Lee Jung-jae, then and now

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 ]

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

[Read more →]

Filed under: Celebrity News by javabeans - 25 Comments →

The Blue: Kim Min-jong, Sohn Ji-chang

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 ]

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

[Read more →]

Filed under: Kpop News by javabeans - 30 Comments →

Jang Dong Gun, Lee Seon Kyun

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 ]

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Read on for a total ’90s-drama digression >>

Filed under: Drama Reactions & Reviews by javabeans - 9 Comments →

With the start of MBC’s new drama Air City, my somewhat dormant crush on Lee Jung Jae woke up in full force and slapped me in the face. Sure, I’d seen (and enjoyed) some of his movies, like 2001’s Il Mare (시월애 / siwole) with Jeon Ji Hyun, but I’m a drama series freak at heart, and it’s been nine whole years since his last one.

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 ]

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

More FEELINGS >>

Filed under: Drama Reactions & Reviews by javabeans - 28 Comments →