Hello, My Twenties! // Age of Youth (2016)

Once you've binged on all of the standard "good" Netflix television, there's nothing left to watch unless you start choosing shows at random. Embarrassingly, I reached that point. If I hadn't, I wouldn't have stumbled upon this treasure: the South Korean dramady known on Netflix as Hello, My Twenties!

Screenshot from trailer

Netflix seems to have recently acquired a lot of East Asian programming, and they are not marketed as well as other foreign TV/Film is, in my (serious) opinion, which is deeply unfortunate. My own biases come into play as well, and honestly, most of the shows don't look appealing at first glance. The larger-than-life stereotype of South Korean media precedes it, and I have inadvertently written it off. I know that I am not the only one to do so, and it is unnerving how complicit Netflix and other outlets are in this as well.

In many ways, the show reminds me of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend in that its comedy is big and centers on single women. Yet, somehow these thematic similarities are not as strong as the similarities that the show has simply for its country of origin, according to Netflix. For example, all 25 of the "more like this" shows listed are East Asian shows. I argue that not having a single show "like this" from any other part of the world shows that Netflix pockets these show together, no matter their content. Two of the four genres Netflix tags for Hello, My Twenties! have Korean in the title (Korean TV Shows, Korean Dramas) and the other two are vague and overlook the comedy of the show (TV Shows, Romantic TV Shows). I would love to see this show represented more accurately, so that more people will be likely to enjoy it for what it is as opposed to writing it off due to stereotypes. In the process, stereotypes across the board will be broken down. 

Anyway, I had exhausted the Netflix programming I was interested in and despite this, my boyfriend is a media-holic who constantly needs noise in the background while he works, and I either needed to choose something or have to deal with an intense true crime show. I opted for the random click, with the mindset of oh boy, what are we getting ourselves into. Soon, I was  coming home from work and immediately turning on the show, staying up past my bedtime to watch another episode in its entirety. 

It starts off stereo-typically South Korean, larger than life in an overwhelming way. The show opens on Eun-jae (Park Hye-soo*), who happens to be my least favorite character, as she moves into a new apartment in Seoul with four female housemates. Eun-jae is a doe-eyed little babe, just starting her first year at college. She is nervous and awkward, and I can't help but find her totally annoying. 

The series takes turns exploring the lives of each of the housemates, who each have very distinctive personalities.

Screenshot from trailer

In addition to Eun-jae, we have Kang Yi-Na (Ryu Hwang-young), who is tall and attractive, with a bold confidence and over-it attitude that exudes from her sassy quips. Song Ji-won (Park Eun-bin), the quirky weirdo who has never had a boyfriend and is alternately distressed by this and boldly whatever about it--my absolute favorite of the five. Jung Ye-eun (Han Seung-yeon), who is a little over-the-top, always dressing in pink, very concerned with her appearance and her social life, particularly her boyfriend. Finally, Yoon Jin-myung (Han Ye-ri), who works multiple jobs and is struggling to keep her head afloat, stubborn in her self-sufficiency. 

As in reality, these women would not have become friends if they weren't living together. Somehow, becoming roommates with other women,  brings me closer to them in a way that would not have been possible or even necessarily desired had I not lived with them. The series shows the ups and the downs of their intermingled and individual lives--revealing beautiful moments of unexpected friendship and loyalty, and painful moments of tension. I can't express how well this show depicts female friendships. Some of the loving, loyal scenes between the women nearly bring me to tears with joy. 

In addition to all of the relatively normal story threads, the women all have hidden pasts that they are dealing with, and a ghost seems to be haunting the house. I hate to give any of the plot surprises away, but trust me when I say that the drama gets real. And it gets good. 

Screenshot from trailer

The writing on the show is fantastic. Humor comes in unexpected ways, and I laughed out loud like I did with Chewing Gum and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, reveling in the absurdity and cleverness of different lines and plot lines. The editing is superb--quickly changing tones drastically but smoothly, purposefully done to keep us on the hook. Mid-late season in particular had me hating the writers and editors because I knew I was being manipulated, but I loved it. 

There are many more hidden treasure moments in the series--from the single woman who they rent from, always shown enjoying herself in her garden, to the men in and out of the girls' lives, to the after-episode interviews with the characters. It's fantastic. 

As always, my criticism:

• There are stock video clips interspersed throughout, making the tone very weird. Especially when considering that the stock videos never seem to represent Korean people--mostly white ones. 
• The same two-three songs are constantly used, and I wish that there would be more diversity in song choice. (Apparently this is common in K-Drama?)

Overall, I highly recommend Hello, My Twenties! to anyone who enjoys well-done "big" comedy and female-driven media. It is such a fantastic, relatable series. Both my boyfriend and I are completely invested. 

*Written in the structure of family name followed by first name, as generally written in Korean

Watch the trailer, that doesn't do the series a lick of justice, here

Resources for Talking to People Who "Don't Get It"

This section is primarily for personal use because it's easier to catalog things here than in a word document I will inevitably forget about.

I am cataloging a few items I think will be helpful in an effort to communicate issues of justice more clearly to people around me, primarily those I love, who do not understand their significance. I hope to aid in understanding issues of justice and pinpoint ways that people can contribute to a better world effectively and meaningfully.

Overview

• `Trevor Noah & Tomi Lahren Interview on the Daily Show, December 2016 
• Vice News
• Pew Research Center 

FUCK: Donald Trump was Elected President

•  Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Episode, November 2016 
• The Indivisible Guide

Black Lives Matter and White Privilege 

• SNL Black Jeopardy with Tom Hanks, October 22, 2016 
• White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack by Peggy McIntosh
• Don't Cash Crop My Cornrows Video by Amandla Stenberg

Gender Violence, Reproductive Justice

• Sanford Rape Survivor Statement
• Pro-Choice Does Not Mean Pro-Abortion: An Argument for Abortion Rights Featuring the Rev. Carlton Veazey
• "You know, a lot of people say, 'You must bring this child into the world.' They are 100 percent supportive while the child is in the womb. As soon as the child is born, they abort the child in other ways. They abort a child through lack of health care, lack of education, lack of housing, and through poverty, which can drive a child into drugs or the criminal justice system."

White Saviorism 

• White Savior Barbie
• Your White Savior Complex is detrimental to my development
• The white tourist's burden
• The Reductive Seduction of Other People's Problems 
• The Problem with Little White Girls (and Boys): Why I stopped Being a Voluntourist

Criminal Justice System

• Book recommendation: Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson

Other

• This profile about a female front-line anti-ISIS fighter
• Article on Japanese internment camps
• Article on Guantanamo Bay
• Representation statistics

Lovesick aka Scrotal Recall (2014-)

Netflix really wanted me to watch Scrotal Recall. Despite its insistence, I never did because hello, it's called Scrotal Recall. Ew.

Dylan (Johnny Flynn), an adorable British blondie, tests positive for chlamydia, prompting him to reach out to all the women he has ever slept with to let them know. The series chronicles his present-day interactions with these women as well as the key moments from these relationships/hook ups past.

Screenshot from trailer

The first question you're probably asking is: why would his guy contact all of the women he has ever slept with the moment he finds out he has an STD? Wouldn't it make more sense to go backwards, rather than going straight for that random person he hooked up with six years ago or whatever? Yeah, I don't know. I'm totally glad he's taking responsibility and letting everyone know, but this logic just doesn't make sense. It's the entire foundation of the show though, so...

Scrotal Recall originally aired on the UK's E4 channel, but season two was all backed by Netflix who, realizing the reason for its unpopularity, took it upon itself to rename the show Lovesick.

The first season was surprisingly fun. The episodes travel through time, chronicling not only the romantic relationships entangled in Dylan's life, but also the friendships. The audience watches the growth of characters in one episode as they would over the course of many seasons of a traditional show. It is done well, and it works, capturing the fluidity of time and experience.

Screenshot from trailer

Evie (Antonia Thomas) is consistently well-acted and magnetic. She is friends and housemates with Dylan, though she watches his changing relationships with a look of sadness and longing in her eye, wishing she were in his lover's place. Though the series centers on Dylan, Evie's character is the more engaging, dynamic one. The audience is endeared to her, rooting for her.

The series also features Luke (Daniel Inges) as the pair's sleazy friend whose loud confidence and escapades with women propel both Dylan and Evie's plot lines in silly, unexpected ways.

That first season captured me, but the second, headed by Netflix, tried to change the show's direction while keeping the same format. Season Two relies more on remembering the chronology of these time traveling vignettes while developing a more traditional, straight-shoot plot thread. The people involved in the show are talented, and if given the a better script I bet the show would continue to be great, but as is it is a little confusing.

Screenshot from trailer

The show worked when Evie and Luke were the only characters surrounding Dylan whose roles and histories were consistent, but by adding Abigail (Hannah Britland) to the mix it gets to be a little much. Perhaps if she were someone new he has met rather than someone with a history that is lost in the swirl of other histories it would work better. As-is, I forget many significant details and don't see a true connection between the two. If she had been new, the series could have explored telling someone you just met that you have an STD and working through that.



Watch the trailer here

Grosse Pointe Blank (1997)

Ten years out of high school, do you still harp on moments lost and opportunities missed?  If you answered yes to that question, then perhaps you'll enjoy Grosse Pointe Blank (1997) more than I did. I sure hope not, though, because that's awfully sad.

Screenshot from trailer || My face at this movie

The premise of the film is that Martin (John Cusack), an assassin for-hire, has to go back to his home town to kill a man and attend his high school reunion. There he re-encounters his ex-girlfriend, Debi (Minnie Driver), the lost love of his life who he wishes to reconnect with after leaving her on prom night ten years ago and never seeing her again.

This movie sucks, and here are some reasons why:

• It is boring as hell and nearly two hours long. 
• There is next to no character or plot development and I am left with countless questions. Why exactly did Martin leave Debi? Why doesn't he have an oft-used cover-up profession for when people ask? Has he not dated since high school? Has she not dated since high school? Did he even graduate high school? How come we didn't have any prior hints that the other hit men were after Debi's father? Why were they after him exactly? Why is Debi still in this small town, despite having the money to easily leave? Also, Debi's character seems to change with every scene. 

Screenshot from trailer

• The camera work is consistently awful. The framing is unprofessional, and canted angles are used annoyingly. 

• Martin's secretary (Joan Cusack) has a role that is out of sync with the rest of the film. She seems irrelevant, but she cares a lot. Why does she care so much about Martin going back home? Wait, why does Martin keep messing up so much at his job, leading him to Detroit, right near his hometown, in the first place? Obviously, the questions never stop.  

• The therapist is an unnecessary addition.  I see where the humor is supposed to come from, but it falls flat and is carried on for too long with no payoff. 

Screenshot from trailer

• I am so confused about who is trying to kill who and why.

• The reunion seems secondary, yet is talked about greatly throughout the film. A man dies there, and nobody seems to really care, and nobody reports this to the police. 

Overall, the film left me with near constant confusion. It was poorly written, poorly acted, and poorly filmed. It sucked. But if you're still interested, you can watch the trailer here. 

Living life and whatnot

It's an overcast Sunday here in Carrboro, NC. It has been a nice weekend spent mostly indoors, though boy and I did venture outside to put soil in our new compost bin and moss on our new bonsai tree. We have been particularly Carrboro (read: bougie hippies) lately.

We bought the bonsai tree from a man who sells them from a large white van on the side of the road. He is on the list of people who I would love to approach to consider being a subject in a short documentary.

Speaking of that, I bought a camera! It's a beautiful Canon XA10 from Ebay for $850. It isn't exactly a steal, but I felt comfortable investing. I haven't done any real projects yet, and I still need to get editing software (leaning towards Final Cut Pro over Adobe right now). I have a few ideas and loose plans in the works for documentary and fictional films and collaborations with friends. As with everything, I'm trying to remind myself that it is okay to be mediocre or even straight bad in the work I do as long as I strive to grow. We'll see how my first few independent projects go, but I am trying not to let my standards prevent me from developing a skill set that matches those standards.

In other personal news, life has been really nice. Last weekend I road-tripped to DC and spent time with good friends, saw a great show, and fell a little in love with the city. Work has been interesting, and I'm learning a lot about fundraising. I feel absolutely spoiled when I go to my office's parties, and the holiday party last week was no exception; people really went all out for an '80's themed lip-syncing competition that was way more fun than it sounds, and there was an open bar. Boy's lab's holiday party was great fun as well. I got to watch a group of brilliant women scientists from a handful of backgrounds bust a move on the dance floor, and it was fantastic.

I've adjusted to a "big girl" job and schedule well, and have been going to the gym regularly (minus that month of no gym time I just got over) and eating fairly healthy. I'm enjoying where I'm at very much, but am looking forward to future possibilities. The dream of living abroad in the not too far future is particularly interesting. I would love to use French or Spanish regularly again, or learn a new language. We'll see.

Gotta love public art in Carrboro

Obviously, the election has given me many feelings. I am trying to navigate the world as it is, and learn how to curb my sometimes troublesome outspokenness. I am thinking of how to better use my free time and energy towards partnering with others to fuel a better world. I hope to put my thoughts into action in the new year.

So far, I hope to have made a tiny impact by somehow, along with my team, achieving getting Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson to be my office's January "retreat" read. I look forward to discussing big topics with my coworkers and taking a bit of a tangent to discussing our work as fundraisers for Duke, a wealthy, private university located in Durham, NC, a city with great income diversity and a racial history that ties into that income gap. The city is undergoing the process of major gentrification, and I think often about my unintentional role in this process. I hope that by bringing this to the forefront of our group discussion some small, positive shift in perspective and action emerges.