Beanie level: The Goblin’s underpants

As usual, David of DKDTV nails it. An excellent review of Startup, and why the big winner is my new favorite, Kim Seon Ho! https://youtu.be/MvIhtZEW-w8

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I recently watched Antique, with Kim Jae-wook and a young Yoo Ah-in. It was charming, and KJW is perfect as a beautiful, sexy pâtissier, who is pretty much “gay catnip” for other men!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkRZS-tm_9Y

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David and Danny are two of my favorite YouTube-bloggers, and this in-depth look at Itaewon, and some of the social issues explored in Itaewon Class, were interesting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OutGsIwEg5o&t=60s

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I love all these photos and GIFs of Hu Ge and cats. The cats are adorable, and Hu Ge is so gorgeous – love all the different looks he has in the photos.

http://www.dramapanda.com/2017/01/if-you-were-wondering-whether-hu-ge-is.html

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This made me so happy. I can’t stop watching it! Hu Ge, the cat – both of them are so gorgeous!

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Re Go Go Squid, my enjoyment decreased significantly as the “romance” advanced, while the gaming/bromances were cut. Sorry, but this as the GF/fiance of a handsome adult man? UGH.

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    Why not?! Real people have weirder tastes than Han Shang Yan. 😂😂😂

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      IMO, most men – or at least those who aren’t sexual deviants! – are not attracted to women who look, act, talk, and exhibit the taste of a 10 or 11 year old girl. The romance was so cringe-worthy – and so completely unbelievable – that I started having difficulty watching it. The age difference really could have been immaterial, but the way they dressed and directed the FL made it borderline creepy.

      I really like Li Xian, and loved the way his performance gave depth and interest to a fairly shallowly developed character in a fluffy romance novel, but after watching the cringe-worthy “romance scenes” and awkward, unsexy kisses, I am a little concerned that he might not be capable of pulling off a romantic role, in a more realistic drama, with a credible love interest.

      I generally don’t like the FL characters in contemporary Cdramas because they seem so juvenile and passive, but at least they usually LOOK like women, even if they are presented as being passive and naive. Look at Love O2O. The FL was pretty and dressed age appropriate, despite her frigid reactions to any romantic overtures, and Yang Yang managed to still come across as a sexy guy, despite her, “help! I’m being sexually molested!” expressions when he approached her. But the kisses between Li Xian and the FL were embarrassing, awkward, and devoid of any credible passion. What made it even worse was that the director sacrificed things like THE ACTUAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME to show us icky romantic scenes. Very poor editing, and poor story telling at the end.

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        I kinda wish the character wasn’t framed in a juvenile way but there are women who are like that and some of these women never ever grow out of it. There are also men who go for those kind of women, not that there are a lot of dramas about either of them. Haha They’re not the best written characters but I just let it go because the romance worked for me.

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    He has a Lego castle in his bedroom, and early in the drama was constantly playing games on his phone or with an old handheld game system. They both have toys.

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      They make legos geared towards adults (I get ads for them, because I buy things like FCY action figures and other collectibles), and HSY’s career is gaming, so he is constantly working on his eye hand coordination. His house is gorgeous – sleek and modern. I had nightmares about TN moving in after the wedding, and adding frilly pastel pillows and posters of Hello Kitty all over, which she will probably do.

      IMO the ugly, baggy, sexless, little girl clothes, and the childish taste (Hello Kitty, pastels, eating candy and sweets all the time, making silly faces, etc) were the director’s way of making an actress who was too old to play the part look like he thought a 19 year old girl would look. In the novel, she wears clothes that show off her “attributes,” which included “long legs” and nice boobs, and HSY noticed other men noticing her, because she was repeatedly described as being attractive to men. Not one thing was sexy about the FL in the drama. (Plus, I’ve seen that actress in other dramas, and she can only play one character. What happens when she finally looks too old to play the ditzy woman-child?)

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      Plus a slide from his bedroom to his work office. Also, does not know how to manage his personal finances.

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        Not his house. It’s an esports club where young boys live. (Many corporations that want to attract young, creative professionals have all kinds of toys/games for them to play with at work. The slide-instead-of-stairs isn’t a new idea. I also don’t recall seeing HSY using it, but he may have). HSY has a beautifully decorated house.

        And as for his fiances, he was fine until a drunk TN went through his suitcase and found the necklace, assumed it was for her, and took it. (That’s how it happened in the novel – he never gave it to her, but rather, just let her keep it after she took it). From some comments later made, the necklace was very expensive – several hundred thousand dollars – so it wiped out his savings, as well as his casual spending money. He’d actually used his money very well, investing in this international esports organization, working towards his lifelong dream.

        HSY also stood in loco parentis to a group of young guys, and seemed to be pretty responsible in taking care of them. In every area except love, he was a pretty mature guy, who had been on his own since he left home at age 18-19. So I disagree that he’s “childish.”

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          In regards to the necklace because he is an adult he could just say, “I need that back” and problem solved. I honestly dont think either of them is that childish though Gun leans that way in some of his actions at the beginning of the drama. The way he responds to his Grandpa reminds me of a teen and the way he acted at the New Years dinner because he didnt want to go. But I love how he later reflected in those actions and how they had consequences. With Squid I mostly found her hiding her relationship with Gun from her parents childish, but loved how it prompted her dad in some of the scenes to remind her and others that she is an adult now.
          With Tong Nian’s character I think that she at 19/20 is in the same peer group as the K &K group (actually posted about this) but no one takes them to task for being boyish.
          I dislike her and YaYa’s clothes cause I find them really unflattering but I find Gun and Little Bais clothes to sometimes be odd too. They do esports but dress like a military group sometimes.
          I do have to say I think the love O2O character falls along the same character type as Squid.
          It is always fun to read these differences in opinions. A few people noped out of Squid for a variety of reasons and many of us stayed and had such fun and it is interesting to see how the same show is percieved in different ways.

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    Actually, I thought it was pretty normal he fell for her, because even though people will like to find people who think like them in matter of politics, religion and other important subjects, plus they will want someone as intelligent as them, they usually choose someone who has different tastes. Also, she is a girl. And there are women in their 30’s who like that kind of stuff. Myself, for example, I’m almost 25 and I have pretty much the same taste. And my boyfriend is the complete opposite (obviously, since he’s a dude), he likes rock’n’roll and stuff and he doesn’t really care at all. As long as you don’t at childish and you don’t care about what other people will think, it’s fine if you like pandas and unicorns. I will agree, though, that the kisses could have been sexier and that the girl didn’t have to be so naive and they could have kissed long before, but for a rough guy like him, I wouldn’t expect nothing different than a super cute girl. Opposites indeed attract opposites. 😉

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Ji Chang-wook is just so darned gorgeous, and that little girl is adorable. This is a really cute ad!

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Anyone watching The Untamed (my favorite drama currently airing), and/or following Avenue X, check out her fan video where she plays the opening theme song on the qin.

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    I’m watching The Untamed. I love this! I knew she was working on it but didn’t get to listen to it when she was done.

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A friend posted a photo of her cat wearing a fur hat today, and it reminded me of these fabulous cat hats by photographer ryo yamazaki. Love them!

https://www.designboom.com/design/these-cat-hair-cat-hats-are-going-viral-not-to-be-mistaken-for-diors-fw17-beret-12-21-2017/?fbclid=IwAR3YW5iG1bg8OXceenEvSO7DBcTSDytUibaAE1r4M_aBMakPgymZtGMVxYM



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Real life Go Go Squid! At an Esport world championship, the 16 year old winner took home $3 million, and the 13 year old 5th place competitor won $900K! https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2019/07/28/business/fortnite-solo-winner-bugha-world-cup/index.html

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    Wow that’s amazing!

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      I know! I thought it was amusing that the “old guy” in the top competitors was 24 years old, and he actually referred to himself as old. Ha! It’s really consistent with the drama, but the players are even younger.

      Imagine being a 13 year old boy, and earning $900,000 playing games. Talk about a dream career!

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        It’s crazy, I love how there are more opportunities for people to start a career from what they love. He is so lucky to find out what he wants to do at such a young age!
        I hope he makes the most of this time and saves some of this prize for his future!

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Anyone read this article, about American music awards discriminating against Non-white international bands like BTS?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/07/26/separate-equal-rules-american-music-awards/

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    When the article pointed out the fact that Canadian artists get treated like American ones, it really brought the point across.

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    Comment was deleted

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      I’d like to see EXO get the level of international recognition BTS has had. I prefer their sound.

      I think the “special category” is intentional. As the article notes, they did the same to African Americans, by creating “special” categories, like soul, rap and hip hop, to appear to be inclusive, but in reality to avoid any diversity in the major rock and pop categories. With our long history of systemic racism, I err on the side of seeing it as intentional.

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        Comment was deleted

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        EXO has a great sound! At this point I’d say the only reason they’re not equally well recognized internationally is that SM has focused on the Korean and Japanese + other Asian markets, whereas Big Hit has pushed heavily in favour of the Western market.

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          I particularly love Chanyeol. He’s so talented. Loved his collaboration with Punch for Goblin’s OST.

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            Hehe I personally prefer BTS over everyone else, but I’m really just a fan of good music. If the music is good, I’ve got no beef. And Exo are phenomenal on the musical front – I particularly love DO and Baekhyun’s voices, and Chanyeol yes – I loved his self composed soundcloud release “Hand”. 🙂

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      (I don’t mean to brag about sales, I’m using it to explain the point haha.) I REALLY don’t care about the award show (I’m neither Korean nor American so..) but when BTS are the 2nd best selling artist in the US in 2018 (I think), and the only artist other than The Beatles to have 3 consecutive albums on top of the Billiboard chart (this, I’m sure of), then yes – I think they’ve earned a nomination in “best pop” not “best k-pop”, alongside the rookie TXT. Others are I think Blackpink, Monsta X and one more.

      Thus, it is discrimination.

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        Comment was deleted

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        Yes. And that’s the point of the article. They’ve earned a nomination in at least one, if not more, of the main, traditional categories. Yes, it’s commendable to add new categories of awards if it helps recognize new but not well known artists/groups, but it is discriminatory if it’s done to confine non-American or non-white groups from being nominated in the categories their popularity has qualified them to be in.

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          Comment was deleted

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            They ARE in other categories. Best collab, best choreography. But merely because they’re in other, non-main categories doesn’t mean its not discrimination. Again, they’ve earned a nomination in one of the main categories – a sold out stadium tour is not something even most American artists can manage. It’s like the Grammys nominating BTS for best album packaging lol.

            It’s not armys being salty, it IS discrimination. Just as Latin artists have their own category (or so I read somewhere) despite having some of the biggest hits in the US; while Canadian and British artists are allowed in on the main nominations.

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            As Vesp notes in the main post, discrimination against “non-white international bands like BTS”, I’m also not talking about only BTS. The BTS nomination is only yet another example of such discrimination.

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            Comment was deleted

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            Me? Hardly matters. I want them to hold a concert in India.

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            As far as the American awards go, be less xenophobic if you want to show you recognise international artists.

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            I really liked the Forbes article on this. VMAs inclusion of a Kpop category is too little too late.

            https://www.forbes.com/sites/tamarherman/2019/07/25/the-new-k-pop-category-at-the-vmas-is-too-little-too-late/amp/

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    You’re surprised? They’ve been discriminating against black people since it began. You know what, nevermind.

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      I never said I was surprised. Check out my comments here. I just wanted to point it out on my wall because I hadn’t seen it discussed, and I thought it was something that should be. A lot of people don’t understand how systemic/institutionalized racism – as opposed to overt racism – works. As you obviously know, this is a classic example.

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        Just acknowledging your comment and keeping mine to myself. Have a good day.

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          Your responses suggest that you neither read the article or the comments, which clearly stated that the music awards have had a long history of doing this with African American artists, by creating separate categories like best soul, rap and hip hop awards, rather than nominating popular artists for the main traditional categories.

          I’d prefer that people not come here just to be rude. One person has already deleted all of her/his comments, which is too bad, as they were a part of the conversation.

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      Yes, since the beginning.

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The one plus in Squid Stewed in Honey, was the author citing this song, the translator’s poetic translation, and hearing it on youtube. Hope it’s used in the drama, already much better than the book.

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I am still so moved by Nirvana in Fire that I can’t even listen to the OST without bursting into tears! Which I unfortunately discovered on the way to a hearing this morning.🥺 I loved it!

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I am in love – totally, irrevocably, madly – with Kim Jae-wook’s Ryan Gold.

That is all.

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