I’m currently trying to assimilate two different aspects of the world — one is bursting at the seams with frivolity and whimsy, while the other makes your heart pound and the hairs stand up on the back of your neck.

Engaging little rascals (Click image to see a larger version — Image source: FlutterFlyers)

Lets’ start with frivolity and whimsy. Whilst meandering my way around Pinterest yesterday evening, I was presented with an advert for something called Flutter Flyers, which led me to the FlutterFlyers.com website.

These are simple little elastic-band-powered paper butterflies that you can wind up and slip into a book or a greeting card to surprise members of your family or your friends. I can also envisage a young kid’s birthday party with loads of these little beauties zipping around.

You can find YouTube videos showing homemade versions of this sort of thing, but they don’t appear to fly nearly as well as the Flutter Flyer flavor. The bottom line is that you could spread a lot of fun and joy with these little rascals.

By comparison, we now turn our attention to a show I just ran across on Netflix — a Korean TV series with the somewhat misleading moniker Sweet Home. Based on a webtoon (a type of digital comic that originated in South Korea) of the same name, this is an apocalyptic horror story that makes Z Nation look like a tea party and The Walking Dead look like a stroll in the park.

There’s no place like home (Click image to see a larger version — Image source: Netflix)

Considering that there’s so much blood and bodily fluids flying around, it’s hard to articulate the appeal of Sweet Home. The fact that it’s dubbed from Korean into English provides a slight disconnect, especially since the different cultures express themselves in different ways. On the other hand, the snooty posh lady who gave the hapless security guard a gift of rotten fish whilst muttering “noblesse oblige” could make her personality felt in any culture under the sun.

There’s also a strange comic book air to Sweet Home that isn’t present in The Walking Dead, which is ironic since The Walking Dead started life (I crack myself up) as a comic book series.

All we know as we plunge into the fray — in more ways than one — is that a young lad called Hyun-soo moves into an apartment complex called Green Home that houses what one might call an “interesting collection” of people (if you take a look for yourself, you’ll understand my use of quotes around “interesting collection”).

Given a choice, I’d prefer to have been presented with a little more of a backstory for all of the leading characters. Having said this, the fact that Hyun-soo himself doesn’t have a clue who anyone is reflects what would be the case if you or I were to move into a new apartment building.

Similarly, I’d also like to know why, not long after the beginning of the first episode, everyone in the world outside the apartment complex appears to have turned into — or is being chased by (or eaten by) — people who have been transformed into monsters. Once again, however, this is probably an accurate depiction of the way things would be should something like this ever come to pass. I’m reasonably confident that by the time I knew what was happening it would already have happened.

Suffice it to say that it doesn’t take long for things to start to go pear-shaped in no uncertain terms. I have no idea how Hyun-soo is going to extricate himself from his predicament, if indeed he can, but I can’t wait to see the next episode and discover more. How about you? Have you seen Sweet Home? If so, do you have any thoughts you’d care to share?