A Guide to My August 2022 Releases
On 17 Carat K-Pop
Be the Sun Tour Review: Seventeen things about SEVENTEEN’s Be the Sun Chicago tour stop worth discussing, from the setlist to the VCRs! After that recap, I compare and contrast the Be the Sun and Ode to You tours to decide which show was better!
KCON LA 2022 Recap: I share the highs and lows of my first-time KCON experience, the unique ways I experienced KCON as someone with crowd-related anxiety, advice for future KCON newbies, a review of day one’s concert, and more!
Jenny Lyric Interview: Singer-songwriter Jenny Lyric talks about the passion that goes into her work, how she's changed since being a member of CoCo Avenue, her future plans, the dream collaboration, and more!
“STAY Tuned,” Ep. 14: An overview of the latest music-related news and studies: an underwater festival, a sports team's bizarre attempt to break a losing streak, a link discovered between music tastes and personality types, research on festival attendance changing the odds of helping a stranger, and much more!
Sir ISAC Newartist: What happened to an idol caught in a voice-phishing scam, what the BTS-themed Airbnb experience entails, thoughts on the VMA nominations, and more of the latest K-pop news and commentary!
Best New Music: July 2022: A ranking and review of the twenty best new releases, including K-pop, J-rock, J-pop, T-pop, and more!
On How to Stan
Famous Disappearances: This episode covers true stories of celebrities disappearing, the efforts - and sometimes lack thereof - to find them, and what the public’s response to high-profile mysteries says about how stars are remembered by both conspiracy theorists and genuine fans.
Scammer Stories: A man created a fake restaurant that topped Tripadvisor’s list of the best restaurants in London. A woman repeatedly took on a new identity and fled town as soon as her bills - both financial and metaphorical - came due. An influencer was caught using her supporters to launder money. A chef sold a questionably edible product to her followers. Do stories like these, of stars misleading or outright betraying the public, make a notable dent in their popularity, or is all quickly forgiven? What does it take to completely end fans’ trust in an idol? Where do fans draw the line at supporting deceptive people? This episode does not just cover many examples of times celebrities were accused of scamming their admirers, but also the aftermaths of some of the alleged scams. Beneath the surface of these fascinating true stories lies an even more interesting story about the nature of celebrity, fan loyalty, and the limitations of both.
D.B. Cooper: D.B. Cooper, who committed the only unsolved hijacking in commercial airline history, has become something akin to a folk legend among citizen sleuths. “Cooperites” and other true-crime enthusiasts still pour over theories and potential suspects to this day, both in online forums and at in-person meet-ups like CooperCon. Part of the enduring fascination with D.B. Cooper’s story is the amount of unknowns: did he survive his jump off the airplane? Was his bomb real? Did he act alone? What suspects seem the most and least likely? Why do so many people suspect they know “the REAL D.B. Cooper”? And how is the emotional investment in his daring mission still prevalent nearly fifty years after he pulled it off? I talk to Darren Schaefer, host of The Cooper Vortex, to find out.
My Writing
KCON Coverage Compilation (concert review, convention review, panel recaps, and more!)
SEVENTEEN’s Be the Sun World Tour Review
Meet ROZY, a Virtual Star Unlike Any Other!
Meet Your New Favorite J-Pop Group!
How Yunsae Became a Triple Threat
A Q&A with BURN from The FunCity
A Conversation with Viral Affair
The SHINee Music Video Universe (Paywalled)
A Guide to KWANGYA and the SMCU (Part Two) (Paywalled)
Sources and Further Reading
An analysis of j-hope’s album, Jack in the Box
An analysis of ENHYPEN’s latest release
An in-depth interview with DPR IAN
Analyses of SEVENTEEN’s newest album repackage and the “CHEERS” music video
Some background context about Picasso and Fernande Olivier
The voice-phishing incident covered on an episode of the show
Research on links between music preferences and personality types
Research showing the benefits of listening to music on Alzheimer’s patients
Music, Language, and the Brain by Dr. Aniruddh D. Patel
More on the “musification” of molecules
A study showing festival attendance can be linked to helping strangers
Deezer’s struggle to compete with other music-based streaming services
The bizarre choice to try breaking a losing baseball streak with help from Nickelback
About CooperCon
CooperCon’s official website
About D.B. Cooper’s enduring impact on “Cooperites” and pop culture overall
The “58 November” disaster I referenced when talking about potential motives of D.B. Cooper suspects
The life of D.B. Cooper suspect Robert Rackstraw
Updates in the search for D.B. Cooper
About Kayla Massa’s financial scams
The trial of two of Gwen Shamblin’s followers following the death of their son
Oobah Butler’s antics: trying to sell music door-to-door, sending look-alikes on his press tour for his fake restaurant, creating a fake clothing brand, and more
“Posh royal expert exposed as Tommy from upstate New York”
The reporting that brought to light Anna March’s past identities
“The Bridge” by Hart Crane
Hart Crane’s disappearance
Child prodigy Barbara Newhall Follett and her mysterious end
Barbara Newhall Follett’s work
The search for Patrick McDermott
More on Patrick McDermott
A false alarm when it comes to sightings of Patrick McDermott
Jean Spangler’s disappearance
John Brisker’s disappearance
Ian MacKintosh’s disappearance
The Life and Mysterious Death of Ian MacKintosh: The Inside Story of The Sandbaggers and Television’s Top Spy by Robert G. Folsom
Glenn Miller’s disappearance
Ambrose Bierce’s disappearance
The six-year-long search for Jimmy Robinson
The “Real Dr. Gonzo”
More on “Dr. Gonzo”
The disappearance of Richey Edwards
Withdrawn Traces: Searching for the Truth about Richey Manic by Sara Hawys Roberts and Leon Noakes
An interview with Richey Edwards’ sister
Rico Harris’ disappearance
Sean Flynn’s disappearance
The disappearance of Weldon Kees
Discovering the Hidden Wisdom of The Little Prince by Pierre Lassus