Just a thread I'd thought of, to talk about an interesting pop culture phenom from this year... I'm grandpa age (at least here where age of parents are pretty low, like 19 - 25 common) and none of my siblings nor friends have young children... but this K-pop Demon Hunters tsunami of a phenom from summer, is defo interesting to watch. Love the movie, love the messages, love the focus on Korean culture, love the music, love the principals (EJAE? OMG what a ballistic trajectory her life's taken into the mainstream, as well with the rest of her HUNTR/X singing and voice-acting cast -- which are mostly Korean, w/ even a female Korean-Canadian director w/ 20 yrs in the business). And love the global response, which has been wild... But since focus is on interviews w/ the Wicked: For Good cast these days... did a bit of fun digging as I always do, into birthdates to see what their Chinese zodiac readings are (I don't make important decisions w/ it, just a hobby, as a lot of celebs do conform to this 5K-yo system. So the two main stars on set (#1 and #2), are Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba, and Ariana Grande as Glinda. Cynthia was born 08 Jan 1987 -- so her birth animal year is the Tiger. However, since she were born literally days before the lunar New Year, which is the Rabbit... she's a cusp baby, a mixture of both (the year supposedly begins to change towards the new year's animal, first day of September). Such Tiger-Rabbits are formidable leaders, since they possess the strength and boldness of the Tiger without its rashness and rancor... and the Rabbit's judiciousness, sensitivity, and sense of balance, w/o its over-arching need for self-preservation. Ari were born a Summer baby, 26 Jun 1993 -- Year of the Rooster. Females born under this sign tend two ways -- the songbird, or the hen. She possesses both traits, along with the Rooster's talons when threatened. But it's safe to say her strength / superpower is in her creative and vocal work... and the protective, concilliatory, nurturing mature side of her had to develop into her 30s to bloom enough to be seen (that's showbiz for you). I really like Ari in her 30s... not as much prior. So we have a songbird and a tiger, in the news cycle again. Which only now, is overtaking K-pop Demon Hunters in the daily zeitgeist... which features rather prominently, a Tiger with a bird (magpie) as its companion. Not a 1:1 match of course -- I wouldn't dare compare Cynthia or Elphaba to Derpy the mystical blue Korean folk-art-inspired, well derpy tiger, nor Glinda to Sussy the sassy Magpie. But it's just weird how both these animals happen, in 2025, to be connected to the hottest pop-culture properties -- historic, really... Again, not attaching more meaning to this than cool coincidence... but delighted yet another set of celebs have interesting readings in the Chinese traditional belief system
