This Week's Favs: August 11

Week two, here we go! This week's kind of been all over the place, with nothing really keeping my attention for longer than a day or two. There was always something new to look at or jam to. Picking just a few to share was a little weird, especially because I'm terrible at picking favorites when everything has a different reason why it's a favorite (if that makes sense), but I did my best!

Let me know what some of your favorite things were this week in the comments below.

Watch

K and K: Return of Kings

Okay, the trailer for this show is REALLY cheesy, but I promise it's an awesome show. It's got an urban fantasy sort of feel, focusing on secret magic-wielding clans in the not-so-distant future of Japan. All the characters are balanced and come to life, the show giving just enough backstory on each person to make them realistic and relatable. The bad guys aren't really that bad, just as the good guys aren't shining beacons of light. Everyone exists in the middle gray area, which is how life really is. You can watch K on Netflix or Hulu, but K: Return of Kings is only available on Hulu (listed as season 2 of K) and is only available subbed.

Wanna One "Burn It Up" Debut Stage

Just one of the many things I love about kpop is the genre's focus on choreography. Because South Korea has so many outlets for groups to show off their moves, so to speak, intricate choreography always gets noticed. Wanna One's debut didn't disappoint on the dance front, using their large member count to their advantage. While there were some cool moments in their Energize choreography as well, Burn It Up definitely stood out as superior.

Listen

Island - WINNER

I was going to put Island on last week's list, but because it literally came out on Friday, I decided to hold off. WINNER's really been killing it with their releases this year, putting out Really Really in April, which was a complete jam, then coming back with this tropical summer hit. The group also released Love Me Love Me at the same time as Island. It's a good song too, but I like Island better.

Storm - Yoshida Brothers

My memory is pretty selective about what it wants to remember, so it's a little strange that I still to this day remember the first time I ever heard a Yoshida Brothers song. It was during the Japan segment of Warren Miller's 2007 film, Playground. If you like skiing and snowboarding, I definitely recommend it. I don't even remember what song the segment featured, really, but I remember that it was one of the first times I heard the shamisen, which I already loved on its own, paired with rock instruments like electric guitar and drums. After years of having the Yoshida Brothers in my library, Storm has cemented itself as a personal favorite of mine. Really, though, any part of their discography is worth a listen.

Read

Find Out if President Trump Would Let You Immigrate to America

I usually try to stay away from talking about politics on the internet, especially in today's climate where everyone is so ready to fight each other instead of actually discussing things. But this short and sweet TIME article was just too interesting to not share. It gives a brief explanation on the history of the RAISE Act, the latest immigration reform bill to be put into consideration, then has a simplified version of all the requirements in quiz form to let you see if you would qualify under the act's regulations. Usually with these sorts of things, I qualify. I'm a middle-class white person who has a bachelor's degree, a steady job, and a house. But this time, I didn't. I was 4 points off the 30 point minimum to be considered eligible. It was crazy to see that even me, someone who has their life somewhat together (at least I'd like to think so) wouldn't be allowed. Anyway, I highly recommend that, if nothing else, you at least take the quiz and see where you stand.

The Overwatch League Welcomes London, Second Los Angeles Team

This announcement was only made yesterday, but it was still exciting in my book. I've been a fan of eSports and, more importantly, how that could transform into such a huge market for a while now, so seeing something like the Overwatch League grow so much just for its first season is impressive and exhilarating. Along with the insider-sourced news that Team EnVyUs would be moving to claim the Austin-Dallas spot, no doubt thanks in part to the $35 million investment from Hersh Family Investments, the addition of a London and second Los Angeles team just shows that Blizzard's looking to make competitive gaming a loyalty-driven household sport, just like football. eSports shows that video games require skill and tactics and teamwork, something that a lot of people still don't understand. Anything that pushes against the industry's negative stigma, especially around shooter games, I'm down for.