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On the cover page

Korean stars seem to be the flavour of the month for some of the local magazines. Yoon Eun Hye and Song Seung Heon have both appeared on the front cover of Nuyou and August respectively. Check out the photos I took of the magazines below.


My Girlfriend is an Agent @ Level 7 Bureaucrat

En garde! Kim and Kang sparring in a scene from the movie.

A gala premiere of the My Girlfriend is an Agent, also know as Level 7 Bureaucrat, was held at the Cathay cinema last night. Both the leads, Kim Ha Neul (of On Air fame) and Kang Ji Hwan were both in Singapore for this event.

There's going to be another publicity event for the movie at the Heeren this evening at 6.30pm. Pity that I am most likely still stuck in the office. for fans of Korean dramas and movies, Heeren is the place to be this evening. Get your cameras ready as both Kim and Kang will be at the event.

We at HelloHallyu can't wait to catch it on the big-screens when the movie starts its run from 5 Nov!

Makkoli

Without a doubt soju one of the cultural icons of Korea. It helps when almost all dramas include a scene, or many, showing Koreans toasting each other with a shot of this iconic drink poured from the by now classic green bottle from Jinro, if the brand can be seen in the first place.

While I am not much of a wine/liquor connoisseur, I know that soju holds a special place in the Korean society. Thus, I was pleasantly surprised when I happened to catch a short clip on Singapore's Channelnewsasia showing the other Korean drink - makkoli.

Makkoli - Korean Rice Wine

Distinctly different from the soju, makkoli is a cloudy white rice wine which was commonly consumed by Korean farmers after a hard day's labour. This drink is apparently good for the health and is gaining popularity amongst Koreans and further afield in Japan.

Although I have this large unopened bottle of Jinro's soju in my larder, courtesy of my recent trip to Korea, I am more than game to head down to the supermarket to get myself, a 'packet' of makkoli off the shelves. Yep, it comes in packets!

Will post about my experience with makkoli once I try it, provided that I stay sober enough to put up a post. :)

Track from Flowers for My Life - Wasted on the Way

The unheralded Flowers for My Life constinues to be one of the best Korean dramas I have seen so far. It's soundtrack, although not commercially available, is also great. Was tuning in to the evergreen channel, Gold 90.5FM when they played Graham Nash's Wasted on the Way. This song was widely played in Flowers for My Life.

I just had to share the lyrics of the song with you as it struck a chord deep within me. Sometimes we can only understand the meaning behind certain songs after having travelled some distance in life's journey. You caa also listen to the song via the embedded Imeem widget on the sidebar. Enjoy!

Look around me, I can see my life before me
Running rings around the way it used to be
I am older now, I have more than what I wanted
But I wish that I had started long before I did

And there's so much time to make up
Everywhere you turn
Time we have wasted on the way
So much water moving
Underneath the bridge
Let the water come and carry us away

Oh when you were young, did you question all the answers
Did you envy all the dancers who had all the nerve
Look around you now, you must go for what you wanted
Look at all my friends who did and got what they deserved

And there's so much love to make up
Everywhere you turn
Love we have wasted on the way
So much water moving
Underneath the bridge
Let the water come and carry us away
Let the water come and carry us away

First take on My Fair Lady


Due to our work and personal commitments, My Fair Lady has been the only Korean drama for us at HelloHallyu since it debuted on KBS’ World some weeks back. With all the hype surrounding Yoon Eun Hye’s return to the small-screen following her 2 year ‘sabbatical’ after Coffee Prince, and the expected quality performance from YEH, we were expecting a hit drama.

However, the first few episodes of My Fair Lady failed to live up to its initial hype. Granted that the sets and costumes showed that money and effort have been poured into the production, what the drama sorely lacked was originality and script.

The storyline of a poor bloke, butler Seo Dong Chan, winning the heart of a cold-hearted heiress, YEH's Kang Hye Na, is a story well told in various other dramas and movies. One would expect the scriptwriters to smash the stereotypical characters and add some twist to the story. We have not seen a hint of this after watching the first 5 to 6 episodes. True to form, the storyline followed the classic, albeit predictable, route of the pauper-princess story.

To be honest, it was kind of a drag having to go through the thin plot served to us. YEH’s well known acting capabilities were not only not put to the test. In fact, the script seems so unchallenging that YEH’s only expressions alternated between a perpetual constipated scowl and a doe-eyed teenage girl. It’s really sad since we know what she’s really capable of.

The somewhat outlandish costumes that YEH had to don, with or without her approval, can be both hilarious and appalling at the same time. Check out the chocolate inspired 'jacket' and you know what I mean.

My Fair Lady


YEH looking sweet in her chocloate whatever and feisty in her tigress suit

My Fair Lady


Doubt this new cycling attired will take off

While it is still too early to give a fair rating to this drama, our initial reactions ain’t that fantastic. That said, we sense some sort of a pick up in the plot as we near the middle portion of the drama. The only positive takeaway here is that the ‘yawn’ factor, which used to be quite high, is getting stifled.

Being fans of YEH since her Princess Hours days, we hope that My Fair Lady will turn the proverbial corner and surprise us with a great second half to the drama. So stay tuned for the final HelloHallyu review.

Website Update

If you hadn't noticed, HelloHallyu has heard your comments about our ‘old’ website. Although we loved the look and feel of the template used previously, loading times for the website was terrible. Yup, even we felt that it took too long to load!

Taking heed of the feedback, Yupgi has gamely taken on the task of revamping the website. What you see now is the fruit of her labor. Don't you think the new template is great? Most importantly, we wanted to retain the ‘feel’ of our site, where readers instinctively know they have arrived at the site they have been visiting.

There are still some kinks to be ironed out. But we believe the new template will ensure a more pleasant experience for our readers. :)
We love to hear from you!

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