#BUFTEA

[dacovulgaris]

Lacul Zmeului by Radu din Dacia Via Flickr: 2023

[8iunie]

Summer Well Festival | Buftea, Romania | 11.08.2024

[musicandotherstuff]

Arctic Monkeys - Summer Well Festival, Romania

13/08/2022

(Credit)

[aigle-suisse]

[8iunie]

I can't believe I'm saying this, but that guitar pick is now mine 😭

look at this pookie 🥹

[rbf451]

Summer Well Festival Buftea, Romania 11.8.2024 jokerout.archive ig story 12.8.2024

[sgiandubh]

Far away and long ago

One thing leading to another, I tried to watch A Princess for Christmas yesterday, prompted by my Peleș/Pelișor Anon answer and I have to say I am grinning as I write this post: it is, after all, a Hallmark movie, isn't it?

Maybe if I were drunk and/or in good company, it would have been easier. I was neither, so it was unwatchable. Even with the bits of personal nostalgia, knowing very well all the sets they used: from the two castles in Sinaia, to the Știrbei (princely) House private chapel in Buftea, to the Bragadiru Palace in Bucharest they obviously used for that ball. I finished skimming on fast forward for S and howled at this bit of Imdb trivia, I believe with all my heart to be wishful thinking:

Not only I do not believe ever seeing/hearing such a thing in all the interviews I have read/watched (of which they are a shameless handful), but it would be completely out of character for 'No Ego' 2014 S to declare such a preposterous thing (correct me if I am wrong, for I truly believe I am not).

Anyways. When it looks low budget, it is a low budget (with Eastern European logistics) D-series thing, despite all their efforts. Plot is downright stupid and the painful cheesiness permeating the slightest line uttered makes it unredeemable. Nuh-oh: not even to kill time, not even on a flight from Almaty to Saint Petersburg. No way.

Low budget is particularly apparent when it comes to costumes. This one, for example...

Her dress is ok-ish (heavily insisting on the -ish, here). But his uniform is an operetta reinterpretation of the Romanian Army's dorobanț (infantry) State Protocol uniform. An exact copy of the 1877 Independence War officer outfit (itself a Second Empire French uniform copycat, but that's just the historian in me nitpicking, of course):

The above is a very recent pic (2023 Remembrance Day festivities at a British War Cemetery near Bucharest). I know that place well, spent all my childhood 1 mile away, my grandparents owned a house in that village. It is a small, forlorn plot of infinite melancholy and a striking sight, with its carefully trimmed grass, among what used to be cornfields, circa 1984. 'This is British soil', my grandfather once told me and that made it both absurd and enticing: an alien enclave of sorts, a city of the dead. He was correct, by the way, and that gave our Remembrance Day expeditions a sort of strange, furtive charm. We always brought flowers and he, a former officer and POW, would always salute, bareheaded under heavy rain. But, I digress.

Both that movie and my recollections were far away and long ago. Mercifully so for S, at least. The difference in demeanor, profile and presence is undeniable, no matter what the Disgruntled Tumblrettes would tell you: some pushed the cheapness up to the gratuitous folly of 'he was a much better actor then'. Well, he wasn't: no chemistry with a female co-star who would clearly be more eager to have a dental surgery intervention. And no presence every time a very tired Roger Moore is around, which makes for roughly three-quarters of his part. But unlike many striving wannabes, he managed to pull out of the Prince Ashton (🙄) typecast and give us a very credible JAMMF, when starts aligned and with a surreal bit of luck.

If he could manage to pull out of the JAMMF typecast, I see great things. Until then, I will stand by my words: this is a guy with tremendous, but completely overlooked/untapped potential, who has been repeatedly miscast. And this is why what would immediately happen after OL is of critical importance. Brace yourselves.

On another, completely unrelated note: should I wait for that US copycat, disingenuous McTavish booze circus tour to end, in order to draw a line and my thoughts on his brand? I think I should, but always happy to oblige to public demand :)

[behind-the-screen-of-bangtan]

Right Place, Wrong Person (RPWP)

Release date: 24 May 2024

Official page

Announcement

Pre-order notice

Promotion schedule

Tracklist

Photo Sketch

The whole project has been teased through the mysterious rpwprpwprpwp Instagram account, where pictures were regularly posted, often featuring RM.

A poster campaign in several cities around the world also advertised the project (see this tweet from Geffen Records for example). The poster features White cat with pink bow by Doris Carroll.

The main art of the album was made by Martin Groch (cr.).

Tracklist

Right People, Wrong Place

Nuts

out of love

Domodachi (feat. Little Simz)

? (Interlude)

Groin

Heaven

LOST!

Around the world in a day (feat. Moses Sumney)

ㅠㅠ (Credit Roll)

Come back to me

You can find lyrics and their translation ni English for the whole album on the BTS-trans website, here.

The woman singign at the beginning of "LOST!" is Jclef, an artist who is in the sam music collective as eaeon, with whom RM worked several times before (src).

Concept Photo

Concept Photo 1

Concept Photo 2

Concept Photo 3

The first concept was shot by Wing Shya (src) in Seoul, the second one by Takahiro Mizushima in Tokyo, and the third one by Rosie Marks in London (Instagram post #1, #2).

The exterior shots were snapped by the Thames, near the Tower Bridge, see this map for exact locations.

The cat's name is Newt and he has an Instagram.

Come back to me

Release date: 10 May 2024

Poster (Instagram exclusive poster)

MV teaser

MV Photo Sketch

The MV was directed by Lee Sung Jin (src), creator of the series Beef, which was possibly referenced in Jung Kook's "Seven" MV (src).

LOST!

Release date: 24 May 2024

Poster

Teaser

MV Photo Sketch

Behind-the-scenes: Ioana Tudorache (climbing scene), Natallia Bulynia (blond TV host, #1, #2, #3, #4), Audrey Kang (overconfident persona, MV reaction, Day 1, Day 1.5, Day 2, Day 2.2, Day 2.4, Day 2.6, Day 2.8, Day 3, Day 3.2, Day 3.4, Day 3.6, Day 3.8)

The MV was filmed by a local team in Romania in Buftea (src). You can find more details about the production in this video from Euronews Romania (4:08 to 4:47). The MV also won the "craft : cinematography" prize at the 2024 Berlin Commercial Awards.

The show

The name is in reference to all the American evening TV shows, like The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon which is probably the inspiration for the title The Lost! Show starring RM.

The text on the hosts' mugs says 남준 한에 (inside Namjoon, src).

The stage, also featured in the Poster, is a labyrinth with no connected exits. You go in and out through the same opening.

In this setting, RM appears disguised as the only two women we see: the anchor and the director.

During the climbing scene, we see what's below the show stage. There are carton boxes and two trophies on the left, while it's suitcases and an abacus on the right.

The elevator

From this point, RM is accompanied by four personas (src): an overconfident one (played by Audrey Kang), an anxious one (played by Hee Sin (second Instagram post)), a jaded one (played by Stephany Yujin Hong (second Instagram post)) and a goofy one (played by David H Lee).

The elevator has lots of details, notably graffiti:

Lost in several languages: Pierdut (Romanian), perdu (French), lost, 로스트 (lost again but written in Hangul), 길을 잃... (Korean, possibly 길을 잃었 땅에서, based on the lyrics but it's hard to confirm)

BTS-related words: BTS (written in a heart), 남주니 ♡3♡ (Namjoonie), 金南俊 (RM's name in hanja, src)

어쩔TV

산얀 바보 (San Yawn is a silly guy)

천재 석준 왔다감 (genius Seokjun is here, note that the "genius" is written differently than the rest)

JAM

Care, urs (hard to confirm those two but urs is bear in Romanian, so it could stand for "care bear", src)

まち (town in Japanese)

ghost (a reference to the lyrics)

わすれちゃ (forgetting/I forgot in Japanese)

There are also several details on the buttons.

The numbers are arranged randomly (note that the clock visible in the credits also has randomly arranged numbers) and the destination names are mostly jokes:

12 5232 22

42 (42 is famously known in pop-culture for being the answer to the Universe, a nod to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy)

화장실 (washroom)

Pierdut (lost in Romanian)

Nowhere

We can note that there's a smiley on buttons 81 and 73. And there are two dots on button 98, then three on button 150. There's also a heart on button 3.

The offices

At 03:41, the persona played by David H Lee uses an extinctor directly on his face... after being the one who emptied the water tank on his face.

Groin

Release date: 28 May 2024

The MV was filmed in London:

the street parts are at Franklyn Rd (src)

the tunnel parts are at the Greenwich foot tunnel (src)

the closed road is Northwall Rd, along the Olympic Velodrome (src)

See this map for exact locations.

As the Army Film Club account pointed out, all the effects in the video are practical. They used mirrors and see-through objects, as confirmed by line producer Mia Foo in an Instagram story (archive).

'Nuts' Live Video

Release date: 30 May 2024

Domodachi

Release date : 31 May 2024

Poster

ㅠㅠ (Credit Roll)

Release date : 10 June 2024

Fans noticed that the release date for this MV was exactly one year apart from RM's enlistment end.

RM: Right People, Wrong Place

Release date: October 2024

Announcement

Special Trailer

A documentary movie that premiered at the Busan International Film Festival. You can find an English translation of the program note here.

Articles, interviews, and performances

Rolling Stone Japan: "BTS・RMの「チームプレイ」を考察、韓国のオルタナティブな才能がソロ傑作に集った意義" (Considering BTS and RM's "team play", the significance of South Korea's alternative talents coming together for a solo masterpiece) (eng trans)

Teen Vogue: "RM Right Place, Wrong Person Album Review: BTS Leader Defies Expectations"

Weverse magazine: "RM writes place"

Weverse magazine: "The alternative artists RM collaborated with on Right Place, Wrong Person"

TBS <ジェーン・スー生活は踊る>: "East Asian indie rock through BTS leader RM's new album." (Eng trans transcript)

Ssense: "“WE ARE JUST THE RIGHT PEOPLE IN THE WRONG PLACE”: INSIDE TEAM RM" (teaser tweet)

[keane-updates]

Keane on stage at the Summer Well Festival I Hopes and Fears Tour in Buftea, Romania (📷:Stefan Oancea, August 11th, 2024)

[mostlywednesday]

Since it's winter, here's some snowy shots of Cantacuzino Castle and the Jericho and Nevermore sets from when Buftea Studios was open for tours.

[moochilatv]

Tommy Cash presents: UNTZ UNTZ

Uptempo song non stop (with a uncensored video. Parody Sex Olympics)

Tommy Cash is delivering and fulfilling his Olympic dream vision to you with the Sex Olympics film, set to his new track “Untz Untz”. Tommy, hailing from Estonia, thought up the concept four years ago and last January he called his collaborator, female director Alina Pasok to flawlessly execute the vision

The full-on, NSFW version, can be seen on Pornhub, via Warehouse-X channel and the censored version will be available here on Tommy’s YouTube channel.

Are you ready for sex olympic?

Tommy says: "I combined what might be humankind's two greatest passions through the ages - sex and sport. It's finally time to bring about the new athletic standard - going pantless." 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by TOMM¥ €A$H (@tommycashworld)

Alina says: “In January, Tommy called me with an idea of Sex Olympics. At first, it seemed impossible. After this film, I realized that the impossible is possible. Just do it. It was an incredible and very fun experience. It's sad that the song is so short, and we didn't film all the sports disciplines we wanted to show in our film.”

Tommy Cash summer tour dates:

Sat 8.10 - Buftea, RO @ Summer Well Festival

Thu 8.1 - Vilnius, LT @ Vasaros Terasa

Sat 8.31 - Bratislava, SK @ Uprising Festival

TOMM¥ €A$H

Born in 91, on the last year of the Soviet Union Tommy Cash experienced a blend of the Baltic ghetto and the lingering Russian heritage whilst growing up. Turning to art for self-expression he experimented across dancing hip-hop and street art, finally to arrive at his latest conquest - music. His creativity derives from the cultural capital of post-Soviet sceneries and the sounds of the leaders of western rap music. Unpacking the layers of Tommy Cash you’ll find a genuine admiration for the iconic three stripes Adidas, equestrianism, and Kanye West - all of which construct the conceptual artist who is capable of smashing preconceptions and transcending boundaries of sexuality, genres and history.

[dacovulgaris]

Lacul Buftea la Samurcași by Radu din Dacia Via Flickr: 2024

[squeakowl]

Florence Welch performing at Summer Well Festival || August 11 2023 || Buftea, Romania

(source)

[excessivelyabnormal]

Me with my fave celebs + baby queen, radu osaciuc, ⅔ of thus love, tommy genesis and july jones at summer well 2(1)023 buftea romania

[leopardom]

11/08/24 // Summer Well Festival - Buftea, RO

[rbf451]

summerwellfest Buftea, Romania 11.8.2024