Korean Drama - Last Scandal Of My Life

Last Scandal Of My Life

The Cast

Choi Jin Shil as Hong Sun Hee
Jung Joon Ho as Song Jae Bin
Byun Jung Soo as Lee Na Yoon
Jung Woong In as Jang Dong Hwa

About the drama

Choi Jin Shil stars as housewife Hong Sun Hee, who is a strong, happy go lucky middle aged woman who accidentally meets her first love, Jang Dong Chul, again while working as an extra in a tv commerical. But now he is known as Song Jae Bin to the whole entire world. Dong Chul became a famous star and didn't recognize Sun Hee the first time that they met because she looked like an old ahjooma (auntie). But back in high school, she was a smart, and beautiful girl and all this changed when her family business failed years ago. Sun Hee ended up marrying a useless man who always lands their family in debts. She has to work several jobs to support the family and her mother-in-law who always picks on her.

Sun Hee's husband even lands himself in jail for debts and forgery and Sun Hee had to approach the wealthy Jae Bin for aid. He is however not willing to help her bacuase she is no longer the beauty she once was. Due to some misunderstandings, she eventually moves into his house as a housekeeper. As she begins working for him she'll soon realize that he's not a stuck-up celebrity, but someone who's lived a sheltered life for the past 15 years ever since he shot to stardom... His manager elder brother Jang Dong Hwa (Jung Woong In)is always there to help him resolve any problems that he faces and Jae Bin has ended up being reliant on him out of habit.

Dong Hwa is a man of few words. Perhaps it's because since his parents passed away he's had to take responsibility of his younger brother. Now, he's an acclaimed CEO for an entertainment company and manager to his superstar brother Jae Bin. While he doesn't have a clue about love, he ended up being father to his son and now raises him as a single parent. He does however get confused feelings once Sun Hee enters the house. Maybe it's because of the way Jae Bin gives her such a hard time...or maybe not?

Sun Hee and Jae Bin bicker constantly but slowy they discover the feelings they had at 19 aren't compeltely gone. Jae Bin also feels sorry for Sun Hee as her husband had lied to her repeatedly and left her and her daughter for an older and rich woman. However things get complicated with the arrival of Na Yoon (Byun Jung Soo). She is another hot celebrity who's had a love/hate relationship with Jae Bin and Dong Hwa. When she starts to notice Jae Bin and Dong Hwa developing feelings for an ordinary woman like Sun Hee and giving her their undivided attention, she begins to get jealous of Sun Hee and plots to win the brothers back!

Comments

Sadly this was actress Choi Jin-sil's last drama before her suicide in October 2008. Due to the series' immense popularity, a second season was planned and would begin filming in November - December 2008. It was called off due to Choi Jin-sil's sudden death. She's kind of a very good actress. What a waste.

A little gossip to share

In late September 2008, one of Choi Jin-sil's best friend’s husband Ahn Jae Hwan, also an actor, committed suicide due to failing business and high volume of debt. Soon after, Choi was rumoured to have lent a large sum of money to Ahn which spread rapidly through online reports and blogs. This was a shock to Choi and is favoured as the key factor leading up to her suicide, although there have been other reports of Choi’s suffering from depression since her divorce with Cho, her confidence as a single mom and the pressure of always being at the top of the stardom. The police reported the rumour to be false.

On the day of Choi’s death, all 3 major TV stations spent a third of their news hour on covering the story. 4 days after her death, a representative at the National Assembly suggested a new law to prevent "cyber-insulting" which for a short period had the nick name of "Choi Jin Shil Law".

Korean Drama - You're Beautiful

Rating: 9/10

Cast

Jang Geun Suk as Hwang Tae Kyung
Park Shin Hye Go Mi Nam (Male) / Go Mi Nyu (Female)
Lee Hong Ki as Kang On Yu / Jeremy
Jung Yong Hwa as Kang Shin Woo

Extended cast

UEE as Yoo He Yi
Bae Geu Rin as Sa Yu Ri (Fan club president)
Kim In Kwon as Ma Hoon Yi (Mi Nam’s manager)
Choi Ran as Choi Mi Ja (Mi Nam & Mi Nyu’s aunt)
Kim Sung Ryung as Mo Hwa Ran
Jung Chan as President Ahn
Choi Soo Eun as Wang Kko Di

About the Drama

Tae Kyung and On Yu are in search of a new member for their idol group, A.N.JELL. However, their new band member Mi Nam suffers an injury at the last moment. So Mi Nyu, his twin sister, is asked to step in for her brother. The rest of the drama follows the behind-the-scenes life of an idol group.

Go Mi Nyu is a sister-in-training. When her twin brother Go Mi Nam successfully auditions into the musical band A.N.JELL but is forced to leave for the United States to correct a botched plastic surgery effort, she is approached by his manager to pose as Mi Nam for the duration of his recovery.

Against her wishes, Mi Nyu accepts in order to fulfill her brother's dream of finding their mother. Now, posing as Mi Nam, Mi Nyu enters the group A.N.JELL and meets its members; Hwang Tae Kyung, Kang Shin Woo and Jeremy.

Tae Kyung, the group's leader and composer and the 2 main characters in Mi Nyu and Tae Kyung are like fire and water....It is so comical as to how Tae Kyung catergorized Mi Nyu as a disaster zone and was so afraid of "him" in the begining and Mi Nyu can't help getting into alot of funny incidents and dragging Tae Kyung along. They really make such a cute couple and it was so sweet whenever Tae Kyung tries to help Mi Nyu out even though he tries hard to stay away from her. Mi Nyu slowly falls in love with him, only to find herself entangled in a love triangle between him and Shin Woo.

Additionally, Mi Nyu finds herself rivaled against Yoo He Yi, an actress who also has feelings for Tae Kyung.

Comments:

Jeremy also harbors a one-sided love for her despite not knowing she's a girl. This is a old fashioned (commonly used in different drama - e.g coffee prince, 就想赖着你 and even japanese drama like Hanazakari no Kimitachi e) You can see his denial and delima

Totally hate it when the lead actor (Jang Geun Suk) touch his nose with his lips and trying to act like a pig...not cool at all...was he suppose to look cute? Some of my friends find him cute in that action...OMG...I personally dislikes that action it a lot...But I totally love Jang Geun Suk...LOL...

Its is amazing how the Hwang Tae Kyung can perform a simple surgery and added the pig nose onto the rabbit plush toy...and it was done so well!!! LOL...When you watch the show look out for the horrible plush toy "the pig rabbit"

I cannot imagine that an official website for idol band A.N.JELL (http://www.anjells.com) from the drama was also launched.

Something interesting I found out from Wikipedia

During its run, several car companies offered to have their cars be used on the drama for promotional purposes. The latest car from the German automaker Audi introduced their Audi S5 on the miniseries, with Jang Geun Suk (Tae Kyung) driving it.

Additionally, the soundtrack of the miniseries also sold 20,000 copies within its first seven days of released due to the popularity of the show. The album became a top seller on Melon, Dosirak, and Mnet. The album was written and produced by Han Sung-ho, who also worked on the dramas Lovers, On Air, and Brilliant Legacy.

Because the drama features a concert footage in it, A.N.JELL actually performed as mini-concert, where it was reported that as many 25,000 fans showed up. The group performed the songs “Promise” and “Still (As Ever)”, which is actually Lee Hongki solo soundtrack songs; Jang Geun Suk also sang “Good Bye” and “What Should I Do,” the latter of which is the track Tae-kyung remakes for his mother in the drama. Park Shin Hye sang her character’s theme song, “Lovely Day". Numerous fans have watched the drama online, where it reportedly gained a cult-following.

Totally amazing!

Taiwan Drama - 100% Senorita

100% Senorita / 千金百分百

Rating: 9/10

The Cast

Chen Qiao En as Liang Xiao Feng
Penny Lin as Zhuang Fei Yang
Wallace Huo as Li Wei Xiang
Deric Wan as Pan Bi De (Peter)
Jason Hsu as Meng Zhe Lin
Ke Shu Qin as Yang Zhu Fang

About the Drama (Spoiler Warning)

Zhu Fang is employed as a surrogate mother. During the process of her pregnancy, her maternal instinct was strongly awakened and she is struggling between her pain and her responsibility. She gave birth to a pair of twin girls, therefore, she left one of her daughters and quietly took the other one and flee.

Zhuang Fei Yang (Penny Lin) is the sole millionaire heiress of Formosa Inc, a company owned by her father and directed by CEO Peter, Fei Yang’s high-profile boyfriend.

Fei Yang would never forget the day of her 20th birthday. For the purpose of giving her a surprise at her birthday party, while hurrying home on his helicopter ride, the helicopter crashed.

Soon after her father’s sudden death, the heiress’ life is shaken by a murder attempt by the scheming Peter. Fei Yang survives the car accident without Peter’s knowledge, but her face becomes unrecognizable after a dramatic plastic surgery.

Wanting to restore her identity and to save Formosa from Peter’s hands, Fei Yang employs Liang Xiao Feng (Chen Qiao En) who looked like her, in a desperate attempt to regain Formosa. It turns out that Xiao Feng is her long-lost twin sister.

In the later part of the drama, Fei Yang and Xiao Feng are restored to their proper positions. As she assumes control over the dealings of Formosa, however, Fei Yang is misguided by Sha Sha to believe that her father’s death was Peter’s doing. Spurred by the thought of avenging her father, Fei Yang intentionally alienates Wei Xiang and the gentle Xiao Feng.

She then applies all possible means to destroy Peter, who had by this time fallen in love with Xiao Feng and wanted to repent. Fei Yang continues to struggle, even at the cost of her health, while the confused Peter tries everything to make Xiao Feng believe in his innocence.

The misunderstandings continue to form until a hysterical Sha Sha reveals the truth behind her deceptions. Fei Yang and Wei Xiang leave for Europe to seek treatment for her illness, and Xiao Feng waits patiently for Peter, while he serves in prison for the crimes that he had committed.

Comments

Even though this is a very nice show, there are a few things that I did not understand when watching the show.

I totally did not see the romance of Peter and Xiao Feng coming. Where in the world will any body fall in love with a murderer? Someone who aims to kill your own sister? I could not understand that part very much. Anyway isn't that what LOVE is all about?

The side kick Meng Zhe Lin (Jason Hsu) really gives me a very good impression =) Totally love him!

This is the first show I see actor Wallace Huo as Li Wei Xiang, isn't he smart looking? Find his straight forward and righteous character in the show, glows with his acting and also his handsome looks.

Also the first show I have seen Chen Qiao En as Liang Xiao Feng, definately a good actresses, but still have room for improvement.

Taiwan Drama - Devil Beside You

Devil Beside You/惡魔在身邊

Rating: 9/10

The Cast:

Mike He as Jiang Meng 江猛
Rainie Yang as Qi Yue 齊悅
Kingone Wang as Sang Yuan Yi 尚源伊
Ivy Fan Xiao Fan as Xin Li Xiang 辛莉香
He Du Lin as Jiang You Hui 江友暉
Ge Wei Ru as Huang Xue Wei 黃雪薇

About the Drama:

The story begins when Qi Yue (Rainie Yang) finally gets the courage to confess her feelings to the basketball team captain, Yuan Yi (Kingone Wang). She wrote a love letter and plans to pass it to him.

Being as careless as only she can be, she has made her confession to the wrong person, who happened to be the school's devil, Jiang Meng (Mike), her junior, a first year student, whos is infamously known for his devilish ways in school. She is so shocked and embarrassed to see Ah Meng's face that she drops her love letter and runs away.

Ah Meng is amused by the whole thing and decides to have some fun with Qi Yue. He threatens Qi Yue to print a thousand copies of her love letter and let the whole school know of her liking for Yuan Yi. In order to stop Ah Meng, Qi Yue agrees to be his 'runner'.

With Ah Meng's continuous bullying of Qi Yue, she is driven to stop all the nonsense by confessing her liking to Yuan Yi again. In this way, she will not be afraid of Ah Meng's disclosing the love letter anymore. To Qi Yue's surprise, Yuan Yi has a similar liking for her.

Although having a cruel exterior, Ah Meng’s heart is kind and caring, which truly touched Qi Yue. How can the devil have a kind heart? Or is it just his way to protect himself and shield his emotional character? The big problem remained – Ah Meng is the son of the man Qi Yue’s mother is married to.

Even though they were not related by blood, who will accept this step brother-sister relationship? What is to become of their relationship when other lovers come into the picture? [Read more...]

Comments:

This is the first Taiwan drama DVD box set I bought. I borrowed to watch from a friend and found the drama not bad, so I bought it in DVD format and watched it again, that was like years ago in 2005 period.

At first from the name of the drama I thought that it has something to do with black magic etc. End up its a drama about 2 siblings, not related by blood falling in love with one another.

A rather nice drama. Jiang Meng (Mike) is the trouble maker and so call the devil in the school, but it seems that he has a kind heart and every girl seems to like him a lot in the show. I really like the way Jiang Meng going all the way out to be with his "sister", Qi Yue (Rainie Yang).


Devil Beside You [Eng Subs] (Complete)

Asia stunned as South Korean TV star and singer Park Yong-ha kills himself

Asia stunned as South Korean TV star and singer Park Yong-ha kills himself, me too...

Due to career pressures? He had to take care of his 62-year-old father who is suffering from terminal stomach cancer as well...

Yesterday, Park Yong-ha was found dead by her mother hanging from a cable of a cellular phone in his home at Seoul Nonhyundong at approximately )5:30 hrs

According to online reports, the actor massaged his father’s legs and then walked to his room at 0:40 am. He is reported to have said repeatedly “I am sorry” but no more details were given. Park had been taking sleeping pills due to insomnia.

Reported on http://entertainment.xin.msn.com/en/celebrity/buzz/asia/article.aspx?cp-documentid=4188746

Reports also revealed that before his death, Park's last phone-call was to his good friend, Kim Jae-joong of popular boyband TVXQ.

"He sounded chirpy on the phone, I didn't feel like he acting out of sorts. We even promised to meet up when I'm back in Korea. I am shocked," said Kim.

Park Yon Ha funeral procession has been scheduled for July 2. My heart goes to his family. May his soul rest in peace.

Reported in The Australian

THE death of one of South Korea's top young stars has stunned millions of fans across Asia and left a nation once again bewailing its sky-high suicide rate.
Park Yong Ha was found dead at his home in Seoul yesterday, hanged by the slender cable of his mobile phone charger. Park, 33, who was midway through a singing tour of Asia, was among a small cadre of South Korean stars who dominate the domestic film and television scene.

No suicide note was found but the immediate cause of the actor's misery appears to have been the strain of caring for his terminally ill father.

His death is the latest in a series of young celebrity suicides that began with the death of Lee Eun Joo, the film star, in 2005.

Three years later Choi Jin Sil, widely regarded as the country's most accomplished actress, took her own life. This year Jin Young, her actor brother, committed suicide.

Suicide rates in South Korea are exceptionally high. Health Ministry figures suggest that the national rate is 24 suicides for every 100,000 people.

Park Yong-ha began his acting career in the late ’90s, starring in popular Korean TV dramas. More recently, he starred in 2002’s Winter Sonata and 2009’s A Man’s Story. Park was widely popular in Japan and released eight albums there. According to published reports, he was supposed to hold 12 concerts across Japan from July 2 to Aug. 22 and the tickets were sold out, according to Japanese record company Pony Canyon Inc.

News of Park’s suicide dominated headlines in Japan along with the country’s World Cup defeat to Paraguay.

His first concert in Japan, such a great singer!!