goawaywithjae

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Wilson Cruz...aging like fine wine...

#Wilson Cruz #My So-Called Life #Rickie

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Weird. My Tumblr account was inexplicably terminated for about a week and now it's back. Did this happen to anyone else?

ETA: When I emailed Tumblr, they sent me an automated reply on April 19 saying they'd check into it, but then never did. According to posts from other people on Twitter/X etc., their accounts were terminated without any notice as well. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

#Tumblr #terminated #why?

[goawaywithjae]

Childhood friends, nosy neighborhood ajummas and ajussis, food (and lots of it), goat bleating (for real), and love are all a part of the popular “Reply” series:

° Reply 1997 (응답하라 1997) ☆☆☆ ° Reply 1994 (응답하라 1994) ☆☆½ ° Reply 1988 (응답하라 1988) ☆☆☆½

“Reply 1997” was the first release of the three. “1994” and “1988” are not continuations or prequels. Rather, each is a stand-alone series with different leads and plots. The only continuity is that the same actors portray the female leads’ parents in each of the three K-dramas. As such, you can watch any of these shows out of sequence — though, that said — you’ll enjoy the cameo appearances more if you watch them in the order they were released.

#Kdramas #Kdrama reviews #Reply 1988 #Reply 1994 #Reply 1997 #Substack #I wrote this

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Babs Olusanmokun is having an incredible year. After returning to the “Dune” franchise as Jamis in “Dune: Part Two,” the actor will next be seen in Guy Ritchie’s “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare”, which opens in theaters on April 19. The Nigerian American actor is also a cast member of the “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” series, portraying Dr. Joseph M’Benga. One of the perks of his job is filming on location, he told us: “For ‘The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare,’ we shot in Turkey and England. Turkey was so fun and welcoming. It’s such a huge country.”

#Babs Olusanmokun #dune part two #the ministry of ungentlemanly warfare #Nigerian #Go Away With #Chicago Tribune #i wrote this

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I'm ready for another So Ji-sub K-drama anytime soon, please... How about you? But in the meantime, I've reviewed two of his films (ALWAYS and BE WITH YOU) and six of his KDramas. Let me know if you've seen any of them!

#Kdramas #Kdrama reviews #So Ji-sub #ALWAYS #BE WITH YOU #OH MY VENUS #THE MASTER's SUN #I'm Sorry I Love You #My Secret Terrius #Ghost #One Sunny Day #Shin Min-A #Han Hyo-joo

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Writer, filmmaker and actress Ashley Versher said she has tackled many interesting jobs in the past. But working with Jennifer Lopez on the Amazon original film “This is Me…Now” remains a highlight.

“I think my favorite scene was the intervention scene, which we shot in a beautiful Bel Air mansion,” said Versher, who splits her time between Los Angeles and New York City. “Jennifer is quite funny, so it was very cool to play off whatever she would throw at us. You never knew what she was going to say, so it kept you on your toes in the best way. I play the role of The Idealist and this scene really challenges that persona, because she is a romantic and wants to believe in happily ever after.”

#Ashley Versher #actress #Go Away With #I wrote this #Chicago Tribune

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What was the first K-drama you watched that made you want to watch even more Korean shows? It’s different for everyone. For some, it may have been 2021’s “Squid Game,” while for others it could’ve been 2002’s “Winter Sonata” that drew them in.

For my latest K-Culture with Jae-Ha Kim newsletter, I gave a lot of thought to what I’ve heard repeatedly from readers here (and on social media over the years) about the shows that drew them in. Here, I’ve reviewed seven K-dramas that hundreds (thousands?) of people have told me were their gateway show.

#Kdramas #Kdrama reviews #Boys Over Flowers #Coffee Prince #Crash Landing on You #Descendants of the Sun #Goblin #Healer #My Love From Another Star #Substack #Substack writer #I wrote this

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Born and raised in Massachusetts, entrepreneur Sahra Nguyen was inspired by her Vietnamese heritage when she founded Nguyen Coffee Supply. “Vietnam’s coffee industry specializes in the robusta coffee species, which is very different from arabica coffee – the dominant coffee species in America,” said Nguyen, 37. “Robusta coffee has double the caffeine content, double the antioxidants and 60 percent less natural sugars than arabica, which means the flavor profile is more bold, dark chocolatey and nutty with a clean boost of energy.”

#Sahra Nguyen #Nguyen Coffee Supply #Vietnamese

[goawaywithjae]

When Mai Whelan beat out 455 competitors to win $4.56 million dollars on “Squid Game: The Challenge” – the reality competition series based on the award-winning Netflix K-drama … minus the deaths! – she had all kinds of options to go away to luxurious destinations. But she surprised fans with her choice. “I asked my husband, Jay, to pick a cabin where I can go for walks and spend time with the dogs,” she said. “We found a place in Seaman, Ohio, with 80 acres of land for the dogs to run free and for me to stroll with my husband. It was a perfect, serene setting … and I didn’t have to socialize with anyone. I slept a lot for a week, took strolls, wrote and ate.”

#Mai Whelan #Squid Game The Challenge #Vietnamese

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#Lee Jae-wook #Karina #aespa #dating #cancel culture

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Today's K-drama recommendations are all ... prison related...

#“One Ordinary Day” #“Prison Playbook” #“Big Mouth” #Kdramas #Kdrama reviews #Kdrama review #“Move to Heaven” #“Itaewon Class” #“Juvenile Justice” #“Way Back Home” #Itaewon Class #Substack #Substack Writer #I wrote this #Substack newsletter

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There’s a relatively new Korean word that didn’t exist when I was a kid: umchina/엄친아, which is a portmanteau for 엄마 친구 아들/umma chingu adeul, or mother’s friend’s son. The idea is that while this 엄친아 may not even exist in real life, he is the ideal person who Korean children are constantly compared to.

This August, Jung Hae-in will star in a tvN K-drama called “Mom’s Friend’s Son” or … “엄마 친구 아들.”

What I find appealing about Jung is that while he has a boyish quality that works well in the romance genre — really selling the emotions, he’s also stellar in action thrillers where you’re never sure if he’s the hero or villain.

#Jung Hae-in #Kdramas #Kdrama reviews #umchina #엄친아 #DP #While You Were Sleeping #Tune in For Love #Somewhere in the Rain #One Spring Night #Jung Hae-in's Travel Log #I wrote this #Substack #Substack newsletter #Substack writer

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Voiceover actress Debi Derryberry is best known for voicing the cartoon character Jimmy Neutron. But she is also a musician. Her latest children’s album, “Gotta Go Green,” will be released on March 8. “’Gotta Go Green’ is a collection of songs specifically targeted to caring for our environment, climate change, carbon footprint … basically, saving the earth,” said Derryberry, 63. “Songs come to me at unpredictable times, sometimes while I’m driving. So I can honestly say that I did work on the album on the road!”

#Jimmy Neutron #Debi Derryberry #voice actor #Go Away With #I wrote this #“Gotta Go Green”

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For Adrian Sutherland, touring gave him an eye-opening opportunity to experience life outside of his Cree community.

“When I started traveling more for my music, my family still lived in a very old house, which had mold in it at the time,” the musician said. “We’ve had no clean drinking water flowing into homes in my community for my entire life and I’m 47 years old. I’ve lived without water, my kids have lived without water and now my grandkids, too. In recent years we’ve been able to better our circumstances. But back then, it was very hard to leave them to go on the road.”

#Adrian Sutherland #Go Away With #Cree #“Precious Diamonds” #I wrote this

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“I don’t think I was ever lazy, but I would tell little Chung Ha to be fearless,” she says, laughing. “She was scared of everything and worried about so many things. But because she was worried, I think she tried even harder. So I don’t want to comfort her too much. But I want to assure her that she has and will have great people around her.”Pondering the question a little more, Chung Ha adds, “Oh! I want to tell her to study English more, because she will have a lot of English interviews coming up in her future.”

#Chung Ha #Kpop #Hongjoong #Ateez #Eenie Meenie #comeback #Rolling Stone #I wrote this

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In the Academy Award-nominated film “Past Lives,” the Korean concept of inyeon is used to lead viewers into believing that Nora (Greta Lee) and Hae-sung (Teo Yoo) are destined to be together – if not in this lifetime, then in the future. Or perhaps they were together in a distant past that neither can recall. The introduction of the word leaves moviegoers hoping that these two can have a happily-ever-after ending, despite his living in Seoul, 7,000 miles from her apartment in New York City. 

There’s also the fact that Nora is married to Arthur (John Magaro), a sweetheart of a man who is not as handsome or enticing as Nora’s first love. In another kind of movie, Nora would jettison Arthur for her childhood friend, and the audience wouldn't be distraught over it. They might even write it off as inyeon in action.

But in her award-winning directorial debut, Celine Song – who also wrote the screenplay – didn’t craft an ordinary film about a couple that meets cute, breaks up and reconnects. Hers is an extraordinarily beautiful story set in two different countries (three if you count a brief shot of 12-year-old Nora waiting outside her Canadian school) over 24 years and ends with one of the most viscerally gut-wrenching scenes that may make some viewers wish for a typical Hollywood ending. 

#Past Lives #Teo Yoo #Greta Lee #Celine Song #Korean American #Inyeon #Jeong #melancholy #Salon.com #I wrote this

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This Sunday, “Past Lives” is up against films like “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” at the Academy Awards. While I don’t think Celine Song’s extraordinary movie will win for Best Picture, I do think she has a great shot at earning an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.

Of course, “Past Lives” is an American film set partially in South Korea and with half the dialogue in Korean.

But this got me thinking about some of my favorite Korean films (plus the superb U.S. film "Minari") that I wanted to share with you. (The anchor links will take you to each review if you don’t want to read them all. As always each film is rated on a scale of ☆ to ☆☆☆☆.)

° “Miss Granny” (수상한 그녀) ☆☆☆☆ ° “My Love, Don’t Cross That River” (님아, 그 강을 건너지 마오) ☆☆☆ ° “Once Upon a Time in High School” (말죽거리 잔혹사) ☆☆☆☆ ° “Parasite” (기생충) ☆☆☆☆ ° “Train to Busan” (부산행) ☆☆☆½ ° “The Way Home” (집으로) ☆☆☆ ° “Minari” ☆☆☆☆

#Past Lives #Minari #My Love Don't Cross That River #Once Upon A Time In High School #Parasite #Train to Busan #The Way Home #Korean films #Korean film reviews #I wrote this #Substack #Substack writer #Substack Newsletter #Miss Granny