quoththeraven

I haven't been following this story very closely, but it sure sounds like entrapment to me. ICE set up a fake university, got foreign students to enroll and come to the US, then arrested them when they got here. Is there something I'm missing?

Not really. It is entirely unfair. How were the students to know it wasn't bona fide?

There's also a name and hashtag for Bong Joon Ho fans now: #BongHive (like Beyoncé's BeyHive). I even saw a screenshot of an explanation of it in Korean. (I don't read Hangul, so I don't know what it said.)

There's also a name and hashtag for Bong Joon Ho fans now: #BongHive (like Beyoncé's BeyHive). I even saw a screenshot of an explanation of it in Korean. (I don't read Hangul, so I don't know what it said.)

Yahoo News article about director Bong Joon Ho and Parasite's Best Foreign Film win at the Golden Globes.

https://news.yahoo.com/bong-joon-ho-south-koreas-biting-film-satirist-052714504.html

Lincoln Center currently has a retrospective of Bong's work. They are all worth seeing.

 

https://www.filmlinc.org/series/the-bong-show/#films

Thank you for this. At this point I'm considering going to see The Host.

There's something for everyone. I saw Paula Poundstone live and she said she suspected she was asexual. She couldn't imagine any sex act that was better than a nap.

I'm not asexual, but I am disabled, and there are times I would rather nap than have sex because I'm tired and achy and thinking about any amount of physical effort makes me feel even more tired and achy.

Also reflexive "you're doing it wrong" statements about people who suspect they are asexual are about as justified as a straight person telling men that they're depraved and wrong for liking dick. Maybe we can skip the contempt toward what some of us not only don't know but can't understand.

Thank you for sharing this. Really enjoyed learning more about the song‘s origin.

You're welcome! I've known and sung this song for years and never knew about its origins.

Since BTS music videos have English translations/subtitles and there are multiple fan-made videos with lyrics in Hangul, romanization and English, the only point to such videos is a form of humor that would mostly elude the people who have phonetically memorized the lyrics and can and will sing along at concerts when the band asks them to.

I recall a porn scene, which I can't locate at the moment, where a guy used a highway construction cone as a dildo.

Ouch!

I think you'll find that there is so much human variety that you will find people who don't like, hate, don't enjoy or don't get anything out of a sex act that others love. After all, there are people who don't enjoy sex or aren't sexually attracted to others. It's just as possible not to enjoy a particular sex act that most other people do enjoy. Don't let those other people and the cultural messaging supporting them bother you or make you feel like you're weird or wrong.

No one is entitled to identifying personal information if they're not paying for plane tickets, although it's nice to get it. But whatever personal information is shared should be truthful.

Just what we needed today.

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Good doggo and hopping frog toy

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This one's for @mike carey and everyone else struggling with the fires and extreme temperatures in Australia:

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I don't have an opinion on how you feel about the person who told you and the person who didn't, but your feelings weren't the point, and you were out of line for bringing them up. You're assuming that the first person asked the other to pass the information along because of the bad blood between you when it could have been for other reasons. You don't actually know.

Part of his YouTube uploads and overall publicity around him does consist of creating drama and feuds with other peers in his field. I haven't followed any news about him recently but that's how I remember things a few years ago. Actually ditched my YouTube account where I used to follow lots of content creators a few years back.

A side point, there are content creators out there who create fake feuds and fake relationships just for views and dollars.

I can relate to the tone of the original post because however way you slice it, he made part of his wealth off of being petty, which doesn't sit well with me.

But can't hate him because he's still a boss.

This is a much more solid basis for critique than "taste" and feels more like actual criticism than ridicule and judgment.

From what I read about him. He is very self-centered and not charitable and does not “give back” to society. Yes, it was my value judgment based on that he does not “give back”. I could put up with his poor taste (my opinion) but not with his lack of altruism toward society.

 

Not reading Vogue, I can only imagine the types of people to whom you refer and I do put them in the same category of “tacky” with the over-the-top lifestyles promoted in similar magazines (Departures, Sunday NY Times magazine, etc).

 

To point out the materialism on display by JS (and the over-the-top lifestyle magazines) is not fundamentally uncivil. Like Trump’s Fifth Avenue condo done in Louis XIV on steroids, the JS house is a sign of the rot in our society of self-centered people.

 

Full disclosure: I can forgive the over-the-top homes IF the owner has a charitable side and “gives back.” An example is Joan Rivers whose condo, like Trump, was done in Louis XIV and gold gilt was everywhere; however, she was always charitable and helped others.

"Over the top" is a matter of taste. You are showing off your "taste," which is culturally determined and subjective.

Helping non-binary people accept themselves is helping others even if it doesn't help you.

Until women stop painting their faces, I don't see how they can seriously expect equality.

Fake hair, fake eyelashes, fake lips, fake nails, fake boobs, fake butts, and yeah.... fake faces.

Strange, cultural, vain, valueless norms with zero functionality...

Except for the evolutionary cry to men: "I really want your sperm!"

Are you effing serious? The stereotyping, queerphobia and misogyny in that statement is just dazzling.

(PS As a cis woman, I'm particularly appalled.)

As I noted, there is "good news" with my discovery of Starr. Yes, I respect the hustle and upward mobility. I have long posted my belief in self-starters getting ahead. Absolutely no problem with anyone making a name for themselves and becoming rich.

 

The bad news is the total lack of what us "older folks" use to call "class." A person can start out poor and become very wealthy and have "class". To me, class is just not about "taste" (which is personal) but also about not being so self-centered and caring about others. JS is definitely part of the "ME" generation and seems to be totally self-centered.

Who are you to judge?

Even though you are using restrained words, the entire concept behind this posting is fundamentally uncivil. You don't know what he does in his own time, whether he gives back to the community or what. He may be helping young people who are non-binary and that in itself is a blessing. You are making assumptions based on the materialism on display.

Personally not a fan of JS, but I'm not a fan of nor the target audience for him and similar influencers. And similar criticisms could be made of hipster types and the UK Vogue editorial board all of whom crowed in print about the wonderful, pricy, upscale places they are going for the holidays. But I doubt you'd accuse them of being tacky.

I would respectfully disagree @quoththeraven. This is a conundrum to me. The subset of humans capable of being trained to make a sound that will fill a 4,000-seat auditorium is not very large. And within that group, the subset of those who’s sound is both pleasant and musical is smaller still. And within that tiny group the number who can project that musicality with passion is almost infinitesimal. And now we expect all those in this tiny group to be able to turn that passion on and off with the decorousness of a Swiss Banker?

 

There’s more than a bit of hypocrisy going on here. I can’t believe that The Met was unaware of James Levine’s’ shenanigans: rumors were rampant for decades or of Domingo’s many peccadilloes. But Domingo and Levine put a lot of butts in the many seats in that house.

 

Of course, any performer who assaults another physically or sexually deserves appropriate punishment. Same to those in authority who offer career advancement in return for sexual favors (a la Levine and Domingo). But short of that I think we all (performers, administrators and fans alike) better grow up and act as adults. Some of the passion expressed on the operatic stage is a substitute for the passion missing in our lives and the pursuit of such passion is not always appropriate. They’re performing at The Met or La Scala not the Sistine Chapel. If this #MeToo movement persists in the opera world, we’ll be reduced to Toscas that will have all the heat and energy of a Handel oratorio. I love Handel oratorios but I love opera too. We need both. [End Of Rant]

You're assuming people can't learn and adapt. I'm not.

No group is a special snowflake worth protecting from consequences, and you don't know how many talented people leave or are discouraged from pursuing a career because they are expected to put up with this behavior. Levine and Domingo are why this needs to be dealt with instead of taking the position that someone is too valuable to suffer consequences. There are always new people developing their abilities. It isn't necessary to keep the creeps around.

WNYC fired my favorite host/announcer Leonard Lopate for sexual harassment, and while the replacement show is nowhere near as good, I value employee health and safety over Mr. Lopate's continued employment after having been put on notice/warned once. Also the kind of questions I heard him ask of Anita Hill in an interview about Google firing an employee who claimed women weren't up to the job made me unsurprised about the allegations.

May you all enjoy your holidays, whatever they may be, as much as this cat is enjoying frolicking in the Christmas tree!

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Interesting story. (The meat of it is in the heading.)

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/12/carol-bells-shchedryk-ukraine-leontovych.html

The cats whose past antics climbing and destroying a Christmas tree I've posted here are at it again. Someone brought them another artificial Christmas tree to destroy. Here they are:[MEDIA=twitter]1209144451068841990[/MEDIA]

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Last I checked, they'd already pulled out two branches.

New song by Holland, this one more specifically about what the anti-gay bullying he experienced in school did to him.

This isn't the only kpop song to address school bullying. "Warrior's Descendant," the debut song of H.O.T, the first kpop idol group, is about school bullying.

So is "Face," NU'EST's debut song.