Kmuse's Musings: My Current Favorite Actors & Their Classic Roles

I am at a loss to choose another time when so many kdramas were this good all at once.  You know how it goes, one or two are standouts while all the others range from "OK" to "What the crap were they thinking with this plot?"  But we have a huge amount of kdramas currently airing that I predict are going to become "classics".  Since I know that many of us find a new actor and then feel the urge to watch every kdrama they have ever done, I decided to help you with that task.  The following are some of the most popular actors currently filming and my top recommendation from their previous works.

Kmuse's End of Year Countdown - Favorite kdrama Actors of 2014

This was a really hard segment to write. I counted it up and had watched over a 100 different dramas from all over Asia.  Needless to say, there was a lot of competition for a spot on this countdown.  There were so many that I HAD to have on my list since it would not be a complete list of my favorites without them, that it got a tad lengthy.  So please bear with me and I will try to make this as enjoyable as possible with pretty pictures.  I also would suggest any of these dramas to viewers searching for something new to watch since I am sure a lot of you are looking for a good holiday dramathon.

Kmuse's Musings: More Fashion Fails

I thought it would be a while til I had enough pictures to do another Fashion Fail post.  But never underestimate the ability of Korean stylists to really pick some ugly clothes for the hottest Korean stars.  If you have not read one of my Fashion posts before, I would like to say that the dislike of the fashion or elements of the photograph reflect nothing on the actors or idols themselves.  So please don't hunt me down and egg my house for not liking the look of any certain star.  This is all subjective and just my personal opinion.  

Kang Ji Hwan In GEEK’s June 2014

 He is a very very sexy man.  But the striped purple pimp suit is just not doing it for me.  

Park Shin Hye - Harper’s Bazaar 

Love the hair, love the skirt, love the bag (really love the bag) but then there is that mess of a shirt.  My kids played a game this Christmas where they had to wrap crepe paper around their sibling to turn them into  a Christmas tree.  The effect was very similar to this shirt, which looks like the designer went cutout crazy.  

Ji Chang Wook - CéCi’s June 2014

The first picture is so so, but that brown Hershey kiss hat has got to go.  That hat is all I stare at in the photo rather than Ji Chang Wook.  The 2nd photo's short unitard look is truly bleck worthy.  I like the Jacket and if he had been wearing dress pants or jeans instead I would have really liked the look.  But when you can't tell if the under-piece is all one piece or just ugly Urkel shorts combined with a dress shirt, than we have a problem.

Park Hae Jin - Instyle Korea

I'm pretty sure that poor Park Hae Jin is having an allergic reaction to all those flowers.  He especially looks uncomfortable and frantic in the 2nd photo.

Choi Jin Hyuk - Men's Health's June 2014

Love the color pallet of this photo shoot, love the clothes (looks so sexy in jeans), the one thing that makes me cringe is the bad use of accessories.  Each photo looks extremely awkward and I think it is funny that the picture where he is holding the gun, it gives the impression of a kid playing with a toy gun.  These pictures in theory should have worked, but just didn't. 

My Favorite Photos of the Week

Son Ye Jin - Traveller’s June 2014

These two photographs were by far my favorite of the week, if not my favorite of the month.  They are full of interesting aspects from the color, clothes, locations, and movement.  It just all clicks and joined to create something truly beautiful and amazing.


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2nd Lead Syndrome

I don't know why, but suddenly I am having a huge case 2nd lead love in several ongoing shows.   As a kdrama viewer I am usually 100% behind the leading man no matter how big of a jerk he is. I have never been one to coo and sigh about how sweet the other romantic interest is, why bother since it is doomed anyway.  But with this last batch of shows I have seriously started to have some serious problems supporting the leading men.  So I decided to list out my favorite B Crushes as therapy.  It might not get them the girl in the end, but at least I can gaze at their pretty pictures a bit and dream of them getting their happy endings.

Ta Hwan - Empress Ki

I went into the drama anticipating that I would like it, it is written by my favorite kdrama writers after all.  But I was not prepared to dislike the leading male quite as much as I do.  Joo Jin Mo's (Frozen Flower) portrayal as Wang Yoo fell really really flat.  The actor has one intensity and only a few expressions so whether he is in love, angst, or fighting it all felt the same.  Add in the sappy Michael Boltenesque song that is his theme and I am happy to not see him on the screen.  Lucky for me it seems that the writers agreed and as the show as progressed we see less and less of the moody king.  Thank goodness because watching him try to portray angsty love makes me one very very annoyed Kmuse.  Instead we get a good helping of Ta Hwan (Ji Chang Wook - Warrior Baek Dong Soo, Five Fingers) the emperor of Yuon and Nyang's eventual husband.  Ji Chang Wook is a very versatile actor and his ability to go from a sniveling weakling of a prince to a strong leader was truly a joy to watch.  It also does not hurt that he has great chemistry with Ha Ji Won (Secret Garden).  It would be interesting to see if the writers always planned to make the 2nd lead so prominent in the script or if it was revised when fans jumped on the Emperor/Nyang ship, either way we get a lot of my favorite couple and for once the 2nd lead actually does get the girl (at least if they follow history).

Han Yoon Chan (Lee Tae Kon) - A Well Raised Daughter

How I love Han Yoon Chan, let me count the ways.  He is strong, intelligent, handsome, extremely tough, and ruthless.  Add in that he is obviously a man and not some young idol boy actor and he becomes the perfect package.   He plays the illegitimate son of SS CEO and half brother to the lead Seol Do Hyu.  Where Yoon Chan moves heaven and earth to support our leading lady through all her troubles, the lead Do Hyu is the equivalent to a damsel in distress.  Instead of standing up strong, he tends to wring his hands, ask his daddy for help, and mope around.  And while I can appreciate the pretty "I'm in love" staring contest they do, that is not going to pay the bills when one's father leads a coup against your company.   So instead of the tepid pretty I am going with the strong confident supporter in this drama.  I can honestly say that watching him defend her honor/secrets by beating the crap out of people is truly satisfying and worth at least a hundred sonnets dedicated to the beauty of one's eyes.

 

No Min Hyuk (Ko Gyung-Pyo) - Potato Star 2013QR3

This is probably the character that I am the most surprised that I have fallen for.  An uppity highly educated president of a toy company, No Min Hyuk was not even on my radar for the first half of the drama.  It did not help that he had an accident that reverted him to his seven year old self complete with amnesia.  However, even damaged as he was he slowly wiggled his way into my heart.  And I say that if you can make me love you with the main girl even with amnesia and the personality of a kid then that is a huge accomplishment.  It set the story up that by the time he regained his memories and transitioned into a more adult one sided love I was firmly a fan of Team Min Hyuk.  We still have a solid 40 episodes to go so my hope that he wins the girl is still staying strong.  MIN HYUK FOR THE WIN!!!!!!!

I know that I can't be the only one out there with a B lead crush.  Who are your favorite men who are destined for loneliness?  Do you think that we will ever have a rise of the B Leads just to shake things up?  Be sure to let me know what you think in the comments, and have a wonderful weekend.

Kmuse

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