With the final episode of Heartstrings airing today at 2:30pm, I guess it’s safe for me to make my final verdict on this Korean Drama without getting my blog spammed with hate comments. I’ve seen this drama not so long ago when it first aired in Korea. So I find it interesting to note that the drama never really captivated me in a way that other dramas have. Nevertheless, when I was still watching it – I enjoyed it. The same way that I enjoy popcorn or cotton candy.

Heartstrings focuses on the story of two characters from diferent musical backgrounds. Kevin (played by Jung Yong-Hwa) is the lead vocalist of the band “The Stupid”. He is quite proud of their modern pop rock sound and is quite pissed off by the fact that most people see them only as an idol band with good-looking members.What he wants most in life is to live and breathe music and for people to take his music seriously.

On the other hand, Nicole (Park Shin-Hye) is the granddaughter of one of the top traditional Korean musicians. She plays the gayageum 가야금, a 12-stringed traditional Korean musical instrument. Because of her grandfather’s status, she has grown up under his strict tutelage to become a true traditional Korean musical prodigy. In a way, she is quite deprived socially so she seems awkward with forming relationships with others.

Their worlds collide when Kevin and Nicole end up insulting each other’s music. A showdown hereby ensues between the obvious crowd favorite The Stupid fronted by Kevin and the traditional Korean music club headed by Nicole. During the match-up, the traditional Korean music club almost outplayed The Stupid if it were not for the unfortunate broken-string accident with Nicole’s gayageum.

When Kevin sees that Nicole actuallly is quite serious in music, this perks up his interest in her. It doesn’t take long for the two to eventually start seeing each other in a different way – and there you go, a typical Korean drama love story.

What I love about Heartstrings is its dedication to its theme. The whole story is anchored on the musical theme. That’s why you have two musicians in the middle of the story. I think the title is quite appropriate, too because of how love is supposed to tug at the “heartstrings”. Cheesy I know but most romances are meant to be that way. I can imagine a whole slew of metaphors and idioms with musical references (i.e. making great music together, serenades, etc.) The title was actually suggested by a fan in a special contest hosted by the network producers of the Korean drama.

However, the original soundtrack of this drama is quite disappointing. Come on! You have a real musician/singer in teh cast and you can’t even come up with a decent theme song? I can’t even remember any songs from this. At least “You’re Beautiful” had a couple that I really loved.

In terms of acting, Park Shin-Hye is her usual bubbly self but for some reason her acting her feels no different from “You’re Beautiful”. I feel like I’m watching her “You’re Beautiful” finally hooking up with Yong-Hwa’s character from the same drama. It’s not necessarily a bad thing if you’re a fan of the previous drama but if you’re looking for anything new or surprising – look elsewhere. At times, the way she portrays Nicole can even be downright worse than Go Mi-Nam. At least, Go Mi-Nam had spunk. This one is just blah.

Same goes with Yong-Hwa. He isn’t exactly one of my favorite idol-turned-actor although I had high wishes for his performance here since it’s not too far from his real world (hello, CN Blue!) and he’s had practice with “You’re Beautiful which is of a similar if not the same character. Let me just say that I’m a big fan of Yong-Hwa and all (I have all CN Blue albums!) but not of his acting. He is as lifeless as the plot of this story.

Which brings me to the main problem with this drama. The problem is there is no problem. There is no great conflict waiting to be resolved. There is no towering hurdle keeping our main protagonists apart. It’s easy and fun to watch Yong-Hwa and Shin-Hye fight and make up over the little things but once you’ve done watching it, it doesn’t really leave you with anything significant to remember or even feel about.

Sorry. No encore for me with this drama.

Thanks to AkoBudoyTube for the video.

Tae-Heon recently tweeted his appreciation of the Filipino fans’ support that enabled their album “Exciting” to be #1 in the Philippines. The tweet reads:

Woah..in the Philippines and Taiwan..woah.. ^^ Thanks to all ZE:As <3 We will work hard^^This year, in Korea, too!!!! Let’s go!! <3

This was after the album “Exciting” by ZE:A topped both the Astrovision/Astroplus Charts HERE and the Odyssey Music Chart below:

The 3-day album promotions of ZE:A in the Philippines was quite successful as it gathered hundreds of fans in three separate venues: Trinoma (January 12), Glorietta (January 13), and Market Market (January 14). The group didn’t just perform for the fans, they also held a meet and greet, plus an album signing for them.

I hope this will serve as motivation for other Korean groups, even the upcoming ones, to do promotions in the Philippines which is already becoming one of the key countries for the K-Pop market.

Thanks to Warner Music Philippines for the last photo.

Meet Spider Boom, one of the stuffed toys of my boss.

Spider Boom is a hand-made cuddly plushy doll from the Korean Uglydoll brand co-created by Kim Sun-Min and David Horvath. She is described as the “spider of all spiders” because of her uncanny ability to get pregnant by simply eating cake! What’s even more fun about her back story is that the baby spider that is born out of her eating a cake gets the characteristics of that specific cake. Cake with Sprinkles? Sprinkled Boom Baby! Chocopie Cake? Choco Boom Baby! The Spider Boom design is actually Kim Sun-Min’s first solo project for the Uglydoll brand.

Uglydoll was born out of the long-distance relationship that Kim Sun-Min and David Horvath had when she moved back to Korea. David would always sign off his love letters to Sun-Min with a cute character called Wage. One day, Sun-Min made a doll of Wage and sent it back to David as a surprise. When David showed the doll to his friend Eric Nakamura who owned Giant Robot magazine and store, he instantly ordered several for his store. This became the start of a brand that would eventually be recognized with the “Specialty Toy of the Year” award by the Toy Industry of America. Since then, dolls like Spider Boom have spawned more  books, keychains, clocks, clothing, blankets, stationery, tin toys, action figures, and of course, dolls.

This is definitely a cute Korean gift but it’s a bit hard to find these toys in ordinary toy stores. You can get Spider Boom and other Uglydolls though at Shop Familia Makati, Ground Floor La O’ Centre Building 1000 Arnaiz Ave. cor. Makati Ave., San Lorenzo Village, Makati City 1223.

After a highly successful album promotion tour in Manila, the album “Exciting” by ZE:A has topped the album sales chart of Astrovision/Astroplus for the week of Jan. 9 to 15. This chart tracks the sales from one of the biggest record chains in the Philippines.

It can be recalled that the three-day event hit three different malls: Trinoma (January 12), Glorietta (January 13), and Market Market (January 14). Hundreds of fans flocked to each venue, buying albums for a chance to have it signed by the ZE:A members. Aside for the meet & greet aspect of the shows, the group also performed in the malls to the screaming delight of audiences.

So congratulations to all the fans who supported ZE:A during their trip here in the country! ZE:A now has a #1 album in the Philippines!

Thanks to Warner Music Philippines for the photo.

Please support Icheon FC in the Rio Cup as they go against the Azkals at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum tomorrow at 7pm. This Korean soccer club is a member of the K3 League (Challengers League), an amateur league that is at the third tier level in Korea.  In fact, the team was the top team out of 18 teams that battled it out in the K3 for 2011. The K3 is actually a direct source of football talent for the professional league so this achievement is nothing to be belittled.

Led by Team Captain and Most Valuable Player Joo Won-Moon, the Icheon FC is definitely going to give the Azkals a schooling in football. With star players Ji Hoon-Yang and Jae Young-Jin, the team will enable the Philippine team to broaden their football experience.

I’m quite excited about tomorrow although I’m not yet completely sure I can make it on time since I will be working. In any case, I’ll just sing along  to what I consider one of the best theme songs in Korean football history – Victory Korea!!!

Thanks to the Korean Cultural Center in the Philippines for the photo and to sment for the video.

The University of the Philippines Arirang will be opening a special exhibit on Jan. 24 at the UP Faculty Center Gallery 2. This exhibit will run until Jan. 27. It will highlight “5 years of Active Cultural Exchange” so those interested in Korean culture can find out more about Korea and the organization through it.

The UP Arirang was actually created in July 16, 2006 as a result of the growing Korean population in UP and the increasing interest of Filipino students in Korean culture. Through the joint efforts of Xandi Eleazar, Inero Ancho, Kim Seung-Su, Lee Hwa-Young, and Moon Sun-Hee, the organization was created to help Korean students adapt to the uniqueness of the Philippines and to encourage Filipino students who desired to know more about Korean culture. The organization was named after “Arirang”, a popular Korean folk song.

Thanks to Korea Beyond KPOP for the photo.

ABS-CBN2 has aired in the Philippines practically all the Korean dramas I have seen and loved in the past couple of years (except maybe for Secret Garden which aired in GMA7). And looking at their 2012 Korean drama line-up, I have to say that this is going to be quite an interesting year for Korean drama fanatics. I miss posting about good Korean dramas so I’m glad that ABS-CBN2 got a lot of the dramas that I actually saw and enjoyed. So watch out for future posts on each drama. I <3 ABS-CBN2!

Thanks to ABSTVPromo for the video.

Today, multi-awarded Filipino musician Rico Blanco surprised people by posting about K-Pop idol Hyuna. The post was short and sweet but it definitely captured perfectly what his thoughts about Hyuna were. But what would make Rico think this way of Hyuna? I’ve seen Hyuna’s video hundreds of times and there’s nothing sexy or remotely hot about “Bubble Pop”! She’s so conservative, she could be a nun! Like your sweet bestfriend, RIGHT?! (^~^);;

Thanks to 4MINUTE Philippines for the photo and 4minuteofficial for the video.

To add excitement for the upcoming TV airing of City Hunter in the Philippines, ABS-CBN is holding a special screening of the Korean Drama at the Dolphy Theater in ABS-CBN on Jan. 20. Only 100 people will be invited to this event.

To join, simply send you complete name, address, and contact numbers to abscbn.acqui@gmail.com. Put “City Hunter” as the subject of your email.

Those who will be lucky enough to have a preview of the series will be announced by Jan. 18. So what are you waiting for? E-mail now!

Thanks to Kapamilyanovelas (Official) for the photo.

Just in case, some of you missed my previous post about the meet-up of Hyunwoo Sun from TalktomeinKorean.com in the Philippines this coming February 12, he uploaded the video above with the description below:

We’re going to the Philippines soon : ) Let’s meet! 

Click the link below to check out more info about it. 
https://www.facebook.com/events/152492558195388/ 

Thanks! 감사합니다 ^^

Thanks to ever4one for the video.