Jackson Wang cancels Music Korea Fan Event after emergency hospitalisation
The medical emergency forced the immediate cancellation of his Music Korea Fan Sign Event scheduled for today, Korea JoongAng Daily reported.
This setback comes just months after Wang released his second album 'Magic Man 2' in July.
The former GOT7 member, who went solo after leaving JYP Entertainment in 2021, faces a critical recovery period.
His ambitious 'Magic Man 2' world tour is scheduled to kick off October 3, giving him just weeks to recuperate.
The tour's Asian leg includes major cities like Bangkok, Jakarta, Manila, Tokyo, and Kuala Lumpur on October 25.
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Malay Mail
10 hours ago
- Malay Mail
Jackson Wang cancels Music Korea Fan Event after emergency hospitalisation
SEOUL, AUG 16 — Jackson Wang's packed schedule came to an abrupt halt Friday when food poisoning sent him to the emergency room at midnight. The medical emergency forced the immediate cancellation of his Music Korea Fan Sign Event scheduled for today, Korea JoongAng Daily reported. This setback comes just months after Wang released his second album 'Magic Man 2' in July. The former GOT7 member, who went solo after leaving JYP Entertainment in 2021, faces a critical recovery period. His ambitious 'Magic Man 2' world tour is scheduled to kick off October 3, giving him just weeks to recuperate. The tour's Asian leg includes major cities like Bangkok, Jakarta, Manila, Tokyo, and Kuala Lumpur on October 25.
Free Malaysia Today
17 hours ago
- Free Malaysia Today
These uniquely M'sian food plushies are melting hearts
All eight Malaysian food-themed plushies by 'Chubbies' are irresistibly cute. (Andrea Edmonds @ FMT Lifestyle) PETALING JAYA : Nasi lemak you can't 'bungkus'. Curry puffs you can't eat. Ice cream potong that never melts. Disappointed? Don't be because you can curl up with them in bed instead. That's the idea behind Chubbies, the first and only local plushie brand, inspired by Malaysia's best-loved foods. Started last year by couple Ian Gan Ming Zhi and Jess Ho Mun Yan, Chubbies adds a local twist to plushies, from their designs to their cheeky names. Their first creation? 'Cara the curry puff'. This local brand was founded by couple Ian Gan Ming Zhi and Jess Ho Mun Yan. (Andrea Edmonds @ FMT Lifestyle) 'In 2022, we were in Bangkok, just casually browsing in a mall, when we came across some food plushies,' Gan, 31, told FMT Lifestyle. That's when inspiration hit. 'Being such a food-centric country, it felt strange that nothing like this existed here,' Gan added. 'For a long time, the two of us had wanted to create something meaningful. We've always had a bunch of hobbies so we thought, this is a great idea to pour our hearts into,' Ho, 29, said. Although they're manufactured overseas, each plushie is designed in-house by Gan himself, armed with just his iPad and pen. With corporate backgrounds, neither had experience in design or anything remotely as cute as plushies. Still, they pushed on. Their first creation, Cara the curry puff, remains their best-seller. (Andrea Edmonds @ FMT Lifestyle) And don't be fooled, making plushies is serious business. 'When we first created the character, it was ugly,' Gan admitted. 'It was so bad – weird twirls, the wrong colours, odd proportions, eyes far apart, and we even had to figure out the right level of squishiness.' He said it was quite an interesting process because you had to know how textiles worked in order to create a well-crafted plushie with a pleasing design and the right amount of 'squeeze'. And guess what? Their curry puff plushie is still their best-seller. From there came another Malaysian staple: nasi lemak, affectionately named Nyle, complete with anchovies and peanuts embroidered on the back. 'Our nasi lemak plushie doesn't have an egg, because he donated his egg to Ravi the roti telur,' Ho shared with a laugh. Gan and Ho recently redesigned their plushies as bag charms. (Andrea Edmonds @ FMT Lifestyle) The couple also wanted to add a drink into the mix, but bubble tea and cup plushies had been done to death. So, they opted for something unmistakably Malaysian: teh ikat tepi, personified as Talia. And just to up the charm factor, they gave all their plushies adorably cross-eyed gazes. They now have eight plushies in their collection, including Sophie the Seri Muka, Ollie the Otak-otak, and their newest addition, Polly the ice cream potong. Ho shared that the best part about starting Chubbies has been the customer interactions and stories. 'One of our customers bought a nasi lemak plushie for her friend who was on a diet but craving nasi lemak,' she revealed. 'During Ramadan, we even get comments saying our social media posts of plushies are too tempting.' Chubbies is on track to expand their range of Malaysian food-themed plushies. (Andrea Edmonds @ FMT Lifestyle) Chubbies has also won over mums, who share them with their kids, take playful 'eating' photos, or hang the plushies on school bags. 'When someone receives our plushie, I hope they feel joy, and happy that they have something unique and Malaysian. I also hope they feel hungry!' Gan said. And with the craze over Labubu plush toys and bag charms, Chubbies has now added a little tag to each plushie so it can be hung. In the future, the couple hopes to expand Chubbies to include custom designs and even giant plushies big enough to fill your bed. So, if you're struggling to control your cravings, you might want to grab a Chubbies plushie instead! Follow Chubbies on Instagram Shop online or find them at: TWIGS Bookshop, Sunway 163 Mall Unit 1F-12, First Floor, Sunway 163 Mall 8, Jalan Kiara Mont Kiara 50480 Kuala Lumpur GiftPortals, One Utama Shopping Centre 2nd Floor, S1028 1 Utama Shopping Centre No. 1, Lebuh Bandar Utama Bandar Utama Petaling Jaya
Free Malaysia Today
17 hours ago
- Free Malaysia Today
Italian Brainrot: the AI memes most adults don't know
Soft toys of Brainrot characters – inspired by AI-generated characters that have been going viral – displayed at a shop in central Tokyo. (AFP pic) TOKYO : In a Japanese shop selling cheap trinkets, there is a rack of toys, stickers and keyrings based on a global crew of AI-generated characters that almost every child – and very few adults – knows about. A walking shark in oversized sneakers, an orange with muscular arms, and a twirling 'Ballerina Cappuccina' with a mug for a head are among the strange stars of the online phenomenon called Italian Brainrot. 'At first it's not funny at all, but it kind of grows on you,' 16-year-old Yoshi Yamanaka-Nebesney from New York told AFP. 'You might use it to annoy someone and find that funny.' The name nods to the stupefying effect of scrolling through mindless social media posts, especially over-the-top images created with AI tools. Shouty, crude, and often nonsensical Italian voiceovers feature in many of the clips made by people in various countries that began to spread this year on platforms such as TikTok, embraced by young Gen Z and Gen Alpha members. The dozen-plus cartoonish AI creatures have fast become memes, inspiring a stream of new content such as 'Brainrot Rap', viewed 116 million times on YouTube. A YouTube Short titled 'Learn to Draw 5 Crazy Italian Brainrot Animals' – including a cactus-elephant crossover named 'Lirili Larila' – has also been watched 320 million times. 'There's a whole bunch of phrases that all these characters have,' said Yamanaka-Nebesney, in Tokyo with his mother Chinami, who had no idea what he was talking about. School-age Italian Brainrot fans can be found from Kenya to Spain and South Korea, while some of the most popular videos reference Indonesia's language and culture. 'I went on trips to Mexico and people would crack jokes about it there, too,' Yamanaka-Nebesney said. Tralalero Tralala, a shark with legs and blue Nike sneakers, was reportedly the first viral character in the Italian Brainrot genre. (Wikipedia pic) Internet trends move fast, and Italian Brainrot 'hit its peak maybe two months ago or a month ago', said Idil Galip, a University of Amsterdam lecturer in new media and digital culture. Italian – a 'melodic language that has opportunities for jokes' – has appeared in other memes before. And 'there are just so many people in Indonesia' sharing posts which have potential for global reach, Galip said. A 'multi-level marketing economy' has even emerged, with AI video-makers targeting Italian Brainrot's huge audience through online ads or merchandise sales, she added. Nurina, a 41-year-old Indonesian NGO worker, said her seven-year-old loves the mashed-up Brainrot world. 'Sometimes when I pick him up from school, or when I'm working from home, he shouts, 'Mommy! Bombardino Crocodilo!'' – a bomber plane character with a crocodile head. 'I know it's fun to watch,' said Nurina, who goes by one name. 'I just need to make him understand that this is not real.' Some videos have been criticised for containing offensive messages that go over young viewers' heads, such as rambling references in Italian to 'Bombardino Crocodilo' bombing children in Gaza. 'The problem is that these characters are put into adult content and many parents are not tech-savvy enough to spot the dangers,' warned Oriza Sativa, a Jakarta-based clinical psychologist. 'Tung Tung Tung Sahur' The best-known Indonesian Brainrot character, 'Tung Tung Tung Sahur' resembles a kentongan, a drum used to wake people up for sahur during Ramadan. Brainrot characters 'Tung Tung Tung Sahur' and 'Bombardino Crocodilo'. (Wikipedia pics) Indonesia has a young, digitally active population of around 280 million, and 'Tung Tung Tung Sahur' is not its only viral export. Recently, video footage – not AI-generated – of a sunglass-wearing boy dancing on a rowboat during a race at a western Indonesian festival also became an internet sensation. Noxa, the TikToker behind the original 'Tung Tung Tung Sahur' clip, is now represented by a Paris-based collective of artists, lawyers and researchers called Mementum Lab. 'Noxa is a content creator based in Indonesia. He's under 20,' they told AFP. 'He makes fast, overstimulated, AI-assisted videos. 'He doesn't call himself a 'contemporary artist', but we think he's already acting like one,' said Mementum Lab, which is focused on complex emerging issues around AI intellectual property, and says it is helping Noxa negotiate deals for his work. Noxa, in comments provided by the collective, said the character was 'inspired by the sound of the sahur drum I used to hear'. 'I didn't want my character to be just another passing joke – I wanted him to have meaning,' he added. Cultural nuances can be lost at a mass scale, however, with one 12-year-old tourist in Tokyo saying he thought 'Tung Tung Tung Sahur' was a baseball bat. And the generation gap looks set to persist. 'What's that?!' laughed a woman as she puzzled at the row of Italian Brainrot dolls. 'It's not cute at all!'
