#I think HK was the last fandom I really got into before I decided to 99% check out of fandom culture

[sincerely-sofie]

People seemed to really like the last Hollow Knight art dump. Here's some more!

[potteresque-ire]

Hi I posted an ask regarding your view point on GGDD's safety by people shipping them openly by bus designs, digital hoardings in their country and various other ways. I am not sure if you have already replied because I can't seem to find it. If not, please notify in case you would be interested in posting, there is no pressure or complaints if the answer is not affirmative. Also, I am hoping to read your piece on current issue DD is facing in relation to Nike. I am sure a lot of people enjoy your straight, detailed and analytical thought process and information presentation. A lot of people especially ifans needs to understand the perspective and position an actor or any national level influencer/celebrity is in when they are a citizen of totalitarian regime.

I would love to read, if you decide to write.

Thank you for your blog. It is highly appreciated and welcomed.

Hello Anon! I sincerely apologise ~ my ask box has been very full, and I answer based on time availability (which isn’t much) and “urgency” of the matter (for example, the recent post on Dangai/WoH skipped the line because it’s current). My whim too, occasionally and admittedly; sometimes I’d like to take a breather and talk about something a little more fannish and fun (like window cleaning robots!) Above all, I prefer giving delayed but responsible, or even no answers over irresponsible ones, given some of the subject matter I touch upon. I’ll ... probably have to write up an ask box policy at some point.

Now, my thoughts about Dd’s current situation ... or maybe, my thoughts about the things around it ...

I should explain where my highly disorganised thoughts this time come from first. I’m a Hong Konger by birth, and I grew up at a time when it was still conventional for Hong Kongers to refer themselves as Chinese, following the tradition of referring to the (believed) origin of one’s paternal family as our own origin. I’ve never, however, sworn allegiance to the Chinese government; the two citizenships I’ve ever held are 1) United Kingdom (Hong Kong was still a British crown colony when I was there), and 2) United States.

The distinction between China, the country, and Chinese government, as the country’s rulership, has therefore always been clear to me. You can love, feel a bond with the country, its people and culture and its 5,000 year old history, without having feeling anything with its 71 years-young government with foreign (soviet) roots. To quote Hamilton: Oceans rise, empires fall, and just the central plains of China alone went through a total of 13 recorded dynasties, during which its border waxed and waned, often splitting what is now Chinese territory into multiple countries under different rulership that sometimes split along ethnic lines—China, in that sense, isn’t even historically a country as we define one today; it’s a piece of land in East Asia where different countries have taken over, risen and fallen. And the major ethnic group, Han, which also includes the vast majority of the current political elite, wasn’t always in control. The Yuan dynasty (1271–1368) was famously built by Mongolians; the Qing dynasty (1636–1912), Manchurians. Beijing, the current capital of China, began its illustrious history as The Capital City for the non-Han based, north-of-central-plain dynasties of Liao and Jin. Liao people were believed to be either Mongolic or Tungusic. Jin people were Tungusic, and would eventually become Manchurians. Xinjiang (新疆), meanwhile, was only under the influence of the ancient Chinese empires sporadically, and its formal conquest / incorporation by a Chinese dynasty didn’t happen until ~ 1760, and by the (Manchurian) Qing dynasty. Its late incorporation is also reflected in its name that means, literally, “New Territory”.

What does this all mean? It means: 1) Loving China =/= loving the Chinese Communist Party;  2) Chinese culture =/= Han culture; especially the Han culture infused with “Core Socialist Values” as defined by the Chinese Communist Party; 3) X dynasty’s territory (where X = one of the ancient Chinese dynasties) =/= What has to be People Republic of China’s territory.

And by writing down these three =/=, which I’d argue are simply conclusions from historical facts and logic, I’ve committed an act of subversion in the eyes of the current Chinese government. Remove the “/” in “=/=“, and you’ve got three of the most important talking points of Chinese propaganda.

The sacred, un-violatable rules the Chinese government tells its people.

Why do I mention them? Because the scrutiny, the attack on Dd read familiar to me, and is probably familiar too to all those who’ve kept even a brief eye on Hong Kong and Taiwanese entertainers who work in China. When a topic that violates one of these propaganda points makes news (for example, the HK protest, Hong Kong/Taiwan Independence), entertainers from Hong Kong / Taiwan—anyone who’ve achieved name recognition—are often placed under immediate scrutiny by Chinese netizens to see whether and when they’ll confirm their loyalty towards the Chinese government. The argument is that only those who display absolute loyalty to the Chinese government deserves to earn China’s money, and the main motivation behind this scrutiny, in this case, is mistrust: Hong Kong, after all, is crawling with British loyalists and rioters according to Chinese propaganda, with separatists who’re conspiring with foreign governments to overthrow the Chinese government; the democratic island nation of Taiwan, meanwhile, is supposedly a rogue child who has escaped its mother (China) ’s arms for the past 70+ years—the child who, by the way, shall be brought to their knees (along with into their mother’s arms) by military intervention. Both places, in other words, are serial violators of =/= 1) and 3), and not to be trusted. If their entertainers fail to affirm their loyalty towards the Chinese government, or if the timing of their patriotic display is perceived as off, vicious accusations—similar to those Dd has endured—will fly, and calls for boycott begin. 

Here’s a related observation, while I’m at it ... no one in c-ent is really allowed to keep their political views quiet, even if they’re not particularly well-known. No one can say, politics isn’t for me, it’s too ugly/too complicated/doesn’t fit my image and shove it under the proverbial carpet. Under an authoritarian government, control is exerted via politics, via propaganda that seeps into day-to-day language. It’s an oil slick that taints and swims in even the smallest crevice of life—there’s no where to hide.

And Dd is far more famous than almost all of these HK and Taiwan based entertainers. 表態 — a public announcement of his stance — is the only option left for him when he becomes the centre of a sensitive political issue such as this one. And there’s really only one stance he can take.

In that sense, what happened to Dd isn’t something I’m too worried about—this kind of attack under the guise of a “loyalty check” isn’t new; and the motivation behind the scrutiny of Dd is the safer to-take-down-his-career rather than political mistrust. I believe this storm shall pass soon, as long as his team doesn’t make an unexpected, big mistake. His non-fan fellow country people will probably view him with a more positive light as well: he walked the walk and did what he believed is patriotic — breaking a contract like this is no lip service when in China, performative patriotism is often lip service — reportedly even among the top Chinese Communist Party officials.

If I must find more defence for his stance ... please forgive me, Anon, but I don’t have much more to say than what I said last night, what I said before about China’s access to information—

—because, admittedly, following, talking about this incident is difficult for the Hong Konger in me, even if I’ve expected this kind of incidents from the moment I joined this fandom, even if I’ve expected, as I’ve learned from RL experience, that most people I adore in China will at some point support causes that I deeply disagree with. The online patriotic rally by c-motors and c-turtles under the associated Weibo tag, while impressive and good for Dd, is nonetheless heartbreaking/frightening for me to watch. Why? Because I know this can easily turn into a call to persecute all Hong Kongers involved in the democracy movements sometime in the future. Because I know the rally will probably be as impressive if this has been a call to persecute all Hong Kongers involved in the democracy movements. Frankly, I stopped thinking about Nike as I scrolled through the posts — I was thinking about the now impossibly wide gulf that separates most Chinese and a Hong Konger like myself; I was thinking about why a Gg / Dd performance can trend on Twitter in 10+ countries all over the world but makes almost no noise in Hong Kong or Taiwan, places that should’ve most easily fallen in love with Gg / Dd with their closeness in language and customs. 

As it turns out, the closeness has only driven HK and Taiwan away; the closeness only brings them more insight of the beast—the government that looms over, cast a long shadow over everything that lives under it, including Gg and Dd.

I was reminded of the fact that many young Hong Kongers probably see me as a traitor just for being a turtle — young Hong Kongers who are n>1 generation immigrants from China, who never spend years reconciling the conflicting viewpoints, the even more conflicting emotions when it comes to this ... almost irreconcilable difference now in political beliefs north and south of the China-HK border. Unlike the older generations who often have immigrants/refugees from China for immediate, un-severable family, who often don’t have the option to walk away from the conflicts, to simply point to the other side and call it evil.

And here are my even-more-conflicting emotions: 

While, over the years, I’ve learned to harbour no ill feelings to the vast majority of supporters of pro-CCP causes—I reserve blame for those who conceal the truth, who’re involved in its policy making, or people who live outside the Firewall and should know better (such as every HK entertainer who’ve expressed support)—I’ve also learned, over the same years, to be fully, painfully aware that every endorsement is still an endorsement for the regime to carry on its ways, and the damage is real, is significant even if the endorsers may not know about the true nature of their endorsements. 

A simple thought experiment: the sheer size of China’s population means it can easily control the narrative on English-speaking social media. The Chinese government already has a history of mobilising its people to scale the Great Firewall and spread its propaganda on, for example, Twitter. It has also mobilised fan circles for propaganda purpose. Again, as a thought experiment *only* (ie, SJD!), imagine the Chinese government mobilising Dd’s Weibo supertopic fans to spread misinformation about Xinjiang.

Dd’s supertopic has 5+ million members—all savvy social media users and many skilled in the art of comment control (a collective effort, performed by fans to bury critiques/dissent on message boards); the total number of Uyghurs in Xinjiang is ~12 million, but their communications are heavily scrutinised and they can’t really talk. Just for the sake of argument, we’ll add the ~ 70% pro-democracy HK population to Uyghur’s side: that’s another 5 million, but most of them aren’t good at raging a battle on social media.

Which side will control the narrative in the end?

And so: I understand why Dd’s statement is what it is. I don’t fault him for making it. Still, I can’t in good conscience say to anyone, myself included, that the statement is a personal opinion and doesn’t matter. It matters a lot. His announcement is another stab to the Uyghurs, and the knife is sharp because of Dd’s social influence.

(Today, I saw Dd’s name for the first time in a Hong Kong pro-democracy online news site.)

The statement carried this sentence:

國家尊嚴不容侵犯，堅決維護祖國利益 The dignity of the country is not to be violated; the interest of our motherland is to be resolutely defended. Firstly: it’s character-for-character propaganda language. Secondly: even if we do not consider the labor camps, this is the condition in Xinjiang’s city of Urumqi. Where’s the dignity of the people who’re living there and who’s preventing that from being violated? The interest of the motherland—what kind of motherland answers an allegation of human rights violation with “interest” (利=profit, advantage; 益=benefit)? What kind of motherland has “protects its interest” being synonymous with surveillance and abuse of its own people?

I have a motherland, but it’s not the one in this narrative.

The issues of Xinjiang and the Uyghurs have also become even closer to Hong Kongers since 2019, when the fates of Hong Kongers and the Uyghurs became intricately tied—as dual examples of Chinese government’s human rights violations and indeed, these two populations who previously had very little in common have shown solidarity with each other against all odds. Their connection being this one simple, awful fact: both having what they value most stripped away by the same government—the traditions, religion and culture for the Uyghurs, the promised freedoms and hopes for democracy for Hong Kongers. As an online meme goes: “Today’s Xinjiang; Tomorrow’s Hong Kong” — expressing the fear that Hong Kongers may soon be subjected to the same surveillance as the Uyghurs today, for the same reason of having put up a fight against who they saw as their oppressors (this article offers an objective summary of what led to the 2009 clash between the Uyghurs and the Chinese government, which precipitated the former’s treatment as will-be terrorists today)(Note the role the US played in this.). 

As such, I cannot look away from Xinjiang. As such, I cannot look at our two beautiful stars, Gg and Dd, without also seeing the flag with its blood red looming behind with its own five stars—the biggest of them symbolising the Chinese Communist Party.

How do I reconcile all the feelings? As I said, it’s a constant work-in-progress, possibly a lifelong one. Re: Gg and Dd, that’s what I tell myself at the moment: that my being an i-turtle shall not sway my view or silence me on any sociopolitical issues, that my being a fan of anything, anyone shall not mean any other human life is suddenly worth less to me, or its suffering, something I shall suddenly look away from. The moment this becomes true—that I find myself depreciating human lives, or ignoring the pain of others for the sake of my fannish pursuits—that’s when I must leave my fan identity until I find my discipline (I do understand the lure of a happy fandom bubble, and I’m far from immune to it). I’m a person before I’m a fan.

These are the rules of my world.

我的世界不退讓。

[not-majestic-bluenicorn]

The Practice Room Ghost || TXT One-shot

Fandom(s): Tomorrow x Together

AU: Pre-debut

Prompt: Ghosts

Genre: Horror

Relationship: None

Language: English

Status: Finished

WC: 2,474 words

Warnings: Ghosts, nightmares, possession, paranoia

Summary: 

Soobin is certain that his nightmares and the rumor of the ghost that lives in their practice room have nothing in common. To prove it, they decide to spend the night there and figure it out.

AO3

Soobin walked into the company’s building, earbuds plugged in as he greeted the few staff he saw with a simple bow of his head. He was tired and a little grumpy for the lack of sleep, so he avoided looking at people’s faces so as to not catch their attention. The music in his earbuds was loud, muting everything around him and providing him some peace. He walked without hesitation towards the dance practice room, hoping to get away from everyone.

The room was empty. He was probably the first of the trainees to arrive that day, and he preferred it that way. Soobin approached the lockers placed right by the entrance and put his backpack inside, only keeping his phone outside to play music while he did some stretching. He began with his head and went down slowly, making sure to stretch properly. He was standing in front of the mirror with his eyes closed, so he heard Yeonjun arrive more than saw him.

“Oh Soobin-ah, you arrived early!” Yeonjun exclaimed as he too put his stuff in his locker.

“Mhm,” Soobin hummed, turning his arms around, “I had some free time and decided to come here earlier.”

“Oh really?” When Yeonjun asked, Soobin felt his breath right on his face. 

He opened his eyes and took a couple of steps back, surprised. Yeonjun chuckled and moved away. Soobin frowned, a little annoyed at Yeonjun’s playfulness, but decided to let it go. He was too tired to get into an argument.

“You look exhausted, what were you doing before this?” Yeonjun asked again, back to the mirror. Soobin looked at his back before turning to look at his own reflection. He did look exhausted. But what had he been doing before coming to the practice room? He couldn’t remember.

“Well, I-” Soobin scrambled for a response, but in that moment Yeonjunt turned around and the words died in his lips as his heart stopped for a second.

Yeonjun’s face in the reflection was gone.

It was blurry, like it had been heavily edited. He could see it moved as Yeonjun told him something else, but Soobin wasn’t paying attention anymore. His eyes and mouth were black, outstretched cavities that seemed to be caught in the middle of a scream no matter what Yeongjun said. Soobin quickly turned around to look at Yeonjun’s face, but it looked normal as the eldest babbled away.

He turned around, intentionally avoiding Yeonjun’s reflection to look at his own, but his was normal. Soobin turned back to the reflection and swallowed a scream as Yeonjun’s reflection lost its form more and more. He turned back to Yeonjun, who was now facing the mirror, but he didn’t seem to realize what was going on. Finally he looked at his reflection again, and this time, it did look off.

It looked exactly like him, but it felt… off. Soobin approached it against his better judgement, lost in a sort of trance. He reached his hand up to the surface of the mirror, but when he touched it, all he felt was the warmth of human skin.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

Soobin opened his eyes with a start. His room was still, interrupted only by the sound of the alarm. His heart was racing a mile per hour as he sat up and stared at his hand, which tingled from the warmth he had felt in his dream. Right, it was just a dream. He took a deep breath and turned the alarm off, trying to push all the memories of his dream to the back of his mind. He was stressed out as the debut date approached, so it made sense that he had a couple of nightmares here and there.

He found himself looking at his hand again and shuddered. It had felt so real, like human skin. Soobin had never experienced feeling something in his dreams before, but now the sensation wouldn’t disappear. He shook his head harshly and threw the thoughts away. He couldn’t freeze like that because of a stupid, albeit scary, nightmare. He had to get to the company and practice to perfection.

A shower and a bowl of rice later (he wasn’t very hungry), Soobin found himself walking to the subway. He paid his fare and walked into the train almost mindlessly, used to travelling that route every single day. He sat down on one of the empty seats and hugged his backpack close. The music helped him relax and he closed his eyes, but as soon as he did, he saw Yeonjun’s reflection staring back at him, all black holes and screaming smiles.

His phone vibrated and startled him awake. An older woman sitting next to him frowned with disapproval and Soobin was quick to apologize as he took his cell phone out and opened Kakao up. It was the group chat he had with the rest of his members. He opened the chat up and read the messages, feeling his chest getting heavy as he did.

YJ: i heard a very cool story from some seniors YJ: apparently there’s a ghost that lives in our new practice room

TH: That’s dumb and you know it…

HK: ahhh ㅠㅠ why would u say that? HK: that’s scary

BG: a ghost?

YJ: yeah YJ: heard it was like a past trainee or something? ㅋㅋ YJ: it likes to annoy current trainees YJ: and makes weird thing happen around the room

SB: That reminds me of a dream I had last night.

TH: Huh?

BG: ???

SB: Ah, nevermind. SB: I don’t remember it all that well. SB: Just said it because it happened in the practice room.

TH: Either way TH: Ghosts aren’t real TH: Stop scaring Kai

YJ: you’re no fun

Soobin put his phone away. It was a lie that he didn’t remember his dream. He remembered it so vividly that he could still feel a bit of tingling on his right hand, which had touched the ‘mirror’. However, he didn’t want to make a big deal out of it or scare Kai more. He was stressed and had probably heard the same story as Yeonjun from one of the seniors and just didn’t remember it.

He got off five stations later and walked a few streets over to the company. He greeted everyone and pushed the feeling of dejavu away as he made his way to the practice room. There was no one there, so he put his backpack in the locker and, instead of starting with the stretching, he walked over to the mirror and stood in front of it. Soobin examined his reflection carefully, taking note of every detail.

“It was just a dream.” He told himself.

His eyes fixed on the hand of his reflection, and the hole in his chest grew, something akin to fear spreading in him. Soobin raised his hand slowly. He knew it was just a dream, so there was no reason to be afraid; in fact, there was no reason to even check at all. But maybe, just maybe, if he touched the cold surface of the mirror it would help his mind settle and let him work in peace.

“Ohh Soobin-ah, you arrived early!” Yeonjun’s voice snapped him out of his trance and Soobin quickly put his hand down, swallowing a scream of surprise.

He quickly turned around, taking his earphones off and greeting Yeonjun with a nod of his head. Soobin didn’t think he could speak without his voice revealing how much Yeonjun had startled him, so he settled for not speaking at all. Yeonjun finished putting his things away and joined him in front of the mirror, offering to help with the stretches. Soobin accepted and they began to work on them.

Soobin didn’t realize how much he was avoiding looking at the mirror until he had to turn and his heart stuttered in his chest as he encountered Yeonjun’s reflection and the empty holes greeted him for a fraction of a second. Yeonjun looked entirely normal. And that wasn’t strange, because after, it had all just been a dream, and Soobin couldn’t understand why it was affecting him so much.

Kai, Beomgyu and Taehyun arrived shortly after, followed by their dance instructor. The training was hard and lasted for hours, and by the end of the day they were all sweaty and exhausted. Soobin approached the table where they had the sound equipment and went to grab his water bottle. His hand grabbed at air instead, because it wasn’t there.

“Huh?” He looked at the table and around it, but the bottle wasn’t there. “Has anyone seen my water bottle?” Soobin turned around and asked the rest.

Beomgyu was sitting with his back against the wall, and Taehyun was next to him. Yeonjun was stretching gently in front of them while Kai continued to practice one of the moves he couldn’t finish getting down. They all looked at him and Soobin felt oddly uncomfortable for a second. Kai turned around and pointed towards the mirror. Soobin swallowed. His bottle, a dark blue thermos, was resting next to the mirror, but he hadn’t put it there.

“By the way,” Yeonjun began as Soobin approached the mirror to pick his bottle. “I asked the staff if we could, and they give me permission, so I was thinking-”

“If we could what?” Taehyun asked. His tone gave it away that he didn’t like where it was going.

“If you could just let me finish, you’d know.” Yeonjun scoffed. “I was thinking, since our debut is just around the corner, we should do a bravery test, for bonding purposes.”

“You mean…?” Beomgyu asked, tilting his head.

“Staying the night here at the practice room,” Taehyun supplied, not even waiting for Yeonjun.

“No!” Kai immediately yelled. “Why would we purposefully pass the night with a ghost?”

“Ghosts aren’t real, Kai.” Taehyun chuckled. “But I still don’t want to spend the night here.”

“I think it would be fun.” Beomgyu said, standing up and wiping the back of his pants.”

“That’s two against two,” Yeonjun crossed his arms. “Soobin-ah, what do you think?”

Soobin had been staring at his thermos the whole time, not drinking from it. He was pretty certain he had left it at the table, so he couldn’t understand how it had made its way next to the mirror. Maybe the dance instructor or one of his members had moved it? Maybe he had actually put it there and had just forgotten? He wasn’t sure, but it creeped him out.

“Soobin-ah?” Yeonjun insisted, catching his attention.

“Ah- Yeah…” Soobin swallowed, looking up from his thermos. “Hm, I think it could be a good way to bond, yeah.”

Yeonjun clapped his hands together, content. Taehyun groaned in exasperation and patted Kai’s shoulder, whose face had gone a little bit pale. In the end, they agreed that they would go home to pick some stuff and meet back at the company to sleep at the practice room. To be fair, Soobin didn’t care much about bonding with the rest of the members -and he didn’t think Yeonjun cared much either- since they were already pretty close. But he wanted to get rid of his silly idea about the mirror, which had been bothering him the whole day since waking up.

He went home, took a shower, and grabbed a change of clothes to sleep and the sleeping bag he used when he went camping with his parents. Soobin let them know about the “bonding activity” they were doing, and his parents easily agreed to it, letting him go without asking many questions.

Soobin was the last one to arrive at the practice room. Everyone else had already settled down with blankets, pillows and sleeping bags. Beomgyu and Yeonjun had even bought snacks for everyone, and they were playing games. Soobin joined them with ease, his back facing the mirror as he tried to ignore it as much as possible. 

The hours went by quickly as they played games and chatted, until eventually they were all yawning and sleepy. Yeonjun gave them some time to arrange themselves before turning off the light and rushing to his own sleeping bag. Everyone knew he too was a bit scared and they let him know with a laugh. Soobin closed his eyes and fell asleep, comforted by the presence of his members.

Help me.

Soobin opened his eyes and sat down. He looked around to find his members perfectly asleep, which was strange, because he had been certain that someone had asked for help. Maybe one of them talked in their sleep? That would be a problem once they moved in together. For now though, there was nothing he could do about it, so he turned around and put his head on the pillow. 

He couldn’t close his eyes, though, as he froze in place and his heartbeat picked up.

In front of him, in the mirror, he could see his reflection and standing and looking at him. It was perfectly still. Soobin immediately sat up and looked around, but the members were still peacefully asleep, and he felt bad about waking them up. So instead he stood up and approached the mirror. His reflection moved as well, following his steps like it was supposed to.

Soobin extended his hand and touched the mirror again, and by the time he realized the rest of his members weren’t even in the reflection, the hand had already wrapped around his hand and pulled him inside.

He woke up and immediately faced the mirror. His reflection was sitting just like him, and the bundles of the sleeping members were around him, like they were supposed to. A few minutes went by before Kai woke up, trying to rub the sleep off his eyes as he looked at him with curiosity.

“Hyung, are you okay?” Kai asked, his voice a rough whisper.

“Hyung?” He turned to look at Kai, a bit confused, but then nodded. “Ah yes, I am your hyung now, that’s true.” Kai gave him a weird look, but he just shrugged.

“Is everything okay?” Kai asked, a bit worried.

“Yeah, I was just thinking of a friend of mine, don’t worry Kai, just go to sleep.” He smiled, still looking at the mirror. Kai turned to go back to sleep, but he stopped.

Save me.

“Hyung, did you say something?” Kai asked, turning around again, a bit alarmed.

“Hm? No.” He shook his head. “Must be the practice room ghost.” Kai swallowed thickly and he laughed, patting Kai’s back. “I’m just kidding, just go back to sleep. Ghosts aren’t real.”

Kai returned to his bundle of covers and pillows and he turned to look back at the mirror, where Soobin was desperately hitting it, screaming for someone to save him.

[smokeybrand]

Rise of the Skywalker

This sh*t with Lucasfilm is wild to witness. I’m not really one to buy into entertainment gossip but i am emotionally invested in Star Wars. I’m an Eighties kid, man. Star Wars helped to shape our childhood growing up. Vader is one of my all-time favorite antagonists. Ahsoka has grown to rival him in my heart as a beloved character. As a cat who creates, myself, i can’t help but adore the passion and creativity i n the entire world lore around the Skywalker legend. I mean, look at everything built around those first three films. Just taking Legends into account, you have the absolutely excellent Shadows of the Empire and the Thrawn trilogy. More than that, and probably one of the best game franchises ever realized, you have The Knight of the Old Republic. F*ck, dude, Revan? Nihilus? Bastila? Kreia? HK-47? This is Bioware at it’s finest, save Mass Effect 2. And then Disney cam in and f*cked it all up.

Kathleen Kennedy has been a poison to the franchise, and not because of her identity politics. Look, you can work in your ideals and messages without being so goddamn heavy-handed with it but this chick, and her “writer’s group.” can’t craft a story to save their lives. That’s the problem here. Not Rey or Finn or Poe. Not Holdo or Rose Tico. Not even Snoke. It’s how these characters were presented, it’s how the writing shaped them. I’ve written at length about how Rey was a missed opportunity and, according to the original leaked treatment, that misstep was more like an outright face-plant The Rey that was to grow throughout the Sequel trilogy, culminating in a battle between a fully realized, Jedi Knight Rey and a fully realized Sith Lord Ren, should have been the Last Jedi we got. Instead, we got what we got and it shattered the credibility of the entire franchise. Star Wars, the most successful franchise in cinematic history until the MCU came through, was on life support. Forty years of solid, narrative storytelling, ancillary material, and fan passion, squandered because the chick in charge wanted to instill everything with her identity politics, using something she had no creative credit toward, co-opting the shine of another, to secure her legacy. And she did just that; Kathleen Kennedy was the person who almost killed Star Wars. Kennedy’s legacy of failure, secure. But then, a new hope. Jon Favreau, the progenitor of the MCU, stepped forward and saved Star Wars with his show, The Mandalorian.

John Favreau is a great creator. Dude not only gave us Iron Man, but Chef, Swingers, and Elf. He gets the content but, more than anything, Favreau understands how to craft a goddamn story. He was appointed to The Mandalorian and given creative control by, at the time, CEO of Disney, Bob Iger. Favreau, in partnership with the genius pariah, Dave Filoni, architect of Star Wars: Clone Wars, Rebels, and the best f*cking character created in the modern era, Ahsoka Tano. With theses two at the helm, Mando returned to the true essence of a Star Wars tale. They created their own pocket universe, one with the evolution of the Mandalorian culture and sprinkled with shenanigans of an adorable, and marketable, Baby Yoda. That first season gave us amazing characters like Din Djaran, Cara Dune, Greef Kaga, and Moff Gideon. That first season of Mando saved the franchises and that is not an exaggeration. It felt like Star Wars. The characters were rich and developed. More than anything, the stories told were absolutely excellent. The funny thing about that? Mando isn’t expected to succeed like it did. No, everyone, including Kennedy, thought it was going to fail. She fought, tooth and nail, against what Favreu was trying to created, sabotaging him at every turn. But he was able to complete his show and the fandom received it with utmost fervor, eclipsing anything Kennedy and her idealouges every created. Then season two dropped.

I’m not going to sit her and say that the narrative for Season two was better than the first. It wasn’t. But that’s because season two of The Mandalorian was a love letter to the fans. Favreau and Filoni had a hit on their hands with Mando and, more importantly, they made Star Wars profitable again. This gave the two of them a margin of creative freedom that expanded into something truly marvelous. That second season of Mando was able to dig deep into the lore, introduce fan favorite characters like Ahsoka Tano and Bo-Katan Kreyze, reintroducing Boba Fett while giving him a bad-ass second in Fennec Shand, while expanding the universe for spin-offs and delivery a franchise altering return of a Jedi Knight, Luke Skywalker! Kennedy spent her entire sequel trilogy, discrediting and marginalizing the old trilogy, typified by the complete destruction of Luke in The Last Jedi, only for Mando to overturn, redeem, and empower Luke with a two minute gauntlet of Force awesomeness that rivaled the utter dominance displayed by his father at the end of Rogue One. That tidbit about Vader? Yeah, Kennedy fought against that, too. The Mando came through and proved that fallowing Lucas’ path was the true way of the Star War and Chepek agreed. We now have this entire blueprint of shows birthed from this one season, that will build toward an Avengers-level event. Ahsoka, Rangers of the New Republic, and The Book of Boba Fett will all culminate in a cinematic experience, most likely a theatrical film, based around Thrawn. And, more to the point, people are excited about this sh*t. People are looking forward to this sh*t. People want this sh*t. What they don’t want is more of Kennedy’s politics and bullsh*t hot-takes, masquerading as Star Wars canon. Case in point, the abject failure of The High Republic.

Before Favreau and Filoni came through and saved Star Wars, Kennedy had this entire idea for a full-on Star Wars universe, built upon token diversity and f*cking Space dinosaurs. There was a pitch meeting that showed a literal checklist and story was the third or fourth option. How the f*ck is story not the first thing on the list for an actual narrative you’re writing? Why the f*ck isn’t the Writer’s group, not putting story first, in a narrative they’re constructing by committee? That is the genesis of The High Republic. In the time that Youtube preview hit the fandom with all the force of a wet fart, Mando came through and proved no one wants that sh*t. Then season two came through and rived people want more Luke and more Lucas Star Wars, weeks before The High Republic, the jumping off point for Kennedy’s original vision for “New Star Wars” was supposed to launch. Yeah, that launch ain’t go so well. The High Republic is out, right now, and you can buy it. No one is buying it. They’re all paying for Disney+ memberships to watch Mando sh*t on everything Kennedy has done or will do. Disney announced a whole slate of Star Wars shows and material. One of which is The Acolyte, a spin-off from The High Republic tarring Brie Larson and written by Leslye Headland. The Acolyte is going to bomb for the same reasons The High Republic is bombing; No one wants to be preached to and that’s all these woke, blue hairs, want to do. I know that because they’ve told you as such.

The Force is Female. All of that sh*t with Pablo Hidalgo. The recent controversy of Justina Ireland telling people not to buy The High Republic if they don’t agree with her politics. The fact that Kathleen Kennedy has been trying to get Favreau fired for “sabotaging” her High Republic launch by redeeming Luke and galvanizing the entire fandom. The thing about this, though, is the fact that everything Kennedy has crated, is creatively bankrupt. Everything Favreau and Filoni have built with Mando, has been genuine, organic, and fun. Just to be clear, i actually like Brie Larson. I think she’s an excellent actress with very valid opinions. I think the sh*t she wants to make should be made. I don’t think she should co-opt a long running franchise with decades of lore and a ravenous fandom who are already on the outs with the current management of their beloved franchise. I can’t say i like Headland but i did adore her Netlfix show, Russian Doll. that sh*t was hilarious and dope. I don’t think her type of film making lends itself to Star Wars, however, for he same reason i don’t think Larson should have a show in the fandom either. Having opinions is fine. Installing those opinions in your writing is fine. Installing your opinions in an established property is not fine. You can do that, Back Panther was able to integrate that sh*t successfully, but they did it nuance. It didn’t get clumsy and ridiculous until the end. Kennedy’s writing group started with the awkward preaching. Those weren’t the droids yo were looking for, bro.

Ultimately, The High Republic is going to fail, as will the rest of Kennedy’s Star Wars legacy. Favreau is already working toward altering her most precious OC, Rey Palpatine. There are plans in the works to make her a Kenobi going forward, redeeming the most egregious of Darth Kennedy’s transgressions, something that wouldn’t even be necessary if they had followed the original treatments JJ left for them going forward. Rey Palpatine should have been Rey Skywalker. She should have been Luke’s daughter. She should have been trained by her pops and took that discipline into the final film where she and her cousin would have a proper reckoning. Rey should have been a proper character with an established legacy. Kennedy decided otherwise and in that hubris, she failed. She has failed, not because she is a Femanzi or has an eye toward activism or an agenda to push. Kennedy has failed because she decided to heavy-handedly force those politics down our throats with no nuance or grace, by slighting everything that came before with malicious intent, while bolstering her analogous creations with the worst kind of writing and non-existent development. Favreau succeeded by weaving a compelling tale, that mirrored the Hero’s tale which has been the bread-and-butter of a great Star Wars narrative, filled it with realized characters who became fast fan favorites, staunched in the lore that came before. He respected the genesis and built something great from it, while revering the stuff which came before. Kennedy thought she was bigger than the franchise. Favreau understands he is in service to it. That’s the difference, That’s why Mando is succeeding and The High Republic has been laid low.

[soysaucevictim]

New Year, New Program (technically going to be a rerun.)

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Jan. 2

I woke up around 2PM, today.

After a bit of the usual, I did today’s exercise.

First, today’s DD. 30 [deep] side-to-side lunges with EC. This was just about manageable.

Last, Chapter 1 of the Age of Pandora Program. I’ve been wanting to revisit this program a lot, given how much I remember liking it. Let’s just say, AoP wasted no time in kicking my ass, barely got through Level 2 today, I’m BUSHED - the killer were the half jack squats.

(Pffft, I wound up echoing my feelings from last time, too. Let’s see if overall I can do things a bit more intensely than last time, however. But no guarantees.)

After some dishes, I made today’s Hello Fresh Meal. Italian garden veggie soup. I personally rather like it. Worth a revisit, I think!

On top of some of the usual & chatting, I basically pulled an all-nighter setting up a masterpost for fandom blog. Been wanting to get that dealt wit h for awhile.

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Jan. 3

I woke up after 1PM.

One of the fist things I got started on today was exercise.

First, today’s DD. 30 crunch kicks with EC. Just manageable.

Last, Chapter 2 of the AoP. First part, I managed Level 3, with the maximum rest. Jump knee tucks are pretty intense, but I could manage this okay.

Second part, I went for Level 3 too. Split the 4′ wall-sit time into: 2′ wall-sit + 2′ rest + 1′ wall-sit +1′ rest + 1′ wall-sit. Think my quads were pretty much done from everything I did the past two days. Or being somewhat sleep deprived didn’t really help matter. But this was no less a challenge.

(Looks like last time, I managed this in 2x2′. Ah well.)

I spent few hours finally getting around to updating my DD archive/log.

Then after/while doing some chatting, me and friend watched Pacific Rim together. Good movie.

The last thing I did that day was whip up a sketch of iZ!Remus I’ve been wanting to draw for the past few weeks.

Got to bed late and in the red zone, but earlier than yesterday.

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Jan. 4

I woke up after 1PM.

One of the fist things I got started on today was exercise.

First, today’s DD. 30 jumping lunges with EC. Not super low/deep but no less ending/fatiguing.

Last, Chapter 3 of the AoP. I did both the rep and set number to Level 3 today (20 reps per exercise, 7 sets total), rested for the maximum 2′. I had a brief moment of self-doubt on whether I could manage this today, but I’m happy I could get through it alright. Split jacks are still probably not my favorite kind of jack (a bit too close to a dang jumping lunge, pffft.)

(This was a day I surpassed my first go around. Did Level 2′s rep count and Level 3′s set count. Which is basically half as intense as how I performed today, a nice little achievement!)

Did some dishes, made some dinner, and hit the showers after that.

Spent a good few hours working on and streaming that iZ!Remus drawing some more. Chatting throughout.

After a few more hours on the usual, I got to bed a bit later than yesterday.

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Jan. 5

I woke up after 10AM.

One of the fist things I got started on today was exercise.

First, today’s DD. 30 single leg deadlifts with EC. This was pretty manageable, not much to really comment on.

Last, Chapter 4 of the AoP. Level 3, max rest. I might’ve been able to shorten my rest periods - given I think that this was a tiny bit easier than prior chapters. But ah well. Got it done.

After some of the usual, spent most of the day working on and streaming that iZ!Remus drawing some more. Chatting throughout.

I went to bed around the same time as yesterday.

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Jan. 6

I woke up after 11AM.

After a bit of logging stuff (and unnecessary/mistaken appointment preparation), I went into today’s exercise.

First, today’s DD. 40 seagulls with EC. I did this 20/20 to be a bit easier on the elbows. But it was manageable.

Last, Chapter 5 of the AoP. 18 travel points taken, I went for Level 2. I did the 180 reps as high knees, in one go.

For the workout proper - I went for Level 3 (5 sets), with max rest. the 2x8 push-ups per set were getting a bit sloppy. But I felt it enough.

Bleh. And then the whole fascist coup attempt shit happened in the WH today. Just exhausting to even think about or process right now.

Forced self to get dishes done, making dinner, and finishing draw/streaming that iZ!Remus drawing. Got a bit grouchy with the process - in part not helped by Everything Happening. But screw it. Happy I got it done at all.

Got to bed obscenely late - later than yesterday (and later than I had any business to - did finish the drawing around 2AM).

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Jan. 7

I woke up after 11AM.

Spent a good few hours on the usual stuff before doing today’s exercise.

First, today’s DD. 40 scorpion twists, with EC. A fun one, as usual.

Last, Chapter 6 of the AoP. This chapter wast the one to introduce one to the job system of the program. Had three different jobs to pick from and I decided to do all three. Took me a bit over an hour to complete these tasks:

Camp to Canis = 12TP | xLv2 (HK)

Canis to Bunker 201 = 19TP | xLv2 (HK)

[Chapter] - Bunker Job = 50 Push-Ups (5x10)

Bunker 201 to Camp "Mira" = 13TP | xLv2 (HK)

[Chapter] - Camp Mira Job = 200 half jacks (100+60+40)

Camp Mira to The Swamps = 21TP (HK; 11+10)

[Chapter] - The Swamps Job = 400 side-to-side backfists (1x400)

The Swamps to Canis = 43TP (HK; 10+11+11+11)

108 total travel point done at Lv2 as high knees. Split some batches of exercise as above. Earned 380 scraps for it - spent 80 superfluously.

Interspersed amongst the usual, I did do more dishes and writing for the iZ!AU today.

I got to bed really late, but earlier than yesterday.

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Jan. 8

I woke up proper after 1PM.

After a bit of the usual, I did today’s only exercise - the DD.

First, today’s DD. 2′ tricep dip hold without EC. Split this inot 2x1′, with 1′ rest. Mostly due to energy levels. And trying not  to have chair dig into back too uncomfortably.

After a bit of YouTube and dishes, I made tonight’s Hello Fresh Meal. Chicken and guac burrito bowls. Reasonably tasty, i gave myself kind of a lot. Everybody liked it well enough.

(I really didn’t need to eat so much frozen pizza after that either, so I was groggy and overfull for basically the rest of the night.)

Most of the rest of my night was spent BSing. Got to bed obscenely late again.