Bae Yong Joon 배용준

[sunny88]

The advantage of being a new fan is that I have so much more to “discover” ! I am following  a few FB fan pages in addition to BYJ and Keyeast’s official Instagrams. I wrote a message to Keyeast asking them to give us fans at least some updates on BYJ from time to time.  BYJ’s instagram has over 70k followers, while some may not be active, it is still a huge number for someone who has been out of the spotlight for so long. 

 

Sorry for the rambling as I am just so excited after seeing more of his work and need to share it with others who understand the feeling  My husband joked that he is jealous because he has never seen me so smitten by anyone before! LOL 

 

 

[mstamatoff]

On behalf of Elena Tikhonova from the Ukraine:

Winter Sonata melody - beat one: a strange adolescent.

Withdrawn, standout, bristling, mysterious and very bright. Thinking in an inordinary way, that's why weird and appealing to the girls. Because, in order to conquer a woman's heart there is no better way than scilent distance. The more a young man tries to stay "a thing inside himself", the more curiosity he attracts. The more ardently people want to reveal the content of the casket.

 

It's natural for a strong personality to try to find his place in this world. The family turns into a starting point. But what if the family is defective? Deprived from a father as a role model and a mother's endearment? The only way one has is to take up to archeology - to dig out the relationship of the people he was born from. To find out the source of their love, hatred, sufferings, insults. Of all the inherited huddles that don't let go and hurt. They still smart  despite the decades passed.

 

It's a dangerous activity. Without knowing the passing, one can hurt his own pride. Attract unwanted attention. Evoke unnecessary sympathy. You are safe until someone gets to your real feelings. He doesn't know your actions' motives. That is why caution, caution and even more caution. This is how a young wolf looks around in an unknown forest. Because other people's souls are obscurity.

[sunny88]

Finished watching The Legend!  I love it but it makes me more sad that BYJ is still on his sabbatical from acting.  In the words of Mr. Kim "Come back!".  

 

I found this old article about him and I think it gave some insight into his perfectionist personality, maybe he is still looking for the perfect script ?

 

http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2006/07/24/2006072461005.html

 

Also this one that may explain his need for privacy and freedom

 

http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2006/05/24/2006052461013.html?related_all

 

I cannot find April Snow on line that was really watchable so I decided to buy a copy from amazon.  

 

 

Edited March 5, 2018 by sunny88
add one more item

[willenette]

On 3/5/2018 at 11:24 AM, sunny88 said:

Finished watching The Legend!  I love it but it makes me more sad that BYJ is still on his sabbatical from acting.  In the words of Mr. Kim "Come back!".  

 

I found this old article about him and I think it gave some insight into his perfectionist personality, maybe he is still looking for the perfect script ?

 

http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2006/07/24/2006072461005.html

 

Also this one that may explain his need for privacy and freedom

 

http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2006/05/24/2006052461013.html?related_all

 

I cannot find April Snow on line that was really watchable so I decided to buy a copy from amazon.  

 

 

 

Hi sunny,  so NICE that you were able to watch this good drama. I'm not really into this kind of genre but when I knew it's starring BYJ I really have no choice but to watch this drama. I love it! I find it good - There is no question about the story plot. The fighting scenes with the horses and all those armors and moves were incredible. I like his character. It's just that - I really don't understand why they did the ending like that. Anyway, to sum it all, even with the disappointing ending, the drama series was really interesting to watch. It's the best of the bunch, with stunning battle scenes, love scenes, & music score. 

 

On 2/27/2018 at 3:28 AM, sunny88 said:

@MyStars A good site I found for The Legend is Kissasian.com.  A few ads but not too bad.  I was able to bing watch a bit this weekend and I hope to finish watching this week.  I am usually not a big fan of dramas or movies set in the ancient time but BYJ made this a hit for me (and for sure many many others!)

 

I know this is not the most important part (or maybe it is? Lol) of the drama but I love how they always have a super close up of BYJ’s perfect face at the end of esch episode!  

 

 

*** I love it, too! I do agree with you - his face looks so perfect - his chin and eye spacing were almost perfect.  He has beautiful facial symmetry.....  that thin-lipped sneer.

[sunny88]

@Willenette Hi!  I am not sure why they ended The Legend that way either. I wonder if it was planned that way or it was because he was injured so they need to sum it up quickly.  It is definitely not the genre I like so I only watched because BYJ was starring in it.  I was planning to watch April snow this weekend but Amazon, for the first time, messed up my order so now it looks like I will have to wait until next week  

 

I have been watching a lot of youtube videos of his various appearances, NG clips, interviews etc.. so I am lucky that there are a lot of them.  I also found the First Love with english sub so I will watch that too. 

 

Do you or anyone know what happened to his official site? It doesn't look like it is managed anymore and the talk box that some referred to in this trend way back when doesn't seem to exist anymore. 

 

In reading more about him, I understand he is VERY selective about his projects but I wonder if it has to do with the roles being offered to him since he is older now?    Hollywood is of course obsessed with youth which I think is a problem, but usually the male actors get a much longer life in the leading role,  so many actors of BYJ's age are still at the height (if not higher) of their career!! This is the same for the HK entertainment business, seeing actors like Andy Lau and Tony Leung still active and in leading roles.  I am not familiar with the Korean entertainment business so not sure if they are the same.  

 

Anyway, I hope he will come back to acting one day...the fact that a picture of him is still on the artist page of Keyeast give me hope  since he is the boss, he can easily have his own picture removed .

Edited March 7, 2018 by sunny88
added to the comment

[sunny88]

So excited! Amazon fixed my order and I should have my copy of April Snow and Untold scandal by tomorrow.  In the mean time, I broke down and bought a copy of Winter Sonata so I won't have to worry about it disappearing on Drama fever! LOL

 

Anyway, I used google translate and translated the last notice dated October 25, 2016 on BYJ's office homepage:

Hello, this is Keith.

I will give you a guide to your family.
Currently, Bae Yong-joon's official homepage server is being checked and reorganized.
We are striving to provide more stable service to our family members who visit our homepage,
The newly renovated BYJ's homepage is available from 5 pm on Tuesday, November 1.

- Reorganization website open: Tuesday, November 1, 2016 PM 5:00

Please understand that connection may be unstable on the day of opening,
We will do our best to complete the server inspection and site reorganization work quickly and reliably.
Thank you.

 

I am not sure if the page really did get renovated and available  on that day since it was 2 years ago. It doesn't seem to have any other updates since that time and there is no link to contact the webmaster either.

 

 

[MyStars]

5 hours ago, sunny88 said:

So excited! Amazon fixed my order and I should have my copy of April Snow and Untold scandal by tomorrow.  In the mean time, I broke down and bought a copy of Winter Sonata so I won't have to worry about it disappearing on Drama fever! LOL

Hey there @sunny88!!  It is so good to see a new fan so excited and having such a good time "discovering"  this great guy/actor/father/husband/media mogul. You are the kind of person who can be considered a Good Fan or even a Great Fan, if one were giving out prizes for fanship. 

 

His personal  life story provides one good read, not to mention the dramas and movies that provide such watchable, exciting and thought-provoking entertainment.  Seeing you take the steps to find out more and more about BYJ brings back some old and wonderful memories.  The articles you found, wow, I don't remember seeing those before, but I used to spend hours scouring the internet for information!  Good for you.....a great Bae detective!  You need to be a detective when you are a Bae fan.  I think one of his charms was that he was, very regularly, very very elusive, and sometimes very aloof.  Not cold exactly, just "unattainable."  Mysterious, even. 

 

It looks like some of those old links, like the official homepage, are really and truly no longer active.  It took me a good couple of years to finally realize that he may just need a long rest away from the limelight while he concentrates on the personal life he may not have had before when he was concentrating on acting.  But I don't really know, just imagining.  Raising a family properly can take most, if not all, of your attention, so he seems to be giving that "his all" right now.  That and his business(es).  

 

You keep doing what you are doing! I am kind of reliving my Bae years through you, right now.   You might want to Google for Japanese Bae sites.......there are many of them still active and keeping up with his activities.  Google translate can handle the page translates for you, but it looks like you know how to do that.  Good hunting.

[sunny88]

Just watched April Snow.  I applaud BYJ for taking on different roles when he could have easily just continue to ride the Winter Sonata wave and play similar roles.  I mean I really LOVE Winter Sonata but seeing him in different roles make me respect and love him even more as an actor.

 

In some of old articles I read, it seems like BYJ went into acting reluctantly, but then really flourish in it as we know. I wonder if he miss acting, you hear that a lot from many performers - after being away for while, they itch to go back on stage so to speak.  

 

@MyStarsI didn't even realize I can be such an adoring (and stalking) fan until I "met" BYJ! LOL.  I like many actors/performers but had never spent so much time and effort (or any) on learning about them like I do with BYJ.  I want to say he brings out the teenager in me but I was never even that way as a teen! lol.  I suppose that is the magic of Yonsama?  

 

I did find a closed group on Facebook that is somewhat active - only in a sense that there is an administrator and the group members are posting BYJ pictures (not recent ones I guess since he hasn't been making any appearances) almost daily so clearly this is a devoted group of fans. 

 

Maybe we would at least hear about the birth of his second child soon since it was announced some time last August or so.

Edited March 11, 2018 by sunny88
Added to the comment

[sunny88]

Just watched this - it makes me and I am sure his fans miss him even more.

 

In watching the following interview dated 2014 (?) I am surprised the interviewer didn't ask him about his plan for coming back to acting but then I also read a related article that he was very strict about the questions that were asked of him. I supposed that was the reason  since that would have been a logical question and one that everyone really wants the answer to.

 

 

 

[willenette]

On 3/7/2018 at 9:30 PM, sunny88 said:

@Willenette Hi!  I am not sure why they ended The Legend that way either. I wonder if it was planned that way or it was because he was injured so they need to sum it up quickly.  It is definitely not the genre I like so I only watched because BYJ was starring in it.  I was planning to watch April snow this weekend but Amazon, for the first time, messed up my order so now it looks like I will have to wait until next week  

 

I have been watching a lot of youtube videos of his various appearances, NG clips, interviews etc.. so I am lucky that there are a lot of them.  I also found the First Love with english sub so I will watch that too. 

 

Do you or anyone know what happened to his official site? It doesn't look like it is managed anymore and the talk box that some referred to in this trend way back when doesn't seem to exist anymore. 

 

In reading more about him, I understand he is VERY selective about his projects but I wonder if it has to do with the roles being offered to him since he is older now?    Hollywood is of course obsessed with youth which I think is a problem, but usually the male actors get a much longer life in the leading role,  so many actors of BYJ's age are still at the height (if not higher) of their career!! This is the same for the HK entertainment business, seeing actors like Andy Lau and Tony Leung still active and in leading roles.  I am not familiar with the Korean entertainment business so not sure if they are the same.  

 

Anyway, I hope he will come back to acting one day...the fact that a picture of him is still on the artist page of Keyeast give me hope  since he is the boss, he can easily have his own picture removed .

 

Hi sunny, I hope you get to watch his movie, "April Snow" - Although the plot of the film is essentially very predictable & this is a rather simple movie, but I love it! Sad, lovely and surprisingly sensual, I highly recommend "April Snow" to you. It would captivate married people, too.  What I love the most about this movie is the development of the relationship between the two people.. The film is shot beautifully, great cinematography. I really enjoyed watching & looking at Son Ye Jin here. Usually, the lead actresses always seem too done-up (hair, make-up, perfect clothes and shoes). Here, she was just a bit messier and a bit more average in her appearance, which made her all the more attractive. I consider BYJ a good actor, capable of leading an average romance movie. I hope you don't mind "spoilers - "The end" is not shown in the film, though.

 

 

____________________________________________________________________

 

 

10+ Restaurants That Celebs Are Always Spotted At

Visit these restaurants if you want to meet a celebrity!

 

Heading to Seoul? Hungry? Then why don’t you try these restaurants where you’ll likely run into a celebrity!

 

5. Hadan

From the outside, this restaurant doesn’t look like much but they are known for their amazing noodle dishes and dumplings.

 

 

 

Famous faces spotted here are Park Soo Jin and Bae Yong Joon. If you want to try your luck at spotting them go to 184-40 Seongbuk-dong, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, South Korea.

 

 

(skipped unrelated.....)

 

 

source : koreaboo

[sunny88]

@willenetteamazon delivered so I was able to watch April Snow over the weekend!  I think the dvd I received have some of scenes removed.  You can tell when you watch it and I knew that from reading the reviews but I couldn’t find another reliable site that sells a better copy.  Nevertheless, I really like the movie. It is one of those movies that you can rewatch over and over because there are a lot of nuances within it and you get more each time you watch it.  There isn’t a lot of dialogues in the movie so the characters’ emotions needed to be expressed though facial expressions and body language and that takes a lot of acting skills!  Of course I thought BYJ’s acting was great and so was Son Ye-Jin’s. 

 

I just recieved my copy of untold scandal but I won’t have time to watch it until this weekend. Something to look forward to for sure!!

 

I am really enjoying my continuous learning about his work and life but I also feel sad that I am late to the party! I can see that even though he has always been eclusive, he did communicate with his fans very warmly back in the days.  I continue to hope that he will return to acting some day soon.  

[willenette]

11 hours ago, sunny88 said:

@willenetteamazon delivered so I was able to watch April Snow over the weekend!  I think the dvd I received have some of scenes removed.  You can tell when you watch it and I knew that from reading the reviews but I couldn’t find another reliable site that sells a better copy.  Nevertheless, I really like the movie. It is one of those movies that you can rewatch over and over because there are a lot of nuances within it and you get more each time you watch it.  There isn’t a lot of dialogues in the movie so the characters’ emotions needed to be expressed though facial expressions and body language and that takes a lot of acting skills!  Of course I thought BYJ’s acting was great and so was Son Ye-Jin’s. 

 

I just recieved my copy of untold scandal but I won’t have time to watch it until this weekend. Something to look forward to for sure!!

 

I am really enjoying my continuous learning about his work and life but I also feel sad that I am late to the party! I can see that even though he has always been eclusive, he did communicate with his fans very warmly back in the days.  I continue to hope that he will return to acting some day soon.  

 

Hi sunny, I usually buy my K-stuff from YesAsia or e-Bay aside from Seoul itself when I visit there. Ye, that's why, this movie is considered as a "silent" movie.  I also have a "Director's Cut" copy - "Untold Scandal" is good. The movie can be summed up in one word: Pleasure. A good portion of eroticism, the kind of you wouldn't expect from a Korean movie gives the overall picture a cherry on the cake. I have a DVD copy of this movie & it is exceptionally clean and there are no visual issues present.

[sunny88]

Hello ladies!

 

just saw the news this morning that SE Entertainment Company fully acquired KeyEast and Bae will become one of the key shareholder!! So maybe that is what he has been doing? I am hoping it means he may have more time to go back to acting? The second link has more specifics about Bae.

 

http://m.yna.co.kr/mob2/en/contents_en.jsp?cid=AEN20180314004900320&site=0500000000&mobile

 

http://m.yna.co.kr/mob2/en/contents_en.jsp?cid=AEN20180314009300315&site=0200000000&mobile

 

Edited March 14, 2018 by sunny88
Added link to news

[willenette]

16 hours ago, sunny88 said:

Hello ladies!

 

just saw the news this morning that SE Entertainment Company fully acquired KeyEast and Bae will become one of the key shareholder!! So maybe that is what he has been doing? I am hoping it means he may have more time to go back to acting? The second link has more specifics about Bae.

 

http://m.yna.co.kr/mob2/en/contents_en.jsp?cid=AEN20180314004900320&site=0500000000&mobile

 

http://m.yna.co.kr/mob2/en/contents_en.jsp?cid=AEN20180314009300315&site=0200000000&mobile

 

 

Hi sunny, thanks for sharing the links. Wow - so, SM Entertainment has expanded their business even further since it's acquiring KeyEast and FNC Add Culture stocks.  The stocks from KE belonged to BYJ.  With the agreement, he has also acquired new shares of SM Entertainment, becoming a major stockholder of SM Entertainment. I heard that he will now act as a marketing adviser for SM Group and a global strategy adviser for KeyEast. Bravo! I didn't expect this. Bae Yong-joon is a very smart businessman!

[willenette]

***I heard that SM will pay BYJ 15 billion won in cash, while the rest will be paid out to him in the form of SM shares. They say that even before the acquisition, SM had its eyes on KeyEast. Kim Soo-hyun and Ju Ji-hoon who are stars from KeyEast are expected to have better career opportunities abroad due to the latest acquisition.

[willenette]

SM Entertainment Buys Bae Yong-joon's Agency

 

Talent management agency SM Entertainment has acquired Key East, the rival firm set up by noughties superstar Bae Yong-joon, to become an even more massive entertainment stable.

 

SM's total market capitalization amounted to W905 billion, while Key East's stood at W300 billion, resulting in a combined total of W1.205 trillion (US$1=W1,065).

 

Kosdaq-listed Key East said in a public disclosure Wednesday that Bae, its largest shareholder, sold his entire 21-percent stake of 19.46 million shares to SM for W2,570 per share or W50 billion. 

 

 

Bae gets W35 billion of that money in SM stock and the rest in cash. Considering that he originally invested W9 billion in Key East, he made more than a W40 billion profit.

 

He will become one of SM's major shareholders with 4.05 percent. 

 

Based on quarterly data made public last November, SM's top shareholder is founder Lee Soo-man with 20.19 percent, followed by the National Pension Service with 5.04 percent.

 

SM said, "We decided to acquire the company as part of our goal to pursue digital entertainment and platform businesses."

 

In 2006, Bae and the maverick dotcom pioneer Masayoshi Son of Softbank made a joint investment of W13 billion to take over the Kosdaq-listed firm Ottowin Tech, and Bae later changed the name to Key East and focused it on talent management.

 

credit : Chuson Ilbo

[willenette]

How much Top K-Drama Stars Make Per Episode May Surprise You

K-Pop artists make a lot of money but Korean actors and actresses make even more money.

 

 

Even wondered how profitable becoming a famous K-drama star really is?

 

Certified Hallyu-star “Yonsama”, Bae Yong Joon made a whopping 250 million won (~234,000 USD) per episode for MBC’S The Legend (2007)

 

 

 

(skipped unrelated.....)

 

 

source : koreaboo

 

 

[sunny88]

@willenette wow ! thanks for the post! That was back in 2007/2008 too.

 

One thing that was mentioned in one of articles yesterday was that The  Legend didn’t live up to public expectation but I wasn’t sure if it was just based on the author’s view or on some factual data. So I did some research and apparently it was not as much as a hit in Japan based on the view rating for various reasons. I still think it was a very good drama and I usually don’t even like that kind of genre. 

 

Here is is an article I found that I thought described some of my feelings about it.   Please be warned that the author used  some curse words in his or her writing so I hope no one will be offended. 

https://rainscene.livejournal.com/1477.html

 

[sunny88]

8 hours ago, willenette said:

***I heard that SM will pay BYJ 15 billion won in cash, while the rest will be paid out to him in the form of SM shares. They say that even before the acquisition, SM had its eyes on KeyEast. Kim Soo-hyun and Ju Ji-hoon who are stars from KeyEast are expected to have better career opportunities abroad due to the latest acquisition.

Bae is certainly a smart businessman! For the Keyeast artists, there are certainly advantages in being in a bigger company with more resource and global reach!

 

 I am not sure if being a global strategy advisor will take BYJ even further away from being on screen again but I  continue to hope that  he will return.  In my experience of working for very large global companies, there are a lot of bureaucracies  and usually being an advisor mean you are not in the final decision making seat but have more freedom at the same time. That said, I am not familiar with Korean business practices, so my experience may not apply. 

[sunny88]

Another SM acquisition of Keyeast article with a nice picture of BYJ 

 

http://m.theinvestor.co.kr/view.php?ud=20180315000647