Lee Seung-gi won’t reteam with Hong sisters after all

Hm, so apparently Lee Seung-gi won’t be the new lead of the Hong sisters writing team’s new drama Discovery of Affection, which has also teased a possible Gong Hyo-jin casting.

The synopsis for the project has reportedly been entirely rewritten, and with that goes Lee Seung-gi’s potential return as their leading man; he’d anchored last year’s adorable fantasy comedy, My Girlfriend Is a Gumiho. All that’s been given to describe the project is that it’s about the romance between a top actor and a has-been actress.

I know this news may come as a disappointment to a certain co-blogger, but to be honest I’m perfectly happy with it. One of the things I appreciate about the Hongs is their willingness — preference, even — to go with new lead actors every time, many of them on the lesser side of famous. (They tend to do the opposite with their favorite secondary actors, bringing some back for drama after drama. Choi Ran has appeared in four of six,Ahn Seok-hwan in three.) The exception to this is Jang Geun-seok, but that’s because he moved up from second lead in Hong Gil Dong to main man in You’re Beautiful.

In any case, as much as I enjoy Lee Seung-gi, I’m even more curious about the new direction this drama is taking, because apparently the new contender for the lead is…Cha Seung-won??

With the synopsis revision, the Hongs have aged up the hero a bit, taking him out of his twenties. According to one broadcast rep, Cha Seung-won has taken a solo meeting (without his manager) with producers to discuss the project, which was confirmed by his agency.

It takes quite a leap to go from a good-natured, grinning boy-next-door to a dark, tattooed badass. And I think I’m liking the possibility, if only because I’m dying to see the grizzled, tough Cha putting his funnybone to work as a Hong sisters hero. For one thing, they have a knack for stripping a man of his dignity, in the funniest possible ways. Jae Hee dressed up as Juliet’s nurse. Oh Ji-ho as a plumber. Kang Ji-hwan miming his way out of recognition. Jang Geun-seok in every scene of You’re Beautiful.

I mean, it’s ridiculous and crazy, right? So crazy…it just might work?

Discovery of Affection will be directed by Queen Seon-deok’s Park Hong-kyun, and is MBC’s next Wednesday-Thursday drama, to replace the new series Royal Family.

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Hyun Bin releases a remake from his past OST hit, “Can’t Have You

On March 7th, actor Hyun Bin released a digital remake of “Can’t Have You“, a theme song from his 2009 drama, “Friend, Our Legend“.

The song was originally done by Bank, but received further popularity after Hyun Bin covered it two years ago; viewers felt that it brought out a certain charm in Hyun Bin that they couldn’t see clearly from his drama role. The song even went overseas, as it was briefly featured in a Japanese drama as well.

Representatives of the song’s distributor commented, “The song was remade because of Hyun Bin’s affections for the song.” Considering how he’s leaving for the marines today, it’s more than likely that it’s a parting gift from the actor.

Check it out below!

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Ha Ji Won & Psy parody Secret Garden’s ‘foam kiss’ for Cass Light

Earlier, we reported that Ha Ji Won would team up with Psy for a new CF in the form of a “Secret Garden” parody. It’s just been revealed that the company they’re endorsing for, OB Beer, will reinterpret not one, but two of the drama’s iconic scenes for their CFs!

Divided into two parts, (with part one featuring the ’sit-up scene’) part two will feature a comedic version of the ‘foam kiss’. Psy will say the infamous lines, “Why are girls like that? They always act like they don’t know they have foam on their lips when in front of guys.”

Psy will also adopt a twist on Hyun Bin’s classic line for the ’sit-up’ CF, as he’s scripted to lean in and asks Ha Ji Won, “Gil Ra-Im-ssi, since when did you drink ‘Cass Light‘?”

Psy took a great liking to the shiny tracksuit and exclaimed, “For my 2011 concert opening, I am going to wear this!“ He even entertained staff members by breaking out into an on-the-spot performance of his songs while wearing the suit.

Song Hyun Suk of OB Beer’s marketing team stated, “Instead of going with a simple parody, we gave a humorous attempt at trying to insert our brand’s characteristics inside the drama’s most memorable scenes.”

credit : vitalsign@allkpop+as labeled

Ha Ji Won & Psy to parody Secret Garden’s ’sit-up scene’ for a new CF

Actress Ha Ji Won and singer Psy will be re-enacting the famous ’sit-up scene’ from SBS’s “Secret Garden” for their new CF together!

The CF won’t try to emulate the drama’s romantic atmosphere; instead, it’ll be a comedic parody that features ‘hidden lovers’ and Psy’s unique manual on ‘foam kisses’.

A behind-the-scenes look at the CF will be revealed through SBS’s “One Night of TV Entertainment” on March 3rd.

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Hyun Bin at Berlinale for High Cut

Now, granted, EVERY magazine and fashion label, car, liquor, home appliance, transmogrifier, [insert Product of the Day here] is going to claim that they’re the last ones to capture Hyun Bin in a photo shoot before he goes to the army. This is just one of many that we’re bound to see before he heads off to the marine base in less than a week’s time. But hey, it’s High Cut, who followed him to Berlinale where he had two films in competition:Love Me, Love Me Not with Im Soo-jung, and Late Autumn with Tang Wei.

I like Binnie best when he’s a little undone and less Kim-Joo-won-esque, so this shoot is right up my alley. Rock it, boyfriend.

credit : girlfriday@DB

Lee Min Ho aims to show off his swimming skills for ‘City Hunter’

Actor Lee Min Ho is presently training his body and mind with swimming lessons.

As SBS’s ‘City Hunter’ prepares to go into filming, Lee Min Ho has been taking swimming lessons every day since the end of last year at a hotel swimming pool in Kangnam. He’s shown a sophisticated and sensual side through his previous works, KBS’ ‘Boys over Flowers’ and MBC’s ‘Personal Preference’, but for his new drama, Lee Min Ho will strive to exhibit more of his masculine side through the character, ‘Lee Yoon Sung’ – a previous MIT professor and current Cheongwadae national communications agent.

An association of Lee Min Ho passed on, “While tackling brilliant action scenes that emphasize his long limbs, Lee Min Ho will also be showing off his swimming skills. He’s exercising regularly every day so that he could show a more natural appearance, rather than professional techniques.”

Because his breakthrough role in ‘Boys over Flowers’ was with a character who couldn’t swim, Lee Min Ho is determined to show off his swimming skills through this opportunity.

An associate of the drama raised anticipation by hinting, “We’re also planning a shot of Lee Min Ho’s muscular body in the swimming scenes as well.”

“City Hunter” will air its first episode on May 25th.

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The Bang is still BIG

Anxious fans started freaking out (totally not me though) when the show didn’t start on time at exactly 12:00 midnight on the 27th. Luckily, it wasn’t that the live streamers were down, it was because SBS went overtime about 20 minutes (if you ask me on purpose selling extra ad spots). It was worth the wait. SBS’s hour long Big Bangcomeback special The Big Bang Show 2011 was more than worth the effort of staying up all night (and until the sun rose, for me). It was great seeing the whole group performing on stage together and even though I didn’t love all the songs on the new album seeing them performed live makes it all sound so much better (I’m adding 0.25 to all my previous scores)!

Check out all the action below.

The Intro, Thank You and You. To think I could’ve been vacationing in Vegas and cruising down the strip when this was shot…

Hand’s Up- Is it just me, or is everything better with a little Big Bang in it. I still think they need to get new stylists though. The Ms.Korea type sashes with “Big Bang Is Back” on it was killing it a little for me.

Lies- The one that started it all… an oldie, but goodie. You gotta just love Kpop fans and their little synchronized chants. Still my fave Big Bang song of all time.

Somebody to Love- Their clothes here were probably my fave, and the back up dancers as mic stands, classic. Who couldn’t love T.O.P.’s part @ 1:16 when he’s walking forward through the back up dancers and they’re passing the mic to each other as he walks by them.

Cafe- Ah. my fave of the new song, and maybe I like these costumes the best. Although they are kind of suspect with each of them having a print of themselves on the front of their frocks, but hey they’re Big Bang. G-Dragon is so cute with his GD towel tied to his mic à la Axl Rose. I think I owe GD an apology, because I think the falsetto part I didn’t like at first listen in the song was actually Taeyang or Seungri- it was a little out of tune. And, Daesungand T.O.P.? Perfection.

What Is Right – What is right? The choreo, T.O.P. is so cute dancing. What is wrong? The back up dancer girls’ camo unitards, ugh bad stylists.

Their Secret Garden Parody was worth the effort of watching live alone. GD is pretty beautiful as a woman, although he did seem to enjoy feeling up his perkies a bit much. Daesung as the evil omma… I almost died laughing. It was fun seeing the members reactions while watching the parody also.

Sunset Glow- I’m sure by now the boys have the right to refuse to wear stuff, right? Then, WAE!

Last Farewell- So good.

Tonight- Okay, so I like the song, but still don’t love it. I was distracted from enjoying the performance totally by Seungri’s pleated skirt, G-Dragon’s skirt (even my mom has shorter skirts than that), T.O.P.’s half skirt, and Daesung and Taeyang’s fringe. Also, did y’all notice that the big sign behind the red one says “TONOGHT?” Loved the set though.

There are a couple more videos of the show available here, including the interview segments. Ah, it’s good having Big Bang back in Kpop.

At the end of the show, they premiered Big Bang’s MV for their title track “Tonight” which was shot in Las Vegas and L.A. (they don’t havwe beaches like that in Vegas, right?) And like my fellow writer Patricia said, if there’s one thing that YG can do it’s the visual stuff.

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