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#Aja Romano
bluebirdmuppet · 1 year
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A post about how a shit stain waste of space @ajawrites @bookshop attacked fans of Gong Jun and Zhang Zhehan in an article she wrote for @vox, and then went on to slander and defame Zhang Zhehan in an attempt to get the only article published about his cancellation by CAPA retracted.
Here's the context: On June 6, 2022, @vox published an article written by @ajawrites @bookshop claiming that fans of Gong Jun and Zhang Zhehan are "conspiracy theorists". In it, she makes all types of claims defaming myself and the entire JunZhe fandom (both here and in China) for being conspiracy theorists because we do not believe Zhang Zhehan's Instagram account is controlled by him. For those who don't know, Instagram fraud is rampant and there have been several Chinese celebrities who have been the victim of this. Zhang Zhehan's solo fans encouraged the reposting of this article and defended it because they somehow believe that Zhang Zhehan would "comeback" on an international platform before his name is cleared in China (another story for another day).
On June 14, 2022, less than one week after the publication of that article, The China Story published an article about why Zhang Zhehan was cancelled, and specifically that a non-governmental organization called the China Association of Performing Arts (CAPA) was behind the cancellation, not the Chinese government. It also described the efforts made by Li Xuezheng, a famous government-affiliated director, to clear his name. To my knowledge, this is the only story in the world to shine a light on CAPA's role in Zhang Zhehan's cancellation.
After this article was published, @ajawrites @bookshop wrote a long email to the China Story on June 18, 2022 seeking that the article be retracted. She claimed she had done "research" which showed that the article was part of a conspiracy theory (false), that Zhang Zhehan's family was linked to Japan (false), that Zhang Zhehan was cancelled by the government (false), that CAPA wasn't involved (false), and that all those who believe they are are "conspiracy theorists" (false). She repeats anti talking points to smear Zhang Zhehan in an attempt to obtain a retraction of the article.
Yes, @ajawrites @bookshop attempted to get the only article in the world that described CAPA in a negative light retracted.
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We have a copy of the email. Here are some excerpts of her own words.
Here's @ajawrites @bookshop insinuating that Zhang Zhehan was banned by the government, when it has been proven on multiple occasions that the government did not ban Zhang Zhehan.
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A writer who cannot even get this fact right does not deserve to be called a writer or a thinking human being.
Here's @ajawrites @bookshop claiming that Zhang Zhehan has family ties to Japan, which is FALSE.
Zhang Zhehan himself stated in his interview with Li Xuezheng on January 1, 2022 (seven months before this email) that this was not true. Yet, @ajawrites @bookshop continued to spread this smear to the editors of The China Story.
How does someone who is too lazy to confirm facts become a "culture writer" for @vox?
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Here's @ajawrites @bookshop claiming that their "research" shows that the public genuinely hated Zhang Zhehan. They claim that Zhang Zhehan was not cancelled by bad actors, but rather by the "public".
They ignore all the proof and statements that what happened was due to malicious competition and monopoly. All of this was readily available, had @ajawrites @bookshop actually done diligent research. Li Xuezheng had, after all, talked about it for weeks at the end of 2021 and early 2022.
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But of course @ajawrites @bookshop knows better! They know better than even Chinese people! They even know that CAPA is a government organization, when CAPA itself said that it is not government and does not represent government.
Pretty rich for white journalist @ajawrites @bookshop to claim that when Li Xuezheng, a renowned government affiliated film director, says that Zhang Zhehan's cancellation was not done by the Chinese government but instead by CAPA, he is spouting a "conspiracy theory".
@vox is this the type of sinophobic journalists that your publication now employs?
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Here's @ajawrites @bookshop defending CAPA by stating that it is not to blame for Zhang Zhehan's censorship from all media platforms in China.
Except they failed to read the multiple media reports indicating that CAPA had allied itself with multiple media platforms to ban those it deems "immoral". These media resources includes a western outlet, Reuters. Basic due diligence would have unearthed this, but it appears neither @ajawrites @bookshop or @vox care about the facts.
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Here's @ajawrites @bookshop suggesting (as a white foreign writer with zero access to his case), that it is "unlikely" that Zhang Zhehan's investigation would go anywhere, that he can't come back, that he is "already back".
These are clear anti talking points easily found on Chinese social media.
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Of particular note is that @ajawrites @bookshop claims that these conclusions are a result of their "research". Yes in their own words, in 2020 they were just learning Chinese. With their level of genius, I bet they're not far from being a beginner.
Yet, this is the type of "expert" that @vox employs to write about Chinese fan culture.
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The article in China Story is one of the only published articles in the world that details how Zhang Zhehan was cancelled by CAPA, not the Chinese government. Yet @ajawrites @bookshop, great friend to Zhang Zhehan solo fans asked for a retraction.
Yes, we have the email. They actually did.
Who has incentive to take down an article that speaks negatively about CAPA? Who has incentive to water down statements negative to CAPA? Who has incentive to perpetuate smears against Zhang Zhehan internationally?
Who better to manipulate than a lazy and dumb writer like @ajawrites @bookshop
I do wonder how @vox and its advertisers feels about @ajawrites @bookshop spreading slander about a Chinese celebrity and his fandom? I wonder if @vox even bothers with basic fact-checking? I wonder if @vox is okay with one of its writers contacting another publication in an attempt to supports their biased views?
To the Zhang Zhehan fans (Zhang Sanjian believers) who have fawned at the feet of @ajawrites @bookshop: good to know that you support those who defend CAPA, the organization that cancelled Zhang Zhehan.
And one last thing to @ajawrites @bookshop: only a shit stain waste of space would write an article about a celebrity to gain a following in his fandom while actually despising him, believing the smears against him, and thinking he's a t******.
We call people like you blood sucking vampires.
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zhongwans · 1 year
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You guys must have seen that article from Vox that was filled with misinformation about ZZH's case written by someone called Aja Romano.
The article was very hostile towards Junzhe CP fans, which is actually not that strange knowing how RPS fandoms are seen, but since Romano herself was part of RPS fandoms and even believes that Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo are in a secret relatonship, you've got to wonder where all the hostility is coming from. It's also very interesting that she never once showed any interest in WOH ever since it aired, but then suddenly appears and writes a scathing article about Junzhe CP fans a full year later, even regurgitating anti talking points from weibo beat by beat. So when I first read it I suspected that it wasn't written by a passerby journalist, but rather by someone who was very familiar with the WOH fandom and specifically with Junzhe CP fans. Someone who was keeping an eye on the fandom's conversations. And also possibly, someone who has something against us or ZZH and GJ.
On June 2022, an article that was published on The China Story finally laid out the facts about ZZH's case: that he wasn't banned by the CN government, that CAPA wasn't a government entity and therefore had absolutely no right to issue a boycott, that ZZH was the victim of a vicious smear campain that must have taken millions to fund. After the horrible articles Aja Romano wrote for Vox, it was a welcome relief.
Well now some amazing people over on twitter found out that Aja Romano actually emailed the editors of The China Story, asking to retract the article. It's the ONLY article that contains the truth about his case, and has all the facts that Li Xuezheng himself stated. And she asked for it to be taken down.
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She claimed that the article was filled with misinformation, even though the article was based only on facts that were verified during the time Li Xuezheng was active. Aja insisted that ZZH was banned by the government, even though that was debunked three times, twice by the NRTA and once by the MCT. Since when did a chronically online waste of space and human equivalent of watery diarrhea like Aja Romano have more say about ZZH's case than the literal Chinese government?
Like what you like, ship what you ship. Mind your own fucking business. There's no rule saying you must stuck your rancid dick in other fandoms just to enjoy your own.
Full post about Aja Romano's email here:
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biglisbonnews · 1 year
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How Stephen Smith’s murder is connected to the Murdaugh family https://www.vox.com/culture/23653350/stephen-smith-murder-investigation-update-homicide
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geddyqueer · 1 year
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i miss good livejournal era fandom drama
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slimegargoyle · 2 years
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it is genuinely very funny to know that there will always be a contingent of strangers who explode with rage whenever you get into the same tv show as them
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thesoundshelter · 6 months
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FAVORITE ALBUM COVERS (2/2)
FAVORITE ALBUM COVERS (½)
Steely Dan - Aja
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Artist : Hideki Fujii
Slash - Apocalyptic Love
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Artist : Casey Howard
Invent Animate - Heavener
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Artist : Hayden Clay Williams
Opeth - In Cauda Venenum
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Artist : Travis Smith
Opeth - Heritage
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Artist : Travis Smith
Mastodon - Leviathan
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Artist : Paul Romano
Devin Townsend - Ghost
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Artist : Brian Kibbons + Travis Smith
In Love With A Ghost - Let's Go
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Artist : Sarah Lasater
Baroness - STONE
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Artist : John Baizley
Carpenter Brut - Leather Teeth
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Artist : Førtifem
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padmestrilogy · 11 months
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the girl as immaterial - padme amidala
matthew stover // nabokov // aja romano & alex abad-santos // george lucas // roger ebert
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petrakvitovas · 3 months
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where can you talk about women's tennis online with other women who want to talk about women's tennis? genuinely, where? women's tennis fans on twitter seems to be overrun with people whose humour came straight out of 2009, complete with the slurs and the racism and homophobia, and they're all constantly in competition with each other over who can make the most degrading, edgy, mean jokes. they're just aggressively unfunny, probably because most of them are men. following them is like asking for the kind of social media experience where you're actively choosing to make your mental health worse by reading their posts and engaging with them every day.
and the vast majority of women on tennis twitter are atp fans. they just are. and that's great if you're a woman who loves men, but the way women online talk about men makes me really fucking sad. I do not think that even if you are attracted to men that you should be centring men so much in your lives, or spending so much time thinking about them. and you cannot be a tennis fan on social media unless you're willing to put up with watching women centre men in absolutely everything. this obviously isn't a tennis problem exclusively. women and girls in fan spaces on the internet love men, they're obsessed with men. I don't know if it's because online fan spaces attract girls and women who aren't as socially extroverted or as confident or experienced as other women their age, but I don't think it's a reach to say a lot of these girls and women who spend their lives posting about men on the internet probably don't have a lot of romantic experience with men. fandom is largely a place for women and girls to explore their sexuality without actually having to act on it. like, we all know that, right? and I'm not saying women here who are doing that don't genuinely love tennis outside of that, I know you do. but you're engaging with it in a specific way online, like everyone does.
and tennis fans on reddit and tumblr largely centre men too, and you basically have to decide between them if you're more willing to put up with being shouted at by the world's most annoying conservative men (reddit) or a place where the only time people seem to want to talk about women's tennis is when they want to say that it's just soooo hard trying to care about women's tennis, and act like they're doing a good feminist service for enjoying one female tennis player occasionally (tumblr).
you guys know the aja romano "eating your veggies" controversy, right? aja, the popular m/m writer from the 2000s who basically made a very annoying career out of talking about m/m fanfiction. she coined the term "eating your veggies" to describe "the idea that being fannish about female characters is like eating one's vegetables—you do it (or should do it) because it's good for you, not because you necessarily want to." I think people were angrier that she said it than they were about there being some truth to the way many women and girls online think about female characters, or athletes in this case.
I'm not interested in posting about women's tennis in spaces where people only occasionally post about women because they think they should. I want to talk to women who find as much genuine, unbridled joy and investment in women's tennis players and matches as they do with men. this doesn't have anything to do with marketing. you seek out atp videos on youtube after you become a men's tennis fan, not before, and you know it. so where the hell do I go? because it seems like unless I want to start calling men my tiny little adorable perfect babies (I literally cannot even fake making that sound genuine), there's not a place to talk about tennis for me.
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groovyfandomhuman · 14 days
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article written by Aja Romano of Vox.
Please, please keep talking about Nex Benedict.
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brilcrist · 1 year
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Losing 100+ followers because i'm swearing over that bitch: Aja Romano is totally worthy~
so long suckers!!
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mylittleponygrrl · 1 year
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Full review from vox.com:
Hidden Blade / Wuming
Wang Yibo’s performance as Mr. Ye and the art created by the film’s director, Cheng Er
::-::-::-::-::-::
The shadowy puzzle-box pleasures of Chinese spy thriller Hidden Blade
Satisfyingly cerebral, Hidden Blade features a masterful Tony Leung and a breakout performance from Wang Yibo.
By: Aja Romano on February 28, 2023 7:30 am
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Wang Yibo and Eric Wang in Cheng Er’s moody, shadowy spy thriller Hidden Blade, now in cinemas. Well Go USA
Toward the end of Hidden Blade (无名), the arty Chinese World War II spy thriller that has now reached US cinemas, everything comes to a halt.
“Matte kudasai,” Wang Yibo, playing the canny, careful Secretary Ye, says in silky Japanese. Wait, please.
And then we all — the character he’s talking to, the camera, the film score, the audience, the movie — slow down and wait. We wait for him to light a cigarette, take a drag, then another. We wait for him to look at his reflection. We watch him, wreathed in smoke, take his time.
With a lesser actor, this would feel excessive, showy; it would flatten the moment. But this is Wang Yibo, star of The Untamed and Street Dance of China, former K-pop idol, sometime motorcycle racer, multitalented polymath, and multinational heartthrob. In the pause, tension and dark purpose coil in his jawline, his shoulders, in every flick of his wrist. I have never wanted to look at anything more in my life.
Hidden Blade has gone largely unnoticed in mainstream US media, usually getting name-checked as the legendary Tony Leung’s latest film. The New York Times gave it a kind but mixed capsule review. Other outlets that bothered to review it did so poorly, with multiple reviewers unable to tell cast members apart from one another (!), a handful misunderstanding and misstating the plot, one reviewer dismissing the entire cast apart from Leung. Several wrote it off as a propaganda film.
But Hidden Blade, from writer-director Cheng Er, deserves a much better critical assessment than this. It serves propaganda only in the way that the average war movie might glorify the homeland — think Top Gun: Maverick. In this case, that means a homeland battered by a brutal Japanese occupation. Our timeline centers around Republic-era China, several years after the Nanjing Massacre. The country’s combative factions — the Japanese occupants, the Kuomintang leadership, the current puppet government, and the underground communist resistance — all vie to control China’s future as the war wages around them. Our main characters, Director He (Leung) and his subordinate Secretary Ye (Wang), both work for the Japanese regime in Shanghai, rooting out members of each of the opposing factions and doing the governor’s bidding. But spies are everywhere, and their allegiances aren’t always obvious — sometimes not even to themselves.
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Hidden Blade’s production house, Bona Film Group, loosely placed this film into a “trilogy” called the China Victory Trilogy. (The prior film, The Battle at Lake Changjin (2021), was a mega-blockbuster; this film had a far more lowkey release, though it’s been such a success — closing on $1 billion RMB, it’s reportedly the top-grossing art film in Chinese history — that there’s talk of a sequel.) Each film, linked thematically but not materially, highlights a different group of ordinary people battling a war. This outing explores the pressures placed on WWII spies who often had to work in complete isolation for months and even years; the film’s Chinese title translates to Anonymous. Cheng takes the smoke-and-mirrors obfuscation of the spy genre literally: Ye spends much of the time he’s onscreen symbolically mirroring He, while studying himself in mirrors, being looked at through mirrors, and functioning as a looking-glass for the film itself.
This could all easily feel like shallow gloss with little substance, and the plot seems relatively thin; but over the course of the film, that plot reveals itself to be a tightly edited jigsaw awaiting your assembly.
This is a big part of why repeated viewings of Hidden Blade are such a pleasure (I saw it six times in four days). The film is a metaphorical escape room you find your way through, muddling at first, then quicker and quicker until you arrive at an open door. Cheng’s aesthetic style flickers through the muted action of the first half, from Godard-like formalism to von Trier-esque visual war poetry to outright Tarkovsky homages. But steadily the stylistic flourishes give way to a riveting, sparse thriller with phenomenal fight scenes, staged with excellent attention to setting and detail by fight choreographer Chao Chen. Cai Tao’s cinematography has lingered with me for days, with some shots cracking the whole film wide open for me on third or fourth watch.
This film basks in tiny thematic details — the timing of a musical cue, the symbolism of a tableau, the way a character’s face is lit between light and shadow. Then there’s the symbology; my friends have been discussing the thematic element of food in this movie for days: The symbolism of an intimidating bowl of drunken shrimp, the political nuances of debates over French cuisine, the secrets of an unassuming box of pastry.
In other words, Hidden Blade’s cerebral challenges invite you to play the games its characters are playing. It opens itself to the audience more and more with every repeat viewing. The supporting cast makes the most of limited emotional real estate; Eric Wang and Zhou Xun sink their teeth into their very different roles in the spy game. Tony Leung’s performance in particular grows craftier and more intelligent on every viewing as you begin to understand the veneer of polite soullessness around which he layers his real, veiled emotions. The moments he lets them peek through are masterful to behold.
But as much as Tony Leung was made for subtle but heady roles like this, Hidden Blade belongs to Wang Yibo, and so does this review.
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A production still of Hidden Blade featuring Wang Yibo, released for the film’s ¥500m box office. The film has since grossed nearly ¥1 billion. Bona Film Group
This is Yibo, after all, a 25-year-old wunderkind who spent his childhood training in Korea to become a K-pop idol but who returned to China and became a Chinese entertainer slash dance star slash actor instead. I first wrote about Yibo here in 2020 in my review of the historical fantasy series The Untamed. I described him then as “conveying Grand Canyons of emotional depth” through “mesmerizing infinitesimal facial adjustments.”
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A screen cap of Wang Yibo as Lan Wangji from the global phenomenon, Chinese tv series, Chén Qíng Lìng / The Untamed (2019) Tencent (New Style Media Group)
Since then, I have watched Yibo disappear into one strikingly different character after another, embodying them all with talent and skill beyond his years; I have watched him deliver performance after performance, transforming himself onstage and off. He has a star quality that’s hard to describe until you truly get acquainted with his performances and his persona. On first impression, he’s rarely the hottest or the strongest or the glitziest entertainer in a room — but he’s the one who unfailingly blows you away in the end, the one you can’t stop talking about.
As Secretary Ye, Yibo packs the same intensity: He smolders and throbs and pulses his way through Hidden Blade, talking only rarely but speaking volumes with the soulful eyes that first captivated me and a jillion other fans three years ago.
Since The Untamed, Yibo has become a massive star in his home country. He was originally scheduled to make his film debut in the much more high-profile Born to Fly (now scheduled for a spring release), in which he stars as the equivalent to Tom Cruise in Top Gun. As much pressure as a role like that must be to play, the weight Yibo carries in Hidden Blade feels almost heavier. Cheng has talked at length about how the more he saw Yibo act, the bigger his part became; he rewrote the film around Yibo as production progressed, eventually transforming Ye from a smaller part into the soul of the movie.
That’s a huge responsibility, but Yibo shoulders it effortlessly. He immerses himself in Ye’s tortured psyche; he trembles and seethes and changes the mood of an entire scene with a single sharp glance. A debut like this, from an actor this young, in a part this intense, carrying the entire film beside one of China’s greatest living actors, all while juggling four different languages (Japanese, Mandarin, and Cantonese and Shanghainese dialects) feels remarkable. Yibo’s performance seals Hidden Blade’s status as an unexpected pleasure. Once finally assembled, its cinematic intricacies yield infinite rewards.
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saiditallbefore · 3 months
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tag meme!
Tagged by @venort
Last song: Closer to Fine by the Indigo Girls. Yeah, this one made its way back into my regular rotation after the Barbie movie. It's a banger!
Favourite colour: Purple or blue.
Last movie/show: Eileen. I recommend seeing it, if you get a chance (and do not look up a plot summary before you watch it)! There's a few things I would personally change, if I could, but overall I enjoyed it, and I especially thought Thomasin McKenzie gave a great performance.
sweet/spicy/savory: Sweet! Especially chocolate.
relationship status: in a situationship with my WIPs. But also single.
last thing i googled: Aja Romano, to double-check what kind of "journalism" they'd been up to lately.
current obsession(s): DC comics. I think I just have to accept this. I'm a comics person now.
tag 3 people: @tavina-writes, @brigdh, @73chn1c0l0rr3v3l if you want <3
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bizarrequazar · 1 year
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GJ and ZZH Updates — February 5-11 (nice)
<<< previous week || all posts || following week >>>
This is part of a weekly series collecting updates from and relating to Gong Jun and Zhang Zhehan.
This post is not wholly comprehensive and is intended as an overview, links provided lead to further details. Dates are in accordance with China Standard Time, the organization is chronological. My own biases on some things are reflected here. Anything I include that is not concretely known is indicated as such, and you’re welcome to do your own research and draw your own conclusions as you see fit. Please let me know if you have any questions, comments, concerns, or additions. :)
[Glossary of names and terms] [Masterlist of my posts about the situation with Zhang Zhehan]
02-05 → Gong Jun’s studio posted a photo of him for the Lantern Festival. Caption: “The full moon is in the sky and joy is in full swing, and the Lantern Festival will show the reunion of [The Bunny Gives the Year] Boss @ Gong Jun Simon wishes everyone a happy Lantern Festival!”
→ Kangshifu posted a photo ad featuring Gong Jun.
→ Gong Jun posted a vlog from visiting Universal Studios on 01-13. Caption: “The first Vlog in 2023, just play without talking! Happy Lantern Festival everyone!” [subbed video] BGM is Happy by Pharrell Williams, Hedwig’s Theme from Harry Potter, the Jurassic Park theme song, Darlin’ (I Think About You) by Delegation, and Kung Fu Fighting by Carl Douglas.
→ The Instagram posted a video of “Zhang Zhehan” and “Xiao Yu” shopping for shoes.
02-06 → Nothing of note.
02-07 → Bluebird posted an exposé of an email sent by Aja Romano last June in response to an article published by The China Story about Zhang Zhehan, in which Romano falsely claimed that Zhang Zhehan was cancelled by the government, that CAPA is a government organization, that Zhang Zhehan has family ties to Japan, and that the general public were in support of his cancellation. Despite her claims that she found this through “research”, all of it is blatant misinformation that has by now been disproven multiple times, including by the NRTA and MCT, CAPA, and Zhang Zhehan himself. (For those who aren’t aware or don’t remember, Romano is the “journalist” who wrote the Vox article calling those of us talking about the deepfakes conspiracy theorists. They’ve also had a reputation of being a fandom shit-stirrer since the early 2000s.) Followups: [1] [2] [3]
→ Flora posted an exposé about edits made to Zhang Zhehan’s Wikipedia page since 813 by the user Oncamera. These edits have removed cited clarifications about 813 while adding and maintaining smears citing tabloids, as well as maintaining claims of the Instagram and stolen songs’ validity. Oncamera is known of and celebrated by whalers for her support of Zhang Sanjian. Followups: [1] [2] [3]
02-08 → #ZhangZhehan trended on Twitter.
→ Continuing from the previous day, whalers on Twitter defended Aja Romano and Oncamera, refusing to respond when questioned about why they’re supporting people who have actively contributed to slander against Zhang Zhehan.
→ BAZAAR’s director posted an unused photo from Gong Jun’s recent shoot with them.
→ New airport photos of “Zhang Zhehan” were spread, originating from Lao Ahyi who is now under the username 一串字母kk. Fan Observations: The photos show “Zhang Zhehan” alone at the terminal exit (one photo has a single person near him) despite air travel in the last month averaging at roughly 660 people at the Shanghai Pudong airport per hour, not including staff. 
02-09 → #ZhangZhehan continued to trend on Twitter.
→ Gong Jun posted a commercial for Hogan. This was reposted by both Hogan and his studio. Hogan also posted four new photo ads of Gong Jun.  (1129 kadian for all of these, they were speedy.) The first of these photos was used as a Weibo app opening screen and as Hogan’s Weibo header. Fan Observation: The first line of Gong Jun’s caption, “Modern reboot, retro revival.”, seems to be his own addition rather than a set part of the ad campaign. “Retro” (复古) here is written the same as in the title for Zhang Zhehan’s cancelled drama Retro Detective. There have recently been rumors of this drama doing reshoots—QuelleVous checked and the NRTA’s Beijing branch has not given any permits to do so, the original permit expired in November; the original casting company has no affiliations with such a project. In other words, if reshoots ARE happening, it is not on the original set and the associated persons are sketchy, ie. these rumors are likely (possibly elaborate) fabrication.
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→ Kangshifu posted a photo ad featuring Gong Jun. Fan Observation: The illustration includes a girl in an orange sweater and a bucket hat, a man with a buzzcut, a baseball cap, glasses, and a sweater with a star, and a man in green with hair similar to Gong Jun’s. The caption is about friendship. [x]
→ The brand’s VIP fashion show that was originally scheduled for 2022-11-23 (the one that required a purchase of 20k RMB and a submission of personal identification information) was announced to be rescheduled to 02-14, now also stipulating that electronic devices with recording functions cannot be brought inside the venue, and forbidding “forms of support” such as banners and light signs both inside and out. Additional information:   -  Some resellers refused to sell tickets, not wanting to damage their reputations due to not knowing if a fake Zhang Zhehan would show up (or not even a fake).  -  Some resellers who DID choose to sell them stipulated to potential buyers that they could not confirm if this was “the Zhang Zhehan who was in a CP with Gong Jun.” Prices also seem to have significantly lowered, with one reseller offering them for 3000 RMB.  -  The above suggests that members of the general public (ie. those not following the scam) can still tell that the whole situation is fishy and have doubts about if Zhang Zhehan is really involved.   -  I haven’t seen it myself, but there’s apparently a chatlog with the police regarding the event. It’s possible that an excuse is being sought to cancel it.   -  Chinese CPFs seem pretty much unfazed by this whole thing, this is old hat by now. [ibid.]
→ Hogan tweeted the earlier commercial and new photo ads [1] [2].
→ Gong Jun posted the Hogan photos to his Instagram. Caption: “The new look is beautiful”
02-10 → Hello Saturday’s Weibo posted three douyins [1] [2] [3] featuring Gong Jun and his Rising with the Wind co-star Zhong Chuxi for the episode that would air the following day. 
02-11 → Hello Saturday’s Weibo posted a still from the episode.
→ Gong Jun’s studio posted thirteen photos of Gong Jun from the day of Hello Saturday’s filming (2022-12-28). Caption: “Looking far away in the mist, there is a deep and long silence. Today at 19:30, boss @ Gong Jun Simon’s character Xu Si, a surprise investor, is online! #冯俊你好Saturday# We’ll see you soon 😎”
→ Hello Saturday’s Weibo posted a teaser of the episode.
→ Hogan posted a behind the scenes video (flashing lights cw) and photos (1129 kadian for both) from their new ad campaign with Gong Jun. They also later tweeted four of the photos.
→ Wonderland magazine posted pictures of the AI persona Jifeng; four of these use unreleased photos from their 2022-11-28 photoshoot with him, two of which are solo shots. (1129 kadian) They also posted a video of Jifeng with a couple seconds’ footage of Gong Jun. [Here] are just the solo photos and [here] is a cut of just Gong Jun’s shots in the video, for fellow Jifeng dislikers. Fan Observation: The video includes jellyfish for a brief moment, as well as broken mirror imagery.
→ Kangshifu posted a photo ad featuring Gong Jun.
→  Another promotional douyin for the Hello Saturday episode was posted.
→ The Instagram posted a selfie of “Zhang Zhehan” and pictures of guitar chords and Kele.
→ The Hello Saturday episode aired. [Full episode (no subs)] [GJ cut] [written summary with clips] Addition 02-18: In behind the scenes footage released of the episode, Gong Jun’s Rising with the Wind costar Zhong Chuxi asked him for advice about a knee injury she sustained while filming the drama. His first response was to ask if she had hemarthrosis, a symptom that Zhang Zhehan has had with his knee.
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→ Gong Jun’s studio posted nine photos of him from the episode. Caption: “Xu Si's debut, have fun! Boss @ Gong Jun Simon reminds everyone that investment needs to be cautious!”
Additional Reading: → Flora’s daily fan news → Starting at the end of last month, whalers started buying billboards in Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Canada advertising the Deep Blue album. The images for these appear to have been directly supplied by those releasing the songs. [photos of one] → Works for the LLD Bang are still being revealed!
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This post was last edited 2023-02-18.
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biglisbonnews · 1 year
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The shadowy puzzle-box pleasures of Chinese spy thriller Hidden Blade https://www.vox.com/culture/23617140/hidden-blade-wuming-review-wang-yibo-tony-leung-cheng-er
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olderthannetfic · 7 months
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/727246620269395968/ I didn't think of Tonks as queerish until I read Aja Romano's Vox article about it (yeah, i know they're a controversial figure in fandom, but I thought that was a good piece and I sympathize with them identifying with the character as a nonbinary person). I def think that along with "punk girl" and "queer woman" sharing some signifiers, this is probably a more UK cultural thing that doesn't translate as easily to the US where some of that "look" was never as mainstream
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I mean... I can see why Aja would identify with the character.
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vital-information · 1 year
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One reading for Silence of the Lambs (1991) exists that portrays exactly what trans, gay, and queer rights organizations have been protesting about it since before it even premiered—a narrative caricature that pathologizes and demonizes queerness in the profiling and the depiction of the antagonist, Buffalo Bill.
But, if not necessarily a closer reading, at least an alternative reading, offers a deeply queer film, as writer Aja Romano describes wonderfully in their complicated history piece for Vox on occasion of the film’s 30th anniversary, and, if one wanted to go farther, a symbolic coming out narrative through the psychological horror and true crime genres. As Romano points out, Buffalo Bill is actually a bogeyman of queer identity in the film: “Silence of the Lambs explicitly tries to distance Buffalo Bill’s behavior from transgender identity. Lecter observes that Bill isn’t transgender, and Starling reminds the audience that there’s no link between transgender identity and violence. The film overtly tries to separate its villain from the trans community — in stark contrast to many of its predecessors in the horror genre.” This villain, within a psychological analysis, is not a representation of queerness but a representation of society’s paranoia towards queerness that Clarice has to identify and face for herself.
That Clarice Starling is played by iconic wlw, Jodie Foster, whose sexuality was perhaps not public at the time but was pretty well established subtext for a portion of her audience and was known within her Hollywood circles, is a good jumping off point to see this arc of queer identification. The film’s oft-cited feminist portrayal of a woman in a masculine work environment and as a capable protagonist does double duty to establish Starling’s character (whether played by Foster or not) as transgressing gender roles that can align her with a kind of queerness. Then, there’s Hannibal Lector, who, more than Buffalo Bill, seems to embody certain gay stereotypes as a campy, penetrating aesthete, sibilant s’s and all, literally trapped within a glass cell. It’s not a stretch to see the cell as a closet. And the camera work that places Starling behind the glass wall as often as Lector as they attempt to psychoanalyze one another to offer help and a form of liberation emboldens a parallel between them.
True crime and psychological horror since Silence of the Lambs often directs the protagonist to accept the murderous darkness within themselves. Bad faith readings point to understanding this inclination as a representation of how evil is a contagion or corrupting force that individuals are helpless to avoid if they pursue their curiosity in it even under the best intentions. However, that’s a pretty literal interpretation of the murder in these fictional stories. I want to argue that the protagonist’s eventual turn to obsession and murder, even if in self-defense, operates similarly to the marriage plot in the romance genre. The main character is forced to become aligned with characteristics they had formerly seen as impossible for them to embody. The bullet or knife is a means of simultaneously overcoming their fears around this part of themselves and cathartically entering into an embodiment of it. When a character like Will in Hannibal or Eve in Killing Eve or Clarice Starling eventually find themselves cut adrift from their governmental agencies and/or forced to kill on their own, they are narratively freed from the rigid constraints of societal rules and expectations.
Fictional killing by a protagonist is not advocating for a literal replication of that action. It’s about their ability, alongside the audience’s, to find peace, resolution, and empathy for ourselves and others. Clarice confronts the false specter of homosexuality and claims a more holistic truth about her own desires that quiets the screaming lambs in her mind while Lecter escapes the cages imposed on him so that he can have his old friend for dinner. That these are revealed darkly is a feature of the genre and less a commentary on the queer subtexts. The trio of Buffalo Bill, Hannibal Lecter, and, at their fulcrum, Clarice Starling inflect the film with a profusion of queerness that, going beyond a simple look at how realistically the film portrays transness or criminal profiling, invites instead an interpretation that provides the opportunity for one to emotionally experience its dynamic queer catharsis.
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