KatWay

BTS kind of unexpectedly exploded in the US (in terms of what a K-Pop group could achieve), and a lot of other K-Pop companies followed suit to specifically market their groups at the US market as well. Blackpink seems to have the most success on that front, they were signed with Interscope, got a Dua Lipa collab and are now going to be at Coachella. They also had a Billboard cover, though apparently they only charted at 40? on the albums chart last year, so I think they're getting a strong push here. Their US tour hasn't sold out from what I can see, so I guess they're not as popular as BTS, but as a girl group I'm assuming they have a much better chance to get casual viewers and listeners, so they might have a shot. BTS are probably gonna have their third no 1 album on the BB200 bar any surprise releases by sales or streaming heavyweights, so the cover seems deserved.

I hadn't heard of Grant Achatz before the show but now I kinda dislike him cause I thought he obviously tried hard to sway the judges in the finale to reward the IMO least interesting dish (and his fellow American). Nothing against Timothy but I felt like he played it really safe the whole show long, and Shane and Mark were a much more interesting team and took more risks with more pay-off too. The later episodes were definitely wayyy better than the first. I hope we get a second season, I really enjoyed it in the end, even with some room for improvement.

most of Kendall's income doesn't even come from modeling. Plus, she's not rich and famous because she's a model, she became a model because she was already rich and famous...she'd probably make the same amount or even more if she just stuck to being an instagram influencer or entrepreneur like Kylie. Kinda unfair to put her against people who've actually made their fortune with modeling rather than living off their family name and connections.

I thought the first episode seemed really ridiculous and over the top, everything seemed so grandiose and dramatic for no reason. But I stuck with it and am liking it a lot better in ep 4. I wish they showed the cooking more. The chefs are all very likeable and seem super accomplished and the judging so far has been really fair. The bottom three dishes are often more interesting IMO than the previous plates.

I don't remember the book that well, but isn't Wicked more of an example of using an existing idea to build a completely new story? It doesn't really add a tragic backstory to an existing character and goes, see this is why she murders everyone, but rather changes the entire setting of the story where the authorities are actually the bad guys and make her into this villain to have someone to blame. In the musical she didn't actually do the things she's accused of, she's a scapegoat for the government's evil doings. Oz is a society flirting with fascism, etc. Elphaba is never the villain of the story and she's an entirely different character than the original book's Wicked Witch of the West. other than that I agree though, there's nothing innovative about the "same plot again from the perspective of the villain" thing anymore as it's used so often. And especially children's stories villains should just be villains, the end. Those stories aren't meant for big moral questions, there's good and there's evil and good defeats evil, the end.

this should have been at best a trilogy from the start, this entire film felt like it was just setting up plot points for the rest of the series. Everyone was just rushing from one point to another, fought and rushed off again. The stakes felt kind of contrived at points. Why didn't we see Tina react to Queenie switching sides? (which also felt a bit wtf, sure Grindelwald gave the huge speech about all of them being the same but he literally runs around killing muggles whenever he pleases, is Queenie dumb?) Where did that Bunty girl go? the whole plot with the switched Lestrange baby just felt extremely unneeded and just there to stall the big Credence reveal. And the last bit where Grindelwald apparently randomly decides to blow up Paris too - I thought he just told all these followers that he wasn't the violent one, yet two minutes later he's all about destroying the city? It felt shoehorned in just so they could have "must save the world/place/city" type of climax, no stakes whatsoever cause we all knew they'd defeat it. also sorry but Tina remains such a bland non-entity. I want to like her cause the actress does well and gives the character a likeable aura but also she just has nothing to do and seemingly no personality aside from liking Newt's salamander compliment. Leta was way more interesting but of course she died. The brother looks so much younger than Newt I have a hard time buying him as the older one. There was no point to Nicolas Flamel or McGonagall, felt like Hobbit-esque unnecessary easter eggs. I feel like there's a good story in there somewhere but the execution is kind of all over the place.

There's zero evidence that Lupin only hung out with them because he was scared of what would happen if he ditched them...they became animagi when they found out about his affliction, they clearly cared about him. The story of the Marauders at Hogwarts wasn't fleshed out enough to really draw any strong conclusions as to how they always acted. We only saw how they acted towards Snape and that they were popular (James and Sirius at least). We also don't know how the rise of Voldemort was affecting Slytherin vs other houses etc. That's why I think a film/show about this would be very interesting. Sirius also thought Remus was the traitor, during the war. They were all suspicious of each other, due to Peter muddling the waters. Then he, of course, realises it was Pettigrew and...keeps that info to himself, basically forever...Honestly the whole Sirius at Azkaban thing has several plotholes the reader probably shouldn't think about too much lol.

we see that one scene, the only scene we really see of the Marauders, from Snape's perspective as Snape's worst memory. I wouldn't say that's how we should assume they always acted, several characters speak very fondly of them. And wasn't it implied that Snape was trying to figure out Remus'/the Marauders' secret already? I mean, obviously outing him like that was a dick move but we also never really hear how the whole thing went down. I don't want to defend them too much, but I feel like people really run with those two incidents (the second of which is really only Sirius' fault) and portray them as some evil high school bullies, when there's no indication they were actually that terrible. From what we know they grew into adults who tried everything in their power to protect innocent people from death eaters, that's not really the markings of a bunch of sociopaths (aside from Peter, obviously).

eh, I never thought the Marauders were that bad. Kind of like the popular jocks, but not bad people at heart. We shouldn't forget that we see them from Snape's perspective, and yes, they're awful to him but as Lily says when he tries to apologise he's already sympathising with Voldemort and hanging out with "that" crowd at that point. Doesn't excuse the Marauders bullying of him but it makes sense why they dislike him. I actually think it would be very interesting to see a show/film about them. All those kids at Hogwarts bickering and competing in Quidditch matches, and only a few years later, some of them end up fighting each other in battles to the death? It's pretty fascinating. The point where Sirius completely breaks with his family, which isn't just personal due to the circumstances but also about choosing his "side" in the war (does he realise that, at 16? How does he feel about going on to fight his little brother?), when and where Peter grows resentful enough of his friends to lead them to their death, Remus' struggles with keeping his secret, all of that would be really interesting.

Ariana isn't even latina, I doubt they'd go with a white actress for Maria. Hoping for an unknown actress too. Camila Cabello ain't it.

yeah that.

but I mean, Willow was keeping those secrets from Buffy, not Tara, so affirmation from Tara wouldn't have meant as much IMO. Plus it was obviously supposed to be the final bridging of the small rift in Buffy & Willow's friendship, so the scene had to be between them. I think those inferences are a bit of a stretch.

she's one actress where private business has really affected my previously positive opinion of her. Pity cause I used to like her a lot.

and we can call her out on her hypocrisy when she wants points for being woke without actually doing anything in that regard. She can certainly not care, that's her right, but if she claims to care, then it's fair to call her out when her actions don't match her words.

Nagini being an enslaved Asian snake lady probably wouldn't read as bad if there was more than one (two, if you count Cho Chang I guess) character of East Asian descent in these films. And of course JKR's track record with diversity isn't great, like when she pretended Hermione was written as racially ambiguous all along (as if) and yet when she wrote the main characters for FB she somehow again came up with four white ones. Five if you count Credence.