“Baseball Representatives: League of Fans” season two (TVING)
Jeong Dana: What happens when retired baseball players who helped shape the history of the sport in Korea, and superfans with overflowing passion for the world of pro baseball, become team reps and heat things up with fierce debates? “Baseball Representatives: League of Fans” takes a deep dive into the dynamic world behind the plate of the Korea Baseball Organization, or KBO, and has returned for a second season right in time for the opening of the 2025 season. Every time they’re presented with a video and a topic for discussion, retired players like 2016 Rookie of the Year Shin Jae Young, “Korea’s cleanup hitter” Lee Dae-ho, “untouchable” star pitcher Yoon Suk-min, and master of “the art of slow” Yoo Hee-kwan leverage their firsthand experience to bring things to life with an insider’s perspective. Meanwhile, a panel of diehard fans such as Magic Park, a YouTuber who’s also a dentist and a baseball fan of 30 years, and Ji Sangryol, who’s so passionate he owns baseball merch from three decades ago, expound on their deep love of and enthusiasm for their favorite teams. The overall combination of expertise and passion sets “Baseball Representatives” apart in its ability to cater to everyone from baseball newbies to hardcore fans.

Comedian Eom Jiyoon is an irreplaceable ingredient in the show’s success and has of course returned for the new season. She scouts out different teams directly in prerecorded segments in each episode, and you can tell by the panelists’ reactions just how much the players and their teams go through in order to put on games that will keep crowds as excited as possible. In season one, baseball newbie Eom’s sharp remarks brought a fresh side of fun to the sport to existing fans. Now, by season two, she’s grown into an intermediate-level fan, and it shows. In the second episode, she works as a nutritionist for the NC Dinos, taking her duties by the horns by not only making the food and dealing with leftovers but also diving into the players’ dietary habits by addressing their problematic meal choices and conducting a survey on food tastes while flexing her comedy chops. Along the way, she carefully considers the use of medicinal herbs in servings of samgyetang to avoid issues with anti-doping tests and acknowledges all the hard work that team nutritionists put into providing tailored diets ranging from stamina-building meals to diet options for each player. While “Baseball Representatives” is full of insight from professionals and devoted fans, it also sheds light on the robust support systems working behind the scenes to keep the teams going, capturing the baseball experience from every angle. This year, the KBO reached one million spectators in seats faster than ever before, and “Baseball Representatives” builds on that momentum by exploring what makes baseball fanaticism fun—whether you’re a total newbie or recently graduated to an intermediate level.

“Vacation” feat. Kim Hanjoo (Say Sue Me)
Na Wonyoung (Music Critic): Say Sue Me has been one of the most dedicated, most passionate bands of the past decade in Korea when it comes to the electric guitar. To commemorate their monumental 10th anniversary, the band released their studio album “The Last Thing Left” and cover EP “10” in 2022. Around the same time, they established their own recording studio and label to secure their independence. Now, they’re set to release an exciting new record at the end of the month. The title of the new EP, “Time is Not Yours,” feels like a fairly succinct encapsulation of the relationship they’ve forged between their music and the passage of time. How do we let go of—or choose to retain—all the time that flows by or simply comes to an end, never truly ours (or anyone else’s)? Over the years, Say Sue Me’s expertly varied use of themes has included nostalgic ‘90s American indie rock, their complex love-hate relationship with their “Old Town” Busan, and—to borrow the title of another of their songs—“Coming To The End.” Ultimately, what they’ve done with their music has been to suggest ways to coexist with loss.

If their previous releases drew power from the reflective act of ascribing meaning to the past, then “Vacation,” put out as a single for their upcoming EP, feels a bit different. Even though the press release tells us “it’s time to pause for a moment and just breathe,” the music video follows someone on a bicycle as they travel across a field after seemingly choosing to make progress instead of continuing on with a long period of stasis. Of course, the familiar, solid framework of Say Sue Me is all still there. The steady, ironclad rhythm section sets the groundwork for the heavily distorted electric guitar to subtly control the texture of the sound, two guitars exchanging riffs across the stereo spectrum while the delicious pop melody rides smoothly atop an undulating wave of sound. Much like how “To Dream” off the group’s previous album played on a variation of this formula with Kim Oki’s dexterous saxophone, here featured artist Kim Hanjoo brings extra nuance to a modified version of Say Sue Me’s sound. Reminiscent of laid-back vacation vibes but tinted with the tension of a rushed life that can never quite be escaped, the opening and middle sections of the song feature attention-grabbing riffs that suggest country and blues influences. As the song comes to a close, it steadily builds with psychedelic energy, with two voices converging emotionally on the line “you know what you feel” and a different guitar with a sitar-like sound. Rather than relying on repetition for the sake of making the song longer, it ends decisively at its peak, driving home Say Sue Me’s quiet confidence in accepting time just the way it is, without reservations.

“Source Code: My Beginnings” (Bill Gates)
Kim Boksung (Writer): Unlike the way Steve Jobs is framed as a revolutionary or Elon Musk as a controversial showman, Bill Gates is often popularly considered just a nerd with a mind for business. But Gates has just released the first of a three-part memoir, “Source Code: My Beginnings,” and with its focus on his early life, before his company made it big, it’s a surprisingly humanizing look at a man later known for being a scrupulous, even harsh tech titan.

In his book—this is a memoir, not a biography—Gates is surprisingly honest and open, pulling the curtain back on his family life and even early experiences with therapy. With a self-deprecating tone, he lays bare that he was essentially a problem child—likely explaining his reputation later in life—but that his incredibly supportive family shaped him into the successful, and later charitable, person he would become.

Again, while we don’t know what tone the next two parts will take, this is definitively not a tech or business book. If it’s a personal story you’re after—and if you aren’t tired of hearing about privileged people finding success—this is an easy, enjoyable read. The choice to make it an autobiography might have some cynics seeing it more as a calculated move to reshape a public image that’s often been cast in a negative light over the years, but you still walk away from this book appreciating the hindsight and humility of age coming from a well-known philanthropist—in contrast to some of the “scarier” tech giants of the day.