HMMM that's a very good question that I don't have a very good answer for, partly because I just don't watch/read as much these days and partly because I'm a little picky lol. But thinking about the specific pieces of media that I like, there are some trends:

I dont watch a lot of tv tbh but most of the time its actually murder of the week type stuff like criminal minds or og csi (ill rewatch them every few years) and lately I've been liking high potential quite a bit. Yes it's copaganda but I like a little murder mystery lol. Im terribly behind on the few anime I watched but I have a soft spot for the nostalgic stuff from my teens. I also loved political animals and ive been meaning to watch kings. I don't watch much political drama (or drama in general) but sometimes I think I'd like it. I've never watched got but if there was one thing to make me want to, it'd be the fantasy politics.

A lot of the video games I love have that kind of thing going on, too. I love several final fantasy entries and those are often rife with it. For games, I tend to like rpgs with an interesting lore/world. I love far cry 4 for both those things, too.

For movies, I do love horror but specifically a kind of like creeping dread type. I loved keeper, night house, and the ritual. Also more anime, Akira, lupin, mononoke. I was big into the mcu during phase 1 and ca:tfa is still of my favs tbh. I like superhero movies when I can surface from the like, mcu fatigue.

Aaaand books/comics. I don't read as much ink and paper books as I do fanfic lol. There's a couple manga series I like (seinen mostly) and I have a bunch of junji ito books. I used to have a few volumes of hawkeye 2012 and I wish I had them back lol, I'd like to get more into certain marvel stories/characters. I love hamlet specifically but ive read two other Shakespeare plays and would like to read more.

I don't think I answered your question at all and instead just listed a bunch of stuff I like lmao, but as you can see it's a bit of a mixed bag so it's difficult to pin down a Favorite genre. But it was really fun to think about, thank you for letting me shout out my favs 🖤

Oh no I'm having a pretty good day actually! When I said konmari my shit, I meant clean out my closet lmao. But I appreciate the big hug and I'm hugging you back SO hard! 🖤

I mean stray kids for starters lol. Although... the size of their concerts is so like, not intimidating but just not a thing I've ever really wanted to deal with yknow? For them, I would, and I hope I get the chance some day!

I'm also desperately holding on to the hope that I can see the gazette someday. I missed a chance several years ago to see them in Dallas and have been absolutely kicking myself ever since, and then I was waiting for a tour announcement for mass when fucking covid broke out and they haven't played abroad since then. They CLAIMED to be releasing new music soon but that was a year ago. I love them but they are killing me 😩

Those are kind of the two big ones, I can't really think of anyone else but there are plenty of artists I'd definitely go see if I heard they were playing near me and the tickets weren't insane. I thought about seeing Hannah bahng and mad tsai earlier this year but it was before I got my job so I didn't have any money lol

🫶

I think it's mostly their sound and how they don't shy away from making music that's not like super typical kpop. Which isn't at all meant as hate or shade, I dig other kpop too, but I mostly listen to rock/metal, rap, lots of noisy shit I don't really know the exact subgenre of, so skz is not as big a leap as a lot of other groups, and their noisier/"weirder" songs have actually helped me transition into their more laidback tracks.

That said, I did have a bit of history with kpop beforehand. When I was in middle school/early high school, I listened casually to a handful of groups (2nd gen) but never really got deep, like I didn't really know b sides or watch interviews. I kind of moved on to other stuff and it wasn't until like 2023 or something that I somehow came across the gods menu mv and was like hey this is kinda sick. I didn't look into them at the time and then in 2024 I saw chk chk boom and was like wait I remember these guys, and I kiiinda started looking at them more, and then when kpop demon hunters came out it triggered a huge kpop nostalgia wave and that was it for me. I started watching more of their mvs and like extra content for once. And then they announced karma and I just. Spiraled. I hate these guys 👊👊👊💕

HMMM that is so difficult.... so I will not choose lmao, here's a couple that I'm especially obsessed with:

I might be a little biased bc it was my first comeback but the sporty karma concept is definitely one of my favs, especially the entire ceremony mv. I think it was super fun, and the pop up stuff from then was so cute. Oh and a lot of their performance outfits from that era as well. I'm not a sporty person really but for some reason I just love all the sporty looks from that era!

The dominATE promo, all the black clothes and spray painted set pieces and everything was so cool and edgy, I had to get the post card set as soon as I saw it in skrrs collection for the first time. And it's not exactly the same but the chk chk boom black and red streetwear is an all time favorite. If it's dark or edgy or grungy, you can count on me loving it.

And for something quite specific, the pink jjam billboard performance, I looove that stage and the styling so much. Am I heavily influenced by hyunjins little hair buns? Yes but we already knew that.

THANK YOU 🥹 ive only made two and whether it's recency bias or normal bias, I think the hyunjin one is my favorite! But I already have ideas for more id like to do. So far I've only used stuff I've gotten as freebies (like lomos and also for some reason I keep getting random photobook pages) and that I already had like old stationery or duplicate books. It's fun to try to figure something out just using what I've got. I have some pepero boxes, some karma stuff, and a maxident page that I'm excited to use! I also really want to get my old polaroid snap to start working again so I can take pictures of my Good photobooks and make lil polaroids to use but I fear it may be dead for real

Like asking me to pick my favorite child 😩 I mean I really wanna be good and answer the question properly but uh...

Gods Menu mv was my first skz exposure and watching it feels really nostalgic for that reason. I'm super fond of the ones that are more cinematic like Cinema (hah) and Escape especially. I have to be careful with Cinema tho bc i almost always cry lol. I like Christmas Evel because it's just pure fun, and I LOVE any of the street versions because watching them just goof around and be silly is so goooood, like it's oddly heartwarming yknow?

But actually, I think I might have an answer now that ive been thinking about it. JJAM. It's skz's particular brand of weird, super catchy and fun to watch, and it has that bit that gives each racha their moment to shine. So I think JJAM. What I'd consider my personal favorite is constantly changing but JJAM is definitely one that I would show someone if they wanted to know what skz is like!

I have... never seen one.

Okay listen, I looooove that play and one of the reasons I love Shakespeare in general is the lack of stage direction (which I'm sure is not just him but probably just a thing of that era, idk). The fact that the play never indicates how a thing should be said or done and even leaves most of the action to implication means that I can imagine ANYTHING!! It's my oyster! I can make this part a raging tirade one day and a heartbroken whimper the next and no matter what, I'm not WRONG because there's nothing in the text that says I can't, and that's SO MUCH FUN. Every time I read it, it's a little different. Watching a performance is a lot of fun too, and I absolutely want to see the ways that other people interpret the text because it's always fascinating to me, but I guess for that reason I've never really been bothered to go watch a bunch of them. Well, for the film versions anyway, the main reason I've never seen it on stage is just that I haven't had the chance yet. I do OH MY GOD I just remembered. I have watched a film adaptation of Hamlet and I got too excited to talk about the text and forgot it.

Okay so I guess by default my favorite is the 1964 Russian film directed by Grigori Kozintsev (I had to look that up) but I'm not mad about that in the slightest because at least visually it's fucking STUNNING. It's black and white of course which helps but the atmosphere is borderline spooky, like quite somber overall but with these really sick high contrast shots. The absolute best part was the ghost of the king walking in slow motion, silhouetted completely black against the sky. Jesus. I don't even remember the performance especially well (it's been years) but I will never forget that one shot. It had some other neat bits I remember like a shot of Hamlet's feet walking up stairs as he did one of the soliloquys. I have to watch it again soon, it really is incredible.

Massive shoutout to Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (1966) and the film version (1990) for being my favorite spin-off and the thing that got me into hamlet originally (full disclosure, it was a fanfic, but I'll say it was rgad) and another to Sarah Bernhardt, who in 1900 became the first actor (not first woman, first actor PERIOD) to play Hamlet on film.

And little post script for the adaptations I plan on watching eventually: Ophelia with Daisy Ridley, and the German silent film version starring Asta Nielsen which was actually based on some dude's academic assertion that Hamlet is Actually For Real A Woman based on the fact that he uh [checks notes] is hysterical and in love with Horatio. Baby, he can do that shit as a man, too, but I do love how Asta looks as this little haunted doll of a boy.

THANK YOU. Role play type skzcodes are so funny bc they're goofy as hell but they always spawn the most serious aus (skz family, I'm looking at you).

Favorite dynamics... it's hard because I like so many different flavors. Joseon au caught me with the rival swordsmen thing, I love the idea of disliking a guy but the forced proximity has you realizing that maybe he's not so bad... or at least he's a guy you could bang and then go straight back to bickering with. Like it's casual, but it's kind of not, but it's also nothing because he's a jerk, and I definitely don't think about when he's gone at all.

I also really love the idea of a developing crush, like going through the stages of grief but it's about the mortifying ordeal of being in love, and there's a bit of flirting, a bit of will-they-won't-they back and forth. I LOVE confessions ahhh 🖤

I also wanna shout out platonic ships with a really sweet hyung/dongsaeng dynamic, it's so easy to come by with skz because they're just like that so often and I eat it uppp. I kinda hate teasing wips that are in absolutely no state to share properly but I have one with Minho being worlds best hyung to both felix and seungmin and thinking about it gives me ALL of the warm fuzzies.

(Thank you again for joseon au encouragement, you get a kiss 🖤)