Yep, the Club in Paris is collecting all the “gems” now, just like the trainer who trained Swiss National team was the first one, I think, to go to France and other players are following, lately Messi… I wonder if this happened after or due to France’s loss at the EM cup.
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It’s a earthquake in the football world. Messi’s home was Barcelona and the whole world expected to see the current best player stay at his club. It’s really one of the craziest thing to ever happened in sport. The French championship is not very good compared to the one in England, Spain or Germany so seeing Messi playing there is so weird. All because of the dire financial situation of FC Barcelona…
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The French football clubs are not related to the football French team. Paris Saint-Germain is owned by a Qatari fund that’s why they are collecting all the gems, they’re very rich.
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He was obviously forced to do that bc I have never seen a man cry the way he did when he announced the change. He was devastated beyond words. This is going to affect him bc emotionally, no matter how good he is, his heart won’t be there.
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Yeah, he was willing to take a HUGE paycut but even that didn’t work… there was an article that explained that Barcelona couldn’t afford Messi even if he agreed to play for FREE 
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Hear! Hear! That’s music to my ears! Indeed as such back up would be powerful. For a start, they could make historical J-dramas more accessible to legions of Viki fans worldwide.
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One reason I love this community is that it helps me have the biggest picture possible of all kinds of things.
My love of word play can go off in all sorts of useless directions; my baby sister has often said, of having conversations with me about different topics, “You are SO exhausting!”
I sometimes don’t know when to quit; I’m sure nobody has noticed that . . .
(Giphy)
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You, and the rest of us, hence, why we share here!
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I’ve noticed 
But I like the way you write… I usually read through everything without skipping!^^
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How come you didn’t catch my inside out joke in response to her inside out joke? (typed in the most sarcastic way I can possibly type) 
I totally got her joke, and responded in kind. I know sarcasm is really hard to portray in writing. I did the best I could.
@entwyfhasbeenfound I love your wordplay, so never change. 
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Talking from experience here, sarcasm cannot be read, only heard! 
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Yea, also 
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Posts have moved on from this, but I wanted to give my input, just because.
I dont mind watching suggestive content to a certain extent. I think Korean dramas have perfected the ability to hit all the notes without venturing into pornographic/sexually suggestive or offensive territory. That’s one of the reasons I enjoy them.
Sometimes I look for more adult dramas. Sometimes I want sweet and innocent dramas. It really just depends on my mood. Sometimes dramas can be so wholesome that it crosses over to the cringe area. The best dramas toe the line, and I think Mr. Queen did a great job of that. They let you draw your own conclusions lol.
As for the original post, I will not be watching Backstreet Rookie, mainly because of its racist character. The trailer did look kinda dumb too. As for the age difference, in previews, the young girl is the aggressor, so they may think they circumvented a grooming situation. But it is still inappropriate. Grooming is a huge problem for any gender or sexual orientation and should not be romanticized anymore.
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Age difference doesn’t equal to child grooming.
From what I can tell, here we are talking about a girl in her early 20-ies and a man in his early 30ies. I cannot further than that judge the appropriateness of their relationship before I actually watch the drama.
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Doesn’t seem like a problem to me for anybody keeping track of the H----- P----.
(Did I just hear a rumble of thunder?)
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I will keep watching Back Street Rookie despite the fact that it is one of the most uneven K-dramas I’ve seen on Viki.
I will say that one of the most genuine, gentle, and sweet character relationships I’ve seen in a K-drama in the past four years is the one between Dae-Hyuk’s mom and Saet-Byul.
The more I look into the character of Dal-Sik, the more I think that the people who have not watched Back Street Rookie should at least carefully review who the cast members are.
He appears to be Korean. It’s possible that one of his recent ancestors was African American, but assuming that because he has a “big” nose would be what, class? That’s right. Racist. I’ve seen big fat noses on people of all ethnicities.
Given the nature and scope of the Korean War and the desperation many Koreans experienced at that time in terms of finding ways to keep their families alive, maybe one of his beautiful great-grandmothers accepted support from a besotted African-American soldier. Or his mother is African.
Or he’s just some Korean dude with a big nose who has NOT been forced to get a nose job.
Because he discovered American hip-hop early on AND was adept enough at delivering those musical goods to get noticed and get famous without having to radically alter his face for public consumption.
Somebody has said they think he is supposed to represent a Koreaboo of some kind. Which is a deeply pejorative term to apply to, of all people, a Korean actor!
https://www.quora.com/What-is-Koreaboo-and-what-is-not
. . . f you’re a koreaboo, you likely do some or most of these things:
- Pretend like you’re Korean/East Asian. You say stuff like “My great great grandma was 1/4 Korean!”
- You accessorize the Korean language. I don’t know who needs to hear this, but saying “oppa” in every other sentence isn’t cute or endearing, it’s just weird.
- You’re obsessed with South Korea. You think it’s a perfect country and that there’s no racism, sexism, or bigotry there. You want to move there because you think there will be cute Korean boys and you can meet your idols.
- You put down Western music/artists and people that listen to them. Just because you like BTS doesn’t make One Direction bad. Liking kpop doesn’t make you superior to everyone else.
- You have a preference for Korean boys (or you only date Korean boys). This is called fetishization, and believe it or not, it’s not a compliment. No one wants to be liked just because they’re a certain ethnicity. Korean people come in all shapes and sizes, and the majority of them don’t look like kpop idols. Thirsting after someone because they’re Korean is a likely sign that you don’t actually like that person because of their personality, you just like them for their race.
- You ask every East Asian person if they’re Korean, and if they are, you obsess over them. Or worse, if they aren’t you tell them “that’s a shame”.
- You do yellow face to try and look Korean. Trying to make yourself look “Asian” is really creepy and not a good look at all.
- You say stuff like “Russian on the outside, Korean on the inside!” Uhh, what does this even mean? You want to be Korean that bad?
- You put down other East Asian ethnicities. I’ve seen so many koreaboos say stuff like “Chinese people are cheap”, “Japanese people are weird”, and other nasty things about non-Korean Asians. Newsflash: This is racism! Korean people are not above everyone else just because some of them are idols!
- You’re offended by any of these points. Everything I’ve said is bad. There’s no arguing that. If you think any of them are okay, you just might be a koreaboo.
In addition, that term, to me as someone raised in the Southern United States, has echoes of a truly racist epithet: “jigaboo.”
https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-origin-of-the-derogatory-term-jigaboo?q=what%20is%20jigaboo
U.S. coarse slang. Also jiggabo, jijjiboo, zigabo, etc. [Related to jig, U.S. coarse slang. Also jigg (s. origin unknown, but perhaps the same word as prec. A Black person, a Negro. Like jigaboo, a term that gives offence.] . . .
1961 J. H. Griffin Black like Me (1962) 57 The Negro . . . hearing himself referred to as nigger, coon, jigaboo!
1970 L. Sanders Anderson Tapes lix. 160 The tall one . . . was a jigaboo.
1973 Washington Post 11 Mar. 6/6 “All that is left back there is a bunch of boos”-short for “jigaboos,” a derogatory term for blacks.
I grew up with the idea that, in terms of anyone’s intention when using language or acting in a certain way, it is impossible to be a “root inspector.” I cannot pop off the top of someone’s skull and root around for motives. What motives someone may have is between him/her/them and the Universe.
I can however be a “fruit inspector.” Clearly Back Street Rookie is designed to appeal to a certain YOUNG demographic, folks who read webtoons. But even in these very relaxed times, Korean culture among Gen-Xers and Millennials seems (based on what I read and hear) to be very romantic, unrealistic, and concerned with modesty much more than the current culture of their American counterparts.
The “fruit” of Back Street Rookie is there, IMHO. Not fresh by any means. Sort of over-ripe. But not rotting, and not plastic.
And who knows? Maybe Ji Chang Wook’s production company derives an income stream from part-ownership of a company that creates webtoons.
At any rate, I have been invigorated by this discussion, and I will keep making informed choices (hopefully sensitive choices) going forward about my K-drama viewing.
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I get what you’re saying, though I think grooming can take place in the teenage years. Just because an individual is 18 doesn’t mean that their youth and impressionable nature cannot be preyed upon by an older individual. I’ve seen several examples of this, and I was just commenting that it shouldn’t be romanticized.
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Being African American , I gotta add two cents to this. I do not believe this actor is in any way part African from his appearance, Korean actors tend to have LOTS of plastic surgery to the point we who watch dramas aren’t sure what Korean people even look like. Take notice of the amount of skin bleaching by looking at pictures before and after , say look at Park Bo Young’s skin tone in Scandal Makers vs today or Yung So-Min in Playful Kiss vs today …they both would have had California white women jealous with their tan , also Koreans tend to have naturally full lips like people of African descent, so what you are looking at in this actor is a guy who never played the modification game with his face …only oddball thing is he does not look his age ( 38 ) , but there are still a lot of Dick Clark style vampires out there walking around
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