by Stacey Nguyen
Northwest Asia Weekly
Happy Pride Month! In this column, I spontaneously decided to stop giving Netflix my money because I suddenly realized how much they were taking from me every month. I’m also a little too picky about a handsome guy who is trying to achieve his dreams. However, this may not be new, is it?
Netflix desperately needs viewers and announces the return of “Squid Games”!
Guys, Netflix isn’t doing well. I don’t know anything about how money, the economy, or stocks work, so I can’t tell you exactly what’s going on. All I know is that after years of prosperity, Netflix recently announced a $50 billion loss after killing off former video giant Blockbuster. Netflix says its victims (its subscribers) share too many passwords. Netflix also said it lost so many subscribers by doing the right thing by pulling out of Russia during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Netflix reminded me that it raised prices repeatedly for a fairly short period of time. Netflix reminds me that its algorithms are so opaque that subscribers never know the numbers or the real reason why certain shows were canceled. Netflix has promised its shareholders that it will right the ship by cracking down on password sharing and improving the quality of its programming.
Apparently, one of its moves is announcing that it’s bringing “The Squid Game” back for another season. The Squid Game, created by director and writer Hwang Dong-hyuk, is Netflix’s biggest release ever.
The move makes perfect sense. If I’m bleeding, I’ll hold on to my golden goose too.
However, let’s not forget how much Netflix seems to have paid Shao Huang for the first season of “The Squid Game” and how coy Netflix has been renewing the show for the longest time when it comes to renewing bullshit like Lucifer.
While Hwang is supposed to finish his dream season 2, I need to think about canceling my Netflix subscription – just like the real thing, y’all. After reading everything I wrote about this column, I found that Netflix is a bit of a big jerk! And I refuse to be in an abusive relationship so we have to break up. Also, Netflix is the most expensive streamer at $15.49 per month! for what! for what! Ryan Reynolds’ action movies don’t make sense in terms of plot? no, thank you!
‘Iron Chef: The Search for Iron Legends’ has an oddly repetitive title, but Alton Brown is still the host!
The original Japanese “Iron Chef” series was one of my favorite things to watch when I was in college. I watched it through a satellite dish on the food network and had to fight the static occasionally because I think my parents were pirating the cable, so we technically don’t have legal access to the food network.
The American version of the show never quite captured the savage magic of the original — Iron Chef America was too competitive, and its cadre of rotating guest B-celebrity judges were often too obsessed with clichés to realize that a true star show should It’s food – food, uh!
Well, the next American version of this show seems to be changing everything I hate about American cooking shows today. Like, it’s not even cooking anymore!
Iron Chef: Jagged Saga seems to be about drama and competition and unpleasant seriousness.
On the plus side, Alton Brown returns as the hosts. Joining him is Top Chef winner Kristen Kish. Mark Dacascos also returned to the chairman role. I love seeing these people on my screen and still yawn.
Nico Santos joins ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’. 3′
Our beloved Mateo (played by Nico Santos) from “Superstore” joins “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.1”. 3.’ I don’t know what kind of character actor Santos will play, but I know his presence in this upcoming superhero movie makes me more likely to see said superhero movie. Most importantly, I’m so happy that Santos got the money! He’s very hilarious in “Superstore” and it’s great to see his career progress.
In addition, he will be joined by API colleagues Dave Bautista (playing Drax) and Pom Klementieff (Mantis). I hope they all high five each other on screen at some point. I wish director James Gunn made that moment happen to us.
Henry Golding joins ‘The Old Guard 2’
The Old Guard is a really cool 2020 action movie starring Charlize Theron and her team of immortal mercenaries. For me, it’s worth noting that it also features the Vietnamese actor Veronica Ngo aka Ngô Thanh Vân. Norwegian-Vietnamese, she started her career in Vietnam as a pop singer, actress and director. She’s a really great action star and I’ve seen her in Vietnamese movies, so it’s really exciting to see her in Hollywood productions with a prestigious cast. “The Old Guard” ends with a suspense involving her character Quynh, so I’m excited to see where the story of “The Old Guard 2” goes.
It looks like API colleague Henry Golding will be part of this process. Guys, I’ve been very unhappy with Goldin over the years because I’ve always been skeptical of handsome Asian men, but his projects have slowly won over. Dare I say I might actually like him a little bit now?
Can’t wait for this to come out!
I’m embarrassed for Bling Empire’s Kevin who opened a matcha company
Kevin Kreider, a handsome Asian man, broke into some people’s hearts (not mine) when the first season of the reality show “Bling Empire” came out. “Bling Empire” features a group of super-rich Asians living rich Asian things like buying jewelry, throwing lavish parties, and letting their in-laws decide what happens in the womb.
Kreider is not one of Asia’s super-rich. Instead, he is a role model, friend and beneficiary of Asia’s super-rich. I actually found him attractive because he was very grounded in reality.
Well, he started a fitness supplement brand called Be More Matcha that celebrates the energy virtues of matcha – and I’m a little embarrassed for him. The reasons are as follows:
Kreider has more than 500,000 Instagram followers; his company has less than 1,500 followers.
His company has been behaving like matcha, a tea tradition that has existed in Japan for billions of years, is in a one-sided competition with coffee – and to make matters worse, his company has been behaving as if coffee is winning the game Didn’t even know it was there!
His company keeps promising new brands are coming, but admits only the old packaging is available to order; empty promises are embarrassing.
I’m not sure 2022 is the time to name the company “Be More Matcha” (drama about “more manly”?). Toxic masculinity is no longer what it really is.
I’m not trying to scoff at Kreider for trying. I guess I was just expecting something more polished from a dude with over half a million followers on TV, not something my dad would come up with, you know?
Stacy Nguyen can be contacted at stacy@nwasianweekly.com.
