According to online fashion site (atzine.com), actor Jang Geun Suk and actress Han Ye Seul are the best dressed celebrities.

This poll was held from the 14th to the 17th and the two received the most votes from a poll of 800 people, naming them ‘2009’s Best Dressers.’

Jang Geun Suk came in at first by taking 44% of the votes. He played the role of a celebrity in his hit SBS drama, ‘You’re Beautiful,’ and thanks to this role, he was able to be dressed in quite fashionable attire that was loved by viewers. His Hwang Tae Kyung outfits even started a fashion trend in Korea and he has been dubbed as ‘Wan-Pan-Nam’ (완판남), meaning that his fashion has become a hit.

Following Jang Geun Suk, Kang Dong came in at 2nd with 28% of the votes, Kim Hyun Joong in 3rd with 18%, Lee Minho in 4th with 7%, Gong Yoo in 5th with 2%, and Ji Hyun Woo in 6th with 1%.

For the females, Han Ye Seul won ‘Best Dresser’ thanks to her simple yet glamorous red carpet looks. She beat Yoon Eun Hye for first with 33% of the votes, but by only 3%. In third was Seo In Young with 13% of the votes, Kim Ha Neul in 4th with 10%, Ha Ji Won in 5th with 7%, and Park Shin Hye in 6th with 1%.

Cr: allkpop

For those who don’t know, Nate and Naver are virtually the two biggest search portals in Korea. So making this chart would mean a lot

Above (Top artist search: [1]2NE1 [2]2PM [3]SNSD [4]After School [5]Kara [6]f(x) [7]Brown Eyed Girls [8]G-Dragon [9]Lee Seung Ki [10]4Minute) (Top actor search: [1]Lee Minho [2]Koo Hye Sun [3]Han Hyo Joo [4]Han Yeh Sul [5]Park Bo Young [6]Lee Jun Ki [7]Kim Bum [8]Yoon Eun Hye [9]Shin Sae Kyung [10]Jang Geun Suk)

Usually, being the most searched celebrity on a search engine shows the fame that a certain person has. Well 2009 wasn’t any different for these headline hoggers.

The most searched artists on Korean search engine and media portal Nate.com in 2009 was the new girl group 2NE1. They debuted with their single “Fire” in May of this year. So in over half a year, they became the most searched artists on Nate. What a big achievement considering the fact that 2PM and SNSD came in second and third respectively.

Who was the most searched actor? It was no other than Flower Boy Lee Min Ho! It was a great year for the star of “Boys Over Flower” as he became a CF magnet and definitely has been a headline hogger.

Above (Male top search: [1]SNSD [2]UEE [3]iPhone [4]B.O.F. [5]Infinity Challenge [6]2NE1 [7]Sunduk Yuhwang [8]JooAhMin [9]Son Dambi [10]Park Bo Young) (Female top search: [1]B.O.F. [2]Big Bang [3]SNSD [4]2PM [5]DBSK [6]Sunduk Yuhwang [7]SHINee [8]2NE1 [9]Ah nae eh yoo hok [10]Kim Yun Ah

On another popular search engine Naver.com, they categorized their popular searches by gender.

The males searched Girls Generation the most and coming in second was UEE of After School. On the female’s side, they searched for the drama “Boys Over Flower” the most and then followed by Big Bang, SNSD, and 2PM.

Cr: omgkpop

‘It’s hard to spill vulgarities freely’

Sun Woo Sun, together with fellow Will it snow on Christmas leads (Han Ye Seul, Go Soo, Song Jong Ho) attended a press conference on the 21st.

During the interview, Sun Woo Sun states that it was more stressful in Queen of Housewives as the other leads were mostly sunbaes will many years of acting experiences. Also, that was the first time she took up a major role and this made her more nervous.

When asked to comment on her fellow leads, Sun Woo Sun said that Go Soo is always concentrating on his work and full of energy. When acting with him, she has learned alot.

In the drama, she plays Woo Jung – the only daughter of a chaebol group who is loud and expresses herself freely. Hence Sun Woo Sun has to shout alot and also curse. She added that all the vulgarities doesn’t suit her and she finds it hard to say them. In real life, Sun Woo Sun is more conservative and at first, she cannot understand Woo Jung. But as time passes, she grew to love and understand her role.

via OSEN

I’ll say it’s rather rare that a Korean drama has its own official Twitter. But I’m loving all the pictures posted up!

Recently, photos of the leads (Han Ye Seul, Go Soo) memorizing their scripts were uploaded.

Go under the cut for more pics and find out what netizens have to say~

Netizens say:

• The poses of them reading scripts are like the same with those in Hwabo!
• Their focused expressions are like art too~ (probably a play on Han Ye Seul’s name ^^ Ye Seul = art)
• They look like they are studying~~

Due to their hardworking expressions, they were given the nickname ‘hardworking boy&girl’ *direct translation

Click HERE to follow~ Oh, but I realised that I love Korea’s version of twitter more. Here’s their page from twtkr. (I like the fact that the pictures are shown together with the tweet! – Unlike in normal twitter)

The other day I made some dwen-jang (fermented bean) stew.  I happened to have a piece of andouille sausage laying around and decided it to throw it in for kicks.  It looked like dwen-jang stew, and smelled like dwen-jang stew, but first taste and you can immediately tell it was not dwen-jang stew.  Yes, it was edible but it didn’t have the usual savory taste because it had been infiltrated by a foreign taste.

That’s how I feel about Will It Snow at Christmas.  Because I’m watching this concurrently with I’m Sorry, I Love You (MISA), I can’t help but make comparisons.  It’s eerily similar.  I’ve never seen What Happened in Bali so I can’t make that comparison, but Christmas even has the same look and feel as MISA.  Long pauses without dialogue, freeze frames, lots of low angle/high angle shots.  It’s not that this is out of the ordinary from other kdramas, but both dramas do a good job of incorporating this into the story.  (FYI:  Writer of Christmas wrote  MISA and director also did Bali.)

I also couldn’t help but notice the music effect similarities.  One thing that I really really like about MISA is how the raw singing is smoothly transitioned into studio vocals.  It’s an important detail for MISA because of Yune, the singer, and the dichotomy set up with Moo Hyuk.  (It’s unlike You’re Beautiful, where the transitions were a bit fat mess, which I’ll write about one day in my final YB post.)  This aspect isn’t that important to Christmas, but the lullaby that Kang Jin and his mom sing to each other sounds exactly like the transitions from MISA.

Christmas is definitely watchable and at times intriguing, but feels foreign to me, kind of like that dwen-jang stew with the andouille sausage. I like Go Soo quite a bit and I think Han Ye Seul’s natural sadness adds a certain depth to her character. But she just doesn’t seem naturally when acting, which can be difficult to watch at times. Overall, its not bad per se but unsettling. I haven’t yet decided whether its in a bad way or a good way. (I eventually ended up “throwing” it away to the human garbage disposal, my husband.)

Here’s the 2 minute recap:

Kang Jin (Go Soo) is shocked to find that Ji Wan (Han Ye Seul) is the bride to be. When her fiance doesn’t show up to the engagement, she’s forced to eat the food from the party, with Kang Jin stays behind to help her. When she hears his introduction, Ji Wan is surprised but refuses to acknowledge that she knows him. Seeing her again brings back all of his memories and infatuation. He follows her into the bathroom as she upchucks her food.

Meanwhile, her fiancee, Park Tae Jun (Song Jong Ho), is off with his ex, Lee Woo Jung (Sunwoo Sun), who had cut up her wrist due to his impending engagement. He spends the day with her, giving her false hope that he’ll be coming back to her.

I liked Sunwoo Sun quite a bit in Queen of Housewives. She plays a real huge brat in Christmas though, whereas she was quite likable in the former. I think she’s setting herself up well for some massive kdrama redemption.

On top of being fantastic at his job (he almost takes a project away from Tae Jun), Kang Jin is quite the family man. He consoles his brother, who isn’t able to see his dad. (And we find out that they’re half brothers.) He’s also in charge of taking care of his mom, singing her a song as she makes her nightly call.

It also looks like they’re trying to set up Ji Wan’s dad as his father. I think we can assume that they’re not siblings, which makes me wonder whether he really is indeed Ji Wan’s dad.

Ji Wan waits for Tae Jun’s phone call after the non-engagement and heads to his apartment, deciding to wait for him. Kang Jin sees her at Tae Jun’s door (he lives on the same floor) and ultimately brings her back to his place. She’s running a fever and he takes care of her through the night.

The next morning, she wakes up at an unfamiliar location and is surprised to find Kang Jin. When Tae Jun comes by to exchange car keys, he finds his almost fiance at another man’s apartment. Kang Jin, who had been contemplating whether to get involved, decides to be fully involved and treats Ji Wan with excessive familiarity in front of Tae Jun.

Ji Wan tries to yell at Tae Jun for not showing at the engagement but get tongue tied and ends up leaving his apartment with the house slippers still on. Kang Jin sees her with the slippers and brings her a pair of boots, reminding her of how he gave up his shoes for her when they were younger. (This was the defining moment when she started to fall for him.) As much as she’s upset about her engagement, she seems more affected by Kang Jin than Tae Jun.

Woo Jung goes to see Ji Wan, feeling a bit of remorse for ruining her engagement day and curious to see the other woman. She’s pretty confident in Tae Jung coming back to her and tells Ji Wan to be ready for a breakup.

As expected, Ji Wan’s dad still cares about Kang Jin’s mom. He acts cold and distant on the outside, but we see him parked outside of her coffee shop and takes her to the hospital for some x-rays when she complains of pain from getting beaten up earlier.

I usually don’t get too wrapped up in parent relationships but find myself looking forward to seeing them on screen. I find Chun Hee to be really believable and makes me want to hit her and hug her at the same time. I also can’t believe that Jo Min Soo (Proposal, Ice Flower) is playing mom to Go Soo. (She’s only 13 years older than him.)

Even though Ji Wan pretends not to know Kang Jin, she still has his pendant and always wears it. It’s pretty clear that this is going to be a big token of their love and the connection that he has with his father. And to have Kang Jin keep up, he keeps her hairpin and uses it as a tie clip.

Woo Jung is elated to move in with Tae Jun and happily heads to their new apartment that she had prepared. Unfortunately, he’s only there to say goodbye. The scene between is pretty well directed, with Woo Jung holding onto Tae Jun as much as possible while he finally breaks it off with her with the right mix of care and detachment.

Tae Jun heads to see Ji Wan. She thinks that he’s there to break up with her to get back together with Woo Jung. She tries to look confident and cool, telling him to just go back to her and not worry about her. Tae Jun is fairly drunk at this point and head out.

Ji Wan follows him to return his credit card and sees him falling to the ground in a druken stupor. She runs over to him and tries to block him from oncoming traffic. Kang Jin sees them as he walks passed the store and runs after Ji Wan, hugging her and blocking her from the oncoming traffic.

I’ve developing a bit of Go Soo crush watching this drama. Hmm… is it bad that I want to be the one being hugged? Haha.

In the evening, everyone’s wallowing in their sadness. Kang Jin is speaking with his mom, who sings him a song this time around. Ji Wan takes care of a drunk Tae Jun, thinking about Kang Jin. Woo Jung is left alone in the apartment. And Jun Soo, Ji Wan’s dad, looks up into the night sky, thinking about Chun Hee (Kang Jin’s mom.)

I must say that there are a lot of great shots, even if they’re a rip of MISA. That shot of Woo Jung totally reminds me of Moo Hyuk. Again, Christmas has potential. But atleast to this point, it makes me want to go watch MISA more than anything else.

Think of Han Ye Seul, and the first thing that comes to mind is probably her role as Anna in Fantasy Couple. You may also remember her from movie Miss Gold Digger or Tazza (drama). Han Ye Seul has used her bright, cheery image to good use in her previous roles, but it seems that she’s lacking in melodramas.

‘Will it Snow on Christmas?’ (크리스마스에 눈이 올까요?) is her first foray into the melodrama genre. 2 episodes since her first appearance, she’s still unable to synchronize and meet the high standard set by Nam Ji Hyun, who plays her younger self Han Ji Wan. Korean viewers have expressed the same disappointment so far.

I’m a huge fan of Han Ye Seul, and at first, I wasn’t really happy that the childhood actors will be occupying the first 2 episodes. But subconsciously, I got so captivated by the solid acting of Nam Ji Hyun and Kim Soo Hyun, I wished they could have remain longer. The transition from Kim Soo Hyun to Go Soo was smooth, and I think both of them are synchronized. But I find myself thinking that Han Ye Seul is lacking in some aspects. It feels as if Han Ji Wan has changed her personality over the years (which shouldn’t be the case!).

But if you zoom straight into episode 3, Han Ye Seul is doing a passable job – she delivers her own charm.

It’s only the 4th episode so far, there’s still a long way to go. Sun Woo Sun is doing a wonderful job so far and we get to see a different side of her after Queen of Housewives.

All in all, I find myself loving the drama much! ^^

I’m…not a big fan of twilight. Maybe if Han Ye Seul is in it, I’ll go watch but other than that – no.

It is being reported (strategically leaked?) that Han Ye-seul, who is currently acting in the new SBS melodrama series Will It Snow For Christmas?, recently took a secret meeting with Mark Morgan, CEO of Imprint Entertainment, the production company behind Twilight and New Moon. Naturally, this has given rise to speculation that Han Ye-seul’s Hollywood debut may come in the third film of the Twilight saga, Eclipse.

News of the meeting was confirmed by a source related to the “Phone Hollywood remake project,” which is also under Imprint’s purview. Han quietly met with Morgan and film producer Michael Becker on December 5 at an undisclosed location in Seoul. (They were in the country to announce the Phone remake at a press conference on the 3rd.)

I’d take the possibility of a Twilight appearance with a huge grain of salt — I think it’s more likely she’d be cast for Phone — but apparently it’s not out of the question. The source avoided the direct question of Han’s casting potential for Eclipse, but when Chosun Ilbo’s reporter asked whether one could “take an optimistic outlook” about it, the answer was “Yes.” Meanwhile, Phone’s director had said at the recent press conference that he’d like to cast a Korean actress. The horror remake will use a Korean crew and director, but plans to cast American actors.

In general, this isn’t surprising news, since Han has been keeping an eye out for Hollywood opportunities since last year. I think her acting ranges from merely passable (Tazza) to bright and cute (Fantasy Couple, Miss Gold Digger), and on the whole it’s much improved from her early days. Furthermore, she’s one of few Korean actresses whose English is fluent without an accent and she grew up in California, so unlike some other stars attempting the crossover, language isn’t an issue. Language fluency also opens the door for her to take on roles outside the role of the stereotypical Asian Other — e.g., the ubiquitous assassin or martial artist a la Jeon Ji-hyun, Lee Byung-heon, or Rain.

Sources: Newsen, Chosun
Via: dramabeans

It seems like Justin Chon just might get another Korean actor on the set of Twilight! And a beautiful one too.

Netizens have been abuzz after a report that one of Korea’s top actresses, Han Ye Seul (Leslie Kim) had a top-secret meeting with the producer of the Twilight Saga, Michael Baker, and a representative of the Imprint Entertainment Production, Mike Morgan. This extravagant event took place in Korea on the 5th and according to the media, the production company of the movie offered this meeting. Although very busy from filming for her new drama, SBS Will It Snow on Christmas?, Han Ye Seul gladly accepted the offer (who wouldn’t?).

What they have discussed on this day is still unknown. Han Ye Seul refused to be accompanied by anyone but her manager for the meeting to prevent any leakage of information. However, it is very likely their purpose was indeed to cast the actress for their upcoming sequels. Considering the fact that these two high-positioned men bothered to travel all the way to Korea from U.S., the talk must have been serious.

Although Twilight is the big question, some netizens believe Han Ye Seul is actually being considered for a role in the remake of the Korean film, Phone. This derived from what one of Ye Seul’s representatives stated, “They have discussed numerous things, including the movie Phone.”

Either way, it looks like Han Ye Seul will be making her Hollywood debut soon, and as her English name implies, Han Ye Seul was born and raised in America. Her fluency in English has already been well-known in the media.

CREDIT: rameninmybowl@allkpop

credits as tagged

reup: cheonsa23 @ aff(x)tion forums

I watched the first 2 episodes of Will It Snow for Christmas.  Solely looking at the director (Choi Mun Shik – What Happened in Bali) and writer (Lee Kyung Hee – Thank You, I’m Sorry, I Love You), I thought it had potential.  But the description, especially the part about the 2 young lovers breaking up due to a misunderstanding, kicked up my gag reflex.  I needed a little distraction, a drama that I can “watch” without really watching, so I decided to give it a whirl.

I’m not sure what I can say about this drama.  It tries hard?  There is some solid camera work here and there.  The characters aren’t fully developed yet to make a judgment and the 2 young actors do a commendable job of laying the foundation for Ji Wan and Kang Jin, but there’s just something missing in them.  There’s enough intrigue still left to make things interesting, but it’s not off to a good start for me.

(Top screencap is of the really cute Han siblings, hugging it out. Song Joong Ki (!) and Nam Ji Hyun.)

The first 2 episodes are pretty much the set-up eps, where we meet the young Ji Wan (Nam Ji Hyun, Han Ye Seul) and Kang Jin (Kim Soo Hyun, Go Soo).  Ji Wan is a bright and fun kid, but a bit of a trouble maker.  Kang Jin is a child prodigy but has anger management issues and has been kicked out of multiple schools for fighting.  His mom has been a bar hostess for awhile but switches to a cafe madam (to appease her son) after finally moving back to her home town with her 2 sons.

I like Nam Ji Hyun quite a bit.  I liked her in Queen Seonduk and stopped watching pretty soon after Lee Yo Won appeared and made me want to pull my hair out.  (I tried to watch East of Eden but couldn’t get through the first 20 minutes, so I didn’t see the Nam Ji Hyun to Han Ji Hye transition.)  She plays the spunky girl pretty well and made Lee Yo Won’s attempt at sassiness unbelievable.  I have a feeling that she’ll do the same for Han Ye Seul.  It also doesn’t help that I don’t think either ladies are very good at spunk.  (I’ve always thought that both actresses kind of had a sad face.  Not in a bad way, but just kind of look down all the time.)

On the other hand, I like Go Soo.  I’ve liked him since watching Age of Innocence (with Kim Min Hee.)  It wasn’t a great drama nor was he that great in it, but I liked his intensity and all around good looks.  I’d like to see him play some different roles but maybe this is how far his talents can take him.  And new actor Kim Soo Hyun does a pretty good job of portraying Kang Jin as a tortured, brilliant, but sweet soul.

The drama also gives us a little treat with the ever cute Song Joong Ki, who plays Ji Wan’s brother, Ji Yong.  Even if he doesn’t do anything but host “Music Bank” and run around in “Dream Team 2″ forever , I’ll still love him for bring Poong Ho’s heartfelt desire to life in Triple.  Unfortunately, it’s pretty much a cameo role for reasons to be explained below.

Alright, here’s the SPOILER ALERT. It’s a 2 minute quick recap of the 2 episodes, so proceed with full warning.

Han Ji Wan and Cha Kang Jin meet as he moves into her neighborhood with his family.  There are huge banners of Ji Yong’s acceptance into Seoul National University.  Kang Jin’s mom seems to have a history with the family, because she decides to cut up the signs.  (The moving truck also needs to get rid of the sign to pass through.)  Ji Wan sees the crime in action, and comes yelling but loses footing and falls off the bridge.  Kang Jin, the cool and level-headed one of the family, comes to the rescue, helps Ji Wan, and tapes the signs back up.

Trying to get back at a girl (who is now dating Kang Jin) for stealing her ex-boyfriend, Ji Wan decides to seduce Kang Jin and dump him when he starts to like her.  She does everything possible to win him over – bring him milk and hard boiled egg every morning, carrying his bag, throwing hundreds of paper airplanes off the school roof, and following him around like a little puppy. (Haha. You’ve gotta give it to her for being bold and shameless.)

She eventually starts to fall for him, especially after learning about his family. And seeing him cry uncontrollably after losing his only connection with his father, a pendant.

Kang Jin also starts to like Ji Wan, seeing her stand up for him, even getting beaten up by the neighborhood thug.  He starts to like her as well and wants to believe her even after he finds about her initial plans to use him to get back at a girl.

Ji Wan is worried and afraid to face Kang Jin, unable to confess her true feelings.  She runs away and tries to look for his lost pendant, a gift from his father.  Seeing his sister crying by the lake, Ji Yong comforts Ji Wan by offering to look for the pendant and advises her to go find Kang Jin.  But as she’s about to leave, she realizes that her brother has been inside the water for a long time, without coming up for air.  She looks on, worried, calling his name.  (Why doesn’t see jump into the water once she realizes??)

Meanwhile, there’s some sort of story behind Ji Wan’s parents and Kang Jin’s mom.  It looks like Kang Jin’s mom and Ji Wan’s dad were an item but he left her at some point.  And Ji Wan’s mom was maybe a friend who stole the guy?  (The dad is played by Chun Ho Jin of Smile, You, who seems to be stuck playing a serious version of Sang-hoon in Christmas.)  Either way, I hate these kinds of storylines in melodramas, unless it really serves a purpose.

We find that Ji Yong has drowned, and his death has devastated the family.  Their mom goes psycho, and wishes that Ji Wan had died instead of Ji Yong.  (Seriously? SERIOUSLY??)  When Ji Wan finds Kang Jin’s pendant near the lake, she in turn partly blames him for her brother’s death.  When Kang Jin brings her egg and milk and tells her that he likes her, she yells at him and says that it was all an act.  And that she has no feelings for him.

The end of episode 2 passes the baton to the fully grown Kang Jin and Ji Wan, bringing in the 2 leads.  Kang Jin has grown into a successful architect, and does fairly well in the girlfriend department as well.  That is, until the girl meets his coffee-pouring mother.  Going back to the hometown, the banners about Ji Yong has been replaced with congratulatory banners of Kang Jin’s success.  And he seems to have grown up emotionally as well, no longer embarrassed or angry with his mother’s antics.

He does still harbor regret and lament about Ji Wan and Ji Yong, as we see him visit their house when he’s back in the village.  We find out that Ji Wan has ran away from home after her brother’s death, and her father will not leave the house, hoping that she’ll come back home.

We’re also introduced to Lee Woo Jung (Sunwoo Sun), the construction company president’s partying daughter, who butts heads with Kang Jin.  And Park Tae Jun (Song Jong Ho), a team leader at the company and Woo Jung’s former boyfriend.  (He’s the one standing in the back.) He apparently is about to be engaged to Ji Wan but leaves her hanging at the engagement party.  We’re left at the end of ep2, with Kang Jin at the party, seeing his long lost love Ji Wan apologizing for Tae Jun’s absence at the engagement.

I probably won’t be doing full recaps of the drama, considering I’m completely behind in Creating Destiny, and still trying to close out You’re Beautiful. But I may do more quickies like this if the storyline gets interesting or Go Soo has more shower scenes.

I managed to watch the first episode of Will It Snow at Christmas last wednesday (to be honest I have a You’re Beautiful withdrawal syndrome T_T) and I was pretty impressed.

Episode 1 left me some a (new) fresh air. Well, mostly because of the young actors. I didn’t expect it, I mean, when it comes to an opening story, the chemistry between the young actors (sometimes) is a merely disaster or poorly written (I know there was Endless Love which was (for me) the opening story was better than the main itself), but thanks GOD it’s not happened in this episode. I have a crush on little Kang Jin, he spoke with his eyes. How can you resist your heart when someone sees you with this glance?

Oh I have to stop mumbling and continue talking about this series itself.

This drama talks about Cha Kang Jin, the son of barmaid, Cha Chun Hee. His life is difficult as he gets into fights and has to watch other people push his mother around yet he can’t do anything to stop it. He meets Han Ji Wan when they were teens but they weren’t able to continue their relationship as Ji Wan ran away after her older brother’s death. He meets Ji Wan 8 years later when he’s attending her engagement ceremony to Park Tae Joon. However, he is heartbroken as Ji Wan pretends to not remember him at all.

The man behind this series is Choi Moon Suk, the director of Only You and What Happened in Bali. On the other hand, the script writer is Lee Kyung Hee, the writer of my favorite series ‘Thank You’.

I know I’m such a Han Ye Sul biased (the main reason why I watch this series), but for some odd reasons I don’t think she is suitable enough for her role. Well, I have to proof it wrong (hopefully).