KPop Demon Hunters (sing-along)

I'd recommend that you watch the animated musical KPop Demon Hunters in its sing-along version, with a room full of singing child fans (English lyrics good, Korean lyrics need practice). The movie follows a k-pop trio whose connection with their fans establishes/strengthens a worldwide mystical shield that prevents demons from encroaching on the earth and stealing souls. The tone is playful and modern, with many smash-cut jokes lasting less than a second, and modern social and technological references: everyone has a smartphone that can take video and livestream music, trends are observed to the minute, and the k-pop dramatic choreography is accurate to the point that I am certain actual choreographers are being referenced.

Stylized violence and camera movement made some parts feel like a video game. The fact that teenage girls in a band are ravenous all the time, and are valorously depicted for eating as much as possible and for taking breaks to just hang out, seemed like great messages. Family and friend connections were emphasized; romantic connections were deemphasized but still present. Numerous "plotholes" are visible in this world, but it's a cartoon! Maybe it's normal for mega-concerts to start halfway through the opening song, feature pyrotechnic shows which convincingly appear to include onstage murder and disintegration, and end after a single number. The in-world fans don't seem phased at all!

Overall: a great way to spend a sweltering evening indoors, avoiding mosquitos and wondering if any song would ever get a second verse.

This post's theme word is recumbentibus (n), "a knockdown blow." The twiggy teens delivered one recumbentibus after another while harmonising at the top of their lungs and, occasionally, rapping in Korean.

The Hobby: Tales from the Tabletop

The Hobby: Tales from the Tabletop is a documentary about modern board gaming.  It is a brief, tiny view into one specific hodgepodge handful of people who are enthusiastic about board gaming.

As an enthusiast myself, I spent the entire viewing experience wondering:

• how did the filmmakers pick this subset of people?
• how did the filmmakers pick this particular event (The World Series of Board Gaming tournament in Las Vegas)?
• why did the filmmakers ignore any number of other, more interesting filmic facets of this hobby?
• who was this made for?

To non-board-gaming audiences, this "documentary" doesn't really explain anything about board gaming. To board gaming audiences, this "documentary" is myopic and overly generalized, without getting into anything fun. (Why show someone boringly assembling pieces of a prototype game, but NOT show them explaining the prototype? Why avoid talking about Essen, or PAX Unplugged, or live-action roleplaying? How can you NOT mention Warhammer when talking about wargames? Why do you only interview adults and grown-ups, not families with young kids? Why interview several board game creators extensively about their love for games in general, but NOT discuss game publishing or marketing for their games in particular? Why let the issue of racism and audience be raised, but refuse to investigate it?)

My general takeaways were a sense of dissatisfaction, and the observation that absolutely some filmmaker got paid a paycheck to make this, and I'm so glad that they did. Their choices made little sense to me: they did not assemble a coherent story to follow; they did not attempt to interview a broad and representative range of people; they did not explore the details of the games or why the games are so interesting; they also did not explore the personalities! of! the! interviewees! or why we, the audience, should be interested in them. They did follow people into a variety of different lighting settings and across several costume and location changes.

Ultimately, this was a fluff project which successfully got me to (1) spend social time at someone else's house, and (2) watch some Amazon Prime inserted ad content. I would not recommend this documentary, going to hang out at a friend's house is free and comes without ads.

This post's theme word is canescent (adj), "turning gray or white; becoming hoary." While writing this post, I rapidly aged, and ended up canescent and waving a cane to get these pesky neighborhood filmmakers off my lawn!