#darkbargain

[mrl515]

Dark Bargain

Admittedly, the legwork for this post wasn't exactly strenuous for me.  I don’t know how many of my peers would admit to watching Yu-Gi-Oh! at any point in their lives, but I’ll own up—I had the cards and everything (even some Gameboy game, it was pretty fun to be completely honest).  Whereas lots of kids collected Pokemon cards (or baseball, which I truly never saw a point to, since all you did was look at them), I collected Yugioh cards (I’ll abbreviate the name to just that, since the actual Yu-Gi-whatever is a pain to rapidly type out).  All that being said, when Yugioh was offered as an option, I was quite excited.  

As for the show, it was actually the one facet of the franchise which I was probably least involved with.  First off, 4Kids made it an absolute pain to watch with any semblance of continuity—a thing which, even for my elementary-school self, was very important. On top of this, the dubbed version they released had a blue million plot holes.  So when I turned on Hulu to watch the show for the first time in years, I was surprised to see how seriously it seemed to take itself in some situations, while glossing over the fact that Yugi’s grandfather was somehow hospitalized by a card game as benign.  I mean, does law enforcement not exist in Domino City?  I guess not.   What intrigued me, though, was how….American everyone in the show seems to be.  Hair (and perhaps some attire) notwithstanding, everyone in the show already seems, for lack of a more politically correct term, white.  Perhaps this has to do with the beauty standards we briefly discussed in class (white is seen as attractive, at least in women).  Or maybe this is simply my own ethnocentrism at play. Normally, I would just pass off my opinions on the characters’ appearances as just that: ethnocentrism.  But 4Kids took it over the top with Joey’s ridiculous accent—one I think Yugioh:  The Abridged Series described perfectly as a decidedly Brooklyn accent.  

Alright, I’ll admit it:  I watched about four episodes of Yugioh, and then proceeded to flip over to watching Yugioh: The Abridged Series.  And I then watched about forty episodes of that.  However, I think a very interesting point is made with this:  you just don’t see long-running parodies of American cartoons.  Sure it’s fun to watch a spoof of Spongebob or Dora the Explorer, but those are usually one-offs (and often poorly done at that.)  To me, this speaks to the fans anime draws, even the heavily westernized dubbed versions of anime.  There’s just something about watching Yugioh, and even the abridged series, that makes me nostalgic.  It makes me want to pull out my Gameboy and fire up some old games. It makes me wish my Yugioh cards hadn’t all been stolen (like, seriously???)  There’s just something about these cartoons that’s decidedly less…stupid, for lack of a better word, than Spongebob.  And I loved Spongebob, but I also love cohesion, and Yugioh managed to fit the fun and the cohesion into a series revolving around children’s card games.  

[andiecandycane-blog-blog]

I was very surprised by how entertaining and exciting I found the Korean TV show, The Running Man. Although it is difficult to follow at times, the show speaks the universal language of reality TV. The show encompasses a home team, Running Man, and a group of guests competing in comical challenges. The normal cast of the show includes Kim Jong-kook, Yoo Jae-suk, Gary, Haha, Song Ji-hyo, Lee Kwang-soo, Ji Suk-jin.

In this particular episode the members were each paired with a guest player to compete against each other. The member of Running Man was placed somewhere in an amusement park in a specific shirt. Their unknown partner did the same but had to choose a number between 1 and 10. Unknowingly, they were choosing the amount of time they had to find their mysterious partner and tag the “R flag”. There were five amusement parks, so two of the parks housed two teams.

The episode is titled 1470; the challenge was very vague, but stated to turn 1470 into 0 by winning numbers and numerical signs. The teams who succeeded in finding their partner in the time limit received a “–“ sign and the teams who did not received a “+”. Each pair was then challenged again to complete a near impossible task on one of the rides to win a set of numbers. Yoo Jae-suk’s team is assigned the task of riding one of the fastest wooden roller coasters in Korea with cameras at hand. There are pictures of famous Korean women posted on the sides of the roller coaster and they are each directed to capture a photo of a specific woman while in full motion. Song Ji-hyo’s team is placed on the Sky X: a terrifying ride that lifts riders 50 meters in the air and allows them to free fall at 100 kilometers/hour. While enduring this exhilarating ride, her and her partner must count four groups of random objects and report them. Lee Kwang-soo and his partner are directed towards the infamous ride – Chaos. The ride is tilted on an angle and spins the full 360 degrees at steadfast pace. While on the ride, the team must eat one of the persimmons (Korean dried fruit) that are swinging around the front of their face. Gary’s team must complete roller coaster karaoke. Him and his partner must sing into microphones and achieve a certain score while traveling full speed on a roller coaster. Ji Suk-jin’s team must sit on a ride, which twists and turns them in every direction while trying to correctly read the words taped to the bottom of their feet. Kim Jong-kook and his partner are assigned to ride the Viking pendulum ride while holding water balloons between their head and arms the entire time. The last team is Haha’s, who must keep two glasses of water almost completely full while in a cage that makes a complete rotation causing them to go upside down.

I really enjoyed watching this episode despite the language barrier because the comedy is just as relatable. I could picture this show being successful in America on MTV with some of our American celebrities.

[theperksofculture]

I watched the Running Man two part show that had Big Bang

Sooooooo after watching these two episodes of Running Man I am actually becoming a fan and am going to soon watch more episodes of this show. I think I have actually learned the skill that is reading the subtitles and still being able to fully watch the show, which I think is a very important thing to be able to do when it comes to watching shows with subtitles. I believe this show could teach me a foreign language if I watch it enough. Okay, not really. But I think it would be like super awesome if it did like take that Rosetta Stone.

I really enjoyed the show. Like, a lot. A lot more than I thought I would. I didn’t understand a lot of what was happening for most of the first episode, though. I was really confused because I was trying to learn the names of people as well as understand what was happening in the episode. There were so many words all over the screen like all the time and I got really confused about it and was like ehhhhh. I guess after a while though once you get the hang of reading the words and being able to know if the subtitles or their own add on words on the screen and which are more important it does get a lot easier to know and follow along with what is going on.

I also really enjoyed the dynamics on the teams like how some of the members were like “lets help each other out” but then other members on the team were like “nah man it’s every man for himself” and even those people would switch back and forth and I thought that was really funny. Also how they were willing to betray their own team just so they wouldn’t get out. That is true love right there if I’ve ever seen it. Except not really. But it’s really funny so obviously that’s all that matters.

So all in all I definitely thought it was a really awesome show and I am probably going to go back and re watch the first episode of this two part series since I have like learned how to follow the subtitles and I guess you could call it “plot line” better that way I can better understand like what is happening in the first episode because yes I did enjoy it and think it was really funny, I would like to be able to better understand what was happening in it.

[notacullturaljournal-blog]

Running Man! Mercy post #2

My relationship with Japanese television shows is like this: I either love it and die laughing every time I watch, or I sit and think about why anyone would ever be entertained by such a strange piece. One of the laugh-out-loud hits is Ninja Warrior, an obstacle course show that challenges contestants to their physical limits. It makes for some great wipeouts and laughs, but I may have a new favorite: Running Man is a Japanese variety show that pits a set cast of players (the Running Men) against a group of well known artists or celebrities in some sort of game or competition. I watched a two-part episode of Running Man in which they played against musician G-Dragon and his crew, Big Bang. The teams competed in a hide-and-go-seek scavenger hunt hybrid. The “attacking” team had to find and rip the opposing team’s nametags off to eliminate them while the “defending” team had to find certain hidden objects around the area of play. This time around, Running Man and Big Bang faced off in a museum and an office building. The show filled its time with chaotic chases, witty humor, and many other comical moments that I enjoyed.

 The game that they played has a twist: the attacking team members wear bells on their ankles so that they cannot sneak up on the defending team. There were many moments in the show in which a defender heard an attacker before seeing him, which prompted him to quickly hide. This made for great suspense-humor moments in the show. Each contestant had their own personal cameraman that followed them around to capture these moments. There were also cameramen in select rooms, and the producers even made use of the CCTV cameras in the buildings. The whole show had great shots, which displayed the skill of the directors and producers of the show. The only problem that I had with these cameramen was their interference in the game. When one of the defenders was hiding from an attacker, he had to take the camera away from the cameraman in order to properly hide himself. The attacker still found him and eliminated him, which shows the flaw in having these personal cameras. There were other moments in which the guys on set gave away hiding positions, but there was one time in the 2nd part of the show when a cameraman brushed past a contestant and almost ripped his nametag off. The contestant could have been eliminated, potentially costing his team the victory.

 I do understand that this is a variety show and that the outcome of these games does not really matter-- the show’s goal is to make viewers laugh, and it does that very well. I was laughing the entire time I watched Running Man, and I will definitely watch more episodes in the future. That really says something about the show because I do not like many Japanese shows of its kind. I highly recommend watching it if you want a laugh.

[allaboutasiaashlyn]

Running Man

After starting part one of this show in class I really was not sure how to feel. I didn’t really understand the objective of it, the people in it were strange, and the subtitles were confusing and messy. As the class went on I slowly began learning more about all these things and even found myself laughing along here and there. Then, when I watched part two in my room, it really began to make sense. The characters goofy attitudes had me laughing constantly and I even began to find the subtitles humorous. At one point my roommates came in to see what I was doing and, after explaining the show in detail, they began to watch with me as well! They even found it more humorous than I did at times! I don’t think this is a show I will watch all too often, but it was an enjoyable “dark bargain” assignment.

To give some explanation, The Running Man is a South Korean variety game show. The Running Man crew consists of Song Ji-hyo, Kim Jong-kook, Haha, Gary, Lee Kwang-soo, Yoo Jae-sukm, and Ji Suk-jin. Each episode contains different challenges, games, and events that the running men have to complete.  Sometimes there are even special guests that the running men compete against. This episode had Big Bang as the special guest. Big Bang is a Korean boy band that consists of G-Dragon, T.O.P, Taeyang, Daesung, and Seungri. The show began with both sides of the competition joking around with each other. You could tell that the rest of the episode was going to be full of pranks and jokes because of how funny the cast was. The beginning of the show also set the scene for how dramatic the producers create the video and graphics to be.

The game in these episodes was basically a large hide-and-go seek game but with a few different rules. In the first half Running Man players chased around Big Bang players in order to rip off their name tags. If your nametag was ripped off then you were out of the game. While the Running Man players were trying to find them the Big Bang players had to find a certain number of Running Man lottery tickets. Unfortunately, the Running Man team won in the first half! In the second half, the game was basically the same except instead of the battleground being a museum it was now a tall office building. Also, there were working people in the office building and the players had to interact with them to obtain to things they needed. In the end, Big Bang won round two and a tiebreaker was created. A member from each team had to go against each other and whoever ripped of the others nametag first won. Big Bang won the tiebreaker and the entire game.

 Although, in the beginning I was skeptical, the show turned out to be not as strange as I thought. I am actually decently pleased with the show, the humor used, and the creativeness of it all.

[carpe-diem-amori-fati]

Running Man! (literally)

Watching the two episodes of Running Man was a very new experience for me. The only other type of TV shows that I have experienced is the Mexican telenovelas and kids cartoons. Besides that, I have never been exposed to TV shows that ranged outside of the United States. Running Man was actually very interesting and humorous. I found myself laughing at the second episode and I was engaged in the material throughout the first and second episodes. I’m honestly really glad that we were able to experience what a popular show in South Korea is like. I feel as though I have a greater understanding of their culture within the younger population. I can identify with a lot of the humor that they used within the shows and I am surprised but happy that what is deemed funny in South Korea can also be deemed funny by someone living in the US.

I found the graphics that were used throughout the duration of both episodes (and I’m assuming in every episode) to be very interesting but also different. In the US you rarely see graphics used on screen during the show, but for Running Man, it seemed to be one of the essential elements for the show. At first, I really did not like it because it was directly in the center of the screen and kind of blocked some of the characters, but later on, especially during the second episode, I started to really pay attention to it and I noticed it definitely added to the humor of the show. I have never seen anything that compares to the graphics that were used besides subtitles, but the graphics that were used were a lot more fun and definitely added to the characteristics that make up the show in general.

In addition to the graphics used on screen, the special effects that were used were also a new characteristic of a TV show that is not usually seen on TV in the US. Whenever nametags were ripped in the first episode, and when the rings were used in the second episode both contained special effects that were strange at first like the graphics, but after the first few times seeing them, it became cool to see and added to the show. The concept for the show in general was very cool as well. I really enjoyed the fact that the episodes revolved around a game and mission. Not many game shows are too popular in the US and to see a fun spin on a game show being so popular in South Korea was fascinating. I enjoy game shows and so watching these two episodes of Running Man was a lot of fun and a good experience for me. I’m very glad I was able to expose myself to this TV show and actually found myself sifting through the suggestions on what to watch next while I was on youtube. I surprised myself honestly because I have never really paid much attention and or been interested in aspects that make up Asian culture, but Running Man definitely caught my attention and I might watch more episodes in the future!

[myinfinitummundum-blog]

Running Man: Eps. 84 & 85

For my dark bargain, I went ahead and decided to watch the other half of the Running Man v. Big Bang show. 
 In the first part of the episode, we are introduced to the characters on both teams. At the start of the challenge, the Running Man players are attempting to catch and get out all of the Bing Bang players by running through a museum and ripping name tags off of each others’ backs. While the Running Man are chasing, the Big Bang team is attempting to find five lottery tickets hidden around the museum—avoiding the fake ones also hidden. The Running Men are able to get out all of the Big Bang players (even though they had a special power advantage) before they are able to find all five lottery tickets, making them the winners of the first round.

The second part of the episode was much easier to watch. It had a cooler setting (an office building with actual workers in it), and I was already familiar with the names of the players and the theme of the show, making it much simpler to follow along. This time the roles are reversed, with Big Bang chasing the Running Man around the twelve-floor office space. Running Man needed to get five signatures on authorization pads from certain employees in the office. It was interesting to watch the player-employee interaction, as most of them were shocked that the Running Man show was taking place in their place of work. The chasers won again, giving Big Bang one point against the one point of the Running Man. In a one-on-one tie-breaker, Big Bang won out against the Running Man.

The concept behind Running Man is interesting to me. It’s labeled as a “variety show,” which I interpreted to mean a show where they have a variety of acts and skits and such. In Korea, and for this show in particular, the term variety show means something slightly different I guess. Here, the variety is in the activities and competitions that they complete on an episodic basis. It takes on an over-exuberant less serious competition style like that of Big Brother or MTV’s the Challenge, without having the reality piece of the group living in one house together. I thought the show was a little cheesy, the actors were kind of silly and over-animated for my liking, although I’m not sure if that is an intentional factor of the show or not. Also, with the camera and crew following so closely behind the players, it makes it hard to believe in the competition of the hiding game; one would think you would be able to spot a player, and a camera man, and a sound guy, running around together. I think that if the show was brought to America, or an American version of the show were to be released, it would be popular, but would need more of the drama and/or suspense element to keep American viewers interested. Otherwise, it would seem like a program more geared towards kids than adults or teenagers. The subtitles also made it very difficult to get into, because I feel like the english subtitles often did not adequately capture what they were trying to express in the moment. This show is obviously easier to enjoy if you are a native Korean speaker, or if this style of television is what you are used to; I think this has a lot to do with the reasons why I didn’t quite find it as entertaining.

[gpterrell-blog-blog]

Running Man EP: 84 and 85

I really enjoyed these two episodes of the running man show.  The episode was made more interesting because it included the members of the musical group Big Bang.  In the beginning of the English 103 semester, we spent a good amount of time watching music videos from G-Dragon, Daesong, and Taeyang. It was interesting to see what these guys were like and how they interacted outside of the musical spotlight.  As for the content of the episodes, it was quite captivating.  From the moment the Running Man crew drove in in modified jeeps and Big Bang flew in on helicopters, I knew that it was going to be a good episode.  There is a lot of comedy throughout the episodes, especially in the beginning when they were discussing rules before the games began.  Though a lot of the jokes are funny, because of the subtitles and the speed of talking, it can be hard to follow at times.  Also many of the situations seem set up and sort of cheesy.  This cheesiness aspect seems to be what people who regularly watch the show enjoy.  Its a different kind of humor than what I'm used to, but it still made me laugh quite often.  The idea for the games played were awesome. Taking the cast first to a museum, and then to an office building were cool.  For the first part of the show, one team had to hide while finding running man tickets hidden throughout the museum while the other team was chasing them. It seemed like it would be sort of boring to watch at first, but I quickly realized the amount of excitement within the show.  For the second episode, the task was to find authorized signature pads throughout an office building and get them signed while the other team was chasing you and trying to get out.  One great thing that the show has going for it is that there is never a dull aspect.  Whether it is all a big setup or if every minute of it is real, it captivates the audience and it is easy to tell why it is such a popular show.  It is not something I could see myself watching a lot, mainly because I do not particularly enjoy reading subtitles while I am trying to enjoy a show or movie, but it was highly entertaining and fun.  One of my favorite parts about the experience of watching was getting to begin to tell some of the Big Bang members apart and remember which one is which.  When you are watching their music videos and they all have on makeup, crazy clothes, and a crazy colored hairstyle, it can be difficult to tell which one is which.  Also, they don’t seem quite as weird as they do in their music videos.  I remember that when we watched the first G-Dragon video in class, I did not like G-Dragon at all.  I thought he was very strange and that he was trying to hard.  Also, it seemed like he was making the same kinds of music as the American Top 40 which I do not really enjoy listening to.  This show gave us the chance to see them in the real world as normal people, and it was quite refreshing that they do not take that persona from their videos and use them in their everyday lives.

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