K-Pop and K-Dramas: BTS Didn’t Win

Promotional photo of Jungkook, Suga, Jimin, V, RM, J-Hope, and Jin. Copyright goes to BigHit Entertainment and BTS.

Hey! Hallie here!

So today was…disappointing. Actually that’s an understatement. The way BTS was treated this year, just like every year, was outright unfair. The outpouring of support from ARMY, and from BTS right back, made the bad news of today a little more bearable, though. Let’s go through the events of today and recap exactly what happened.

Grammys Pre-Show:

We knew yesterday that the award BTS was up for wasn’t going to be aired on the Grammys. Instead it was going to be streamed as part of the pre-show, along with other categories that were deemed “less significant”, mostly involving BIPOC artists. When the announcement came around we learned that Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande won the award, marking the first time an all female group won this award. It’s women’s history month. It’s nice to have this record broken on such an occasion. However, there’s a few problems with this. One is that Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande, like many artists in this category, are not a group. They’re two solo artists who collaborated on their song. There is already an award on the Grammys for collaborated works. BTS was the only actual group nominated for this award. Also, “Dynamite” did leagues better in every respect, including streams and money made. And on top of everything else, it feels like these women were chosen so that the Grammys could attempt to demonstrate how “feminist” they are while still throwing BTS under the bus for their race. The Grammys has had a history of both sexism and racism, and just because they raise one group up doesn’t mean audiences don’t notice when they’re purposefully ignoring artists from the other group.

BTS and ARMY Reaction:

Late tonight the boys’ reactions to the news was posted to Twitter. Heartbreakingly, Namjoon said “I told you” when the winner was announced. And to many others, it wasn’t a surprise. We expected the Grammys to ignore them and treat them poorly, as they have always done. We expected the blatant racism from the Grammys. But the question was, would they risk the wrath of such a huge fan base by denying BTS the award? The answer was, evidently, yes. However, the boys were quick to cheer each other up, though Taehyung seemed quieter than usual, and post to Weverse. Hoseok and Jin posted “I love you ARMY”. Namjoon and Yoongi posted some encouraging words. Jimin and Jungkook posted selfies with some comfort for ARMY. And ARMY was equally quick to send out their support for BTS. The hashtag #whoneedswho was trending after a Forbes article pointed out the popularity of BTS versus the popularity of the Grammys. There were multiple tweets telling BTS that they were the only award ARMY needed and assuring them that they deserved the award more than anyone. The hashtag #scammys was also trending in response to BTS’ loss. Some hate was thrown Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande’s way from frustrated fans, but most fans were polite. However, all fans, and even some non-fans, were unanimous in the opinion that BTS deserved the award. And they’re right. “Dynamite” has been one of the biggest songs in the world for months on end. There’s no way that kind of accomplishment doesn’t deserve a Grammy. So it also wasn’t a surprise when the Grammys pre-show lost most of their viewers and the Grammys itself ended up being boycotted by many people because of the result.

BTS Performance:

BTS couldn’t attend the event in person, which was probably for the best. All the stars wore masks and tables were six feet apart, but celebrities and attendees did not stay six feet apart for the whole event. But I digress. BTS performed from Seoul in a large set made to look like LA. The boys were at the top of their game for this performance of “Dynamite”. The dancing was flawless. The singing was clear and beautiful. Their orange colored suits looked amazing on them. The sets, from the intricately lit interior to the rooftop exterior, were breathtaking. It was one of the best performances, and it was definitely the biggest performance, of the night. This performance was left to second to last once again. The Grammys, as always, was shameless in their attempts to get ARMY to watch the entire program. They used BTS for their popularity and then left them out to dry, as always.

V-Live:

After the performance the members of BTS all went on V-Live together. They all looked exhausted, but aside from that they didn’t seem to be doing too badly. They joked about the bags under their eyes and mentioned that they had champagne, but they drank it all after the announcement. Apparently they’d been up since 2:30 in the morning, which is a little insane. In the very least they didn’t seem too upset, though they’re probably trying to stay happy for ARMY right now as well.

Tonight was rough. I’m proud that the majority of ARMYS turned their attention towards boycotting the Grammys and streaming “Dynamite” instead of harassment. I’m proud that we were able to comfort BTS just as much as they were comforting us. But that doesn’t mean that I can’t be disappointed with everything that happened today. BTS were mistreated throughout this entire process. And they deserved that win, at the very least. The fact they didn’t win this award says a lot about the horrific old fashioned views of the Grammys. Does this nomination mean a win for BTS next year? I don’t know. If that’s what BTS wants, I hope so. As for me, I’m aware of the fact that the Grammys has been dying. I’m aware of the fact that their viewership has been going down and that artists are starting to boycott the show. I think it’s time for the Grammys to die. BTS didn’t need the Grammys. But the Grammys needed them. To ARMYs who were disappointed today, stream “Dynamite” and keep up your spirits. BTS deserves some good news after all of this.

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

K-Pop and K-Dramas: Line Friends Store Hollywood

Photo copyright of ‘Line Friends’ and ‘The Korea Herald’. (From left) Jung Hoseok, Kim Taehyung, Kim Namjoon, Park Jimin, Min Yoongi, Jeon Jungkook, and Kim Seokjin.

Hi! It’s Annie!

I feel like this blog is slowly being taken over completely by BTS and I really hope you’re not mad at it. This is a very BTS weekend considering the Grammys, though that situation makes me nervous. So I guess here’s a more lighthearted BTS post before whatever happens tomorrow. Most of you are probably very well aware of the BT21 line. A line of merchandise created by the members of BTS in collaboration with the Line Friends company. We have a different post breaking down the line of merch, mostly focusing on their characters, so that’s not really what I’m going to talk about today. What I am going to talk about is how amazing this store is because I have actually gone twice recently and I had never gone before the last couple months. I haven’t really been going anywhere at all because of quarantine and luckily my sister and I were able to plan our trips to the store so well (don’t go on weekends) that there was barely anybody there when we went both times. So it was entirely safe! But this store is absolutely amazing and beautiful so I have to talk more about it.

The Handprints:

I’m not going to lie and say this wasn’t what I was most excited about seeing when I first went to the store. The Line Friends store is located pretty directly across from the Chinese Theater, which has become a very recognizable trademark of Hollywood. Outside of the Chinese Theater you can see several handprints of celebrities who have cemented their influence into the experience forever. Because of this, the members of BTS actually did the same for the Line Store. Their handprints are hanging around the store in various places. It’s really interesting because Yoongi and Jimin are always teased for being small, while people who have seen them in real life say that this isn’t the case. This really comes across here. All of their hands are so much bigger than my own, including Jimin’s pinky (which he is also made fun of for). Seeing them really makes the boys seem more like real actual human beings. I also have to say, Namjoon and Taehyung’s hands are giant. Each of their handprints are under a sign depicting the character they created for the merch line, which makes it even better. Namjoon’s handprint was actually difficult for me to find at first. I didn’t get a picture of it until the second time we visited the store because you really have to turn around and pay attention to find it. It’s kind of away from the others which I found to be weird.

BTS Store:

Now, I know I keep saying the Line Friends store which is it’s own company itself. They sell other things that are not BTS. But the location in Hollywood is currently their largest location outside of Seoul and it’s almost entirely a BT21 store. There is a very very small section towards the front of their other merchandise, so if you walk into the store wanting to find regular Line Friends merch, this may not be the store for you. This is, for all intents and purposes, a BTS store. The decorations and the merch is nearly all their BTS merchandise. If BT21 is what you wanted, then great! There is so much to see and purchase in the store that has to do with BTS. But not much else. I personally am only interested in buying the BTS themed merch, so this worked in my favor.

Picture Opportunities:

There are so many throughout this store. Crammed in the corner of the very small Line Friends non BTS section is their mascot bear that you can take a picture with. The rest is all BTS. There’s a large painting towards the front of the store of the BT21 characters hanging out in LA as well as a very large Tata who will often be changed for Halloween and Christmas. There’s also a seat surrounded by the members of BT21 that’s currently blocked off for Covid purposes, but it’s still cute. There’s a kissing Chimmy (that you can’t kiss but I don’t know why you would), a piece of art of Tata that you can stand under to make it look like he’s abducting you, a red carpet with a large RJ award on it, and so much more. My favorite of these was actually a large art wall which has some of the original art of the BT21 characters. If you look around you can actually see the art each member of BTS originally drew for their respective characters. The first time I went I barely looked at the wall, but the second time I spent so much of my time there trying to pick out all the things I hadn’t seen before. I would also like to mention that there’s a hidden ‘Where’s Waldo?’ style game that is instead ‘Where’s Shooky?’. I didn’t want to spend too much time in the store because of Covid purposes, but I did take a picture of it and had fun playing the game on my phone later.

The Organization:
I know this isn’t the most fun thing to talk about, but this actually sold me on the store more than I thought it would. Each member of BT21 has their own section in the store marked off with a large picture of them. So if you’re looking for something for a specific character, it’s really easy to find stuff. Most people buy this merch based off of their bias or bias wrecker, so this is actually incredibly helpful for BTS fans wanting to find something bias specific.

The Staff:

Some of the nicest people run this store. Right now you do have to do a fever test and mask up the entire time you’re in the store, which makes it all feel so much safer. But when you’re in there the staff is just so kind and pleasant. But seriously, this is one of the only places that has felt semi-Covid safe to me other than my house.

I just love escaping to this store every once in a while. Especially knowing that this is one of the places the boys stop off in if they’re in LA. But also because it’s just a cute store! I went there recently but now I want to go back again!

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

K-Pop and K-Dramas: BTS and the Grammys

Press photo of BTS walking the red carpet. (From left to right) Min Yoongi (Suga), Kim Taehyung (V), Kim Seokjin (Jin), Jung Hoseok (J-Hope), Jeon Jungkook, Kim Namjoon (RM), and Park Jimin. Copyright goes to BigHit Entertainment and BTS.

Hey! Hallie here!

The Grammys are on Sunday and many ARMYs, like myself, are a little on edge right now. The truth is, the Grammys aren’t very trustworthy. They’ve already proven this multiple times in the past. They’ve even begun to re-prove this on the days approaching the award show. And yes, I’d say most, if not all, of the ways the Grammys has mistreated BTS are rooted in racism. I don’t think the Grammys are going to suddenly stop being racist. But I do think that if BTS doesn’t win the Grammy they were nominated for, ARMYs will unleash hell and it won’t be pretty. There’s a lot to be aware of coming up to the event on Sunday, and there’s a lot that ARMY needs to keep in mind regardless of if BTS wins their award or not. So with everything seeming to come down to this one moment, let’s look into what we need to prepare for.

BTS at the Grammys 2019/2020:

Let’s start with the first two times BTS attended the Grammys, the first only being two years ago despite their major successes beforehand. BTS wasn’t nominated for any award either time. Even though their popularity and critically acclaimed works rivaled, and even exceeded, that of the nominees those years. Not one nomination. But they were invited and they even filmed behind the scenes footage to celebrate the event. What we saw didn’t shine the best light on the Grammys. All the members of BTS practiced English phrases and speeches to say to interviewers, but some of them didn’t manage to say all they had prepared because of how little they were pulled over on the red carpet. They were the first Korean group to present an award at the show, but it felt shallow when the boys weren’t even allowed to perform their own song. Their second year they were grouped into a performance with Lil Nas X. This performance was also left to the second to last slot despite the constant mention of BTS throughout the night. It was a very clear method to keep the large amount of ARMYs watching for the entire program. In essence, they used BTS to get the views of ARMYs, but they barely involved the members in the show at all. It was scummy and it left a very bad taste in the mouth of every ARMY who had waited for BTS the entire night. It isn’t hard to see why ARMYs are so skeptical this time around considering how badly their first Grammys went.

Coming Up to the 2021 Grammys:

This year BTS has been nominated for one Grammy. Despite all the records they broke with their recent albums, the popularity of multiple songs including “Dynamite”, and the amount of time they spent at the top of the Billboard Hot 100. This, as you can see, is already ridiculous. They are the most popular musical act in the world right now and still they were only nominated for one Grammy. It seems the Grammys are already patting themselves on the back for nominating a Korean group, but the reasons to be skeptical keep showing themselves. For example, tonight was the Music Cares concert preceding the Grammys. The concert didn’t have enough artists signed on to perform live, which was very evident given how many performances were from past concerts. However, they did manage to get BTS to agree to do the concert. And I guarantee you, that is what made them the most money. But, once again, they left BTS to the second to last act so that viewers would watch the majority of the concert before leaving. They once again manipulated ARMY to keep people watching. And I don’t think it’s unfair to say that it will probably happen again on Sunday.

Sunday Night:

This is what ARMYs need to be aware of once the day of the Grammys comes around. Like I said above, BTS’s performance will very likely be left until one of the last of the night in order to keep ARMYs watching. If you wanted to do something else until other ARMYs on Twitter notify everyone when BTS is performing, I wouldn’t exactly blame you. However, we also have to watch out for when the winner of the Grammy they’re nominated for is announced. If they win it will be well deserved. If they lose, we all know there’s many reasons to be angry. But we can’t attack or harass the winners or anyone involved with the Grammys. That behavior will reflect on BTS, and fan behavior is a much larger thing in Korea than it is in America. In America we create a major distinction between artists and their fans. In Korea many artists are considered the role models for their fans, and therefore somewhat responsible for their behavior. ARMYs can’t make BTS look bad with our outrage. We have to be kind and respectful even when we feel like it’s undeserved. Just like BTS is out there making us proud, we have to make them proud.

Every member of BTS has talked about wanting a Grammy for years. Every one of them has mentioned how important receiving a Grammy would be for them. It’s bewildering that it’s taken BTS this long to be nominated for one. They should have several by now. However, most of us already know that the Grammys, and similar award shows, have been criticized for the way they decide winners. We know these shows have demonstrated large amounts of racism and sexism before and that many amazing artists have been passed up by such shows for no clear reason. However, it feels different with BTS. BTS are the most popular music group in the world and the Grammys have used their popularity for their own gain before. Not only that, but getting a Grammy is still an important milestone, regardless of how problematic the award show is. As ARMYs we want to hope for the best. But if they don’t win, we can’t add to BTS’s sadness by responding with viciousness. BTS spreads messages of love and togetherness, and now more than ever ARMY should be spreading that message.

Update: Reportedly, the category BTS was nominated for won’t be aired on the Grammys, as well as various other categories that feature predominantly BIPOC artists. If true, this is further proof of not only the racism of the Grammys, but the fact that the Grammys is only using BTS’s performance for ARMY views. Some artists have begun to refuse to allow their labels to submit their works to the Grammys, and some artists have even begun refusing to perform for the show. The Grammys is failing miserably at trying to ease the already rising tempers of ARMY, and even if BTS does win, I don’t see a bright future for the Grammys.

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

Theatre: Female Roles

Mandatory Credit: Photo by Moviestore Collection/REX (1596346a) Hamlet, Kenneth Branagh Film and Television

Hi! It’s Annie!

Now that we have this category for our blog, there’s a lot that I really wanted to talk about in regards to theatre. Especially because this is actually what I majored in in college. Majoring in this is part of what opened my eyes to how badly women have been treated in media and also behind the scenes in this industry. So in the hopes of shedding light on some of these situations, I’m actually going to share some of my own experiences in working with the material that I have. Unfortunately, this will not be as happy and light hearted as some of my other posts. If that does not appeal to you right now, I completely understand. So hold onto your hats, and here we go.

Smart Female Roles:

The first acting class I ever took was with a female professor who was extremely feminist just like I was. I spent some time discussing things like the ‘He For She’ organization as well as Emma Watson’s hand in it with her. Because of this she decided that she was going to assign me a monologue featuring a smart woman. She had told me in this class that my typecast was the love interest and warned me that I would be cast as a lot of girlfriends throughout my acting career. In telling me this, she also let me know that most love interests are written around men and don’t often have minds of their own. Especially because most acting classes revolve around classic work, which could often be sexist. Because of this she would only cast me as smart women throughout that class, saying that the trend would not start with her. I’m not sure I quite understood the significance of what she had done for me then, but I had the most fun playing women in her class. If I was assigned a female character it was because it was a character written to have her own thoughts and storylines.

The Trend:

As soon as I transferred to university, I knew exactly what she was talking about. I played a lot of girlfriends and most of them didn’t have much in the way of a brain. I ended up attracting jealousy for my typecast, which didn’t make sense to me because I wasn’t a favorite student and wasn’t cast in many shows because of that. I guess this is just a case of the grass is greener on the other side. People who were typecast as supporting characters envied me for having more lines while I envied them for playing characters that didn’t revolve around the leading man. Then again, I didn’t care as much about casting as most other people did probably because I discovered that I didn’t actually want to be an actress. Maybe if I had, I would have had a bigger reaction to cast lists. Typecasting is a completely different type of awful the industry has to offer that often pits people against each other. But I won’t dive into that here.

Taming of the Shrew:

This was the class that put the nail in the coffin of me considering an acting career. My Shakespeare class. The professor who taught this class was extremely sexist and his favorite Shakespeare production was ‘Taming of the Shrew’, which was very in character for him. Because of this, we had to do a lot of scenes from this play. If you aren’t completely familiar with this one, it’s about an independent woman who doesn’t want to get married but a bunch of people in her family want her to. They basically sell her off to this man who teaches her obedience by making her sleep on the floor, do a bunch of chores, starving her, and otherwise mistreating her. She comes back to her family at the end to give a large speech about how women should be obedient to their husbands. While this is happening her little sister is dealing with two suitors who are fighting over her. The suitor who wins her over eventually hears the speech at the end and realizes that women are not worth being fought over and feels she also needs to learn to be obedient. I had the misfortune of having to play both of the demeaning main female roles at different points during this class. The professor would not refer to me by name, instead choosing to refer to me as “she”. He also blamed most of the problems for the scene on me and would only give me notes through my male colleagues. I don’t think it needs to be said that he treated all the other women in this class similarly. I spent most of this class angry and frustrated and ruminating on the words of my first female acting teacher.

The point in telling you all of that is to tell you that theatre is not any better with representation or in the way it treats women. How can it when women are still being forced to play these roles in their acting training? The simple fact that I had a female teacher warn me about this also means that this has gone on for a while and it probably isn’t going away any time soon. Some modern theatre has been doing better, but until this material also shows up in classes, many professors will still think it’s ok to treat women like this or use these materials. I’m not saying this to destroy your love of theatre, but I am saying this because lately I’ve heard a lot of people say that theatre has become the most progressive brand of media. I’m not going to dispute that, but that doesn’t mean that theatre doesn’t still have a lot of problems. This isn’t something we should be stagnant on. I just graduated from college last year. This stuff is recent and needs to be looked at. If this is happening in a school that is acclaimed for being progressive in California, you can bet this is happening everywhere else in the world.

In other words, what I’m trying to say is that women need to be written to be their own characters and not to revolve around the men in their story. And women portraying these characters need to be treated like actual human beings. Until all of this happens, theatre can’t be as progressive as we make it seem.

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

ATEEZ: Variety Shows

Press photo of ATEEZ on the red carpet. (From left to right) Jeong Yunho, Park Seonghwa, Choi San, Kang Yeosang, Kim Hongjoong, Jung Wooyoung, Choi Jongho, and Song Mingi. Copyright goes to KQ Entertainment and ATEEZ.

Hey! Hallie here!

ATEEZ recently finished up their most recent self-promoting variety show, “Salary Lupin ATEEZ”. It hasn’t been their first variety show of this kind, but I found it, in many ways, lacking. Before ATINY’s get angry, I would like to say that I love ATEEZ. I consider myself an ATINY, and I in no way believe that ATEEZ is incapable of creating an enjoyable variety show. In fact, they have before. In promotion of the first half of the “Fever” album, ATEEZ released a variety show called “ATEEZ Fever Road”. This variety show was superior to their most recent show in many, many important ways. And not just because Mingi was there to enjoy “Fever Road”. From fun games, to getting to know the boys, to simply being more watchable to the audience, these two variety shows have major differences. So let’s look into them.

“Salary Lupin ATEEZ”:

Concept: This concept isn’t bad. The first episode sets it up by showing each of the boys interacting with a fake digital interface (A staff member hilariously sitting in a box). The box holds a job interview with each member, ultimately deciding which position in the fictional firm, titled ATEEZ Holdings, the members will take. While the positions themselves aren’t important, the ranking of their positions is used to create many comical moments throughout. Especially because Jongho, the groups maknae, was placed in the highest position in the company. After the job interviews, the members are sent into an office building, and various places afterwards, to role play their positions in the company while playing games. The concept initially sounds like a lot of fun. Until you get into the role play section. It’s not that the boys are bad at getting into their roles. They actually seem very enthusiastic about it. It’s simply that a lot of their dialogue is scripted. Unless they’re in the process of playing a game, a lot of their interactions are scripted to set up plot points. The dialogue is always cringy and the members either laugh through it or deliver it awkwardly. It takes away from the audiences ability to get to know the members personalities and it’s unnecessary to most episodes. Considering the long length of each episode, I think it’s safe to say all of the scripted elements could have been cut out for a much better viewing experience.

Activities: The activities that occur throughout the episodes are hit or miss. They play a game where the members must locate the two imposters within the group by earning clues. The members personalities came through in this game more than any other activity. Some members, like Hongjoong, accused other members in the effort to form alliances with those adamant that they weren’t the imposters, and to catch true imposters in a lie. Others, like Seonghwa, were too quick to trust and ended up betrayed. The true imposters were Jongho and Yeosang, though, to be honest, neither was the best of liars. Still, they managed to win the game. Other smaller games, such as laser tag and karaoke, also seemed to really interest the members. They were fun to watch because the members were having fun. Some activities weren’t so interesting to watch. One activity saw members get into groups to plan out future potential music videos. During this activity the episode spent a lot of time on the boys working on computers and muttering ideas to each other without letting the audience in on the action. Needless to say, this wasn’t fun to watch and the time that they were working on the computers could have been cut from the episode entirely. Another game was a murder mystery game where the members had to discover which one of them killed a fictional employee of their company by looking through a set. The clues in this game implicated every single member of ATEEZ in the crime. To the point that every member had a motive and a means to kill the employee. By the end it was impossible for the audience to have put together who the murderer was. Though it was fun to watch Hongjoong calmly and easily deflect suspicion off of himself, only for him to be revealed as the murderer, it wasn’t fun for the audience to watch.

Overall: There was one truly meaningful part of this series. After playing a game the members of ATEEZ earned themselves a meal. Only to find out that each dish of the meal was provided by each of their mothers. Each received a note from their mother wishing them well. Hongjoong’s mother even recited some of his lyrics in her letter, leading to an extremely touching reaction from Hongjoong. Moments like this stripped the role-play down and showed the true personalities of the members. But, unfortunately, they didn’t happen often enough. Every good moment was met with an equally bad or cringy moment, and every episode was far too long, making this series mediocre at best by its end.

“ATEEZ Fever Road”

Concept: “Jumanji”. What more is there to say? The first episode started with the boys coming up to a large house. Drum beats, like the ones you hear before every challenge in “Jumanji”, indicated their first challenge had come before they could even step into the house. The members ended up having to find keys to determine which was the one to open the door to the house. When they finally got it open, they found a board game that was, of course, a replica of the “Jumanji” game promising more adventures. There’s no script in this one. Simply staff throwing the members into unexpected and challenging games. This works to it’s benefit. It allows members to be themselves and give genuine reactions to their unexpected predicaments. Meanwhile, the show gave the members time to have genuine moments with one another before they were thrown into each game.

Activities: Every game was unexpected and fun. Each one also rose the stakes of the previous game, and gave the members a puzzle piece for a puzzle they would put together at the end of the series. One of the first games had members pick food dishes individually, if any member chose the same dish as another one, the dish had to go back. This led to the members ending up with some pretty strange things in an effort to pick something no one else would pick. The staff wound up taking pity on them, allowing them to do small tasks for the dishes they missed. This ended with the members cooking together around a large bonfire and genuinely enjoying each other’s company. The next night the staff “kidnapped” Wooyoung, dropped him in a quite frightening park, and forced him to find a way out with the help of the members, who had to find instructions for Wooyoung by completing smaller tasks. As you can see, the games escalated quite quickly. All were fun to watch though and all of the members seemed to enjoy them. From climbing a rock wall to retrieve the letters to a love message to ATINY, to having to retrieve Mingi by gaining clues about his location when they answered questions about Mingi correctly and wearing large blow-up animal outfits when they guessed incorrectly, no episode was uninteresting or confusing. The audience could enjoy everything just as much as the boys.

Overall: The show ends with the boys back around the campfire, sharing what ATINY means to them. It’s a meaningful moment that makes ATINYs watching feel closer to the members. And that’s what this show does as a whole. The episodes are much shorter than what “Salary Lupin ATEEZ” boasts. But in the end, it shows much more of the members personalities than the other one does. No matter what they face, the members reactions are always genuine and there’s just as genuine of a love for ATINY behind it all.

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

K-Pop and K-Dramas: Run BTS 131 and 132

Screenshot of Park Jimin and Jeon Jungkook from ‘Run BTS’. Copyright goes to BigHit Entertainment.

Hi! It’s Annie!

I’ve already done a giant post on my favorite episodes of Run BTS but, of course, that was before these last two episodes came out. These were some of the funniest episodes I have ever seen. While I did worry about the boys potentially getting sick from all the water, it seemed like they were also having a blast! (No pun intended.) If you haven’t watched these episodes of Run BTS yet you really should. They are the perfect way to get into this variety show if you haven’t yet. But there will be SPOILERS in this post because I am going to talk about the highlights. If you’re still here, great! I mean, all of the episodes are always great, but why were these that good?

Warm Up:

Before the game really even started they had a warm up, which involved the members of BTS floating to the middle of the pool on a floatie and trying to make each other fall in, in pairs. But the catch was, as it generally is, that they had to make the other person fall in without touching them. Part of what made this episode so hilariously chaotic is how much they really didn’t want to follow this one single rule during this game. This game started out with Jimin and Yoongi who did not purposely break this rule, in their defense. Yoongi lost his balance and fell on Jimin resulting in them both falling into the water together. Tae and Hobi went up next and Hobi lost while they both also ascribed to the rules. The issue began with Namjoon and Jin when their game lasted so long that Namjoon seemed to have had enough, resulting in him grabbing Jin and plunging them both into the water. Jimin and Jungkook faced off next which began with a hilarious ‘Titanic’ recreation (pictured above) as they were floated out to the middle of the pool. This one also went apparently too long for Jimin’s liking, and he promptly pushed Jungkook into the pool. All of this was taken to another level when Tae pretty much threw Jin off the floatie in the next round and fell in after him. The members of BTS were also asked to write Run BTS on their palms and try to keep the ink on as they went into the next water events.

Moderator Jungkook:

The first water debate started out with the topic of dry versus mushy cereal. Each time a member hit the desk a canon of water was blasted in their face and a giant bucket of water fell on the moderator. After they discovered this, Tae began incessantly hitting the desk resulting in Jungkook getting dunked with water over and over and over again. When they filmed this Jungkook’s hair was long, so he kept whipping his hair around like a drenched puppy. It was adorable, but you just couldn’t help but a feel a little bad for him

Moderator Namjoon:

The second topic was eggs versus green peas on jajangmyeon. This one stirred controversy from the beginning because nobody preferred the peas over the eggs, but the debate must go on. Namjoon was a very good moderator in that he tried to prevent the boys from talking over each other. The key word here is “tried”. Here the forbidden action was getting up. Though Namjoon now had the water bucket over his head, he had an advantage here in that his height prevented it from completely covering his head. That doesn’t mean he didn’t still get completely soaked though.

Moderator Jin:

The topic of this one was hard peach versus soft peach. Right away this one began to go awry because from the very first second of this debate starting they were all blasted with water and it would not stop. They tried in vain to figure out why they were being blasted as Jin was practically being drowned until Jungkook finally looked at Yoongi who had his arms crossed. The staff knows Yoongi very well as this is how he usually sits. So that entire time they were being constantly blasted because of poor Yoongi. I’m seriously impressed that Jungkook was able to figure it out.

Moderator Hobi:

Starting with the second episode we had Hobi as the moderator. Oh, this poor man. The topic was washing your face first in the morning versus brushing your teeth first. The issue was that in this one the forbidden action was touching your hair. Which, of course they were all doing because they were getting soaked and wanted their hair out of their faces. None of them could figure it out for a long while and Tae just started leaning out of the way of water canon. Eventually Tae figured it out and reached over to try and fix Hobi’s hair for him (Hobi was the one who was touching his hair the most because of the large amounts of water being spilled on him), only for them all to be blasted again.

Moderator Tae:

The topic for this was should you eat or not eat the kelp pieces in ramen. Namjoon called out Tae right away for wearing a baseball cap in a way that protected his face from the water when the other moderators hadn’t, so Tae flipped his hat around. Tae spent the entire time laughing and taunting the water stationed above his head. A couple times he even got up and did some Michael Jackson moves as the water came down, so he didn’t do much moderating. Jungkook made him regret all of this after a while though, after Jungkook figured out that the forbidden action was moving the water goggles they all were wearing, which he continued to do for fun. Tae wasn’t having as much fun by the end of that.

Moderator Jimin:

The topic for this was whether or not you should eat the rice in the sikhye (a sweet rice drink). Jimin knew from the beginning that their forbidden word was ‘yes’. Though the forbidden word didn’t effect much before this, Jimin kept getting them to say it here. Of course, the forbidden word does not effect the moderator. The forbidden action here was standing up and the water completely covered Jimin every time the action was done. But Jimin eventually stood up himself as if it was his own water show. Jimin and Tae had so much fun as the moderators which made it really funny to compare them to the others.

Moderator Yoongi:

The topic for this was bread with raisins versus without. Because this was the last debate they were able to choose freely which side they were on. The forbidden action here was pointing fingers which they all do so much. At this point you could tell they were all thoroughly soaked and a little tired, so no one was doing anything on purpose anymore. Yoongi got so into the debate he started arguing as the moderator for the raisin team. You could see that it was completely dark outside by the time they got to this one, so it was no wonder they were done with the water.

Ending:

The end of the episode involved them all swimming in the pool and revealing how well protected the writing on their hands was. Jimin’s was by far the most well protected, so he ended up winning the challenge. His little hops when he went to retrieve the award were so adorable. The staff seemed to know that this chaotic episode was a lot for the boys, so they sat the producer of the episode in the moderator position and dunked water on him.

These episodes were so hilariously chaotic and I couldn’t stop laughing, so I obviously had to write about them. The boys were laughing just as much as the audience was which made it even better. I just really love seeing them that happy.

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

K-Pop and K-Dramas: Happy Birthday Yoongi!

Image of Min Yoongi (Suga) from a photoshoot. Copyright goes to BigHit Entertainment and BTS.

Hey! Hallie here!

Happy Birthday to one of the best rappers, writers, and producers in the entire music industry! Yoongi has accomplished so much throughout his career and still he’s shown amazing humility, wisdom, and compassion. He’s a great artist and an even better person. We’ve talked about his different songs and albums on this page before, so for this post I’m going to look at Suga in general. His life, what he’s gone through up to this point, and the things that he stands for. Yoongi has a really inspiring story, and he’s been generous enough to share it in interviews and in song lyrics. It inspires me every time I hear it, so in the hopes of it inspiring someone else, I will try my best to stay as close to what Yoongi has shared as possible.

Before BTS:

Yoongi was born in Daegu, South Korea into a fairly poor family. He always hated school, though he wasn’t necessarily a bad student. Instead, he focused a lot of his time on writing lyrics. He’s listed the South Korean hip hop group Epik High as one of his first music inspirations. His parents didn’t really approve of his passion, however, and threw out his lyrics in the hopes that he’d focus on something more sensible. For quite a few years he turned to basketball. He became quite a skilled player, too. His position was shooting guard, which would later inspire the name Suga (Su for Shooting and Ga for Guard). He still focused on music despite his parents wishes, and at the age of 13 he began composing through use of MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface). While going to school he was also forced to take a part-time job in order to help his family. He would try to sell the music he made, but he ended up scammed out of the songs he tried to sell. Often times he didn’t have enough money to buy himself food as well as take the bus, so he had to choose one or the other. His music passion continued through his early years. He taught himself to play piano and, at one point, even landed a part-time job at a recording studio. Eventually he joined the underground rap scene under the name Gloss as part of a Daegu rap group called D-Town. Around this time he auditioned for BigHit and became a trainee. Hitman Bang, the CEO of BigHit Entertainment, promised him a producer-heavy role in whatever group Yoongi became attached to, without having to participate in choreography. That didn’t end up working out so well.

Early BTS Days:

When Yoongi joined BTS it became pretty apparent that he would be taking a major performing role despite the initial claims BigHit had made to him. He met Namjoon (RM) first and the two have lived together the longest out of everyone in BTS. Yoongi was still very much struggling financially at the time, so on top of everything he was doing as a trainee, he also took a part-time job delivering newspapers. During one trip he was hit by a car in a hit-and-run accident, which permanently injured his shoulder. He was afraid BigHit would fire him if he explained the situation, so he didn’t get the injury treated and didn’t tell anyone about the incident until several years later. During this time he also struggled a lot with his mental health. He had depression and anxiety which he has spoken about in many of his solo songs.

Now:

Since debut Yoongi has seen a lot of success with BTS, and he’s also been making big strides with his mixtapes under the name Agust D. But he’s also used his large platform to talk about important things. He’s defended the LGBTQ+ community and has said that he doesn’t see himself only dating women. He’s talked at length about how important acknowledging mental health problems is and how it needs to become more normalized. And he’s encouraged ARMY to love themselves and take care of themselves. He uses his story to help others going through difficulties relate to someone and see that it gets better. He’s still working through some problems himself, but he seems a lot healthier and happier. He also finally got surgery for his shoulder! After years of being on constant medication, he decided to get surgery to help his shoulder heal properly. He’s currently going through rehab for his shoulder, but the process seems to be going well!

I wish I had more words to express how much gratitude I have for this man. He’s helped me through so many of my own mental problems and he’s absolutely someone I look up to. The hard work he’s put into BTS’s music and making ARMY happy is incredible. I wish him a fast recovery from his surgery and I hope that he knows just how much he’s loved. Happy Birthday Yoongi!

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

Theme Parks: Why Epcot is the Best Park in Disney World

Image of the Epcot ball in Walt Disney World Florida. Copyright goes to the Disney Parks company.

Hi! It’s Annie!

I can’t just talk about a theme park I’ve never been to without also talking about the ones that I have been to! I’ve been to all of the Disney parks in the US, meaning just the two. But I have been to each several times (the one in California possibly hundreds of times), and I want to talk about the park that I perceive to be the most underrated. When I was a kid Epcot was probably my least favorite park. I was absolutely not appeased by the fact that there weren’t many rides and my parents always wanted to walk all the way around the entire park for reasons that I could not comprehend. There were only a few places with rides, so why not just stay there? Because what Epcot has to offer is so much more than theme park rides. So, while this isn’t the best park to choose to take your small children to if you’re trying to decide on one park, this is probably the one you’ll enjoy the most as an adult. Let’s get into why Epcot is my personal favorite!

The World Showcase:

This is the main reason to go to Epcot for me. If you walk all the way behind the giant golf ball and fountain, you’ll see a wide stretch of land spaced out around this body of water in the center. This is the world showcase, an attraction in itself that features several places around the world all in this one very large section of the park. Here you can experience architecture from all over the world as well as several attractions unique to each place. For example, Norway features the ‘Frozen’ ride because of the setting of that movie. France will in the future have a ride based off of the Pixar movie ‘Ratatouille’, but more importantly it is home to a French bakery. This is one of my favorite stops around the entire showcase. Any type of French pastry that you wish you could go to France for is probably in this bakery. My favorite is actually this raspberry mousse that they serve with strips of chocolate cake. In China they have explanations and statues for each year in the Chinese zodiac. Because of this and going when I was so young, I knew I was year of the Rabbit long before I ever knew that I was a Taurus. They also have an amazing tea shop in this part of the showcase that I have to go to every single time now. In Canada there’s this entire show starring Martin Short. This doesn’t include the entertainment unique to each culture that the showcase highlights. It’s a giant place to walk around and adventure in. There’s always new stuff to see no matter how many times you go.

I should also mention under this, as I have already talked a little about food, the different events that the World Showcase often hosts. On one occasion we were there during an arts festival. This included several big names from Broadway performing on a stage and places to buy Disney paintings lining the showcase. There was an entire booth for Paige O’Hara the voice of Belle from ‘Beauty and the Beast’ who now spends much of her time painting. I was, unfortunately, not there for when she was manning her own booth, but it was amazing to see so many of the pieces she had painted by hand up close for myself. There’s also a flower festival that my family was there for that made the entire park absolutely beautiful. The most popular of these events, however, is easily the Food and Wine Festival. Each place offers delicious food selections that are, once again, unique to the culture of the place they are showcasing. Though I can’t necessarily speak to the quality of the wine (I don’t drink much and the last time I was there I was under the legal drinking age), I can say that the food is some of the best I’ve had in my entire life. It’s completely worth planning your entire Disney World trip around.

Journey To Imagination:

I have to admit here that the ride used to be much better, but I still love it with all my heart. Unfortunately, when Disney recently released plans for the new red-do of Epcot, the mention of this ride was no longer there. It does very much look like it won’t be there for much longer, which will make me very sad because I love Figment. I grew up with Figment, and he’s also become one of the identifying characters for the park. I’m sure they’ll keep him in the park in some capacity, but I’m not sure I think that’s good enough. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this ride, it features Eric Idle taking guests through different experiments to scientifically test their senses. He accidentally brings to life Figment, a figment of the imagination who is a purple dragon with orange scales and wings. Figment completely derails the tour to show the audience the fun of imagination. The ride initially also featured the Dream Finder, the creator of Figment, but the entire ride changed over time. Even though it is worse than the original, that doesn’t make it bad. Especially because the line for this ride features the only blatant tribute to Robin Williams left in the parks. Because the theme of the ride is science based, a large portrait of Robin Williams from the movie ‘Flubber’ greets guests at the entrance. I can no longer see it without crying, but that doesn’t mean I want it gone.

Test Track:

This is probably the most A-list ride in the entire park. This attraction has also seen a not-as-recent but still really recent refurbishment. Guests are put into a Tron like test for a car that they now design themselves. The ride is very futuristic and even has coaster elements to it at points. There are hot and cold effects as well as night time effects that make this even better. If you’ve been to the California Adventure park in Disneyland, California you’ll probably see similarities between this and their ‘Cars’ themed ride. This one is definitely better. It’s like if you took that ride and turned it up to eleven.

Spaceship Earth:

This is the ride that is inside the giant golf ball. If you were expecting some sort of thrill ride, I hate to disappoint you. This is much more like a traditional Disney dark ride. But it is still amazing. You ascend through a night sky filled with stars to time travel to the past, where the ride showcases several different moments of interest in history. This attraction is also receiving a bit of a facelift, but from what I understand the nature of the ride will remain unchanged. There’s also a feature where you answer questions about yourself including where you’re from. When you get off the ride there’s a giant virtual map so that you can see how many places the guests from that day come from.

The Theming:

Though the theming has changed and will continue to do so, that’s kind of the point of Epcot. Epcot is there to show a bit of the world we know today as well as to showcase the future. The soundtrack is probably my favorite part of the theming for this park and, yes, I am listening to it as I type this. It features several pieces that makes you hope for the future and really captures the futuristic parts of the park. I do wish that some of the theming for this park would be more cohesive and I’m really not sure any of the new plans will help with that, but some of the theming is still there and done well.

Those are only a few parts of this amazing park that I love so much. I really hope that the park will only continue to grow without getting rid of too much. But Epcot is definitely the park to go to if you want an adventure. The World Showcase is beyond words.

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Marvel: ‘WandaVision’ Finale Review

Screenshot of Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany in episode 9 of ‘WandaVision’. Copyright goes to Marvel Studios and Walt Disney Studios.

Hey! Hallie here!

The final episode of ‘WandaVision’ finally hit Disney+ yesterday and, as usual, there’s so much to talk about! Because it’s the end of the season, I’m going to stick to my original “What I Liked” and “What I Didn’t Like” categories to talk about this episode and the series as a whole. So without wasting any more time, let’s talk about this episode!

What I Liked:

Wanda: I was one of those people who was absolutely certain that Wanda was going to end the series a villain, or in the very least, an anti-hero. After all, she had kidnapped and mind controlled all of the people in Westview. I was also convinced that if she didn’t become a villain that would imply that the plot hadn’t held her accountable for her actions. The show surprised me by both holding her accountable and still keeping her as a mostly moral hero. While she and Agatha are fighting towards the beginning of the episode, Agatha frees the people of Westview from Wanda’s control so they can gang up on her. When they do, various people confess to Wanda the horrible things she’s been putting them through. It’s also revealed that while Wanda was maintaining the spell over them, she didn’t know how it was affecting them. She thought she was making them happier, or at least wasn’t affecting them in any harmful way, but instead she was projecting her grief into them and causing them pain. She also didn’t realize that they weren’t able to contact the family members Wanda hadn’t written into her storylines because those family members, such as their children, were stuck in their rooms. After being horrified by this information, she undid the barrier of the Hex to let them all escape before putting it back up once again to prevent Vision and her children from disappearing.

Wanda’s fight with Agatha was interesting. We got to see her use her mind manipulation powers mid-fight, the ones we haven’t seen since ‘Age of Ultron’. We also saw her outsmart Agatha by putting up runes within the hex, nullifying Agatha’s powers. She then turned into the Scarlet Witch, with a beautiful new costume to match that is not over-sexualized. By the end of all of it she turned Agatha back into Agnes, intending to keep her in Westview as the “nosy neighbor” until she’s needed again. With all of that out of the way, she finally got to the acceptance stage of her grief. She said a very difficult goodbye to Vision and her children, completely undid the Hex, and left to seclude herself. But not before cementing Monica Rambeau as a new friend. In an end credits scene we saw Wanda reading the Darkhold, the book Agatha possessed that had informed her of Wanda’s powers. She was also reading it in her astral form, so we already get to see some magic overlap between her and Doctor Strange that will help her fit in nicely to the next Doctor Strange movie. While reading, she could hear the voices of her sons calling for help. This could mean a few things. It could mean that the Darkhold, or whatever being created it, is tempting Wanda into darkness with her kids as bait. It could just mean that Wanda is simply planning to get them back at some point. We don’t know. Overall I think the exploration of Wanda’s grief was done beautifully in this series. I know more about her as a character than I ever did before, and I want to keep seeing her grow as a person.

Vision: We, once again, have two Vision’s to talk about. Westview Vision was absolutely endearing throughout this entire series, but never more than he has been in this episode. He was eager to jump to Wanda’s side every time she was threatened and he was very attentive of his sons anytime they were fighting. Despite the suspicions he’s had of Wanda before this episode, he showed obvious care for his family. He even forgave Wanda for everything she had done and helped her come to the conclusion that the Hex should be done away with permanently. His final moments were heartbreaking, but he left Wanda with the hope that they would meet again soon. For Wanda’s sake, I hope she doesn’t have to wait too long.

White Vision was fascinating in this episode. He spent the first half of it trying to kill Westview Vision, but Westview Vision brought up the Ship of Theseus. The argument here was, ‘is the ship the same if every piece of it is replaced?’ The conclusion White Vision came to was yes and no. It appears the same but no longer contains any piece of what it once was. With this logic, Westview Vision helped him see that both of them, and neither of them, are the true Vision. White Vision because he is made up of the old Vision but contains none of his memories, and Westview Vision because he contains many of Vision’s original traits without being made up of the original Vision at all. After this conversation, Westview Vision revealed that White Vision’s suppressed memories could be returned. He gave all of the original Vision’s memories back to White Vision, who left in a hurry immediately after they were returned to him. With his memories back, many are hopeful that White Vision will become, at least partially, the Vision we know and love once again. However, it’s worth pointing out that White Vision does have Vision’s memories in the comics. He simply can’t feel emotion. We could be dealing with the same problem here. If we are, I hope it’s a solvable one. I can’t say emotionless characters are very compelling.

Monica Rambeau and her team: Monica was locked up in a room for the first half of this episode, but when she emerged, she definitely kicked some ass. She saved Wanda’s children from some SWORD agents and helped them take out all the other SWORD agents. We even got to see her turn into pure energy which was a cool effect. She formed a very adorable bond with Wanda’ children during the battle. She also formed a friendship with Wanda. She expressed appreciation for everything Wanda had to let go of to fully free Westview and even confessed that, given the chance to bring her mother back to life, she would have done the same thing Wanda did. Which anyone who has experienced that kind of loss can agree with. In an end credits scene a Skrull revealed herself to Monica in the hopes of recruiting Monica to whatever project Nick Fury’s been working on. Monica has proved herself to be an extremely likable character and I’m excited to see Marvel already laying down plans for her involvement in the MCU in the future. Monica’s team didn’t get much screen time, but I still enjoyed seeing them. Jimmy Woo was awesome in this episode. He threw out some confident threats to Hayward, got out of a pair of handcuffs, and started leading a new group of SWORD agents by the end of it all. Darcy, to her credit, drove the giant truck she’s been in for two episodes right into Hayward’s car and successfully arranged his arrest. I wish I could have seen more of these two, but I was happy to see them all the same.

What I Didn’t Like:

Ralph Bohner: Let’s be honest, no one liked this reveal. I was one of those people who thought that Evan Peters’ involvement didn’t necessarily mean he was an X-Men tie-in, but I definitely hoped he was. Turns out he was just a set up for a bad dick joke. You can’t help but feel that Marvel did everyone a bit dirty with this reveal. They got all of the fans excited with the casting of Evan Peters only to ultimately troll all of us in the end. I understand that casting him allowed audiences to trust him and be suspicious of his presence at the same time, but they couldn’t have been oblivious to the fact that using Evan Peters meant that, if he was playing anyone else other than X-Men’s Quicksilver, fans weren’t going to be happy. This was just a bad move overall.

Agatha Harkness: This is a major character to put in the dislike section, but I really didn’t like what they did with this character. Kathryn Hahn made this character fun to watch, but the writing made her entirely uninteresting. The MCU is notorious for having many villains with no motivation other than to be evil. Agatha Harkness joins this list. Her motivations were simply to become more powerful by absorbing Wanda’s power, though why she wants this power is unclear. All we got for her backstory was her killing her coven and her mother by absorbing their powers, and being pretty ok with it all afterwards. She also didn’t serve the plot at all. As I said before “Agatha all along” was a bit of stretch. She mainly caused inconveniences. The most evil thing she did was kill a dog, which is messed up but not very plot relevant. Otherwise, Wanda was behind everything and Agatha was only there to lead Wanda through flashback sequences. In the comics Agatha Harkness isn’t even a villain. She’s Wanda’s mentor. Reducing her to what she was in the show is frustrating.

Overall, this finale was really good. I sobbed when Westview Vision died. I was fully satisfied with Wanda’s character arc. The show surprised me with how well they were able to keep one of their major female superheroes a hero and keep Vision alive, while still alerting us that changes have been made. I’m now very excited to see where they take the characters of Wanda and Monica next. I’m also very ready for the next Doctor Strange film, which is a bit of an issue because it won’t be out until next year. I guess it gives me an excuse to binge this series next year before the Doctor Strange movie is released! I’m sad that this series won’t be coming out every week anymore, but I’m equally eager to see the other Marvel shows Disney+ has cued up! I will absolutely keep reviewing those in the future!

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

Theme Parks: Efteling

Image of the entrance to Efteling Park in the Netherlands. Copyright goes to Efteling.

Hi! It’s Annie!

Being stuck inside has made me think about all of the places I would like to go to more than ever. If you’ve been on this blog for a while, you’ll know that my sister and I have talked about Disney theme parks before. But, obviously, Disney is not the be-all-end-all of theme parks. This image is of Efteling park in the Netherlands. An independent fantasy park that I am absolutely dying to go to. Not just because it’s a theme park, but because of how beautiful it is not just in theming but with nature as well. The creator of Efteling park was pretty passionate about keeping the nature inside the park, so actually did very little to clear the trees and instead planned the entire park around the nature the area already had. This only serves to make this fantasy park even more immersive. Here are all the reasons you also probably want to go to Efteling without realizing that you do… and some reasons why you may not want to go.

Fairytale Forest:

The fairytale forest is one of the most advertised parts of the park, and rightly so. This is what started out the park and is what the park has since expanded on. The fairytale forest contains several portrayals of original fairytales using adorable cottages planted within the greenery. Here you’ll find everything from Snow White to Rapunzel to Pinocchio with several other fairytales that you might also not be familiar with. But when I say original fairytales, I really mean original. I’m talking about the version of Cinderella where people’s eyes get pecked out and her step sisters cut off parts of their feet. Or the version of the Little Mermaid where she turns to seafoam at the end. Do not expect these fairytales to be all happy like Disney. But still, the fairytale forest has a magic to it and also has much to explore. Many people say that it’s impossible to see it all in one day and it’s almost like a hike within the park. They really do go for that immersion factor here.

Dream Flight:

Dream Flight is almost like ‘It’s a Small World’ in the way that they’re showcasing different animatronics. But if it was a thousand times better with less creepy animatronics, no annoying song, and if you were flying through it. The line is just as gorgeous as the ride itself and the ride depicts several different fairies doing different activities. It seriously reminds me of the work of Brian Froud if you’re familiar with him. Brian Froud is most known for working with Jim Henson specifically on the movie ‘Labyrinth’ starring David Bowie. So much in this park has Brian Froud vibes, but this is the one thing in the park in particular that is overflowing with them. This is like being flown into a little fantasy world that you get to observe from above. It’s absolutely beautiful.

Baron 1898:

This is actually one of the more recent additions to the park and one that I will never be able to get over. Baron 1898 is a steampunk themed dive coaster with it’s own backstory. You can even find themed story videos that Efteling created for the roller coaster online, though they are in Dutch. This coaster follows the story of Gustave Hooghmoed, a baron who discovered a nearby cave contained gold. Before he could disturb the cave he was visited by a spirit who warned him that if he disturbed the gold he would be cursed for the rest of his life. Of course, he doesn’t listen. As you are about to go down into the mine to retrieve some treasure for Gustave, you are attacked by vengeful spirits known as the White Ladies. Basically they are terrifying screaming spirits of women. These spirits are actually known for being like sirens, so they’re also most known for they’re beautiful singing. Singing that becomes more horrifying than beautiful as your ride the coaster. But still gorgeous; I listen to the soundtrack for this ride so much. Of course, it is a dive coaster so it’s known for it’s steep drop.

Symbolica:

Just because Disney doesn’t have a ride inside their castle doesn’t mean that a different park wouldn’t realize how badass that could be. Symbolica follows the jester mascot of Efteling as he uses his magic to send guests on a journey through the castle. This includes magically separating stairwells that you walk through before you even get on the ride, an observatory that looks like it’s straight out of ‘The Dark Crystal’ (welcome back Mr. Froud), and several other magical effects along the way. One of the best parts about this ride is that it’s interactive. First you get to choose if you want to take the music tour, the hero’s tour, or the treasure tour. Throughout the ride the screen in front of you may light up where you can choose glowing orbs to prompt things around you in the ride to happen. This ride is also trackless, which makes the experience smoother and even more mystical feeling.

Racism Controversy:

As I am covering the amazing parts of this park, I also should mention that there’s one blatant blemish in the park. Racist statues. Many of the racist statues have been removed since the original opening of the park. These were there depicting very old sentiments in a carnival setting. It’s still seriously wrong and removing them isn’t any excuse for them having been there in the first place. Though all of them have been taken down, one of the most racist parts of the park still remains intact. This is a ride called Monsieur Cannibale, a ride depicting a children’s story in the form of a song. The ride has a large racist statue in the middle of this teacups style ride, depicting a racist caricature as the cannibal. And that isn’t all. The song is in French, but it is not a song or story for kids as the story is actually very sexual in nature. Why the park is refusing to take this ride out is beyond me, but I can’t in good conscience recommend this park without noting something so harmful.

Efteling is an absolutely gorgeous immersive park with an amazing art style. I didn’t even mention all of the rides and attractions; like a haunted house, an optical illusion ride, a water show, and a medieval style show with knights and sword fighting. The fact that the creator of Efteling was an environmentalist and kept much of the nature intact is also admirable. But I, once again, have to talk about the immersion factor. Not many theme parks other than Disney related ones work to keep their guests fully immersed in an entirely different world no matter where they go in the park. That includes the lines being amazing and fun to walk through and greenery hiding the outside world. Efteling is the best park that I’ve seen that does this other than Disneyland. I would claim it is close to a perfect park, but it will never be that until they remove that massive blemish. It makes me want to vomit just thinking about it. But hopefully they’ll listen to others and do away with their racist imagery soon. If you want more information, I highly recommend Mo Mo O Brien’s video on this park on Youtube. It is absolute perfection.

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie