“F1 deep dive 🏁 ” (ENHYPEN YouTube)
Catherine Choi (guest editor): ENHYPEN member JAY is used to signing things for fans, but this time around, he’s the one asking for an autograph. A passionate Formula 1 fan, he sits down with Coupang Play’s F1 commentator Jesus Yoon, aka CERO, for a deep dive into a sport JAY really takes to heart.
JAY describes himself as someone who gets so obsessed with certain things that it’s scary. This time it’s F1, and he puts so much knowledge and passion on display that even Yoon’s impressed. The video is a meeting of a professional commentator and a professional fan, but their conversation is accessible enough that even newcomers to F1 will find it fun and won’t feel lost. A lot of people hesitate when first faced with F1 racing. They think, “Isn’t it just good drivers racing?” And with that, they move on, walking away with nothing but a surface-level impression. And that’s exactly why these two pros get down to the brass tacks of the sport and slowly work their way up. Starting from the basics—11 teams, 22 drivers, and both the Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championships—the conversation branches out to cover strategy, the dangers of the circuit, and the competitive histories belonging to each team. It’s not long before their conversation has covered every corner of the sport.
Yoon says sometimes racing “is exactly like your life.” There are stretches where the standings barely shift no matter how hard you push, and then there are times when the strategy and timing click into place and the tables turn in an instant. That highly variable flow, he says, looks a lot like life itself. Hearing this, you start to see F1 as something more than just a car race. What begins as a conversation about exquisitely crafted, blazingly fast machines and the roar of the exhaust ends with a reflection on the individual sitting behind the wheel. That, perhaps, is exactly why fans like JAY keep coming back.
“GAEUL MOOD” (YouTube)
Baek Seolhui (writer, columnist): Who could deny that GAEUL’s season has officially arrived? The IVE member once earned the praiseful nickname “GAEUL Sunbae” for the highlight of her performance in “After LIKE”—but things are different now. The world’s no longer paying attention to her parts in the songs but to GAEUL herself. A “fancam” video of her performing her solo song “Odd” for the first time last October during IVE’s second world tour had racked up 1.9 million views by March 13, and the performance video uploaded to IVE’s official YouTube on February 24 following her comeback has been viewed an equally impressive 1.8 million times. GAEUL had a hand in everything from the song’s lyrics to the choreography and costumes, unleashing a side of herself fans had never seen before.
GAEUL—who recently had an impressive two-time winning streak on the Netflix reality show “The Risk Takers”—has finally launched a YouTube channel where she can talk freely about the things she loves. As she explains in her first video while putting together a vision board, “What I wanted to do was something calm like my personality—something people can watch while doing other things.” Like the season her name mirrors in Korean can be warm at times and refreshingly cool at others, GAEUL MOOD makes a quiet promise to bring us under the sunny skies of uncharted territory.
The Wishing Game (Meg Shaffer)
Kim Boksung (writer): “The Wishing Game” by Meg Shaffer does not open like a cozy, feel-good read. As a child, Lucy grows up in a loveless family, retreating instead to the warm comfort of books. She carries her passion for reading all the way to adulthood when she becomes a teacher’s aide and instills a love of books in a new generation of kids. But she also hasn’t been able to let go of the trauma of her past. Her favorite student, Christopher, reminds Lucy of a younger version of herself—in his case, though, he’s an orphan, and while Lucy becomes determined to adopt him and give the love she never received, reality stands in the way: Lucy has no money to make her wish come true.
That’s when the book takes a Willy Wonka-esque turn. A reclusive children’s author whom Lucy idolizes returns to the public eye to announce a competition where four contestants will navigate a series of riddles to win the sole copy of his new book. Like the famous chocolate factory, the author’s Clock Island is whimsical but hints at a dark undercurrent. And while Lucy will have to keep her wits about her and fight her personal demons to win the book and sell it for money, “The Wishing Game” stays rooted in heartwarming magic realism. Take a crack at the riddles yourself, enjoy the wish fulfillment, and never forget the significance of a found family.