Iljimae’s sister is getting married!

Listen to this song! Does it not make you want to get up and do silly things? Anyway. It’s called Marry Me Today, and is a duet between Jolin Tsai and David Tao. I thought it was appropriate, given the post’s subject matter.

If you like it, drop me a link and I’ll upload it for you people.

Remember Lee Yeon the fair, who died an unjust death at the hands of the evil people? Well, the actress is getting married to some big shot actor. (Fans, please refrain from tomatoing, I have not been following kdramas that long and this guy looks like a distinct candidate for ajusshi-hood. Though his abs are to be relied upon. Perhaps physically.)

Positively angst-ridden, that episode. Anyway, here’s what she looks like when she’s not the sister of a wanted man.

Gorgeous woman, that Son Tae Young. And she’s getting married sometime in September to (give me a few moments to google search the man, thank you) Kwon Sang Woo.

May this smoking hot couple enjoy many years of married bliss (unlike some other celebrity couples even I could name) and much happiness!

Sevenses

P.S. I can’t believe I just wrote what amounts to a gossip column. Yikes.

P.P.S. ONLY THREE DAYS ZOMG.

Character Guide for Iljimae

So Lyn dearest asked for a clarification on the maze that is the relationship between people in Iljimae - I remember drawing charts for a friend about Hong Gil Dong, and uh, being deprived of a scanner, I shall have to explain in words. (It helps me keep things clear too.)

Okay, first off, we’ll start with the person the show’s named after:

Iljimae

• He’s more commonly known as Yong, son of Dani and Swe Dol. To those in the know, he’s actually the adopted son of Dani and Swe Dol. His real name is Lee Kyum and his father was Lord Lee Won Ho. He also had an older sister named Yeon. He lost his memory at a young age due to the trauma of watching his father die and then having to save himself by injuring his mother - Dani comes upon him and takes him home. When he grows up, he has no memory of who he really is, and is constantly picked on by a pack of young nobles he goes to school with. One day, in desperation to save Swe Dol’s hand from being chopped off, he accepts to fight. While being beaten into the ground, he remembers his past. As he doesn’t know who killed his father but does recall an etching on the man’s sword, he becomes Iljimae to search the houses of nobles who are part of an association called Friends of Heaven. He learns his thieving skills from Swe Dol and has mastered impressive martial arts skills from Kunghe monk. On the romance side of things, Bong Soon is helplessly in love with him, while Eun Chae only loves Iljimae, thinking Yong to be an uncouth thug and mourning Kyum as her dead love. (Interestingly, she’s the only character who’s met all three personifications - Bong Soon came too late for Kyum and has yet to come face to face with Iljimae.) He shows a partiality for Eun Chae but sees Bong Soon like a friend (and treats her like an annoyance). In daily life, he acts as a useless hooligan and frustrates the life out of his adoptive parents.

The Main Protagonists (aka, people who help Yong)

Swe Dol:

• A kindhearted and somewhat failed thief who raises Shi Hoo (until he was 9) and Yong like his own sons. He was hired by Lee Won Ho’s mother to get rid of Dani (see below), who was by then pregnant with Lee Won Ho’s child. LWH himself pays Swe Dol to take Dani away and keep her and her child safe. He does so. Later, Byun Shik forces him to plant evidence of treason in LWH’s yard, and in a strange twist of fate, Shi Hoo does so, to save Swe Dol. He’s felt guilty towards Yong ever since, and considers nothing too much for the repayment of his deeds against Yong.

Prime Minister and servants

• Close friend of Lee Won Ho. He never accepted the fact that LWH was conspiring against the king and discovered that his friend was actually framed. This leads to the annihilation of himself as well as his family at the hands of the people who plotted LWH’s murder.

허락/Approval by 준서/Jun Seo, of the Legend Soundtrack

허락/Approval by 준서/Jun Seo

Download or listen to it here.

The song can also be translated as Forgive Me, so it’s really up to you how you transliterate it. Murti asked for the lyrics, so here they are:

또 다시 태어나는 그날에
ddo da shi tae eo na neun geu nal eh
The day we are born again

하늘이 허락하길 바래요
ha neul ee heo rak ha gil ba rae yo
May the Heavens approve

우리의 이뤄질수 없었던 사랑을…
woo ri eh ee ryeo jil su oep sseot deon sarang eul…
Our love which could not be realized…

하늘아 내 사랑을 가려줘
ha neul ah nae sarang eul ga ryeo jyo
Dear Heaven, cover up my love

바람아 내 아픔을 날려줘
ba ram ah nae ah peum eul nal ryeo jyo
Dear wind, blow away my pain

그대가 내 눈물을 모르게 부탁해 …
geu dae ga nae noon mool reul bo reu ge pu tak hae…
Please don’t let my tears be known to him/her…

All credits to dramaok of soompi. (God knows I can’t understand Korean to save my life.)

This was the best version I could find, Murti, hope that’s okay with you!

Sevenses

Legend Episode 12, recap

Episode 12

Damduk pays Jumuchi with land, instead of the customary money. Incidentally Damduk wins his loyalty.

Ho Gae comes to visit Damduk. When entering the palace, he remembers the time he spent together with Damduk before his mother’s death - aww. So cheerful and happy, kiddie! Ho Gae was. (Sorry for the Yoda-speak.)

Damduk doesn’t want ordinary citizens to die in the competition for the Jooshin king, but Ho Gae is determined to win.

Legend Episode 8, recap

The show is starting to depress me.

Episode 8

There is much unhappiness in the land. Literally.

Kiha is thinking of quitting, and requests this of Ho Gae. The boy’s totally smitten with her, but his happiness at her return is soon dashed by her declaration that Damduk is her beloved.

(She’s totally willing to give up the Phoenix heart for Damduk. Go Kiha!)

Kiha needs to learn how to read people better - she was much better when she was little. Ho Gae storms out in unhappiness.

Odette Toulemonde the movie

Seeing it on the rack in the movie rental section has prodded my memory… I wrote an absolutely scathing review of the movie a while ago. For your edification:

Odette Toulemonde, a review

In French class, we were required to read a short story and watch a movie, both named “Odette Toulemonde” (by Eric Emmanuel Schmitt, if you’re interested). I reacted very badly to it, and I don’t know how I wrote a 450 word comparative essay on it without burning the thing to fine, gray ashes.

Odette Toulemonde is a sweet, snappy (or should that be sappy?) love story about a successful Parisian writer and a Belgian sales clerk. The writer is named Balthazar Balsan and the sales clerk is named Odette Toulemonde (a funny name, by all accounts). It’s a nice story, well-written, but just not for me. I don’t like saccharine.

My major objection is not, however, contained within the overly sugared contents of both short story and movie. It is that the story purports to tout the overplayed and underrepresented (at least in literature) value of happiness and its absolute independence from money, status and other social factors while representing some really repugnant conservative/male-centric views. In short, the age old cliché: money doesn’t bring happiness (Inner cynic: it does, you moron) is used to cover some glaringly odd (or insulting, depending on how sensitive you are) items of interest.

More Iljimae Trailers

Am being a bad student, but am resigned… Thanks Idabi, for pointing them out!

I want to know.. who is that crazy girl in the flower hanbok (according to dramawiki her name is Bong Soon)?

Also, it looks like the director/writers are going to take advantage of Lee Junki’s tendency to overact and still look pretty to do the usual angst routine. Plus, flying on the roof! (And it gets bloody. As long as Iljimae/Ryung and Eun Chae don’t pull a GD/YN on us, I’ll be fine.)

Trailers are so dramatic though. Flashing light and fiery tendrils of fire lighting up Lee Junki’s somewhat wrapped face - doom impends! All we need is Gollum, a ring, and we’re set for LotR II.

Meh. Must go back and slave away at Gauss’s Law, among other things.

Love,

Sevenses