Famous

If I were a cool guy, how would my life be different during downtime?

Right now, I am in the habit of either studying one of my two computer textbooks, or writing code for one of my apps. So I'm doing work.

I get tired of doing those things. It feels like general fatigue. It's as if I want to take a break from concentrating.

At the end of my day, it is common for me to conclude that I am relatively exhausted. When this happens, I go and lay in bed. I bring my iPad with me and I open the YouTube app, and I watch Arrested Development clips. I do this even when it's not bed time and I just want to do something other than work.

Arrested Development is off the air. No new episodes are coming out. I don't pay for episodes - I only want to watch the free clips that I can get on YouTube (although I do pay for YouTube Premium). Both of these facts mean I'm constantly rewatching the same favorite clips from the small pool that I have available to me.

I face a similar situation if I want to watch The Office clips.

Watching full episodes of either of these shows is off the table. I don't want to pay money to watch a full episode. The actual shows at hand are not fun to watch, in my opinion. They hit gold once in awhile and that's what makes the content on YouTube very enjoyable. At least, up to a point.

I tire of my YouTube recommended feed. The grassroots content of YouTubers isn't really interesting to me. Video essays have a low ceiling on them for some reason. I feel that all the content creators are only producing content with a voice suitable for addressing people no more mature than what we'd find in a high school classroom.

I like working lately. I feel like I'm doing a good job and not running from challenges. If I become a cool guy by keeping this up, how will my life be different? Will I still feel bored during my downtime?

What if I were the president of the United States? Let's say it's 10pm, and my responsibilities are taken care of. It's my downtime. What do I do?

What if I were a rock star? It's 10pm. It's my downtime. What do I do?

I don't know the answer to this question.

The Chase of Happiness

Somewhere, we pick up the notion that happiness is attainable and where we want to go. I think there are many people who say that you're probably not going to be happy all the time, but they would encourage a child to try to chase it anyway.

I feel that happiness is less important to me as I get older. I don't think that this makes me a cynical person. I've found that having peace, and also pride, make me feel like I've chased the correct goals in my life.

I feel dread and pain sometimes when I go about my programming and studying tasks. I don't feel like what I would name happy. I don't think it matters to me anymore. I have a salve for just this occasion, and it is the two things I mentioned in the previous paragraph.

We Need to Talk about Red Velvet

Red Velvet's music makes me feel like they are in touch with my dreams and subconcious. It is similar to the feeling I used to get when watching South Park.

South Park, particularly in its glory days, used to feature dialogue that sounded perfectly stereotypical of one fool or another. I would watch the show and feel like Matt and Trey were cheating by examining my dreams and pulling their script from my dream world. When a character on the show had a critical fault, it felt new to hear him or her speak and yet it felt perfect because it made me feel like I was dreaming while awake. I refer to my dreams here as though they inform my predictions of how people really are.

When I hear Red Velvet, I don't feel like they're just recycling the same two themes that circulate most kpop songs (have confidence and get a boyfriend). Rather, I feel like they're stretching their necks into the cosmos, finding whispers of calm, serious, rigid fearlessness, and handing this loot over to me in the form of their songs.

Here are some Twice songs off the top of my head:

1. I Got You
2. Chillax
3. Go Hard
4. Dance the Night Away
5. Knock Knock

These songs fit the expected mold of kpop. They are about being nice, having confidence, even being a little cocky. Here are some Red Velvet songs:

1. Umpah Umpah
2. Parade
3. Psycho
4. Nightmare
5. Will I Ever See You Again

There is no comparison. Red Velvet is interested in the other-worldly, the edges of what we know. They don't just recycle the cliche themes.

Much of the allure of Red Velvet lies in the simple catchiness of their music. I used to like EDM music and sure, Red Velvet scores points with me just because their sound is euphoric. But when they're excited about fare that would seem mundane to someone who didn't know they were making music with it, it elevates them to the highest level of entertainment.

By my judgment, Red Velvet is 10x as good as Taylor Swift. 3x better than Lady Gaga. 2x better than Twice. And I say that as someone who eagerly clicked the Twice I Got You making-of video as soon as it came out.