로드 넘버원 / Road No. 1

The synopsis at Wikipedia states:

"Based on the events occurring around "Route 1", which lies between Seoul and Pyongyang.
The story about Officer Lee Jang Woo who finds himself in a war that he is not prepared for in order to protect Soo Yeon, the woman he has known and loved since youth.
However, he is able to put it past him and he displays extraordinary survival skills, friendship, cooperation and ideology under brutal war conditions.
Soo Yeon awaits Jang Woo's return, but eventually gets engaged to Tae Ho.
When Jang Woo returns alive, however, Tae Ho discovers Jang Woo and Soo Yeon's unbreakable bond and feels betrayed. "

20 episodes.

The budget for this drama is estimated to be around 10 billion won, and filming began in January, 2010, completing on the broadcast date of June 12th, 2010.

Here are some funny translations about this new drama:

"100 eokwondae production costs are put into blockbuster drama 'Road Number One' in the background of war in Korea friendship of two men and a woman's closet between these two sad and beautiful love story that draws a war epic melodrama.

Especially the poor and lived on a farm servant born former sergeant in the Partisan tobeoldae achieved brilliant job, but to kill people feel meetings are returning home to be with the woman you love 6.

25, is caught in the vortex of the war, Jung Woo Lee stations considered for the prayers of several Korean pop stars, but these are possibilities sojiseop.


'로드 넘버원'은 소지섭 등 주요 배우 캐스팅이 마무리 되는대로 2010년 1월부터 5월까지 본격적인 촬영에 돌입할 예졍이다. 'Road Number One' is the main actor So Ji-sub and finish as soon as the cast is January to May 2010 yejyeongyida rush into an authentic recording."

I will assume this is about the Korean-American war, and that So-fine is on our side.

He's so, freakin' hot it doesn't, really matter.

I'm even watching the out-of-sync first episode at Viikii because I can't wait until it is eventually submitted properly to aznv.tv

The subtitles are in Japanese as well, but who cares!

Here is the 'official' trailer:

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Galileo / ガリレオ

Uso wo tsuku, nazo wo toku / See through the lies, solve crimes




2007, 10-episode, Fuji TV mystery drama about a guy deemed 'Tantei Galileo' (though the subbers chose to say 'weirdo Galileo' for whatever reason.

Yukawa Sensei (Fukuyama Masaharu) is a physics professor and a genius, and while he insists the only thing that interests him is proving or disproving theories, he ends up helping the local police to solve mysteries every time one crops up in their detective work.

Each episode pits him against a rookie, female detective who was introduced to the genius by her former colleague before he is transferred to another precinct.

She's really pretty, but it didn't seem like she noticed or cared.
Her job came first, and she was overly anxious to make a good impression on her boss and new partner, too.

Personally, I think Yukawa Sensei noticed her right away, but that his personality prevented anything from cooking (or even to simmer) for the duration, since 'ai', to him, is completely illogical and does not compute.




Every episode brings a new case with a new set of circumstances that baffle police and intrigue Yukawa while it also annoys his older assistant, who continuously insists that the police go away and let Sensei do his natural job, which is to teach at the university and conduct experiments.

In reality, Fukuyama is closer to my age, but in the drama, he not only captivated my heart, he also came off as a stud-muffin to all the giddy college chicks who attended his lectures because of the kawaii factor and not for the content of his brain.

For a welcome change, this is based on a novel that won a serious prize for literature, and the quality of the writing comes through in every, single episode.

It also ranked high in viewer satisfaction in Japan, which comes as no surprise, either.

The only problem I had was in picturing him as a JPop idol.

I'll seriously dig into his profile, listen to some of his tunes, and get back to you with my thoughts on that.

When the 10 episodes were through, there was an added treat in the form of a 'movie', or two-episode addition that in-depth explained how Yukawa Sensei came to be a much-needed addition to the detective division of the local police.

~ After that came another movie, titled Suspect X ~



This was well-received in Japan, with thousands flocking to the theater in the first, few weeks of its release -

Over here, it seems to have received less than favorable reviews - but, I think I know why -

It wasn't that this was a bad movie, a stupid addition, or even a sloppy afterthought meant to keep the momentum going.

What happened with Suspect X was that there was little tongue-in-cheek dialogue or silly bickering between Yukawa Sensei and the frustrated, female detective.

It wasn't at all like the comedy within a series of serious murder mysteries one came to expect with the drama, but as far as I'm concerned, that is totally beside the point.

I also got the impression Suspect X was meant to give the viewer Yukawa Sensei's final word on the 'ai' theory - yet, at the very end, it remained as ambiguous as he turned out to be.




Seriously recommend this one, and it will be in the top-ten, end-of-the-year list for me, too.

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A Bittersweet Life

2005 Korean movie about a gangsta who rose high enough in the ranks to have a nightclub handed to him by the 'boss'

Lee Byung hun is a terrific bad-ass in every sense of the term, too.





In the opening scene, he's asked to help with some unruly customers, and what he does to make them 'obey' is a great watch.

The gist of the story revolves around the fact that his aging 'boss' has asked him to spy on his twenty-something girlfriend, whom he suspects of having an affair.

Oppa Lee's character is instructed to murder both culprits if he even suspects they are fooling around, but when Sun woo discovers the truth, he makes a deal with the girl instead.

Naturally, the gang boss finds out what he's done and from there, we have to watch our cool, handsome Sang woo suffer quite a bit.


unexpected bad-ass #2

The ending is gangland violence predictable - but still something you don't want to miss, and it ranks high in the 'totally cool, bad-ass' category for this genre of movie, too.


Here is the trailer in case you're interested:

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하이에나 / Hyena

!! WHAT A DELIGHT !!

I chose this because it stars Oppa Sin, but I really had my doubts about this when the 'synopsis' likened it to Sex & the City for guys.

UGH

Having never watched one, single episode of said U.S. sitcom, movie, Broadway music - whatever - all I could think was that it'd be 16-episodes of stereotypical trash.

!!NOT!!

Recently, I watched a documentary about life in Asia, and the guy doing the show met with some classy, working women who said that they constantly watch U.S. tv to keep up with '...the latest trends.'

When he asked them what they watch, they all replied with 'Sex & the City', and in a tone that made it seem like the guy asking the question was from another planet.

He laughed (as I would have done), and when they wanted to know why he thought it was funny, he said that if they really wanted to know what life was like in America, that they should watch 'Married With Children' instead.

!! AGREED !!

That little scene in the documentary stuck with me and made me think - AGAIN.

I've always had trouble with the fantasy/reality aspect of Asian drama - not knowing what is real and what is make-believe.

I live in America, so I know the difference between reality and fantasy - no one needs to explain to me how a show like 'Sex & the City' is as far-removed from reality as they come.

Yet ~ when I watch things like Hyena from Korea - I'm left to wonder if life might, really be that way - for them - or, at least for the ultra elite over there anyway.

The Chinese women in the documentary seemed to be going out of their way to dress, act, live, and even talk like what they see on television - which, to me, is very scary.

IT ISN'T REAL!

Maybe I wasn't there the day that the imaginary line was crossed and fantasy (television) suddenly became reality?

Regardless - I'm going to stick with my old-fashioned view about television being fake and life being real, tuvm.

That goes for anything I see in Asian cinema as well.

!ON WITH THE SHOW!

I haven't seen Oppa Sin since the end of Project Runway: Korea!

He's so yummy.





When I saw him at the runway show on Project Runway: Korea - I got scared.

I'm thinking - gawd, please don't be the weird host chick's boyfriend!!!!

Don't DO me this way!!!!

I didn't like her - but that has nothing to do with Hyena - so

It's a 2006, 16-episode Korean drama about four guys in their thirties and how they exist day-to-day over there.

Kim Min jong is Kim Chul so, a bad-luck guy working as a PD at a television station alongside his pulled-together, handsome, and extremely successful, younger buddy, Oh Man suk as Choi Jin beom.

Chul so has a reputation for being a jinx, so no one wants to work with him, and on every assignment he's ever had, something disastrous always occurs to spoil things.





The chemistry between all, four guys is incredible and life-like - so it was hard to decide which of them was best or most likable at any rate.

HOWEVER

As far as I'm concerned, Choi Jin beom's older brother, Choi Jin sang (Yoon Da hoon) stole the show.





He's a romantic porn novelist with the pen name Late Autumn, and from start to finish, his main goal in life is to lay every woman in Korea.

These, three guys live together in a cozy apartment in a huge complex somewhere in Seoul, and though Jin sang is closer to Chul so in personality, they have to tolerate stuffy Jin beom because he's the one with all the money AND a car.



Oh Man seok as Jin beom


The fourth guy, Sin Seung rok's character, is Lee Seok jin, a talented chef who has his own television show that spotlights cooking and features women as his guests.

He's also gay.





At the start, we find out about a 'scandal' brewing between him and a famous actor he's dating.

Seok jin has to abandon the relationship for the sake of his love, and the gay actor gets married in order to stave off the bad publicity.





Yet, it isn't until way late in this show that his friends find out the truth about him.

So Yi hyun as Lee Jeong yun arrives from the States to get married to a man her parents picked out for her.

She's a grad of Johns Hopkins and a promising, young doctor, but in Korea she is a lush with a broken heart.

She and Chul so bump into each other at a club, where he hopes to score the night before his wedding, and they end up together inside a hotel room.

Jeong yun makes it in time for her wedding, but poor Chul so arrives in his unfastened street clothes looking a mess and hung over.

His bride-to-be walks off and the family beats him down before his buddies drag him back to the apartment to scold him for being a jerk.

Jeong yun sees Seok jin trying to help Chul so, and she runs from her wedding to chase after the car.

Turns out Jeong yun met Seok jin on an airplane, and they had a bit of a fling in America when Seok jin bailed, leaving her a note that said he wasn't good enough for her.

Now she wants him back, and she's willing to let it all go in order to gain back the love she once had, too.

Her wealthy parents abandon her, leaving her penniless, and the hospital in America fires her for being a no-show.

Jeong yun becomes good friends with Chul so, and she and his older brother end up working with him at the television station as his writers.

Chul so is heartbroken and wants to try again with his fiance, but she's over the bum and hits him with a line no guy ever wants to hear:

"I had the best orgasm with him (the new guy), and you never made me feel that good in bed."

o.u.c.h.

He ends up being the new lush while Jeong yun cleans up after getting to move in with her beloved Seok jin.





Seok jin is trying his best to move on and not think about what happened between him and the gay actor, and since his mother has a weak heart and ends up in the hospital all the time, he even attempts 'going straight' for the sake of his parents.




Jin beom gets laid about as often as his randy, older brother does - but his taste is far, more refined and has a host of requirements for the women of his choosing as well.

He has a one-night stand with an attorney who is a raving beauty while his relationship with an Oriental Medicine practitioner is beginning to heat up.



조한나 / Jo Han Na - she's really pretty


Jin beom has had a ten-year, one-sided love affair with a mousy sunbae from college, though, and as hard as he's tried over the years to let it all go - he can't forget her and ends up screwing things up between him & the pretty doc when sunbae returns from the states as a divorcee with a little girl who runs a 'hof' bar (whatever that means).

I had a hard time trying to figure out if this guy was hot or not ...

One minute he looked questionable -





and then in another scene, he looks totally do-able!





anyhow - there was a super-funny scene where his older brother, Jin sang, receives some Viagra from his deep-voiced buddy





and he decides to take two for more potency when, after the drug takes affect, Jin beom walks into the apartment with their parents.

Jin sang tries to hide the 'boner' with a pillow, his mother keeps asking why he looks flushed, and Jin beom yanks the pillow from Jin sang's hand, exposing the 'truth'.

That night, at a bar, the guys are all together, and Jin beom is anxious to tease his embarrassed, older brother about what happened, so he holds up his jacket and asks Jin sang if he can use him as a coat rack.

Later, Jin sang mixes a smoothie and tosses in two viagra, handing the drink to Jin beom and telling him it's super healthy.

Jin beom then goes on a date with Jo Ha na when she sits beside him to check his pulse since he looks flushed (trying to remain calm while 'down there' is in a rage).

She accidentally touches him there - and they end up in a hotel room.

Naturally, Ha na is totally in lust now and wants the relationship to blossom with the intent of marriage while Jin beom is still thinking about his first love and a smooth way to dump the doctor without hurting her feelings.

Curiosity about sex and the single girl here ~

I might be entirely out of the loop this time, too, but - if she's single and living on her own - what is the reason for 'doing it' at a hotel instead of at her apartment?

Hotel sounds so cheap to me - so I'm confused.

Ok - so later, and after the Viagra has worn off, Jin beom keeps bumping into his first love, and at the same time, he can't get it up with the pretty doctor, who is becoming increasingly frustrated and losing self-esteem as a result of his inability to perform.

In an elevator, Jin beom is with his first love when she falls asleep on his shoulder, and suddenly -



It's Ba-aack!

Here's another curiosity I have about Korean dramas in particular ~

Seok jin is driving all over town trying to find Jeong yun, and when he does, she's drunk - so he carries her on his back to the apartment.





So, where is his car, and why didn't he just drive her home???

It wouldn't be as 'romantic' to carry her like a mama carries her baby in the rice field??

I, for one, would rather stumble home in the dark than to be carried this way, in a skirt, by a man.

These aside, I thought that Hyena was an awesome story with likable characters -

oops -

I'm lying now.

Jeong yun was annoying start to finish - even if she did manage to get all the guys to like her by the end.

The way she talked when she was with Seok jin irritated the crap out of me.

Tee-hee's, stupid grins, whining while jumping in place, and acting like a helpless schoolgirl annoys me, sorry!

And, I may be wrong, but I think the writer may have misconstrued the old adage about 'when you're comfortable enough to fart in front of him, then it means the relationship is secure'

Jeong yun let one go the first night she moved in with Seok jin and I find that incredibly hard to believe, considering how 'crazy' about him she was, and how hard she was trying to get him back.

The next day, she runs to the guys apartment down the hall to use their bathroom because she has diarrhea and doesn't want Seok jin to hear or smell anything.

Yet, in front of three, veritable strangers, she doesn't even think to turn on the sink before she starts dumping??

The guys are trying to eat their breakfast, and when Seok jin comes in asking where she is, they tell him she's playing them some symphony music in the next room.

hehehehehehe

Later, and while she is seated between both Seok jin and Chul so, she lets another one rip, then she tries to blame it on Chul so.

Maybe it was just meant to be ha-ha filler or something?

I'm not sure - but, -- OR maybe I'm too uptight and that's why guys don't like me?

I would rather DIE first than do something like that, and I was married for ten years!

There was a lot of chick-puking in this one, too.

Again - it boggles the mind to think that a guy is so desperate that he'd forgo the smell of vomit on a chick just to sink his wanker in her.

eeeeeew to infinity.

My odd sense of what is right and what is wrong aside ~ Hyena was a memorable drama and one that I recommend to anyone in need of a good laugh.

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Something to Look Forward to

Nabbeun Namja / 나쁜남자


BAD GUY / BAD MAN / BAD BOY




the cast


KIM nam gil

The press release I read said that he is the best actor in 'Asia' (according to the guy producing this drama anyway).

Perhaps generalizing or assumption is taken for granted over there, I don't know - but 'Asia' is a bit of a stretch imho.

Maybe it'd have been better if the guy had said '...in Korea' and then added '...right now.'

And, maybe it's just me being prejudiced since the co-star and Nam gil's nemesis in this new drama is none other than KIM JAE WOOK.

WHO is the best actor in all of Asia??

I beg to differ with Ajusshi PD Lee Hyeong Min, and while I'm certain Nam gil makes the ideal bad-ass, his counterpart in the drama (and if I'm not mistaken, Jae wook is the man Nam gil WOULD HAVE been had he not died?) has as much charisma, draw, and visual stimulus to hook the viewer; maybe even more.

The strange statement aside - Bad Guy looks like another winner to me, and since it'll be MONTHS before this one is illegibly subtitled and submitted to aznv.tv, all I can do is wait.

The synopsis I read made it sound like Nam gil's character was once the heir to a big, Korean chaebol when he dies - and then he comes back to earth, where he meets the modern-day Nam gil character (??) and the two seemingly opposites war with one another for the duration.

It was also pointed out that this is a unique, Korean drama in that the director uses a lot of visuals and cinematography to make it look more like a music video vignette than a steady storyline drama.

I'm wincing at that - but, it's still a wait & see for me.

So, the old Nam gil character returns to earth and proceeds to drive all the women (from little girls to old ladies) mad with desire.

Begs the question - is Jae wook's character meant to repulse them if they are supposed to be mirror opposites?

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA


Whatever - I've waited far, too long to see Jae wook star in anything - so I can't wait for this one, and I hope it turns out to be tons better than the synopsis made it sound.




Here's the trailer

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