Squid Game, A Korean drama TV show, has become a viral sensation for Netflix. The show revolves around children’s games played by adults in debt for a chance at a large sum of money. The catch is that those who play risk the chance of being eliminated - which in this case means death. Squid Game was created by Hwang Dong-Hyuk who finished working on the script in 2009. Around that time, many production companies turned down his script because they felt it was too grotesque and unrealistic. Nonetheless, Netflix took a chance on this TV show. Already, it has broken numerous Netflix records and is on track to become their greatest hit in terms of hours watched and the number of subscribers who tuned in to the show. Minyoung Kim, the Vice president of Netflix’s creative activities in the Asia-Pacific Region, stated, “We’ve never seen anything grow as fast and aggressive as Squid Game.” “It’s still trending up.” Between 2015-2020, Netflix placed a huge bet on South Korean content by investing roughly $700 million. In 2021, they plan to spend around $500 million. This investment into Asian content/entertainment is a huge step for Asian representation in the entertainment industry. Already, we have seen several Asian movies that have reached global/US recognition such as Parasite, Train to Busan, Crazy Rich Asians, and Shang-Chi. Squid Game has become the first show in South Korea to hit Netflix’s top spot both in the United States and globally. I highly recommend this show and everyone I talked to would agree as well. The show is well-paced, and you are certain to get attached to the characters. Get ready for plot twists, heart-breaking moments, and a surprise ending. Also, watching the show with the original Korean voice acting with English subtitles is the best way to watch it in order to capture the genuine feelings of the actors instead of the cringe, English dubbed version. I’m excited for more Asian TV shows or movies to hit Netflix or the theater in the future. https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/02/entertainment/squid-game-netflix-series/index.html https://www.wsj.com/articles/netflixs-squid-game-is-the-dystopian-hit-no-one-wanteduntil-everyone-did-11633183200 https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-54847403
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After a military investigation, the United States admitted that a drone strike in Kabul killed 10 innocent people in August. Days before the military withdrawal, the United States military conducted a drone strike after the terror attack at the Kabul airport, in an attempt to smoke out ISIS-K militants. The US intelligence had tracked an aid worker’s car, believing that it was the same one they had seen at an ISIS-K compound. However, it turned out to be the wrong vehicle and they instead killed 10 civilians. The top general of the US Central Command Frank Mckenzie stated, “We didn’t take the strike because we thought we were wrong - we took the strike because we thought we had a good target”. The aid worker as well as nine members of his family (7 children) were killed in the strike that occurred on August 29. The United States used a surveillance drone to survey the car, and they found a group of men loading explosives into the car but it turned out to be containers of water. General Mckenzie added that the strike was a “tragic mistake” and offered an apology. US officials stated that the explosion set off a secondary blast which was evidence that it was carrying explosives. However, the investigation later stated that the most likely cause was the propane tank left in the driveway. Most of the victims had worked for international organizations or held visas allowing them entry into the United States. The investigation found no connection between the aid worker and ISIS-K. After the Biden administration’s withdrawal from Kabul and the airport crisis, this drone strike certainly won’t help Biden’s approval ratings. FiveThirteyEight created a graph that calculated all of the polls of the President’s approval rating taking into account quality, recency, sample size, and partisan lean and found that 48.9% of people disapprove of Joe Biden. The United States needs to take more accountability by investigating everyone involved in the incident and should prosecute those involved in a fair trial. A drone strike like this shouldn’t be happening, and the United States must learn from their past mistakes. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-58604655 https://www.npr.org/2021/09/21/1039393832/a-u-s-strike-recently-killed-afghan-civilians-but-its-far-from-the-first-time https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/17/politics/kabul-drone-strike-us-military-intl-hnk/index.html https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/biden-approval-rating/ |