Fashion Face-off Friday: Trendy Tracksuits

In our last Fashion Face-off, Kim Tan and his Cookie Monster turtleneck were able to hold off some stiff competition from the Yzma lookalike on Miss Korea.

This time around, we're going to look at Kdrama tracksuits, which I secretly love. I mean, it's like wearing pajamas, but outside of the house. What's not to like? My only complaint is that Kdramas rarely allow women to take off their absurdly high heels and lounge around in comfy sportswear. I call sexism! Kdrama women, unite and demand your right to wear zip-up polyester from head to toe!

There are a few standouts in the arena of Kdrama tracksuits, so let's look at the challengers, shall we?

Contender 1: Kim Joo Won, Secret Garden

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Obviously. I mean, by the end of the show, I felt like his custom-made jogging suits were a character all on their own. They certainly did catch the eye, but on the downside, I can't imagine wearing those things to do any actual exercise. I have a strict no-running-in-sequins policy.

Contender 2: The Joseon Entourage, Rooftop Prince

It's like a couple's outfit, but for best friends! Suddenly, Lee Gak's entourage was transformed into the Joseon Power Rangers with the use of matching suits.

Contender 3: Kim Kwang Soo, Emergency Couple

This tracksuit inspired this post. Look at that camouflage magnificence! This guy knows what he likes, and he wears it like a boss.

Contender 4: Jo Gook, City Hall

I guess we can toss in a serious tracksuit for good measure. Don't be fooled by the fact that he actually plays sports in this thing--it's all a political statement in the end. But a handsome political statement, I must admit.

In the realm of Kdrama tracksuits, there can only be one champion. Vote below!

Best Kdrama Tracksuit
	Joo Won, Secret Garden
	Joseon entourage, Rooftop Prince
	Kim Kwan Soo, Emergency Couple
	Jo Gook, City Hall
pollcode.com free polls

Fashion Face-off Friday: Trendy Tracksuits

Who's That Actor? The "Other" Lee Min Ho

For our second round of "Who's That Actor?" I'm going to take a reader recommendation and highlight Lee Min Ho.

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Wait, nope, sorry--wrong Lee Min Ho there. Here's the one we're going to talk about today:

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That's right. There is more than one Lee Min Ho. *head explodes*


Because I feel bad that he's consistently known as "the other Lee Min Ho" or "Lee Min Ho born in 1993," I figured this guy deserved a moment on his own in the spotlight. I mean, in spite of being younger, this guy made his acting debut a full eight years before the other other Lee Min Ho (The more famous Lee Min Ho? This is getting complicated.), so you can imagine how he must have banged his head against a wall when Boys over Flowers and City Hunter happened and suddenly he was getting hate mail over his own freaking name. You've got to give the guy some credit for not caving and picking a stage name. Anti-fans are scary, scary people.

So props to you, Lee Min Ho!

Where you might have seen him:
His biggest role as a "child" actor was in The Moon the Embraces the Sun as the younger version of Jung Il Woo's character. He was also part of the Joseon entourage in Rooftop Prince, the helpful reporter buddy in The Prime Minister and I, and, although it rarely shows up on his credits, he was also the schoolyard thief kid in Sungkyunkwan Scandal.

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My favorite role: I'm an unashamed sucker for buddy comedies, so it would have to be the genius scholar Song Man Bo in Rooftop Prince for me. Nerdery always wins brownie points over here!

Fun facts: After his child actor years (where, coincidentally, he worked alongside Yoo Seung Ho), he decided that he didn't want his parents to force him into acting anymore, and he focused on soccer instead. Apparently, he was a prodigy soccer player headed for the pros before he rediscovered acting in high school and decided he liked it for himself. That story makes me like him even more, and I kind of wish he would challenge the older Lee Min Ho to a celebrity soccer match to the death. THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE! (Kind of like Highlander--minus the head chopping parts.)

So the next time you're scrolling through a cast list and think, "I didn't know Lee Min Ho was in that," you don't have to be confused! Just remember our dear friend, the other Lee Min Ho.

Who's That Actor? The "Other" Lee Min Ho

More Kdrama Hollywood Lookalikes

The last post we wrote reminded me that I had been meaning to post another round of Kdrama Hollywood Lookalikes since the first round I did was right at the beginning of this blog.  Some of these might seem kind of random, but they seriously drove me nuts until I figured out why their faces seemed so familiar.  Are k-dramas melting my brain for real, or do these people actually look somewhat similar?

1. Lee Yoon-ji (Dream High) and Jessica Alba

This one feels like a no-brainer to me.  The second Lee Yoon-ji walked onscreen, I thought, "Whoa! Jessica Alba has a Korean twin!" 

Jessica Alba photo source

I also vaguely recall that Jessica Alba was the star of some teen dance movie at some point, so they also have that in common.  This leads me to wonder what would happen if they met in an evil twin dance-off.  Who would win?  Would it break the laws of physics and explode the earth?  I don't know the answers to these things, but I DO know that when it comes to K-pop nemesis dance-offs, you can't do much better than this video.  Go watch it three times in a row, and then we'll get back to this list.

2. Sung Joon (Lie to Me) and Charlotte Gainsbourg and Charlotte Gainsbourg and Jung Ryeo-won (My Lovely Sam Soon).

To be fair to Sung Joon, Charlotte Gainsbourg (who was in a version of Jane Eyre, among other things) has a pretty androgynous face, so I'm not necessarily saying he looks like a lady (but maybe a little bit).  Still, I feel like they could be siblings separated at birth.

Charlotte photo source

That being said, the first time I saw My Lovely Sam Soon, I could not for the life of me figure out why Jung Ryeo-won seemed so familiar until I realized that something about the long, windswept hair and the way she carries herself also reminds me of Charlotte Gainsbourg (maybe because I saw a movie with her in it on Netflix not that long ago). 

Charlotte photo source

What I'm trying to say here is that if Sung Joon and Jung Ryeo-won had a baby, she would probably star in obscure French films.

3. Ji Hyun-woo (Queen In Hyun's Man) and Brendan Fehr

Circa 1999, Roswell was the hot new show for teens. Don't remember it?  Well, basically it was about hot angsty teenage aliens in love with hot angsty teenage humans. It was so hard for them to be in love because they came from different worlds.  

Sound familiar?  Well, now in 2013 I'm almost done watching Queen In Hyun's Man, which is about--you guessed it--hot young people learning how hard it is to be with someone who comes from a different world.  But the similarities don't stop there!  I spent the first episode of the series pausing my video stream, just trying to figure out why Ji Hyun-woo looked so familiar. It's because his facial expressions are really, really similar to Brendan Fehr's.  The problem is that it has to do more with the way their faces move than anything else, so getting a screen capture at just the right second was impossible.  Just trust me that they're the same, okay?

It's so hard to be so handsome and also so tormented by supernatural problems, isn't it?

4. Lee Won-jung (Vampire Prosecutor) and Jack Black

C'mon. Two lovingly chubby masters of physical comedy who just put a smile on your face. Can you imagine if Jack Black made a cameo on Vampire Prosecutor as an American detective who steals Soon-bum's thunder?  Can you?  I don't know why people don't pay me the big bucks to write these genius scenarios.

5. Choi Woo-shik (Rooftop Prince) and Tony Curtis

I know I already mentioned this one in my Rooftop Prince review, but the comparison (even when they're both in drag!) is uncanny, and I somehow felt like Choi Woo-shik would feel left out if he didn't end up with the other lookalikes, so here it is again!

So who did I miss?  What random lookalike connections have you made?

More Kdrama Hollywood Lookalikes

Kdramas in the Real World: Texts to a Bestie

When Coco wrote her post comparing her life to a k-drama, I started to wonder how I would react if her life suddenly turned into a kdrama.  Can you imagine the text conversations you would have if Geum Jan Di were your best friend?  I just did:

Which kdrama heroines do you wish would text you?  What would you say?

Kdramas in the Real World: Texts to a Bestie