48th Baeksang Art Awards: A night of keen observation

One night’s expectation took on a life of its own and now I have visions of someone else other than the OB couple floating around in my head. I went to report on what Joowon and Uee are really like in real life and ended up with an extra crush by the end of the night. Not sure if it’s directly related to my regret for not seizing an opportunity or if his constant smile cast some sort of spell on me, but now I am officially a Lee Je Hoon fan. Of all the people in the room, I wonder what kind of cosmic destiny placed him right across from me in my direct line of vision. A few months ago, I didn’t even know this guy existed. It’s funny how life always finds a way to surprise you and keep you on your toes when it comes to celebrity crushes cuz if Choi Min Sik from “Oldboy” had sat just one seat over giving me flashbacks from his movie all night, this would have been a whole different experience. 🙂

UPDATED with more photos and videos:

*I did it – I made a YT account and uploaded the cam videos. I can finally relax now. Last night I was thinking all these videos add up to a total of a few minutes so why am I stressing over them, but then I thought about what they represent. For that day at least, I got to see the people whose work gave us so much joy these past months and years. Just this morning it finally sunk in that on a wish list of stars I wanted to see in person, I can check these names off. 🙂

Most of these photos were taken by professionals and the occasional blurry ones were either shot by my friend or me. Part of the reason why they came out so fuzzy was cuz trying to capture these celebrities as they sprint by is like trying to take a picture of a squirmy rambunctious puppy. Most of the videos were taken by me, but some were taken by my friend. Obviously neither one of us is all that great with a camera. Sorry for the poor quality, but I wanted to throw those in to prove I was actually there. 🙂

*some of these videos were corrected by YT to get rid of the shaking and it slowed down the film so sometimes it looks like it went into slow motion – that was not done by me. 🙂

Only JW could make such a funny looking tux look this good.

I had no idea he had on this outfit till later that night when I saw pics from the news online. During the red carpet, I was lucky just to be able to see him from the neck up. Plus the sunlight in the background sort of made him glow so the only thing I saw was his flawless face. At first glance, it does sort of look tacky to put that extra bit of fabric on, but I have to say on him it doesn’t look half as bad as most people think. Now if you had put that on a less handsome guy, we are talking major fashion “no no.”

When we got there around 4:45pm, we thought we were pretty early until our cab rounded the corner and pulled up to the start of the red carpet. There was a mob of people there already and that’s when we realized we were really late as far as getting great spots to take pics. These fans are pretty hard core – they brought everything they needed to make the most out of this opportunity. High tech camera equipment, portable chairs, step ladders, food and water, and these were just the fans. The real professional photographers had their own personal area right by the red carpet so that when they stood on their mini platforms, the people behind them couldn’t see anything. The rest of the hard core fans stood on step ladders to hold up banners of their stars for over 2 hours. I can’t imagine that kind of dedication. Not sure I would do the same for any star even if I had the stamina or desire to do so. My arms were killing me just from holding up my tiny Sony Cyber Shot camera. What I found the most interesting was that all the screaming and yelling happened even before a single celebrity was spotted. It’s like they were practicing their cheers too. When the chaos began with the first wave of stars who arrived, I noticed that there were people at the start of the red carpet who would yell out the name of the celebrity who just got out of the car. If it was someone not famous, that name was either never yelled out cuz they had no clue who it was or it wasn’t passed around so there was a sudden stillness as the star walked the carpet amidst pretty much close to total silence as you can get in that situation. You would hear a few polite obligatory camera clicking sounds, but that would be all. I felt sorry for those celebrities who had to endure that. (One of them was the skinny girl from WBDJ who wore a black dress) But whenever a really famous star walked by, it was total madness. (Like for Micky, KSH, JW, Uee, Suzy, etc) The crowd reacted physically first cuz they would rush to follow every step and the screams would make you feel like rock concerts were quiet affairs compared to this. I have never heard screams that loud before and I even went to Keanu Reeves movie screening in Yongsan. Through all this chaos, I still noticed something very touching. A young reckless girl got on top of her bike seat to stand with her camera to take pics, but the bike was very unsteady and was about to tip over. An elderly lady who came from Japan for this quickly went over to stable the bike for that girl. I have no idea how long she held that bike for the girl, but the woman’s friend kept telling her to let go and come over to see the stars walk by. But that woman insisted she couldn’t just let the girl fall and kept holding onto the bike to steady it. I fought back the urge to tell the girl in Korean to get down so the elderly woman could let go and enjoy her own time. I thought it was pretty rude and selfish of the girl to take advantage of that woman’s help and not even thank her for it. I hate that Korean mentality where they think since they don’t know how to speak the other person’s language; they assume not saying anything at all is a better option. She should have just thanked the woman in Korean since most foreigners would understand that at least. Even though most of the other people were practically trampling on each other to get a better vantage point, I was still grateful that there were still people like that Japanese woman who cared about common courtesy.

Everything else on the red carpet went by in a blur. I don’t know what to blame, maybe the stars were nervous about walking the red carpet, maybe some of them were just cold from the chilly breeze, or maybe they had to hurry inside and pee cuz that’s the only thing that makes me haul butt like that, but I have never seen anyone walk so fast in my life. These celebrities practically sprinted all the way down the red carpet. Half the time if you blinked, you missed them. None of them would walk slowly for some reason. (Uee was one of the few who stopped and spoke to reporters) No wonder the award show finished so early. It started here when everyone decided to speed walk the red carpet. As far as celebrity sightings goes, I must say this one was pretty shocking and special. I always see celebrities around the city, but they are never in formal attire. The most noticeable things about female stars are that they are super duper skinny in real life. They look like they have 20 inch waists. I kept thinking “man – don’t these women eat? In a stiff Chicago wind, she would literally blow away.” Even the guys were a lot shorter in real life. Maybe cuz I was wearing heels or something, but they just didn’t seem as tall as they do onscreen. As for the specific reactions for each star, I will start with the main reason why I came here. When the crowd started yelling out Joowon’s name, I swear I stopped breathing and I could literally hear my own heart beating faster. You know that nervous anticipation that floods you the moment you know something very special is headed your way – that moment you dreamed about happening – when it’s right in front of you, it really does a number on your heart. I started filming before he even came into sight. I think my hands shook the most as he passed by as you can tell from the video. He has this way of walking that’s so charming. He keeps bowing periodically as he walks and has a polite and sincere smile. Just by looking at him, you get the feeling he is the real deal. You know what I mean right – like one of those genuine people who will always remain humble no matter how popular he gets over the years. I have no idea why he arrived with UJW and that older actor from YAI’s movie “Punch” since they didn’t even sit with JW, but maybe the chance to ride in that long white stretch limo was part of the reason. I can just picture UTW calling JW up and asking JW to escort his sister so it’s not awkward for her to arrive with that other guy alone. It might also be cuz he seems pretty close to her already so maybe she asked him herself. I love how he stepped off the red carpet to walk so he could let UJH and that other older actor walk side by side on the red carpet. He could have walked ahead or behind and stayed on the red carpet, but he didn’t want to ruin any of her photo shots. That was so considerate of him. There is more cuz he held onto her arm to steady her as she stepped down from the platform so she wouldn’t trip on her dress. Such a gentleman. There is a lot of evidence to support that, but that comes out later inside during the award show.

When Micky walked by, he is the definition of a fast walker. Man it was so hard to even get a good look at him. His brother is even faster.  It was like something was chasing the guy. I only got a shot of the back of him as he went inside. He also didn’t turn around one last time before he goes in like the more seasoned veterans do.  I think one of the Moon actors like KSH actually stopped next to the line of fans cuz the screams I heard from down the line were pretty loud. KSH is also one of those actors that seem taller on screen. He is super sweet looking and kept bowing a lot as he walked. The kid from Moon ( Jin Gu) was also adorable and looked really great.

After the red carpet was over, the guards at the front misinformed us and sent us to the wrong side door. It happened to be the entrance for stars who missed the red carpet cuz they were running late or planned to miss on purpose to avoid the press and crowd like Moon Chae Won, Lee Byung Hun, Top, JGS, Lee Je Hoon, etc. That’s why we ended up seeing some random stars by accident like Top. His blue tips on his hair made him sort of stand out. The small crowd went nuts over him and screamed like crazy and some teenagers starting crying cuz they missed seeing him by like a few seconds. Lee Byung Hun came way at the end so no one saw him arrive or leave. JGS arrived during the intermission and took off right after he got his award. Micky and his brother left super early too after Micky presented and won his award.

As soon as we went inside, my friend didn’t let us sit in our seats. She wanted to sit closer to the edge near the stars, but I didn’t feel easy about that cuz what if the seat owners show up. She says there are always lots of empty chairs cuz no one wants to pay for VIP seats. I didn’t really like the angle where we were sitting cuz I had to look at the back of JW’s head too much and I rather stare at his face so we moved again. Turns out my friend totally underestimated JGS’s popularity cuz that section was filled to the brim and we ended up in our original assigned seats which turned out to be the best for me and my “surveillance mission.” The minute I sat down, I faced my entire body towards Uee and JW. To my credit, I was so devoted, I didn’t even notice where Micky and KSH were sitting until a while later. I was afraid if I looked away from our OB couple, I might miss something important. I debated whether or not to take notes and count how many times they spoke to each other or smiled at one another. After all that constant staring, I decided I needed to be more objective and have some other couples to compare them to so I glanced periodically at the rest of the actors that were sitting with their costars. It turns out my original observation was accurate – these on screen couples in real life really do just sit there and not talk. I would if I was in their situation just to stave off boredom. Based on what I observed, from the first minute I started watching them till the end of the night, these two were the only ones talking. They seemed pretty comfortable around each other. At the beginning they talked a lot – probably catching up on each other’s lives. Then it got more sporadic. Sometimes she would lean over and say something to him. Mostly to ask something about the program cuz she would point to it or he would. Other times they just suddenly started talking during a performance or other random moments. Whatever they said made them laugh or smile each time. I can tell you exactly how many times JW got up cuz the first time was to get info from the woman in charge about when JW and Uee had to go on. He came back and reported to Uee what the woman said. Then later the woman came over to the table and spoke to both of them. Right before intermission she came to get them so I thought they were going to go on soon, but that was to take them backstage to rehearse what they would say on stage later cuz every couple exchanged some kind of banter right before listing the nominees and winners. After the first half was over, the same woman came back again to report how many more minutes till they would go on. The last time the woman came was to take both of them and that’s when I left a comment they would be going on the stage. I could tell from the way JW started to fix his clothes to get ready to go on as he walked backstage with Uee. All those other times he didn’t do that. Can I just say the first time I saw him get up and leave the table, I really noticed his walk. I never knew he had this way of walking that makes him look tall, lean, and graceful. Like his feet barely touch the ground kind of floating walk.  Maybe it’s inaccurate to describe a walk like this, but it’s dreamy. The way his head tilts a little to the side as he walks across the floor, it sort of puts you in a trance. If he happens to be smiling as he walks, then omg watch out – swoon factor skyrockets. Anyway getting back on topic, here comes the highlight of this post cuz this is all about JW and Uee’s mannerisms. They are both true proper clappers. Not just once or twice, but for EVERY speech and performance. Half the room didn’t really bother with the clapping and even when they did, it was barely any sound. These two clapped the right way with attention. They also mimicked each other. When Uee suddenly clapped for something most people didn’t, JW immediately clapped with her for support. They also danced to every song with a beat while they were sitting. You could literally see their upper bodies moving to the music or singing along. You can catch it on video footage during the performances. I guess cuz they are both musically inclined or something, but they would clap and dance along as soon as the music started. I noticed that Suzy did that too, but Lee Je Hoon didn’t move his body – only polite light clapping. Uee looked around the room from time to time, but JW barely moved his head the whole night. Once in a while a loud fan would cause him to look over his shoulder, but mostly he faced the front. He only semi-yawned once. Neither one of them looked sleepy or tired. They must have a lot of patience cuz these two remind me of those people in church who are totally into the sermon and never fidget or nod off. I was surprised she stayed the entire night since I was pretty sure I read she was leaving on a flight and had to leave the show early. Part of the reason why she stayed was cuz the show was going to end a lot sooner than planned and also cuz they would be second to last to present. Since they arrived in separate cars – hers a white van and he came in that white stretch limo, I knew they weren’t headed out the same way. I tried to watch them till they left the room, but the guards made us leave a few minutes after the show was over so I never did see which way they went.

I love watching these two on stage together. It’s so cute how they take turns looking at each other. I’m curious if they really didn’t rehearse what they were going to say other than earlier that night. I want to believe they called each other and planned some stuff over the phone, despite the fact that on camera JW asked her what she had been up to since it had been a while since they met since OB ended. Hopefully that was just a fib. 🙂

*their acceptance speeches and their banter on stage is posted at the bottom 🙂

The one thing I still can’t figure out was why they didn’t exchange any words of congratulations when JW won. She could have said something and he could have said thanks, but he just went on stage. Maybe they did it backstage or something, but if you watch that footage, they didn’t exchange words right before JW went onstage.  Of course when she won, the other guy congratulated her cuz JW had already won and was still backstage. They also came back to their seats at different times and not together. I’m assuming he went on a bathroom break cuz he never briefly left the room during the show. He was only gone during their rehearsal time with Uee, when he won, and when they went up to present the award together. The way he is around Uee is perfect ease. You can totally tell he does not speak to her formally – he definitely uses banmal. I don’t know for sure what all this info says about their relationship, but from my impression, I get the feeling that they have grown close enough to feel relaxed with one another. He seems to be more considerate of her than the other way around, but maybe  that’s just cuz he is a gentleman. There is a perfect example of that in the final paragraph. Wanted to share that last cuz it’s the memory that will stay with me permanently.

Now onto my second focus for the night. I never meant for this to happen, but my line of vision was directly across from Lee Je Hoon who was sitting at the table next to JW and Uee so the only thing separating us were a few people. So throughout the night, whenever JW or Uee left the table, I stared at LJH the most. Yumi from Rooftop, Micky, and his brother sat clear across the room next to the table with the “MTETS” group KSH, Yeo Jin Gu, Kim Yoo Jung. Even though I was bummed they were sitting so far away, I rather have a better view of JW and Uee. Plus this side of the room had JGS, PSH, LJH, Suzy, and a bunch of other famous older actors who attracted attention from the camera crew like the one from Oldboy and Ahn Sung Ki. I found it interesting that throughout the night, most of these celebrities sitting next to each other never spoke to one another. Like I wrote before, LJH and Suzy only spoke when he congratulated her on her win and again when she asked one short question. He had one brief conversation with the actor from “Oldboy.” The rest of the time, LJH was looking up at the fans on the second floor or the giant screen monitor with a permanent smile on his face. I have no idea how you continually smile like that, but there you have it. The guy is a nonstop smiler. During intermission between the first and second half, he walked out the side exit to go back to the VIP lounge for a bathroom break. That’s when the entire room just suddenly got up and moved around. Fans started milling towards the railings hoping to catch sight of the stars as they came back to their seats. My friend literally called me on the phone and told me to come down a few steps to the railing cuz you can take better pictures of the few celebrities that remained in their seats. That’s how she got a shot of JGS arriving right before he got his award. Since JW and Uee were already out of the room, I went down to see what the fuss was. Just as I reached the railing, LJH walked by. The girl next to me was super quick and alert and asked to shake his hand. Since I was right next to her, he looked at me expecting me to want to shake his hand too, but I was too stunned to move or do anything except grin really big.  CN Blue started singing which was the cue to go back to your seats so he just smiled at me apologetically and went back to sit. I stood there and wished there was a way to invent a device to turn back just a few seconds of time. I’m not joking – the minute it dawned on me that I had  just blown my chance to shake his hand, I literally wondered if it was possible to kick yourself in public and not be noticed.

In the first one, it was taken right after it ended. You can see Uee and JW in the background the whole time, but PSH and others are in front. Next one is when the winners were called on stage. You can clearly see that JW went up first and Uee later. They didnt stand by each other so they did meet up again to walk down together.

There is a very good chance I might end up going to more of these award shows in the future now that my friend knows I am a JW fan. All this time she thought I was only a YAI and Hyun Bin fan for life and had no idea my attention had shifted to include others as well. Even though it’s tiring and tedious to sit through an awards show, the highlight for me was spying on how the real JW and Uee interact behind the cameras. I used to think I was an impatient person until I started this blog and doing all these recaps and translations. More than any other fan out there, I bet I’ve watched more footage of JW since I sat through countless hours of pressing rewind to hear the lines over and over again for all the episodes of OB and 1n2d. That is why I thought I was pretty familiar with his habits and mannerisms until I learned there was a lot more to him than just what you observe on camera. I saved one tidbit of info for last cuz this is pretty special. I thought of all the possible reasons why he did it. Maybe cuz he still felt responsible for her as an “oppa” or a fellow former cast mate. Maybe it was cuz he is a professional and knows that since Uee has a concert the next night, she can’t afford any injuries. I stopped wondering about all the plausible excuses why he did it and just settled for the fact that ultimately it just means he still cares about her. It happened at the very end when all the cameras were turned off and people were exiting the building. As the winners for the night gathered on stage to take a commemorative photo, JW was one of the first ones on stage with KSH. I have video footage of that. He didn’t even end up standing next to Uee cuz she went up later. She stood towards the end on the right while he took the pic standing in the middle. Not sure if someone arranged them that way or not, but what is interesting to note is they were nowhere near each other for the actual photo. But as they dispersed after taking the photo, they both ended up walking down together. I bet after the photo, he looked for her and saw her going that way and followed her on purpose. Most of the other celebrities exited through the side exits that lead backstage that winners took after receiving their awards and that should have been his choice too, but I’m guessing since Uee was standing on that right side, she went down the front way and JW followed her to help her. I really don’t think JW was the one who went that way first since he was standing closer to the middle of the stage when he took pics. Remember earlier I told you he took UJH’s arm to steady her as he helped her down the steps, well he didn’t do that for Uee here. He did something even better. He walked down a few steps ahead and shadowed her. He kept his head down and looked over at her feet to make sure she was walking down safely and was ready to grab her if she slipped and fell. Since she had on high heels and a fluffy skirt that obstructed her view, she took slow, gingerly steps so he had to pace his steps to make sure he wasn’t too far down and not once did he stop checking on her till she was safely on the ground.  Anyone would say it would have been easier just to take her hand and help her down. Lord knows I would have appreciated that too so I can snap a mental picture of it, but watching him being so considerate of her without her needing to ask just made me melt.  I’m beginning to think he is never going to give us a shortage of reasons for swooning over him. Let’s face facts, this crush we are all suffering from just might be lifelong. After witnessing this, I know mine is going to be cemented in stone so that it’s perpetual.

Here are some more screencaps from the night:

Here are some more photos of our couple taken from Baidu that SS found and shared with us. 🙂

The female host describes his character TH on the weekend drama OB and how TH is brusque with others, but sweet in front of the girl he likes so he made a lot of women’s heart thump (race) – (that is one accurate description of what TH did to us) I think that’s why he smiled so big when he heard that last part as he got on stage.

This is what they said when they won:

JW: thank you very much. first – I want to thank God. through OB, I thought how happy I was doing a drama. I really want to thank [he lists everyone by name – the director, scriptwriters] For everyone – all the actors and staff who pulled me along (helping me) since I lacked, thank you very much. my S entertainment family (his agency) and everyone in my fan cafe 1mang1jang and my 1n2d hyungs and staff -thank you very much. also for always cheering me on and loving me, I want to pass on the honor of this award to my family. I will work hard from now on. thank you.

when Uee goes on stage, the guy who is hosting talks about how she is a girl group member but the part when he says “personally, her father is a hyungnim I know well so I am so happy” -that made Uee laugh.

Uee: hello I am Uee. this is my first time coming here so I was really nervous and trembling. to my family who is watching this on tv, everyone in my family at Pledis, OB brothers, (she names the directors and scriptwriters) there are so many people I am grateful to -also to my sunbaes (seniors) (she lists some others) then says for all my fans who cheer me on, thank you very much. my members are in japan now for our first concert there tm so I want to thank them for letting me come here. I want to come again. I will work hard to come again. thank you.

This is what they said on stage when they presented for best actor and best actress in a movie:

JW to Uee: it seems like it’s been a long time since we’ve met after OB, how have you been? Uee talks about how she is emcee at a live music program “and like I said a while ago, I’m doing the first after school concert in Japan tm and kept practicing for that. The nervousness from today seems like it will continue till tm. You’ve been very busy these days – filming your drama Bridal Mask and the variety program 1n2d” She goes on and says how much she enjoys watching him doing variety on 1n2d – “How is it going” so he says “from here on I will work hard on 1n2d and BMask will be on after Equator Man ends so please look forward to it a lot. Variety is a lot of fun but what I love a lot are movies so I want to applaud the (senior =sunbaes) nominees for this right now. Uee jokes: you werent by any chance nominated for this right? JW says it’s too far off for him (to get nominated for best acting in a movie) and that he is satisfied with just winning the award from earlier. “Personally I hope UJH senior wins this.” Uee says it doesnt seem right for the announcer to show who he favors so he says “I will just do this today”