This is probably callous of me, but another actor faints on set and all I’ve got to say is: Ho-hum.

It was belatedly revealed over the weekend that Kim Bum fainted on the set of his SBS drama Dream, and was released from the hospital visit after a brief stay and an IV drip. This occurred last week — he shot a fighting scene over the 11th and 12th, then lost consciousness just before filming was scheduled to begin on the 13th. Honestly, I can’t recall if this is the first or second time he’s collapsed on Dream, because news like this is so common these days, and Kim Bum has already taken several trips to the hospital this year as he filmed his last drama, Boys Before Flowers.

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Post tags: Dream, Kim Bum, overworking, ranty/ravey, star accidents

I had made the conscious decision not to write about this issue. It isn’t that I am unaware of the continuing developments; I’d have to be blind not to have noticed, because this is THE news item of the year and Korea’s going batshit insane over it.

I thought my last post on the subject indicated that I was not comfortable focusing on this case. I didn’t think I could treat the news with the respect it deserves — yeah, you can roll your eyes if I sound self-righteous to you, but the truth is, I couldn’t see how I could post up all the salacious details and not feel like a hypocrite. Her death has stirred an unfortunate frenzy of sensationalism and I hate reading about it, much less participating.

But since so many have asked, I’ll clarify my stance and post just this last time.

This isn’t a collection of news so much as it is a personal explanation (some might call it rant), so you have been forewarned.

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Read the rest of Regarding Jang Ja-yeon (1,115 words)

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Post tags: deaths, Jang Ja-yeon, ranty/ravey

I hadn’t intended on posting about actress Ok So-ri’s current adultery case, because South Korean law is one subject that I freely admit is beyond me. But the news has hit the international newswire, so here we go:

The 39-year-old Ok, who enjoyed most of her popularity in the ’90s (her last film was 1996’s Karuna), admitted to having an affair. That alone was scandalous enough, but in Korea, adultery is still a criminal offense. Korea’s adultery rate is high, but rarely is it actually prosecuted. (Imagine the overcrowding of prisons were that true!) However, a 55-year-old adultery law has enabled Ok’s husband to press charges. Ok has attempted to overturn the law, but the prosecution is now looking to send her to jail. TO JAIL. FOR ADULTERY.

Reuters says:

“South Korean enacted its adultery law more than 50 years ago to protect women who had few rights in the male-dominated society but critics say now it is a draconian measure no longer fit for a country with an advanced civil and family court system. …Last month, the Constitutional Court said adultery damaged the social order and therefore was a criminal offence.”

Now, I’m not condoning cheating, but the problem is that this is an archaic law and is being misapplied here as a revenge tactic more than a protection of rights. It’s also pretty damn hypocritical given that Korea’s got a booming sex trade (with the vast majority of johns being men, married and otherwise) and an extremely high (and ever-increasing) divorce rate.

Way to punish one person for the “crimes” of an entire nation, Korea. This here is some fecking messed-up shiz, people.

Via Arts News, Chosun Ilbo, Reuters

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Post tags: lawsuits, ranty/ravey, stuff that bugs

Hollywood is remaking Oldboy.

Unlike other failed Chungmuro-to-Hollywood remakes, this one carries a lot more cachet — production is in talks with Steven Spielberg to direct, and Will Smith to star. Well, I don’t care and I’ll say:

No. No, no, no no NO.

Look. I didn’t really care that much about My Sassy Girl because I pretty much knew it would get the shit throwaway rom-com treatment and flop. I didn’t really care too much about The Lake House even though I love Il Mare, because that, too, was a crap adaptation that would barely make a blip on the radar. I don’t even care about them remaking Sam-soon because even though I won’t write it off as an imminent failure, I don’t actually think it will happen. And if it does, it will bear few of the hallmarks that made the kdrama such a hit. The Mirror is bound for the B-level horror shelf, and I’m already bracing myself against the new remake of the excellent Tale of Two Sisters. The bastardization of Korean films by Hollywood is annoying, but I can close my eyes and forget about them because they have largely failed to make any sort of impact.

But this upsets me, and not because I’m protective of Oldboy or anything particular to the film itself. Although I do think they’ve picked an ambitious project, it’s more that this is the straw that broke the camel’s back.

What pisses me off is that there’s this growing sense that somehow Hollywood is the end-all and be-all of everything, EVAR, and that somehow everything good must be purchased and repackaged and buffed and relabeled with the Hollywood stamp. God, Hollywood, YOU DON’T HAVE TO PUT YOUR THUMB IN EVERY SINGLE GODDAMN PIE.

Can’t you leave some things alone? Why do you always have to wave your dick in everyone’s face and assume we will marvel at its size? Is that crude? Well, I find your brash cultural insensitivity crude. It’s not the remaking itself that I take issue with — nothing intrinsically wrong with adaptations of stories — but the arrogant, careless attitude with which you scour the international markets for more carcasses to pick to feed your own bloated ego. Why do you seem to think that nothing is complete until you have co-opted it for your own commercial gain?

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Better yet, if it ain’t broke, DON’T BREAK IT.

Via IS Plus, Variety

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Post tags: Hollywood, Park Chan-wook, ranty/ravey, remakes

Phew, for one who hadn’t intended to follow the Olympics to any close degree, I spent the early part of the week unintentionally watching almost everything (TV has been left on while I tune in and out, but inevitably I find myself watching most of the coverage). Then I got sick of wasting so much time listening to hyperbolic, jingoistic commentators blathering on about anything and everything to fill up air time and maxed out on my retarded-commentary quota.

For instance: saying that a gymnast’s last-minute injury was “like having a tear in your wedding dress before you walk down the aisle”? That is insulting to gymnasts and brides both. Oh yes, the elite gymnast who’d trained on an incredibly intense level for more than half her lifetime and was taken out of the Games at the last minute due to injury is really the same thing as a woman having a minor wardrobe mishap on her wedding day. How tragic. First off, you’re an idiot for making such a retarded comparison. Second, you’re an insulting idiot for perpetuating the stereotype that all women are frivolous, fashion-frenzied bridezillas who lose all sense of rational thought when it comes to her Day of Princessly Wedding Perfection. Some of us have never coveted a Vera Wang white dress, matchy-matchy flowers-to-cake-to-eyeshadow color coordination, or a $40,000 Big Waste of Money. Some of us are even capable of handling wedding days — or high-pressure moments — with self-control. I know! How novel! And here you thought all us women fret over a broken nail and simper over boys we like and cry when we’re frustrated.

Then we followed that bit of belittling commentary with the oh-so-clever quip following the women’s Cuba-U.S. beach volleyball match in which both teams came out sporting the same color beachwear. One team changed to alternate suits of a different color, but not without one correspondent remarking with relief over the suit change because showing up in the same outfit as another woman “is every woman’s worst nightmare.” Really? Because I have had a lot of nightmares in my life, and the color of my outfit matching the color of another woman’s outfit has never figured in any of them. Thanks for showing how thoughtful and elevated the discourse can be in women’s athletics.

Also getting on my nerves? The multiple anchors and commentators who describe the U.S. team athletes and coaches of Chinese descent as “returning home to their own country” for the Beijing Games (e.g., Shawn Johnson’s Chinese coach, the women’s volleyball coach). You know what? They’re fucking representing this country, they’ve devoted their livelihoods to furthering the sport for the U.S.’s teams, they’re contributing members of American society. So why are they all of a sudden chink-eyed foreigners “returning home”? I nearly threw my remote at my television set when one commentator essentially assured us, the American viewing public, that the U.S. volleyball coach Jenny Lang Ping (who’d formerly played for China and has since moved to the States) COULD BE TRUSTED not to compromise the U.S. team with divided loyalties to China. And what about Kevin Tan, U.S. men’s gymnast who happens to be Chinese-American. AMERICAN. Yet the commentators repeatedly had to blow smoke up their own asses about how amazing and progressive the U.S. is for having an Indian(-American), a Chinese(-American), and a Belarusian(-American) gymnast on the team.

Way to make it stunningly clear that you consider “true” Americans to be corn-fed, blue-eyed, blonde-haired white people, while the rest of us are merely The Foreign Other, no matter our citizenship or country of birth. We just happen to be benefiting from the U.S.’s benevolence and magnanimity in allowing us to live here, pay our taxes, and contribute to society, right?

Fuck you, NBC. Plz to be hiring some competent correspondents nxt time!

Suffice to say I’ve now got a heavy hand on the mute button and have switched to watching DVR-recorded broadcasts with most of the filler fast-forwarded. Because it’s stupid to give myself any aggravation over such a small thing (in my life) as the Olympics.

SONG OF THE DAY

Supergrass – “Run” [ Download ]

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Post tags: ranty/ravey

[Javabeans here. As I've mentioned several times in the past, I have a few issues with the otherwise charming SBS drama My Sweet Seoul, which has prevented me from enjoying the series as I probably ought. I expressed, in growing dissatisfaction, my initial disconnect with Choi Kang-hee's acting, a growing frustration with the Eun-soo character in Episode 7, and then an all-out rant after Episode 9.

I wanted to get the other side and bring a more balanced view, because god knows not everyone hates Eun-soo, otherwise this series would have no audience. So I invited Dahee Fanel, who has previously done me the honor of sharing her 2007 wrap-up review, to explain the other side. The result was an enlightening conversation, and despite the fact that I think Dahee and I pretty much disagree on most key points (LOL!), I had tons of fun debating the point with her. Hope you enjoy!]

SONG OF THE DAY

Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong – “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off” (Btw, who calls oysters “er-sters”? Or pronounces after “off-ter”?) [ Download ]

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Post tags: Choi Kang-hee, guest bloggers, Lee Seon-kyun, My Sweet Seoul, ranty/ravey

Because it wasn’t enough to trot out fifteen-year-olds who can’t sing as sexually suggestive coquettes, now a nine-member “kiddie group” called Sweety is making its debut, with members ranging in age from 13 down to its 6-year-old “mascot.” (Btw, that’s eight girls, one boy. He be da pimp.)

They’re being touted as a group with singing skills “on par with adult groups.” If those adult groups mean the Wonder Girls, that’s not saying much. (Before you get offended: listen to this. Or this. Or this. Or this. My opinion is, if they put out such “professional” performances, they’re fair game to be called on it.)

I have nothing against the idea of a pop group aimed at a younger generation — heck, I grew up watching Kids Incorporated and Sesame Street, and my first music record (and nearly last, toy record players being pretty inferior products) was a Care Bears compilation. But it’s not the concept itself that has me feeling uneasy; it’s the tone and content of its marketing.

Singing aside, I’m disturbed at this trend for younger and younger teenage pre-teen poptarts, using the innocent “cute” defense to gloss over any suggestive implications that lie therein. Look, I’m not going call it pedophilic or accuse this group of being blatantly sexual, because I don’t think that’s true. But the point is that the slippery slope is getting slipperier with these mixed messages and crossed signals — tell me Sweety has nothing to do with the sex-peddling marketing strategies behind equally squicky Lolita-laden Wonder Girls or Girls Generation.

You can’t quite defend the choice of costuming as being innuendo-free when those short-short miniskirts are put on by adult stylists onto prepubescent girls — look at those two girls in the middle with their hands on their hips and their hips stuck out in their “Who, me?” faux-innocence poses. Is the coquetry a conscious gesture or has the image become so pervasive that these young girls have adopted it as the norm? Or are they being coached to act that way by their handlers? (ALL of those options seem creepy and unfortunate to me.) And do I see bare MIDRIFF with that cropped top? Even Wonder Girl Sohee admitted just this week that she used to shorten her skirts on her school uniforms. What, did she not have enough leg-baring and hip-swiveling in her day job?

Sweety’s first mini-album reportedly boasts “hip-hop rhythms” with “cute choreography,” and they’ve just filmed their first music video. That video had better be full of stuffed animals, dancing rabbits and animated birds, is all I’m sayin’. Leave the sexy stuff to the adults and let kids be kids, already.

Cable channel Mnet will start airing the group on July 22; a mini-album is set to go on sale soon.

Via No Cut News

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Post tags: Girls Generation, kpop, ranty/ravey, teen sexualization, Wonder Girls