Lee Tae Gon 이태곤

[Denali]

Rubie,

Thanks for the images, the information and your hard work on this thread. His recent role in "Assorted Gems" has shed a new light on him, after his tremendous success in "Love in heaven" (with Yoon Jeong Hee, who was outstanding in "Family Honor", my second favorite k-drama).

His voice is deep, he articulates his lines and he is thus such a pleasure to listen to. Some might add, after the display of his muscles in "AG" that he also is a pleasure to watch, especially with that new haircut.

[rubie]

Hi hi Denali, welcome to Lee Tae Gon thread. Gosh.. it's been awhile since the last update.. I even missed his birthday.. mianhe Taegon-ssi. :blush: But so happy to hear the various positive comments plus gushes on this charming actor. I haven't actually seen 'Assorted Gems' but definitely going to.. and especially glad that it's not like the depressing 'Winter Bird' which we had to wait all the way for the good ending that came at the very.. very.. very end. I sure hope the local tv would air the latest series as it'll be subbed completely.. like 'Dear Heaven' that I enjoyed so much, thus the appreciation till today.

Found some cool photos of LTG to share.. which is a real treat knowing how hard to find his pics..

Source: rextailor.co.kr

[rubie]

Apparently .. not a new article or photo.. but related to LTG's current / latest series.. gosh.. I'm so outdated :blush:

http://news.nate.com/view/20090904n16047

[Guest Tarits]

Hi to everyone - I am a great fan of Cha Seung Won and then chanced upon Assorted Gems and fell in love with Lee Tae Gon. Now I am a fan and have recommended the drama to my friends over at the thread of City Hall, Kim Sun-Ah and Cha Seung Won. I hope LTG gets paired with Kim Sun Ah and think they will look good together. Assorted Gems is one of those rare dramas that sustains/sustained my interest next only to City Hall and the other drama "Lovers". Assorted Gems is one funny but romantic drama and everyone acts so well.

Rubie - thanks so much for starting this fan thread for LDG. I hope he gets to be recognized more by fans all over the world and this thread grows longer and longer. I can't wait to get my own copy of the Assorted Gem dvd. I will also try to find on line his previous projects. More power to you as the administrator of this thread!

[rubie]

^ Hello Tarits, welcome to LTG thread!

New drama role for Lee Tae Gon, after Assorted Gems?

kr.news.yahoo.com

kr.news.yahoo.com

[koalabear]

^ Lee Tae-gon will star in the upcoming daily drama, Golden Fish which will air in MBC

http://news.nate.com/view/20100219n04091 / http://news.nate.com/view/20100219n04836

Lee Tae Gon and So Yu Jin to share a tragic love in MBC upcoming daily drama "Golden Fish".

Golden fish will be centering on the tragic fated love between the two main lead characters played by Lee Tae Gon and So Yu Jin respectively. Lee Tae Gon will be playing a man who falls in love with the daughter (So Yu Jin) of the woman whom his father remarried. Golden fish will be airing in apr10 after Life is Good ends.

src: Yeohweping @ Drama Schedule Thread

really curious to watch Assorted Gems, I haven't seen LTG again after watching Winter Bird haha

[rubie]

Thanks koala for the update.. that's great to know indeed. Another leading role for LTG.. the plot seems similar to Dear Heaven but a tragic one.. that would be something new. Looks like LTG may have signed a contract for MBC dramas these days.

Btw.. I haven't seen Assorted Gems as well. Let's watch it together and share our LTG thoughts here. That would be awesome. :blush: Seems that AG is much better than WB.. appearance-wise for LTG.. of course.

[Guest Tarits]

Rubie - thanks for the welcome. I have finished watching AGems but am rewatching it with good english sub over at dramafever. But to hold interest, dramafever has up to episode 36 only and adds new episodes weekly until the final episode. I read about LTG's new drama and look forward to watching it. I hope he really gets good roles so that his fanbase will grow bigger. I also check out his fancafe too. Thanks for the new photos. LTG looks great!

[rubie]

[MBC drama 2010 - airing] Golden Fish 황금물고기

http://www.soompi.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=336839

Lee Tae Gon, Jo Yoon Hee, So Yoo Jin, Park Sang Won

March 31, 2010 - Golden Fish Script Reading

Golden Fish first filming stills

Source: kr.news.yahoo.com / kr.news.yahoo.com

[Guest celebrities88]

[Guest kimdaiphong]

No one continue this topic?

ha ha. I have seen the gameshow Strong heart - He made a deep impression. He is really a smart man.

[Guest Lilazinprincess]

Saw him in Jewel Bibimbap. Decent actor with potential. Unfortunately, he deserves more attention. Waiting for the right drama where his talent will be recognized.

[YoonShiYoonFan]

Lee Tae Gon is so hot!!!

[koalabear]

Here are pics from Lee Tae-gon's guesting on the Variety Show Golden Fishery last night

By sassygirl17 at 2010-10-20

By sassygirl17 at 2010-10-20

By sassygirl17 at 2010-10-20

By sassygirl17 at 2010-10-20

src: Yahoo! Korea

Duting the show he revealed that he debuted as a CF model and one of his earlier CF's starred him with late actress Choi Jin-shil (his appearance was just a few seconds in the ad)

By sassygirl17 at 2010-10-20

src: Yahoo! Korea

LTG revealed that he was anxious at that time to shoot the CF since he was just a newbie that time but he is thankful to CJS for giving him acting tips and taking care of him that time during the CF shoot. He also revealed that he also had his body insured for another CF and the other jobs that he did before he started acting. To the surprise of the hosts of the show, he also said that he is of the same age as WonBin (both are born in 1977). I'm now curious and would want to watch his interview as currently he is the trending topic of some Korean Search Portals.

Here are some links from the Golden Fishery thread c/o semi-fly

http://www.soompi.com/forums/topic/93784-variety-goldfish/page__view__findpost__p__16575375

[Guest jjowah]

as much as i like his acting, i think it was a little too soon for him to appear on golden fishery. i hope the netizens don't criticize him for that. its known as the show where only the most accomplished and famous koreans go on..albeit a few off appearances.. this was a surprise!!

[koalabear]

^ I was actually surprised too but hopefully he will not be criticized for appearing on the show since I guess he just shared some of his experiences as a celebrity and to clear some misconceptions about him (like one article said that he was a son of a station executive or something like that) and he is really promising so I hope soon he will get a project that will make him shine more as an actor or make him more recognized. The concept of Golden Fishery is guests appear on the show to ask for advice regarding some of their concerns, I wonder what LTG asked Knee Drop guru Kang Ho-dong

[Guest moepusu]

HI

I'm a new fan of LTG. Does anyone know where can I download Golden Fish Drama with English Subtitle?

Thank you in advance

[koalabear]

^ you can download episode links from the Golden Fish thread here

http://www.soompi.com/forums/topic/336839-drama-2010-golden-fish-%ed%99%a9%ea%b8%88%eb%ac%bc%ea%b3%a0%ea%b8%b0/

but I don't think the Episodes are English-subbed since it is hard to sub a daily drama which lasts for 100+ episodes

here is Part 2 of Lee Tae-gon's Golden Fishery Interview (src: semi-fly)

http://www.soompi.com/forums/topic/93784-variety-goldfish/page__view__findpost__p__16600065

[rubie]

November 10, 2010

Lee Tae Gon – Oh Seung Hyun “Marriage requirements…both families know” admit relationship

By Song Ji Woo (idsoft3@reviewstar.net)Source: ReviewStar (Original article in Korean) Translated by Timothy Nam / Korea.com

Seoul, Korea – Lee Tae Gon and Oh Seung Hyun have admitted that they are in a relationship.

On the 9th, Lee Tae Gon and Oh Seung Hyun’s relationship was revealed through a media source. In accordance, the two have revealed that “We are currently in a very good relationship”. Lee Tae Gon and Oh Seung Hyun both have no need to hide the relationship.

The two are known to have first met through Im Yae Jin this spring and that sprung into a relationship. Also, it has been speculated that the two are set to be married as soon as they admitted their relationship.

This is because both are in the prime age to get married and Lee Tae Gon, in an appearance on MBC’s Golden Fishery – Knee Guru on October 27th, remarked “I don’t have anyone in mind but I plan to get married in April 2012”.

However both sides have remarked “While we are looking towards being married, we do not have a specific date set”, adding “Both families know about the relationship”.

Meanwhile, Lee Tae Gon is currently starring in the soon to end MBC soap opera Golden Fish, and is in Australia for a photo-shoot. Oh Seung Hyun debuted in the 1997 Super Elite Model contest and has starred in dramas such as Rookie, Snow White, and I Love You, Don’t Cry.

[rubie]

November 12, 2010

Founder of largest English K-pop site 'Soompi'

Korean-American web developer creates first global online community devoted to K-pop, Asian entertainment

By Cathy Rose A. Garcia cathy@koreatimes.co.kr

Main page of the ultimate K-pop site “Soompi”

If you’re looking for news about a SuperJunior concert, reviews for a 2NE1 album, recaps of Korean drama "Sungkyunkwan Scandal" or simply anything about Korean entertainment, chances are you’ll find it on Soompi.com.

Soompi.com is the oldest and currently the largest English-language online community devoted to Korean and Asian entertainment, with a million unique visitors every month.

Soompi has come a long way from its early days as a personal online shrine devoted to K-pop started by Korean-American Susan Kang in 1998.

"I had recently graduated from college with nothing much to do. As a recent fan of both K-pop and the Internet (AOL was all the rage), I noticed that there weren't any English-language sites devoted to Korean pop music or TV dramas, so I purchased a book called `Make Your Own Website with Microsoft Word '97’, and the rest, as they say, is history," Kang said, now a 35-year-old mother living in Irvine, Calif., in an email interview with The Korea Times.

Kang’s original site, Soompitown, was fairly simple. She would just upload photos of her favorite K-pop acts like H.O.T., S.E.S., Shinhwa and FinKL and English translations of Korean magazine articles, as well as post CD audio samples and her own album reviews. Basically, Kang ran the website out of "love" for K-pop.

(If you’re wondering about the meaning of Soompi, it simply refers to a nickname that a roommate’s family gave Kang in college.)

In the early 2000s, hallyu or the Korean wave began spreading around Asia and international fans discovered Soompi, the first website that actually provided English-language information about their favorite Korean stars.

Soon Soompi became more and more popular, requiring more servers and more technical expertise. A team of volunteers helped moderate the forums and post content on the website, but Kang, who also worked full-time as a web developer, was running the website on her own as a hobby and it was starting to feel burdensome.

For one, it was getting expensive to pay for the server fees out of her own pocket, although it was partially funded by member donations and small ad buys.

Then came the fateful day, Oct. 5, 2005, when the entire Soompi website crashed. Its entire database of 80,000 members and millions of forum posts was gone. "I seriously thought of just making that the end of Soompi, as I'd been running the site as a hobby for seven years at that point, and was paying for the servers completely out of my own pocket," she said.

"The turning point was when we re-opened an empty forum with 0 members and 0 posts, and within 5 days, we already had 40,000 members. That's when I knew that Soompi was bigger and more important than just one person's hobby."

Soon, it became apparent that a more serious, business-oriented approach to Soompi was needed.

In 2006, Joyce Lan Kim, a lawyer then working for technology firms in Silicon Valley, joined Soompi to handle the business side, albeit on a part-time basis.

"I joined the company, working on advertising and thinking of ways the company can break even. Susan never started this with business in mind. It was always just about fun. It was about bringing K-pop to the people. But how we make this sustainable is our job," Kim told The Korea Times at a coffee shop in downtown Seoul, last week.

Last year, Kang and Kim both decided to leave their full-time jobs and focus on Soompi.

The 33 year old Kim, who studied at Cornell and Harvard universities and received a law degree from Columbia University, had no second thoughts giving up a law career. She sees Soompi as a good business opportunity with K-pop’s potential to expand around the world.

Soompi is may not yet be profitable, but there is no doubt it is an Internet success with 500,000 registered members, and attracts over one million unique visitors every month (``That's like a small city,'' Kim quipped.) Revenues are currently generated from ads, premium membership and affiliate programs, but not enough for the company to break even.

There may be other K-pop websites that attract more hits, but Soompi has the most activity among community members, such as posting content and comments on the site. "Our success comes from covering such a wide variety of topics - not only the latest K-pop news, but Korean dramas and variety shows, original fan fiction, our own member-run shops, beauty & fashion, among so much more," Kang said.

Aside from sections on entertainment news, fan clubs and beauty & fashion, Soompi also has its own weekly music chart and annual contests, such as Soompi Idol, Soompi Dance Idol, Soompi Ulzzang, fan fiction writing and graphics contests.

All contests were originally started by Soompi members themselves. This year, Soompi Ulzzang Contest, a modeling competition for Soompi members, has become an official event and sponsored by Korean entertainment company Sidus HQ.

Member feedback is invaluable to keeping Soompi relevant. Whenever new features are launched, Soompi looks at the comments from members and makes the appropriate tweaks. Members can also vote for which Soompi fan clubs should be created next, as well as recommend new forums and sub-forums.

Soompi is working to make the site more user-friendly. "It's not a hobby anymore. We have to do it for real. Functionality is very important for us. We are definitely working on making it easier to use, and on getting great content," Kim said.

In terms of technical innovations, the Soompi Street Teams Twitter application is being launched. This will make it easier for fans to get their favorite K-pop idols on Twitter’s top trending topics.

"We wanted to make it easier for everybody to join together and tweet in support of their celebs. Twitter is not just for K-pop, because it's for everyone... Each time a K-pop celebrity ends up as a Twitter topic, people go, `who is this guy?’ Like when (SuperJunior member) Kim Hee-chul was trending on Twitter, everyone was talking about him... We can expose more people to the world of K-pop," Kim said.

An Asian website

Soompi is no longer just devoted to Korean pop music, but Asian pop and entertainment in general. It is also very much a global community, with most members from the U.S., Canada, Australia, Singapore, Philippines and Indonesia.

The majority or 81 percent of Soompi members are Asian, while 8 percent are white, 5 percent are multi-ethnic and the rest are African-American, Hispanic and other ethnicities. The most surprising fact was 60 to 80 percent of the non-Asian groups said they "know some Korean."

"It’s mostly non-Koreans, as opposed to 7 or 8 years ago when majority were Korean-Americans. Now Korean Americans are a minority on the site. We have ever growing number of people who are not even Asian. We have Caucasians, African-Americans, Middle East, Latin American, South East Asians," Kim said.

Soompi stands out because of its tight-knit community and its members. "Soompi is very community-focused, not just information or gossip-focused. It feels like home to many, and there are many members who have literally grown up on the site ― from Junior High to High School to College to getting married and having children," Kang said.

Noticeably, the Soompi forums are relatively free from the anti-fans and trolls who frequent K-pop websites to post vitriolic comments that rile up fans.

"I think our biggest defining feature is our members. Our members are the ones who do the subtitles, episode recaps and organize fan meetings," Kim said. "We have good members."

Future of Kpop & Soompi

Perhaps it is not an exaggeration to say that Soompi has helped give a boost to K-pop and Korean entertainment’s popularity among English speakers.

But while K-pop is undeniably big in Asia, there is yet to be a real K-pop breakthrough in the U.S., despite attempts by Rain, Wonder Girls and Se7en. "Honestly, I'm not sure if the U.S. is ready to accept Asians as idols, as Asians are still widely portrayed as awkward geeks or kung fu masters on TV and film, but I do believe it's just a matter of 'when', not 'if'. I hope it's sooner than later," Kang said.

Looking back, Kang admitted being constantly amazed and inspired by the level of commitment and amount of time people will willingly volunteer to support their favorite idols. "Passion will drive people to do crazy and wonderful things," she said.

In the future, Soompi hopes to leverage its brand value as the oldest K-pop online resource, and to continue fanning the flames of K-pop and Asian pop fever around the world.

"In 10 years, I'll be 45 years old. I hope by then, the Soompi community will still be going strong, with the love for Korean and Asian pop being passed to a much wider audience. We'll still be providing the best place for people to express their fandom and meet others who share their passion," Kang said.