I’m excited! Tablo confirmed he and Namjoon *do* use the Icarus myth in Don’t Stop the Rain in the album preview blurb🤓 and now he shared Epik High’s 2008 instrumental track “Icarus Walks”, which is a cool but kinda disturbing track. In myth, Icarus flew too high, too close to+

https://twitter.com/renkiger_/status/1915457465543733698

the sun and he fell to his death. “Icarus Walks” opens with what sounds like Icarus picking up his body & slowly walking…after the fall. It’s the sounds of broken wet flesh & bone moving forward over stone (in a cave? back in tower prison?) then instrumentation takes over. It’s+

🤓moment (feels like an age I’ve publicly commented on business stuff)
The FTC designation of HYBE as a “conglomerate” is regulatory (based on assets value). It’s a system set up yrs ago to impose restrictions, trying to curb concentration of power to some mega co’s (chaebols) +

https://twitter.com/tmikpop/status/1777478603602633109

(ineffectively, arguably). It went from 32 companies when first introduced to now 83. It’s also a designation and regulatory/disclosure requirement that’s unique to Korea, and there aren’t equivalent regulations in the US, Europe, Japan etc.
The extra restrictions are criticized+

I saw a twt earlier asking about the symbol on Hobi’s arm but then the tl refreshed 🤷‍♀️
So, for a ‘the more you know’, the one on his arm is the insignia for his division: 36th infantry. The one on his hat is the coat of arms/seal of the Republic of Korea Army (obviously) +



The patch on the pocket of his shirt is rank (private first class rn)
The patch on his backpack is also for his division, as the 36th infantry is the Baekho unit - aka the white tigers.
조교 denotes him as an assistant instructor (with Republic of Korea Army ROKA below) +

TBR has a comprehensive summary wrap up article on the end of the Jamboree:
“The Jamboree Sh*tshow”
with the scathing subheading:
“The embarrassing mismanagement of the World Scout Jamboree ended with one of the most disgraceful K-pop concerts in history”+
https://t.co/XzoGnoauMvblueroofpolitics.com/post/tbr-weekl…


“The Yoon Suk-yeol administration’s missteps, big and small, in attempting to wrap up the Jamboree…show how a country once admired for its Winter Olympics in 2018 and its hyper-efficient public-health response to [the p*ndemic] could fail so miserably just a few years later +

I caught up with a non-ARMY friend today and made her watch Seven (she’s in film and TV). Her plot interpretation (after watching x2):
👀🤔
👤 the woman is annoyed at herself for not being able to resist him / stop having thoughts about being with him as she goes about her life + The guy she’s fighting/that’s following her in the MV is just in her head; he’s not real. “He” represents her desire for him/her lover (irl) and for his 7-day a week promised loving, which she’s trying to deny herself, yet she can’t stop thinking about +

“ARMY translators, they hold up the sky, frankly. They have been so instrumental in making BTS accessible to ARMY all around the world…BTS listens to their fans a lot…so it is essential for them to know what ARMY is thinking and for ARMY to know what BTS is thinking and + “a huge part of this has been ARMY translators doing the work in between and mostly uncompensated. There is a really big built up work of ARMY, of like BTS terms and all of that and we [professional translators of Beyond the Story] would reference it. +

It’s a Maria Rilke poem? 🧐
“I live my life in growing circles
which ring out over the things around me.
Perhaps I'll never finish the last,
but that's what I'm going to try…” “I'm circling around God, around the ancient tower,
and I've been circling for thousands of years;
and I still don't know: am I a falcon, a storm
or a great song.”

Yoongi decided to learn guitar (he started just before Dynamite promo) because he’s a big fan of Kim Kwang Seok’s music. In Oct 2020 he said 너무 아픈 사랑은 사랑이 아니었음을 (It’s Not Love If It Hurts Too Much) was the first song (then the only one) he cld both play AND sing…+ Yoongi played It’s Not Love If It Hurts Too Much on location set while BTS were shooting for Life Goes On and BE (and I’d say it’s a safe bet he played it on other sets, greenrooms/waiting rooms, etc with the members around🥹) +

🐨It’s been 10yrs since I came to Seoul. Now I feel like I’m living my Chapter 2. There are things I shouldn’t lose sight of, that I should remind myself of. Things I shouldn’t forget bc of work or other excuses. Things I shouldn’t lose, and keep close to my heart+
Log 2020.09.27 🐨These days I keep going back and asking why I chose this. I’ve been reflecting on these again…there was a time when [just] holding a mic [used to excite me], [when] making my rhyme notes & writing lyrics was fun enough for me…Reflecting on “what did I have in my heart then?”+

Since Indigo’s preview images I’ve been thinking abt Namjoon and wild flowers (because of his wild flowers cyanotype and his “use it…when flowers bloom or fall”)💙❤️💜
I don’t have any theories, it just made me remember him, yrs ago, sharing the expression ‘잔잔하게 피어있다’ + The translation I like is “blooming calmly” or “blooming peacefully”. It’s from a fancafe post he wrote to ARMY in 2017:

“[my mom] asked if I liked [wild flowers] because they bloomed so calmly. I like wild flowers, but I really liked my mother’s expression ‘bloom calmly’ +

[Thread] — The history of 보라해 (borahae)💜
보라해, and purple, are such a beautiful and organic part of BTS and ARMY. And there’s more to its origins, its adoption, and spread, than just only this (legendary) moment that it gets simplified down to + borahae is one of those BTS & ARMY things repeated in a simplified way so often it kinda feels like some history or context is being lost, or obscured, over time. Plus, as everyone who has watched D2 3rd Muster in full knows, it isn’t actually when “보라해” itself was first used+

I’m sorry, but it’s come to my attention that there are ARMY who believe that Yoongi wouldn’t like BATHS?? Yoongi?! The man who used to share bath prep pics with bath bombs?! Who was publicly teased multiple times by the members about leaving flower petals in the tub?? Misinfo.😤 Literally teased about it on the radio 😭 and then again during 2016 Festa Kkul FM radio 😭😭

👀 HYBE IM’s CEO and a director were interviewed abt BTS In the Seom. It’s long, but some interesting bits (in summary, not translation):
- BTS rly participated in development, and met w the dev team more than 10 times, w almost monthly exchange of opinions during ~1yr dev time + - members shared a lot of stories, and it made game development easier bc BTS gave their opinions, eg when deciding on a theme or concept
- members’ input was especially helpful in character design
- developers were worried at first since there are 7 individuals what might +

🐿I had a meltdown…I played a few works for my solo albm to the producers I know. Their reaction wasn’t what I expected. But…I got more creative…I erased them all & it just cleared my mind. I don’t avoid challenges & slumps.I’m the kind of person who encounters & overcomes it+ “I had some struggles recently. And I went thru a slump. I'd reached my limit, in a way. I kept wondering how I cld get thru it…I decided to start over from scratch. So I'm working on something completely new, w the desire to make something truly & uniquely mine +
- GQ, Dec 2021

“The music industry is slowly changing from an album based market to a streaming market. And more people think of the hard copies of albums as goods. Not that many people actually open the hard copy and play CDs…”
Namjoon, Nov 2018 “…I think the concept of an entire album is becoming less important…too many are focused on the title or single…
[but] the catharsis you can get from listening to a well made album or a playlist from beginning to end is much bigger than [what] you might get from just one song+

Ok. Now tracking wk 1 is over, I’m going to say this publicly: It was a pretty sht past few days for ARMY. Def not the worst we’ve had, but a lot, quickly, hard, and volatile. However you’ve felt/are processing the news & changes is valid. So here’s a part of mine - I’m mad. + Not at BTS for their choices. Never.
Not at what they said and shared or how. Never. That meant so much & I’m grateful for their honesty & courage.

I’m mad because they - we! - the importance of what they were sharing! - *all* deserved to be, & should’ve been, handled better. +

To be clear. Busan has *bid* to be the host city for the 2030 World Expo. The bid is supported by several S. Korean gov ministries (as, like Olympics, World Expo draws visitors, global attention + $$). Host will be voted on & selected in 2023. Ofc they want to add BTS’ prestige🙄

https://twitter.com/Kpop_Herald/status/1537314132420022272

BTS are literally The Most Famous and globally prestigious South Koreans right now - by a long shot. No other has more global cultural relevancy. Ofc the government, and host city bid committee, would *love* to add their name into things and raise attention.

I’m so sad for BTS for having to go through this much sht when they simply try their best to be open and honest with us, even to reveal their vulnerability. They’re honest, good people, who still try to share so much of themselves, thoughts, feelings & lives with us, + hoping we can understand them better. They’ve still had the courage to be open & vulnerable, despite all the sht they’ve had thrown at them, over & over, thru the yrs.
They deserve better from the world.
They deserve better from the media, to whom they’ve always been gracious. +

Later things from the dinner vid subsumed this moment, but BTS’ early talk about how Life Goes On, and it’s accomplishments, seems to have been ‘shoved to the back’ and not mentioned as much as 🧨 or 🧈 was a 😔 moment.
🐱”[Because] it’s a mild song without [dance] performance” + Despite knowing/thinking that of their only Korean No.1 song, they still chose Yet to Come as lead for Proof; another ‘mild-song-without-performance’. Because it holds the message of what they want/need to tell *us* rn. They chose what’s most meaningful, not most easily popular🥹

Things about Hobi I think we don’t talk about enough are his bravery and his likely pain tolerance.
1) Being fearless is often mistaken for being brave. He isn’t fearless and doesn’t pretend to be. Facing down fear to do wanted things *is* courage.
2) Though he’s loud, esp on +

https://twitter.com/sugamvs/status/1535113867155673090

camera abt not wanting/liking pain, I think his actual serious pain tolerance is prob *insane*. The physical pain and injuries he’s likely pushed through over the yrs…
Among other things, I’ve never forgotten how he casually mentioned that he’d gotten injured a lot & sometimes +

[Thread Rebuild]
2014.06.13
‘Bang Talk’ ‘To ARMY’ — Anniversary letters from members to ARMY
Namjoon
🐨“One year….a long enough time for many couples to break up. There have been people who have left us, and people who have been with us for less than a year, and both are fine + 🐨“What’s important is the people reading this letter. I am more sure [now] of what I need to do than I was…I hope you’ve felt the same feelings as I have after you discovered BTS.
Lately, I’ve been realizing that everything is conflicting and everything is double-sided. +