Special Edition - GeunShin Couple

The GeunShin World is just spazzing even as I speak.


Hence, in a robust celebration, I can't resist putting up their latest public video here, to commemorate this momentous occasion.

GeunShin is the nickname we shippers give our favourite 'are they, aren't they' couple - Jang Geun Suk and Park Shin Hye, better known as the Hwang Tae-kyung and Goh Min Nam couple of the Winter 2009 hit, You're Beautiful.


Last seen together at their Taiwan Fan Meeting last August 2010, the couple answered their fans prayers by collaborating in an endorsement deal with Codes Combine.




Sukkie, or Jang Geun Suk, has started his endorsement deal early this year but with a different partner, Kim Ok Bin.


But for whatever reasons that may be, Codes Combine announces the new pairing through a 6 minute interview of the couple in MBC Section TV, at about 4.00 pm, 31 July, Korean time.

The interview showed a very jovial and talkative Sukkie with the characteristically shy yet more open Hacci (Park Shin Hye).

Amongst others, the couple talked about how Sukkie's mother wanted Hacci as a daughter-in-law and their respective careers.




Then, true to their HTK-GMN dynamics, they teased each other by respectively admitting that they find Kim Ha Neul and Won Bin attractive - with Hacci administering a slap on Sukkie's arm and Sukkie giving his lady a flabbergasted look that she found another actor good looking.....uhuh, denying much are we??

Hence, while waiting (im)patiently for an English subbed version of the interview (courtesy of some kind hearted, industrious fans), I shall leave you with the unedited Korean version. 


Sigh....to be young again......

(All pics and video are courtesy of my fellow Shipping Sistahs @ the PSHIC - love you guys lots)

Updated (12 Aug 2011)

(Yea! The English Subbed Version - Tx, Cassie) 

GeunShin Bonus Hour

5 Reasons to Why Shin Hye is Suk's Girl

(In no order of preference)

1. Personal space is a caption they do not know of whenever they are together
- one of many 'telling' YB BTS shots 

2. Sukkie made it a point to call or be with Hacci on significant days
- Pix @ Hacci's Birthday 2011 (where Sukkie flew from Japan to Seoul after leaving a SuJu concert half way)

3. Sukkie's smile is always at its most natural when he is with Hacci
- a personal picture that was taken off his website after receiving some anti responses from his fans 

4. Mama Jang's name is only mentioned whenever Sukkie talks of Hacci
- first ever mention of the Mama Jang-Hacci-fortune-teller story was at the Champagne World Cup Show

5. Sukkie confessed to being in love with 'The Pig Rabbit'
- video taken where he introduced his 'girlfriend' to the viewers

Junshu - Too Love

Jushun, Jaejoong & Yoochun

I am a big fan of TVXQ or DBSK or JYJ - acronyms for Tong Vfang Xien Qi or Tōhōshinki; or Dong Bang Shin Ki; and later as JYJ) - which literally means 'The Rising Gods of the East'. A rose by any other name....


The group initially started with five members, with U-Know Yunho, Max Changmin, Hero Jaejoong, Micky Yoochun and Xiah Junsu; which later, after a lawsuit with their management company broke into TVXQ with the first two members and JYJ with Jaejoong, Yoochun and Jushun. 


With regards to the JYJ, I'm particularly in love with Junshu's voice. Jeejung's high tone is all right too; but am still grappling with Mickey's so called star appeal.

Tonight's post will be on Junshu's Too Love, drama OST of Sungkyunkwan Scandal and what I personally call as the love theme of Jae Shin and Yoon Hee (more on the drama itself later).

I won't divulge much spoiler on the drama this time around but safe to say that this drama is only the second one where I was totally in love and rooting for the second lead (the first being, Autumn in My Heart with darling Won Bin) but alas as how standard K-drama fare would have it, second leads would remain as such and in the end, they never get the girl.


So, watch the fanmade MV and read between the lines....


Sigh, Park Min Young is just so pretty and adorable isnt she? And Ah Hin so scruffily manly :) Eh, Mickey? Mickey who? he he he....

Jushun, Jae Sin & Yoon Hee....

(Download MP3)

Super Junior - No Other

The Boys of Korea

This song has been playing in my head all weekend long. So, I simply have to put it up here.

SuJu - No Other

(Download Mp3)

Released in June 20101, the song is a follow up to their BONAMANA. 


No Other is produced by C-2, Ryan Jhun and Reefa who in the past has work with artists such as The Game, Fabolous and Ludacris; while the lyrics was penned by Kenzie.


For the uninitiated, Super Junior or more popularly known as SuJu, is a popular 13 member strength boy band from South Korea formed by SM Entertainment in 2005. In fact, currently, you may even say they are THE boy band of Korea, most of the time overshadowing the other Korean entertainment exports.


The group debuted with 12 members - Leeteuk (Leader), Heechul, Han Geng, Yesung, Kangin, Shindong, Sungmin, Eunhyuk, Donghae, Siwon, Ryeowook, Kibum and later added a 13th member named Kyuhyun; making them one of the largest boy bands in the world (no kidding?).


(credit : wiki)
As of 2010, 10 members are active, due to Han Geng's lawsuit (pretty popular with the Korean entertainment industry nowadays) with SM Entertainment which led to him leaving the group (now pursuing his own singing career in the Mandarin-Pop entertainment industry), Kangin's temporary leave of absence for mandatory military service and Kibum's pursuit of an acting career.
(Close credit)

More about them later. In the mean time, here's to Bubble Gum Pop at its best :)

8Eight - Forget About Love and Sing

We are so used to hearing about the K-pop boy and girl bands...you know, those, right? You mean you haven't heard of SuJu, After School, DBSK/TVXQ/JYJ, 2PM, 2AM (yup, the Koreans are pretty creative that way, lol), Big Bang, SNSD, 2Ne1, etc etc...naahh...you jest.

Anyways, Korea is just as robust in churning out boys who can play instruments - FT Island, CNBlue, ANJell (whaddayamean they are not an actual band...???!!!).

What you may not know is that Korea has a number of reality show graduates too.

A worthy mention is the K-version of the Black Eyed Peas - 8Eight.

Maybe not truly original but the music that the 3-piece band churns out are definitely catchy and a refreshing change from the normal 8 to 13 dancing pretty boys and girls. They sing good live too.

8Eight consists of Baek Chan, Lee Hyun and Joo Hee. They won the first season of the MBC's talent search, Show Survival; and debuted on Show! Music Core on 25 August 2007. 

Since then, they produced 3 studio albums - The First, Infinity and The Golden Age - in 2007, 2008 and 2009 respectively. In 2010, they came out with an EP, The Bridge and we are still waiting for something this year.

Featured today are two songs.

The first is Without A Heart or Empty Heart (taken from The Golden Age), where the MV featured So Hee of the Wonder Girls (aaahhh, you know that one, huh?). Because the songs sings of one who is heartless, the video depicts a love story between a human girl and a vampire boy (without a heart, get it? get it? no?) Anyways, it's a nice song, enjoy...!

Without A Heart

(credit : lovecassie1)

(Download Without A Heart)

The second one is a personal favourite. Forget About Love and Sing is taken from their inaugural album, again creatively named The First. The movie features Kim Dong-wook, the cutie pie in The Coffee Prince. A good pick-me-up song, this one.

Forget About Love and Sing

(credit : 8eightcafe)

(Download Forget About Love and Sing)

So, if you are not familiar with their brand of music, do give em a try. Best to listen to 8Eight....after eight (smiles).






Why are they called 8Eight if there's only three of em. They should be called 3Three..also got a nice ring to it, ain't it.....? or Trio? or Triad? Oh, you mean Triad is a not a numeric.. (voice fading in confusion.....)

The Man From Nowhere

The Plot
A quiet pawnshop keeper with a violent past takes on a drug and organ trafficking ring in hope of saving the child who is his only friend. 
(Credit : imdb)


The Cast
Won Bin...as Cha Tae-sik
Kim Sae-ron...as So-mi
Kim Tae-hoon...as Kim Chi-gon
Kim Hee-won...as Man-seok
Kim Sung-oh...as Jong-seok
Thanayong Wongtrakul...as Ramrowan
Kim Hyo-seo...as Hyo-Jeong (So-mi's mom)
Lee Jong-pil...as Detective No

Foxi Feels

Ladies and gentlemen, Won Bin ssi is back!

As my inaugural k-boy, I watched him grew from a shy boy in Friends to a bumbling thief in Guns & Talk; from a suave rich kid in Autumn in My Heart to a pampered and rebellious little brother in Teagugki and My Brother respectively.

I was intrigued with his intelligence in charting his career instead of taking the easy way out and resorting to being a mere cutie-pie idol in dramaland - opting to concentrate on making movies and a very selected few at that.

Won Bin and his girls

The character he played in Autumn in My Heart won him his besotted legion of fans all around the world, but is a far cry to his real off screen persona. His movie and drama BTS captures and interview sessions showed just how quiet, shy and down to earth he was back then.

Then, while he served his time in the army, I ambled aimlessly in an idol-less world; and even had to resort to one-drama/movie-stands with Gong Yoo and Jung Woo Sung....until Jang Geun Suk came to heal my wounds, that is :)

I have yet to see him in his come-back thriller, Mother, but opting to see his 'The Man From Nowhere' first is certainly not a wrong choice. And if Mother was good (and so the critics says), then The Man From Nowhere was just monumental. (And when I watched the promotional interviews he did for the movie, he seemed even more shy and quiet than before).

Scraggly haired Tae-sik in the rain

Truth be told, TMFN is just like your average good-guy-seek-revenge Hollywood fare. You can even liken it to most Chuck Norris, Van Damme and Segal knife wielding and ass kicking action busters. Some has also put it side by side with Luc Besson's The Professional (starring Jean Reno and then 12 year old Natalie Portman).


Also known as Ahjussi, TMFN is probably made different due to the sheer raw acting by all parties in the movie and the impeccably executed action scenes. You may want to compare Won Bin's acting to the western action heroes' typical wooden performances, but I suggest you watch the movie again.

Speaking without words

While Won Bin's character called for him to be silent and broody most of the time (in fact, this is one Korean movie, where the supporting casts had more dialogue than the lead), he 'spoke' with his eyes, the tilt of his head, the clenching of his fists and the soft hint of a smile on his lips (his 'six packs' 'spoke' to me too...blush).


And his tears...owwhhh.... can any actor be any more manly than Won Bin crying...?




Besides, comparing Won Bin to bland (sorry, I mean, blond) Norris, wooden  Van Damme and expressionless (not to mention portly) Segal (even in their hey days)...tsk tsk, is that even fair play?


And while you may say that the plot is clichéd and predictable, the storyline was made plausible and sinister by the the imagery of the three subject matters of story - drug trafficking, organ harvesting and child mules - and the worrying fact that these subject matter are currently true trades of the world. Nope, make that four subject matters to include 'government endorsed' killing. To me, murders, in whatever form or function, can never be justified.

Unlikely couple

The storyline centres around little So Mi, the only friend of retired government assassin, Cha Tae-sik, who got herself caught in the line of fire between her mother, a drug trafficking lord and a two-man small time but ruthless drug trade players. The two-man show, who happened to be a two-brother outfit, also dabbled in organ harvesting.

To cut the long story short, little So Mi got kidnapped forcing Tae-sik to wake up from his reclused, comatosed existence and went on a one-man vigilante rampage to save his little friend.

The show was sleek and brisk, without compromising character development. And beautiful may not be an apt description for bloody action scenes, but TMFN fight scenes just simply up the ante of normal action flicks, leaving you breathless yet cringing in virtual pain.

The supporting cast deserves a round of applause too, and apart from Won Bin, about whom I shall stop drooling on, three members deserves extra adulation.

Streetwise cuteness that
won't give you tooth decay

The first, of course, is little Kim Sae-ron as So-mi. That girl can surely make you cry - "Even though it hurts right here"; and while she is cute, she is definitely not the 'sickly sweet' type. Streetwise would be a better description of her So Mi.

Crazy villain rolesalways get the best line

Second is Kim Sung-oh. Simply put, having not put on his Secret Garden Secretary Kim persona just yet, he played Jong-seok (the younger brother of the two-man drug team) at its dorky yet evil best! Favourite quote - "No...!! It's Dolce and Gabana...!!"

I do hope that these people know
that Thais are not Vietcongs?

Last but not least is Thailand's surprise export, Thanayong Wongtrakul. Where did this man come from? Like Tae-sik, his Ramrowan character had lines that you can count on your left hand. Yet, the depth and the emotion that the man brought to his role, makes you forgive his ruthlessness.


And has English ever sound sexier than spoken by this guy? - "He didn't flinch."

Ok, ok, I just can't help myself - Won Bin! His first action tough guy role is definitely a welcome change. Being 32 when he took on the role of Tae-sik, he can certainly move on from his cute little brother acts and take on the more serious adult roles. Though we fans certainly would not mind a series of him in dramaland (where he can get the girl this time around), his latest two movie choices are definitely not all that bad.

You dare compare me to Van Damme?

All in, TMFN has enough eye candy for the chics and lots of blood and action to satisfy the namjas. And to put icing to the cake, the movie is closed with the achingly beautiful Dear, sung by indie band, Mad Soul Child.


Highly recommended! Now, while I close the review with a movie trailer to entice you, I will go out to find an Ahjussi for myself.


Anyeoung!

Bloody and brutal, yet beatifically beautiful.

Watch The Man From Nowhere online
(Mysoju.com)

Mad Soul Child - Dear

(Download OST)