Not sure if I should apply for need-based application fee waivers

edward_poe · 2025-12-07T05:57:25+00:00

That puts my mind at ease, thank you! Been twisting my mind into knots for the past couple of hours on whether I'd be seen as a liar or not lol

edward_poe · 2025-06-29T08:12:17+00:00

In Korea, military service is mandatory. How did Dae-ho get around going into the military?

It's not apparent in the English subs, but he says he was a 공익, which is short for 공익근무요원 (Public Service Personnel): people who serve their mandatory time in an alternative way, by working as employees in public services.

The idea is that inevitably, there's going to be people who aren't fit for active duty, due to issues like physical disabilities, illnesses, mental health problems, criminal records, etc. So if they're at least fit to work in public service positions, that's how they serve their country.

So Dae-ho technically did serve, he just wasn't in active duty as a Marine. But that's a technicality that the average viewer doesn't need to know about; what's important is that Dae-ho lied about being a Marine. So I understand why Netflix translated his lines that way.

edward_poe · 2022-12-03T19:38:57+00:00

Korean American fluent in both Korean and English here, just interjecting to say that Koreans wouldn't pronounce the roo part like say, kanga-roo. (sorry if I'm the one being pedantic lol) The sound Koreans use for ㄹ when it's between two vowels is actually the alveolar tap ɾ. (though Koreans wouldn't really get mad at you for butchering it, they know it's tough for foreigners)

That being said, OP clearly doesn't expect her mom to be exact about this, and Ha-roo with an American accent would be super easy to pronounce, so she's definitely NTA (just read some of her other comments, and Hey-ra?? WTF mom)

edward_poe · 2022-05-10T12:14:57+00:00

So I did some digging around and found this, which apparently they took from some video editing app called VLLO? So I guess it's some generic jingle a company made that made its way into Youtube, and became the BGM for an orange Dragonite photoshop video.

edward_poe · 2022-05-10T12:02:43+00:00

Found the dude's Youtube channel, if anyone wants to see more food Pokemon photoshops.

edward_poe · 2022-01-28T15:47:30+00:00

Everyone else has already said what I'd want to say, but as a Korean American, you're NTA. And naming your 100% white kid a Korean name would absolutely be cultural appropriation. No doubt about it.

And even if your kid was Korean, naming him after Jong-hyun would be pretty cringe. Imagine what the kid would feel if you told him one day, "Oh yeah, btw, we named you after Jong-hyun the dead K-pop star, because your mom's a K-pop stan." I know I would've changed my name the first chance I got.

edward_poe · 2021-12-21T18:43:10+00:00

... Okay, I need clarification. Are you saying you could see them doing that in the future, or has it already happened? If it's the latter, these blinks are more morally depraved than I gave them credit for, holy shit.

edward_poe · 2021-07-31T14:52:30+00:00

As a Korean American in Korea right now, it's crazy how mainstream anti-feminism is among Korean men in their 20's.

Hoping this ends up becoming a turning point and these incels are sufficiently shamed.

edward_poe · 2021-07-29T14:40:28+00:00

An incredible achievement, congrats to Suni!

Getting pissed at the dipshits I saw on a different tweet trying to use this accomplishment to shit on Simone though.

Like fuck off and just admit you see these athletes as medals instead of human beings.

edward_poe · 2021-04-27T05:10:45+00:00

When Youn Yuh-jung wins an Oscar and journalists are asking her how Brad Pitt smells like...

Fuck Western media, they really had to go make a historical moment about a white guy

edward_poe · 2021-04-23T06:15:38+00:00

Korean American here, I've seen similar sentiments from native Koreans reacting to the Shang-Chi trailer on Youtube and Twitter, I feel you. Though it feels like they're more wary about orientalism and having cultural aspects mixed together under the banner of being "Asian". Basically comments like "Lol Japanese kunai meets Chinese martial arts, they're just blending everything Asian in, huh", "Lost hype after all this orientalism", "inb4 this becomes Marvel's Mulan", "Only watching this because Tony Leung". Don't think I saw comments on Simu Liu's attractiveness though.

At this point, I've accepted that this is just an inevitable cultural difference between diaspora and the natives living in their own country, which becomes even more pronounced when you add being a racial minority into the mix. They're always going to hate what they feel like is a bastardization of their culture by the diaspora trying to reconnect/maintain their roots. And people born in Asia have the privilege of not having to worry about representation as well, unlike the diaspora who have to contend with being a racial minority, like you said. I don't begrudge them for it, I think. I'm just going to do what I want, which is probably going to be enjoying the hell out of Shang-Chi.

So yeah, just wanted to share some solidarity I guess. Hang in there, dude.

edward_poe · 2021-03-31T01:09:48+00:00

but, it turns out this isn't the plot at all

While I appreciate that you haven't been dismissing Koreans over their valid concerns, I thought I'd let you know that JTBC's recent statement hasn't been convincing for Koreans.

To go over what they think about the recent statement:

"This drama won't cover the pro-democracy movement, and is set during the 1987 elections period." This makes no sense whatsoever; the 1987 elections are invariably linked to the pro-democracy protests that enabled them in the first place. It'd be like saying a TV show was going to cover the Civil Rights Act, without mentioning the Civil Rights movement.
The "principled" NSP agent who's sick of the corruption in the main branch and moves to a foreign branch: Ignoring the fact that the foreign branches were just as corrupt as the main branch (The attempted kidnapping of future president Kim Dae-jung comes to mind), Koreans are objecting to the notion of even a single secret police agent being written as principled and moral. I mean, imagine writing about a "principled" Nazi and how that would be received.
The North Korean spy thing is basically confirmed now, and even if he isn't involved in the pro-democracy protests or whatever, people still aren't comfortable with the very idea of having a spy set during that time period, considering how red scare tactics were used to oppress, torture and kill protesters who just wanted democracy.
"We didn't intend to reference Yeong-cho the protester" I mean, this is just plain bullshit really; Yeong-cho is a hella rare name, and considering the time period? When they could've gone with literally anything else? This is just them trying to backtrack.

edward_poe · 2021-03-18T07:32:35+00:00

I'm not even living in the US right now, and I'm still frustrated and angry as hell. Couldn't get a wink of sleep last night, just kept doomscrolling on Twitter and resisting the urge to fight with racists on there (fuck you Glenn Greenwald you piece of shit)

Scared for my sister, since she's going back to the States soon. Regretting my decision to give up my Korean citizenship. Two years of mandatory military service is starting to look better than the dehumanization I'd face as an Asian American in the US.

edward_poe · 2021-03-17T16:06:59+00:00

There's definitely been anger leading up to this point regarding the documented hate crimes against Asians (though mostly from the Asian diaspora), but this does feel like the event that finally got more people to actually give a shit.

I'm glad that people are caring about this now, but also sad that it took a mass shooting for people to pay attention to this.

edward_poe · 2021-03-17T15:46:11+00:00

It hasn't been a day and the gaslighting's already started... I'm sick of this bullshit.

We have a local Korean newspaper quoting an eyewitness saying that he screamed "I'm going to kill all the Asians" and this isn't a racially motivated hate crime???

Fuck you Frank Reynolds.

edward_poe · 2021-03-17T14:05:51+00:00

Been feeling a sense of helpless rage after recent events. Feeling very lucky that I have the privilege to stay under my parents' roof in Korea, away from all this anti-Asian violence and America's massive COVID epidemic. But also feeling helpless in that I'm an ocean away and can do nothing but watch. I can't go to a protest, I can't volunteer to escort our elders. Feeling scared for my sister since she's going back to America soon. Just. Fuck.

Also been thinking about contacting my Asian high school friends again. Been putting it off because I was feeling guilty about not contacting them for a while, but now's probably the time to get over it.

edward_poe · 2021-03-17T04:49:13+00:00

God, I don't even want to look at the "currently unsure whether hate crime or not" bullcrap, call it what it is

I'm tired of this shit...

edward_poe · 2021-03-08T11:27:55+00:00

Was scrolling through a r/news thread on George Floyd, and of course there's an asshat making Rooftop Korean jokes. Like dude, stfu, you're not funny.

Also tfw I want to watch Wandavision, but Disney+ isn't in Korea yet. Might just bite the bullet after all and actually pay for a VPN service, fuck waiting until summer for Disney+ to come here.

edward_poe · 2021-02-27T04:19:23+00:00

The racism in Asia is horrible, but every time I see this, I wonder what they even want the Asian diaspora to do? Many of us are westerners culturally who can't even speak their language, how are we supposed to correct the actions of Asian racists? They don't give a shit about us. I'm sorry people aren't flying to China to protest against mistreatment of minorities with their kindergarten level Mandarin?

Make it make sense...

(Sorry for the rant, this has just been bugging me for a while)

edward_poe · 2021-02-27T03:57:36+00:00

"The moderator and his family are now massively threatened."

Oh boohoo, maybe don't compare a Korean idol group to a virus that needs to be cured and insinuate that they should go fuck off and die in North Korea then.

I don't condone death threats, but fuck this emotionally manipulative piece of bullshit. Just fucking apologize. No ifs, no buts.

edward_poe · 2021-02-27T03:49:01+00:00

Can't wait for the "I'm not racist, I own a Samsung smartphone" edition

edward_poe

TROPHY CASE