pain. Oh, and incidentally? I’m ready to throw that brick now.
SONG OF THE DAY
Iljimae OST - “hwa shin” by Park Hyo-shin [ Download ]
Fashion designer Andre Kim must be feeling secure in his “veteran” status as an old eccentric, because he keeps trotting out the exact same show, year after year. He may swap out his main models but not his actual clothing.
Each show has his leading lady (this time “Barbie Doll” Han Chae-young) dressed up in voluminous dresses of similar silhouette and varying shades of color, with a teardrop-headdress reminiscent of nothing so much as a Bedazzled hairnet. The male (Park Shi-hoo) is decked out in stiff multilayers in a cross between a business suit and a suit of armor, except for the purple outfit where he looks like a woodland fairy nymph. Both look like they come from a Star Wars acid dream.
And you can’t forget the piece de resistance: In the middle of the stage, there’s always a pose with the lady running — with anguish! and emotion! — into her man’s arms, and the man dropping a kiss on her forehead.
Yup. Sums it up for the “new” Andre Kim Fashion Art Collection which showed in Bali on August 25 for the International Bali Fashion Week ‘08.
Although I didn’t watch August 23’s broadcast of Mnet’s 20’s Choice awards (a wannabe VMA’s, really), looking over the full winners list, my first reaction is: “What were they smoking?”
Some choices made sense. I get why Jang Geuk-seok, shakin’ his thang above as the event’s MC, was awarded Hot Movie Star (Male) because he’s had a great year coming off the drama Hong Gil Dong and recent movie Baby and I. And Hot Sports Star is a topical choice, going to the recent gold-medalist female weight lifter Jang Mi-ran, while the annoyingly catchy, ubiquitous earworms “One More Time” and “So Hot” (by Jewelry and Wonder Girls, respectively) are no-brainers.
But even the fact that they’ve got a “Hot Schoolgirl” category (winner So-hee), or “Hot Comment” (I think they meant catchprase) are kind of, pardon my French, retarded. And don’t even ask me what “Hot Sweet Music” means.
Furthermore, I get that “American beef” was a hot topic this year, but to highlight it at an awards show as the “winner” of Hot Issuemaker seems a little crass. Or just stupid.
Check out the full list beyond the jump, along with pics of the show in all its tacky glory.
The cast and production team of SBS’s Iljimae gathered at Yongsan CGV today (July 24) to watch the finale of the drama together. The hit fusion sageuk premiered on May 21 to viewership ratings of 14.8%, which steadily climbed over the course of the drama’s run to end in the near-30% range.
In attendance was the drama’s star, Lee Junki, with co-stars Lee Young-ah, Han Hyo-joo, and Park Shi-hoo, as well as PD Lee Yong-seok. Approximately 400 to 600 attendees were present (the numbers vary according to different reports), most of whom were members of Lee Junki’s fan club and the drama’s online fan café members. [SPOILER, highlight to read] By the way, it appears the fans are in a spot of denial about the drama’s ending, saying, “He may have died, but he’s not really dead.” Which sounds to me like dude’s dead. Reading the article’s summary of the ending, wherein Iljimae confronts the eeeevil king and engages in a hard fight against the king’s men, it also seems to bear similarities to the ending of Hong Gil Dong, actually, which was an ending I appreciated but would rather avoid repeating in more dramas of its kind. Chil Woo had better stay alive, is all I’m sayin’. [/SPOILER]
Lee Junki and PD Lee both expressed their thanks for the fans and staff, although Lee Junki did wish they’d had more time to present a better finale episode (”If we’d had more time, we could have shown you a better result, but I’m a little disappointed that we weren’t able to do that”), referring to how things fell behind schedule. Apparently the drama finished filming its last episode… on the day the last episode aired. (Yeesh! The last time I heard of something that frantic was with Fantasy Couple’s finale, which sounded insane.)
The drama Working Mom (starring Yeom Jung-ah and Bong Tae-gyu) will air in Iljimae’s time slot starting next week, on July 30.
