Now, I just had to put in my two cents’ worth about how racism is alive and well in 2026, but is being trounced by public response.
It has been headlined that BTS is boycotting the Grammys in February 2027 because of that ridiculous new category for Best Asian Pop Music Performance. The Grammys have always been and always will be an American creation, and the fact that American talent is being bulldozed by international acts like BTS has them shaking in their boots; how do you think American acts are reacting to the massive numbers from BTS’ ongoing Arirang World Tour? Are they complaining to the Grammys organizers of an unfair advantage if global stars (like BTS, who just happen to be Asian) are included in several categories?
The Grammys’ solution? Put the Asians in a box. It’s so unabashedly xenophobic and racist, no wonder BTS’ announcement to not submit music to the Grammys for next year is being called a boycott, no matter how diplomatically worded the members’ statement was: “We have decided to not enter the Grammys this year,” the members said in Korean on Instagram. “I hope music itself can be heard and loved rather than being distinguished by region or language.”
BOOM. It’s even more galling, because critics (not just ARMY, mind you) believe Arirang could have been in the running for a Best Album Grammy.
Eat that, Grammys. Oh, and we’ll just watch your TV broadcast numbers plummet next year.
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Scenes from ‘The Odyssey’: Argus as a puppy in Odysseus’ arms, above, and before he dies upon his master’s return, below
Meanwhile, that kerfuffle over Black actors, transgender actors, the use of casual dialogue, and whatever else folks got in a tizzy over before Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey hit theaters has also been buried under the general acclaim and, more important, the money: Made with a budget of US$250 million, the film earned $666.7 million in its first two weeks alone.
Sure, it’s a little jarring for Odysseus’ son Telemachus (played by Tom Holland) to call his parents Mom and Dad, but that minor discomfort is blown away by Christopher Nolan’s grand vision (do NOT make the stupid mistake of watching this on a small screen), Matt Damon’s very human Odysseus (Best Actor nomination?), and the short but heartbreaking tribute to a dog’s love in his secret reunion with his faithful dog, Argus. It’s in Homer’s poem, so no spoiler here: Argus waits for his master for 20 years and dies right after seeing him return with a weak, final wag of his tail. Alexander Pope translates Homer in his poem, Argus, from ‘The Odyssey’:
Unfed, unhous’d, neglected, on the clay/Like an old servant now cashier’d, he lay;
Touch’d with resentment of ungrateful man,/And longing to behold his ancient lord again.
Him when he saw he rose, and crawl’d to meet,/(’Twas all he could) and fawn’d and kiss’d his feet,
Seiz’d with dumb joy; then falling by his side,/Own’d his returning lord, look’d up, and died!
Different Portuguese Podengos (a breed of hound) were used to play Argus as a puppy, then a hunting dog, and later, an elderly dog, but dummies were substituted for scenes that required manhandling. Yup, as reports claim, no animals were harmed in the making of The Odyssey; that discomfort is rightly reserved for the narrow-minded purists and scholars who can’t seem to accept a modern, more representative, but still generally faithful approach to a literary epic. I was a voracious reader of Greek mythology growing up, and seeing it come alive on such a grand scale, for younger generations to appreciate, is delightful.
