What Can I Do?

November 2, 2025

When I used to ask “What can I do?” in response to the world’s terrible events, I’d imagine marching in the streets and all the dramatic scenarios which spin out from there. At that point, it’s a troubling question of constitution, and integrity. “Am I willing to risk my life – or more realistically, my job – for what I claim to believe in?” During the first Trump administration, though, I saw how much the real fight happens in courtrooms, by organizations like the ACLU and the SPLC. The best I can do there is donate money. For the more dramatic end, I’m not a frontline guy. At least, so far, I haven’t been called upon. ICE invaded my hometown (and in doing so, made national headlines) but hasn’t occupied where I currently live. I assume that if I were to join one of those protests against a horde of ICE agents and be detained, it would be for so long that I’d lose my job and, judging by how things are going, my citizenship. Whether or not I’m willing to give up my livelihood and back up my convictions with courage – as so many have elsewhere in the country – is something I have to decide, especially as the situation tilts ever toward state violence. … More What Can I Do?

Physical: Asia, Part I [PODCAST]

October 31, 2025

Our favorite stress inducer returns, the latest in Netflix’s expanding Physical saga, Physical: Asia. Representatives from eight countries (not six, as I keep saying) gather to fiercely compete in the old games of sand and crate. In addition to a superstar like Manny Pacquiao and new favorites like Australia’s Eddie Williams and Japan’s Nonoka Ozaki, South Korea’s put up a dream team including season two’s winner Amotti and our forever captain, Jang Eun-sil. Donovan and I discuss how the old rewards of the show filter through a somewhat tricky new lens, and balance anxieties of what’s to come with the excitement for breakout players and their respective cultures. … More Physical: Asia, Part I [PODCAST]

IT’S HERE (again)

October 26, 2025

Donovan, my Baby Assassins partner-in-crime (the Miyauchi to my Tasaka, if you will, though maybe there’s a better duo to be), informed me a few days ago that the TV show, Baby Assassins: Everyday!, was eminently streamable on Hulu and HBO Max, and has been since October 16th. I was late. How could I not have known sooner? Where was the YouTube trailer? Where are the outlets meant to warn me? So, I’m here now to pass it along, realizing that perhaps I am one of those outlets. Not really, but seriously, what the hell happened? … More IT’S HERE (again)

K-Drama Report: Ms. Incognito (2025)

October 12, 2025

Oh, this show is delicious. Intrigue, secrets, betrayals; all the ingredients of a howling melodrama, but arranged neatly in an understated package. Ms. Incognito is a rare sort of genre mash-up: the cozy thriller? Even before we move to the idyllic small town, where a mountain range sits in each kitchen window like a painting, there’s such a comfortable atmosphere that pulls ever so gently inward. Even the old abrasive favorites like a deadbeat mom and flashbacks to an abusive father only pause the warm feelings. It’s the product of at least two things: the lush, cinematic style, and the story premise, which is just about my favorite thing in the world – a badass woman who’s pretending to not be a badass. She carries the aura of violence, an unheeded threat or even an invitation to instant karma. … More K-Drama Report: Ms. Incognito (2025)

Year of Shu Qi?

October 9, 2025

I’d been doing some mental leaps this past year when it comes to Taiwanese superstar Shu Qi’s film and TV projects. I knew that she wrote and directed her debut Girl, which recently won her Best Director at the Busan International Film Festival, and that she was starring in a Netflix series entitled The Resurrected, which released today. I did not put together that she was also starring in a movie entitled Resurrection, which opened at Cannes. That’s confusing! All three are really interesting, though; Resurrection appears to be some kind of avant garde sci-fi movie. And she’s spoken about Girl being a first for her, encouraged by longtime creative collaborator Hou Hsiao-hsien. … More Year of Shu Qi?

K-Drama Report: Bon Appétit, Your Majesty, Part III

September 28, 2025

My girl almost got away with it, too. I know, you can’t have everything. Or can you? This is the funny thing about K-dramas, that the endings are so critical, it adds an extra layer of tension to the viewing. “Please don’t screw it all up!” It makes sense, though. Because K-dramas are, by default, limited to one season, there’s an actual expectation of a narrative conclusion, unlike in American television (where shows are either canceled prematurely or go on so long they drift off into incoherence). Thematically, there’s also an aspect of wish fulfillment. A show like Bon Appétit, Your Majesty is a romantic fantasy following the template of countless fantasies before it. We know all the beats – and we anticipate them – so laid down and preserved for their dramatic potential. Without a doubt, one of those beats is the officiation of the romance, however that takes shape (I don’t even have the term for it). The audience proxy, in this case Royal Chef Ji-yeong, lives this fantasy of winning over the palace one-by-one with her masterful cooking skills, including the scary-sexy King Yi Heon, with whom she eventually falls in love. Why shouldn’t she be able to hold onto that love, too? … More K-Drama Report: Bon Appétit, Your Majesty, Part III

The ‘94 Line: War Stories

September 27, 2025

Mijoo. I have to hand it to Mijoo. Seulgi couldn’t get it done, nor Youngji or Hyojung. Well, they did so partially. As covered last time, Seulgi hosted Youngji and Mijoo on her Hi Seulgi YouTube channel, but Hyojung couldn’t make it. Since then, Youngji had Seulgi and Hyojung on her channel but no Mijoo (and no subtitles). At some point, Hyojung managed to gather everyone, but barely filmed it. Now, believe me, I understand. These are highly in-demand people, and the whole thing here is their friendship. When I hang out with my friends (let’s say I have them), I’m not gonna think to record it. Perhaps it takes a special occasion, like a birthday, and who else’s but Mijoo’s? As it turns out, she was responsible for the entire ‘94 Line to begin with. As Youngji puts it in the resulting video on Mijoo’s channel, linked above, she was too lazy to keep meeting up with everyone individually, and had them all get together as a group. And this includes Moonbyul now, as they rechristen the group: 9294*, with the asterisk a reference to “byul” which means “star.” How lovely! … More The ‘94 Line: War Stories

K-Drama Report: Bon Appétit, Your Majesty, Part II

September 26, 2025

In its second act, Bon Appétit, Your Majesty levels up from good to great to excellent at blistering speed, centered around the latest challenge for royal chef Ji-yeong: a competition against legendary Chinese cooks to decide Joseon’s fate with the Ming dynasty. At the start, I worried the show would adopt a “dish of the week” structure, with Ji-yeong making food for King Yi Heon alone until they eventually fell in love. How would they make that interesting each time? Instead, we have this latest contest which animates the entire palace, setting conspiracies into motion and raising the stakes to the level of national consequence. The Ming envoy, Director Yu Kun, walks with the authority of his emperor, turning each exchange with the Joseon king into a careful game of feints and doublespeak. The contest itself occupies two episodes – contained almost entirely to one location – with two additional episodes of build-up. It’s remarkable, and I’ll just say now that I can’t remember the last time a K-drama made me cry like Bon Appétit’s ninth episode, with the contest’s surprising climax. … More K-Drama Report: Bon Appétit, Your Majesty, Part II

K-Drama Report: Bon Appétit, Your Majesty (2025)

September 22, 2025

Finally. You know, Yoona’s an interesting case. I’ve previously discussed how she’s this deific figure in hallyu but often plays the most mundane characters in K-dramas (faring a bit better in film, by all appearances). She takes us behind the scenes of these shows on her YouTube channel and she’s so enthusiastic, and I wish I could be, too. I really do. Unfortunately, it’s gotten to the point where Yoona’s not a selling point anymore. On one hand, she’s drawn to these safe, relatively unchallenging roles, but on the other, I don’t know if I’d be comfortable with her unsafe, thrown into the deep end of Korean movies and TV. Take Lim Ji-yeon, for example, who’s had a five-star career and now everyone knows she’s a brilliant actress, but Christ, does she get her ass kicked. She plays an abused wife in Lies Hidden in My Garden and a runaway slave in The Tale of Lady Ok. Award-nominated performances, but it’s too much for me to handle. The price of being a badass, really. A badass woman, mind you; no price for guys. Oh, I’m so nervous for my sweet baby Shasha in Project Y. I’d much rather watch Yoona in a reality show like Hyori’s Homestay or any old Girls’ Generation content, where we also see her actual, though still guarded, personality. … More K-Drama Report: Bon Appétit, Your Majesty (2025)

Palace-Minded Man | Uprising (2024) Review

September 12, 2025

The 2024 historical epic Uprising is about two things: the Japanese killing Koreans, and Koreans killing Koreans. This is literally the experience in an early sequence of two cross-cut battles, when Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s samurai advance beyond the Han River in the first invasion of the Imjin War, and the hungry Joseon masses turn on the fleeing King Seonjo (who Wikipedia notes shouldn’t be confused with Sejong the Great). Fans of the recent Shogun will remember Hideyoshi as the taiko whose death incites the feudal struggle for power, briefly embodied as “Nakamura Hidetoshi” by my man Yukijirô Hotaru, of Zeiram (and not actually featured in Uprising). Apparently, this guy was trying to take Korea all the way till his consequential death in 1598. And fans of Netflix’s Kingdom will remember the Imjin War, the historical backdrop to that tragically short-lived zombie masterpiece. Well, rejoice for now, as Uprising shares the same brutal world of beheadings, cannibals, and funny hats – stopping short at zombies, of course, but not before outrageous political corruption. It’s a timely tale of ancient revolution against a cruel aristocracy. … More Palace-Minded Man | Uprising (2024) Review