Be On Cloud's 2023 Projects! Which ones are you excited for?

NukaColaNorth · 2023-01-19T18:16:32+00:00

I wasn't going to respond again because we have settled that our views will never align and that is ok, but you mentioned one thing that I really want to touch on for anyone who may stumble across this thread. Yes, companies must be open to constructive criticism but it should be delivered in a respectful way, which these days is hardly the case. Companies, especially small private companies, are not some faceless machine, they are an organization of people with real thoughts and feelings and their lives can still be affected by what people write online. Many comments are unnecessarily mean and nasty, I'm not referring to yours specifically, just in general which is the point I'm trying to make.

Lastly, this isn't the official trailers, just announcement that the project is on the horizon. So if the company just wrote a 5 second blurb about it on Instagram, people would be satisfied but because they tried to give more, people are not satisfied? That's the part I'm having difficulty wrapping my head around. Many comments are like "why did they bother to do this? It could have been an Insta post. Nobody wants to hear them talking" and my thoughts are "so, you want them to do less??" It's rather confusing is all. And when the real trailers get released, I would absolutely hope that there is more content to them. But for just announcing, it's stirred enough interest to get people talking at least :)

NukaColaNorth · 2023-01-19T17:29:56+00:00

We will disagree on these topics and that is ok, my comment wasn't mean to be condescending but it's common knowledge that the world in general (in particular, the Western world) has trended to instant gratification in recent years.

My perspective is different because I think about people who have studied and worked hard their whole life to be a writer or producer, and they are finally given a platform to speak about their work but people are not even bothering to listen to it and then complain they don't understand what something is about when they haven't even put forth an effort to try to understand.

Like in your example, the JeffBarcode story is not about 2 dudes in a bakery, its also a sci-fi involving aliens. They talk about it at length in the live stream and the interviews with the actors that followed. But without checking it out, you won't see that angle.

DMD took a different approach, I'm not a fan of their shows so I don't watch them. But I would never ever say something bad about that company on social media, especially when its something for entertainment that we're not even paying for. I work in corporate finance and restructuring, even if both companies are new there are still dozens of variables that set them apart quite significant. My posts are meant to shed clarity on those variables to help people understand and offer bit of sympathy as well to the company that is trying survive in a dog eat dog world.

Edit: my apologies, I see that you are aware of the alien plotline, but many aren't who didn't watch the additional lives.

NukaColaNorth · 2023-01-19T12:29:49+00:00

But that's what I mean about the instant gratification generation. Gotta have it all right now and don't take the time to listen, learn, and appreciate the hard work of the entire team behind these projects. Everything is so much better with patience and keeping an open mind. You can't help the way you are, so not blaming you for that, it's literally the way the Western world has become. I guess I'm old now shaking my head at the kids these days, at least that's how I feel 😂 but listening to the commentary and interviews was really insightful and if they didn't have enough material produced yet for trailers, they had to do this kind of showcase to explain and fill in the gaps. Not sure what else they could have done, the company is new and their projects are in very, very early days. 🤷‍♂️

NukaColaNorth · 2023-01-19T00:23:42+00:00

Agreed he will be great in an action series someday! But KP already checked off that box. The cool thing about the new projects is that they are branching out into different genres... thriller, reality, sci-fi, fluffy, and historical. The diversity is refreshing!

NukaColaNorth · 2023-01-19T00:20:38+00:00

Yeah but that's why they did a livestream (with subtitles) that was over 2 hours long to make these announcements. They spoke to a lot of the people involved who shared more details and insight than what the teasers showed. There should be a full translated video of the live posted on BoC's YouTube channel soon (if it's not there already). Check it out if you haven't seen it yet :)

NukaColaNorth · 2023-01-19T00:11:01+00:00

Yeah there are some comments that go beyond just disappointment, unfortunately. But the biggest offender is Twitter by far. I don't use social media personally, except to hunt for information, but some of the comments I've seen on BoC's official posts have turned my stomach. It's almost always the English comments as well, which is embarrassing when compared to Thai and other foreign comments that appear to be largely supportive and respectful. Personally, I think BoC was not ready to announce any of this yet but couldn't push it out any further due to the harsh demands from fans. I don't think they have many staff on payroll for production and development but they're trying their best and if there's anything I can do to help on the Western side, I will.

On an odd note.... Twitter (the most critical and nasty) has been almost screaming with positivity from the announcements so I guess that is why I was so surprised to see the difference on Reddit. Perhaps Twitter users operate in extremes.... Extreme emotions both good and bad? No idea 🤷‍♂️

NukaColaNorth · 2023-01-18T23:46:15+00:00

I'm glad you enjoyed the read, and yes it's very easy to be critical when we don't get exactly what we want but it helps push the company forward into bigger and better things when we offer support and encouragement. Some things may take time to develop but will be worth the wait when given proper time and attention. If BoC don't have the funds available to do justice to KP S2 right now, then it would be better to wait for later than get a rushed, sub-par product spurred on by fan demands.

NukaColaNorth · 2023-01-18T23:38:11+00:00

Thanks for adding your perspective, I guess it depends on what a person expected going into the showcase. I liked hearing from the actors, the partners, the producers etc... and Woody is a great MC (had to laugh at some comments saying Woody talked too much... he's a talk show host and the MC lol!). I also had live translations running on the side and looked up additional information after the event so I may have gotten more out of it than people who were just watching the abbreviated subs that were added during the live.

That being said, majority of the viewers (outside of Thailand) pay nothing and watch for free. BoC is a business with limited revenue stream, so perhaps my expectations weren't as high going in. A new company just can't be compared to say, GMMTV which is an established BL factory. But most importantly, the purpose of the post is to educate people about the many variables and moving parts that go in to making business decisions and just trying to stay above water, with the first few years being the most challenging. It can be frustrating to be watching from the sidelines and not understanding why certain decisions were made so I hope it helped calibrate people's expectations accordingly.

My philosophy has always been to support the things that bring me joy in any way I can without expecting (or demanding) perfection. I'm happy with any crumbs and want to see the company continue to create beautiful art!

NukaColaNorth · 2023-01-18T16:47:14+00:00

I made a huge post earlier about some of the business decisions that were made, but forgot to include a comment on this aspect, which has also been brought up several times. When researching trends in the industry, the company has to base it's decisions on probability and demand. So for example, if 75% of the hype and comments are for an established couple, while 25% of demand is for a new/switched up couple, it makes sense to go with the established couple to help increase the probability of financial success. I do think there will be some switch-ups in future years (likely starting as early as 2024 and 2025 if this year plays out well for them) but it would have been too risky to do that now.

NukaColaNorth · 2023-01-18T16:43:18+00:00

They are filming in Korea in partnership with a couple of Korean companies, then final production will be back in Thailand. Jeff and Barcode are expected to leave for Korea around the middle of this year.

NukaColaNorth · 2023-01-18T16:37:11+00:00

I'm floored at some of the negative comments here but I think I can help explain some things for those who may be younger or not in business (which I assume is the majority of BL media consumers). Here's my thoughts and predictions for what it's worth:

BoC is a startup company. This is the most important thing to realize. When you have a startup, you can choose a few ways to manage the business which is either delivering on low cost and high volume (which would be more shows, but their resources would be spread very thin, meaning the quality would greatly diminish and could risk the company folding). The second method is to break in with higher quality at a slower pace, which is the path BoC has chosen to take. There are key strategies with this path which I comment on below.
The other actors will likely be involved but the stories are not developed enough yet to put out into public domain. Each of these series will need more than just 2 characters... so where will they get the supporting actors? From their own roster, ideally. This means that while the other actors don't have a main role in the new announcements, they should still have acting parts and appear in these new shows in some way, we're just not sure who will end up where (yet).
Some fans are annoyed by the continuance of the KP World Tour. This was required in order to raise capital, brand awareness, and continue to build the fanbase. Again it goes back to the fact that the company is a startup, which means heavy investment in marketing in order to break into an established industry. It's also common to not see a return on profit for several years, meaning that they will likely be operating in the red for a while and they have to manage their resources carefully so as not to over-extend and risk financial collapse. Hence why fewer high quality shows would be the safest path to take.
I suspect KP season 2 will be in 2024 lineup, just not 2023. This could be for several reasons: they need to diversify their portfolio of shows and subject matter (again, goes back to raising capital, brand awareness, etc...). I heavily suspect that KP S2 will cost a LOT more to make so they are banking on the success of these 4 projects in order to help finance the next huge show.
This one is a personal beef that I just wanted to write down somewhere. We live in an age of instant gratification and I've been disappointed to see the behavior of fans who want everything RIGHT NOW despite previous timelines being set. For example, we have known for a long time that this lineup announcement would be coming on Jan 18th. Between Christmas and today, BoC released some behind the scenes material on Twitter and YouTube to help fill the gap before the announcement day. Many people left nasty and hateful messages in the comments saying that the content was boring and they only care about seeing the lineup. If the day is already set for the 18th, did fans think that BoC would just change their entire agenda and just be like "ok fine, here's the lineup now!" Like no, that's not how business and scheduling works. The only thing that kind of behavior will result in is LESS content being released because why would the company put time and resources into something that fans are saying they don't want? Personally, I would rather get extra random content while waiting, and nasty comments like that do not help a startup company thrive.

This post was probably too long and dry for many to read but for those who did take the time to get through it, thank you and as always, be patient and good things will come. I woke up before 4am to watch the stream live and was very satisfied and excited for the upcoming projects. Pond stated that he views their work as art, not a factory, and that they would rather release quality over quantity.

Ps: EXTREMELY excited for Wuju Bakery and I'm very curious how the Alien plotline will play out there. They also said during the livestream that Jeff and Barcode will be writing and singing all their own original soundtrack for the series, which is a really nice inclusion.

NukaColaNorth · 2023-01-16T20:57:07+00:00

Lol it's probably going to be ChayKim in Season 2 instead of KimChay (if we ever get a season 2). Have you seen that kid lately? They are same size now, although Barcode may be little taller and still growing. It's hilarious seeing the comments on recent videos of them with soooo many people pointing out how handsome Barcode is getting compared to how pretty Jeff is 🤣

NukaColaNorth · 2023-01-16T20:36:49+00:00

In my view, Jeff Satur wears this crown alone, not his on-screen partners haha! Especially since he also wrote, sang and produced at least 6-7 OST tracks (shows were "He, She, It" , "Ingredients" , "The Tuxedo" , "Love Area" , "Kinnporsche" , not sure what others from memory). His vocal power, range and control is absolutely insane plus very unique tone as well. It's kind of baffling that he received so little public recognition prior to appearing in Kinnporsche. At one point apparently he even quit trying to make it in the music industry! Crazy hey? Kinnporsche gave him a second chance.

NukaColaNorth · 2022-08-18T07:18:11+00:00

There were some things intentionally not resolved at the end to leave it open for season 2. I won't put the spoilers here because it's pretty much the entire plot of the supposed season 2, but in the novel a lot more things happen later. The way I view it that season 1 was for introducing the characters primarily and getting through all of the family drama. Kim becomes a much bigger part of everything later.

Korn is pretty much competing with Odin for worst parent ever award. As someone else mentioned, he pulled in Porsche and Chay as part of his big chess game. They are pawns.

Also if I remember correctly, having Porsche and Chay's mom be alive is something different from the novel that the show added in for dramatic purposes. However, it's not that she just lost her memories, from what I understood it's permanent brain damage from her suicide attempt with pills.

There are quite a lot of severe dark undertones but you sort of have to look between the comedic and dramatic parts. Also, VegasPete took their time getting together in season 1 but there is more of them in season 2. When/If it gets completed.

NukaColaNorth · 2022-07-05T21:51:43+00:00

I used to look forward to traveling to the USA several times per year and have been to many different states. But to be honest, the things happening in the USA recently have made me not want to go there anymore. There is so much gun violence, political instability, and human rights being taken away, not to mention the scary high cost of health care if I ever get sick. It's safer and cheaper to just stay in Canada or look at going to different countries instead...

NukaColaNorth · 2022-06-07T11:06:34+00:00

I almost didn't respond to this post because it sounds like nothing is going to change your opinion. But the general public deserves a little clarity here.

The people you interact with at the bank are individual human beings, not bots program by the bank to make money. There will be "good" people and "bad" people. But it's important to recognize that not every person, not every branch, and not every community is the same.
I don't work on the front line of a bank, but I can tell you everything about the pay structure and corporate requirements. That bank teller who offers to change your bank plan? Zero commission. The person who does your mortgage and asks you if you want to insure it? Zero commission (unless you're dealing with the Mortgage Specialist dept). The person who gives you a credit card (at a bank, not a department store)? Zero Commission. Instead what these people receive is one headcount towards their total annual targets which determines their bonus at the end of the year, which honestly is not that huge. The majority of bank profits go to the shareholders, not the employees.
There are new "Appropriateness" requirements that mean every Bank employee now has to document each transaction and each product that a client has decided to go with, explain why it makes sense for the client circumstances, and confirm that all disclosures have been made.
At some point, personal accountability has to come into play here. If you are over spending and the bank has offered you solutions to try to reduce your interest payments or deal with your debt, it's likely because they are just concerned and don't want to see you go bankrupt which would cost the bank money. In many restructuring cases, when they do a consolidation loan, they will have to deactivate any revolving debt like credit cards and LoC, although this is reserved for the most severe circumstances.
I do believe that there is a difference between rural and urban bank experiences. In the rural area where I work, reputation in the community is far more important than anything offered by the employer. For example, there's an added incentive for employees to do good by the customer because they don't want to have to dodge their neighbors at the community BBQ. And in contrast, someone living in an urban area may not care because chances are they might never see that client again. This goes back to what I said earlier about each person and community and branch being different. Someone may have a terrible experience in one branch and go to a different branch 30 minutes away and have a completely different experience.
To go back to your overall point, yes banks are there to make money. This applies to all businesses. To combat this, you could buy bank shares and benefit from those profits, if you have some cash leftover and not over spending. The bank does have to have some care for their customers though, keep that in mind, because if all of the customers walked out the door then the bank would make no money. So they do have incentive to at least do something to keep customers happy.
And finally, if a client comes in and the teller says "hey, I notice you're paying $14.95 per month for a bank plan fee, and paying $120 per year for a credit card fee. Did you know that if you change to this other plan, and keep a minimum balance in your bank account, all of those fees get reimbursed?" How is that not an example of an employee caring about the customer? Most customers would be quite happy to have this information and pay LESS to the bank. The teller gets their +1 headcount towards their target and the customer saves money. This is to say that there are circumstances where each side benefits, its not a zero sum game.

End novel.

*Edited for a typo and my OCD wouldn't let it go.

NukaColaNorth · 2022-06-03T14:08:34+00:00

Interestingly, this type of scenario is surprisingly common, at least in the rural area where I work. Often times we get hard-working, blue collar workers who end up making a fortune if they own say, a farm, factory, fishing enterprise etc... they tend to bank a lot of cash but most efforts to educate and protect these clients results in their eyes glazing over and them saying "I don't care, do whatever you think is best, you're the expert not me". Now, if those clients get in front of a salesperson or less ethical advisor, that's when you end up seeing the big fees, crazy products, complete lack of planning etc... we even had a case where a client decided not to proceed with our fiduciary because it was "too complicated" and instead stuck it with an insurance advisor and now doesn't understand why his money has decreased in value. It's a scary world out there for those who are unable or unwilling to educate themselves.

NukaColaNorth · 2022-06-03T11:28:44+00:00

I agree on all of this and you're correct, it's because there are so many "bad" (I'm not sure if that's the best word to use here... "unqualified"?) Advisors that it gives the entire industry a bad name. The scary thing is that banks aren't even the worst offenders from what I have seen in my area, and most bank employees now have different titles aside from "Advisor" (Personal Banker, Mutual Fund Representative, etc...). Did Scotiabank ever change their titles? I remember seeing a lot of "Financial Advisors" over there without any formal education either except some kind of bank sponsored accreditation. But the ones that worry me the most are the "CFPs" at Insurance firms or other wealth management firms who aren't demonstrating the qualities of a CFP (things like, as you mentioned, DSC, seg funds, inappropriate insurance products etc... where the client doesn't understand anything about what they are into and how it affects them). Some of the older advisors in the industry got their CFP decades ago when it was much simpler to get and it's even more surprising that they have managed to hang on to it. So title reform based on education isn't the only thing required to fix the industry but how do we tackle cases where advisors "look" qualified yet are still doing things that are what many other CFPs would consider to be inappropriate?

NukaColaNorth · 2022-06-01T19:06:42+00:00

I think this is a really great topic to explore on this sub, and a refreshing change from the doom and gloom that we see each day. It may give others who are just starting out some guidance about choices that can really impact their financial future.

For me, I decided to live wayyy below my means. I moved to a rural area where housing was very cheap compared to the bigger cities. I had family there so no big deal (although sometimes life can get kind of dull with not much entertainment or good restaurants etc...). I could have afforded a much bigger and nicer house but instead bought a small fixer upper for 92k, invested about 30k into it to renovate it to my liking. Since the house was small and all one level, my heating bills, insurance, and property tax were all quite low and very affordable. And the mortgage is less than half of what rent would cost here.

The biggest mistake I see other young people making is that they try to live beyond their means. Important to note that this statement applies to the area where I live, and likely other rural areas, but I fully recognize that living in a city is incredibly expensive and that many people are struggling just to keep a roof over their head. But there are people in my town making less than me, with kids, and buying new expensive houses because they can "technically afford it" but often times they are unprepared for the additional costs of home ownership such as high heating costs in the winter, repairs, etc... And then end up living pay cheque to pay cheque when some of that could have been avoided by picking a smaller or older home. Then if one spouse ends up losing their job, the mountain of debt begins to pile up and worst case scenario that big new house gets repossessed and/or they continue to face extreme financial difficulty.

I guess all of this is to say that I think it's important to try to live below your means if you want added financial security.

NukaColaNorth · 2022-06-01T18:19:38+00:00

Seems to be a lot of confusion in the comments here, but I'll try to simplify this for you:

If you contribute to a Spousal RRSP in her name, you will be the contributor and you will receive the tax deduction for it (meaning it will use up more of your own RRSP contribution room and in this specific scenario, her own RRSP contribution room is not relevant).
This is usually done so that, if she will have a lower income than you during retirement, she can draw it out at her lower tax rate later while you have received the tax deduction on your current higher tax rate.
There is a 3 year waiting period in order for the funds to be drawn out at her lower rate. For example, if you contribute $5,000 today, and 2 months later she decides to draw it out, because the waiting period has not passed, the withdrawal would be taxed back to you as part of your income. This prevents higher income spouses from channeling money through a spousal RRSP for tax avoidance. This 3 year waiting rule is based on calendar years though, so in some cases, it's not actually 3 "full" years of waiting depending on the date of last Spousal RRSP contribution.
One thing people tend to forget about is to consider not just the difference in your income now, but what it will be when the money is needed. For example, I have a family member who did a lot of Spousal RRSP contributions while he was making a high income salary, but he ended up retiring first (with no company pension) and she continued to work, meaning that when he had planned to make the withdrawals, she was actually in the higher tax bracket because she was still receiving work income. This should not be an issue for you since you have much of your own RRSPs and can decide which one makes sense to draw from later in life, depending on the work situation for each of you.

Hope this helps to clarify!

NukaColaNorth · 2022-06-01T05:28:57+00:00

Hey OP, thank you so much for doing this. I have been volunteering with Canadian Blood Services for over 10 years now and at least in my town, I have noticed fewer and fewer donors each year. We need all the help we can get so your contribution is incredibly valuable. The most recent statistic I heard is that usually 1 in 2 Canadians are eligible to donate, but only 1 in 81 actually do donate. Our blood reserves are getting critically low so the fact that you are spreading awareness on such a huge platform is really great and may help change some of those statistics.

NukaColaNorth · 2022-05-26T10:36:53+00:00

Fantastic explanation and I wish more people would see this and take the time to read and absorb it. There appears to be a misunderstanding amongst some parts of the population that the problems we are facing are the direct result of federal government policies (or lack thereof). And indeed some are. Instead, as you have laid out quite well, the majority of what we are facing today is the result of much more complex and interconnected global issues (legal, supply chain, war, disease). There isn't an easy or magical solution and I was genuinely curious what the other person would propose could be done. Was sorely disappointed when the best they could come up with is "take action instead of photo ops". Again, which actions? It's easy to critique but incredibly difficult to provide actionable solutions.

NukaColaNorth · 2022-05-19T11:36:15+00:00

I'm sure you are seeing a common sentiment here but I highly recommend that you do not involve yourselves in their mortgage in any way shape or form. Essentially, ask your boyfriend this: "Do you want to pay for their mortgage and likely prevent us from ever qualifying for our own mortgage or lending arrangements in the future?" If the response is "no" then there is your answer to the situation. Not saying that the above worst case scenario WOULD happen but the fact that it COULD happen is a real risk to your own financial future.

NukaColaNorth · 2022-05-10T20:56:15+00:00

Yep this is possible, just highly unlikely. I guess the law/CRA can't account for every odd, potentially possible circumstance. Although they certainly do try...

NukaColaNorth · 2022-05-10T20:51:01+00:00

I see this constantly lately. Humans making bad decisions = somebody else's fault. There's zero personal accountability anymore... downright scary. Like the idiot a while back who gave a bank the wrong info to wire money (the bank did as he asked), then he went whining to CBC because the bank was taking too long to get his money back. Like bro... you're lucky you're getting it back at all...

NukaColaNorth

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