I haven’t whipped out a Friday Five like a flaccid penis in a hot minute, so let’s look at some things that I have been expressing mild-to-manic interest in these days, I guess?

1. The LAGUNA BEACH reunion special

Bro. If you know me, you know that tears were springing forth at just the PREVIEW of this show. At just the ANNOUNCEMENT of it. I watched both seasons in real time back in the day (and The Hills!) and have since rewatched both seasons in its entirety and most of The Hills. I did try to watch The Hills reboot a few years ago, which inexplicably featured Micha Barton, but it just didn’t hit the same without Lauren Conrad.

I was Team LC all the way and even now, her LC brand jeans at Kohls are the ONLY jeans I will wear. If she ever stops making them (LOL picturing her in a Laguna sweatshop hand stitching denim) I’ll be cooked. Leggings forever at that point, probably.

And back then, I absolutely hated Kristin Cavallari but over the years, I have really grown to love and appreciate her realness. Watching her and LC squashing the beef (which was perpetuated by MTV, obviously) has been so healing on so many levels?! Henry watched the whole thing with me (yes, he watched all the OG episodes too lol) and was not surprised at all by how hard I was sobbing. It was one of the realest “reality reunion” specials I have ever seen – no fighting, no drama. These people are legitimately friends with each other and the respect they have for each other is so obvious and in some strange way, because everything is on fire, this gave me the tiniest bit of hope for humanity.

2. GOING CRAZY!!!

In the midst of all the “Mark Lee leaving NCT” chaos 2 weeks ago, T.O.P., formerly of BIGBANG :(, released his FIRST NEW MUSIC in over 10 years! It’s probably not a big deal to anyone reading this but bro went THROUGH it. But then he was season 2 of Squid Game, much to the dismay of netizens who wanted him to have no place in the entertainment industry after his (god forbid) marijauna “scandal” in 2017, but it helped put him back out there AND gain Western fans.

Anyway, his album slaps even if it does feel bittersweet with myriad references to BIGBANG being his past. G-Dragon really tried to get him to come back to them but he won’t do it and I respect that but I’m not going to pretend like I’m happy about it!

This video came out last week, and co-stars Nana from After School, and it has been playing on repeat in my head ever since. I sporadically yell 완전미쳤어! to Penelope and the squirrels throughout the day. They respond with an annoyed 아이씨.

I love the video itself too – Nana is perfect in it, and it gives 1960s psychedelic/gonzo film vibes. Blue Sunshine comes to mind specifically. And obviously the Tarantino nods. I also saw an old picture of Bowie wearing a similar back and white suit so this video is just poppin’ off with references. It’s so cinematic!

3. PinkPantheress Appreciation 

OK look I can be pretty out of touch with new music that’s not from, you know, Korea, but I have known about PinkPantheress for the last 5 or so years but only in the context of her being a Kpop stan. At first I was like WHO IS THIS PERSON, WHY IS SHE SIMPING FOR HAECHAN and Chooch was all “Ugh all around the town” because he knew who she was and didn’t like her. Chooch doesn’t like most things, though, so this meant nothing.

However, instead of being annoyed now whenever she pops up in interviews gushing about NCT or whatever, it started to feel kind of cool that she was doing this, and also genuine? Like, she was really trying to put people on to her favorite Kpop groups and that was kind of charming.

Then this morning, I saw a clip on Instagram of her doing some podcast or something, where she was talking about her love for MCR, and how whenever she tried to get people to like MCR, she makes them listen to Early Sunsets over Monroeville, which is from their first album that no one talks about hardly ever but that I loved back when it actually first came out in the early 00s. Anyway, not only did she shout out that song, but the way she spoke about it so passionately, I was like, “OK, this person is a legit music lover” and it really made me see her in a different light. I still have not listened to any of her music but maybe this is my sign to do so!?

I think also I’m just mellowing out so much in my older age that I don’t care anymore about rejecting “sell-out” music or avoiding mainstream “normal” music. I like what I like, and it’s all over the place! But for instance, I used to always sneer at people who liked Justin Bieber back during his “Baby” era. I like, couldn’t comprehend that this child had become a huge pop star because of YouTube. It seemed so inauthentic at the time. And while I am FAR from a Belieber even still, I have liked a lot of his songs over the years and, what that guy has been put through…it brings out a different level of respect, I guess. I was actually really annoyed at some of my friends who were saying things like “How is Bieber headlining Coachella over the Strokes?” and it’s like, how out of touch are you. It’s Justin fucking Bieber. Even I know that’s a bigger deal than the Strokes, whom I forgot even existed. (I said it.) This is either growth or regression, I can’t figure it out. Most people my age are more jaded than ever and I’m over here in the “can’t beat ’em, join ’em” sandbox.

(I still absolutely, openly, and vocally cannot stand Taylor Swift though. Now THAT is an over-hyped bullshit artist, IMHO.)

4. Sighisoara <3

I had one of my Diana photos from Romania printed and framed and I am so smitten with it. It’s from Sighisoara – I miss that cutesie town!

5. GDAE at the DODGERS GAME

G-Dragon and Daesung were at the Dodgers game the other day! It was all over my Instagram and then as soon as I logged on to work the next morning, Nate sent me a picture of it – he is a huge Dodgers fan so our worlds had collided!

I’m just so happy that they’re getting to do fun things while they’re here!

I was thinking, “Wow, GD is dressed so casually for once!” And then I saw this, LOL:

Ugh, I’m so obsessed with him.

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Well, that’s all I’ve got. Aside from going to the mall to pick up sunglasses at the Vans store and buy kawaii journals because I’m back in my journaling era, I didn’t do much this week other than work and exercise. But tomorrow we’re going to Columbus for a concert!

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