Orm Kornnaphat at BKK Airport Heading to Shanghai

16 Jan 2026

Around 11 am Bangkok local time, Thai actress Orm Kornnaphat was spotted at Suvarnabhumi Int’l Airport on her way to Shanghai. She was scheduled to attend the BLOSSOMIN × Orm ‘Touch of Bloom’ Brand Appreciation Event the next day (17 Jan ’26) to celebrate her role as the brand ambassador for BLOSSOMIN’s hand care and body care products. This was Orm’s first official schedule and public appearance in 2026 after her New Year’s break.

Around 5 pm local time, Orm arrived safely at Shanghai Pudong International Airport and spotted leaving through the private exit. She greeted and waved at the fans who were waiting excitedly to get a glimpse of the actress.

Read below for more stories, photos & videos.

Disclamer/Note:
Everything’s found online. Credits to the original owners. No copyright infringement intended.
Also, just doing this for fun so apologies in advance if I missed anything since the info is based on on what’s appeared in my feed.

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Orm’s Arrival at BKK Airport

Suvarnabhumi International Airport, Thailand

Around 11 am Bangkok local time, Orm Kornnaphat was seen arriving at Suvarnabhumi International Airport. The actress stepped out from her van while holding a cup of iced coffee, sporting her P’Korn persona today looking all cool and handsome. Orm was wearing Matter Makers head-to-toe outfit paired with Dior sunglasses, bag, and sneakers while holding an Acne Studios checkered scarf.

@LingOrmCH3 official X account posted a clip of Orm’s arrival with the caption “ดารานอนตี3อ่ะป่าวเมื่อคืน” (Translation: “Did the star stay up until 3 AM or something last night?”) teasing they younger if she stayed up last night and waited to hear if Ling’s suitcase has been delivered to her room (read Lingling’s lost suitcase backstory from the day before on this post if you missed it). In the clip, you can also hear admin teasing Orm saying “Someone misses you.” Which then Orm replied with, “Who misses me?” And then P’Booky who was walking next to her answered with, “The person who lost her luggage.”

ดารานอนตี3อ่ะป่าวเมื่อคืน #Ormkornnaphat #ออมกรณ์นภัส pic.twitter.com/Az8VrW9YZR

— LingOrm CH3 Official (@LingOrmCH3) January 16, 2026

Source: @LingOrmCH3

Translation Source: @minoz_r

Orm has arrived at the airport and looks handsome#ออมกรณ์นภัส #Ormkornnaphat pic.twitter.com/V8LoKEm5ff

— LOeiei (@LOeiei_) January 16, 2026

Source: @LOeiei_

baby So cute. Missed you😭 pic.twitter.com/i8ARRWcqoC

— LOeiei (@LOeiei_) January 16, 2026

Source: @LOeiei_

So cute. Have a safe flight💜orm#Ormkornnaphat pic.twitter.com/SAlc9T13Lz

— LOeiei (@LOeiei_) January 16, 2026

Source: @LOeiei_

Orm was seen interacting with the fans while waiting for her check-in process to be completed before finally waving goodbye at the fans before heading into the departure terminal.

📷: @Con_Lingorm

📷: @Con_Lingorm

📷: @Con_Lingorm

📷: @Con_Lingorm

Source: @Con_Lingorm

📷: @eastern0122

📷: @eastern0122

📷: @eastern0122

📷: @eastern0122

Source: @eastern0122

📷: @Koiiz9

📷: @Koiiz9

📷: @Koiiz9

Source: @Con_Lingorm (1 & 3), (2)

📷: @Con_Lingorm

📷: @Con_Lingorm

📷: @Con_Lingorm

Source: @Con_Lingorm

Source: @ormstyle_

Orm’s arrival at shanghai PVG airport

Around 5 pm local time, Orm arrived safely at Shanghai Pudong International Airport and spotted leaving through the private exit. She greeted and waved at the fans who were waiting excitedly to get a glimpse of the actress before entering her van to leave the airport. Orm lowered her window so the fans could still see her as the car was starting to move. The van did one last stop in front of the crowd of fans who were shouting Orm’s name loudly and that’s when Orm switched her sunglasses with her reading glasses. The moment she could see clearer, her expression got even brighter and she smiled wider at the fans while holding a thumb up sign. Not long after, she said goodbye one last time before rolling her window up as the van left the airport.

Source: @LOeiei_

Orm has arrived in Shanghai.#ออมกรณ์นภัส #Ormkornnaphat pic.twitter.com/2Rawv9jHv5

— LOeiei (@LOeiei_) January 16, 2026

Source: @LOeiei_

baby so cute☺️Have a good rest#Ormkornnaphat‌ pic.twitter.com/q9AGa7ASrd

— LOeiei (@LOeiei_) January 16, 2026

Source: @LOeiei_

อ้วมถึงแล้ววววววว pic.twitter.com/xHRJ4qS5Q2

— Chubbyชน์ • 福福 • (@MoshiJB) January 16, 2026

Source: @MoshiJB

Orm then posted a clip on Weibo, announcing her arrival in Shanghai while eating fruits (pineberry, strawberry, and cherry) inside her moving van.

16.01.26 | Weibo: orm_kornnaphat

nihao shangha!!!🧡#Ormkornnaphat #ออมกรณ์นภัส@ormmormm pic.twitter.com/JtbEeT6qHx

— ORMKORN’s HOME OFFICIAL TH (@ORMKORNHOMETH) January 16, 2026

Source: @ORMKORNHOMETH

เด็กหญิงกรณ์นภัสถึงแล้วค่ะ
เจอกันพรุ่งนี้นะคะทุกคน #Ormkornnaphat #ออมกรณ์นภัส pic.twitter.com/MDBlMC7SaF

— LingOrm CH3 Official (@LingOrmCH3) January 16, 2026

Source: @LingOrmCH3

Later that (mid)night, she posted an IG story of a photo of a line of trees decorated with blue fairy lights on the street of Shanghai. And that was officially the last update of the day we got from Orm. 

17.01.26 | IG: orm.kornnaphat

เด็กที่เซี่ยงไฮ้ยังไม่นอนอีกหย๋อคะ☺️#Ormkornnaphat #ออมกรณ์นภัส@ormmormm pic.twitter.com/aqrV9kx6ru

— ORMKORN’s HOME OFFICIAL TH (@ORMKORNHOMETH) January 16, 2026

Source: @ORMKORNHOMETH

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Blackpink 'Deadline' Mini Album First Teaser

On Jan 30, 2026 12 AM (KST), YG dropped Blackpink’s first set of teaser photos for their upcoming mini album ‘Deadline’.

The drop was somewhat came out of left field for Blinks since to some who have been counting down for teaser drop every Friday of the week since the beginning of new year didn’t get anything and assumed there won’t be teasers released. And some who were expecting teasers assumed that they’ll be rolling them out at the beginning of next month, closer to the comeback date.

I think at this point, predicting how YG will handle Blackpink’s marketing strategy for their upcoming comeback is a little hard just because we’ve been getting so little rollout (if any) in the past couple of comebacks. Although I do think with the release of the first set of teaser photos almost a month before the actual comeback, we might be going back to the old ways of YG doing rollout teaser releases to build up for the comeback.

Also, I lowkey think that they’re dropping the teasers to get people to pre-save their music. I don’t know how important this is for Blackpink & YG themselves, but the big fan accounts on X have been trying hard to get people to pre-save the ‘Deadline’ album because the number of pre-save is lower than Blackpink’s previous comebacks. And they’ve been saying that it’s crucial for people to pre-save the album prior to the comeback for algorithm so that the album can be pushed to more audience. Just a theory though.

But I gotta say, this comeback does feel like the quietest comeback in Blackpink’s history. It might be a good idea for YG to step up their marketing game to at least make some noise online. And I guess this teaser drop is a good starting point. How much content we’ll be getting this time? Only time will tell.

Source: YG Entertainment

X First Reactions

Here are some initial reactions from Blinks that I found on X minutes after the teaser photos were posted:

Will be updating periodically as the rollout continues.

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Lingling Kwong at BKK Airport Heading to Kuala Lumpur

15 Jan 2026

Thai actress Lingling Kwong was spotted at Suvarnabhumi Int’l Airport on her way to Kuala Lumpur to attend Eucerin exclusive Meet & Greet as their ASEAN Brand Ambassador. This event was going to be her first public appearance in Malaysia.

The trip’s also Lingling’s first official schedule and public appearance in 2026 after her New Year’s break.

The actress was spotted shopping at Dior—another brand she’s currently serving as the brand ambassador of—inside the terminal prior to her departure. 

Around 10:30 pm, Lingling arrived safely at Kuala Lumpur International airport, greeted by a crowd of fans who’s been waiting excitedly at the airport. Despite of the late night arrival, fans were still in high spirits evident by the amount of crowd swarming around Ling when she stepped out into the arrival hall accompanied by the multiple shoutings from enthusiastic JKRs trying to get Ling’s attention.

The night ended with a bit of a plot twist when Ling posted an update on her X account minutes after she left the airport saying that her suitcase is lost which prompted the fandom to sent her well-wishes messages online, all hoping that it’ll be recovered quickly.

Two hours later, Ling posted another update saying that the suitcase has been found and will be delivered to her room at 3 am. And that’s how Ling’s first night in Malaysia ended.

Read below for more stories, photos & videos.

Disclamer/Note:
Everything’s found online. Credits to the original owners. No copyright infringement intended.
Also, just doing this for fun so apologies in advance if I missed anything since the info is based on on what’s appeared in my feed.

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Ling’s Arrival at BKK

Suvarnabhumi International Airport, Thailand

Around 6:50 pm, the clip of Ling’s arrival at Suvarnabhumi International Airport started to circulate on X with @LingOrmCH3 official X account posting a clip of the actress reporting for work after her 2-week New Year’s break from the public. The video was captioned with “คิดถึงจุงเบยยยยยยยย 🥰” (Translation: “Missing you so much, Lingling 🥰”), a sentiment which 19k people who liked the post seemed to agree with.

Ling has arrived at the airport. so pretty#หลิงหลิงคอง #linglingkwong pic.twitter.com/MszslMA73B

— LOeiei (@LOeiei_) January 15, 2026

Sources: Post 1, Post 2, Post 3

คิดถึงจุงเบยยยยยยยย 🥰#Linglingkwong #หลิงหลิงคอง pic.twitter.com/3pyHNWTexq

— LingOrm CH3 Official (@LingOrmCH3) January 15, 2026

Safe flight 🫳🏻🫳🏻#หลิงหลิงคอง #LingLingkwong pic.twitter.com/WLwYvsOCz6

— Dream (@Dream9502_) January 15, 2026

While walking to the check-in counter, Ling was seen happily interacting and talking with the fans and there are clips of her saying (answering one of the fan’s question I assume. Not too sure because they were conversing in Mandarin and I don’t speak Mandarin) that she’s happy when she’s working and also happy even when she’s not working, making the fans laughed at her answer.

Lingling says she’s happy when she’s working, and happy even when she’s not😂#linglingkwong‌ pic.twitter.com/9HeAbPNHbt

— LOeiei (@LOeiei_) January 15, 2026

Source:@LOeiei_

LingLing said she’s happy whether she goes to work or not 🥹🤏🏻🤏🏻🤏🏻🤏🏻 pic.twitter.com/sGwlUZjuEQ

— Dream (@Dream9502_) January 15, 2026

Fansites Photos:

Sources: @eastern0122 (Image 1-4), @00kwongNGC2237 (Image 5-6), @winkiloka_lo (Image 7), @Dream9502_ (Image 8), @Dream9502_ (Image 9-10).

Lingling Kwong Airport Fashion at BKK Airport Heading to Kuala Lumpur | Source: @lingstylestudio

Inside the terminal, the actress was spotted shopping at Dior—another brand she’s currently serving as the brand ambassador of—prior to her departure. 

Source: @00kwongNGC2237

Sources: Image 1, Image 2, Image 3, Image 4, Image 5.

Around 8 pm, @LingOrmCH3 X account posted a picture of Ling before her flight with the caption “See you later! ✈️” (Translated) and she’s off to Malaysia.

Source: @LingOrmCH3

Ling’s Arrival at KUL

Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Malaysia

Around 10:30 pm, Lingling arrived safely at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Photos of the first sightings of the actress after her arrival were soon uploaded by fansites who were on the same flight with her, capturing Ling sitting on a buggy waiting to be driven to the arrival terminal. Sitting next to her was her makeup artist @homeless_makeupb who came along on this trip.

Fansites Photos:

Sources: @00kwongNGC2237 (Image 1-2), Image 3, @day_fruit71850 (Image 4).

Lingling arrived safely in Malaysia#หลิงหลิงคอง #linglingkwong pic.twitter.com/XhEHoEpoiY

— Dream (@Dream9502_) January 15, 2026

So cuteeee 🫳🏻#หลิงหลิงคอง #linglingkwong pic.twitter.com/7pXvH9p53x

— Dream (@Dream9502_) January 15, 2026

While riding the buggy, her team was teaching her how to say a couple of Malay words including “Aku cinta kamu” (I love you) and “Selamat datang” (welcome). She struggled a little with the pronunciations before finally nailing the words after a couple of tries. At the end of one clip, she said, “Malaysia. See you. Ha ha”. I gotta say that “Ha ha” in the end is so Ling. 😆

Aku Cinta Kamu 🥰🫶🏼 #Linglingkwong #หลิงหลิงคอง pic.twitter.com/pDHGFtcxnf

— LingOrm CH3 Official (@LingOrmCH3) January 16, 2026

When Ling stepped into the arrival hall, she was greeted by a crowd of fans who’s been waiting excitedly at the airport. Despite of the late night arrival, JKRs were still in high spirits evident by the enthusiastic shoutings coming from all directions trying to get Ling’s attention. At some point, the crowd got a little too crowded and Ling warned people to watch out for their surroundings before she quickly escorted into her van by security. 

Source: @LOeiei_

Ling has arrived in Malaysia, and she has many fans there#linglingkwong‌ pic.twitter.com/YnM06e1P0B

— LOeiei (@LOeiei_) January 15, 2026

Source: @Dream9502_

Lingling greeting everyone with a bright smile even though it’s late #หลิงหลิงคอง #linglingkwong pic.twitter.com/bgguCqtpVo

— Dream (@Dream9502_) January 15, 2026

Source: @LOeiei_

There were so many fans that Ling said, ‘Watch out’#linglingkwong‌ pic.twitter.com/cY7qL0zeKp

— LOeiei (@LOeiei_) January 15, 2026

The night ended with a bit of a plot twist when Ling posted an update on her X account minutes after she left the airport saying that her suitcase is lost which prompted the fandom to sent her well-wishes messages online, all hoping that it’ll be recovered quickly.

Source: @linglingsirilak

@homeless_makeupb (Ling’s makeup artist for this trip) also talked about the incident when he went on live that night saying that someone mistook Ling’s luggage but they already managed to contact the person to swap it back. 

อัพเดตจากไลฟ์โฮม
โฮม: มีคนเอากระเป๋าพี่หลิงไป เกิดการสลับเล็กน้อย พี่หลิงน่าจะลงทวิตแล้วเมื่อกี้ ติดต่อกระเป๋าได้แล้วตอนนี้ คนที่น่าจะเอากระเป๋าผิดไป เขาอยู่บนHighway จะเอากระเป๋าลงมา แล้วจะมาดูว่าหยิบผิดไปไหม https://t.co/f55BntYumY pic.twitter.com/nROuBEhX3S

— K.Mayazo._.hyemAn🐻‍❄️🐶🐹 (@KMayaKwangbae) January 15, 2026

Two hours later, Ling posted another update saying that the suitcase has been found and will be delivered to her room at 3 am. Rumor has it somebody mistook her suitcase at baggage claim but the staff managed to track the person and recover the suitcase. And that’s how Ling’s first night in Malaysia ended.

Source: @linglingsirilak

Bonus:

My favorite LingOrm fanart account @Vel_LO_art posted a strip relating to the Ling’s-suitcase-gone-missing incident depicting the contrast of reactions between Ling and Orm when the suitcase went missing. Ling is shown with a very chill reaction saying “Oh no~” (and tell me why when I read this, I immediately read it in the tone that Ling usually use when saying the phrase. Iykyk) while Orm’s reaction is the complete opposite, panicking over the ordeal. 

Below it, there’s another scenario showing another contrast of reactions from Ling when her suitcase went missing vs when her protein pack went missing (happened during ‘LingOrm 1st FanMeeting in Singapore’ last year on June 14, 2025). While she’s super chill about her suitcase went missing, when her protein pack went missing though, it was a whole different reaction. Ling was practically sulking on stage, telling the fans and complaining about her missing protein pack during soundcheck and the fan meeting event. And I can attest to this because I actually attended the FM that day. Honestly, it was pretty cute how distracted she was during the whole event because of a missing protein pack.

Artwork by: @Vel_LO_art | English Translation by: @minoz_r

Blackpink 'Deadline' World Tour Announcement

In case you missed it, YG finally announced the name of Blackpink’s upcoming world tour yesterday morning, 16 May 2025 at 11 am (KST). Blackpink’s upcoming world tour is titled ‘Deadline’.

The time the announcement was published is new since big announcements usually drop at midnight in the past. Blinks usually stay up to wait for these announcements or check YG’s website if a new locked article has appeared (they usually post the article the day before and make it public the next day). But I guess we’re switching to the 11 am KST time for this era. One comment said that they might be following the Western time (which I assume is the States maybe) which makes sense since they now have a lot of new fans in the states since their solo era.

My Initial Reactions

I first saw the post on Instagram (so I haven’t seen the general reactions of the X-sphere) and my immediate initial reaction was:

“Huh?”

Literally so confused on how they picked ‘Deadline’ as a world tour title because to be honest, it kinda sounds like something that you’re forced to do and I’m associating the word with a more negative connotation rather than a positive one.

And it also felt like they ran out of time to think of a better title since Blinks have been voicing their concerns about the lack of information about the upcoming world tour and comeback and so let’s just go with ‘Deadline’ to meet the deadline (I might feel differently if this was announced before they started selling the tickets for the tour). You know what I mean?

But then I was like, maybe my brain wasn’t working properly just yet.
Maybe my brain’s still half asleep.
Maybe they do have a solid explanation about this choice of title and I’m just not getting it.
It was only 9 am after all.

So then, as usual, I went to X to find the meaning and concept behind the title.

The first post I saw on X that’s related to the world tour title was this one:

“It implies the meaning of an opportunity to bring out extreme concentration and an irreversible last moment, so it is expected to be a performance with a high degree of completion on an overwhelming scale.”

And then I was like, “HUH?????”

Okay, clearly that was probably taken from a direct Google Translate or Papago translation because the English is not Englishing. So I scrolled some more and found this:

“It implies a moment of extreme focus—a point of no return—and hints at a high-quality performance on an overwhelming scale, heightening anticipation.”

Okay, this one sounds a bit better and the statement makes more sense but honestly, I still don’t associate these descriptions with the word ‘Deadline’. This could well be the description of the word ‘concert’ or ‘stage performance’ to be honest, no?

Is it just me? 🤔

But anyways, since I’m still not getting it, I decided to just see how others interpret and react to this announcement. There are a couple of themes regarding these reactions.

the *friendly jabs

(*or maybe not so friendly? 😆)

yg summoning the girls

I mean....I can see that. With the amount of solo activities they’ve been doing lately, it’s definitely possible that they forgot to go back to YG for their group activities. 😆

Comments on the Poster Design

Last-Minute Prep Vibes

Not gonna lie, out of all the Blackpink Tour announcements, this one’s probably feel the most half-assed and last-minute one (in terms of marketing timing). I get that the members are busy, but what is the supposed separate team YG formed to handle the Blackpink’s upcoming world tour is doing all these time? The lack of updates is baffling. At this point, with no comeback announcement in sight, buying a ticket to this tour feels like buying a mystery box. But just to be clear, I still wanna go. 😆

Pattern Spotting

Alternative Tour Name Suggestions

‘The Revolution’ is the best alt I’ve seen so far. Plus it’s fitting with their brand.

tour greeting simulation

One Blink posted on X:

“Annyeonghaseyo welcome to the Blackpink Deadline world tour Day 1 here in-” —@globaIpinks

Now that I read this post and imagining one of the members saying this line, the tour’s opening greeting might sound a little awkward. 😂😂😂 But I’m sure we’ll get used to it eventually.

Next Album Prediction

Many also predicted that ‘Deadline’ will be the next album’s name since Born Pink was used both for the album and the world tour last time.

the disbandment prediction

If you don’t already know, many have voiced their predictions that this will be Blackpink’s last concert before they disband and focus on their solo careers. And the choice of the title really doesn’t help to quell these rumors.

Will they really disband after this tour?

I really don’t know.

But looking from a business perspective, why would they? Assuming that they now have a pretty significant upper hand and power in negotiating their contracts with YG, I would imagine by continuing their group activity, they probably could earn a good amount of money. Unless their group contract is extremely disadvantage to them, I think they probably won’t disband. They probably would just reduce their group activities. But we’re used to that so... nothing new honestly.

the ‘how you like that’ reference

For reference, they’re referring to the bridge of ‘How You Like That’ that Rosé sings:

🎵
날개 잃은 채로 추락했던 날
The day I fell without my wings

어두운 나날 속에 갇혀 있던 날
Those dark days where I was trapped

그때쯤에 넌 날 끝내야 했어
You should’ve ended me when you had the chance

Look up in the sky, it’s a bird it’s a plane
🎵

I think out of all the interpretations, I like this one the most. It’s the most positive one. Although I do think connecting ‘Deadline’ to this is a bit far fetched since it does feel the word is meant for people outside the fandom and does not focus so much on the group and Blinks? I don’t know. Maybe I’m just reading too much into it (or didn’t manage to read into it enough).

But as of now, I’m kind of mid on the title. Not really feeling it. Even ‘The Revolution’ sounds a bit better than ‘Deadline’ in my opinion. But let’s see if my feelings change in the future.

Comeback Predictions

Now that the tour title has dropped, some predicted that the comeback will not happen until next month, which makes sense.

If they’re doing a comeback right after this, it’ll feel even more rushed than everything already is at the moment. One month to build up the momentum for the comeback is honestly pushing it, but it can still works.

Or they can do it for the album release, do the actual comeback during the Goyang Stadium Tour and essentially treating the tour as their ‘music show’ stages.

But at the very least, I really do think we need that album to come out before the actual tour kicks off because I don’t know how fun will the concert be if we never hear any of the new songs. Like, how would we sing along to that?

In any case, I’m just hoping that they wouldn’t actually thinking of releasing the new albuma day before the Goyang Stadium show like this post is saying. It’s one thing to stick to a concept, but doing that is just taking things a little bit too extreme I think.

At least for us in the South East Asian countries—since the cities and dates for this leg of the tour haven’t been announced yet—by the time Blackpink is in our areas, there’s a higher probability that the album is already out by then (or at least I’m hoping).

For now, my feeling is all we can do is to hope that this world tour plan makes it out of the group chat and into the real world. 😝🤭

All I know is ticket wars are going to be insane this time around I predict. I tried to get tickets for the Goyang Stadium shows and it sold out when I was still in the virtual queue. 😭😭😭 Streets are saying the 2-days show sold out in under 15 minutes with over 121k fans in the queue (capacity of the stadium is 40k by the way).

Anybody planning to attend this tour?

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Moview Review: Everything Everywhere All At Once

Greysuitcase - Movie Review: Everything Everywhere All At Once | Photo Courtesy: A24 & Max

Synopsis

“A middle-aged Chinese immigrant is swept up into an insane adventure in which she alone can save existence by exploring other universes and connecting with the lives she could have led.” —IMDB

“Joy (Stephanie Hsu)’s villainous alter ego Jobu seeks to destroy the universe, fueled by anger that her mother, Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh), does not accept her. Evelyn searches universe after universe to find Joy and overcome the divide between them.” —NYFA.edu

Photo Courtesy: A24

My Take

Watching this after hearing and reading many of the rave reviews online, I honestly don’t know how I feel about this movie.

Yes the plot and the way they shot the movie are different and interesting. But for me, everything feels a bit too much (although it may well be the creator’s main goal to make the viewers feel everything all at once).

Throughout the movie, I kept questioning where the story is going and what are they trying to say because everything seemed to be somewhat random to me.

And yes, by the end of it, I kinda got what they’re trying to say—love, acceptance and all that—but it felt like so much work watching everything unfolded just to get to that final message (or maybe I’m just tired and this isn’t the right movie to watch when you’re tired and trying to unwind).

My Rating: 5/10

Also, found this version of the movie poster that I thought is pretty cool.

Photo Courtesy: A24

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First Impressions: 'rosie' by Rosé

‘rosie’ is the debut studio album by New Zealand and South Korean singer Rosé. It was released on 6 December 2024, through The Black Label and Atlantic Records. The album was conceived as a 12-track pop collection, blending various musical elements such as 90s-inspired R&B, shimmering synthpop, and raw ballads, with lyrics exploring Rosé’s excitement and heartbreak in her early twenties. Rosé served as a songwriter and producer, co-producing with various collaborators including Bruno Mars, Carter Lang, and Omer Fedi. —Wikipedia

She first announced the release date through one of her Instagram post on October 1, 2024, making her the first one out of the four Blackpink members who is releasing a full-length solo album (the other three members’ full albums are coming out soon too in a couple of months).

(Text version is underneath each image)

“my first studio album “rosie” OUT DEC 6th

where to begin.
I cannot believe I am finally announcing my first album release to you all. I remember last year as our year long tour ended, I found myself in a session out here in los angeles. That led on to a year of walking in and out of the studio, writing songs with songwriters and producers I’d met for the first time, trying to figure out the next chapter in my career. I fell asleep many nights feeling confused and lost. But with the support of my dear friends and family, my team, and of course my number ones, I am sat here today excited to announce the date of my album release. I have poured my blood and tears into this album. I cannot wait for you to listen to this little journal of mine. Rosie - is the name I allow my friends and family to call me. With this album, I hope you all feel that much closer to me. And yes, it’s a full length album. DEC 6th. #rosie” —Rosé

My Take: ‘rosie’

So last night, after listening to all 12 tracks or Rosé’s new album ‘rosie’ while reading every single lyrics of every song, my verdict is that the album is REALLY GOOD.

Granted I would probably will listen to this album over and over again and my thoughts and opinions might change later on, but for now, here are some of my first impressions:

First of all, we all know that Rosé can sing and how great her voice is. But in this album, with the various songs and music arrangements that she has chosen, her voice really stood out on all the tracks. They also showcase how versatile she is a singer as well as a songwriter.

And apart from ‘APT’, the rest of the album really doesn’t feel like a K-pop album (if you know what I mean). This album debut could very well be the mark where Rosé crosses over to the mainstream Pop category, which I think is very well-deserved since she really has the skill and talent to do both K-pop and Pop at the same time.

Second of all, after listening to snippets of interviews Rosé did for her promo, we all know that this album is basically her talking about her experiences with her toxic ex. And knowing that context, the feelings I had while listening to this album were angsty and heartbreaking. Even if you don’t have a toxic ex, I feel like everybody can relate to the lines from her songs if you’ve been in any kind of relationship.

And like, honestly, good for you Rosé for getting out of the toxic relationship because if you went through all the things that you sing about, it doesn’t sound like a very pleasant experience. 😭

Lastly, I do appreciate the full-circleness of the story she’s trying to tell with her songs. The album really share the journey of her relationship from the initial infatuation stage, the toxic stage, the break up stage and finally the moving on stage. ‘rosie’ does feel like a complete journey.

Rosé really started off the first solo full album release strong and I really can’t wait to hear the rest of Blackpink members’ upcoming solo albums.

Favorite Tracks

There’s no skip in this album, really, but here are some of my favorite tracks (for now) after my first listen:

Track 1 — number one girl
Track 4 — toxic till the end
Track 3 — two years

I gotta say, ‘two years’ melody kept popping up on my mind randomly during the next couple of hours after I listened to it. I guess that’s the one that stuck in my mind the most.

Also, if you haven’t heard any of Rosé’s solo songs before but you’re a fan of Taylor Swift, Niki or Adele’s works, you might want to give this album a listen since according to my cousins who are fans of these three singers, Rosé belongs to the same category.

Her previous solo tracks—which are all in full English—include ‘On The Ground’ and ‘Gone’ on her mini album ‘R’ and ‘Hard To Love’ (which is under Blackpink’s Born Pink album). Those three are my favorites too.

After I’m done listening to the album, I went to X to see how other fans are reacting to the album.

Since I’m still in California, the rest of the world (at least people in Asia) had a 14-hour head start listening to this album and it definitely gave them plenty of time to post their reactions to X. I was actually refraining myself from browsing X too to avoid all the spoilers people posted.

But anyways, as always, it’s pretty interesting to see how fellow fans—in this case fellow ‘Number Ones’ as Rosie officially calls her fandom if you haven’t already know—reacted to the album as well as the ‘Toxic Till The End’ music video.

And the scrolling actually resulted in me staying up until 5 am because Number Ones’ mad observation skills and theories were pretty entertaining. 😆

So here are some of the good ones that I found last night:

Album Reactions

“rosé opened the album with number one girl, closing it with dance all night, which was one of the best decisions she ever made. also, the arrangement of the tracks was so perfect, the transition from drinks or coffees to apt. was smooth af.. aoty indeed!!” —@rubyjaneroses

“When you’re being emotional with all the other songs and APT plays on shuffle 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 —@lalalooch

‘Toxic Till The End’ MV Reactions

“rosé, didn’t your parents teach you not to pick up strangers from the road? 😭😭😭” —@blonkse

“the best thing about this music video is how she didn’t portray herself as a victim but instead showed how they were both toxic to each other” —@pinksviral

“this whole mv is just her bullying him i can’t stop laughing she really was the red flag” —@dreamyrse

The Kiss Scene Reactions

“the first k-pop idol to do a kissing scene? this is history 😂” —@_istantalented

“a kpop artist kissing in her own music video? while half the industry apologizes for falling in love??? she is brave and fearless” —@mrswianna

“Rosé kissing in a mv scene

Blinks:

Throwing tantrum ❌
Send truck ❌
Boycott ❌

Discussing theories and guessing who’s the mf ✅

YEAH WE'RE STILL SANE 🔥”
—@itsmooniiieee

“rosé has just changed the kpop industry forever, from talking so openly about her ex and dating, to kissing in music videos.. after this so many idols are going to feel so comfortable sharing their relationships 😭” —@pinksviral

Honestly, this was the last thing I was expecting. Had to do a double take to make sure I wasn’t imagining things. 😂

Also, I saw some discourse online about the statement “first K-pop idol who’s doing a kissing scene”, I’m very well aware that she’s probably not the first one and as the others have pointed out, the previous generations of K-pop idols have done this in the past (Big Bang is one of the most frequently mentioned). But if you look at the current K-pop climate, having an idol whose public image has always been carefully crafted and tops that with the kind of global fame that Blackpink is currently having, doing a kissing scene is pretty much challenging the status quo. Not to mention that she’s a WOMAN and we all know the double standard the world has in general for woman, especially in the entertainment industry.

So yes, she might not be the first one who have done it, but I think she’s the first one that this current generation (the generation who has gotten to know K-pop after it blew up worldwide) has seen. And she did it in a very non-sexual and PG-13 kind of way which I really appreciate. A very tasteful (and beautifully lit and shot) scene I might add. And if this could encourage other K-pop artists to be more open and vulnerable about their feelings regarding relationships, I’m all for it. After all, they all have to draw inspirations from somewhere right? If not their real life, where else? So let’s just enjoy this small little win shall we?

Bruno’s Reaction

“rosie u better reply with i present to you “the ex” 😝 —skintypink

And then there’s bruno with his comment. 😂 And Rosie actually replied with a “😏” smirk emoji.

Who’s The Ex?

Next up is the million dollar question that I’m sure every single one of Number Ones have in mind (but clearly not everybody is voicing):

Who the heck is the actual ex?

But before I move on to this subject, I want to share something that Rosé said during one of her interviews regarding the inspiration of her album:

“I do want to make sure that that’s very well addressed: The fact that it’s not about the story who Rosie has been with or whatever. It’s really more about the art.” —Rosé via New York Times

I get it, really. Rosé doesn’t want the topic of her ex to overshadow all the work that she has put in for this album.

And I agree.

It should be more about the art.

About the music.

But then, you can’t really expect us (at least me) to not get curious on who The Ex is after you mentioning them in every other interviews, right?

So with that said, I’m sharing the next couple of posts just for fun and NOT TO encourage people to hunt down Rosé’s ex and harass them (it already happened to one guy who’s falsely accused so let’s keep it civil online guys). Out of all the theories that are floating out there, there are two names that I personally think are possible candidates. And just to be clear, when I said possible, I mean like it could be true (like even 0.0001% is a possibility so just take all this with a ton of salt if you will) but I have ZERO knowledge of Rosie’s personal life so I know nothing.

And Rosie, if you’re reading this, I promise this is just a little intermezzo in the middle of listening to ‘rosie’. 😆 I’ll go back to streaming ‘rosie’ right after this.

The Ex theory No. 1

“after carefully dissecting all her lyrics, interviews and timelines....i've concluded that her ex might be loren” —@ROSEANNEOUT

They were close at some point I think (at least there were a couple of appearances of Rosie and Loren together online or in each others’ socials here and there). They did a cover together for Rosie’s channel. But it could be just for work.

The Ex theory No. 2

“HE UNFOLLOWED HER, DELETED ALL HIS POSTS WITH BLACKPINK 😭 ROSE AND JADEN SMITH WERE DEFINITELY DATING” —@haobingaysex

“If he was The ex her close family wont follow him on IG . Stop this drama” —@vanessaxxvo

“Instagram unfollows are the new breakup press releases, I guess 😭” —@HoneyGoldxx

“twitter detectives never seem to amaze me, like how do y'all find things like this out 😭” —@Musclemidgett

“Out of all the options she found Jaden??!” —@arvnd_ofl

This one is an interesting theory, but I feel like the first reply kinda debunked it.

“rosé wearing her ex’s hoodie over an outfit similar to coachella 2019….am i onto smth” —@heyheyandre_art

“no because hold on, isn’t this the same hoodie and black outfit combo?” —@cuntressjnk

I gotta say, her outfit in the picture on the left kinda looks similar to the one she wears in the MV though. And Jaden has been known to be a K-pop fan for so long and it is a bit weird he unfollowed all of the Blackpink members. But it could also be for different reasons as well. Honestly, can’t really picture Jaden being the actual ex.

The Ex Theory No. 3

I was about to conclude this series when suddenly my sister texted me literally minutes ago with new tea that she found from the X-sphere.

There’s a new candidate who’s joining the line-up for the possible ex.

And this one seemed to be the most plausible one compared to the previous two.

“some tea for ya 🍵: this is a thread on mikah, rosé, and “toxic till the end”, the connections. —@mikafiles

Okay, I think this one has more probability than the other two.

“AND HE LOVES SKATEBOARD 🛹🛹🛹” —@mikafiles

“and he injured himself playing skateboard!!!! A little bit coincidence as Rose’s new MV” —@onex3000

I don’t know this guy so I’m not sure if this isan actual X-ray scan or just a prop for an MV.

But to people who can read X-ray scans, is there any broken bone in this scan?

Source: @imyoursbini_

Source: Mika’s Instagram Post 1, Post2

The resemblance is uncanny.

But then again, the question is would Rosie hire an actor who resembles the real ex so much?

The More Than One Ex Theory

“the rosé lore is so interesting i couldn’t stop reading these theories about the ex and the outfits and the references.. oh roséverse is big shut up my novel started” —@dieforyous

“This might be a hot take, but I feel like Rosé is talking about 2 or more exes in the album. I can’t help but notice there are 2 different vibes from all the songs. 1 hinted a lot of angst & pettiness, while the other is more regretful and yearning. Or I’m just delusional lol 🤣” —@agr1298

This whole ex saga literally what kept me up ‘til 5 am last night. 😆 And then one of the replies under this post made me stop scrolling and think. And the realization hit me. It’s actually very, very possible that Rosie has more than one ex. 🤯 I’m sure she has lots suitors out there and it was bold of me to think that Rosie only has one ex. There could well be more than one ex out there.

(Also, as I’m writing this post, apparently there are more theories floating out there that I saw. A couple of new names were thrown into the mix but I didn’t really look into them.)

Anyways, we’ll see if the story goes anywhere. Sometimes fans are pretty good online detectives, but other times we can be a little bit (or a lot) delulu too. So don’t take anything too seriously. At least not until there’s confirmation from parties involved.

For now, I guess this is a good engagement to keep the buzz of the album release going. And again, please don’t dive into this topic too seriously and consume what your see online mindfully. And please don’t go around confronting strangers of about things that are unrelated to you. My suggestion is just to take this as another fun lighthearted topic related to the album. You know, like when you’re talking to your friends about your ex. You guys talk (or maybe rant) about it, get angry together, empathize with what your friend went through, give words of encouragements, take the whole thing as a life lesson and move on with life.

And that’s all I have today. I still have so much to say about the album, but I feel like I need to listen to ‘rosie’ a couple of more (hundred) times and process everything before I can even put my thoughts into coherent words. So I may (or may not) do another review of the album in the future. We’ll see.

If you make it ‘til here, thanks for reading. And if you’ve already listened to ‘rosie’ let me know in the comment what you think of the album and share your favorite tracks! 😊

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On My Playlist: Yesterday by Jay Park

“Yesterday” by Jay Park (박재범) was produced by Cha Cha Malone & Chucky Kim and was released on February 13, 2023.

This was actually the most played track on my Spotify playlist in 2023. 😆

“On February 13, the 35-year-old musician dropped his new single ‘Yesterday’ alongside with a music video featuring South Korean actress Lee Yoo-mi, who is best known for starring in Netflix series Squid Game and All Of Us Are Dead.”
—NME.com

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K-Drama Review: Queenmaker

Greysuitcase - K-Drama Review: Queenmaker | Photo Courtesy: Netflix

Synopsis

“After a crisis of conscience, a powerful fixer uses her skills to boost a civil rights lawyer’s mayoral campaign and take down her former employer.” —Netflix

My Take

Starring two strong female leads, the story focused on the partnership formed between Hwang Do-Hee, a former powerful fixer for a chaebol family (the Eunsung group), and Oh Kyung-Sook, a human rights lawyer who often went up against Eunsung Group to fight for the weak.

This was the first Korean drama that I watched that has the plot revolves around a powerful fixer (I think there were other dramas where the scenario of a fixer came in, but the story never really focused on the fixer themselves).

The progression of the first three episodes were a little slow for me. But afterwards, I think the drama hit the right pacing of unfolding of the story. It’s not too intense but it‘s not necessarily slow either.

The characters are interesting, the actors acted well, and there were plenty of interesting sub-plots that made me want to keep watching. They definitely dramatized the incidents that happened, but they all still believable enough to have happened in real life (at least for viewers like me who doesn’t know a lot of or work in Korean politics). Nothing feels overly dramatized, which I appreciate.

There are also some moral issues and dilemma that are being discussed throughout the drama with the main message being the fight between the good and evil and how much sacrifices you have to make for the good to win the war.

I also like the fact that they show how somebody who has done the wrong thing ended up taking up accountability for their actions and not just skate by while still having the message of there’s hope of a better future ahead.

Being a big fan of Olivia Pope (who here also watched “Scandal”?), Hwang Do-Hee’s character certainly reminded me of Olivia Pope. They both are helping somebody to get elected to one of the most powerful office in the country, their fashion and appearances are always put together and their war rooms are definitely reminiscent of each others’,

Overall, I quite enjoy this drama and would definitely recommend it to those who like political drama.

My Rating: 8.5/10

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Bad Book Or Bad Movie

Sometimes ago, I did a poll on my Instagram asking my followers which one would they rather do, read a bad book or watch a bad movie (and why). The result was 25% of people who voted would rather read a bad book while the other 75% would rather watch a bad movie.

I also got some response on the reason why from the people who rather watch a bad movie. One person said “Movie is easier because it moves and you’re forced to move along, unlike a book where you can’t get past a bad page. I’ve watched a lot of bad movies but I haven’t finished a lot of bad books,” and another person said “Movies are usually a shorter investment time-wise than reading a book”.

(Text version is under the image)

I personally rather watch a bad movie as well. On top of the two previous reasons, with movie, I can always fast forward to skip the boring part or watch it in 1.5x or 2x speed to get it over with. 😆

Or if the plot is bad but the cinematography is good, at the very least I can learn how certain scene is lit and shot.

With books, if the writing is bad, I can hardly pass the first couple of pages, let alone finish the whole thing. The writing style and the plot need to be interesting enough to keep me hooked. Plus since there’s no visual with books, if the writing and plot are bad, then that’s it for me.

For the 25% of you who voted for this, curious to know why would you prefer a bad book rather than a bad movie?

Now that I think about it, reading a bad book can probably be compensated with your own good imagination maybe? If you visualize the words way better in your head, perhaps the story won’t be as bad as it is in words? 😆

Also, I devoured a lot of books when I was younger and I think that also made me a little bit picky about what I read later on because some books are just too predictable, unrelatable (even if it’s a fiction, I want my fiction to be somewhat realistic) or some books are just plainly bad and I can’t bring myself to finish it.

In any case, whether it’s a bad book or a bad movie, the one thing that I CAN stand is probably listening to people who review or recap these bad books or movies in their own words and make them fun (part of it is also probably because I can do other stuff while listening to these reviews so it doesn’t feel like my time is wasted since I can still be productive).

If you don’t already know, there’s a whole genre of this kind of videos on Youtube.

The first channel I found a couple of years ago and started binge watching (hearing actually, since I usually listen to her while editing) was probably @KennieJD who usually talks about bad movies that she watched in a self-proclaimed series called “Bad Movies & A Beat” where she does her story telling while doing her makeup.

Almost all the movies that she reviewed are bad and I would probably never watch in real life, but she’s funny so it’s entertaining to hear her comments about the movies. She now does recaps/reviews on reality shows too which is also pretty fun.

My next find was Stephanie Soo’s channel @MissMangoButt “Baking a Mystery” series where she retells and reviews thriller/mystery/horror movies and books. Usually the good ones, but there are some not so good books/movies that she reviewed. The script (if there’s any) is very well-written and she’s very expressive so listening to her telling the story is very fun.

I actually know her initally as a mukbang Youtuber, but then my sister told me that she started a true crime story channel called Rotten Mango (@rottenmangopod) and I should check it out.

I did and I love it. She talks about true crime cases that are pretty well scripted and well researched and she’s a pretty great story teller overall.

Rotten Mango also has its podcast on Spotify which have more episodes than the Youtube channel. She put up cases that have more explicit and gruesome details on the podcast. So if you want to listen to more episodes, definitely head to Spotify.

After I discovered Rotten Mango, it led me to her other channels, @MissMangoButt and @StephanieSoo where she talks about lighter, non-crime related topics such as celebrities’ real-life dramas. Most of her recent topics have revolved around Asian celebrities/public figures and I gotta say, I learned a lot of new things about Chinese public figures’ recent dramas from her stories. Very entertaining.

Anyways, a little bit of a tangent there inthe end but as always, thank you to those who voted on the poll and DM-ed me your answers. 😊

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On My Playlist: Sweatpants by Lauv

Sweatpants is the 12th track of Lauv’s debut studio album ~how i'm feeling~ that was released on March 6, 2020.

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