What I've been reading and watching (DallerGut Dream Department Store and I Am Not A Tourist). Been a while since I listened to anything. May add more.
DallerGut Dream Department Store - Lee, Miye: The idea of buying dreams is extraordinary. I had to read this twice to remember each detail on the characters. Working front of house I know it can be stressful and you can barely get anywhere when it gets very busy with customers. Penny is the main protagonist who starts a new job at DallerGut Dream Department Store. Sounds rather wishful if customer service is your niche. But it is delightful to see how you can choose what kind of dream you want to purchase. The sequel Return To The DallerGut Dream Department Store dives further into regular customers who stop visiting and purchasing dreams and once Penny completes her first year in this job, she starts to take the company train.
I Am Not A Tourist - Daisy J Hung: A nonfiction book where I clumsily assumed the author was an actual British Born Chinese but she is in fact born in Canada, lived in America and eventually settled here in the UK. British Chinese does not necessarily mean being born here which is a sharp reminder to myself for next time while I read books or other media elsewhere.
Some of the content discussed were things I already knew about that had landed on the news and mentioned in the papers or online articles. Even the mention of old communities such as Dimsum.co.uk or the British Born Chinese online group that is still active on Facebook. The author isn't wrong on how rather divided our community/ethnic Diaspora is and many years ago I definitely noticed this from the BBC facebook group and online forum which was why I spent less time posting because of the microaggressions. There was borderline self-hating and wanting to be "Western" as opposed to being in the Otaku/Odeoku category. It was a mix of a generation gap and different Chinese not necessarily from China. I noticed a bigger presence of Hong Kong or Vietnamese BBCs from takeaway or restaurant family backgrounds. I've learnt my lesson in letting my guard down and believing all East Asians or fellow BBCs would be friendly but I'm not going to run off and force myself to assimilate with non-Chinese so easily for the sake of integration.
With this book, there wasn't much mention on this trope and more of a celebration for being different or trendy with dying your hair and wearing tattoos as is the case of setting yourself apart from those who make your community embarrassing due to bad behaviour. As I've said in my previous posts, it's taken a long time for me to acknowledge and accept my ethnicity and yes I used it through superficial fandom interests of the Hallyu variety as opposed to an awakening of Western ideals or dabbling in Western pop culture, which more people seem to take notice of. Sorry if I do not meet your Western mindset which you assume I'm either of the privileged and super rich squad or an immigrant who had been smuggled to the West or mix up their L from the R's when speaking English.
I suppose with the case of idols dying their hair for the sake of the concept they are promoting in their latest comeback that is acceptable. Eons ago I thought about writing a story where my protagonist had blue highlights but then dismissed it. That heroine is potentially going to be middle-aged and have grey hair instead.
On a side note, at least there is a discussion on mental health and Autism because it is seen as a stigma in our community. Makes you wonder why so many people are stressed out and may take their own life.
"I'm Not A Tourist" is worth reading. May take a while but just for the sake of seeing what was researched and discussed on the pages, I would encourage anyone from the same ethnic community to at least check it out and form your own thoughts.
As for music... nothing has really stood out to me and it's become way more open to the Western market. I will admit that ENHYPEN's latest comeback Bad Desire (With Or Without You) is catchy.
Performance video with the choreography
ATEEZ's Lemon Drop is a nice summer anthem and they look amazing in the video. I'm reminded of their earlier tracks from their EP3 One To All especially the track Wave.
Kpop Demon Hunters - Zoey, Rumi and Mira are members of a girl group named Huntrix or Huntr/x who also happen to be Demon Hunters. It's a tradition that has been passed down for generations to protect the world from demons sent by Gwi Ma using a shield aka Honmoon. To antagonise the heroines, a demon boy group is created. Jinu leads the Saja Boys whose debut picks up very quickly and they steal the majority of Huntrix's fans in order to absorb their souls and feed Gwi Ma.
I already spoiled myself from seeing Kevin Woo's instagram where he said he was the singing voice for Mystery Saja and read a few tidbit spoilers on who was inspired by who. It's the first time I saw any work from Ahn Hyoseop despite hearing his name a lot. I enjoy this cast a lot and it's highlighting some Asian American/Korean talent.
In terms of the characters, every member of each group had their characteristics which is reminiscent of how the idol groups are assigned specific roles. I do wish there was more character focus on the Saja Boys to even out the male and female character development. Jinu's history was brief and I liked his interaction with Rumi (regardless of whether it's platonic or more). I would have liked to see every Saja Boy but also Huntrix get more focus though one can't do that in 93 or so minutes. If this was a drama series then maybe you could have more room to add more plot. Rumi having to come out as a demon by force no thanks to the demons and then embracing her different appearance is worthy scenery, as is Jinu's sacrifice to help the hunters and defeat Gwi Ma.
The music is heavily Kpop inspired and the lyrics are 90% English with some Korean here and there. Anyone who is extremely nerdy in their Kpop fangirling/fanboying may recognise the influences of other idols when they see the design of the characters. I was obviously very slow since I don't know every single idol in existence.
I jumped off my chair when I heard EXO's Love Me Right start playing and then Saja Boys' debut track Soda Pop began to infect my mind. I did like some of the other songs in the original soundtrack and without a doubt most of the music was catchy as hell. For some reason Golden's beat reminds me of IVE's I AM . Both songs have really encouraging lyrics.
Trailer for Kpop Demon Hunters can be seen below