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overthinkingkdrama · 4 years

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Exit Review: Itaewon Class

Synopsis

Park Saeroyi is a socially awkward high school student and son of a devoted and kind single father. His unvarnished righteous personality has a tendency to rub people the wrong way, but it is not in his nature to back down from what he believes to be right. After a run in with a bully named Geun Won, the son of the ruthless, vindictive CEO of a restaurant empire, Saeroyi winds up pitted against the powerful, unscrupulous Jangga Co. After a tragic incident shatters Saeroyi's world and winds up with him going to prison, he decides to dedicate his life to beating Jangga Co. on its own corporate turf while keeping his principles intact.

Review

Story: My first impressions of Itaewon Class were largely positive. The drama wasn't doing anything I hadn't seen before in another form, but there was something compelling about it. I wasn't sure whether to attribute that to the writing or the strong performances from the leads, but I was willing to give credit to both and see where things would go. At its most basic level, Itaewon Class is a classic revenge melo with a slick, modern coat of paint. As the drama went on I still found a lot of things I liked about it, and I was impressed out how daringly it dealt with certain topics that your average Kdrama has historically been reluctant to even hint at (racism and xenophobia in South Korea being one. The positive inclusion of a named trans character who even gets a love line later in the run being another.)

So, let it not be said that there is nothing praiseworthy or boundary pushing about this drama. That is not the case. However, as we got late into the run I started having more and more issues with the writing on a narrative level. Itaewon Class has some of the most uneven character development I've seen in a drama. Clearly some of the characters were a focus while others were decidedly not. That wouldn't be so bad in and of itself if the scripts for the last 6 episodes specifically hadn't felt in places like they were written by an entirely different writer, a writer with only a passing knowledge of the development and characterization that had come before. Geun Soo and Geun Won's character arcs are the most egregious example, but Soo Ah suffered from this as well. Additionally, Soo Ah--who was divisive for a lot of the audience but who I quite liked during the first half of the run--had a huge motivation gap for much of the drama leading into the finale week, one that was hastily pasted over in a way that made it no less frustrating as a viewer.

Although Itaewon Class has decidedly melo tendencies from the beginning, the first half of the run felt more or less grounded in reality. However, those problematic last 6 episodes during which the decline in writing quality was rapid took several makjang turns that made what was meant to be a serious ramp up in stakes into a source of unintentional hilarity.

I've already gone on too long, so I won't get into the love lines here. I'll only say that the romance, along with everything else in the plot, lost significant steam in the second half of the drama.

Acting: I really have nothing negative to say about the acting in this. Obviously, these things are going to vary from actor to actor and taste to taste, but I was very impressed with the acting in this drama as a whole. In the past I've been critical of Park Seo Joon (some would say unfairly so) but I do recognize that he's a true talent, and this is easily the most I've liked him in anything. He really manages the pathos, the fierce bullheadedness and the gut punch moments for Saeroyi impressively well. The extended cast is strong. Special props to my girl Lee Joo Young for her role as Hyun Yi. I hope she gets a ton more recognition in the future because this show did so well in the ratings. I also liked Kim Dong Hee as Geun Soo (even though I completely loathed the handling of his character arc) and I'm kind of curious to see what he could do in a better written role. This was my first time seeing Kim Da Mi in anything, and I will give her what I consider the biggest compliment I can give to an actor: I'm going to seek out other things in her filmography, and I'm going to watch her career, because she has something special.

Production: Itaewon Class is a good looking show. A little bit too squeaky clean for my tastes, but indisputably well shot and frequently quite pretty to look at. The sequences in Itaewon itself were considerably stronger and had better energy than any of the corporate stuff. However, the set they used for Jang Dae Hee's office was really neat looking and suited his character beautifully. I also liked everyone's styling. The sponsored clothing in this drama is on point.

Feels: This could definitely be a personal problem but I felt really let down by this drama. All the way through the climax of episode 8 and possibly even including episodes 9 and 10 this drama was probably a 8/10 for me or better. It wasn't perfect, but it was pushing boundaries, and it was surprising me with some unique characters. Yi Seo specifically is a female character I haven't seen before, and I was invested in her development. I know not everyone is going to agree with this or see where I'm coming from and that's fine. I don't begrudge other people enjoying this one. But I thought the last 3 weeks cratered hard and completely spoiled my enjoyment with the inconsistent and frankly sloppy writing. Beyond that, as a revenge melo I didn’t think it worked. Part of what makes a revenge story so satisfying is seeing a righteous character go up against a Goliath and succeed against all odds. The final combat in a truly great revenge story--a la The Count of Monte Cristo--happens within the hero. It takes place between the heroes sadistic desire to see his enemy experience the pain he experienced and his essentially decent and heroic nature. This drama didn’t give me that. By the time it ended it really felt like Saeroyi was bullying a dying, bitter old man. There was nothing triumphant and satisfying about it. As an avid consumer of the revenge genre, it just felt bad, to be honest, and subverted my expectations in an unpleasant way.

Would I recommend Itaewon Class? I bumped up my rating for some truly good acting and a strong first half, but I probably wouldn't recommend this drama to anyone. 6/10

#itaewon class #park seo joon #exit review #kim da mi #exit rant #drama review

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thisisthepartwhereyou · 4 years

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STAR WARS-SPECULATION #2: Rebel or Lost Cause? *May Contain Spoilers*

--- During the course of human history there has been many cases of overwhelming tyranny and opression. It can be as small as the dominion of a single creature, or as vast as an entire world. But as they say, even the cornered rat will bite the cat, and give birth to struggle and resistance. Under these circumstances, a rebellion rises to resist and challenge the rule of the oppressors, despite facing unlikely odds. David against Goliath, the Spartans in the battle of Thermopylae, and when speaking of the Star Wars-sequel trilogy, the Resistance and the First Order.

While one can go on to say that the conflict between the First Order and the Resistance is basically a carbon-copy of the Empire versus the Rebellion from the original trilogy, as we don't go deep enough into the history or political aspects of either group to really nail down their differences to their older counterparts. Though from what I gather, the First Order is composed of the remnants of the empire, who by the time of The Force Awakens (2015) is recognized as an extremist following, though not generally seen as a major danger in the eyes of the government (like a space-equivelent to North Korea?). The Resistance is a countergroup acting outside of the galactic government who sees the threath of the First Order and keeps an eye on their acitivties.

Either way, that is not what I am here to talk about today, as my focus will be directed at one of the most principal characters within the Resistance: Poe Dameron.

Played by the very likable Guetamalan-American actor Oscar Isaac, Poe Dameron is an ace X-wing pilot, an agent of the Resistance and the original owner of the droid BB-8. His actions in the first movie, where he stores important information within his droid, is what starts the whole chain of events for the trilogy, an act which rhymes with the actions of princess Leia in A New Hope (1977). Over the trilogy he is portrayed as a brave, cocky and hotheaded brother in arms. He is a generally well-received character, especially in regards to his bromantic (and apparently quasi-romantic) relationship with Finn, but has over the progression of the last two films been the subject for critique. Not as red-hot of a critique as some other aspects of the sequels, but enough to make you raise your eyebrowns a bit. The main critique being, is he REALLY neccesary?

Don't get me wrong, new members of the Resistance are vital for new movies, otherwise the Resistance might have looked like an old folks home. Poe Dameron should have all the ingredients neccesary to be the posterboy of the the Resistance: he is the member with the most screentime, his actions set off, he is played by a very likable actor and he is a great pilot. But the issue is, while it is all there, it is not really utilized well. The further one goes with these movies, the more one realizes that he is the least developed of the main characters. His role in TFA is minor, he acts as an agressor in a generally disliked sideplot in The Last Jedi (2017), and his part in The Rise of Skywalker (2019), while the richest in content, feels un-earned because the direction of the character is neither clear or given enough development.

So considering that his role doesn't add a whole lot in the trilogy after the first part, was Poe Dameron's continuous role in the sequel-trilogy REALLY neccesary? Objectively, I would have to say no. I mean if a character doesn't have a clear purpose, you either give him one, scale him back or kill him off, so that you can give more room for the other characters. I believe the therm is “kill your darlings.“ With that said, I can understand why one would be reluctant to kill him off to begin with; Oscar Isaacs is the most likable actor ever, something that translates into his performance, and in turn, the character. While Poe Dameron is pretty pointless, he is still hard to completely dislike. This illustrates the power of a talented actor, that he or she can someimes overwin bland or nonsensical writing.

So we have a character that is perfectly likable and who could have been a great addition to the franchise. There certainly was potencial in him, so what could have been done to make the most of it? Well, below are some of the directions I think could have been taken:

A) Poe Dameron dying in TFA: This one feels appropriate, considering it was the original intent of the moviemakers. As stated by Oscar Isaac's in Business Insider (https://www.businessinsider.com/star-wars-poe-was-supposed-to-die-2016-3?r=US&IR=T), his character was originally supposed to die. While it would be a shame to see a likable character go so fast, it might have solved a couple of issues and added something more to the first part of the trilogy. Besides the fact that it could have added an extra layer of danger to the plot, in that any character could die at any point, it would have also put all of our eggs in the basket of a deserting stormtrooper and a random scavenger. Plus, killing him off wouldn't have made his role in TFA much smaller anyway. Poe not being in the two following movies could have also left much bigger room for the development Rey, Finn and several other characters. Also, to see how the heroism and sacrifice of a single Resistance-member would affect Finn would be really interesting, considering that Finn would have owed his freedom and life to a complete stranger (who was just recently his enemy) that would have died before he could have even had a chance to thank him. How does that make a person who is trying to flee from the battlefield, feel? I can't help but to think of a similar situation in the Green Lantern-comics (DC), where veteran member of the Green Lantern Corps, Abin-sur, crashlands on Earth and gives his power ring to Hal Jordan, a human pilot, before dying. Abin-sur's death had a considerable effect on Hal Jordan, in that besides becoming a new corps member, but became one by taking over the ring of the corp's most beloved and respected members. That is a hell of legacy to live up to, not to mention a massive responsibility. Something like THAT would have been a pretty thought-provoking storyline for Finn.

B) His carelessness has personal consequences in TLJ: In the beginning of TLJ, Poe Dameron disobeys an order to evacuate and instead engages a First Order fleet. This is a foolhardy act, as even though they take down a Stardestroyer, a lot of Resistance pilots die in the process. While it has several consequences within the movie, such as barely having any pilots left for the remainder of it, he himself do not seem overly affected by it, dismissing it as the casualties of war. But if you really think about it, should there not be some resentment aimed at him besides from his superiors, and shouldn’t he feel more guilt? I mean, Rose Tico's sister died in that battle. Wouldn't it have been more interesting Rose and others resent him for his careless actions? This could've been a more likable struggle for him, as he should have been the one to learn that war is not just about defeating the enemy, but saving the ones you love. If he had done this and in the process displayed a sense of leadership in a time of great need, maybe his transformation into a commander in TROS would have felt more organic?

C) Poe goes with Finn to Canto Bight instead of Rose Tico: This one could have worked as a continuation to B. Canto Bight isn't exactly a favorite moment in TLJ, even for the ones who like TLJ. The main criticism being that it is not that interesting of a planetary environment; basically just feeling like a casino with aliens. Another critique is that it felt like a detour that was too disconnected and did ultimately not add that much to the other parts of the movie. One way of making the movie less fragmented, as well as give Poe something better to do, could have been to give him more or less the same role as Rose Tico. Besides further developing his and Finn's friendship, it could have even been a way of putting that awkward kiss in the third act to better use, and confirm some legitimacy to the whole Finn X Poe-ship. While I am not staunch supporter of the ship, I have to admit that it would have been interesting. With that said, I don't think it would have made everyone happy. I mean lets face it, if people get upset about a black dude in a stormtrooper-uniform, one can only assume how they would have reacted to an openly gay or bi character in Star Wars. But at the same time, if people were pissed off at even the good bits in TLJ, why not go all the way and piss off every stuck up parent sitting in the theaters worldwide while you're at it? Certainly would have been ballsiest move ever, especially considering it’s a Disney-film.

D) Poe staying at Leia's side in TROS: As I have written before, the main issues with TROS is messy storytelling and a rushed pace. One of many things that adds to this is by suddenly providing Poe with a backstory while simultenously trying to give him a bigger role than before by having him travel with Rey and Finn. What if they had scaled him down a little, let him stay with Leia as they plan for the upcoming attack? Not only would it have been more powerful for him to be there with her as she passes away, but also motivate him to step into the role of a mature leader more. I realize that this is a little sensitive, as it may have required additional footage of Leia in order to work. Though to be fair, being respectful is one thing, making a good movie is another. And also, if they can remake young Leia for a flashback, why can't they just remake old Leia a bit for some extra material?

Could any of these alternatives have added something good to the movie, or subtracted from the main story? You tell me. No, seriously, tell me what you think, I would love to hear your thoughts on the matter in the comments. Do you have any ideas of your own that could have helped make Poe Dameron the most iconic pilot of the sequel era? Feel free to discuss this with me :) ---

#star wars #poe dameron #finn #rey #leia #sw #x-wing #Speculation #rebel or lost cause #TROS #TLJ #TFA #The last Jedi #The Force Awakens #the rise of skywalker #theory #analysis #jcl #oscar isaac

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takenews-blog1 · 6 years

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Our top 7 cyber security predictions for 2018

New Post has been published on https://takenews.net/our-top-7-cyber-security-predictions-for-2018/

Our top 7 cyber security predictions for 2018

Given what’s occurred in 2017 — the Equifax breach, state-sponsored assaults, Russian manipulation of social media, Wannacry, and extra phishing scams than we will depend — you may not be trying ahead to 2018. Breaches might be greater, hackers might be smarter, and safety groups and budgets received’t appear to maintain tempo.

There’s cause to be optimistic, although. Sure, some issues will worsen earlier than they get higher, however we anticipate actual progress in a couple of areas. Right here’s what we predict will occur subsequent yr.

Surveys present that U.S. firms topic to the European Union’s (EU) Normal Knowledge Safety Regulation (GDPR) are far behind the place they have to be to make the Could 25 compliance deadline. For some, it may not matter.

Regulators is not going to audit for GDPR compliance, so firms are weak to fines provided that there’s a breach or EU residents file complaints. Even when an organization experiences a breach or criticism, regulators will probably deal with it leniently if the corporate can doc good-faith efforts to conform.

Organizations that don’t take GDPR critically and expertise an occasion that triggers an investigation by regulators are at actual threat of a heavy fantastic. That leads us to our subsequent prediction.

There are two faculties of thought of whom regulators will goal first. Some say they are going to set a precedent first with an EU firm as a result of they’re perceived to be much less more likely to struggle a fantastic. Others consider that regulators is not going to solely go after a U.S. firm early, however they’ve particular firms in thoughts.

It’s not exhausting to guess which firms they could be. Google, Apple, Amazon, and Fb have all had contentious relationships with the European Fee on privateness and antitrust points. If any of those 4 present indicators of non-compliance with GDPR, EU regulators would possibly effectively seize the chance to make a press release.

Different firms should not more likely to be early targets until an particularly egregious occasion happens that might have been prevented or minimized had GDPR guidelines been adopted. The secure plan is to make your finest effort to be in compliance by Could 25.

The Equifax and Anthem breaches have been wake-up calls for a lot of shoppers, who at the moment are asking questions concerning the security of their on-line accounts. Most nonetheless do not know about password options or enhancements like multi-factor authentication (MFA) or risk-based authentication, however they’re extra conscious that passwords alone now not are sufficient. The truth is, analysis carried out by Bitdefender reveals that U.S. residents are extra involved about stolen identities (79 p.c) than electronic mail hacking (70 p.c) or residence break-ins (63 p.c).

That is necessary, as a result of firms usually cite a scarcity of demand for stronger authentication as a cause for not providing it. They’re reluctant to take action, partially, as a result of they don’t need extra difficult authentication degrading the person expertise.

That fear might be eased by risk-based authentication instruments which can be turning into broadly out there. These instruments work within the background to evaluate conduct and different information to find out the probability that the individual making an attempt entry is definitely approved. Coupled with MFA, risk-based authentication places up a robust barrier to unauthorized entry.

Danger-based authentication is commonly bundled with identification and entry administration (IAM) instruments. Based on Stratistics MRC, the IAM market is projected to develop at a compound annual progress fee of 14.eight p.c in 2018, which is one other indicator that password-only authentication is headed to extinction.

Legal responsibility considerations over compromised credentials are additionally driving firms to stronger authentication. In its Knowledge Breach Trade Forecast, Experian factors out that, after a serious information breach at one firm, credential reuse impacts different firms. They’re pressured to inform customers when hackers use their stolen credentials to fraudulently entry companies.

Experian calls this an aftershock breach, and the report urges organizations to deploy secondary authentication strategies. “Given the continued success of aftershock breaches involving username and passwords, we predict that attackers are going to take the identical method with different kinds of assaults involving much more private data, equivalent to social safety numbers or medical data,” the report acknowledged.

The same old suspects for state-sponsored assaults — North Korea, Iran, and Russia — don’t have a lot to lose by persevering with their makes an attempt to extort, steal, spy and disrupt by infiltrating data methods. All are already closely sanctioned, and the implications — at the very least these we find out about — in response to state-sponsored assaults have been minimal.

This makes the chance of escalating these assaults appear low. Anticipate state-sponsored attackers to maintain pushing the envelope by way of scale and affect of their assaults. An space of specific concern is crucial infrastructure like energy and communications grids. “The development of cyber assaults pushed by nation-states will undoubtedly place crucial infrastructure within the crosshairs, probably resulting in widespread outages or uncovered private data that might affect thousands and thousands of harmless shoppers,” acknowledged Experian’s 2017 Knowledge Breach Trade Forecast.

Affected nations and the worldwide neighborhood will reply with extra stress on the dangerous actors. Extra sanctions and indictments of international nationals deemed accountable are probably. “Sadly, till there’s a clear worldwide settlement relating to guidelines of engagement in our on-line world, these assaults are probably solely going to extend and escalate,” the Experian report acknowledged.

State-sponsored assaults may also spur nations to type alliances to struggle them. “Elevated assaults on crucial infrastructure will drive nations to start discussing cybersecurity alliances. Establishing these alliances will present mutual protection for all nations concerned and it’ll permit for the sharing of intelligence within the face of attributed nation-state assaults, to not point out agreements to not assault one another,” says Eddie Habibi, CEO of PAS International.

Till efficient deterrents are in place, offending nations will escalate their assaults till the price is just too excessive. That price would possibly come within the type of in-kind counter-attacks and even some sort of bodily strike. Let’s hope we don’t find yourself with the sort of brinkmanship that saved the world on edge in the course of the Chilly Battle.

Thousands and thousands of related units have little or no protection towards hackers who need to achieve management of them. The truth is, it’s getting simpler for hackers to take over scores of web of issues (IoT) units. All they need to do is buy a botnet equipment from the darkish net and they’re in enterprise. The highest three botnet kits — Andromeda, Gamarue and Wauchos — are estimated to be accountable for compromising greater than one million units a month. The Reaper botnet has contaminated greater than one million units.

The issue is that we haven’t but seen what the hackers who management the botnets intend to do with them. Will it’s to launch distributed denial of service (DDoS) assaults? Ship huge quantities of spam? Or will they do one thing we haven’t seen earlier than? We’ll discover out in 2018.

It takes time to construct, safe, and arrange the command infrastructure for a botnet at a Reaper-like scale. A hacker would unlikely make investments that sort of effort with out anticipating a big return. Botnet assaults in 2018 could possibly be very fascinating, and never in a great way.

That’s the dangerous botnet information. The excellent news is that efforts towards botnets are enhancing. In December, three folks pleaded responsible to prices associated to their creating and utilizing the Mirai botnet to launch a DDoS assault on DNS service firm Dyn. Additionally in December, ESET and Microsoft introduced that that they had cooperated to take down 464 botnets and greater than 1,200 command and management domains. Additionally encouraging, a person believed to be related to the botnets was arrested in Belarus.

Worldwide cooperation might be essential to cease botnets. The Belarus arrest together with the arrest of Peter Levashov, the hacker behind the Waledac and Kelihos spam botnets, in Spain final spring give hope that hackers can have fewer secure havens subsequent yr.

IoT gadget makers are slowly making progress on securing their units as effectively. That received’t assist the scores of units already deployed which can be troublesome or unattainable to patch, nonetheless. “Producers will begin to tackle these safety faults or threat dropping to the businesses that bake-in safety from the beginning,” says Ken Spinner, VP of discipline engineering at Varonis. “GDPR might save the day in the long term, forcing companies to rethink private information assortment by way of IoT, however we received’t see this impact till at the very least 2019.”

Safety groups wade via huge volumes of alerts and information day by day to find out what’s or isn’t a probable menace. That quantity will improve, pushed by extra assaults and extra assault vectors. Filtering the alert information is repetitive, tedious work, which makes it an ideal candidate to automate utilizing software program.

Organizations are already making the most of machine-learning-based instruments to assist filter alerts to lighten the load of over-burdened safety workers. We anticipate this development to speed up in 2018 as the quantity of menace indicators improve and the safety expertise pool stays constrained. And why not? Research have proven that, correctly deployed, automation instruments are extremely efficient at figuring out which alerts an individual wants to have a look at.

The automation trials that organizations are doing now will give them confidence within the expertise and assist them perceive the place it may well and might’t assist. That may encourage safety groups to develop the usage of automation the place it is smart. Automation is not going to be a panacea or exchange workers, however it’ll enhance menace detection effectiveness and free workers for different necessary duties.

With the elevated use of machine-learning-based automation will come a better consciousness of what it may well’t do. For instance, machine studying is simply pretty much as good as its mannequin and the info out there to research. It would probably miss any new sort of assault. This higher understanding of machine studying and automation will permit safety groups to deploy the expertise extra successfully.

Who can blame anybody for mistrusting all the things with regards to cyber safety? Nobody’s personally identifiable data (PII) is secure. Corporations can’t depend on the integrity of their suppliers’ and companions’ safety capabilities. The U.S. authorities is even throwing shade on a number one suppliers of safety software program as a result of it’s based mostly in Russia.

This lack of belief is beginning to have an actual impact on enterprise that may proceed into 2018. Uber didn’t assist issues when it was revealed that the corporate hid a big breach for a yr. Will probably be more durable to have interaction shoppers when they’re reluctant to belief firms with their PII. As defined above, this can drive firms to offer stronger authentication.

Anticipate extra firms to demand safety audits of their companions, suppliers, and repair suppliers. Third-party breaches have gotten extra frequent, and it reveals that any group’s safety is simply pretty much as good as its prolonged community. It could actually’t guarantee its prospects and staff that their information is secure in the event that they don’t know the chance offered by different organizations with which it does enterprise.

The U.S. authorities has banned the usage of Kaspersky software program in authorities companies as a result of it believes the chance of Russian affect to compromise the software program too excessive. Comparable actions by different nations are probably in 2018. “Different nations have proven comparable nationalistic tendencies equivalent to China and its lately handed, far-reaching cybersecurity legislation that requires entry to vendor supply code. We predict that the U.S. Govt Department will present comparable tendencies and direct authorities companies to train procurement desire for distributors with improvement and manufacturing within the U.S. or allied nations,” says PAS International’s Habibi.

The atmosphere of distrust will current alternatives for firms that may present real concern for safeguarding information and that they’ve correct safety infrastructure in place. In different phrases, earned belief turns into an asset when shoppers and different organizations are keen to do enterprise with you as a result of they really feel safe doing so.

This story, “Our high 7 cyber safety predictions for 2018” was initially printed by CSO.

#insta #instagood #like

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