Great Teacher Onizuka

I loved, loved, loved, loved this show. This came out before Gokusen but this show reminded of the male teacher version.

It's about an unorthodox teacher, Onizuka Eikichi (played by Sorimachi Takashi), who was a former gang member who decided that he wanted to be a teacher more than anything else. He smokes, he drinks, he gambles, and he watches pornography (hentai). After the director of the school witnesses his true heart other than his rough exterior (never judge a book by it's cover) is hired to be a homeroom teacher to the "wild kids" in class 2-4. He loves the kids he teaches and will do anything to save them and keep them on the road to learning and on their road to life. If he has to hold them over a ledge (literally) to teach them what it's like to be bullied, he'll do it. He likes to fight and usually ends up with a cut up face and black eyes. He knows karate and is asked constantly if he is a member of a yakuza (mob ring). Every episode, no lie, will teach any kid a new value that really needs to be learned. I highly recommend this to any school age kid, (there are a few naked scenes shown on his TV screen (porno) but it's only for a few seconds). Gokusen should be seen too since it's relative to. Okay, and Sorimachi Takashi isn't bad to look at either. LOL!

Sorimachi Takashi

Oh. My. God! He is in my top three. Oh hell yeah, he is! I am now one of his biggest fans. I am now on a search of all of his shows. Oh yeah, I am.

Oguri Shun

Oh sheesh! This kid is PHOTOGENIC! Okay, I can't choose. I'm making a list of all the things I want to see from him too! I've seen him in Gokusen, Hana Kimi, Hana Yori Dango, and Yuuki (with my Kame). He has a drama and movie list a freakin' mile long and he's only...what...25? Oh geez.............................

It Started With a Kiss, They Kissed Again

This is probably wasted space and energy typing this. This drama series is one of the most popular and addictive. Starring Joe Cheng (Jiang Zhi Shu) and Ariel Lin (Yuan Xiang Qin), who are probably the most popular of all the Taiwanese actors and actresses. Any Asian fanatic would know these two names immediately. Then you have Xiang Qin's best friend/enamored-boyfriend-wannabe Ah Jin (Jiro Wang). Ah Jin is our comic relief/sincere heart to Xiang Qin. These two together or alone will leave you giggling.

ISWAK is based on a Japanese manga called Itazura na Kiss. Itazura na Kiss is also another live action drama originally made by the Japanese as ISWAK is Taiwanese. ISWAK follows the first half of the manga. With hilarity, naivety, honesty, sincerity, this drama gives everyone what they want and more. Any new Asian drama connoiseur will have this one drama in their collection. Definitely. Follow Xiang Qin's quest to make Zhi Shu fall in love with her. You can't help but fall in love with her.......



They Kiss Again starts up where ISWAK left off...after the wedding. TKA keeps up with the manga and tries end it here. I will say that this one wasn't as good as the first. I felt something was a little missing. Maybe it was Joe Cheng's constant hairstyle changes. Or maybe Ah Jin was mediocre this time. Don't get me wrong, you must watch this. It's good really. Out of four stars, I give it three compared to ISWAK's perfect four. Oh, and the last episode was a little wrong. I hoped that it would deal more with her pregnancy other than her disease. Ah well. Can't always hope for everything.

I wonder if they'll make a third season?

Time for hottie pics....hehe!

Joe Cheng



Oh yummmmmm!



Jiro Wang



OMG! I didn't realize how popular Jiro was. My bad. I did a search on photobucket and there were more pages than my Kame. Wow! Jiro has many dramas under his belt but I haven't seen the others yet. He is in the Taiwan version of Hana Kimi. I've only seen the Japanese version. I haven't decided if I want to see that one yet or not. We'll see................

Soulmate MV's

This one has better scenes from the show!


This song is actually in the drama!

Ugh! Seeing these videos makes me want to watch this again and again and again! Damn it! If they don't make another season, I'm going to go postal!!! They have to finish it!!!!

Ace wo Nerae!

Surprisingly this was really good. Actually this was reminiscent of the manga/anime Prince of Tennis!They should have named this the Princess of Tennis. LOL! With the exception that Oka Hiromi wasn't a tennis prodigy but trained hard and made the "big time". Where as Echizen Ryoma, was the tennis prodigy but had to prove himself to the top players that just because he was small didn't mean he wasn't talented. Anyway....that's a whole other review.

Ace of Nerae translated means "aim for the ace!" Oka Hiromi is our heroine. After watching Ryuzaki Reika play tennis, Hiromi wanted to play tennis. So she joins the high school tennis team with awful results. After encountering Munakata Jin several times, she discovers that he is in fact the new high school coach. And many of the team members don't like him because of his intense training. We learn later that the coach had set his "sights" on her and vowed to take her to the "top". To the dismay of the starters, the coach makes Hiromi one too. Teased, tormented, and bullied, Hiromi suffers her first year as a starter but vows to keep up the training to become strong. Coach wasn't the only one who set their "sights" on her. Todo Takayuki, a starter for the boys tennis team, has started to like her. But coach isn't too thrilled because their affection is affecting her play. Takayuki abides by coach's wishes and stays away so Hiromi can become the best player. The drama proceeds to show Hiromi's improvement as she works her way to the top. But coach is hiding something and to save Hiromi, he doesn't tell her.

I really like this. I guess because it was all about girl power. It was about overcoming adversity. It was accepting what we can and can't do and improving upon it. Let's just say it's uplifting and you won't be disheartened. *smiles*

I have to say I liked the character who played Todo Takayuki. Cutey patootey!
Yoshizawa Hisashi

I really look forward to seeing more from him. Second pic is my favorite.

Ishigaki Yuma

I'm a little peeved because I can't find any recent pictures of him! Eeergh! And if I did they were character pics. Eeergh! Anyway, I've seen him sooooo many times in the past few months because almost every show I've seen has him in it. LOL! Too funny. He's been in H2, Gokusen, WaterBoys, Engine, and Hana Kimi (and I've seen them all!)

The Art of Fighting

Again, another movie. LOL!



The Art of Fighting gives the impression (if you notice the above movie poster) that this will be a comedy. Ehhh...not really.

Jae Hee stars in this action comedy as Byung Tae, a cowardly high school kid who is scraping through life the hard way. His days are tormented by school bullies and are making his life a living hell. One day he meets Pan Su (Baek Yoon Sik, Save The Green Planet, The President's Last Bang) a wizened elder, well versed in fighting and defending one's self. Pan Su agrees to teach his art to Byung Tae and help him defend himself against his tormentors, and in doing so, Byung Tae begins to learn things about himself, and about life, that they don't teach at school.

In addition, we meet a friend of Byungtae's. He is transferred to the same school as Byungtae. They happened to be friends in elementary school and fate brings them back together. His friend comes across as more assertive and less afraid but in the end gets beat up just as much as Byungtae from the bullies.

Byungtae's friend:
Park Ki-Woong

Surprisingly enough, he fit the portrayal of Byungtae's friend to a "T"! He came across as the overly tough guy with a heart of gold. And, I've seen him before.... My Tutor Friend:Lesson 2. He has this babyface. You could just squeeze it!

A Dirty Carnival

Yep, another movie.

Wow! This movie didn't leave a very good impression to me. Maybe it's because it was more of a guy movie. Don't really quite know for sure.

A Dirty Carnival is the story of Byung-du (Jo In-seoung), a small-time gangster in his late 20s, for whom life is going to take a different turn. To save his family from getting evicted, Byung-du accepts to murder public attorney Park, who was standing in the way of his superior, President Hwang. Fascinated by the violent life of Byung-Du, one of his high-school friends, Min-Ho, now a movie director, decides to interview him and adapt his real-life story to improve his script, for a film about gangsters. He himself getting caught in the gangster spiderweb of deception and betrayal. Meanwhile, old flame Hyun-Joo reappears and brings with her the hope of a happier life...but does Byung-du get to have hope at all?

I have to say this wasn't one of my favorites from Jo In-seoung. He made up for it though is the last film I watched....The Classic!

Shinhwa in N. Korea (2006)

I found this and thought to myself that it must be daunting to dance and sing for a crowd that shows NO emotion. How restricting and depressing for a country to not be able to get up and dance with the entertainment..................

The Classic

OMG! This was just the most wonderful story EVER. EVER!

The movie starts out with Ji-hae describing her life to the point she was at. She narrarates the story as she tells us about herself and her mother and we follow along on their journeys to love, friendship, family, and destiny.

Ji-hae's friend is having problems expressing her feelings to the boy (Sang-min is played by Jo In-seoung) she loves, so she asks Ji-hae to write e-mails to him in her name. Her friend not knowing that Ji-hae has a secret crush on him as well.

As the story goes on, Ji-hae finds love letters of her mother's that were stored in a box. Ji-hae reads them and discovers the story of her mother's romance which is remarkably similar to her own circumstances. The story goes to her mother's time and describes the love she had throughout most of the movie. Through many twists and turns, flashbacks and returns, the story unfolds and we discover fate and destiny plays a role in Ji-hae's life.

The story gets 4 stars out of 4. I cried and cried. Went to bed and couldn't stop thinking of it and cried some more. B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L!

Nine Tailed Fox

Okay, I was going to give this high reviews until I got to the last 5 minutes of the last episode and I was not-a-happy-camper. The ending ruined it for me. *spoiler* After watching sixteen, one-hour episodes, I was just sure for a happy ending. Oh, hell no. I had to cry for an hour. Why? Why? Why? Eeerrgh!

The story goes like this. A boy and a girl both born on the same day of the same year under a full-red moon were destined for "greater" things. The girl, Hae-In/Si-Yon, was born to a clan of nine tailed foxes (and NO this story has NOTHING to do with the anime Naruto.) The boy, Min-Woo, is all-human. On their 12th birthday, both of them exchange lockets with pictures of each of them inside them. As the birthday party progresses, a group of specially trained "ninjas" come and kill the families of the boy and girl. The boy believes the girl was killed and the girl thought the boy was killed. Later on is the story, we find out that it was a planned kill to kidnap Hae-In.

Years later, Kang Min-Woo (Jo Hyun Jae) has grown up to become a cop. Yun Hae-In has changed her name to Si-Yon and is a specially trained warrior who helps protect the clan of nine tailed foxes. In this time period, the clan aren't too keen on humans. Only a specially select few humans know of the existence of nine tailed foxes. Nine tailed foxes need human livers once a month to eat, to survive. Well, humans don't want to give those up. Hence the dilemma. As Min-Woo investigates an organ smuggling ring, he comes across "Si-Yon" who was there to stop her clan from buying and selling of fresh, human liver. Which, by the way, was against the rules for they,the nine tailed foxes, are only allowed to eat the livers of human corpses so as to keep their identity secret. Min-Woo, believing Si-Yon (who at the time covers her face with a veil) and her group were apart of the smuggling ring, chases them through a junk-yard and fights Si-Yon. As Si-Yon pulls her arm back with sword in hand, sees the locket that her and Min-Woo exchanged as children and faulters. She then starts to wonder if her first-love was still alive. But then, her partner Moo-Young (Jun Jin), strikes Min-Woo and knocks him out. They are then able to escape.

The drama unfolds as bits and pieces of thier childhood comes back and how it is inter-twined with their adult lives and what part of fate and destiny becomes reality. Lots of action, suspense, drama, and, of course, romance.

Jo Hyun Jae

This is the first drama I've seen with this actor. I was pleasantly impressed and look forward to seeing more from him.

Jun Jin

OMG! I could not find an ugly picture of him. I'm putting him second in line to my Bi (Rain). Gorgeous. Mmm, mmm! Jeon Jin, Jun Jin, or however you want to spell his name is a member of the Korean supergroup Shinhwa. JJ played the part of Moo-young so well that I never would have guessed that he was actually a member of a boy band, let alone the rapper of the group. LOL! Wow! I'm hooked for this guy and I've already started my photo collection. *wink, wink*

Park Joon Seok

He was a little scary lookin' in the drama Nine Tailed Fox but as I viewed many a picture of him online discovered he is quite nice looking...hehe.

Uhm Tae Woong

I just did a search on Tae-woong and found some interesting shows I'd like to see from him. One, My Love, is a movie about 4 couples who fall in love. Anyway, Tae-woong played the role of Sa-joon in Nine Tailed Fox. His role was pretty much guardian/big brother to Si-yon. You couldn't help but feel sorry for him because of the part he was given. He was damned if he did and damned if he didn't. He had me convinced in his adversity to his duty and his friendship to Moo-young. He did a great job. And, yes, he was cute to look at too.

3-Iron

This is a movie.

This was a strange movie.

This movie, the main protagonists, didn't say one single word. Oh wait. The female protagonist did...."I love you."

This movie was original in every way. Even though there wasn't much dialogue, the supporting cast did speak, it was very thought provoking and a good storyline, IMO!

The Tae-Suk (Jae Hee) was a person who broke into empty houses, borrowed the owner's food, necessities, clothes...and in return, fixed broken things, did the dishes, washed laundry, cleaned, did whatever as payment for use of the homes. He never usually stole anything. One house he borrows, thought it was empty, but it wasn't. There hidden in a room is Sun-wha. Her husband is abusive. Tae-Suk goes about the house like he usuallly does not knowing she is there. Sun-wha follows him around. Eventually, she makes herself known (at an inappropriate time).

Director Kim Ki-duk shows the brutality in society but also tells a tender love story and offers a critique of modern life.

By Kevin Thomas, NY Times Staff Writer

Kim Ki-duk's deliciously audacious "3-Iron" is a romantic fable that in its telling lays bare the casual brutality that lies just beneath the surface in Korean society and by extension just about every other country. Alternately witty, caustic, tender and endlessly imaginative and unpredictable, this latest film from one of Korea's most idiosyncratic and prolific directors is as confident as its resourceful hero, Tae-suk (Jae Hee).

Tae-suk has fashioned for himself a most unusual existence. He drives through Seoul's highly varied residential neighborhoods on his motorcycle, posting fliers on front doors. He then returns after some time has passed to discover if any remain. If a flier is still there he takes the chance that the occupants of the house or apartment are on vacation and he proceeds to pick the door lock and enter. He checks answering machines, which invariably reveal that the occupants are away and will return on such and such date. Tae-suk swiftly settles in, helping himself to any food on hand but also repairing any appliance he finds broken and laundering any dirty clothes. He always leaves a residence immaculate.

One day while driving through an upscale neighborhood that could easily pass for a section of Trousdale or Mount Olympus, he selects a luxurious modern house for breaking and entering. After surveying the nouveau riche interiors, including gold-leafed matched living room and dining room furniture in an opulent Empire style, he quickly moves in. When he repairs a bathroom scale, the young mistress of the house, Sun-hwa (Lee Seung-yeon), who has been hiding, becomes sufficiently convinced that he is no ordinary burglar and steps out of the darkness. A quick series of incidents propels Sun-hwa into fleeing her brutal husband, Min-kyu (Kwon Hyuk-ho), on the back of Tae-suk's motorcycle.

So completely are Tae-suk and Sun-hwa in harmony that they never need to say as much as a single word to each other, and Sun-hwa, a neatness freak herself, happily joins him in his housesitting and gradually falls in love.

Such an existence is inevitably fragile, and it leads to adventures and incidents that attest at once to the harshness of modern life and also to the tenacity and resilience of the individual, as in the case of this couple whose love becomes seriously tested.

It is significant that one residence taken over by the couple has caring and hospitable owners who are not thrown by encountering them in their home and garden, which are in traditional Korean style and bespeak beauty and civility. The film's title comes from a golf club belonging to Min-kyu, a sport with which Tae-suk becomes obsessed.

"3-Iron" is full of sly, surprising touches that contribute to a fresh vision of modern life that is critical of its unthinking, reflexive cruelty and materialism yet not despairing of the power of love.

As a romantic team, Jae Hee and Lee Seung-yeon are as captivating as the film itself.

Yeah, what he said.

Witch Yoo-Hee

Just finished this series an hour ago. I had to post my review for Madeleine first. Hehe!

Okay. *breathe* This was like any typical Korean romance, drama, comedy. I was a little dissatisfied with the ending. It was a happy ending but I wanted just a weeeeeeeeeeee-bit more closure. It was a really good drama. Why would it not be? It had 3, yes 3, hot Korean actors in it. All 3 are very popular in their right. But Jae Hee was the lead this time.

This drama was about a very rigid woman (Ma Yoo-Hee) who really was a tough cookie on the outside but was very unconfident, shy, scared on the inside. Her family life will testify to the reasons the way she is in the drama. Our male lead (Chae Moo Ryong) is an aspiring chef who is working for his father's Chinese restaurant delivering noodles. Sometime during the course of the show, they literally collide into each (motor bike slams into expensive car). To keep from going to jail, Moo-Ryong agrees to be her housekeeper for a month to pay off damages equaling $40,000. Other than being her housekeeper, he agrees to be her personal affairs coach and counselor. Because more than anything, she wants love and a relationship most of all. And, yes, as you can guess, they eventually start to like each other.

Jae Hee

I've already saved 2 movies to watch from this guy! The Art of Fighting and 3-Iron. They sound awesome.

Dennis Oh

OMG! I could not find a bad pic of this guy. Every single one....*sweatin'*...hot! This guy is American made...well, by half anyway. His father is American and his mother is Korean. In this show, he spoke fluent Korean and by his accent while speaking English was obviously American. I hear he has a Hollywood movie coming out. Not sure just yet.....so don't send me hatemail if I'm wrong. 'k?

Kim Jeong Hoon

He's such a cutie. I first saw him in the drama Goong (English: The Princess Hours). I should review this for my friends who read my blog and have no clue about this Kdrama. It's actually a favorite of many. It was definitely one of mine. A must see. Aaaaaanyway! Geez. Got off track. The poor thing is always the "other" guy and never gets the girl. On a good note: He is a singer. His voice is so pretty. Very nice. He's more of the adult contemporary type singer. The romantic.

Here he is singing the theme from Goong.

Madeleine

It's review time! First, I must review a movie I just finished yesterday. A Korean drama called Madeleine (named after the French cookie). Sometime in the movie you'll come to find out why the name Madeleine was chosen for it's name.

Kang Ji-suk (Jo In-Seong) is an avid student of Korean and Korean Literature who regards his books as best friends and mostly stays either at home or in the library.

One day he stumbles into his old class mate Lee Hee-jin (Shin Min-Ah) whom he has not seen for ages. The charming Hee-jin has turned into young woman of captivating beauty and also already managed to make her life-time wish of becoming a hair stylist come true. She even manages to color Ji-Suk's hair blonde (which was a mad choice....it really bothered me.)

After crossing roads one more time, Hee-jin has a startling idea suggesting that the two of them should try and find out what the life of a couple is like for the period of one month.

As a result Ji-suk and Hee-jin enjoy a wonderfully sweet time looking just like two real lovers. Eventually, Ji-Suk and Hee-Jin do fall in love but ride the rollercoaster of ups-and-downs. And a mistake Hee-Jin makes prior to their relationship could ruin it all for both of them. Let alone, Ji-Suk's first love shows up. Are the feelings he had in middle school for real or just memories that never faded over time?

Essentially, I have to say that this was a smooth movie to watch. No trauma to my brain or heart to make me regret the 2 hours I watched it. It was definitely a feel good movie about growing up. I really, really liked this movie.

Jo In-Seong

Calling You (Kimi ni Shika Kikoenai)

OH. MY. GOD! After doing an extensive search on another movie to watch, I came across this one. Okay, it took me forever and a day to find a synopsis on it so I could find out what it was about. Man, oh man, was it well worth it. This movie, OMG, rocked! Okay, I'll admit if I had read farther down on a comments section about the movie I would have found out something about it that would have made me skip it. Glad I didn't though. *spoiler* I'll admit I don't like sad endings. Well, it had one. I don't watch sad endings that make me cry forever. After watching Heaven's Tree, I've lost my nerve for sad endings. I have no more tears to shed. Well, this one was a tear jerker. Ugh! Oh, but so well worth it.

I hope I can tell the story without giving tooooooo much away. Okay. This is a story about a girl (Aihara Ryo)who is timid and is unable to communicate well with her peers. It's about a boy (Nozaki Shinya) who lost his hearing at the age of 5 and is unable to speak. Got it? Well, one day Ryo finds a toy cell phone, thinking it was cute, she takes it home with her. Shinya, even though unable to speak, loves to tinker with gadgets and fix things. He comes across a broken cell phone. While at school, Ryo starts hearing a phone ring that nobody else is able to hear. She goes to the clinic, the nurse evaluates her and let's her rest there. Again, Ryo hears the "phone". She finds her toy phone and answers it. Shinya is on the other line!! From there, they learn they have internal "cell phones" and are able to communicate through ESP. Shinya lives in the east (Nagano) and Ryo lives in the west (Yokohama, a burb of Tokyo). As they "talk" more with each other, their friendship blossoms. Aaaaaand Ryo starts to break out of her uncommunicable shell.

This was just a BEAU-TI-FUL story. The actor playing Shinya was not forgotten by me. I've seen him before in two of my favorite jdramas.....Nodame Cantabile and Gokusen 2!

Koide Keisuke

Isn't he cute? Hehe.

Hero, The Movie

*giggles* I'm such an idiot! Baka! I knew there was the Hero drama, the Hero Special, and the movie. But for some reason I thought the Special WAS the movie. Baka! *puts an L over forehead!* I love the Hero series so much! I wasn't all that into the Special but I'm glad the movie wrapped up the story. I was concerned there for a bit! Whew! Problem solved.

The movie takes off from where the Special ended. Kohei Kuryu (Takuya-kun) is back! My heart-a-flutters. The prosecutor who shirks suit and tie for a pair of jeans but is never casual about his pursuit for the truth, is back! Besides the original TV series cast, Korean heartthrob Lee-Byung Hung is in it and was shot partly in Busan, S. Korea. This time, he is involved in an obscure case of manslaughter that turns into the trial of the century.

Failure here means the end of his career. He must solve it!

Lee Byung Hung

Le Grand Chef

I just saw this movie last night and was pleasantly surprised. I was looking for somethig a wee bit different and I found it. This was an excellent movie. I'll admit, I cried during the cow scene. *tears* That just about killed me to no end. In the end, you find yourself routing for Seong-chan (Kim Kang Woo).
The characters were great, acting wonderful, and story well written. A feel good movie for the whole family. But be forewarned there are some scenes left to your imagination dealing with animal slaughter, hence the *tears* for the cow.

The movie begins with the discovery of the long lost knife of the former Chief Royal Chef. Thereafter, a competition is held to find the best chef in the country who is worthy to inherit the legendary chef's knife. This is the main story of the movie. But the unfamiliar title has many people wondering; what is the "Chief Royal Chef?"

The Chief Royal Chef lived in the Cho-sun period. He lived outside of the palace and ran the top restaurant of the country, Woon-ahm-jung. The title belonged to the top male chef of the palace who would go in to cook the food for banquets and feasts. added the tradition that the best chef of the country shall remain a prodigy of the Chief Royal Chef, inherit the Woon-am-jung, and have the legendary knife as well.

The Chief Royal Chef appears just briefly in the original comic but is the main base for the plot in the movie as the top chefs Sung-chan and Bong-joo are matched up in their ultimate competition to carry on the tradition. Through the idea that the Chief Royal Chef had cut off his wrist himself to state that he will not cook for anyone else but the king during the Japanese occupation era and the mystery behind his death eventually being solved, the film is sure to bring enjoyment with a plot that crosses back and forth between truth and fiction. *Synopsis borrowed from ShowEast*

Bi (Rain) Press Conference Interview in Seoul, April 21st

When Rain met with reporters for an interview on the 21st, he said, "Although I do not know whether it will be successful in the box office, I've already signed a contract for the third sequel of ." (Deb's note: How come 3rd and not 2nd?? Not sure, just translating whatever was said in the Chinese article)

Summary from the press con:

Question: You play a supporting role. Knowing perfectly well that this was a supporting role, why did you choose it?

Answer: In the US I received many invitations to play lead roles. If I were to compare this to like baseball, I would want to make it on a team of a major league tournament, not of a small league tournament. Moreover the directors of this movie are the Wachowski Brothers whom I like a lot, I thought that I would be able to learn many things. So during the time of shooting I put in my all, and in the end the directors gave the lead role of to me.
is a Western action movie, but the Wachowski's want to make an Eastern movie featuring Chinese acrobatic fighting. I took a little bit of taekwando and aikido when I was a child; I took only 30 minutes to complete kicks and maneuvers from the movie. Perhaps it's because of this that the directors hold such high esteem of me. Also, during the shooting of a competition scene (Deb's note: I think here he meant ), the filming was done in front of a large screen. At that time I had on leather clothing that had no ventilation, my body temperature felt like it was above 30 degrees Celsius, and while the other actors were resting, I persevered and went on filming. I wanted to let them know that Koreans are very strong and have much endurance.
During meal times I ate together with the production crew. I wrote out Korean for them, saying "Isn't Korean very attractive", and as a result the writing of "Taejo Togokhan" in Korean was unexpectedly included in the movie.

Question: Your English lines are very fluent, how did you feel at that time when you used English to act in a movie?

Answer: Who would've thought that I would make an American movie, and come out with an album in the US? If I knew earlier on I would have worked hard on learning English back in high school. (Laughs) I want to be confident in everything that I do. I am after all a Korean, no matter how diligent I am, my English standards are still not like that of native speakers'. And because my language teacher is British, I also encounter difficulty due to the British-type pronunciation, but I've become more natural. Thankfully my pronunciation from the film shoot didn't turn out too bad. (Rain's English pronunciation sounds very pleasing to the ear.)

Question: Some people say your character's flow of emotions are "one-way", but there are also many people who say this is a very important supporting role.

Answer: The directors paid great attention to details, but they also requested of me a kind of mysterious charm. Don't know if it's too early for the present public to know, but I've already signed a contract for the 3rd sequel, the natural premise is that the movie will be successful. Although no one is saying anything, but I feel I can act in the sequel. The director said that by playing the role of a company boss, I must be steady but must also have a deterrent force. My tone of voice had to be intentionally brought down lower, to signify depth. In the movie my expressions were serious, cold and detached. Any slight happy or 'sunny' expressions were overruled by the directors.

Question: How do you feel working with renowned Hollywood movie stars such as Emile Hirsch, Matthew Fox, Susan Sarandon, John Goodman and so on?

Answer: From the very beginning I had only one thing in mind, that I must have self-confidence. (Laughs) They are famous stars, particularly Susan Sarandon as she has been my idol since I was a child. Never imagined that she would take my music album wanting me to autograph it for her. In addition to that, she wrote me a letter in return. In the letter she wrote: "I hope that this movie will be your first step towards your road of success." There was one day, an actor celebrated a birthday, Susan, Matthew, Emile and others all attended the evening birthday party, and even went bowling together. (Deb's note: Skipping the next statement because I'm not sure how to translate it, sorry...) I never thought that they would be so pleasant and friendly.The Asian fans were also very warm-hearted, they even personally came to Berlin to the film site to encourage me. The other actors might not have such warm-hearted fans.
During the time of shooting, the director of Michael Bay also came by the film site. Probably because was a great success in South Korea, he likes South Korea a lot, at the same time regarding South Korea as a very important market.

Question: In the movie, the name "Taejo Togokhan", is it South Korean or Japanese?

Answer: "TAEJO" is indeed a Korean name. I once asked the director, he also knew that "TAEJO" referred to a Korean emperor. "KHAN" is for Mongolian kings, but "TOGO" probably does not have any concrete meaning. "TAEJO" is a Korean name, but in the movie the father "AREUM" is Chinese.
The Wachowski Brothers are unbiased people. In the movie there were people of different ethnicities who were in charge of explaining the scenes. In addition to that, Korean was also spoken, seemed as if they were specifically pointing me out as a Korean.

Question: When will you return to the South Korean film and television scenes?

Answer: will end its film shooting at the end of July, and this autumn I will be coming out with a special edition album for the Asian fans. In addition, to promote the movie, for one month I will be making separate stops in South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan. After that I must make preparations for the release of my English album. So it won't be till next year before I can act in a Korean piece. (END)

Source: Various sources from Korean Press
Posted by azafighting@RainHK
Translation & edited by dsl99a@SexyBi & Rain-USA

Yeah, yeah, yeah. More Rain. I can't help it. Can't get enough. Anyway...notice the hair. Whaaaaaat? I'm not for it. It must go but I'm sure it's for his role coming soon called Ninja Assassin. His next film directed and produced by the same people from Speed Racer. Can't wait for them to finish it. The long hair has got to gooooooooo.


This is as long as I can stand it.

Dororo!

Ohhhh. Myyyy. Gooood! This movie was wayyyyyyy better than what I expected. Holy crap.

Roughly the movie is about a man who was abandoned as a child when he was a new born. Why? His father, a feudal lord, promised 48 body parts to demons of his unborn child for absolute power. Once born, to save the son who was born with missing said body parts, the mother bundles him up and like Moses puts him in a basket and sends him down the river. An old miser/warlock/magician finds him, uses his "magic" and saves the deformed infant with dead children's body parts. Yeah, kinda gross. Anyway, as the story goes on, the now man named Hyakki-maru finds out to get his original body parts back, he must kill the demons who stole them from him that were so easily given away by his father, Kagemitsu Daigo. This is pretty much where the story begins. On his way, he ends up being shadowed by a thief named Dororo (who actually got it from Hyakki-maru). This story really isn't about the thief at all. Dororo, expained by the movie means "human monster" or something like that. This movie is full of samurai action. There are a few comedic moments between Hyakki-maru and Dororo.

Now to the best part....Hyakki-maru is played by Tsumabuki Satoshi!


And then there was Eita!!! I just got done previewing him in Suppli. Anyway, his plays Hyakki-maru's friend-then-enemy-then-brother, Tahou-maru. I was pleasantly surprised to see him.


It was just amazing to see them in an action film, let alone big budget by Japanese standards. Woo-hoo! Witness the trailer below. No English subs, sorry.

Suppli

Suppli means supplement in Japanese.

Just got done watching this. I'm not sure how I feel about it. I mean, come on, it has my Kazuya-kun in it. Cute as ever, but..........ehhh. It started out really good and then fizzled at the end. I will admit the sub-plot with Imaoka Kyotaro and his daughter was really good. I teared up a bit when....well, you have to see it to know what I mean. I'm not out to spoil the show. I was all out routing for Ogiwara Satoshi (Eita) to hook up with Fujii Minami. It was just so hard for me to believe Kazuya-kun's character could really be well-suited with Fujii. He was better off with Watanabe Yuri (Asami Reina, the actress, also played in Heaven's Tree as the evil cousin).

The story is about Ishida Yuya (Kazuya-kun), a part-time worker at an advertising company. He doesn't keep jobs for long and usually quits before actually making friends or liking his job. This time, though, he makes it through and eventually comes to respect his co-workers and they in return. One worker, his elder, Fujii doesn't like him at first and eventually starts having feelings for him. At the same time, she likes another co-worker but is unsure about that relationship as the other co-worker (Ogiwara) likes someone else but he, too, eventually starts falling for Fujii. And, Watanabe has feelings for Ishida. An all out love-square. LOL!

I must mention about my like of Eita. I first saw him in Nodame Cantabile as Mine Ryutaro. He was the hard rockin' violinist-turned-classical. Chiaki didn't much care for him and feeling were the same in return. Eventually they come to be good friends. Anywaaaaaaaay, oh!, he was in Waterboys Season 1, too! I almost forgot. My bad. So let me post some hotness pics...LOL!

RH Plus

RH is the shortened term for rhesus. Rh factor, protein substance present in the red blood cells of most people, capable of inducing intense antigenic reactions. I am O+.



RH Plus is a new Japanese drama about 4 young vampires who live together as a family trying to live normal "human" lives but use their "gifts" to help solve crimes. Kiyoi, one of the 4 vampires, who actually looks about 21 years old, is actually over 100 years old. Makoto is the newest in the family. He was abandoned by his mother and most of the episodes revolve around the mystery of his life. Ageha is Makoto's best friend and confident. Ageha is also not a vampire by "normal" means but is under a blood contract with Kiyoi, who saved him from the streets. Then we have Masakazu, the comedian primarily in the show. Always going on goukons (An organizer, either an individual or organization, invites several single men and women to get together in a social setting, such as a pub or restaurant. There they mingle. If two in the group happen to hit it off, they follow up with phone calls, dates — and perhaps eventually marriage.), he tries to compete with a fellow aged vampire for the most phone numbers from girls and competes for the title of being the best in gokons. Through out the entire episodes, the primary focus is family. What constitutes a family? It comes across as funny but yet serious and has a well thought out idea of dealing with family issues and brotherly love. Definitely a cute show and teenage girls will like this.