Hyun Bin

Dear kfangurl: Can you talk about celebrity dating culture in Korea? [Interview with VOGUE India!]

| kfangurl

This is another slightly different Dear kfangurl post, you guys.

After my last interview with VOGUE India about the male gaze vs. female gaze in kdramas (more details here!), Hasina Khatib (@thejoblessjourno on Instagram), who writes for VOGUE India, reached out to me again.

This time, she asked if I’d be willing to talk about celebrity dating culture, for an article that she was writing, which features Hyun Bin and Son Ye Jin‘s wedding.

I said yes, and you can check out the article, where she quotes me selectively, here!

At the same time, similar to the last interview, there was a lot that I said, that didn’t make it into the final article, so with Hasina’s permission, I’m sharing the actual interview questions and answers here with you guys.

The only difference is that I’ve added images to make this more reader-friendly. I hope you all enjoy! ❤️

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Dear kfangurl: Can you talk about actors and their nicknames?

| kfangurl

So, full disclosure, this post isn’t inspired by an actual Dear kfangurl question, but because Dear kfangurl is where all the lists on the blog live, I figured this would be the best place to put it.

This post is inspired by Beez and Trent, who recently had a conversation on my Kill Me, Heal Me group watch announcement post, where they discussed the nicknames of various actors and actresses.

I thought that would make a fun post, where I could share what I know, and you guys can share what you know, and together, we can paint a fuller picture together!

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Review: Move To Heaven

| kfangurl

THE SHORT VERDICT:

Show takes the heavy, delicate topic of death, and gives it a warm, tender and hopeful sort of treatment which I personally find extremely soothing. It’s true that some of the cases are painful to watch, but Show always finds a way to bring a heartfelt, healing touch to each case, which makes the journey feel worthwhile.

On top of this, we also get meaningful character and relationship development for our key characters over the course of the show, and this ties everything together in a way that feels meaningful.

Our cast is excellent, but the stand-out for me is Tang Joon Sang, who does a fantastic job of portraying Geu Ru, a character who’s on the Asperger’s spectrum. I also love that Show often makes Geu Ru our MVP, because this demonstrates so well, that Geu Ru isn’t disabled; he’s just differently abled.

It’s true that Show makes my heart ache, but even so, my heart aches so good.

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Dear kfangurl: Can you talk about drama awards shows?

| kfangurl
2014’s You From Another Star: Cheon Song Yi at the fictional Korea Film Awards 🤩

Shree writes:

Hi kfangurl,

I’ll start by saying, I LOVE your blog! I tend to agree with your unpopular opinions, and I take OST recommendations from your posts all the time, even when I haven’t seen the drama itself. Thanks for putting in the effort to create such an informative, fun space – it pays off.

With the 57th Baeksang Awards coming up, I was curious about your thoughts on award shows. Do you follow them and take them seriously? Do you think the credit is given where it’s due?

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Review: Crash Landing On You

| kfangurl

THE SHORT VERDICT:

Show really is everything that many of us have come to love in kdrama.

It’s gorgeous to look at, our actors are pretty darn capable all-around, our characters are mostly endearing, there’s amped-up, epic romance to be had between an OTP that shares solid, sparky chemistry, and, well, Hyun Bin is appealing in this, to a rather staggering degree. Flail.

As a bonus, Show possesses a cheeky sense of humor around drama tropes, even as it revels in them. In addition, the glimpse into North Korean life feels fresh and novel as well, and is a major highlight.

On the downside, there’s a bit of drag in the mid-to-late episodes, which is compounded by rather heavy-handed narrative angst, and Show’s long episodes. That can feel a bit or a lot hard-going, depending on your appetite for angst.

Overall, though, Show does a great job bringing the feels, and is well worth the watch.

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Flash Review: Memories Of The Alhambra

| kfangurl

So, funny story, you guys.

I was late to the party, and started my watch of this show when everyone else was well into Show’s middle stretch. I struggled enough with Hyun Bin’s character in this show’s first two episodes, that I was legit on the brink of dropping this show.

And then, Show ended, and there was such a heated furore among viewers for Show’s reportedly terrible-horrible-couldn’t-be-worse-let’s-boycott-this-writer-forever ending, that I was so sure that I had dodged a bullet.

But then, I saw a couple of tweets by viewers who actually felt satisfied with Show’s ending. Well, now. That sure got my attention.

If you’ve been around the blog for a while, you might know that I’ve been known to, on at least several occasions in the past, buck general audience trends by feeling completely differently about certain shows versus the majority of viewers.

It was like that when I started the blog in 2012 (my first ever post was for Operation Proposal, which I really liked – and which most people hated), and it was like that recently too, when I’d been very solidly satisfied with the ending of The Third Charm – which most people also hated.

So this curious cat (with a reasonable amount of FOMO) decided to do an experiment. Instead of dropping the show, I adjusted my viewing lens using all the fragments of information I had, and jumped in for a marathon.

The big question I wanted to put to the test was: With the right expectations and the right lens adjustment, would this show – could this show – actually turn out to be, well, good?

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Flash Review: Noble, My Love

| kfangurl

A lot of the time, I look for the full package when I’m choosing a drama to watch.

Basically, a show that boasts an interesting story, is delivered by strong actors, and features an OTP that’s believable and shares great chemistry. If I get lovely music and gorgeous cinematography on top of that, all the better.

This.. is not one of those times.

After a physically and mentally exhausting several weeks, all I wanted – or could handle, really – was drama comfort snack food. Y’know, something light, easy, packaged in small bite-size servings, and that hits the right notes without requiring my brain to actually do any work.

Happily, Noble, My Love fit the bill nicely.

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Dropped: Hyde, Jekyll, Me

| kfangurl

I couldn’t do it, you guys. I couldn’t finish Hyde, Jekyll, Me, despite my good intentions.

Let the record show that I really wanted to like this drama. And when I slowly started to realize that this wasn’t such a great drama, that I’d originally planned to stick it out to the end, if only for Hyun Bin’s sake.

I mean, this was Binnie’s drama comeback after what felt like an eternity, and I do certainly have Binnie Appreciating Eyes, so surely I could’ve sucked it up for him?

Um, turns out I couldn’t, after all. 😛

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Esteeming: Hyun Bin

| kfangurl

If you’ve been following our blogoversary giveaway, you’d know that this is (supposed to be) the made-to-order Pure Pretty post that Djining won as her prize.

Which means that we have Djining to thank for this opportunity to gaze at and appreciate the one and only Hyun Bin, while I have Djining and Google to thank, for the many hours of (admittedly very enjoyable) research that went into this post!

The thing is, as I was working on this post, it kinda ballooned into a k-love post (oopsie?), and I had to upgrade the entire thing in the process of making it.

Congratulations Djining!! I hope you don’t mind the upgrade, and I hope this post lives up to your expectations.

I made sure to be as thorough and meticulous as possible in making this post for ya; only the best pix, and also, wherever possible, in large wallpaper-worthy sizes as well. All for your (& our!) viewing pleasure, my dear. 😉

Alright then. Are you ready to dive in? Coz man have I got a LOT of Hyun Bin eye candy for ya!

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Happy New Year! Giveaway Winners! ..And Other Stuff

| kfangurl
Oopsie. Do our fingers not read “2 0 1 5”??

kfangurl: Happy brand new 2015, everyone!! Wow, can you believe it’s already officially 2015?

Lady G: It feels a bit weird, but it’s really not. I hope this year is better for every one. 🙂

But now I must ask – Where’s my Hoverboard? I’ve been waiting for it since 1989! My self-drying jacket and automatic-lacing Nikes? Flying cars? I know… Back to the Future II lied to us!

kfangurl: It totally did! I mean, never mind the Hoverboard, I’d love a time-traveling car – y’know, to watch more drama with. And also, maybe stalk Woob’s fanmeets and other appearances, heh. Yes, I have a total one-track mind. Priorities, y’know? 😉

Lady G: I never even would’ve thought of using time travel to fuel our kdrama obesssions. I love the way you think! We’ll take those trips together. Who knows? We may change the future and wind up married to our biases. hehehe! Or would that be way too much of a butterfly effect?

kfangurl: Butterfly-schmutterfly. Whatever it takes to get hitched to the Woob, I say!

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