Silver Adept (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
silveradept) wrote2025-08-09 10:18 pm
silveradept) wrote2025-08-09 10:18 pm
Entry tags:
/run/media/silveradept: KPop Demon Hunters (2025)
So, on the recommendation of many (including seeing things related to it popping up in my channels regularly, and a fair number of people who are apparently all-in for the main trio being a trio romantically), I watched KPop Demon Hunters.
Have some non-spoilery thoughts, in no particular order:
Have some non-spoilery thoughts, in no particular order:
- I wonder how ONCE feels about having gotten TWICE to be the group doing the movie credits version of one of the songs played in snippets throughout the movie.
- Daniel Dae Kim and Ken Jeong make perfect sense for the roles they're cast in.
- Speaking of voices, the one they cast for the greater-scope villain was delightfully correct, although the casting direction seems to have suggested that he move in the direction of "clipping syllables in an English-as-Second-Language" way. I don't want someone to speak in something that isn't comfortable to them, or to not sound like themselves, but it felt more like a conscious direction rather than someone's natural cadence to do it that way, and it made the greater-scope villain come off slightly more like a Bond villain being played for a bit of camp than as the greater-scope villain. Maybe I'm reading too much into the delivery, or maybe the intention was for this character to sound just slightly off from the rest of the cast.
- The Netflix subtitlers managed not to figure out something that fansubbers of various Asian series have known for decades, and even those who subtitle K-Pop releases: how to properly subtitle songs. Which is a major strike against them for a movie that has an awful lot of singing! We didn't necessarily have to go full-on for the kind of karaoke-style, rainbow, motion-filled subtitles that fansubbers of anime and toku series got (get?) made fun of for using in their releases, but these subtitlers went in the direction of just putting the syllables of the words in the subtitles, or otherwise doing Revised Romanization of the spoken or sung Korean and leaving it at that. So there's no context to those lines, nor what they look like in Hangul (which you can see in one of the shots that is the behind-the-scenes for TWICE recording the song playing over the first part of the credits), nor a translation of what the Korean says into English (or whichever language you want as the subtitles.) Admittedly, it would be more offensive to just put [Korean] or [Speaking/Singing in a Global Language] for those sections, but only just. The purpose of the subtitling there is so that someone can follow along with the audio track and make sure they're not missing anything, and if the audio track includes singing in Korean or rapping in Korean, as it does in this movie, the subtitlers have a responsibility to render it comprehensibly. (Bets on whether Tumblr has a transcript of all the songs that renders them correctly and translates them correctly at this point?)
I'm very unhappy with the job the subtitlers did on this movie, and I think Netflix needs to release a revision to accurately reflect what happens in the movie. - I suspect there are more than a few things about the movie that I missed, because my understanding of symbology of both Korean cosmology and mythology and the intricacies of K-pop fandom isn't as complete as it should be to fully appreciate what's going on here. (I did at least understand the light sticks, banners, appearances on various shows and the part where the performers are basically on their public game anywhere the public might see them, which includes never ever wanting to say or do anything that would say there was a relationship between idols and anyone at all, including other idols. Not that it stops the fans from shipping them, either in their own groups or possibly with other groups that they're seen with or rivals with.) Most of my understanding of K-Pop comes from people like brithistorian and andersenmom, so thank you for your help and answering the silly questions that I've had over time.
I did appreciate the music through the decades montage at the beginning, and I'm not sure the average watcher will realize just how much Korean music is influenced by American styles of music through those eras, before the phenomenon that we know of as K-pop comes into existence. (And which exchanges/inherits a fair amount of its cues and norms with Japanese pop idol culture, such that we think of them as J-pop and K-pop, at least over here in my neck of cultural existence.) - Related to this, however, it looks like Sony Animation went with the same general style and animation timing that they used on the Spider-Verse movies at times while I was watching it. While, for Spider-Verse, the animation timing is a deliberate decision and works for the comic-book nature of the multiverse being portrayed, here, the dance sequences that should be smooth as butter in the animation, probably even with some extra key frames to make sure it all goes well, several of them hitched and were otherwise more jerky than I would have expected out of a studio trying to match the intricate choreography that can accompany K-pop. It's possible that these hitches and jerkiness were my Internet connection having hiccups or my computer having a hitch, but I don't think so. Others can tell me how smooth their watch was of the movie, but for the moment, I'm chalking this up to Sony Animation's house style and timing clashing with what you would want animated K-Pop to look like. (There were noticeably fewer hiccups in the action sequences, which is why I think I think it was a style decision rather than a slowdown, because action animation would be more likely to have degradation than the dance sequences, in my opinion.)
Yes, but what did you think about the plot?
It was a perfectly serviceable plot. You'll recognize all the beats if you watched the first Frozen movie, although it is harsher to the lesser-scope villain than most Disney films would be. This particular version of the movie leans heavier into the "Demon Hunters" part of the title, and I don't know if that was the right decision for the plot, because the plot sets up both a movie where action and stylish fighting, accompanied by singing, will determine the outcome (the direction they took) and a movie where the principal heroines and their principal opposition are in a for-all-the-marbles stakes idol game to be determined by who has the bigger fanbase after the agreed-upon final duel at the Idol Awards competition. That would have made the K-pop part of it much more important, and given them all the tools they needed to wage an epic battle across various releases, appearances, and the rest that wouldn't have to involve all that many attempts at direct sabotage or fighting between the two groups, even if there was an awful lot of things that could be excused as "special effects." I'm pretty sure if the writers had enough experience with how idol systems work and the less than savory elements of the companies and managers of the various idols, they could write a very good movie full of underhanded tactics, diss tracks, "accidental" social media leaks, and all the rest of it. I think focusing on the K-pop aspect would also make the internal divisions and the character conflicts in the protagonist trio work better, as each of them starts giving in to more of their worser aspects in trying to beat their rival team, and that would make the parts of the plot that are about secrets and lies work better, since the character hiding the biggest secret will have had the opportunity to see the very worst aspects of the team and believe such things are their actual selves, instead of their more restrained forms. (Which will also make the ultimate climax portion of the movie work better, as well, to make it much clearer why the protagonist team ends up where they do and the way they do before the final battle.)- Final thought: The movie could cut the gag about certain members of the trio having heart eyes and popcorn eyes about the prettiness of the pretty boys in the rival group. It doesn't actually contribute to the plot, and it makes the characters shallower in a way that doesn't suit them. They could certainly make commentary on the boys being eye candy, even supernaturally so, because that's how they're drawn to be, but the majority of the movie shows this trio as a focused, work-first, idol trio who want to enjoy their downtime, except for that one member who keeps pushing them to not take their breaks. They're not shown as flighty or otherwise susceptible to that kind of distraction, and they primarily work through it when it happens, so thy could just cut the gag entirely and replace it with something else that would work better. Like an offhand comment about how those boys are trying to get by on their looks, while they're getting by on great songs. And then eventually admit to themselves that the boys have catchy songs, too, but stay primarily focused on making their own, better songs to beat them, since they never really try to change their look to be more attractive to the fans than the pretty boys.
Elizabeth Perry (watersword) wrote2025-08-06 07:11 pm
watersword) wrote2025-08-06 07:11 pmEntry tags:
(no subject)
After a day in which I received yet another depressing work email, I tried to give my brain some happy chemicals by watching Local Hero (1983) and live-texting roaratorio about it. This is a delightfully weird little movie, in which Peter Capaldi is a BABY and has several extra limbs when he runs, everyone's hair is VERY fluffye and they all wear beautiful tweed, the Scottish landscape is beautiful, and the conclusion is an anticapitalist fairy tale. I enjoyed myself thoroughly. (My brain is still pretty unhappy, but there's only so much a two-hour movie can do against the hellscape we currently live in.)
I have successfully killed my first spotted lanternfly and am rewarding myself with the last of the blueberries I picked last weekend. Blueberrying with a three-year-old is an excellent experience, do recommend. Both of us had a great time. (Did his mom have a great time? She says so and I'm choosing to believe her.)
Today I was woman enough to take myself to the garden after work and I was thusly rewarded with the cosmos, finally blooming. I do think I should give up the other garden plot; it's expensive and I just don't go there enough to keep the plants happy. (But the raspberry patch! my heart wails. Self, you missed the raspberry season entirely.)
elayna (elayna) wrote2025-08-04 08:43 am
elayna) wrote2025-08-04 08:43 amEntry tags:
Fannish Fifty 2025 #31 Superman
There will be spoilers for the new Superman movie. Trying to keep them overview-ish, but be warned.
I liked it! It was very enjoyable, lots of action, Superman seemed in actual peril on occasion, good casting, etc. Adorable dog. The really overt messaging of the good immigrant trying to help people versus an evil billionaire trying to destroy out of his own fear and entitlement was *chef's kiss*.
But I didn't adore it, and I've been thinking about this, as it takes me a while to work through my analysis/feelings. I was cautiously optimistic when I read James Gunn would direct. I really like Guardians 1 and 2, but not Guardians 3 or Suicide Squad. I thought he might do interesting things with Superman.
And indeed he does, but primarily with the universe, which is unique in that metahumans have been on Earth and known longer for 300 years. Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, and Mr Terrific are all main characters. There's no origin story, the movie begins with Superman already known to the public for several years and in the midst of a fight, Clark established at the Daily Planet, etc. That's all announced at the beginning.
I really loved the first two Christopher Reeve Superman movies, Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, and the first few seasons of Smallville, and mainly for the development and exploration of the relationships between Lois and Clark/Superman, or between Clark and Lex.
All the relationships are all established in the new movie, and not really much touched on. There's a big crisis and everyone is running around responding to it. Clark and Lois' big scene is them having a grumpy fight. Perry White and Jimmy Olson are there, Perry being boss-like and Jimmy excitable, like they do. There are two other people at the Daily Planet, I'm guessing one is Cat Grant and I don't know the other guy except he had some comic relief bits at an exciting moment so I assume I should know him.
I know Green Lantern only from the Ryan Reynolds movie, though this guy is mostly grumpy. Hawkgirl was in one of the superhero TV series, though very different IIRC. I don't know Mr. Terrific at all, except he has obviously computer related powers and is a helpful guy.
I couldn't help thinking it would be a great movie if one wanted to write in this universe, because there's so much that could be developed. All the back stories! All the first meetings! All the 'what happens after the movie' impacts!
But in terms of relationships within the movie.... I think about it, and I can't think of a single "You've got me? Who's got you?" line. Like... no moment that really shone for me, that I loved these characters interacting with each other, not like I loved them in Lois and Clark:TNAofS, or Smallville. It's all very fast and very exciting and there's so much that has gone on before the movie started and the audience just has to roll with it. You know these characters or you don't but here's all the people about to be killed! OMG!
The dog. I'd like to see more with the dog, who is adorable.
I will watch more. It was exciting! Just...I would have liked more emphasis on the relationships and really getting to know the characters. I didn't read the review in the local paper, but I saw the word 'cluttered' and yeah, I agree.
One last note: I was surprised what happened with the Hammer, I really expected that to be set up for a redemption arc in the next movie. Anyone else share my surprise?
I liked it! It was very enjoyable, lots of action, Superman seemed in actual peril on occasion, good casting, etc. Adorable dog. The really overt messaging of the good immigrant trying to help people versus an evil billionaire trying to destroy out of his own fear and entitlement was *chef's kiss*.
But I didn't adore it, and I've been thinking about this, as it takes me a while to work through my analysis/feelings. I was cautiously optimistic when I read James Gunn would direct. I really like Guardians 1 and 2, but not Guardians 3 or Suicide Squad. I thought he might do interesting things with Superman.
And indeed he does, but primarily with the universe, which is unique in that metahumans have been on Earth and known longer for 300 years. Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, and Mr Terrific are all main characters. There's no origin story, the movie begins with Superman already known to the public for several years and in the midst of a fight, Clark established at the Daily Planet, etc. That's all announced at the beginning.
I really loved the first two Christopher Reeve Superman movies, Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, and the first few seasons of Smallville, and mainly for the development and exploration of the relationships between Lois and Clark/Superman, or between Clark and Lex.
All the relationships are all established in the new movie, and not really much touched on. There's a big crisis and everyone is running around responding to it. Clark and Lois' big scene is them having a grumpy fight. Perry White and Jimmy Olson are there, Perry being boss-like and Jimmy excitable, like they do. There are two other people at the Daily Planet, I'm guessing one is Cat Grant and I don't know the other guy except he had some comic relief bits at an exciting moment so I assume I should know him.
I know Green Lantern only from the Ryan Reynolds movie, though this guy is mostly grumpy. Hawkgirl was in one of the superhero TV series, though very different IIRC. I don't know Mr. Terrific at all, except he has obviously computer related powers and is a helpful guy.
I couldn't help thinking it would be a great movie if one wanted to write in this universe, because there's so much that could be developed. All the back stories! All the first meetings! All the 'what happens after the movie' impacts!
But in terms of relationships within the movie.... I think about it, and I can't think of a single "You've got me? Who's got you?" line. Like... no moment that really shone for me, that I loved these characters interacting with each other, not like I loved them in Lois and Clark:TNAofS, or Smallville. It's all very fast and very exciting and there's so much that has gone on before the movie started and the audience just has to roll with it. You know these characters or you don't but here's all the people about to be killed! OMG!
The dog. I'd like to see more with the dog, who is adorable.
I will watch more. It was exciting! Just...I would have liked more emphasis on the relationships and really getting to know the characters. I didn't read the review in the local paper, but I saw the word 'cluttered' and yeah, I agree.
One last note: I was surprised what happened with the Hammer, I really expected that to be set up for a redemption arc in the next movie. Anyone else share my surprise?
Silver Adept (silveradept) wrote2025-08-03 08:50 pm
silveradept) wrote2025-08-03 08:50 pm
It's all still here - Late July 02025
Let's begin with The COVID-Safe Scouts' research repository, for all your deep dive desires or need to have research to hand when someone around you is trying to tell you that things are either over or not dangerous when it comes to interacting with the variations of SARS-CoV-2.
Also, A claimed nearly-100% effective drug against HIV infection, lenacapavir, is going to market, with deals for generics and no-profit manufacture in several countries around the world, instead of only as an expensive brand name. Twice-yearly injections appears to be the schedule for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), and this could be a breakthrough that can finally put down the HIV/AIDS epidemic. What a day that will be, if we can get that virus to die off.
The 2025 version of the Gender Census is running, so if you are a person for whom the label of "man" or "woman" doesn't always apply at all times and in all cases, you are encouraged to take the survey.
The Archive of Our Own Ship Top 100 for 2025 is out, with secondary units involving top 100 F/F ships and the All Time Top 100 with this year's data added to it. Of note is an F/F ship breaking the top 5 for this year. (Also of note is a few comments complaining about how "Latino" is an ethnicity, not a race, and that it's overbroad, which are accurate things. It's also difficult to get any kind of ethnic or ethnic-allegorical data out of creators unless they want to volunteer it.)
Ozzy Osbourne, front singer for Black Sabbath and otherwise well-known heavy mtal man (and reality TV star), fully assumes the title of Prince of Darkness at 76 years of age.
No longer dancing the masochism tango or poisoning pigeons in the park, or letting us know about which of the various periodic elements have made it to Harvard University, Tom Lehrer, satirist, musician, and otherwise funny person, died at 97 years of age. And after music, mostly went on to teach mathematics, so faded a touch from the spotlight, just the way he wanted. If you're not familiar with his work, he released all of his songs, the sheet music, and the lyrics, to the public domain, so that we can all do whatever we'd like with them.
Chuck Mangione is now playing trumpet again with Dizzy Gillespie, having achieved 84 years of age.
Malcolm Jamal-Warner, most famously known for starring alongside Bill Cosby in a sitcom of Cosby's, has accidentally drowned at 54 years of age. Since then, he had gone on to be a Grammy-winning musician and an actor in several other shows, more than just the role he carried on the show, which, given what's happened with Bill Cosby, is probably the thing he will be better remembered for.
Terry Bollea, also known by his wrestling moniker "Hollywood Hogan," a heel who was instrumental to the storyline founding World Championship Wrestling's New World Order, has tapped out at 71 years of age. Hollywood Hogan would stay well associated with the professional wrestling circuit after his debut, as well as the McMahons that own most of the promotions at this point, and expressed himself routinely as a supporter of the current administration and their policies. Another character attributed to him, the face "Hulk Hogan," continues to live on in the memories of wrestling fans and those who enjoy movies where wrestlers take up acting careers, unsullied by any of the actions or attitudes taken on by similarly-named "Hollywood Hogan." The Hulkamaniacs are probably pretty happy that there's nothing more than can be done to corrupt their memories based on the actions of Hollywood Hogan.
( International decisions, domestic decisions, technology woes and wonders, and more, inside )
Last for tonight, five lego walker designs versus seven obstacles to navigate. It's interesting to see what designs do better against the various things put in their way.
The innate shallowness of decorating a space with books mostly by the look of the books, rather than because you are someone who has read many books and therefore your space is decorated with your own media selections.
And if you take a definition of humiliation as the forced recognition of domination and then apply it forward to both social and political situations and suddenly you have a really accurate blueprint for why certain things persist, even though it's clear that they are inefficient, they don't provide a lot of joy to the people who humiliate others, and they have lasting and terrible consequences for the people who are humiliated. And it also helps us think about how to build a society where humiliation is harder, less possible, and more strongly pushed back against by those who are more likely to be attacked.
(Materials viaadrian_turtle, azurelunatic, boxofdelights, cmcmck, conuly, cosmolinguist, elf, finch, firecat, jadelennox, jenett, jjhunter, kaberett, lilysea, oursin, rydra_wong, snowynight, sonia, the_future_modernes, thewayne, umadoshi, vass, the ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
meta_warehouse community, little_details, and anyone else I've neglected to mention or who I suspect would rather not be on the list. If you want to know where I get the neat stuff, my reading list has most of it.)
Also, A claimed nearly-100% effective drug against HIV infection, lenacapavir, is going to market, with deals for generics and no-profit manufacture in several countries around the world, instead of only as an expensive brand name. Twice-yearly injections appears to be the schedule for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), and this could be a breakthrough that can finally put down the HIV/AIDS epidemic. What a day that will be, if we can get that virus to die off.
The 2025 version of the Gender Census is running, so if you are a person for whom the label of "man" or "woman" doesn't always apply at all times and in all cases, you are encouraged to take the survey.
The Archive of Our Own Ship Top 100 for 2025 is out, with secondary units involving top 100 F/F ships and the All Time Top 100 with this year's data added to it. Of note is an F/F ship breaking the top 5 for this year. (Also of note is a few comments complaining about how "Latino" is an ethnicity, not a race, and that it's overbroad, which are accurate things. It's also difficult to get any kind of ethnic or ethnic-allegorical data out of creators unless they want to volunteer it.)
Ozzy Osbourne, front singer for Black Sabbath and otherwise well-known heavy mtal man (and reality TV star), fully assumes the title of Prince of Darkness at 76 years of age.
No longer dancing the masochism tango or poisoning pigeons in the park, or letting us know about which of the various periodic elements have made it to Harvard University, Tom Lehrer, satirist, musician, and otherwise funny person, died at 97 years of age. And after music, mostly went on to teach mathematics, so faded a touch from the spotlight, just the way he wanted. If you're not familiar with his work, he released all of his songs, the sheet music, and the lyrics, to the public domain, so that we can all do whatever we'd like with them.
Chuck Mangione is now playing trumpet again with Dizzy Gillespie, having achieved 84 years of age.
Malcolm Jamal-Warner, most famously known for starring alongside Bill Cosby in a sitcom of Cosby's, has accidentally drowned at 54 years of age. Since then, he had gone on to be a Grammy-winning musician and an actor in several other shows, more than just the role he carried on the show, which, given what's happened with Bill Cosby, is probably the thing he will be better remembered for.
Terry Bollea, also known by his wrestling moniker "Hollywood Hogan," a heel who was instrumental to the storyline founding World Championship Wrestling's New World Order, has tapped out at 71 years of age. Hollywood Hogan would stay well associated with the professional wrestling circuit after his debut, as well as the McMahons that own most of the promotions at this point, and expressed himself routinely as a supporter of the current administration and their policies. Another character attributed to him, the face "Hulk Hogan," continues to live on in the memories of wrestling fans and those who enjoy movies where wrestlers take up acting careers, unsullied by any of the actions or attitudes taken on by similarly-named "Hollywood Hogan." The Hulkamaniacs are probably pretty happy that there's nothing more than can be done to corrupt their memories based on the actions of Hollywood Hogan.
( International decisions, domestic decisions, technology woes and wonders, and more, inside )
Last for tonight, five lego walker designs versus seven obstacles to navigate. It's interesting to see what designs do better against the various things put in their way.
The innate shallowness of decorating a space with books mostly by the look of the books, rather than because you are someone who has read many books and therefore your space is decorated with your own media selections.
And if you take a definition of humiliation as the forced recognition of domination and then apply it forward to both social and political situations and suddenly you have a really accurate blueprint for why certain things persist, even though it's clear that they are inefficient, they don't provide a lot of joy to the people who humiliate others, and they have lasting and terrible consequences for the people who are humiliated. And it also helps us think about how to build a society where humiliation is harder, less possible, and more strongly pushed back against by those who are more likely to be attacked.
(Materials via
adrian_turtle, azurelunatic, boxofdelights, cmcmck, conuly, cosmolinguist, elf, finch, firecat, jadelennox, jenett, jjhunter, kaberett, lilysea, oursin, rydra_wong, snowynight, sonia, the_future_modernes, thewayne, umadoshi, vass, the meta_warehouse community, little_details, and anyone else I've neglected to mention or who I suspect would rather not be on the list. If you want to know where I get the neat stuff, my reading list has most of it.)
Elizabeth Perry (watersword) wrote2025-08-01 09:22 pm
watersword) wrote2025-08-01 09:22 pmEntry tags:
Make a decision for me.
I want to watch something on Kanopy whilst embroidering. Criteria: not stressful or depressing; don't need to be glued to the screen; silly is acceptable, stupid is not. Things I know I've seen before are marked with an asterisk. Yes, I know some of the films listed do not fit those criteria. ( cut for poll length )
elayna (elayna) wrote2025-08-01 10:44 am
elayna) wrote2025-08-01 10:44 amEntry tags:
Fannish Fifty 2025 #30 writing platform?
For several years now, I've been writing in Google Docs. I really like that I can easily switch from writing at my computer to on my phone.
There was a post on Tumblr recently about Google Docs being both scraped for their AI and also Google deleting files. I did a search to confirm, and it did seem that there might be an issue. Though I'm not sure how sporadic the deleting is, and I suppose any scraping might already have happened.
Anyway, when I'd started using Google Docs, I put all my many, too many wips on it. I did decide to take down all but my most active files, so keep up maybe only 2-3. If they haven't been scraped yet, they don't need to be.
The Tumblr post did have a recommendation to instead use... libre office? Have people used that? Do you find it easy to use? Or is there a different program you recommend?
I'm looking for something that is (1) accessible from both my phone and my computer, and (2) easy to use, preferably similar to Google Docs or Microsoft Word.
Any thoughts, input, info greatly appreciated!
There was a post on Tumblr recently about Google Docs being both scraped for their AI and also Google deleting files. I did a search to confirm, and it did seem that there might be an issue. Though I'm not sure how sporadic the deleting is, and I suppose any scraping might already have happened.
Anyway, when I'd started using Google Docs, I put all my many, too many wips on it. I did decide to take down all but my most active files, so keep up maybe only 2-3. If they haven't been scraped yet, they don't need to be.
The Tumblr post did have a recommendation to instead use... libre office? Have people used that? Do you find it easy to use? Or is there a different program you recommend?
I'm looking for something that is (1) accessible from both my phone and my computer, and (2) easy to use, preferably similar to Google Docs or Microsoft Word.
Any thoughts, input, info greatly appreciated!
