The Water Cooler: A Great Vigilante Comic, Ian Fleming's 007, And Your New K-Pop Obsession

Kill or Be Killed is an Image Comics series that launched last Summer, but I only got a chance to start reading it on a recent plane trip back from Hawaii. The comic book series is from the Fade Out and Criminal team of writer Ed Brubaker and artist Sean Phillips. If you don't know the brilliant work of Brubaker from the comic world, than it's also worth mentioning that he was a producer and writer on HBO's Westworld, which you know I'm obsessed with.

This monthly comic book series is billed as the "twisted story of a young man who is forced to kill bad people, and how he struggles to keep his secret as it slowly ruins his life and the lives of his friends and loved ones." This is a great comic book for people who might not be into the typical tights and capes of Marvel and DC. It's a brutal and bloody thriller with a very compelling high concept take on the vigilante tale, with down-to-earth characters, and a brilliant deconstruction of a seemingly familiar story. I'm only a handful of issues in, but I've already bought and downloaded the rest of the run and subscribed to future issues in my comixology app. I would like to tell you more, but I don't want to spoil any of the fun of this series and the twist at the center of the premise. The first two trade volumes are available now in paperback.

It finally came to it: I'm talking about K-pop. If any of you follow me on Twitter, you've probably noticed that I tweet about K-pop a few times a week. Okay, that may be an understatement. I have a bit of obsession, and it stems from my re-discovering the talented and flashy super group, BIGBANG. A five-member boy band that just celebrated its 10th anniversary last year, they lit the fire under my love for K-pop — which I had been avoiding after I'd been burned a few too many times by my high school dalliance with J-pop — and it has steadily grown into a fixation on the music genre.

To be honest, I don't listen to a huge variety of artists — most of the artists or groups I listen to are connected to BIGBANG in some way (it's easy since the South Korean pop industry is monopolized by four or five music labels much in the way that studios controlled the Classic Hollywood movie system). So it is natural that the first time I'll be writing about K-pop here is due to the release of the third solo album of one of the members of BIGBANG: G-Dragon.

The producer and lead rapper of the group, G-Dragon is a huge part of the group's global domination and trendsetting music. Most of his solo releases too have been experimental and trendy, dabbling in EDM, trap, rock, and synth pop. But his latest release — and likely his last before he has to enlist in South Korea's mandatory two-year military service — is the most personal and raw of all. And yes, I'm going to cry to it when he finally enlists later this year.

Kwon Ji Yong is named after the pop star's real name and only has five tracks, with a runtime of 18 minutes (a purposeful reference to G-Dragon's fixation on the number 8, which make up all the numbers in his date of birth: August 8, 1988). However despite its short length, the entire album is a masterful summation of his whole career, which began when he was only 12 years old. The songs run from the boisterously playful "Middle Fingers Up," the brash and grating "Bullshit," the trappy and wistful "Superstar," his stripped down title track "Untitled 2014," and the dark R&B outro track "Divina Commedia." The production values are sleek as expected with each song, though I've finally decided that "Superstar" is my favorite.Kwon Ji Yong was released earlier this month, but I've been listening to it a lot lately in preparation for G-Dragon's New York concert in late July, part of his world tour before he marches off to service. So this won't be the last I rave about GD!

Friends is my wife's favorite show, which means that I've seen my fair share of Friends. That's just how marriage works. Thankfully, as I've learned over the years, this NBC sitcom was a ratings champion for 10 seasons for a reason: it's a damn good show. And while I had seen episodes scattered about here and there, I only recently sat down to watch the entire series from start to finish (it's streaming on Netflix) and I found myself doubly impressed. For a three-camera comedy that aired on network television in the '90s and achieved mass popularity, this series is shocking consistent, always funny, and frequently emotional. I'm not prepared to call it great art, but I am prepared to call it great comfort food, a simple recipe executed to perfection by a charming cast and a team of writers who quickly learned how to play to these actors' strengths.

Not all of Friends has aged well. While the show was undeniably more progressive than most in its day, there are elements that are, well, problematic by modern standards. Ross is one fedora short of a "nice guy" monster. Chandler's gay panic is cringe-worthy. Joey is...a sexual predator? The lack of diversity in the cast stands out more than ever these days. And yet, judging entertainment too harshly for the political incorrectness of its day would be to miss the forest for the trees. I can grumble about what doesn't work now, but I can also rave about what still works brilliantly: David Schwimmer's adept physical comedy, Lisa Kudrow's brilliantly left-field line deliveries, Matt LeBlanc's hilarious reactions, Courteney Cox's good-natured neuroses, Matthew Perry's deliberate anti-wit, and Jennifer Aniston's rock solid comedic chops (which improve as the series goes on).

My favorite episodes tend to be those that stick the bulk of the cast in a single location and let them bounce off one another for 22 minutes. Specifically. I love season 3's "The One Where No One's Ready" and season 4's "The One With the Embryos," which showcase the energy of a manic stage play. Sometimes, all a television show needs is a set and a bunch of funny people to completely and totally work.

Real talk: I often feel adrift in the flotsam and jetsam of life. I think at a certain age, you should have some of the basics nailed down about how to carry yourself and be knowledgeable about the basic inner workings of things like relationship building, how to be a good listener, or how you should always bring a gift to a housewarming. For me, it's always been a struggle to try and appreciate how money ebbs and flows in and out of your life. I'm not talking about how to make money quick or how to sit on my tuchas and will it into existence. That's a program for someone interested in the short term. I'm more interested in resetting my conceptions, my attitude, and, most importantly, my mind-set when it comes to gaining wealth. I had read Jen Sincero's other popular book, You Are a Badass, and was this close to not getting past the first chapter just based on her tone. I stuck with it and I started to feel there were some great nuggets to be gleaned from her writing and insights into just how you can reframe moments in your life in a more assertive, positive way.

I would probably be the first to tell you if I thought there was any hokum to any of this, but it's almost like unlocking the secret to how to lose weight: eat less and exercise. Here, though, the message is delivered in a much more satisfying way and as it pertains to her new book about money it's also tapping into those things that could help you raise up a notch or two on this subject. I will fully admit that I do not read this book in public with its dust jacket on and I am hyper aware of keeping my fingers wrapped close to the spine if only to obfuscate the title of the book. There's a little bit of personal shame, that's completely on me by the way, in telegraphing to the world that you're reading a book on how to think about money. I, honestly, wouldn't mention that I'm reading the book if I didn't think so many other people could be helped by the anecdotes and simple little steps you can take to try and increase your ability to live a better life.