The Iceberg

In the wake of Unee’s suicide, the Korea Times has an interesting article detailing Korea’s “Keyboard Warriors”, netizens who like to anonymously attack celebrities - and non-celebrities - online. Here are a few utterly loathsome comments written about Unee’s death,

“Look at her clothes. She was like a whore.”

“She died because she did not gain popularity.”

“Dead already? Her agency wasted money on her plastic surgery.”

Following the recent death of comedian Kim Hyung-eun, one twisted f*ck nameless warrior took sadistic pleasure in searching out her website and leaving the following comment,

“I’m glad she died, as I hated to see her on television.”

Buddy, you have got some serious issues.

In a magnificent display of karmic justice, other netizens tracked him down and he was forced to shut down his own blog. He should also be legally required to add the tag “cowardly pen*s blower” to the end of his name for the rest of his life.

Some of you who read this might be tempted to say, “Hey! What about your blog? You poke fun at people.” To which I would answer,

I sure do. In fact you only have to scroll down the page to the Lee Mi-yeon post for evidence. But it’s pretty evident to me that there is a line that should not be crossed and I don’t cross it. It’s one thing to mock a person’s vanity (Lee Mi-yeon), femininity (Lee Joon-gi), or stupidity (Roh Moo-hyun), and quite another to delight in their physical suffering.

Unless, of course, say…Kim Jong-il was diagnosed with a case of genital herpes. That would be hilarious.

Two months ago I reported that photos of Korean singer/actress Unee, a favorite at The Iceberg, were mistakenly described by Singaporean media as images of a Mongolian model who had been murdered in Malaysia. Thankfully, at the time, it was all a mix-up and Unee was alive and well.

Today, the news is not so good. Unee took her life yesterday.

As one who has experienced the loss of a friend through suicide recently, I’d like to stress that this is not something to be flippant about. My condolences to Unee’s family and friends.

Rest in peace, Unee.

I don’t know actress Lee Mi-yeon (이미연) personally, so I can’t say this with 100 percent certainty, but if this interview with the Chosun Ilbo is any indication, Ms. Lee may not be the nicest person in the world. Some quotes from the article left me shaking my head. For starters:

“Acting has produced the biggest energy and the greatest pain in my life. I can’t promise you that I’m going to be an actress for the rest of my life. When I fall out of love with acting, I’ll quit immediately.”

Oh please promise, Mi-yeon, that you’ll be an actress for the rest of your life. Pretty please! We need you. At least promise that you’ll continue to appear in commercials at least three times a year.

“It is dangerous for an actor to feature in too many TV commercials.”

Of course, this doesn’t apply to her,

“People seem to have been looking out for me even during my break because of my healthy image.”

Whew! That’s a relief. Now that that’s settled, let’s move on to her latest television drama, “Crazy Over Love”. The premise seems a stretch; she plays a woman who falls in love with the man who killed her fiance in an accident the day before the wedding. Wow! That must have taken some serious acting to pull that off. I mean, even Ms. Lee admits,

“I still think nothing is more difficult than love.”

Damn straight! Making love work is hard enough in the most ideal of circumstances, let alone when it involves exchanging sweet nothings with the person who is responsible for KILLING YOUR FIANCE. Personally, I’d have trouble putting that out of my mind whenever the time came to drop my drawers to the floor, but Ms. Lee disagrees,

“Well, love isn’t rational. I don’t think such things are impossible.”

Suhweet! There is a Korean proverb that says, “Just because there is a goalkeeper doesn’t mean you can’t score a goal.” Add Ms. Lee’s philosophy to the equation and you can take it a step further: Rub out the goalkeeper and you can score as many goals as you damn well please.

(Thank you, God, for replacing the love of my life with the man responsible for his death.)

But I digress. Confronted with such a difficult role, isn’t it important to develop on-screen chemistry with the male lead? Umm, maybe not. Here are Ms. Lee’s thoughts on singer-turned-actor co-star Yun Gye-sang,

“It’s more difficult to partner with Yun than with more experienced actors such as Han Seok-gyu or Park Shin-yang. I have to think more this time.”

Ouch! Take that, Mr. Yun! Don’t quit your day job. Hehehe.

(For you doubters out there, I’ve provided a couple of photos of Ms. Lee thinking more on the set of her new drama.)

Difficult as it may be to believe, Ms. Lee was not always the quality actress that she is today,

“I still feel sorry that I started my career when I was completely unprepared.”

Indeed, she was so unprepared that she was duped into becoming the Korean Demi Moore™ (”St. Elmo’s Fire” version).

But she persevered, and by combining self-confidence and a positive attitude…

“I picked out a movie based on a novel by the famous writer Gong Ji-young and made a fresh start. I think it was at that time that my performance improved. I received a lot of praise. In ‘Number 3′ (1997) and ‘Whispering Corridors’ (1998), people thought I was in a supporting role, but I felt I played the lead.”

with hard work…

“I still can’t forget how hard it was when I did interviews with young girls eight times a day for ‘Whispering Corridors.’”

she became the woman whom today we all beg to promise us she will never give up acting.

Alas, life is not perfect for Ms. Lee. When one is as beloved as she is, nasty rumors borne of jealousy are naturally unavoidable. Whenever Ms. Lee is confronted with such rumors, she no doubt looks and feels something like this…

One such evil, nasty, and entirely whacked rumor is that she berates younger colleagues if they don’t give her enough respect. Ms. Lee says that couldn’t be further from the truth,

“People who really know me say I’m really a gentle woman. - (Refer to previous photo…See?) - But since an actor called me the female Choi Min-su, things have got quite nasty. I’ve never scolded young actors. If I were really like Choi Min-su, going my own way without minding how others view me, life would be much easier.”

Exactly! However, a word of advice to all of you young punks out there. Mind your “nays” and “yos”, lest you be gettin’ the look that goes a little somethin’ like this…

As I mentioned at the start of this post, I don’t know Lee Mi-yeon personally, so my evaluation of her character could be completely off base. So, Mi-yeon, if you read this, I’d be happy to get to know you over dinner and (many) drinks…all in the name of truth and accuracy.

Sorry…Mi-yeon “Ssi”…

Quick! Guess which of these men is:

A. The president of India
B. An aging Hollywood actor
C. An Oompa-Loompa

After following this post’s link at the Marmot’s Hole, I stumbled upon this video. Sure, the Marmot link directs you towards a Hooters Korea training video, but MY link is more Korean “non-speaker” friendly…and more revealing.

Actress Lee Seo-yun (이서윤), from the television drama “Snow Queen”, recently revealed that she frets over her 21-inch waistline. “Compared to the rest of my body, my waist is unusually thin. The clothes I wear fit well on other parts of my body, but not on my waist and it doesn’t look pretty,” Lee confesses.

Hmm. Let’s have a look…

Works for me.

Still, Lee continues, “I may be attacked by a mob for saying this but, I have the sort of metabolism that, no matter how much I eat, I can’t put on weight.”

Your waist is nothing to worry about, Miss Lee. A bigger concern for your career is that your face looks a little too similar to Lee Hyo-ri’s.

Reuters reports in this article that senior diplomats from China, Japan, and South Korea agreed that relations between the three countries have markedly improved over the past few months and each “should seize this favorable period to strive to develop a new outlook of cooperation between the three countries.”

Makes one sense that the next big controversy is just around the corner.