hi, bye, july! :)
Hello friend, thanks for opening! Some thoughts on how that month went--just like that, we're more than halfway through this year! Insanity. Hope you find something useful here. -K
Some brief life notes, just to get them out of the way:
- Accompanied my sister during her induction to the CT MRI Society of the Philippines--technically a graduation of sorts, too, and her first face-to-face ceremony in two years! The event required me to wear a tie, and it was all good. Thankfully.
- Got our second booster at the friendly neighborhood Maxicare--thanks, Maxicare! It was an initiative with the Makati LGU, and we're just thankful that it's in our neck of the woods.
- Listened to the President's first State of the Nation Address! At one hour and twenty minutes, it's marginally better than the previous president's meandering, scriptless SONAs that ran for definitely longer, but then the bar is literally in hell and I'm not about to give this president a free pass just because he could stick to a speech. In any case, at least there were legible promises mentioned for tracking?? Bar still in hell, yes.
- That was a really REALLY powerful earthquake last Wednesday, holysh. I was getting ready with my tasks for the day (thankfully on WFH) when I noted our hanging lights swaying rather wildly. True enough, it was a magnitude 7.0 quake! We stayed under our desks for a bit to wait the shake out. What a scare.
- Worrisome shooting incident at the Ateneo, where a lone gunman (and administration supporter) shot and killed a former Basilan mayor, her aide and an Ateneo security guard, as well as critically injured the Basilan mayor's daughter, who was among the students slated to graduate that afternoon. What a senseless tragedy--just goes to show that the violence that is encouraged online can have real-life consequences, and that the culture of impunity lives on.
Twiceland updates
Technically, we're just living our life alongside Twice's crazy timeline, like: Where were we on this day? Depends, what did Twice release that week? And for sure the answer would be at least two things on YouTube. CRAZY.
Two A handful of highlights we enjoyed this month, because I can't commit to just two:
Contract renewal/Announcement of August Korean comeback/Celebrate M/V drop - We were so happy about Celebrate, there were tears in our eyes as we watched the video premiere at midnight KST like -- fuck?? I mean, my thread that night was an absolute meltdown. I was so into the sound, foremost. You know the way your heart skips a beat when it hears a really good song? That is my heart's relationship with Celebrate as a song, which dropped a few days after Twice formally announced their contract renewal (not that we had not expected it, but it was still good to know?). Which, yeah, understandable that Twice had to announce their contract renewal before Celebrate's drop, because their Japanese album's title track is basically a celebration of that very milestone. Chaeyoung opens with, Tonight, we celebrate our love--after all this time, we're still together and god pls play this song on our 50th wedding anniversary.
Nayeon's POP! behind the scenes - Super love this peek into the overall hard work and creative process behind Nayeon's solo album--from the recording sessions, to the merch planning, to the dance practices and the music shows. Perfectly timed with the arrival of our Im Nayeon albums, too. There's so much content--Nayeon be really laying down the entire catalogue of executions right here ahead of the other members, you know?--that we still have episodes next week. CRAZY. I hope the forthcoming solos will also be this rich???
Jihyo's activities with Sejeong - TWICE's leader Park Jihyo and former idol and actress Kim Sejeong are best friends and it's a gift that keeps on giving. Recently, the two traveled to Busan, and shot a vlog of their trip - here are the links to episode 1 and episode 2 because they are hilarious. ALSO as it turns out, Jihyo is singing the OST for Sejeong's upcoming show on SBS, Today's Webtoon and MY GOD. Can we please have more OSTs for this girl because she's so damn good???
P.S. Please stream "I Fly" by Park Jihyo on YouTube and Spotify
Recs: Shows, music, reads, etc.
A lot of good stuff dropped this month like ????
Some things to watch:
Extraordinary Attorney Woo (Netflix) - ongoing series about a lawyer who is on the autism spectrum. So tenderly made. Park Eun Bin, who plays Attorney Woo, pulls off an extraordinary performance every episode. A tearjerker though, given the material, so be prepared. We're taking this one on slowly.
Spy x Family (Netflix) - A spy, an assassin and a telepath make for an unconventional found family. Taking this one slow as well because it is so good wtf
Stranger Things (Netflix) - NO SPOILERS PLS we have just finished Season 3 lol. Mike and Eleven have um questionable chemistry (El and Max bounce off each other better in my view?? and not saying this just as a lesbian, but as a general person with eyes??) Anyways better late than never, also the OST slaps.
Thor: Love and Thunder - okay so we watched this at the cinemas when it came out, and if I may say, yes I loved watching Natalie Portman kick some serious ass on a really big screen. Those biceps mm.
Some things to listen to:
Maggie Rogers' new album "Surrender" dropped this week and it is GREAT issa banger. Cut of choice: Shatter, because I'd do anything just to feel with you is a great line.
Hayley Kiyoko's "Panorama" has a great diss track called "well" and well, now that's an ex-themed diss track that won't get you so much celesbian drama, unlike FLETCHER's "Becky's so hot" which is as hanap-gulo as they come hahaha. Autostraddle has an explainer about Becky with the Good T-Shirt and it's very informative.
Celebrate this, Celebrate that but y'all should be listening to Voices of Delight and Sandcastle, which are my favorite B-sides from TWICE's latest Japan comeback.
Some things to read:
This essay, "What I miss about working at Stripe", kind of spoke to me as someone who used to work in a field that demanded passion of its workers (journalism). The piece talks about, among other things, that high that someone gets from working very hard and having that hard work pay off. It's a high, surely, but it comes with its own set of trade-offs; in my view, one really decides what is worth trading for anything, and life is made up of a lot of those decisions.
Charlie Warzel's thread on "influencer trickle-down" finally gave me a term for that urge we all get to curate our social media presence in the interest of "branding". This is an insight from this longer essay: How to leave an Internet that is always in crisis - tl;dr I have tried this repeatedly and have failed repeatedly, so I'm passing this on to someone who maybe could pull it off.
Anyway, capping this entry with...
My favorite memes this month:
MOA arena staff as Gina Parreno asking violently, "BAKIT GANON?!" on the third night of the LANY concert hahaha:
https://twitter.com/kristofferkyle/status/1537370332356825090
TWICE Jihyo and BTS Jungkook (our 97ers bless) being mad at good food.
https://twitter.com/bangtwiceplace/status/1552310690593099776
Sorry for the ramble and thanks for making it this far!
Next up: August! See you on the other side, friends!
XO,
K