It's like you're a future historian who has time traveled to the present time. You have a knack for contextualizing better than most other content creators, and we can all rely on your insightfulness.

I think South Korean media's success is largely due to how it neatly straddles the line between retaining its foreign-ness, cultural specificity, and exoticism (to Western consumers), while also aggressively adapting itself for foreign audiences. I think a perfect example is looking at J-Pop vs K-Pop. J-Pop is aggressively Japanese, and makes essentially no attempt to appeal to non-Japanese sensibilities, while K-Pop is a lot more carefully sculpted and sanitized to be less super-specific to Korean culture. This applies to basically all aspects of the countries' respective cultural exports - K-Drama vs J-Drama, anime, movies, etc. The Japanese are more insular and don't care as much about exporting culture, whereas in Korea the international market is becoming larger than the domestic market, plus the government is explicitly involved in the entertainment sector to a significant degree (funding, promoting, etc.).

Re: NFTs When I was a kid, the silliest example of turning _nothing_ into a commodity was the "Pet Rock" But at least with that, you got a rock

I don’t think NFTs are going to be that big on the American Cultural Canon because very few people actually take them seriously. NFTs have been memes so much (at least in my warped eyes) that they will be relegated to a footnote by most people. Incredulous shock is something that I don’t think has staying power compared to tragedy or triumph.

Happy New Year! I'm a little surprised to not see some of the space stuff make this list, especially the James Webb launch. I would be willing to bet that NFTs won't remain in the zeitgeist for much longer unless more practical applications of the concept arise.

I feel like I blinked in 2019, and now it’s 3 years later.

I think an honourable mention needs to go to the Evergiven being stuck in the Suez Canal. They may not be talking about it in 40 year (beyond, perhaps a sidebar in economics textbooks about the global supply chain), but WOW did it take over the cultural consciousness for a while back in March.

One thing I’d like to add about South Korean culture that has continually grown in popularity in American culture is the sport Tae Kwon Do. It seems like Karate used to be the dominant martial art in the U.S., but Tae Kwon Do has become more and more popular over the past few decades.

It was big year for space, with Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic, Space X, and the James Webb telescope.

I'd say that the fall of Afghanistan will certainly be up there in terms of remembrance but I also think that the Vietnam War's very existence is going to be why Afghanistan will be slightly less remembered since Vietnam was uniquely traumatic and the fall of Saigon has kind of prepared the American consciousness for a similar event.

As far as Juneteenth is concerned, I think it took so long to become a holiday because it was originally only relevant to Texas. It’s was originally the day in which commemorated the ending of slavery in the state of Texas. Texas was the furthest west slave slate at the time and the last confederate place to get word of the ending of the civil war. The last battle of the war even took place near Brownsville Texas 1 month after the signing of the peace treaty at Appomattox, Virginia. On June 19 1865, the Union army sailed into Galveston harbor and declared the Emancipation Proclamation active and slaves set free. Many newly free African American communities celebrated different days of emancipation depending on region. I think Juneteenth widespread relevance grew alongside Texas’s important and integral role of the United States story. People forget that Texas was relatively unpopulated until the post war boom in the 1950s. I think with the growth in population and geopolitical importance of Texas in American culture overall, helped to bring Juneteenth into the wider world .

The Free Britney movement helped to contextualize the mistreatment of disabled people through conservatorships. Even though the movement has been growing for a few years, it was just this year that Britney Spears was given the opportunity to speak out about the abuse she went through. The conservatorship ending in November may have been a win for many people who are dealing with similar situations.

Travis Scott’s concert will probably impact how responsible musical artists are held accountable for the safety of their fans for a very long time if the lawsuits work out

I grew up in a suburb that had a large Korean immigrant population. So there were lots of Korean restaurants even back in the 80's and 90's. For one of our first dates, I suggested to my future wife that we should go to one of them. I described an experience where you sit down and they give you a ton of side dishes. You don't know what they are, but they all taste amazing. My wife later admitted that she thought I was nuts for even suggesting such a thing. However now I can't take my wife anywhere on vacation unless it has a nice selection of Korean restaurants (especially Korean BBQ). Korea has certainly taken hold of our culture, and sometimes if feels like Korean things are more American than some traditional American things.

I feel like the Simone Biles situation being remembered would kind of defeat the purpose of normalizing athletes putting their health and well being above public pressure. She did the right thing for herself and the only thing that should be notable about it was how absolutely vile and embarassing the backlash was by certain media figures.

Britney Spears was a huge topic this year and we've kind of seen a reckoning about the way we treat celebrities in the media with a lot of conversation about parasocial relationships and our interactions with fame. I think #freebritney made it's mark on America and sparked a lot of discussion about child stars, paparazzi, the rights of disabled people, and online celebrity culture.

I believe South Korea’s cultural ascension into world influencer is a result of steady planning by the government. South Korean productions have been receiving plenty of monetary incentives from the government for decades now as part of a project to become competitive in the world agains the cultural giants of China, Japan and the US that surround it. Some other countries have been trying to do the same as well, investing directly into cultural productions until it’s industry is robust enough to have a fair chance agains foreign entertainment.

For the science community, probably the James Webb Space Telescope. Although, we won't fully know it will be for happy or sad reasons. It has a way to go at the time of writing. Maybe more of a 2022 thing but since it finally launched in 21 after years of delay, saying its a 21 thing would be fine.

There were a lot of big televised trials this year too...Chauvin, Rittenhouse, Arbery, Maxwell...and I think this will continue into 2022 as the Supreme Court makes some massive decisions. The "Big Trial" was such a thing in the 90s and it definitely made a come back in 2021.

Honestly it felt like a relatively quiet year compared to the flaming panic that was 2020.

I think the cultural prominence of South Korea (particularly movies and television) is pretty easy to explain: they mix the foreign-ness and style that is appealing about Japanese culture with a hyper-specific focus on income inequality that American media shares. Anime is great but it's way easier to resonate with young audiences in particular if your media is absolutely plastered with the implicit and explicit "eat the rich" messaging that doesn't exist nearly as much in Japanese culture.

Speaking of Simone Biles, I think Suni Lee will forever be cemented in Hmong American culture. The fact that she won a gold medal for the US and Minnesota, and that so many Hmong people are proud of her and still have “Congratulation Suni Lee” banners in their stores and homes to this day, are proof that she will never be forgotten in this community. Of course, all of this coming from one Hmong American perspective.

While the Covid-19 vaccine specifically might not remain important in future years, the MRNA technologies that emerged in the culture this year might become even more widespread. While the science behind MRNA vaccines existed before 2021, it only became well known by the general public for the first time this past year. These technologies might open up an entirely new field of science and medicine. Just as an example, some scientists are already discussing the possibility of a universal flu vaccine. Even after this particular pandemic is a thing of the past, the resulting medical techniques will likely have a lasting impact.

I think for those living in the state of Texas the massive winter storm we experienced earlier this year has heavily impacted the way that we view our state government and our ability to trust the systems that are supposed to be in place for the public and are supposed to be supported by the government to function the way that they are expected to. The majority of us have very little faith that if these things keep happening that we will see support from our government. Most people are in the mentality of get ready to deal with these eminent natural disasters on your own. I don't think there's any going back to any true sense of trust.

I would love to see a video on how the whole Korean-American cultural relationship developed, specifically dating back to the early 20th century. I did a report on only just a small aspect on American biomedical influence on Korean medical culture and I think I’d be interesting to see your assessment on the many cultural exchanges between both countries

Some singers like Olivia Rodrigo and Doja cat really became famous and I don’t see them being a one hit wonder but rather being like other artists like Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift etc..

I think it may be more prominent this year than in 2021, but the labor union movement I think will become one of the most important shifting events in this decade - going hand in hand with the “labor shortage” in most low-income jobs. It feels very much as if it’s an inflection point in the expectations of large employers

Growing up in Australia with an American father, he would always mention whenever we got close to June 19th. He even made it our dogs birthday. Because of this, I vaguely thought that it was already an American holiday and just another one that my dad knew about,but wasn't "observed" in Australia. I was really surprised when you mentioned in your previous video that this was in fact a "new" holiday. Thanks, you almost all teach me something new and I love that. 😃🐿

feel like the 2020s is gonna be a lot more memorable than the 2010s ...

The three things that I think are way more of a slow burn to watch are the housing market of 2021, the birth rate, and the continued embrace of work from home. They're kinda scary topics but I kinda wonder how they'll develop.

That was the most unbiased opinion on Jan 6th I've ever heard (while not downplaying how bad/embarrassing it was). You are an exemplary journalist!

Honestly I do think the Gamestop thing will be remembered, it was a cultural phenomenon that got many people into investing in general

In Perú 2021 was the 200th anniversary of the Independence and it has probably been one of the most politically polarized years of the country in the last decades. For Italy, instead, it seemed a rather good year. One thing I'm sure: hardly any other year will be remembered as infamously as 2020. Happy New Year J.J.!

In Russia we had a documentary TV-series called Namedni by Parfenov which is essentially a collection of cultural and political events, which defining the year: elections, laws, new products, new songs, films and "mems" of the time. It started to air in 90s before being closed in 2004 and now it returned on KZfaq as a Parfenov's personal project called "Nmedni" due to copyright. It's really surprising to see the similar format arise independently in US/Canada. Good luck with it!

The 'Rust' shooting that you briefly referenced near the beginning of the episode will definitely be scar remembered by workers in the film industry. This is exasperated by the fact that IATSE (the film workers union) was days away from going on strike for bad working conditions.

I think Work From Home, particularly for white collar office (or perhaps now - home office) workers will be a turning point. More people expecting flexibility about where and how they work more broadly wil be an emerging issue. It might also be reflected on to show major changes to class and cultural divides in the population

I think this year featured the beginning of a social media reckoning. The whistleblower testimony against Facebook, now Meta, stands out as having inflicted shared outrage. That this happened to an institution that became such a major facet of American life during the 2010s is significant to the culture.

Some of the major long lasting events that probably is a byproduct of 2020 and the stimulus packages and rescue plans is the soaring inflation, supply chain bottlenecks, and the job post filling shortages. Everywhere you go in America, you see a lot of “we’re hiring” and yet many jobs remain infilled. Meanwhile, prices of basic necessities go up, in part due to pumping of cash into the system in 2020 and early 2021 as well as severe bottlenecks in supply chains, making even the most basic commodities (ketchup, soda cups, others) not consistently available on shelves. The memory of all these, as someone living in america, will be haunting for years to come.

The massive labor shortage could be one. Millions of workers quitting their jobs on grounds of unfair pay/ better opportunities by working from home has made an impact on the economy and if it hasn’t yet, it certainly will. On a regional level, The Texas Snowstorm has been implanted in the states memory as it saw the collapse of the Texan power grid and hundreds freeze to death in a storm the state was unprepared to handle

South Korea actually promotes and funds their media things. It's part of their effort for 'soft power' and getting their culture recognized. It gets a decent slice of budget and allows more groups to pop up and do wild things instead of having to scrape to get funding. They are also loose on who they fund so it's not just always the same streamlined things. You get their own generic to interesting. This is not the singular factor getting it out there in my opinion but it's still a very large one.

I think Korean media nowadays has really taken up a mantle that Japanese media left in the late 90s/early 2000s. A lot of Korean media has undertones about bigger societal issues and often comments on things like class relations, the impact of the constant threat of war with the North, the impact of the USA bearing down on Korea both as a protector but also a master, etc. Japanese media often previously commented on similar issues but I believe as the bubble economy burst in 1991 the media industries in Japan pivoted to mostly semi-surface level or at the very least not directly relatable series that don't comment on many immediate societal problems. (Though I don't think this took full effect until the late 2000s and into the 2010s). That being said I think there's a huge market for these comments on social issues within the US. I think to many people it's like taking a peek into the future, given this idea that Japan and Korea are more advanced or more futuristic, as incorrect as that idea really is. This is of course not to mention that these issues generally are still somewhat applicable to social problems in the US/Western world in general. And finally I think it's a sort of message to Hollywood and big American media out for profit and not art, these shows and movies have things to say *and* can be exciting or interesting, meanwhile Hollywood pumps out the same sequels and remakes with nothing worthwhile in their messaging for fear of angering the American or (potential) Chinese audience.

Publicized and politicized criminal trials are a big thing to come out of 2021 too as the Rittenhouse, Chauvin, Potter, McMichael trials have led to a larger awareness and desire to follow criminal trial proceedings.

Worth noting is the level of class consciousness in South Korean media which gets popular in the West. This is something that Japanese media kind of lacks-or at least on the same scale-as South Korean media. I do believe this is a factor in why South Korean media is getting more and more popular in the west.

"A digital art community" has already existed and thrived for long before NFTs. NFTs will only make the world of digital art worse. :)

I was really hoping you'd make one for 2021 after last year!!

Maybe this year will be seen the 2nd birth of streaming. Netflix had some of their biggest mainstream hits. Disney Plus had a ton of successful high budget shows. I’d say this was the year a most audiences watched new blockbuster releases at home, due to new 2021 films and 2020 films pushed back. A lot of streaming services came out, though non as successful as Disney.

I think the 2021 vaccines will still be remembered, even if they weren't the "magic fix" we were all, perhaps, too naively hoping for. The fact that they were ready in such a short time, and that it was a massive global effort for science, and the fact that it is a new kind of vaccine-technology (mrna) that could aid in developing other vaccines for other diseases in the future. Even if the picture needs more nuance, you can not argue that it wasn't a massive and important achievement.

'South Korea is a country that in many ways is quite culturally similar to Japan' JJ trying to get into a fight with the South Koreans XD

I like to think this year started making people aware, in a sense, of a "1984-esc" future, as crazy as that may sound. With Facebook's switch to Meta, and the whole "Metaverse" controversy, I think fear of large corporations had a lot of control over people during 2021. Another example of this may be the Epic Games vs. Apple lawsuit, where 2 companies are fighting over what they believed to be morally just. Just a thought. Great video as always, anyway, J.J.!

You know, viewing this video really makes me so much more aware of how out of touch I truly am with our current culture. For a young person, I spend a lot of time reminiscing about how things used to be better before 2020, and imagining how things may hopefully be better someday. I rarely seem to be living in the present moment, which is having much more noticeable impacts on my social and mental well-being.

I feel like Mr. Beast parody of Squid Game cemented him into the internet zeitgeist that people would look back fondly like they do do Smosh or Pewdiepie even though majority of the initial viewers of those channels have grown up and moved on.

Respect and Love you VERY MUCH my brother JJ! I hope you have a wonderful 2022 keep the videos coming!

7:22 I think it took so long because defining when the practice of slavery ended in the US was hard to agree on. I’ve heard people describe Juneteenth as the end of the Civil War, *which it isn’t, that is April 12.* I think it was settled on because Texas had observed it as a state holiday for some time, and it just made sense to standardize it across America. Also while Jan 6 seems like it has entered the cultural canon for now, I feel it will largely fade from the cultural canon in about 5 to 10 years. Only a few photos will recap the event: like the Q Shaman LARPing as the Speaker of the House, and that person holding the Speaker's podium. It's entirely possible it could be seen more like the Bonus Army incident in 1930, as both were protests that devolved into riots at the US Capitol, but time will tell.

Americans being traumatized by the liberation of Saigon is so funny.

Also the logistics/ supply chain shortage issues that was a long term side effect of the pandemic as well as feeding into the overall cultural landscape of American consumer culture. BTW, I've spent a couple weeks binging your vids...I found your videos when I was looking for armchair anthropologist type stuff last year, and then my youtube algorithm couldn't quit you so here I am subscribed! Happy New Year, JJ and everyone!

I'm from the UK, so am thinking about what will enter our cultural canon.. I think that the vaccines and the corresponding anti-vaxx movement will enter the British cultural canon for a number of reasons. For me, it will be something I would expect to discuss with my younger relatives in years to come as a noticeable focal point of Britain becoming more "Americanised" in terms of political polarisation and issues like the culture wars (its "culture war" significance outstrips even Brexit in my opinion, as that happened for more idiosyncratic British reasons than just being an import of Trumpism).

Ok so I have been a fan of Kpop and Kdrama since 2003 and it’s kind of wild to me how prevalent it has become here (MI). 18 year old me would have been ecstatic had it been so wide spread when I got into it, was so hard to acquire the media back then, now I see it everywhere, have no idea why but seriously fucking happy it is. Because of all the Korean and Japanese media I have consumed for the last 28 years masks have always been a thing for me, I treat them the same as the Japanese do and wish everyone would. I’m also very happy about June 19th (about time) even if the official name makes my autistic brain twitch. There have been a lot of vaporwave artists I have found because of NFTs but I will never be taking part in any cryptocurrency stuffs. Found you this year and your videos have been so fascinating to watch, look forward to seeing more. Happy New Year.

Happy new year everyone !

These are my absolute favorite type of video you make. It would be so cool if you make more about similar things, maybe specific things that stuck around from past years. Love your vids!

Your videos are a weekly staple for me on my saturday lunch breaks. Love you JJ!

Happy New Year JJ! Thank you for all the excellent content you create, it is very much appreciated! 🎉🎆🙂❤

Great job Kurtis Conner, keep up the great work and happy new year!

Every time I watch one of your videos I get 90’s nostalgia. Keep up the great work JJ! 😁🎸

This is the year I discovered your videos so I'm putting you, JJ on the list.

Happy New Year. I think a big thing that changed in specifically Western Australian culture but perhaps in Australian culture as a whole was a growing divide in the attitudes Western Australians and "People from the East Coast" held about each other. Western Australia had a very successful response to COVID-19 under a Labour government, while much of the "East Coast" had a notoriously drakonian and ineffective response to keeping COVID under control (especially New South Wales). Even amongst friends family, there is a growing attitude that the "East Coast" is incompotent and arrogant about their ability to govern, while taking the hard earned money Western Australians make. While I have heard that people from the "East Coast" call Western Australians "Authoritatian" in regards to the hard border control. This was also the first year in my memory where I have heard of the WAxit party, which although gained little in terms of votes, i think it marks a growing sentiment that Western Australia should at least be more autonomous and self governing.

Happy New Year JJ, from your neighbors down South in Seattle!

Happy New Year. I will enjoy another year of spending time with you

love your tasteful and silly editing style and ability to summarize and contextualize complex concepts. keep up the good work JJ!

To me at least, 2021 was just a blur. I don’t doubt your chosen topics will indeed persist, but I more so imagine 2021 as being primarily remembered for our inability to pick out specific things from that whirlwind of a year. Just a fog, imbued with slight sensations of trauma here and there.

Thank you for your videos. ♥️

always love seeing your videos pop up on my home page! love your stuff man

I've always enjoyed recognizing all the old-school video game sound effects in your videos. Here's to a new year of J.J. material!

I know this is a regional thing and it's focused on Canada rather than the US, but the flooding in Abbotsford Sumas and Matsqui farmland was pretty big. My blueberry farm was completely mush, my furnace was destroyed and the Sumas farmers (I live in the Matsqui farm area) had it even rougher, and roads all over the province were closed. It's nothing major compared to something like Squid Game (which in my opinion is fairly overrated) but it still affected a lot of people, and I'll be telling my grandchildren about that time I almost drowned trying to save my dog.

I’d argue that South Korean culture was already a small component of North American culture with the advent of Psy’s Gangnam style, which was all the way back in 2012… wow 10 years ago

Love your delivery style! Great video

I hope you have a great 2022 your videos have brought me much enjoyment over the last year... ✌️

Speaking from my Australian perspective, there are two things that I can recall when I think back on 2021 from North America. I think I've understood that when you discuss "America" you usually use this to mean both USA and Canada, but maybe I've misinterpreted this. From the US it is the 6 Jan 'storming of the capitol' that you covered. I admittedly have not heard of Juneteeth before this video, so when you mentioned two significant dates - I thought 6 Jan would be the first one you would mention. The second is from Canada, and the discovery of the bodies at the residential schools. That made significant headlines internationally and it was a horror and disappointment to me to realise that Australia wasn't the only place to mistreat their Indigenous population in such a way. In Australia, Indigenous children were forcibly taken from their families and moved to "missions" (which would be the equivalent to residential schools), with the same premise of "removing their Aboriginality" - isolating from country, from family, culture, lore & language in an effort to "white wash" and "assimilate into White Australia". This has lead to a huge effect on Aboriginal Australians who have been displaced and lost their connection and is known as the Stolen Generations. Australia still has a long way to go in healing the past, and I would hope that Canada doesn't just have this be a 'blip' in the year of 2021, but also takes time to significantly acknowledge what has happened and what that means going forward.

The fall of Afghanistan when it first happened was very surprising but then it got traumatic once I received a message via Messenger from a woman there asking for help. About 12 or 13 years ago my cousin worked there with an organization and knew her sister, and al these years later searched for her but found me on FB instead. The real traumatic and frightening part is that she and her family weren’t able to make the evacuations and are currently still there. Am still in contact with her and it’s definitely been interesting learning from her things that aren’t really talked about from the media and such. Back in October she was able to get a passport thankfully which could help but sadly told me that some brute in Taliban hit her since they don’t like that people are leaving😓. Overtime we got closer and now in a loving long-distance relationship that’s discreet but I feel like worst is coming if she can’t get out sooner and am trying to prepare for it. 😢 Thank you for another one of these videos J.J. appreciate your work and how you educate us on so many interesting aspects of culture, geography history and politics and many more things, wish you best in 2022!

JJ, well done. Excellent wrap up of American cultural events in 2021

Love your videos JJ! They truly brighten my day 🤗

What’s incredibly ironic about the fall of Kabul is that the US Embassy was evacuated by a state department CH-47E tail number N38TU which was previously operated by the US Navy with the tail number 154038 in Operation Frequent evacuating the Saigon Embassy in 1975 and was the one seen the most famous photo of the evacuation.

Bong Joon Ho has been one of my favorite directors since The Host came out, and I agree at least Korean cinema is known for having an edge that most Japanese stuff doesn't. One of the themes of The Host is how comically unprepared peacetime bureaucracies are for an actual dire emergency, so when I saw it I distinctly thought "man a lot of Americans are going to get this right away". I would also say Korean culture exports have something of an air of opulence - something else that Americans can relate to.

Listening to and watching this guy talk is so relaxing

This is an amazing video! Happy new year!

Also, Korean skin care & foods (mukbang-influence) experienced pretty huge popularity in Canada in the past couple of years.

I am not surprised South Korea finally became a pop culture thing, there has been a buildup to it. First a lot of products have been made there and imported to America which kinda makes America notice them, Samsung in particular. The PSY and his Gangnam style made people notice that South Korea do have a very specific and rather strange type of music while horror movies like "Last train to Busan" quickly gained cult following. South Korean Manhwa comics also gained popularity like "Fairies landing" for instance. And Korean BBQ and food in general have popped up as well and if Americans love something it is spicy BBQ. All these factors opened up the door. It could of course just be a temporary thing, like how Americans were into Australian culture after the Crocodile Dundee movie or it could be more long term. The phenomena did not pop out of nowhere, they rarely do. Back in 2012 when PSY was everywhere South Korea was still rather unknown so it didn't happen back then, these things tend to take a while.

Happy New Year! I seriously love your videos and perspective. It really makes me think differently about culture and what things might leave a lasting impact or not.

Never thought I’d enjoy learning, but I cannot get enough of your vids :)

My thoughts on South Korea being popular, I think, is because their society -- despite the language barrier -- doesn't seem particularly foreign to American viewers. At least not as it is depicted in TV. While anime has a certain appeal within certain groups, Korean TV feels very familiar and compatible compared to typical Japanese series that I've seen. I've tried watching Japanese TV and frankly, I didn't get it, and anime doesn't make any sense to me at all. But I've watched a number of Korean TV series and if someone told me they were filmed in Vancouver or something I'd almost believe it.

Much smaller in scope than the topics presented in the video but I feel 2021 was the year the concept of speedrunning video games firmly became a permanent part of the larger video game culture. Much like "setting the high score" and "100%-ing" before it, speedrunning has become a popular, distinct way to play games of all kinds and the various controversies, news stories, and the explosion of visibility leads me to believe this is going to be an enduring staple of gaming as a whole.

Happy New Year JJ. Hope 2022 is great for you, your family and the channel.

Great video! Side note, the way your red shirts matched all the red decor behind you was very aesthetically pleasing, whether or not it was intentional :^)

Here in Chile, I think 2021 is going to be remembered as a year of significant change. Not only did we approve the redacting of a new constitution with a constituent assembly, but we legalized same-sex marriage, challenged the outdated pension system and ended up electing the youngest president in out history. Of course, we still have many things to change, but I believe and hope that my country is making a turn for the best.

I started following KPop in ~2009. A few years before that, KPop started looking to international markets (Japan & China being the first big fish) to expand the brand. The Artist BoA may have tried to come to the US a little to soon. Korea did what any good Capitalist society does and look to expand their domestic products to foreign markets, and they really hit a sweet spot with their cultural artifacts. Ironically, the two main cultural artifacts to make it out of Korea are the super corporate, super imperial capitalist KPop machines and their critiques of this form of capitalism with Parasite & Squid Games. (KDrama also get some play in the US, but they definitely are mostly known by either Korean Americans, or KPop fans).

Great video as always J.J.! Happy 2022

Happy new year my friend! Thank you for all the hard work on your videos I thoroughly enjoyed them ☺️

I imagine that the Power Outages in Texas During mid-February of 2021 will be remembered in the same way that extreme weather events like Hurricane Andrew or Irma are remembered.

I think Zoom and video calls and conferencing, while having been around a while, had a huge growth and an impact on our collective culture

These will be fun to revisit in 10 years when knowledge of what happened this year becomes more consolidated and we can see some of the after effects taking place. Part of the fun of this video idea is that predicting what will have staying power and what will be forgotten is so difficult, people living in the times often don’t know when they’ve witnessed history.

Loving the cultural commentary content. Still can't get over how much you look like my dad did in the late 70s tho