I think you forgot the part where Lee Don-Gun was dating T-Ara's Jiyeon and cheated on her with Jo Yeon-Hee during their drama together. (It looks like it's his thing to date his costars)

So I don't think her lack of job offers was only because she was a mother.

They didn't get along but then they turned around got pregnant? Wow, so is that an example of enemies to lovers tension on reality? And then she lost everything?

I don't understand why she couldn't get or keep a radio show just because she was a mother.

man, truth is a bummer. I had been enjoying Lee Dong-gun's appearances on Ugly Ducklings the past year. I knew that he dated a lot of his co-stars but the cheating rumors if true are not good for his character. On Ugly Ducklings you feel a lot of sympathy for him because of the way he lost his younger sibling and the divorce. It tugs at your heartstrings. The most recent episode showed him eating dinner alone on his birthday. He excitedly went to pick up fan gifts at his agency but there turned out to be just one gift bag for his birthday. He had only one fan send him a gift for his birthday...! So I was wondering why was such a handsome and polite actor so unpopular? I mean, even if actors go through a dry spell and are struggling to land a drama, they usually still have loyal fans who send gifts. So this was a surprise that he had only one fan basically.

I’m surprised about this comment-
“ When we talk about stereotypical societal roles for women giving up a career to raise children, Korea still follows that rule to a great extent. ”
It was always my impression, mostly from shows, that women go back to work while their mothers watch the kids. I didn’t know it was still looked down on.
Thank you for another great cultural lesson!

I think I saw that there is a remake of that show happening.

were all old-school MLs like that?

😄 Not all, but many.

How fun for you! I love MNIKSS! A classic that I still find watchable. No spoilers here but I thought the ending was excellent. Happy watching!

I saw a recap of a drama called Giant and I thought it seemed like a old school classic drama. It honestly reminded me of soap operas with constant betrayals, melodrama, and intense focus. It honestly looks like it would probably be good and engaging but it's just not really *my* thing. It also reminded me of the sageuks set ups of like ministers all scheming (there was even a scene when everyone put their thumbprint on some paper so they could all be culpable in the scheme) but it was talking place in the 60/70/80s I think.

I mention it because I wondered if it falls into your "older kdramas were something else" category.

Yes, that was the Hot Boy haircut of the time 🤣 and the tsundere ML was also very common. Those are particularly great recaps 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

Enjoy it! I watched this series several months ago and I had a great time.

Sam Soon is now in my top of FLs in Dramaland 😄

I do find with the "old school" (pre, say, 2016) kdrama romances, you can still watch them for the female characters, but the MLs are at times too much, though they of course they come around in the end. It does keep me from being nostalgic about them, though. (Of course, I didn't start watching kdramas until 2019, so any nostalgia I'd feel for the old days would be totally fake. But 2019, on the other hand--they just don't make em like that any more!

Song of the day sounds cool.

Kim Sam Soon had a bomb OST. She's the girl, OHHHH, she's the ONE~~

I watched the show one time long ago, so I don't remember most of it. But I remember the comedy being great, and the OST being iconic.

If you're enjoying the FL's acting in rom-coms, then may I suggest following up My Name Is Kim Sam-soon with City Hall? City Hall gave me crazy feels too. FL shines in dramas with a sense of humor. I didn't really enjoy her in the serious melodramas. There are not enough funny dramas for all the funny actresses in Korea.

If you want a classic K-drama with a great (not toxic, not alarming) male lead and wonderfully non-stereotypical female lead, I highly recommend Ruler of Your Own World.

I recently finished Sorry I Love You (from the same year 2005 as My .. Sam-soon), and wow. SILY does have a bit of a dated look and feel (with strange 1970's retro clothes and 1960's French New wave music), but I really appreciated seeing roots of current Kdrama. I was completely hooked from the first episode. This was the first time seeing So Ji-sub, and I have subsequently been watching all of his that I can stream.

I will now watch My .. Sam-soon so thanks for the tip.

I never got around THE PRODUCERS but he was VERY critically acclaimed for it. MOON EMBRACING THE SUN was a terrible drama once adult actors took over (teen part is GREAT, 200% recommend as a standalone period melo), but his performance pretty much hard-carried it to the finish line. Contrary to many I did not like him in MY LOVE FROM ANOTHER STAR - thought he was way too green to pull off centuries old stoic alien and had flat zero of chemistry with FL.

IOTNBO is my favorite, for many reasons. But I like Kim Soo-hyun in all his roles, some more silly.
To me, Queen of Tears was a meta show about performing, and about feelings and authenticity.
And to some extend, so was IOTNBO, even if there was much more healing there. Remember how he had to always be smiling calmly when he talked to his brother, because otherwise he would have to use at least half a day waiting for his brother to come out of his safe space?
That story was about him being able to lay down that mask and have many kinds of different feelings, including anger, sorrow, and desire.
Queen of Tears, with all the crying, still simply made a rollercoaster trip out of all the display of emotion - pretending or not pretending, showing feelings on command, being cute on command. It was a lot more sophisticated than they let on.
The Producers, Love from another Star, and Dream High, is more normal dramas, with plots mainly just to have joyful "what if"s. And Love from ... is really funny, but while the FL actor is older than the ML actor, I could live without the age gaps in the "childhood connection" thing.

I remember when Jessi was saying how she planned on freezing her eggs and others kept looking at her like she was crazy or talking nonsense. I think one time the cast member said something like "freezing eggs? What am I? A chicken?"

I get it; to a conservative country and an older group, that probably seemed unfathomable but it was cool that even though Jessi was just talking about herself, she was bringing awareness to the idea.

1&2 I'm glad your recovery is going well in both aspects of your life.

3-C. I read an article that talked about how those kids would commit this crime fairly knowing that it is a crime but not caring about it because the "punishment" was weak and because they were confident they wouldn't get caught. And in the article the article there was a lot of the typical "because internet gives kids the access to..." as if this actions weren't DECISIONS made by human beings.
To all that the government wanted to answer with stronger punishment, instead of actually talking about what's wrong with those actions.

According to someone-I-don't-remember-who-she-was, the kids are less likely to do it again after it is properly explained to them what they did wrong. Not in a "it's crime so it's bad" speech, but actually addressing why it is a crime and how it affects the victims and why no one should be doing that type of crap to another human being.

Anyway, after reading that my faith in humanity dropped to negative numbers again.

UPDATE: Completed my 3rd aerial yoga class this week and I'm fine.

So three times per week it is. My arms are still not strong enough to complete an entire flow but hopefully once I'm going in for class (aka practice) regularly, I'll improve faster.

IMO the best romance dramas (apart from the ones where romance is more of a subplot than the main story) have good secondary couples. I also like when 2MLs get to do more than pine over the FL

The second leads romance was more popular with viewers than the leads for Goblin. I fast forwarded through the leads' scenes but repeatedly replayed the second leads scenes, especially the ones at the end.

The reverse is true too! Some want to play heroes or do romances but they keep getting typecast as bad guys.

I understand: different country, different culture, different beliefs than my own, part of the charm and fascination of Kdramas for me. But I can't help but feel disappointed. YAI needs treatment not prison. Is therapy or addiction support offered in SK prisons? Hopefully? The people who do belong behind bars are those who produce and/or distribute illegal and dangerous drugs. The ones who become addicted following use for physical or emotional pain relief need help.

Be safe Yoo Ah In, take care of yourself, find peace and hope where you can, and please find support to return healthier and happier.

I feel bad for him but then I also felt like "at least it was only a year" because I thought they would try to throw the book at him and make an example out of him.

It sucks regardless.

im so worried about him but he WILL get through it. He MUST get through it.

Sorry, but I don't know the answer to this. I read that Yoo Ah In is represented by UAA, United Artists Agency. This is not a small agency; it's international and established. Does the agency provide support for him during the year he is incarcerated?

I'm just curious because he's obviously a valuable client, and a profoundly troubled young man. But that doesn't mean he can't get a better life in the future. Three words: Robert Downey Jr.

he's lucky to be alive. it's good he's being held accountable. but what's with the $1500 fine...

maybe he can return to acting after he has paid his dues and is clean and sober.

Next track, widely known Mao Buyi's “Unsullied” from ASHES OF LOVE gives me slightly unsettling feeling – because I loathed the drama with passion, sorry, not even my LYX bias at its peak could've make me continue it, yikes! But folks love them both, so I have to suck it up, I guess. Granted, the song itself is not bad – sorry, it's not you, it's me situation right here))) Ironically I also really like FL's DYI OST from it while simultaneously loathing her character to hell and back lol – idk how it works, it just does I think it's not Yuning's favorite either – not his range or so? he only sang it like twice which is nothing in his case – and the sound in video below is not great, not sure if his voice condition or equipment is more at fault. But he smiled very cutely at the start, so he's forgiven^^
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4tel62LWm4

Half year later and whatever was the issue before, he fixed it – but was still in no mood to finish it properly lmao. No idea what he's laughing about, but whatever)))
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFd33pKCArI

Since we talked so much about Joker Xue and his abundant discography with @cliosservant1846 last time, I've figured we could elaborate a bit more on the subject with “What do you want me to do”))) This is quite old cover – year is not listed, but it was certainly a while before his debut given the amount of fanservice he performs between singing, ages passed since then for sure. Not super memorable song to me, but still fine:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUjYxuq9a8E

With the way he loves to roast his own age stfu, boy, this jiejie is not amused!, I assumed the track titled “If I were young” would be very fitting as well^^ Idk how it's in original version, but I love the rock-ish edge he gives it. Also, that shirt is a freaking riot – one of these days I'd love to know where he finds all his LOUD clothes...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWLK7mTkDCE

Thank you chingu!❤️

Love his dark shade. I want one. LOL
I don't have “Unsullied” on my play list so I'll add it. I dropped the AOL early too and never look back.

Here's some cold cure for you @gikata 😉

https://x.com/ultra_melons/status/1831887442506649869

Toy bear insurance is probably the most logical thing I've heard this entire week.
Did the school pick up their kitty?

Re: the aftershave
In addition to books, our library has a "library of things," which include games, tools cooking devices, like an Instapot, a random assortment of things you might want to use for a brief time and then return. So I guess a "library of cosmetics, perfumes and colognes" isn't too far out of the question!

As you say, this problem is not at all unique to Korean entertainment, nor to entertainment. U.S. athletes are always getting in trouble because of this total delegation of their financial affairs to agents or accountants. Of course, just as with Korean actors caught up this way, it is their fault, because they should be paying closer attention to what their accountant is doing. But the difference with Korea, it seems to me, is in the U.S. there is a general understanding among fans and the industry, that even if he was foolish and irresponsible, and should pay the monetary penalty, an actor or an athlete can't necessarily be expected to be money-savvy, especially when it comes to the labyrinthian U.S. tax code. So in my opinion, its the public cancellation for these financial lapses that is unique to Korea.

It depends on whether it is "tax error," "tax avoidance," or "tax fraud." Both China and South Korea's personal income tax rate goes as high as 45%. High income individuals do have lawyers and accountants handling matters, but many are paid to "lower" one's taxes.

High income individuals are often audited. These audits usually uncover tax return issues. For example, in 2023 Lee Byung Hun was fined $75,000 as a result of a timing issue on income for CF fees to his agency and employee bonus payments. This error could be considered a tax code interpretation or bookkeeping error. No consequence to his career.

In China, stars can have careers cancelled for tax fraud. In 2018, wildly successful actress Fan Binbing was fined $129 million for tax fraud and banned/blacklisted from acting. Five years later, her career comeback was in a Korean film, Green Night. Some others have criminal penalties and prison time for tax issues.

When it comes to China, I'd say the biggest reason for this issue being so rampant in their cinema is government's epic mood swings - whatever money laundering and other shady business was going on there for years was doing just fine until one day party suddenly decided it's enough and cracked on the pie not shared with them HARD. Without any warning whatsoever. You literally do not know what else they'll deem "capital offense" tomorrow, so here's that.

Another thing is those scandals differ in nature in every specific case - some celebs were caught simply underpaying for whatever reasons and did not take a first gentle warning seriously, some went beyond that by making shell companies etc to hide their profits, some got lost in the woods due to multiple parties involved in their profit share (change of agencies etc), some were scammed by people they worked with, some were simply naive enough to argue over numbers and learned the hard way what it means to go against authorities in that regime. I assume there are/were more cases that got resolved swiftly behind closed doors we'll never hear of. Overall, it's a freaking THIN ice. I don't think I envy any of them, even with all the money they still manage to earn.

If he didn't have work done, I apologize for thinking he did.

I agree with you. AHS looks so different to me. The shape of his face changed.

SK is a weird place about those things. For example, you are required to include a photo in your work resume - why unless it's a high security access job?! - but you're also allowed - and even expected to - to photoshop the hell out of these photos to may yourself look prettier and thus more appealing as a potential hire. WTF. I don't think it makes ANY sense logically, but somehow it does in practice, at least for now. Plus you're also giving your fingerprints to the system when applying for an ID so I guess whatever face upgrades you may get aren't that important to the law? They can still identify you no matter what by other means.

Asian celebs generally do A LOT to their looks - from actual surgeries to beauty shots to face/body sculpturing massages to hardcore diets - so it's often hard to tell whether someone actually got the work done or not, and what exactly it was if yes.

And speaking of CP, I still enjoy watching this show, Gong Yoo after all!, but it's a gut punch watching LSK. So much talent, that beautiful resonant voice, so handsome, ugh, heart wrenching. There were a couple of moments in his scenes where I audibly gasped. One was when his character was sadly peering at his gf's apartment after he thought she'd left the country again. There was a goodbye song playing and one of the lines expressed the thought of being so sad as to want to choose to end everything. The other was when he sang his character's Ocean song to his gf over the phone. Beautiful song. When he finished, his character asked his gf what she thought of the song. She replied that she liked it. But then she adds it also made her sad because she thinks that when she hears that song in the future she will feel pain. Well I don't know about her, but I sure felt that way.

PMY famously did the series of small tweaks to her face early in her career (post CITY HUNTER, I believe), prompting netizens to openly envy her rare luck with a surgeon for years. Personally I preferred her OG face - I always do and she was already cute to begin with - but that upgrade seemed to do wonders to her career for a while, so good for her, I guess? Real life controversies aside, I feel like viewers just got tired of her doing the same thing again and again, and that frustration led to a change of general opinion on her looks as well, weigh loss and whatnot.