Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
“I have a tattoo on my arm of the state flower of each state I’ve lived in,” said “American Siege” actress Anna Hindman. “New York, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Tennessee, and California. But I need to add a few now!”
Had Tablo not experienced the alienation and toxicity of TaJinYo, Tablo’s music – and therefore Epik High’s, too – most likely would not have resulted in “Epik High Is Here 下 (Part 2).” From all those lies, truth survived.
“I had a beautiful childhood in California and my parents worked very hard and provided a lot of opportunities for us,” said Mariel Molino of ABC’s “Promised Land.” ” Because of this, some of the kids in our community would sometimes ask me if my parents were drug dealers or in the Mexican Mafia. It took me some time to be proud of my heritage. I wanted so badly to be all American – whatever that meant – because it would mean we wouldn’t stick out.”
“I’m currently shooting ‘Bel-Air’ in Los Angeles and my family is still in Brooklyn,” said Cassandra Freeman, who portrays Aunt Viv in the Peacock reboot of the Will Smith series. “It has been incredibly hard. I work all day and then can’t go anywhere because of Covid, so not to have my family just a quick plane ride away has been most difficult.”
There’s a lot to unpack underneath the surface of Netflix’s hit zombie thriller. Here are six examples of how “All of Us Are Dead” utilizes the zombie genre to reflect on societal issues that are reflected around the world, with a focus on some issues unique to South Korea.
“I wasn’t told about the violent scenes with the doll [in ‘Squid Game’], so all I was imagining was a friendly doll that was staying calm but was getting more excited to play,” said Reagan To, 10. “I was thinking back to when I was playing with my friends back in school, and that helped me to create a young and innocent voice. I think that made the character even more scary and creepy.”
Combatting racism isn’t accomplished by whoever makes the first social media post or writes the first article. It’s a lifelong commitment that focuses on the victims —all of them — and not just one specific group that you happen to favor.
“The Hymn of Death” is a bittersweet three-hour mini-series that tells the real-life story of Yum Sim-Deok — Joseon’s first soprano — and Kim Yoo-Jin, a renowned writer and playwright. Set during the period when Korea was under Japanese rule, the tragic story is familiar to many Koreans.
Charles Brice portrays a CIA hacker in the new Netflix spy series, “In From the Cold.” The actor shares stories about catching COVID-19 in Spain, being forced to pay off armed gunmen in Mexico, and feeling as if he were in a spy novel in Hungary.
“I am your classic over-packer, so you can always count on me to bring everything I need and everything I don’t need,” said Emma Malouff, one of the stars of “Impeachment: American Crime Story.”
During this pandemic when most of us can’t travel and are stuck at home, we can live vicariously through the delicious adventures of Rain and Noh Hong-chul in “The Hungry and the Hairy.”
Based on Gong Ji-young’s 2009 novel, “Silenced” is a brutal look at the systematic torture of children at a facility for the hearing impaired. Though Gong’s book is fictional, the stories she tells are based on the decades of real-life abuse that handicapped students endured at the Gwangju Inhwa School for the Deaf.
“We’ve had to cancel eight trips for ‘Wild Travels’ due to COVID-19,” said host Will Clinger. “The ones I really hated to lose were to San Francisco for St. Stupid’s Day and to Beaver, Oklahoma, for the World Cow Chip Throwing Championship.”
Based on the 2016 K-drama, “Cheese in the Trap” — which was based on the webtoon of the same name — this film adaptation is a good primer, but it’s lacking in telling the characters’ full stories.
“The Way Home” is a bittersweet film about a young Seoul boy who is forced to spend the summer with his grandmother, who lives in the countryside. It’s not a quaint rural area that rich folks like to vacation in. Rather, it’s a small village where the bus comes on a irregular schedule and an angry cow chases little children.
“With being Asian, there has always been a thing about being skinny and lighter skin,” said model Catie Li. “But since I’m half, there is definitely a pressure of not being Asian enough.”
“Melancholia” is a nuanced series that depicts how a math teacher (Im Soo-jung) encourages her morose student (Lee Do-hyun) to live up to the potential he had as a child genius.
“I am not one of those people that must have an itinerary and visit the must-sees when I travel,” said “The Housewives of the North Pole” actress Tetona Jackson. “I like to obviously research different areas and the best places to stay and the best places to eat, but I kind of just go with the flow.”
“Sisyphus: The Myth” has an intriguing premise, in which an inventor creates a time machine. And as with many time travel stories, you have to suspend your belief in reality to enjoy this production.
Lately, there have been some compelling K-dramas where the female lead is more than just an object of desire. Rather, she is the capable one who is an integral part of the plot. Here are 11 K-dramas from recent years that exemplify female empowerment.