{"id":7699,"date":"2026-04-22T16:23:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T16:23:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news678.top\/?p=7699"},"modified":"2026-04-22T16:23:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T16:23:09","slug":"3-things-michelle-kim-is-into-right-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news678.top\/?p=7699","title":{"rendered":"3 things Michelle Kim is into right now"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Isegye Idol<\/h3>\n
If you thought K-pop was weird, virtual idols\u2014<\/em>humans who perform as anime-style digital characters via motion capture\u2014<\/em>will blow your mind. My favorite is a girl group called Isegye Idol, created by Woowakgood, a Korean VTuber (a streamer who likewise performs as a digital persona). Isegye Idol\u2019s six members are anonymous, which seems to let them deploy a rare breed of honesty and humor. They play games (League of Legends, Go, Minecraft), chitchat, and perform kitschy music that\u2019s somewhere between anime soundtrack and video-\u00adgame score. It\u2019s very DIY\u2014<\/em>and very intimate. And the group\u2019s wild popularity speaks to the mood of Gen Z South Koreans, famously lonely and culturally adrift\u2014<\/em>struggling to find work, giving up on dating, trying to find friendships online. Isegye Idol shows what a magical online universe people can build when reality stops working for them.<\/p>\n
Mr. Nobody Against Putin<\/em><\/h3>\n
Pavel Talankin didn\u2019t have the easiest life as a schoolteacher in the copper-\u00adsmelting town of Karabash, Russia; UNESCO once called it the most toxic place on Earth. But video he shot, partially in secret, makes it clear he loved it\u2014<\/em>the smokestacks, the cold, the ice mustache he\u2019d get walking around outside, and, most of all, his bright-eyed students. That makes it all the more painful when a distant, grinding war and state propaganda change the town. An antiwar progressive with a democracy flag in his classroom, Talankin had to deal with a new patriotic curriculum, mandatory parades, visits from mercenaries\u2014<\/em>and the loss of the creative space he\u2019d built with his students. Talankin\u2019s footage tells his story in this Oscar-winning documentary from director David Borenstein, and what struck me most is how strange it is being an adult around kids. We shape them in profound ways we might not even recognize.<\/p>\n
Repertoire<\/em> by James Acaster<\/h3>\n
I am the kind of person who will pay $150 to watch a comedian in a smelly theater in San Francisco that charges $20 for a can of water\u2014<\/em>because I am crazy enough to hope that standup will not die. In February, I saw the British comedian James Acaster perform live \u2026 and it was a mediocre show. But Repertoire<\/em>, his 2018 miniseries on Netflix, is gold. Shot shortly after Acaster went through a breakup, the four-part show features him portraying, among other characters, a cop who goes undercover as a standup comedian, forgets who he is, and gets divorced. And then things get weird. \u201cWhat if every relationship you\u2019ve ever been in,\u201d Acaster asks, \u201cis somebody slowly figuring out they didn\u2019t like you as much as they hoped they would?\u201d If the best comedy comes from paying attention to the hellhole that you\u2019re in, I wish Acaster many more pitfalls.