i love this song so much watching the movie.
Here is the clip where she performs MARIA in one scene of the movie, with English translation.

Maria, by Kim Ah Joong (김아중), from the Korean movie 미녀는 괴로워 [200 pounds beauty]

[Uploaded by brucelee2311]

Listen on imeem here.

Lyrics (Korean and romannized):

자 지금 시작해 조금씩 뜨겁게
[cha chigeum shija-khae, chogeum-sshwik tteukop-ke]
우 두려워하지마
[uhh… turyowo-hajima]

펼쳐진 눈앞에 저 태양이 길을 비춰
[pyolchyojin nun-ape, cho tae-yang-i ki-reul bicho]
우 절대 멈추지마
[uhh… chol-tae-momchujima]

———————
Maria Ave Maria
저 흰 구름 끝까지 날아
[cho hin kureum kkeut-kaji nara]
Maria Ave Maria
거친 파도 따윈 상관없지
[gochin-paddowin sang-gwa-nopshi]
———————

기적은 이렇게 내 눈앞에 펼쳐있어
[gijukeun eerokke nae nunapae ppyol cho isso]
우 절대 멈추지마
[uhh… chol-tae-momchujima]

———————
Maria Ave Maria
저 흰 구름 끝까지 날아
[cho hin-kureum kkeut-kaji nara]
Maria Ave Maria
거친 파도 따윈 상관없지
[gochin-paddowin sang-gwa-nopshi]
(Maria)
———————

멈춰버린 심장전체가
[momcho-borin shim-jang chon-chega]
걷잡을 수 없이 뛰어와
[kotcha-beulsu-op-shi ttwi-yo-wa]

———————
Maria Ave Maria
저 흰 구름 끝까지 날아
[cho hin-kureum kkeut-kaji nara]
Maria Ave Maria
거친 파도 따윈 상관없지
[chojin-paddowin sang-gwa-nopshi]
(Repeat 2x)

The movie:
Movie : 200 Pounds Beauty / 미녀는 괴로워 [Mi-nyeo-neun Gwae-ro-wo]
Release Date : December 14, 2006
Starring: Kim Ah-joong (김아중), Joo Jin-mo (주진모)

Watch the movie dubbed in Khmer here
Part 1 [Uploaded by KatWayHa]
OST get here

Track listing:
1. Beautiful Girl - 김아중 Kim Ah Joong
2. 별 Byul (Star) - 유미 Youme
3. Maria - 김아중 Kim Ah Joong
4. 슈퍼스타 - Loveholic
5. Dance With My Daddy - Alex (Clazziquai Project)
6. You Don’t Know I Love You - U
7. 튜울립 - Venny (상상밴드) feat.종휘
8. Miss You Much - 유미 Youme
9. Beautiful Girl - 김아중 Kim Ah Joong (feat. Alex, And)
10. 바보처럼 - 김형중 Kim Hyun Joong
11. 별 Byul (Star) (Original Dialogue Version) - 김아중 Kim Ah Joong

Source:
Lyrics (Korean)
Lyrics (Romanized)
Movie Review, 2

¡Ayer vi la pelicula 200 Pounds Beauty! ¡Qué hermosa pelicula! ¡Allí demuestra que el exterior no es lo que importa! Tiene un hermoso soundtrack…creo que el cover de Maria de blondie es mucho mejor que el original (Sin ofender) pero es que, la chica que lo interpreta puede llegar a grandes notas a comparación de  Blondie (En mi punto de vista)

Aqui les va el lyric:

(Esta vez no la encontré en coreano)

Romantización:

cha chigum shija-khae
chogum-sshwil ttokob-ke
uhh… turyowo-hajima

pyolchyojin nunape
cho tae-yangi ki-reul bichwo
uhh… chol-tae-momchujima

Maria ave Maria
cho hwim-kurum kkeut-kaji nara
Maria ave Maria
gochin-paddowin sang-gwa-nobshi

cha chigum shija-khae
chogum-sshwil ttokob-ke
uhh… chol-tae-momchujima

Maria ave Maria
cho hwim-kurum kkeut-kaji nara
maria ave maria
gochin-paddowin sang-gwa-nobshi

Maria

mamchwo-borin shim-jang chon-chega
koncha-bulsu-ob-shi ttwi-yo-wa

(Repeat 2x) Maria ave Maria
cho hwim-kurum kkeut-kaji nara
Maria ave Maria
chojin-paddowin sang-gwa-nobshi

Traducción

Bien, ahora comencemos

Hacerlo encender,

Oh~ no tengas miedo

Alto en el cielo

Poco a poco, apasionado,

Oh~ no tiene miedo

Que el camino el sol está brillante prendido,

Oh~ no te detangas,

Maria~~

Ave Maria

Vuela al extremo de esas nubes blancas

Maria ~~

Ave Maria

Fuerte, contra olas violentas.

El milagro sí es posible.

puede estar frente a tus ojos.

Oh~ no te detengas bebé.

Maria ~~

Ave Maria

Vuela y alcanza esas nubes.

Maria~~

Ave Maria

Fuerte, contra olas violentas.

Maria~~~~~~~~~~~~

Aún cuando sientas tu corazón detenerse

Vuela, pues aún sin él  todo es posible.

Maria~~

Ave Maria

Vuela y alcanza esas nubes.

Maria~~

Ave Maria

Fuerte, contra olas violentas.

Maria~~~

Ave Maria

Vuela y alcanza esas nubes.

Maria~~

Ave Maria

Fuerte, contra olas violentas.

¡Qué bella canción!

If you all didn’t know Kim Ah Joong was the actress in “200 Pounds Beauty”. Because of that role she made an hit and after that she hasn’t been seen on the big screen for a while now, but instead of the small screen. She was a cameo in SBS’s drama “On Air”.

Now all of that will change! She is starring in a movie called “26 Years”. The title hasn’t been officially said to be permanent. This movie is nothing like “200 Pounds Beauty”.

“26 Years” will be produced by Chungeorahm Films, directed by Hae-yeong Lee (Like A Virgin) and based off of a popular internet comic written by Kang Pool. The story deals with the second generation of victims arising out of the Gwangju Democratization Movement (the 2007 film “May 18” also deals with the Gwangju Uprising). Kim Ah Joong will play a character well versed in competition shooting events (skeet, trap shooting etc). Her dad was killed in the Gwangju Democratization Movement.

Kim Ah Joong’s co-star will be played Seung-beom Ryoo. Ryoo’s character also has ties with the Gwangju Democratization Movement, but he is now a gangster. These two characters then get involved in a plan to assassinate the ex-president of South Korea, Chun Doo-hwan.

The filming will start in September and will probably be showed in the year 2009.

I loved Kim Ah Joong in 200 Pounds Beauty! I’m glad she’s coming back to the big screen!

200 Pounds Beauty (미녀는 괴로워 - Minyeo-neun goerowo) ganadora del premio Sur Coreano, basada en un manga japonés (Kanna-San, Daiseikou Desu) de Yumiko Suzuki.

El sentido literal de 미녀는 괴로워 es ” ser hermosa es agotador”. La historia cuenta la vida de una chica obesa que se pone bajo un régimen extremo para volverse una sensación pop.

Hanna es vocalista para una famosa cantante pop coreana llamada Ammy. Ella sufre de extrema baja autoestima, ya que siempre ha sido ignorada por su apariencia. Aunque, ella siempre ha sido una chica brillante y feliz hasta que Ammy…

Advertencia: ¡este vídeo puede contener spoilers!

The ‘”almost” MIA Coffee Prince beauty, Yoon Eun Hye, is now the image of Vivian lingerie line. She replaced Kim A-jong (200 Pounds Beauty), the previous CF model and product endorser of Vivian.

Yoon Eun Hye has a one year deal with Vivian and her lingerie ads are set to launch in the Spring of 2009.

I am so glad to see her being active again and doing a new project but, I and the rest of Yoon Eun Hye fans will be more excited if she will star again in a drama or movie this year. Unfortunately, it will not happen. If she does announce that she will have a soap or movie project this year, then it will be shown by next year. Gosh! Let’s just cross our fingers people.

Source and Photo Credits: Hankooki

— Elvi SusanticloseAuthor: Elvi Susanti Name: Site: http://myfilmblogs.com/sinemakorea/ About: See Authors Posts (92) • January 2nd, 2008

Berkat film 200 Pounds Beauty, kini Kim Ah Jung menjadi artis papan atas Korea setelah menyabet beberapa penghargaan bergengsi. Dia juga menjadi rebutan produsen iklan. Dalam sebuah statistik tentang artis yang membintangi iklan tahun 2007 ini, Ah Jung memiliki 22 kontrak iklan dan dinobatkan sebagai “Ratu Iklan”. Disusul oleh Kim Tae Hee yang memperoleh 18 iklan dan disusul oleh Jang Dong Gun. Sedangkan di urutan keempat yang memiliki 16 kontrak iklan adalah Lee Na Young.

dari : myfilmblogs.com/sinemakorea

Yesterday, my boyfriend and I went to the cinema to watch a movie. We didn’t decided what movie to watch yet.. but just maybe going to pick any movie upon arriving later..

It was 7.15pm and the movie was already started when we arrive to the ticket booth. But hey, it’s only 15 minutes rite? So, we watched ‘ Three Kingdom’..

The movie was cool and all but I was really disappointed that it was only an hour and a half.. Woah, what a total rip off! Though movies like that would take hours to finish ( I mean like to Hindi movies )

Well, here’s the review of the Three Kingdom. Hmm.. the ending part was a bit, ‘hanging’.. coz u don’t know whether Zilong died or killed by the Coa’s or he had become hostage or…. Dunno? O_o

here’s the trailer

Ahah! And here’s a review of what I’ve watch on DVD jut now..

( well, being stuck in the hostel can be tremendously dull.. so, I’ve been watching DVD’s from my laptop… )

200 POUNDs BEAUTY

Starring Ju Jin –Mo , Kim A-jung

Han-Na is a very big girl with a warm heart. She is also gifted with an unbelievable voice from God. Han-Na has always wanted to be a pop-singer, but due to her appearance, could only work as a faceless singer. She provides the vocals for a popular singer named Ami, a beautiful young lady that can’t carry a note to save her life.

Also, Han-Na is in love with Ami’s music producer, Sang-June, but it is a one-sided love. One day, Han-Na is invited to Sang-June’s birthday party and receives a red dress from him to wear to his party. Han-Na was excited, yet scared. The dress is revealing and quite extravagant. With her very large figure, she is not sure if she could wear such an outfit She does eventually go to the party in the red dress, but is mortified when petite Ami appears in the same red dress. During the course of the birthday party, Han-Na absorbs more emotional trauma and she simply disappears….

here’s the trailer..

here’s a very cool song titled ‘Maria’

(Bigger version available here) 

On the way home from my local university district last week, I noticed this Chamisul/참이슬 soju advertisement of Kim Ah-jung/김아중’s being put up outside all the bars and restaurants:

(Better versions of this and similar posters available here)

For those that don’t know, Kim Ah-jung is a front-line soldier in Korea’s ‘Soju Wars,’ and a few months ago I wrote a post about what soju advertisements largely featuring innocent, virginal looking women and those for beer featuring “manly” men say about drinking culture here, and especially societal notions of “appropriate” expressions of sexuality. Those earlier posts cover those issues in a lot of detail; today’s post is mainly just about some things I’ve noticed since.

First up, I agree, “innocent and virginal” wasn’t the first thing that came to mind when I saw that poster either. But that is precisely what makes this ad so interesting, as all of her previous ads in the series had been up until now - in a way, hers had been the last bastion of male-targeted ads that had presented women like that. New readers might justifiably argue that I’m reading too much into that one ad, but then compare these (mostly) older, more traditional ones still hanging up inside those bars as it was going up: 

True, not all of those are for beer or soju, and given that the decidedly non-virginal Lee Hyori/이효리 was in the third picture, working for a rival company, then the new emphasis on Kim Ah-jung’s “S-line” and the placement of her hand in response was pretty predictable.

In the meantime, the third picture from the bottom is for the medicinal wine Sansachun/산사춘, something also very much on my mind recently. Judging by past commercials, it appears to be primarily marketed towards women, but then I only started thinking about it in the first place because of this now ubiquitous poster with Jeong Ryeo-won/정려원 in it:  

The TV commercials are still definitely aimed towards women, but surely it’s not just me thinking that something’s amiss in that ad? A female friend thought nothing of it, but I still can’t help but think that that particular one would appeal more to men…it certainly works on me. Is the idea that men would like women who drink it? What do readers think?

I’m also tempted to talk about Bronwyn Mullen appearing in so many idiotic beer commercials recently too (example below), but I’ve only just started watching Global Talk Show/미녀들의 수다 to study Korean with, and besides which, Matt at Gusts of Popular Feeling is better qualified then I to write about the subject of non-Koreans on television (see here and here for why). I’ll concentrate on Jeong Ryeo-won instead then, and will find and translate some “news” articles about the new Sansachul ad campaign next week.

Finally, I’d like to refocus on Kim Ah-jung, because less than half an hour after I saw those soju posters of hers, I saw these pictures of her from her school days on the internet:

No, I’m not going to laugh at her for her decidedly unglamorous high-school looks (I can hardly talk), nor lambaste her for (clearly) having had a lot of plastic surgery, which is pretty routine for average Koreans, let alone celebrities. But having watched 200 Pounds Beauty/미녀는 괴로워, like most people enjoying it despite myself, “art imitating life” can’t help but spring to mind after seeing the pictures?

By coincidence, I recently read over at Dramabeans that she’s considering starring in a sequel, which revolves about her regaining the weight. But although the soju ads may arguably have been her most successful “project” since the original movie, I personally predict that a sequel would be a disaster. After all, fat jokes weren’t the reason why so many people liked the first one…but a sequel that probably concentrates on them? Sounds like it would be a Korean version of The Nutty Professor, and about as successful.

If you’re interested in images and the media treatment of women in Korea, and if you’re still reading this despite the unflattering pictures above then you probably still are, then I recommend that you also read Dramabean’s post about real life “200 pounds beauty” Kim Mi-Ryeo/김미려. Unfortunately, real life didn’t quite imitate art in her case.

:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::

Hello, everyone. Due to the fact that I only post once a week, some of these news items might already be known by all. However, for those of you who do not know - here it is! The drama world is constantly making new creations. Some are bad and some are good. Thus to know what’s good, you must know what’s going on.

1. Hana Yori Dango gets Another Makeover - The ever popular storyline of Hana Yori Dango or HYD has been remade in Taiwan known as Meteor Garden by a group of foursome singer also known as F4. (However, due to legal reasons, they have now discard that name. I do not know their current name.) Now, Korea is set to have their own version of HYD. They are currently looking for the right cast members. Rumour has it, the main protagonist will be played by Yoon Eun Hye. Comparing Maki Tsukino from HYD Japan, Yoon Eun Hye’s recent role in Coffee Prince definitely makes her the perfect contender for the role: a tom-boy-ish personality with innocent views about the world. Perfect.
2. Big to Skinny to Big Again? - The surprising hit romantic-comedy, 200 Pounds Beauty, is set to have a sequel out by next year or so. This time, the protagonist has had one of those “yo-yo-ing effect” after her plastic surgery and has put on the pounds again! What to do? Kim Ah Joong, the main actress of the original movie, has yet to accept the returning role so we’ll see. I can’t really see anyone else besides her to play the role. I always hate it when cast members are changed in sequels. It just makes the experience that much more artificial.
3. Drama 2 Movies - Given the popularity of certain shows this year, many of which will also have a movie coming out after the series have ended. This year’s greatly anticipated movies include those for HYD and Galileo! Of the two, I am most excited about the HYD movie. I wonder what they’ll talk about now? Parenthood? Maki as a lawyer who must save one of the F4 from a nasty case? Domyouji messed up his company and the two now lives on the street? So many questions….
4. Taiyou no Uta was a disappointment. Will have the review up later.

That’s all, folks. Hope you enjoy these little tid-bits about Drama Land. Sources for the these news come from Dramabeans and Asian Entertainment News.

O_O Don’t really like it that K-movie follows the style of so many Hollywood movies. Even though there are some sequels/prequels that are well-made (and even better than the first one) but IMO, those are in the minority.

200 Pounds Beauty was originally based on a Japanese manga/novel (don’t remember which type it is) and now they are going to make a second movie - I wonder, will it be as entertaining as the first? What will be the theme this time? Bad idea, IMO.

As for The Host 2, which is a prequel to The Host, I wonder how they are going to tie-up with The Host. Or maybe no tie-up at all ??

Read about it in Variety Online… 

Okay, today I’m not talking about programming or any software related thing. I’m talking about movie now because there is a moral behind this story about this world, something we need to ponder about.

Well, this is actually not a new movie, but I think many people have still watched it again and again. I am one of them.

200 Pounds Beauty. A Korean movie.
Hilarious, but ironic, I believe, but really touching at the end. Whether you finally agree with the moral of the end of the story or not, you are the one who have the opinion.

This movie is about Anna (some said Hanna), an overweight girl who worked as a lip sync vocalist for someone else just because she was overweight and ugly (sorry for the word, but this is from a review text I got) to have her own stage performance, so the producer placed her as a lip sync vocalist for Ammy, a sexy famous Korean pop singer in the story, who actually had no good in singing, she was only good in dancing.

It was because Ammy was slim and sexy, so the producer put her on the stage no matter how bad her own singing was. And Anna, her voice was beautiful but her appearance was ugly. The producer might have felt that he couldn’t waste Anna’s beautiful voice and talents in singing but he just felt he couldn’t display her on the stage, so how? He put Ammy, the sensational sexy artist to perform the dancing and movement, while our main character Anna, sang for her at the hidden place.
Yeah, quite not fair, right? I think this is the message behind the story about this world’s entertainment.

Anna, however, had great talent in singing and had a very beautiful voice. And she even had a side job as the girl who answered sex-phone-chat-line (*surprised*) because she needed a lot of money for her Dad, who had Alzeimer disease (I guess).

I love the “Byeol” song by the way (both version, sung by Kim Ah Joong who played as Anna, and also by the original singer Yumi), and “Ave Maria” sung by Kim Ah Joong herself.

Later, Anna got humiliated by Ammy, in front of the people including the producer whom she liked a lot. Anna felt desperate and decided to disappear from the people’s sight. She once tried to commit suicide, but one phone call from her sex-phone-line regular customer (surprised that she even had this one?) changed her life. The customer was a plastic surgery doctor and she later decided to go to the doctor’s place to get a total makeover on her body from head to bottom. *gulp*

You have to see when she came to the doctor’s room and gave ‘threat’ to the doctor in order to get a total plastic surgery makeover for her. I almost fell down rolling on the floor laughing when I saw this part of movie.

So later the doctor agreed to give the plastic surgery. And then Anna disappeared for months. Nobody could contact her. The producer and Ammy had to cancel the new album for Ammy because … who would sing for Ammy then?

Several months later, Anna had become totally new person after the final surgery. Slim and beautiful lady. And when she appeared, her own best friend even didn’t believe that it was the fat and ugly Anna. There were several funny shots in the movie related to this one related to how people (especially the men) reacted when they saw the new Anna.

The rest of the story was … well, go find the movie for yourself. It is worth to watch, by the way. Kim Ah Joong is great. She is really funny and touching in the movie.

Even though I don’t agree with plastic surgery, I have to admit I love this movie and I have watched it again and again. Not to mention how I love the songs “Byeol” and “Ave Maria”. Both of the songs worth to be heard! I would recommend you to hear these songs.

The movie itself was really funny despite the moral behind the story, but at the end, I still don’t agree with plastic surgery. However, I don’t blame Anna guilty either.

You might be curious and want to see the teasers. I have shared the .flv files online and you can view the whole teasers here. There are 2 files in the album.

Or if you want to download the files separately, you can get the first teaser here. The size is 7.32 MB for the teaser, the background song was “Ave Maria” sung by Kim Ah Joong.

and this second video is the “Byeol” song clip cut from the movie itself (3.38 MB).
This is the part when the new Anna applied for new lip sync vocalist position for Ammy. Well, quite ironic, it means she applied as a replacement for herself, because back then, the vocalist was the fat Anna, herself. But this song struck me a chord, I mean, WOW, very clear voice and you know, start from that point, this song has made me start to learn Hangul from that moment, in order to be able to sing the song correctly because we can sometimes mistaken the vowels o, eo, u, eu, in transliteration, unless you do literate in Hangul, so I had better read the Hangul lyrics then to know how to spell their words correctly.

Okay, back to the movie story. You might guess it. The producer even decided to promote her on her own stage. So, she finally sang for her own album. And the sexy Ammy … well … bye bye Ammy.

Kim Ah Joong is a great singer herself, in my opinion. I really love Byeol song.

BTW, the movies are in .flv format. You can watch all those movie clips using RealPlayer or any FLV player. If you like these teasers, seek the 200 Pounds Beauty DVD on your favorite online DVD movie shops. Really worth to watch, because this one will bring you a lot of laughs and stress reliefs.

Wikipedia even has its page about this movie.
Check it out at this URL:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/200_Pounds_Beauty

(Photo by JFA-japan)

In my post yesterday, I discussed some of the weird things you see on Japanese TV and in magazines, and defended (some of) them by quoting this passage from page 118 of this edition of the 1992 Michael Crichton novel Rising Sun:

“Remember, Japan has never accepted Freud or Christianity. They’ve never been guilty of embarrassed about sex. No problem with homosexuality, no problem with kinky sex. Just matter-of-fact. Some people like it a certain way, so some people do it that way, what the hell. The Japanese can’t understand why we get so worked up about a straight-forward bodily function. They think we’re a little screwed up on the subject of sex. And they have a point.”

I still agree with that…but then I’d completely forgotten Japanese game shows. As this post (edit: NSFW, sorry!) from the blog Sand & Cotton has just reminded me, freedom of expression is just fine and dandy, but surely it can’t be good for empowerment of Japanese women when they turn on the TV to games like Guess the Fake Orgasm, the Hot Tub Game, and Whose Boobies are the Bounciest?, the latter complete with attached stepcounters.

Now, I am against sexism in all its forms, but if it does have to have a form then I can think of much worse than women in bikinis making idiots of themselves on TV. Seriously though, I have been wondering for years about what things like that say about the relative positions of women in Japanese and Korean society, although really it’s a no-brainer: after all, Korean feminists can rightly complain about things like TvNgels, the unwritten rule that female comedians have to dress as schoolgirls, and movies like 200 Pounds Beauty/미녀는 괴로워 below teaching women that plastic surgery is the solution to all of their problems, but surely none of that compares to games like The Last to Orgasm is the Winner?

(Photo by hichetu)

:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::

200 Pounds Beauty is a lighted hearted korean comedy which actually conveys a message to the audiences.

Its about a really fat girl called Hanna(played by Kim Ah Joong) who is really good at singing, but obviously she’s not attractive, therefore she could only be a ‘ghost singer’ for Ammy. Hanna would be the one who sings backstage while Ammy would be the person lipsyncing and performing on stage. Hanna is secretly in love with Sang-jun(played by Joo Jin Mo), the manager for Ammy, but dared not confess to him. Then one day, Ammy humilitated Hanna by making a joke outta her and after Hanna overheard some hurting words about her during the conversation between Sang-jun and Ammy, she decided to do a full body makeover/plastic surgery.

Hanna disappeared for a yr to haf the surgery, leaving Ammy’s singing career in distress as she wont be able to perform. After the surgery, Hanna had a complete transformation and became an attractive girl who makes guys swoon over her. Even her best friend could not recognise her.

Sang-jun and the company was trying to find another good voice for Ammy, but did not managed to find a suitable candidate until Hanna went for the audition. Hanna introduced herself as Jenny to Sang-jun. Sang-jun didnt recognise her but was drawn to her amazing vocal and he thinks that she has the potential to become a singer. So Hanna become a singer known as Jenny and she took on the role of being Jenny, putting all her past behind her.

The movie talks about plastic surgery and put them in a new light. It shows how plastic surgery managed to give confidence to a lady and the great difference in treatment received by an ugly woman vs an attractive one. Through the exaggerated response of the guys towards the attractive Hanna, it reflects how fiticious and superfical human beings are. Being ugly is not a crime, but being pretty will bring much benefits.

Besides that, the movie also conveyed the message that it is important to not forget one’s self and identity and also their family and friends.

After the surgery, Hanna didnt wan her past identity to be found out, therefore she told ppl that she’s a real/geniune beauty. Apart from that, she also stopped visiting her father who is in hospital(her father is generally okay, but appears to suffer from dementia). Ammy suspected that ‘Jenny’ is Hanna after a conversation she had with Hanna.

In one incident, Ammy brought Hanna’s father to an event, hoping that Hanna’s identity would be revealed, but surprisingly Hanna didnt acknowledge her father. Her good friend was upset by the way she treated her father and also by the change in attitude and behaviour of Hanna after her surgery, therefore their friendship became more distant. Sang-jun apparently found out about Hanna’s real identity eventually and Ammy threatened the company, sending a picture of the past Hanna and saying that she’ll reveal Hanna’s identity to the public.

Hanna’s real identity became known to the company and in order to prevent the loss which may be made by the company if the news got spreaded, the boss wanted to cancel Hanna’s large scale concert which was supposed to be held the next day and planned to release a porn photo album of Hanna so that the company can make as much money as they can out of her. This is strongly objected by Sang-jun and he pressed for Hanna’s concert to be held.

Hanna concert was held as planned but upon seeing her father, Hanna couldnt control her emotions after her father was too ethusiastic and was going to be brought away by the security.
Hanna made a confession on stage and told the audience that she was once an ugly girl who sang backstage but mananged to become the Jenny that she is now after her surgery. However, she said that in the process of becoming Jenny, she lost her true self and identity. She no longer noes who she is and she’s like an empty shell whoose soul is lost in the process.

Her speech touched the audience and she made headlines after that. She gained more fans and also more anti-fans( a very serious problem faced by korean celebrities as these anti fans are really crazy and could even do things that could harm the celebrities which they do not like).

Hanna’s heart-felt speech made me teared abit and it really highlight the importance of us living our life and acknowledging and accepting ourselves as who we are. Besides that the fact tat Hanna’s good friend took care of Hanna’s father after Hanna dis-acknowledge him and also how Hanna went to look for the guy and beat the guy up after the guy ditched her friend, causing her to try committing suicide showed us the dept of friendship and how true friends would always be there in times of trouble to provide support.

I was quite surprised after knowing tat Kim Ah Joong is an actress and not a singer turned actress as she can really sing! The soundtracks in the movie is quite enjoyable and I especially like Kim Ah Joong’s Maria(the song is embedded in the beginning of the post). Kim Ah Joong looks quite pretty at some angle and her acting in the movie was not bad.

Joo Jin Mo, the male lead is hot. Here’s a picture of him
(picture credits: soompi and http://img.search.hanmail.net/)

I think he’s not tt photogenic, so dun be so quick to judge him by the photos of him. He looks better on screen IMO. You gotta watch the movie first before deciding

In all, 200 Pounds Beauty is an entertaining comedy which is worth watching. Its not just merely some brainless comedy but also conveys meaningful messages to the audience.

Hello to my frequent readers (if there’s still any… ;_;)! Firstly, I must say that I have a legitimate reason for not posting for about 2 weeks straight - too much homework. This always seem to happen before a big break. My teachers will suddenly have the urge to give the class tons of homework and or quizzes. However, things are beginning to quiet down so I’ll be able to write more reviews soon. Right now, I’d like to briefly update on the status of some of the dramas that I’ve seen, seeing, or will see.

Seen:

• 9 Ends 2 Outs: Still on episode 12. Due to technical difficulties and veoh.com making all 30+ mins video into a 5 min preview, I have not been able to watch the rest of the series. But honestly speaking, the show is boring me to the bones. I don’t really care what happen anymore. The beginning few episodes lay the store to be about love at 30s, answering the confusing question of what’s the difference between a best friend and a lover, and baseball + love = strange personification. Now, nothing’s being answered and there’s not even a clear direction in what the drama is about anymore. I feel disappointed.
• Thank You: I believe I was on episode 11. I will definitely continue this series because it’s actually good. There’s only a bit of hesitation on my part because I still hate the mother character a lot due to her uselessness, but I’ll watch it anyway.
• 200 Pounds Beauty: This is a Korean movie that won much praises last year or the year before… The story focuses on a (for lack of better words) fat, back-up singer who sings in a dark room while another, much more beautiful singer pretends she’s the one singing. She falls in love with the music producer but of course he doesn’t like her. After hearing him calls her fat, having nothing but her ability to sing, etc, she decides to get plastic surgery to become beautiful. While the story tries to give both sides of the argument (plastic surgery is good/plastic surgery is bad) a chance, I find them not to be very proficient. However, it’s funny, heart-warming, and worth a look-see.

Seeing:

• Hana Yori Dango: I know I’m a bit late for appreciating this drama but I just haven’t the time to watch it. However, who knew the first season is only 9 episodes long!? Awesome. Great story, great actors, and riveting story lines. It’s definitely comparable to Hana Kimi.
• Galileo: A show much like CSI and Supernatural together. A young detective teams up with a quirky and an-inch-away-from-being-crazy physict to solve strange cases. With science everything is resolved by the 2nd half of the episode and everyone learns an important lesson about life. So good.

Will See:

• Hana Yori Dango 2