Im Joo Hwan Fails to Make the Cut as IT Agent in Army PR Division

Im Joo Hwan, who recently transferred to the PR division of the Defense Media Agency (DEMA) as an IT agent, revealed that he was passed over in the selection process.

On March 21, Im was asked for his reason for joining the PR division during an interview with DEMA blog ‘Harmony’. 
He replied, “At first, I was assigned as an IT agent. However, I didn’t make the cut because of my English proficiency and age.”

Im added, “I wanted to serve as an IT agent to make myself more useful while serving in the army. I signed up after getting the approval of my parents but ended up not making the cut.”
During the interview, Im also shared his thoughts after joining the army. He revealed, “During our boot camp, I remember eating while sitting down in a single file. Even though we were starving, we had to eat slowly and say ‘Thank you for the food. We are grateful to our country and its citizens who have prepared this food, as well as our brothers-in-arms.’ That was when I came to the realization that I was, indeed, a soldier.”

Im Joo Hwan, my favorite actor

By Lyn

Despite being a SuJu fan, and a Kpop fan in general, I’ve never been a K-drama addict. So far, there have been only two actors that really impress me. One is Ryeowook, with his fantastic performance in Attack on the pin-up boys; and the other is model-turned-into-actor Im Joohwan (also known as Lim Juhwan) Surprisingly, both of them were not trained to be actors in the first place.

Let me not talk about my ultimate bias Mr Kim today, as I plan to have another post for him, and focus on the less known Im Joohwan. He started his career as a model, which was understandable considering that face and that height of his. I don’t know much about this period because frankly, I could care less about models. I first learned about him in 2008 through the drama “Snow Queen”, with Hyunbin and Sung Yuri as the protagonists. Although these two were more famous and they did a good job, it was Im Joohwan that caught my attention. His character was decent, the oh-so-kind guy who was willing to sacrifice for his beloved, though his love was unrequited; the type that usually bores me to death after one or two episodes. But there was something appealing about this actor. Not really the look (he was as thin as a stick back then, not breathtaking handsome either; although I gotta admit his smile shone XD) but the aura he had. His body language was a bit awkward, but the facial expression and everything else was natural. I felt for his character, and in the end I fell for him.

October 2011 Highlight : Tamna, the Island (2009)

By silkyjade

“Exile!”

…..

“Troublemaker!”  

Warning: It is going to be a  somewhat long, incoherent, fangirly gibberish. Please bear with me :]

Just a pre-note: I watched the 21-episode director’s cut version in lieu of 16-episode MBC’s curtailed version. (Darn you, MBC! What a sacrilege to Park Kyu.) The original 21-episode DVD version was so much better than the cut version (the 16-episode version left out a lot of details and editing was choppy – as expected), so I suggest you check out the original because you don’t want to miss out.

Ju Hwan and What's up

By KCOMMENTS

Im Ju Hwan in What’s Up would likely be my surprise Korean actor this year. Not sure how many times I’ve watched this Stupid Cupid, mostly because of  Im Ju Hwan’s range of expressions. From a bad boy on the street, captured by music. His eyes were so expressive, harmoniously in tune with the music scores. You have to see when he cried. I wondered why I didn’t notice him before. Can’t wait to hear him sing, his friends are wary now that he wouldn’t sing, so THAT is interesting!

 

But this is not to be mistaken with the drama itself, still not sure how I feel. One thing though, the vocals in this drama seems pretty solid and that’s the benefit. It’s too early to tell, so still hang in there. Tonally, it’s realistic and bittersweet imo.

 

And this is  probably the coolest of the year for me. Take a look at the cinematography, the editing, the acting/singing/dancing. Aww…just love.  Like a dream sequence of a talented young man who can’t seem to get pass his nervousness in public. Why so cool?

What’s Up Press Conference

What’s Up premiered this past weekend on MBN, a new cable channel that’s trying to take a slice of the Big Three Broadcasters’ pie. I’ll save my thoughts on the first two episodes for another post, but here are some photos from the press conference. While usually the press conference is done a week before it airs, it looks like this one was recently held – on December 6 in the afternoon, Seoul time.

As for the man of the hour? Looks to be Daesung, who’s making his first big appearance since his car accident back in May. Oh Man Seok, Jo Jung Suk, and Im Joo Eun attended to represent the actors with screenwriter Song Ji Na and director Song Ji Won.

What's up

Profile

• TV Show: What's Up?
• Revised romanization: Watstcheu Eop
• Hangul: 왓츠 업
• Director: Song Ji-Won
• Writer: Song Ji-Na
• Network: MBN
• Episodes: 20
• Release Date: December 3, 2011 -- February 5, 2012
• Runtime: Sat. & Sun. 21:00
• Language: Korean
• Country: South Korea

What’s Up posters are finally out

Finally! “Now Is Our Time,” indeed. (Now is past time, I’d say.)

What’s Up has been in stasis forever, and even though it’s premiering this weekend — yup, tomorrow — we’ve seen and heard very little from it. Posters are out now, though, so at least there’s a teeny bit of movement in the promo front, which has been practically nonexistent for months.

The drama set in a university musical theater department is taking up the weekend prime-time slot on new cable station MBN, and will air episodes on Saturday and Sunday evenings. Given that its rocky production road has pushed back its premiere by over half a year, the drama has long since completed filming and will be 100% pre-produced. While pre-produced dramas haven’t had much luck hitting the popularity jackpot with the public, they do tend to boast higher than average production values. (That doesn’t mean pre-produced is automatically better — that’s dependent on writing quality — but it usually means pretty.)

Get a Glimpse of What’s Up

By silkyjade

December 3 can’t come any sooner. As an unswayed member of Team Park Kyu (more on this later), I am so looking forward to the forever-anticipated musical drama What’s Up, hence the google search on the broadcast date confirmation. After several clicks of rummaging, I came across a video of Arirang’s interview with the cast on set. PARK KYU!!… ehrm.. Im Joo Hwan Oppa!! How I miss you much! (I’m so embarrassed writing this as I’m not used to this fangirly side of me, but what can I do? I can’t help it when it comes to my forever love PK). After watching “Tamna the Island” in its entirety, I completely fell in love with PK the character and of course IJH the actor, natch, though to a lesser degree (IJH’s part of PK, after all. He portrays PK marvelously. Sometimes you just wonder when one ends and the other starts. This kind of actor-character duality never fails to bemuse me).

What’s Up finds a new home on cable

Score one more for new cable channel MBN, which will open with a bang this December with a number of projects, including the much-neglected What’s Up, which has struggledto find a home on broadcast television for the better part of a year now.

The drama set at a theater and performance arts department of a university features a line-up of rising stars, headed by Im Joo-hwan (Tamra the Island), Daesung (of Big Bang), and Im Joo-eun (Hon). What’s funny is that early buzz was all about the Ims and Daesung, but now the focus has shifted to include another newbie, Kim Ji-won, who’s made a splash recently in High Kick 3. It’s always interesting to watch projects out of the order in which they were completed, because Kim was given hardly any attention in the first go-around and will now likely overshadow some of the secondary leads like Jang Hee-jin (that spoiled brat princess from Myung-wol the Spy) and Lee Soo-hyuk.

It’s kind of a bummer that What’s Up won’t be seen on broadcast; I know that for most of us fans outside of Korea, it doesn’t really matter where a drama airs as long as we get to see it. But at home, it’s a difference of ratings around 1% and ratings anywhere from 5% (for the dismal) up to teens (modest success) to 20% and 30% (bona fide hits). I would have thought that screenwriter Song Ji-nah’s name would have been enough to guarantee a pickup (she wrote some mega hits like Legend and Sandglass, as well as early campus drama KAIST and one of my favorites, Story of a Man). But there are no absolutes in showbiz, apparently.

Furthermore, with Im Joo-hwan now serving out his military duty and Daesung’s car accident marring his public image (even if he wasn’t the drunk driver, the death of an involved party is bound to darken the mood), I wonder if publicity will be muted for the show. That said: At least we get to see it!

What’s Up will air 18 episodes total, at 60 minutes each. The first episode airs on Saturday, December 3, on MBN.

From: Dramabeans

'Heart trouble' Im Joo-hwan stationed at TI&E

Actor Im Joo-hwan was admitted to military in May and suffered from heart trouble and is now stationed at TI&E.

STYLE H

Ju Hwan in the military hospital for 'heart problems'

It seems that Im Ju Hwan has been in the hospital for 3 months due to heart problems since his admittance into the army. However, he's not considering early discharge from the army.

Im Ju Hwan - the enlistment day

Im Ju Hwan reported for his two-year mandatory military service on May 17. He met with reporters and fans to say goodbye outside the gates of the Nonsan training camp in South Chungcheong Province. He wore a black jacket and cap, but he doffed the cap to display his new military haircut.

Ju Hwan enlists for the military

On May 16th, Im Ju Hwan left one last message for his fans before his military enlistment today.
Through his Twitter, he wrote, “In 12 hours, I’ll be enlisting in the army. I’m so sorry towards everyone I won’t be able to see, and I’m thankful for the fans who love me. The day after my enlistment is my birthday, and I feel like this will be an opportunity for me to start fresh. Anyway, I’d like to say goodbye to everyone. Please be healthy!”

In response, fans commented, “Thank you for leaving a message”, “By the time you come back, ‘What’s Up’ will have hit jackpot and you will be worth billions”, and “I’ll wait for you while watching ‘What’s Up.’”

After five weeks of basic training, he’ll be serving as an active duty soldier for the next 21 months. His drama, “What’s Up“, is currently waiting to go on air.

Credit: http://www.allkpop.com/2011/05/actor-im-joo-hwan-enlists-for-the-army

Favorite Male Lead Character

By Xiaoxin

For the people that know me, this should be a no brainer answer. If you’re my friend and you got it wrong…….    My Favorite Male Lead Character of ALL time, be it may a drama or movie of ANY language, is…

Lim Ju Hwan’s PARK KYU in Tamra Island

What’s Up hits airwaves in March

Probably. A few media outlets are reporting that musical drama What’s Up is a “strong contender” for a March 21 premiere, while another announces it as a done deal. Take that as you will.

In either case, the good news is: After more than a year in pre-production, we’re finally close to seeing the anticipated series, which boasts a pretty solid cast as well as a very strong writer in Song Ji-nah, who wrote Story of a Man, Legend, andSandglass. Two of those are in my all-time top list, while the other…was interesting, despite not being my particular cuppa tea.

And while I am completely into Dream High, I have hopes that What’s Up might even do it one better, because in addition to the similar music-school setting, What’s Up has focused its casting on actors who can act as musical students, rather than using idols with limited acting experience. (And if I must nitpick Dream High for a fault, it’s that the acting sometimes falls short of emotionally convincing. It’s a minor quibble in the scheme of things, but still — imagine if the rest of the cast were up to Kim Soo-hyun’s level. How awesome would that be?)

With What’s Up, we have two very charismatic budding stars in Im Joo-hwan (Tamra the Island) and Im Joo-eun (Hon). And while I’ve yet to see pop star Daesung in anything, I’m hopeful about him; he conveys a personable vibe and has been beefing up his acting skills with musical-theater experience.

The proposed timeslot is SBS’s Monday-Tuesday 9pm hour, which, funny enough, was just announced as a cancelled slot. If the drama airs as suggested, it’ll follow Paradise Ranch. However, according to other reports, SBS is still deliberating whether to slot in a drama or new variety programming in that 9pm hour.

What’s Up is currently 90% done with filming, and will be entirely pre-produced by the time it hits the air, whether that’s in March or (gulp) later.

From: Dramabeans.

Mnet Viewer Gratitude Event (04/02/2011)

“Mnet Viewer Gratitude Event“ was carried out live on February 4th at Tokyo’s Shibuya CC Lemon Hall.

At this 3rd annual event,  Im Joo Hwan and orther artists such as Girl’s Day, Supernova, Smash, Japanese artist Mogendanshi (Forever Man)  showed up to showcase themselves.

Ju Hwan tweeted: So proud

From: imjuhwanfan

오늘 새벽 영화 촬영중 너무 기쁜일이 있었어요. 푹 자고일어나 작은 자축하러 밖에나갑니다. 감독님 옆에 류승범선배님 옆에 제 이름이 세겨진 의자가 있더라구요ㅎㅎ 올한해 많은 기쁨과아픔 행복과슬픔이 있었지만 그 의자가 제게 큰 뿌듯함을 주네요

4:36 AM Dec 31st, 2010 via Twitter for iPhone (PST)

“Really enjoyed shooting for the movie early this morning.Slept well then woke up and went outside to celebrate a little. There’s a chair with my name …next to the director’s and Ryu Seung-beom sunbaenim’s.ㅎㅎ This year there was a lot of joy and pain, happiness and sorrow, but I think I’m most proud of that chair.” -translation credits to my good friend K. ^^

전에 언급했던 촬영장에 생겨버린 나에 의자.. 뿌듯함

http://yfrog.com/h5zwdrj January 11, 2011 8:48:01 AM PST via Twitter for iPhone (PST)

“The chair I received on set, that I mentioned before.. so proud” -translation credits to my good friend K. ^^

Yes.. Just like him.. I want to be able to look into my life beyond the sorrow, grief and heartache. I want to be able to see the good things in life that brings us joy, happiness and peace. It can be little things that we may take for granted.. like a toast prepared in the morning when you wake up, or a smile, or a chair with simply your name on it.. marking your place in that world.

Tamra the Island: Progress Update

By Doozy

I’m up to episode 13 and with each episode, my affection for this drama and its characters grows stronger and stronger. Tamra also has one of the cutest opening sequences, with the pop-up book theme and animated character cardboard cutouts.

Tamra the Island Opening Theme

(Special thanks to thduddbals for uploading the clip.)

You know, the more I think about it, the more I’m glad to have come across Tamra at just the right time. Otherwise, I would have missed out on this gem of a show.

Thoughts on its main characters

I still can’t believe I’m saying this, but Seo Woo is doing a winning job as Beo Jin. Although she does cry a tad too much for my liking, I find her utterly adorable as Beo Jin because she’s genuine, whether she’s with William or Park Kyu or anybody else, Beo Jin is always being herself, never putting up front to pretend to be someone else.

Welcome to the Island

By Doozy

When Tamra the Island aired in 2009, I had no interest in watching it primarily because there wasn’t anyone in its cast that really drew my attention. Seo Woo was a relatively newbie then. Im Joo Hwan was known to me as the dude who was Hyun Bin’s ineffective romantic rival in The Snow Queen; oh yeah, and also Kim Bum’s bro in a blink-and-you’d-miss-him scene in Boys Over Flower. And there was Hwang Chan Bin (Pierre Deporte), the blond albino boy whom I knew nothing about. Even after reading the many critical praises that Tamra gained, I still had no plans to check it out. Especially after being introduced to Seo Woo through the hot mess that was Cinderella’s Sister and leaving with feelings of indifferent and mild annoyance of the actress. So why am I marathoning it now?

In addition to a good script and solid performances by the drama’s cast, its OST is another aspect that can either enhance or diminish my enjoyment and emotional connection with that drama. For me, the pattern usually goes as such: 1) watch drama, 2) ooh, what lovely music you have there, 3) download OST, and 4) listen to it repeatedly. Tamra, however, has the distinction of turning this pattern upside-down because I fell in love with its instrumental theme before watching even a minute of the show.