I am ramming into my friends DM´s so that we can meet at least once during summer. and then other friends are mad I dont meet them. should I do friend speed dates like some people? but most live outside the capital and it takes whole day.
gonna have a picnic w old collegues and go camping with others. then also go bear watching. might take 3 days to see one.

hectic and busy and very hard to match plans with people
what are your strategies for that.?

Drama production company Number Three Pictures has pledged to reimburse actors for unpaid appearance fees. The Korea Broadcasting Actors’ Union recently stated, “Number Three Pictures finished filming two productions, ‘High School Return of a Gangster’ and ‘Spirit Fingers’ [working title], last year. However, even after a year, they have yet to pay appearance fees to 119 actors.” Demanding immediate payment, the union spokesperson added, “Just for our union members, the unpaid fees total approximately 90 million won [approximately $65,025] for ‘”High School Return of a Gangster’ and about 220 million won [approximately $158,996] for ‘Spirit Fingers.’ If non-union actors and staff are included, the total unpaid amount is likely even higher.”

Number Three Pictures responded and they agreed to settle all outstanding appearance fees by the end of August. The company is also said to have assured the union that they will disclose the specific source of funds for the payment of the fees in question. The union stated, “Despite the regrettable delay in payment, we recognize the challenges faced by the production company in producing the drama under difficult conditions. We have urged them to implement measures to prevent such issues from happening again in future productions.” The source of payment is interesting because the union fears the company is going to pay from other projects which will lead to the same problem later on.

The custom and practice in Korean TV industry is that actors get paid their episode fee after the episode airs on television. Payments can be made up to 30 days after the showing. The reason is that the networks only pay the production house after the episode airs. This was an OK business model when the industry was shooting episodes while the show was being aired on TV. But now, more shows are pre-produced following the Netflix model. Actors are not employees of the studio but independent contractors who are paid to be prepared, show up ready to shoot and bear the cost of their own hair, make-up and stylists. The only difference with film actors is that they get paid up front before shooting starts.

In the past, young actors and staff have been abused by lack of payment even after the show ends. Young artists are fearful that if they complain, other producers will not cast them. Since the pandemic ended, money has been tight for producers and production houses who began filming shows and films only to have them not picked up or licensed to OTTs.

NOTES FROM 9TAILEDVIXEN'S 1ST WEEK OF JULY 2024:

(A) WTF Neil Gaiman?!

World-famous Fantasy author Neil Gaiman has been accused of sexually assaulting two women, one who was his fan and one who was his son's nanny (the article below summarises the case so far and includes the link to the original report which includes 4 podcasts that are grim listening):

https://www.thewrap.com/neil-gaiman-denies-accusations-of-sexual-assault-from-two-women/

He admitted to the inappropriate relationship with the nanny but insisted that he never sexually assaulted either of them.

Even if the accusations are false (which they probably aren't because victims usually do not come forward because of the torrent of victim-blaming and public excoriation they would face, especially if they are women), the facts remain that:

1.Both women were respectively over 20 years (the fan) and over 40 years (the nanny) younger than him
2. He is the older, wealthy, and famous one in the relationships

So you do the math about the horribly uneven power dynamics that leave it wide open for him to be abusive.

And judging from the grapevine buzz in the speculative fiction/fantasy community and fandom as well as various social media, it looks like these two cases - 2 decades apart - are just the tip of the iceberg.

Gaiman's fan base has been surprisingly rational, level-headed, and mindful towards victims/survivors. On the r/neilgaiman subreddit, the discussion has been civil and apropos:

https://www.reddit.com/r/neilgaiman/comments/1duczmi/neil_gaiman_accused_of_sexual_assault_by_two_women/

The consensus in his fandom community there appears to be:

We love his art and his activism but:

2. If he did it, he should be punished and not let off the hook because of his celebrity status.

(B) This Week in Korean Women's News

(a) Korea: Women lawyers lag behind male counterparts in senior roles in the profession

The International Bar Association (IBA) Legal Policy & Research Unit (LPRU) has released the Republic of Korea Results Report (the ‘Report’) that looks into gender disparity at senior levels of the legal profession in Korea. Despite there having been a rise in the number of women lawyers in Korea since the end of the last century, the data informing the report revealed that women are still vastly under-represented at all levels of the legal profession in Korea. Written by the Gender Equality Centre of the Korean Bar Association (KBA) the Report is the seventh in a series to be published by the IBA and the LexisNexis Rule of Law Foundation as part of the 50:50 by 2030: A longitudinal study into gender disparity in law.

https://www.ibanet...

weather - beautiful summer - too hot - heatwave

it was like 47 48 49 - humidity of may was 10% - good

as expected - as usual - march april may are with earlier march and with that you get to see awesome hot 15 months - each new month makes the party.

now its 30 to 35 but humidity is 75% to 85% - ahh rain - more rain.

Overall - beautiful and cute summer.

Happy Friday, Beanies! I've gotten over my cold – not in the least thanks to microwave-hot weather – now it's LYN's turn, because based on his livestream last week he's still nowhere near healthy. Oh well, maybe he'll finally get some obviously direly needed rest after wrapping ADWAD – presumably next month... If he survives filming in +37 (current temperature in Hengdian, according to reports) outdoors in full armor first. The roast a la royale:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GRtFQuxbMAMrw3e?format=jpg&name=900x900

Being sick didn't stop him from singing a bit there though – just a few songs, since he said he needs to preserve the remnants of his voice for 4 (!) OSTs he's about to record. As expected, we've got live version of “Heart's longing” and from his vibing hard in process I can tell he likes it a lot. Lol at him addressing that he indirectly collabed with LYX a few times already – I'm waiting to hear you in SHUI LONG YIN OST too, did you hear me, boy?
https://x.com/fandoestrans/status/1807220111084065062

Another track he choose to perform – for reasons I'd like to know, maybe it's just less straining vocally? - is his own emo ballad “Staying up all night”. You'd never guess from him making a circus out of it tho))) Guess it's hard to stay serious while wearing a shirt with a cartoon fox...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAxadCHQQ-c

Turns out I shared this song before, but yall probably forgot already – it's not that memorable, honestly. As I said, it's wonderfully emo – those lyrics, omg! 11/10 on self-pity scale. Sorry, the mental image of him wallowing in a heartbreak at night over wine – when he cannot drink at all – is just too funny for me to take it any seriously. Insomnia? As if - he'd be blissfully snoring after two glasses max!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teTTFKEBIqk

Just when I started wondering which direction I should go next with this particular entry, YT recommends sent me bits of his online concert during AJTL era – the one he did to thank old and new fans for supporting him back then. Somehow I didn't spend enough time covering that live – big, big mistake, since he created a particularly impressive set-list and was on fire singing it. Even slower, mellower songs slap hard – for example, “Falling as white” (it's about snow... and petals... and idk, I found lyrics quite all over the place even fully translated):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37F8WHweLc4

This probably would've work great as tragic wuxia OST, yunno, the one that plays while hero dramatically laments his harsh fate, probably under the rain snow for full cinematic angst moment... I'd totally believe it if you told me that was the case:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYctp2ErQS4

We are having an unusually cold winter where I am. I'm dreaming of a world where we followed nature's rhythms. Winters would be for slowing down, working less and hibernating. Some people take holidays in winter and go somewhere warmer. That's nice. I wish that option was available to *all* people. Some can't afford *not* to work throughout the year just to be able to eat and pay rent. We need a universal basic income for one and all. Annnnd that's how I go from contemplating the weather to social reform and revolution.

Perhaps other watchers already know, but I just discovered Internet Archive. I've been able to access some of the harder to find kdramas (with English language subtitles) on the site that I have been wanting to watch for years. It is a legal site (not that I quite grasp how it is legal and would imagine copyright lawyers from all over the world must be constantly monitoring and fighting about this one). No weird popups or ads. A bit hard to navigate. You have to know what you are looking for and search somewhat creatively. But, it has been a nearly seamless watching experience for me for a couple of dramas that I couldn't find legal access to in the US.

It's funny & interesting how you can feel vicarious pride when you see a celebrity succeeding haha

Like I have nothing to do with them going to a film festival or winning awards and yet I have the most heartwarming feelings seeing it happen.

Oh! I just saw trailer or something for a movie called The Pilot and I thought the actress from Hello Me & Good Casting, who apparently retired had a new movie coming out. I thought maybe she had filmed it in advance and it was just being released.

I was very wrong because not only was it not her but it was the guy from Captivating The King! The lead actor.

Happy weekend Beanies and keep Beaning On!
No bingeing this weekend for once, not K-dramas to be more specific. I invited my friends for a belated birthday lunch and afternoon shopping tomorrow.🍣The present wish list I sent to my friends is all books, the shopping we do is mostly books, and I still have an online coupon to exchange for books next week.📚🤭Book bingeing it is!📖🥳

I watched Ready, Set, Love in the last week. The starting situation is that a pandemic killed off most men in the 1960s and still only 1% of babies are male. They have a reality tv show to marry off the few remaining. The show is pretty good compared to the three bad reality tv Korean shows of recent memory, as this one integrated the show into the bigger society problems and then the real feelings of the contestants. Acting was not amazing, but the show was best when it fed into its Wes Anderson-like, paired down, eccentric vibes.

What I thought was unexplored was what society would be like after 60 years or so without many men. I am sure there would be problems, but I don't know that they would be exactly the same pyramid classist society that the show depicts (it does have surprisingly simple surveillance). Surely women would make sure everyone was fed, housed, educated, and had access to health care? Surely capitalism would not be the same? After 60 years, what direction would society go? It would be a really interesting experiment to see how much of what is seen as feminine traits would be nature or nurture. What do ya'll think it would be like?

I am watching Snowdrop. I would welcome anyone's thoughts. It is visually stunning which is no surprise because the PD is amazing. But, to me the writer is not clever enough to write an action drama. The main characters are all acting beyond stupid which usually works in a romcom, but doesn't really work in a thriller like this.

I also don't think Ji Soo is very good at acting. The character she is playing is not very well written, but her acting choices are inappropriate for the drama. So far, this is unintentionally one of the funniest dramas. I am wondering if it is intentionally bad.

I finally got around to watching the award winning film 'Concrete Utopia'. Let me say it was a very 'Korean' film. It reminds me of the saying that 'han' (existential feeling of helpless resentment and unfairness) is the Korean national character.

I just came across this video, shot about foreign actors in K-Drama; it was published by The Korea Times. It shows what I have heard before, a dark side to the seemingly glitzy world of Hallyu. I am amazed by K-Drama, and through it, got really interested in Korea, Korean culture and mores. But increasingly, I can see the antiquated, not-self undercurrent of this world. If I want to enjoy K-Drama, do I have to accept as a given what is shown here, or has been commented on by so many in the K-Drama world (also true for Korean actors and actresses)?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VtFW8AP8UE