More K-drama awards are a-coming! Yay, I guess? The 2014 Grimme Awards will be held at the end of this week on Dec 12th to hand out awards to the already announced winners. The Grimme Awards is an industry award hosted and selected by the Korean Film Cinematographers Association, basically the cameramen of South Korea. The Daesang (Grand Prize) for the … Continue reading →
Looks like I unexpectedly hitched myself to the breakout J-dorama hit of the fall season with Kyou wa Kaisha Yasumimasu. It really is a surprise because renzouku doramas have not done well with ratings in Japan in over a decade, if not longer. Even my last J-dorama crack with Rich Man, Poor Woman did mostly low teens to high single … Continue reading →
Right now I’m at the can’t get enough of Pinocchio stage in my drama watching. Sure the day may come that I’ll be weary of this particular OTP, such as when the story drags or the romance fizzles out, but for now it can do no wrong for me and the same goes for leads Lee Jong Seok and Park … Continue reading →
For those bemoaning why so-and-so actor has already gotten drama leading and Kim Woo Bin still hasn’t, I don’t think that criminally hot namja is losing any sleep over it. He’s already the lead in the upcoming Korean heist movie Criminal Designer (formerly known as The Technicians) costarring the underrated Lee Hyun Woo and the always entertaining Go Chang Seok. … Continue reading →
Whoever cast relative unknown Yoon Kyun Sang as Lee Jong Seok‘s hyung in Pinocchio really hit a jackpot. It’s not just their plausible resemblance as brothers, Lee Jong Seok is already very tall but he’s suddenly got two even taller supporting male actors in Pinocchio, both Yoon Kyun Sang and Kim Young Kwang are even taller than him. In the … Continue reading →
I enjoy glossy magazine spreads of my favorite actors and actresses as much as anyone out there. But occasionally the overly posed and manufactured nature of packaged entertainment does numb the soul so it’s much appreciated to come across lovely pictures of the wonderful real side of an actor I like so much. Gong Yoo has been absent from K-dramas … Continue reading →
Wah, kyeopta my boy! Finally. As Kim Soo Hyun finishes up what is his best career year with awards aplenty and the most buzzed about K-drama of the year, I’m just happy that he appears to have emerged unscathed from all the heightened scrutiny. He looked waifish thin to play Do Min Joon in You From Another Star, and months later … Continue reading →
Taiwan’s biggest producer of nicely packaged idol dramas SETTV held a thank you banquet at the Taipei Le Meredien over the weekend, the second successive big celebrity packed event at the fancy hotel after Mark Chao and Gao Yuan Yuan‘s wedding the might before. The network rented out the hotel banquet hall for its first ever sponsor gratitude event, hardly … Continue reading →
The upcoming KBS Mon-Tues drama Healer has remained consistently intriguing in all the promotional materials. Now all it has to do is actually deliver when it premieres next Monday. It can’t possibly be worse than its predecessor Tomorrow’s Cantabile in either ratings or quality, now can it? I don’t want to jinx the drama but there’s a great energy about … Continue reading →
Normally this isn’t really a post-worthy bit of casting (or non-casting) news but for the fact that it involves Kim Soo Hyun. Like him or not, think he’s overrated or not, find him an underwhelming actor or not, he’s one of the biggest twenty-something actors in Korea right now so his every move remains scrutinized by fans and media alike. … Continue reading →
It was a really rocky year in K-pop just based on the few unexpected events that were so big even I took notice of it, much less if a myriad of smaller scandals were added to it. On the K-acting side the biggest scandals were the one-two punch (no pun intended) of the Kim Hyun Joong alleged assault case followed … Continue reading →
If the quality of a movie could be gauged by how happy the cast is filming it, then The Tailors (Sanguiwon) is a sure fire win based on the bursting with joy cast at the movie press conference this week. I’m not exaggerating by describing the cast at the press conference as so giddy and glowing one would think they … Continue reading →
Color me mightily surprised, all in a good way I guess. Things were looking so dire on the production of MBC‘s Kill Me Heal Me, aka the drama that can’t lock down leads if its life depended on it. I figured there was nowhere to go but up and at this point even getting a lead (any lead) was cause … Continue reading →