12 January 2023 - Today IS the day!

Kungsoo and his birthday cake

Before I do anything else, I want to wish the amazing singer and actor, D.O. (Doh Kyung Soo) of EXO, a very happy birthday. The video below is a live recording of the song he released prior to his mandatory enlistment into the military in 2019 (That's Okay), performed on the day he was discharged in 2021. Check out his perfect face and angelic vocals.

Birthday greetings also go out to Kevin of Omega X. The band are also celebrating after winning their court case against their (former) agency, Spire. Let’s hope they find a nice new entertainment company and have a comeback soon 🤞.

I have now literally spent about 12 hours solidly staring at the computer without a real break, apart from making cups of tea (Milky Oolong (Camellia) and Spiced Pumpkin Pie (Bird&Blend)) and loo breaks (frequent thanks to the huge quantity of tea consumed 😂). I do need water urgently, though, as it’s been about 5 hours since the last cup.

I, therefore, need to get this drafted rapidly so I can:

• Get away from the computer and the stuffy head (of the eye strain variety, not migraine, thankfully); 💻
• Beat the midnight curse – I’m determined today is the day 💪
• Not miss D.O. and Kevin’s birthdays by posting after midnight (even though it’s actually a day later in Korea now, so I should have just added it to yesterday’s post) 🎂
• Have something to eat! My body is crying out for a salad (why, body, why? Because it needs to make up for not eating much during the migraine is why) 🥗

Today has been busy, both with work and with ploughing on with my K-pop 2022 end-of-year lists . . . honestly, it’s never-ending because I am taking this all way too seriously. It was back to mass listening: Key, TVXQ!, Max Changmin, Pentagon, Kingdom, Onew, Woosung, WayV, Minho, Chen, Xiumin, Lay, Suho, Leo, Ateez, I’ll and Tempest. By the time I got through that lot, my ability to distinguish where in the list the A and B-sides went, and even what B-side was the best on each album was beginning to fail miserably, so I’ve parked the list for the day and instead decided to visit the January 2023 playlist.

To be honest, it’s not very extensive yet, obviously, but Vixx, Moonbin and Sanha, Nine and SF9 have all got in early, as have Maktub, Lee Seung Yoon, Tritops, U-Kwon & Woosoo and Yugyeom & Sik-K. I also listened to the new non-K-pop single Hawaii by Public Image Limited, which I rather enjoyed.

I really love the Moonbin and Sanha album* (Incense), and even asked Quincy whether it was too early to call it the album of the year 😂. The answer is ‘probably, but you'll do it anyway’, but Lee Seung Yoon’s Pricey Hangover is challenging heavily, and I already know of several upcoming releases later this month that are likely to give it a run for its money.  

* With K-Pop almost all releases are ‘albums’, even if they’re only what would have been called an ‘EP’ or even a ‘single’ back in my youth; they’re mini-albums or single albums (so you can spend £20+ on it to own a physical copy, even though it only has 1 track and an instrumental).  

Finally on the music front, as I’m writing this and when I finally get to make dinner (I definitely should have stuck a ready meal in the oven and it would have been done by now; my body's requirements be damned 🙄), I’m listening to the playlist I made of my Top 20 (21) K-Pop songs of 2021, which is a stellar list of absolute bangers. 

This list was much easier to compile because I only listened to a fraction of the bands that I tackled in 2022 – I also apparently spent most of my time on EXO, as my Spotify Wrapped from 2021 shows (I’m still surprised that Mmmh was top most-played song, considering that it isn’t my favourite track from Kai’s first album, and it was released in 2020; then again, there’s a bit of a trend as my most played track from 2022 was released in 2021 (Unthinkable by FTIsland)). And yes, all the top tracks are related to EXO members.😂

I gave up waiting for a decent copy of Missing: The Other Side, so I download the low res version and will be watching that once I get settled. I’m also going to catch up with a some posts one of the reactors I follow on Patreon has dropped (more music-related stuff – he’s watching the old variety show, EXO Ladder: Season 2). While I’m there I will also check out the December videos that Gary Numan posted too, as I haven’t had a chance to catch up with them yet.

Finally, as this post really isn’t long enough, and it’s almost too late to eat anyway, today saw the release of a trailer for the new Netflix 8-part series Lockwood and Co., which is due to be released on 27 January. It’s been directed by the amazing Joe Cornish (which would be enough for me to want to watch it anyway). 

It’s based on the incredible 5-book series of the same name by Jonathan Stroud. I don’t know whether they have just adapted the first book (The Screaming Staircase), with a view to filming the others if it goes well (like they’ve done with the Enola Holmes books), or if they’ve stuffed them all into one series – hopefully the former.

For me, these MG/YA books almost match Harry Potter levels of adoration because they’re so good, and I have really high hopes for the TV series after seeing the trailer. I may even have to subscribe to Netflix so I can watch it – I have steadfastly refused to do so until now, despite loads of things being on there that I’d like to watch. But with my Viki subscription providing me daily Asian drama, plus all the music listening, I’m not sure I can justify paying for another subscription. I still haven’t seen the Harry Potter 20^th anniversary stuff that was on Sky yet for the same reason, and as far as I know, it’s never been released elsewhere.

Right, time to go and create my salad! See you tomorrow.