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Su is another year older, and she’s got wisdom to spare. Plus, Ku shares her game changers for perfect nails and eyeliner. Then Ku and Su discuss how fusion food and the Hallyu wave are uplifting and affirming Asian American identity.

Please note, Add To Cart contains mature themes and may not be appropriate for all listeners.

To see all products mentioned in this episode, head to @addtocartpod on Instagram. To purchase any of the products, see below.

• This Dermelect Makeover Ridge Filler base coat is like concealer for your nails (and it looks great, too)
• The NakedPoppy Clean Liquid Eyeliner is perfect for a crisp wing that doesn’t smudge or fade
• Mango lovers: Don’t miss Menchaca Chocolates’ Dark Chocolate-Dipped Dried Mangoes
• Food for thought from this New York Times article about identity and food
• For more Korean fusion food, try this recipe for Kimchi Carbonara 
• Extraordinary Attorney Woo is a must-watch on Netflix

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Transcript

SPEAKERS

Kulap Vilaysack, SuChin Pak

SuChin Pak  00:31

Hey, everyone, welcome to another episode of ADD TO CART. Now this is a show about the things we buy, the things we buy into what we’re reading what we’re obsessed about, and what it all says about who we are. I’m SuChin Pak.

Kulap Vilaysack  01:48

And I’m Kulap Vilaysack. Oh, Sue. You’re another year old or you’re even better than you were before. You’re a top the mountain looking back at us, do you have anything to share? Do you have anything to declare?

SuChin Pak  02:06

That just like words of wisdom? You know, I think I’ve shared a lot. I think I want it in the rearview mirror.

Kulap Vilaysack  02:16

But that’s also a declaration.

SuChin Pak  02:19

Listen, I’m relieved. It was pretty great. Nothing to report. And that’s kind of what you want. But I realized that I have talked about my birthday the last few episodes and managing disappointments. Yes. Is some of it. But the other part is that it’s done now. I don’t need to belabor the point. I get it. So I’m glad and other ones over. Maybe it’s just the anticipation. Do you feel that way about like, yes. I know, anticipation. Like it used to be exciting at some point. I don’t know, when I when I was younger, you know, anticipating something like, ooh, getting ready to go out or, you know, planning a vacation. You know, that anticipation used to be fun. I don’t really I realize. I don’t like anticipation. I don’t like that feeling of not knowing and wondering how things are gonna turn out. So I’m just glad it’s behind me.

Kulap Vilaysack  03:21

Is there a reframing here? Like, oh, as we progress, it is about being present. So it’s less about the anticipation. It’s, it’s more about, like, where am I right now? Right. Right, you know, and you hope it doesn’t veer into being always nostalgic about the past, like, yeah, go down that range. But is there something there and not nervous about what you can’t control? Because I’m sure you see it every day with your kids, that anticipation that like, this is gonna happen. And you know, the anxiety that really, I think stems from childhood.

SuChin Pak  03:58

Anxiety excitement. And that’s a very blurry line, it’s an edge of the sword, right? Yeah. It’s like how you look at it, right? Something and the kids are a great example of that. I see them and I see in three minutes, or even less, like a thought, start out an excitement, tumble into anxiety, and then pulling it back to excitement and then tumbling back into anxiety. And I watched them do this on an hourly basis. And it is really interesting to see that, that emotion of anxiety and excitement, they can often feel like the same thing. And so it’s hard to kind of figure out how do I live more in excitement and not so much anxiety and I definitely am living way more anxiety than then an excitement. But now as I’m talking about it is also for me, I’m noticing that becoming a parent was also a big switch from excitement to anxiety because you feel responsible for so much more than yourself. So if something doesn’t go right, then you’re like, oh, that was what it was, you know, like my daughter is a very anxious person. And so I am constantly managing her anxiety slash excitement. And it’s anything. Yesterday, we went to a bookstore, my daughter wanted to come, and she got this like craft box, right? And so excited, you didn’t even know Kulap seeing so much excitement, okay, immediately have to start managing it. At least that’s how I feel, right? Because I know where it can go. So I say it’s late. We have a lot of things that we have to do when we get home, you can open the box, but let’s do the project in the morning, knowing full well, that if the project didn’t go, well, it could bleed into the nighttime tantrum. So already, I’m managing it. I want to be excited about this box. I want to be excited about doing a craft. Right. But because I’m also projecting and looking into other little people’s lives constantly juggling it.. Well,

Kulap Vilaysack  05:47

Well, what you’re describing is the stakes are higher.

SuChin Pak  06:13

Yeah, and the stakes are higher, but over nothing. So what happens is, as someone who is anxiety prone, I think when they have kids, it fires that up in a way that has never, like you said, the stakes are higher been fired up before like, if she has a tantrum at eight o’clock, I may not be going to bed till three, four in the morning, you know, and so. So it’s just it is a very, but at the same time, I want her to grow up in an environment where she can live in excitement. And so how do I manage my own anxiety about her anxiety? Do you wanna it starts to read into one and none of the other. So I am working on it. I am trying to figure out how do I live in excitement? And how do I do that in a way that encourages her to live in excitement and embrace uncertainty. But I have to do that. myself.

Kulap Vilaysack  07:14

I mean, I think that’s beautiful. Because it’s like, what you’re saying is that we continue to be a work in progress. And for you to figure that out, helps her and I think that’s beautiful. In terms of like lineage and breaking cycles and like, you joke route about like, you’re not joking. You simply state that you live a c minus lifestyle. And I laugh but that doesn’t mean that you’re joking. But you know, I’m not that interested in perfection. I just I respect and give so much credit to myself and other people just like trying to be better.

SuChin Pak  07:51

It’s daily. It’s minute to minute, hour to hour. It’s a whether it’s a weather movement, you know, you don’t know what temperature it is, but I don’t know. I guess you could look at it as like, it’s never boring. Always something to write in the journal that I’m not writing anymore. You know?

Kulap Vilaysack  08:18

Alright, let’s get into our carts.

SuChin Pak  08:20

Let’s get into our carts. You go first.

Kulap Vilaysack  08:22

Okay Su, I got two categories for you. I’ve got a couple of game changers and I’ve got a change TV show. So I’m going to lead with some game changers because I’ve been meaning to talk about a few of these items. But like it’ll get pushed and I’ll forget and all those things. So I’m like Okay, finally I could talk about the thing and this product that I’ve been using for a long time. And let’s start with this Dermelect Makeover Ridge Filler. Okay, so it is a dual concealer and nail treatment for like damaged nails. Or not even if your nails aren’t even damaged. I like the look of it.

Kulap Vilaysack  09:02

Just plain, as a polish.

Kulap Vilaysack  09:06

As a polish because it helps your nails be stronger. But it has just that nice like glazed doughnut like really pale pink. Near clear glaze donut and sometimes you know I love our Olivia and June nail polishes but sometimes I just want I don’t want a full coverage sort of situation. This is good for that but also when my nails have been kind of messed up from me going to the salon, this is really helped make it them look hyper healthy. This product is cruelty free. It’s free of formaldehyde and like camper DBP to me which I understand is bad. These things are bad, I understand. But it makes your nails just look beautifully natural.

SuChin Pak  10:02

Well, I’m looking at this site, first of all adding to cart immediately because these are some words keratin peptides, protein infused, anti-aging nailcare. So this is a brand that obviously understands and focuses on nail products, right? That give you the healthiest nail possible, strengthening all of this stuff, which is who doesn’t need this. I have noticed like, as I’ve gotten older, my nails are so much more frail. And it’s not even I don’t even do anything to them. Really. I think it’s the natural aging process. I’m really excited about this.

Kulap Vilaysack  10:44

And I said you think maybe because it’s super easy to just put on and put a couple coats in it. Like it was a color. I think if it was red, right? It would feel like oh, I need to make it perfect or whatever. But I tell you I slap on two coats and it looks perfect. And I’m done. And then I don’t have to do to color. Yeah, I think it’s a major Add to Cart. Yeah, an aside. We’ve talked about slugging before for the face with our past guests. Solomon Georgio. I saw an article about slugging your cuticles at night, essentially, using the same sort of idea, but add your nails to help strengthen. And I’m like, oh, I want to try that too. And that helps to just to like, you know, as you’re helping.

SuChin Pak  11:32

So they do use the same type of, I think product that you have on your face like heavier. You know, more jelly like consistency.

Kulap Vilaysack  11:44

Yep, yep. Or like, or cuticle oil or something like that, like do that. Which doesn’t make sense. Because like, sometimes you do that with your feet. So it’s like you put stuff? Yeah, so it’s the same idea.

SuChin Pak  11:56

I know, I just I I’ve never really been like a manicure type of person. And so it’s something that my money and my focus isn’t on. But as I’m getting older, and as these home mani systems, like we didn’t have this stuff. When we were like you got a professional manicure or you looked crazy.

Kulap Vilaysack  12:18

Yeah, I remember like, press on nails were just horrible. And now it’s like yeah, lasts for a week. It’s amazing.

SuChin Pak  12:27

I love this and I’ve kind of been looking for something like this. But I haven’t looked into it. So Oh god, I love an Add to Cart. When you’ve done the research for me.

Kulap Vilaysack  12:42

That’s the type of mindless shopping that I feel good about. The next game changer is the naked poppy clean liquid eyeliner in black. Hit that link Su, it’s $22. It’s a melt proof fade proof liquid black eyeliner with a felt tip that traces seamlessly and precisely, it’s the winner of the Best eyeliner in the 2020 shape Beauty Awards. It’s also won eco Beauty Awards. This eyeliner apply so smoothly. It does not budge, but it washes off so easily how those two can exist in one product. I am astounded.

SuChin Pak  15:47

COO for those that have been listening for a while. We don’t share our lists. I don’t know what’s on Ku’s list, but on my eyes today. You can see I put on some eyeliner.

Kulap Vilaysack  16:00

You’re wearing it right now?

SuChin Pak  16:02

I’m wearing it right now.

Kulap Vilaysack  16:03

It looks fantastic on you.

SuChin Pak  16:05

Let me tell you how hard it is to find a liquid eyeliner that doesn’t move but just as importantly, the application of it like if you’re not a makeup artist, yeah. How are you going to get those points? This felt tip whatever this is, is the perfect applicator for liquid eyeliner I’ve ever had. And Susan has tried trying tried every everything. And it’s a black. It’s a true black. It’s a matte black. Because to me nothing more irritating than getting a glossy black or like there’s like flecks of sparkle in my black eyeliner. Like I am a grown woman. I want a matte black eyeliner, and the applicator on this. It’s so good. This is such a great product.

Kulap Vilaysack  17:01

Yeah, game changers. Su, what do you got for us?

SuChin Pak  17:07

Well, I have just a just a small but a lovely Add to Cart. And I was like, oh, I’ve been wanting to use this Add to Cart. Maybe I was thinking around the holidays or even Valentine’s Day but I was like, what am I waiting for? I want you to click on this link. Okay, for Menchaca chocolates. I think that’s how you pronounce it. Now, as you know, I moved to Santa Barbara. And slowly I’ve been discovering this gorgeous town, the American Riviera, some would say California Riviera, as it is known worldwide. This paradise I live in. And these little shops and these makers, right. And this place is right near my house. Mike and I saw a sign for it. I’m a sucker for chocolate. And I like a Toblerone. Sure, but I also can spend a lot of money on a hand painted […] chocolate tear. And my father in law Jules is like you spent $6 on a on a little turtle painted. It’s a chocolate bite. It’s a joke that we have that he thinks it’s ridiculous. So when I saw this chocolate shop, I was like I gotta check it out. We met one of the owners. It’s a husband and wife team. And the wife is I think she used to be an art teacher. But no, she’s very artistic. And so all of the packaging and the boxes are so beautiful and original. So if you’re giving this as a gift, I think half of a gift is the presentation in which you give it you know what I mean? Like, when I’m buying a gift, I want to know that when I ship it, or when I send it, it’s going to be beautifully presented. So it’s vegan organic micro batch, single origin craft chocolate makers. And they’re so beautifully packaged like I said, But the highlight for me are these dark chocolate dipped dried mangoes. So good. So good. So they’re beautifully juicy, big dried mangoes and their dipped in dark chocolate with a tiny bit of sea salt. Now I noticed on the site because when I went in there they were kind of playing around with a version of the dark chocolate dipped dried mangoes with chili salt. I would call and see if you could get that maybe they just haven’t aren’t offering it because they’re not quite sure if people like it because they’re always testing new things. I have never had like a chili salt chocolate I’m not a that I don’t like to mix too much of salty and savory with my sweets I liked my swee-sweet and then my savory-savory. But something about this chili salt. It’s a little tiny bit of heat, but it’s more umami salty.

Kulap Vilaysack  20:08

Yeah, yeah,

Kulap Vilaysack  20:10

I’m gonna have to bring you a batch of this Ku, it’s vegan, it doesn’t taste. It tastes like regular chocolate to me.

Kulap Vilaysack  20:17

That’s a hot tip because I have a friend definitely allergic of eggs. And so when I get them sweets, it’s gotta be vegan.

SuChin Pak  20:24

This is what it is. And it’s just a sweet shop. It’s straight out of a movie. You know, it’s such a cute little, like water for chocolate. Yes, like, well, I was just thinking that, but I didn’t want to age myself.

Kulap Vilaysack  20:38

That’s this entire podcast.

SuChin Pak  20:40

I know. I don’t why am I shying away from who we are like, okay, sorry, that was a, that was just a mine slip there. So that was a small add to cart. You know, we talk about identity on this podcast a lot. It’s who we are. It’s a subject that we’re both interested and fascinated about. We’ve told stories about our own identity. What is identity, though, right? Like I’m always constantly trying to figure out the answer to this question. I myself, right was born in Korea, and moved here when I was five years old. You know, there’s so many different versions of even myself and identity. And I was reading this really interesting article, and I want you to click on it. Okay. In July, The New York Times published an article and it’s titled food is identity for Korean chefs who were adopted. It’s complicated. So it’s a beautiful, full length feature about all of these Korean adoptee chefs, who are trying to cook Korean food, but didn’t grow up around Korean food. And I just found it to be fascinating. And just some facts. Korean adoptees remained the nation’s largest group of trans racial adoptees in this country. And I’m not getting into the history of it. But the number of Korean adoptees in this country is massive. Especially compared to how relatively small the country is in general. Yeah. And so these people are trying to connect to their roots through food because they’re chefs. But what does that mean for someone who is redefining what home means, right. And so they talk about chefs that are, you know, love matzah ball soup. But love Korean bone broth. And so how, you know, for them, it’s some fusion of that, you know, of a, of a chicken soup that feels like home in America, but also married with a soup that is from their homeland that they maybe don’t have a connection to. And as I was reading this article, I 100%, related to everything these people were saying, and I was like, but I’m not adopted. Right. Like, how I cook Korean food. What Korean food looks like in my house is so different than what it looks like in my parents’ house. You know, and the Korean restaurants that I eat at, you know, like, what is Momofuku? Yeah, what is that? You know, what is even it’s not Korean. But what is nom nom paleo. Write it. And yes, it’s Asian fusion. Right. That’s one version of it. I think that, you know, in our generation, that’s what we would call it, but I think it’s a new thing. I think it’s a different identity that we’re moving into.

Kulap Vilaysack  23:33

Is that not a conversation about authenticity? And so this comes up a lot in the Lao food community as well. Whereas like, now, there are so many creators, like my good friend saying […] is very big in on TikTok, and Instagram, and he shares recipes. And I know that like older people, and people from Laos may make it differently and have different ways of doing it. But in fact, though, in Laos, people have just like an Italy, people have different ways of making, quote, unquote, the same sauce. Right? And so then this conversation about authenticity, is it not? What is authentic to the individual? Which ties back to identity. So for somebody, you know, you were describing it in a way. Not literally, but you were describing your kids in a soup, right? And would it not be authentic for them to have a matzah ball in a Korean broth.

SuChin Pak  24:39

Absolutely. And this notion of authenticity, is, I think, very loaded and can be tricky, right? It’s like, well, who is deeming it authentic? So at the end of this article, for example, they had a whole bunch of recipes that related to this and one of the recipes that I tried the other night, that was amazing. I tweaked it a little But it was kimchi carbonara. And so it’s a traditional carbonara, Italian pasta. I mean, like, talk about authentic Italian cuisine, right? But you’re adding ginger. You’re adding kimchi. But you still have tomatoes, you still have white wine sauce, you have egg yolk, you have the cheesiness of it. And so you get this like flavor. That to me is rings every bell. But the comment section, as you sort of alluded to, maybe to some of your Lao friends who are cooking and posting these recipes. You know, there are some comments that are like carbon RS carbonara and it should be just carbonara. This isn’t carbonara. Right? This isn’t authentic.

Kulap Vilaysack  25:49

By my personality, you know, which I’m not saying is always positive, these this type of thing, what you’re talking about is I just like roll my eyes and go to shut up. It’s like people and things evolve. Just even if you watch Chef’s Table, and that amazing chef […], you know, and like how that he talks about how there was like, locals would be so upset how he was like, handling Italian food and how that you know, but it’s like, why is that not also Italian food? I’m Italian. And I’m doing something and I’m trying something different. I’m going to I’m evolving. Well, as we all are, like, I think there’s a place for it all is what I’m trying to say.

SuChin Pak  26:32

And you said it. I mean, we we’ve added to cart, Eric Kim, who is a cooking writer, for the food section for the New York Times, he had a book that was just published Korean American food that tastes like home. And he was like, this is American food. I’m American. I’m also Korean, you know, this is to me, this is what America tastes like. And so I thought that that reframing is a new thing for someone of my age. Yeah, I grew up where you had to choose one or the other, or it was then it evolved into a blending, right, where it was a blended world. And then now it’s evolving into no, I’m defining this as the center of my definition. You know, because when you think about blended, you think, well, the center of that definition is somewhere else, you know, I’m taking this and this and then it becomes my own thing. You know, there’s a reframing in the food community, and in this community, where they’re saying my version of it is the version of it, period, for me. And so I like there’s something really empowering about not taking a little bit from here and a little bit from there and make mashing it up, which is fine. But there’s another wave of I think younger people who are saying no, this isn’t, I don’t have to take anything from anywhere. It just is. This is American cooking. This is Korean cooking. And, you know, for adoptees, and I would say argue for any immigrant and children who have grown up in this country but you know, born in other countries or have parents born in other countries and grew up in in a different culture inside your home. These feelings of and I’m reading from the article, feelings of self-doubt, the imposter syndrome can turn into fears of cultural appropriation. Many adoptees chefs say they feel like outsiders looking in. I often feel that way. I’ve never felt more that way than when I went to Korea. You know, like, I was like, I thought my first trip back to Korea. I was like in my 30s and I was so excited to go back I thought well, this is what home is going to feel like it’s going to feel so different. And I’ve never felt more not Korean than in Korea. And so it’s an Add to cart because I think it’s a fascinating read. It’s Add to Cart definitely the recipes are incredible. But it’s also some of it is a remove from cart. Right. So it’s this like in between cart that I just had been really thinking about and just fascinated, especially when it comes to food, which is such a visceral adaptation and interpretation of our identities.

Kulap Vilaysack  29:15

And I think there’s something about like and this is what I strive for and what that redefining being American you know, this ever evolving and moving target that is my own identity is like I just want to be. With all my […] as I am prone to saying I just want to be you know, and I actually don’t want to divide myself into different like categories. I just want to be whole and I have lots of parts you know, yeah, I know that about a lot of people. And it is there’s some freedom to that, I think. I don’t want to be other it anymore. Yeah, when I want to I will show you my joy, my pain and my sorrow.

SuChin Pak  30:06

100% and I love that, I love that we get to have these conversations still that and who knows? Five years from now what we’re talking about.

Kulap Vilaysack  30:17

And we’re it’s so great to have it because the past you know for us too is like you just you weren’t, you kind of weren’t there really wasn’t a place or a forum to do that. And you kind of just had to, it was expected of you and you were encouraged to just kind of like duck your head and like, be deferential..

SuChin Pak  30:38

Get with the program.

Kulap Vilaysack  30:39

Yeah, that’s right. That’s right.

SuChin Pak  30:42

And I love that. There is something just fascinating to me about food, and the world of food, and how it’s changing so much. And to me, I feel like in so many ways, like it, it, it says things that we ourselves can’t express all the time or even want to. And so I just love watching all of these young chefs, and these tick tock creators, you know, like making food and having careers around talking about food and identity like, like, winning Beard Awards for creating dialogue and food, magnificent food that speaks to the complication of what it means to be othered what it means to talk about identity in the world that we live in now. I think it’s fascinating.

Kulap Vilaysack  31:59

All right, Ku, the last thing I want to talk about is a show that I have been watching on Netflix. It is a Korean legal drama but I would call it a drama it it’s the extraordinary attorney. Su, have you seen it at all.

SuChin Pak  34:01

I haven’t seen it but my brother keeps, he’s obsessed with this show. He watches a lot of K-dramas.

Kulap Vilaysack  34:14

And so Wu Yong Woo is a young lawyer with Asperger’s Syndrome. She’s autistic. She boasts a high IQ and an impressive memory and a wonderfully creative thought process. But she struggles with everyday interactions. And it’s very positive but I also find it well acted love ever been in it. Love the relationships. But I also find it subversive because they’re slyly and not so slyly talking about societal issues. And I think in a very warm way but also kind of head on, which I really, really like and respect. I’ve been so happy with just how popular TV shows and films that are not English speaking have become and speaking especially about Korean culture. And Su I don’t know how to say the Korean Wave correctly. […] Which is this Korean Wave of culture that has broken across the world over and over again with K-pop, K-drama, K-beauty, K-barbecue food in general. And I really, and I, you know, of course, add to cart, all of that. I did that 10 step even though I don’t think people in Korea actually do that. I have gotten into Black Pink and BTS, and I add to cart SuChin Pak, you know, and I’m so curious, and why do I, what’s been so great for me, even just watching extraordinary. Attorney Woo is like, it’s just, you know, it’s just nice to be with a bunch of Asian people. And they’re centered, and they’re all different types of people, because they can be full characters. But I started to think about you. And I think about how, like, how from coming from your perspective, what is it like for you to see this, like, mainstream, like push of Korean culture in US?

SuChin Pak  36:26

I mean, it’s crazy. It’s wild, you know. I mean, it’s never in my wildest imagination. And I’ve been caught trying to cover, you know, Korean music and film and all of that. Even when I was at MTV, you probably don’t remember him because he didn’t have the crossover. But we thought that the big K-pop crossover was going to be this singer named rain. Yeah, I remember. And Rain was the biggest K-pop star in the world. And so I remember he came to MTV, and I interviewed him in the TRL studios. And I just thought, This is bizarre. The worlds were melting together. And so just to see it, come so far from that, you know, and see it accepted, where I think, rain when K-pop was K-pop there, you know, he really was trying to figure out how to be an American pop star, like how do I break into American music? And now K-pop is K-pop. It’s in Korean. They’re big in everywhere else. I mean, they care about of course, the American market, but it’s not, they’re not shaping their music and their identity to fit into American music.

SuChin Pak  37:08

And thereby, now, one could easily argue and a lot of K-pop artists and labels want to argue that actually K-pop is pop. Yeah. And how can you argue that when BTS as at the top of all of the charts, that is simply pop music.

SuChin Pak  38:04

Yeah. And so I think that there is a shift in in the way that even these artists and how we consume this music, you know, I think that before it was like, how do we make Rain into an American pop star? Yeah. And now it’s like, no, it’s K-pop period, either get on the train or, you know, lose out on the biggest pop phenomenon on the planet.

Kulap Vilaysack  38:27

And then also talk about like, parasite, right? Yeah, I’m gonna make something that is so inherently about my thoughts in my identity. Oh, shit, it actually becomes universal. Even if you have to read it, if some of us have to read it. Those feelings that are conveyed, those are universal, that brings us together.

SuChin Pak  38:49

Yeah. I also want to note that when I moved to this country, in, you know, the 80s, there was a big wave of Korean immigration, because the economy and what Korea was so different than what it is today, like Korea was not a place that you wanted to go back and visit once you came to America. It was struggling financially, economically, I mean, it was a disaster. And so you fled there to come here for a better life. That’s not the case anymore. I don’t know that you could make the argument as a Korean immigrant, that your life would be better here than it would be in Korea. Whereas in my generation, definitively, if you could get yourself to America, it didn’t matter how much money you had, how high of an education you had in Korea, you would do better in America. And so that’s very different than I look at it, even with my college age cousins from Korea, who have come to America to study and one cousin is going back to work in Korea, and the other one may probably work here in the States, right? And so, like, those choices are different. And so the context of K-pop, the context of Kdrama, the context of all of that also fit into Korean identity and where they fit in the global context of it. And that has changed so much. What I love about this and not having seen this show, Korea, and like, I think a lot of East Asian countries, especially when you turn in a resume, you there’s a photo. The way you look is so, so important. Korea is the number one plastic surgery, you know, capital of the world. appearance matters.

Kulap Vilaysack  40:36

And there are studies how that will equal your income.

SuChin Pak  40:40

That’s right. And people, young people get plastic surgery, not only to look better, but to make more money, because there is such a high value on the way that you look and you present yourself. So to see a very popular TV show about a young Korean woman who has Asperger Syndrome. In a country where the image of who you are has to be perfect for you to succeed. Is earth shattering to me? You know, that they can celebrate? Like, this is amazing.

Kulap Vilaysack  41:19

I really want you to see it. And I don’t know, like the kids can watch this. It doesn’t go. You know, when you say legal drama in America, you’re it’s like SVU. Okay, like, it’s different like that law and order. This is it’s got a magical element, magical realism elements because she really loves whales. And so sometimes whales will show up to kind of help her, like, come to conclusion, process and stuff. But she’s not without discrimination and ridicule. And the case is really highlight. You know, patriarchy, kids not having choices. Kids forced to, you know, be in school until 10pm. And not be able to have food and like, there’s just all like these pieces of like..

SuChin Pak  42:10

Korean culture that we’re talking about.

Kulap Vilaysack  42:13

Yes, that is really super, super interesting. Like through her. We’re getting to kind of explore this in a culture that is very conservative. You know, everyone’s good looking. You’re just like, the love interest. You’re like, hey, like, all right. It’s, it’s got to be there.

SuChin Pak  42:37

It’s got to be tasty on the tongue, you know, for the medicine to go down. So I’m excited to add it to it. My brother has been texting me about this show. He watches everything Kdrama so I can’t wait to see it.  I’ll watch it with my kids.

Kulap Vilaysack  42:58

It’s a good time. It’s a real good time, I like it a lot.

SuChin Pak  43:07

We’re gonna peruse down ethnic studies.

Kulap Vilaysack  43:13

Hey, you know? And do you know that we have even more add to cart to listen to, producer Claire shows me and Su TikTok trends and then we decide if we’d add to cart to remove from cart. Yes, we’ve gone through the aforementioned slugging we’ve done eyebrow stamps, homemade floor cleaner, tiny little faucet clamps and more.

SuChin Pak  43:33

You never know what Claire’s gonna bring.

Kulap Vilaysack  43:35

a year we certainly don’t so subscribe if you want more of us, it’s just $5.99 a month.

SuChin Pak  43:40

And if you’re not sure about the price, you can also get more of us on @AddToCartPod for free. For the whole world to consume. We have pics of all our add to carts behind the scenes. We’ve got outfits we’ve got skincare it’s all there and more.

Kulap Vilaysack  43:56

Or you can find us responding to your voicemail on the show but you have to leave one that’s the key step one. Call 834-453-6662. There it is. Bye guys.

CREDITS  44:15

ADD TO CART is a production of Lemonada Media. Our producer is Claire Jones and our mix is by Ivan Kuraev and Veronica Rodriguez. The music is by Wasahhbii and produced by La Made It and Oh So Familiar with additional music by APM music. Executive producers are Kulap Vilaysack, SuChin Pak, Jessica Cordova Kramer and Stephanie Wittels Wachs. Be sure to check out all the items we mentioned today on our Instagram at @AddToCartPod. Also, please take a moment to rate, review, and subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcast.