#hong kong future generation

[pteropods]

The meower

[fossilizations]

“My friends are cyborgs, but that’s okay” is a mockumentary project made to imagine a world where Asian bodies navigate as cyborgs in a hegemonic human society. It explores the complex state of being cyborgs and asian — fluid, transgressive, marginalized but also stereotyped as unemotional and inhuman. In A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century, Donna Haraway once suggested that “'women of color' might be understood as a cyborg identity, a potent subjectivity synthesized from fusions of outsider identities''. Cyborg myth for Haraway is about “transgressed boundaries, potent fusions, and dangerous possibilities which progressive people might explore as one part of needed political work”. Asian bodies especially, in the media and in general are often seen as robotic, intelligent but less human. Different from Orientalism, the Techno-Orientalism found in many speculative fiction films and books, such as Blade Runner, imagines the future to be hypo technological cities resembling Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Shanghai, and sexualized, dehumanized asian looking cyborgs. The series is an attempt to create a narrative of cyborgs of our own: My friends are cyborgs, but that’s okay. It is to envision a change of the prevalent binary view, reconstructing the boundaries of daily life and to create a dangerously happy ever after posthuman world for cyborgs.

so enamored by this photo project by ramona jingru wang

[esggs]

An Inkling of Refuge – Noritoshi Kamo 

Part of Obeisance to The Arrow, can be read on its own though

[Noritoshi Kamo, overseas and away from Shinjuku, attempts the art of omelette-making]

[tw: noritoshi kamo x reader, age gap, child marriage, fluff, angst, teeny smut, traditionalist thoughts that gets dispelled pretty much immediately]

“Three eggs?” Noritoshi asks.

“Of course,” You reply.

Noritoshi horrifies you. He crushes the three eggs all together in between his palms, and then waits for the insides to run down his fingers into the bowl. And he doesn’t have a clue that it's probably not the way to go about it. 

There are times like this when you realise that both of you were raised, as they say, spoilt rotten. Even though you were taught to make a few dishes by your mother before she declared it to be a useless endeavour, Noritoshi has clearly never entered a kitchen in his life. You watch him with a frown as he picks eggshells out with chopsticks. 

You can tell he hates doing this, even though he’ll never complain out loud. You two were in Thailand (he’d left his homeland to save his own skin), in a penthouse apartment overlooking the beach (instead of the sprawling Kamo estate that he’s pretty certain has been destroyed by now), making your own food (he’s never done these servile jobs), in a kitchen (he’s a man for God’s sake). The last thought, all the conditioning of his childhood– he does his best to consciously drown out. I’m a good husband. I have to help my wife. 

His family, whoever was left, found residence in the high society of Hong Kong, where they already had some relatives. For all the issues with the Kamo Clan, the generational wealth wasn’t one. He’d done his best to get all of his people out of Japan after he left Shinjuku. It wasn’t like anyone had any choice. He was now the head of the Clan, and the head had seen the mass destruction looming over their futures. The Zenins were gone, the Gojos hanging by a thread. He took the decision he had to. 

“Put some salt and gochujang paste in it, love,” you tell him in the gentlest voice possible. He knows that it’s a farce. You had wanted to stay back and help the team fight in Shinjuku. She’d be dead in seconds. Still, it was your decision. For the first time since you had been married to each other as kids, he’d enforced the powers he had over you as your husband, making you drop everything else and come to Thailand with him. Safe. 

“Gochujang paste? You sure?” “It’s a Korean taste, very trendy now.” Noritoshi nodded and put a teaspoon of it into the eggs, looking at you for affirmation. You nod. Teaspoon’s enough. I think.

You’re not mad at him, per se. You do realise that in the larger scheme of things he took the correct decision. Neither of you could have helped in any way against the surreal strength of your opponents. But when he declared that he was pulling out and taking his family overseas, he hadn’t informed you beforehand. And when you vehemently refused, no one took your side, in fact, Choso had told you that it’s best to leave. Even Yuuji agreed. (“In a way, you’re like my great-great-great-granddaughter-in-law, so you should listen to your elders.”) You grind your teeth at that memory. 

“I’m sorry, the property agents said that the maids would take a few days to come. I’m really sorry about this.” Noritoshi said. A month ago I couldn’t have imagined making my wife, the Lady of the Kamo Clan, work in a kitchen. How far I’ve fallen. His hands began to shake a bit. Discarded. Useless. Runaway. Oh- not actually the Clan Head even, am I? 

“Noritoshi.” You’re still mad at him, somewhat. You’ve spent years, ever since you were 8, trying to be a person other than just his wife. You’ve succeeded too. And then again now, you’re stuck watching the beach day in and day out, being nothing other than his wife. Cooking eggs in a kitchen. But he’s here too. Cooking eggs with you.

“Noritoshi-san.” He grins at that mocking nickname. “I don’t mind it as long as you’re here. That’s the point of it all, right? To keep our loved ones alive?”

Yes. That's the whole point of it all. 

“I’ve kept you alive, husband. And you’ve kept me alive. I’ll take the days as they come.” you wash your hands and dry it on the back of his sweatshirt. As always, he lets you. But only that this time he grabs your hands in his egg-sticky ones and draws them to his lips. 

I’m sorry for everything. So am I. I’m sorry this is how things happened. So am I. I know you imagined a different life, I’m sorry. So am I.

“I got eggs on your hands, sorry.” He takes your hands into the sink with his own and washes them, a soapy eggy mess. “I’m just sorry about everything in general.”

“It’s okay.” you reply. “Our hands are clean now.”

“Yeah” Noritoshi glances at the mess you’ve made of your kitchen. “Should we take a break? Let’s walk or something.” He knows you like the ritual of it. Getting ready to go out wherever you want to, wearing whatever you want, fooling around in town, without any permission from anyone. He likes it too. 

As you get ready next to each other (“grey or black?” “love, they’re both sweatshirts anyway.” “i’ll go grey then” “ooh, someone’s flashy today!”) (“pass the hair conditioner” “which one, baby?” “OUAI, it’s written in English” “we ought to learn English now that we’re here” “I already know!”) (“goodness, baby, you look like a princess” “will you still wear your sweatshirt then?” “yes” “you look cute”)

As always, you twirl for him, showing off your outfit of the day while he compliments you. You make him do the same, complimenting his incredible grey sweatshirt and baggy pants. They’re both Loro Piana, even though no one would be able to ever tell, while your kitten heels, floral summer-gown and wicker hat are all thrifted for less than 7000 yen. 

Noritoshi and you do your absolute best to not be too bogged down. Your friends are dying. Your families are half-dead anyway. Your homeland for a millenia decimated. But you two still make omelettes and take walks by the beach. At night you two lie naked and wrapped up in each other, believing like children that the touch of your bare skins will fend off the impending nightmares. If he knows that you've been smoking every evening, he doesn't mention it. Noritoshi has to walk barefoot over glass shards his head all day. He can't do anything to take your pain away, so if smoking is what helps, he'll look the other way like a gentleman. The shame of it all. The guilt. The treachery of the runaways. 

It was the correct thing to do, the right path to take. 

Then why does it hurt to the core of your beings? Why are you fully aware that you two have lived past your destined deaths, stretching out your existence which was supposed to be martyred on the battlefield? And for what? You saved your families. Just your families?

“We should get people out of there. Non-sorcerers. Hire some aeroplanes, make announcements or something.” Noritoshi thinks about your suggestions, a hint in his eye that says that it shall be done.  

-----

“Does our marriage still embarrass you?” You two are lying face up on the beach, under a giant parasol. It did embarrass him at first, for good reason. You two were little children then, barely aware of what marriage means. You suppose you still don’t know, but you would say it’s like playing 2v1 versus 1v1 in life. More than that, you don’t know. “Of course not,” He answers. “I was 12 then. Besides, I’m not much other than your husband nowadays. If even that part of my identity was taken, I don’t know what I would have done.” He turns to you, pressing a kiss into your neck. “Despite everything, at least you’re still here for me to love.” 

He leans over you, his head propped on an elbow, the other hand gently turning your face to him. His lips taste like your chapstick, but under that it's all him, the natural scent of sweet skin. His long lashes flicker shut. He doesn’t hesitate a second to open his mouth and let his tongue in. Of course he doesn’t. What else does he want as fervently as the warmth of your mouth? He runs his tongue against yours, trying to lick up anything he can. He swallows once, his mouth too full of your saliva. Moaning into your mouth, he bites down onto your lower lip and moves deeper into your mouth. You gasp for a breath as he kisses your cheeks and nose. He sucks your tongue into him, grasping your hair tighter with every second. He’s all over you and around you. It’s messy. It's uncomfortable to look at. His warm chest beats like a badly injured bird.

“My wife.” He says, kissing your forehead. “You’re my wife.” Every single thing in his life had changed, except for your presence. “Even after all these years, you’re still my wife.” When he looks at you, his eyes are wet. “Thank you.”

pic credit : an abyss and pinterest

a/n: the reason the kiss has been described as "uncomfortable" is because in the series and canon, kamo would be a few weeks under 18 and reader 15. the age gap is wrong, to say the least. it's an intentional choice to focus on the shitty parts of the clan politics in jjk, as well as the characters being trauma bonded at this point.

also yuji and choso are technically ancestors of noritoshi kamo- hilarious.

canonically, noritoshi knows english pretty decently, but he said 'we' to not offend his wife. her cursed technique of distillation would help her learn english pretty fucking fast, but she hasn't actually bothered to do it yet. when they go out, kamo does most of the talking while she pretends to not understand.

i also headcanon that they aren't staying in a touristy place but a more local beach town (these are old money fuckers with old money tastes) and they often get requests to take pictures with the local people. they always say yes.

also my apologies for removing the kamo pics, they weren't conveying the depressed tone

[kaijuposting]

The Newmann Timeline

So I've made an attempt at assembling a timeline for Newt and Hermann's lives. The information is sourced from: The Pacific Rim novelization by Alex Irvine Pacific Rim: Man, Machine, & Monsters by David S. Cohen The Pacific Rim two-disc special edition DVD feature Drift Space

Wherever information was contradictory, I leaned toward info that was corroborated in multiple sources, or made more sense contextually. I had to make a couple of guesses (I note them in the timeline), but I feel pretty confident that they aren't too far off what Guillermo del Toro and Travis Beacham imagined for these characters.

Hopefully I'll be able to find more information in the future, but here's the Newmann timeline I've assembled for now:

June 9, 1989: Hermann Gottlieb born in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Bavaria, Germany.

January 19, 1990: Newt Geiszler born in Berlin, Brandenberg, Germany.

2000-2003~: Newt performs in his band, Black Velvet Rabbits. (Date's a bit of a guess, but he was in BVR before moving to America.)

2003~: Newt moves from Berlin to Boston, enters MIT. (Date is an estimation based on statement that Newt was MIT's "second-youngest student.")

2008~: Hermann enters TU Berlin to study engineering and applied sciences. (I estimate 2008~ given that there is no indication that Hermann began his higher education particularly early.)

2010: Newt begins teaching at MIT.

2013: Newt and Hermann begin writing letters to each other.

August 11, 2013: Trespasser attacks San Francisco.

2015: Newt receives his sixth PhD. Hermann joins the PPDC and writes code for the first generation of jaegers. (Note: If my earlier estimations are correct, this gives Hermann time for approximately 7~ years of university study - though there are ways to get a PhD without constant university study.)

2016: Newt joins the PPDC.

2017: Newt and Hermann meet in person, instantly dislike each other.

2020: Newt and Hermann are assigned to the Hong Kong shatterdome. (Note: This is also the year that Lady Danger went down and the jaeger program began to fail.)

January 2025: Operation Pitfall takes place; Newt and Hermann drift.

[ramyaknox]

My interpretations of the keedie soundtrack part 1.

I am not sure if elle intended this to go with the plot of the book or to just generally have the vibes of the book but I thought I'd share my thoughts on how I link some of the songs to the book.

Contains spoilers for keedie

Another brick in the wall

I think this is pretty clearly about how keedie views the school system. It does set the tone quite well I think.

Hong kong garden

I wasn't sure why this linked at first, I thought maybe keedie would just like the band but then I found this quote from the singer

"I'll never forget, there was a Chinese restaurant in Chislehurst called 'The Hong Kong Garden.' Me and my friend were really upset that we used to go there and like, occasionally when the skinheads would turn up it would really turn really ugly. These gits were just go in on mass and just terrorize these Chinese people who were working there. We'd try and say 'Leave them alone,' you know. It was a kind of tribute." (from Punk Top Ten Interview, August 6, 2001

So I think it actually links to keedie's anti bullying sentiments.

Mirrorball

This is the first track on this soundtrack that made me cry. The first time I heard it it was just a perfect description of masking. I can't tell though whether "shining just for you" is a positive or a negative. I like to think of it as when they're alone they shine for the people they love and that accept them. In keedie's case I think it would be for addie. But it could also still be masking to protect the other person or to make them happy. "I'm still a believer but I don't know why, I've never been a natural all I do is try try try" hit me really hard and also really well encompasses keedie's hope for a better future for addie despite everything she's been through and obviously she's not a natural in the ways neurotypical people are but she's trying so hard to fit in and also she's trying so hard to do the right thing.

Also it's the "I want you to know" it feels like all the things she wishes she could tell people but she doesn't because it'll break the illusion of who she is for them. Or all the things she's trying to tell them but doesn't have the words for like her scream at the founders day celebration.

I feel like this post is getting a bit long but I'll make a part 2 to do some of the other tracks!

[mariacallous]

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz’s elevation to the national stage as running mate for Vice President Kamala Harris has suddenly put him in the spotlight. Walz had a low national profile until a successful behind-the-scenes strategy led him to be considered for Democrats’ suddenly vacant second spot.

One of the striking elements of Walz’s biography is his unusually deep connections to China. Walz first visited the country in 1989, just months after the Tiananmen Square protests, and returned to the country some 30 times afterward. As an educator and then a small business owner, he facilitated student groups’ trips to China. As a legislator, he served on the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, which monitors human rights and the rule of law in the country, and co-sponsored resolutions urging the release of democratic activist Liu Xiaobo and remembering the Tiananmen Square victims.

Not all the attention to Walz’s China record has been positive. Republican and conservative figures have sought to portray Walz’s China ties as dangerous. On X, for example, Sen. Marco Rubio accused Walz of being a Chinese asset—“an example of how Beijing patiently grooms future American leaders”—who would “allow China to steal our jobs & factories & flood America with drugs.”

But Rubio’s attack has it precisely backward. Walz’s record is that of a measured critic of the Chinese Communist Party—prone neither to exaggeration nor accommodation. Nor is this a pose cooked up by spin doctors in the past few weeks. Small-town Nebraska newspaper articles—published well before Walz had any political ambitions—demonstrate that his professed affection for the Chinese people and culture has been matched by a longstanding criticism of the country’s rulers.

Back in the 1980s and ’90s, it didn’t take a lot to make the local papers. Walz, for instance, was once photographed for the Alliance Times-Herald—“Box Butte County’s Only Family-Owned Newspaper”—for a National Guard project: painting and repairing trash cans in the town center. (The photograph is about as exciting as the description suggests.)

The regular stuff of small-town news reporting—council meetings, 4-H club events, church announcements—was occasionally enlivened by stories about exceptional events. One such, it turned out, was Walz’s decision to teach in China as part of a program run by WorldTeach, a Massachusetts-based nonprofit. (Many news accounts, at the time and later, describe WorldTeach as a Harvard-run program, but it’s more accurate to say it was founded by Harvard students.)

“I’ve always had a real interest in travel, and feel this is a golden opportunity to see a culture that’s 3,000 years old,” Walz, then a senior at Chadron State College, told the Chadron Record in an article announcing his selection in 1989.

Walz would be going under less than glamorous conditions. It was the first year that WorldTeach would make placements in China, the Record reported, and that meant participants had to be resourceful: “They said we’ll basically have to solve our own problems,” Walz said. He said he had to raise $2,500 for his transportation, health insurance, and orientation costs—and, once in China, he would only earn $100 per month in salary (although that was, the Record noted, “about twice the amount generally paid [to] Chinese teachers”).

Although the crackdown on protesters in June 1989 led Walz to wonder whether the trip would go on, the program remained in place. After orientation in Hong Kong and Guangzhou, China, he traveled to his teaching site: a senior middle school in Foshan, a then-rapidly growing city in central Guangdong Province in southern China. There, he taught U.S. history and culture and English to classes of 65 students each from December 1989 to December 1990, according to a 1990 article in the Chadron Record. (Walz’s Midwestern-accentuated U.S. English was a change for the students, whose previous instructor was British, according to a 1994 article in the Scottsbluff Star-Herald.)

His trip was big enough news that the Record printed excerpts from a letter Walz wrote to a Chadron State faculty member while he was abroad. Walz wrote that he was “being treated like a king.” He was, he wrote, “totally responsible for my curriculum. But I’m managing.”

After he returned, Walz was invited to speak about his time at his alma mater, Chadron State. At about the same time, an interview about his year in China ran in local papers. His enthusiasm was obvious: “No matter how long I live, I’ll never be treated that well again,” Walz told the Record in 1990. “They gave me more gifts than I could bring home. It was an excellent experience.” (In 2024, the New York Post twisted this line as evidence that Walz had “fawned over Communist China.”)

Yet in context, it’s clear that Walz was no dupe. During his teaching year, he visited Beijing (a 40-hour trip by rail) and saw Tiananmen Square, according to the Record. As much as Walz loved China and the Chinese people, his attitude toward the Chinese Communist Party was bluntly critical. Tiananmen Square, he told the Record, “will always have a lot of bitter memories for the people.” (Walz later chose June 6 as his wedding date so he could “have a date he’ll always remember,” according to his wife.)

The problem with China, Walz observed, wasn’t its people but the government. “If they had the proper leadership, there are no limits on what [Chinese people] could accomplish,” he told the Record. “They are such kind, generous, capable people. They just gave and gave and gave to me. Going there was one of the best things I have ever done.”

Walz viewed China’s population as eager to leave its Communist-run society. “Many of the students want to come to America to study,” he told the Record. “They don’t feel there is much opportunity for them in China.” He mentioned that during one of his trips to nearby Macau, then still a Portuguese colony, the government granted amnesty to Chinese immigrants living in the colony illegally, triggering a stampede by tens of thousands of Chinese who wanted residency in the West.

The trip shaped Walz’s career as an educator. Within a few months of his return, Walz had found a job as a social studies teacher in Alliance, Nebraska, a town whose population was then just under 10,000 people. He created a pen-pal program linking his students to Chinese middle-school students at his old teaching placement, where a friend of his worked. The program was reported on the front page of the Alliance Times-Herald in 1991.

Walz, who must have been a dynamic teacher, used the exchange of letters to not only bridge cultural gaps but also demonstrate the stakes of then-acrimonious U.S.-China government relations to his students. Walz pointedly described the politics of the countries’ then-seemingly large trade imbalance (a fraction of what it is now) to the Times-Herald: “The Chinese government wants us to buy what they sell, but won’t buy what we sell.”

Soon, Walz was leading groups of students to China. The first visit was in July 1993, when he took 25 Alliance High School students on a trip partly funded by the Chinese government, although the students and sponsors, including Walz, had to cover costs of $1,580 each, according to an article in the Scottsbluff Star-Herald; Walz helped by raising funds from local businesses. (In a rare criticism of an aspect of Chinese culture, rather than the Chinese Communist Party, Walz responded to one student’s interest in hearing Chinese opera by saying he’d “rather eat glass” than see another Chinese opera.) Walz’s honeymoon with his wife, a fellow teacher, the next year involved two student trips to China, according to the Star-Herald. Later, he and his wife would start a business to promote similar exchanges.

For all his fondness toward China, Walz’s descriptions of its people at times reflected the prevailing stereotypes of the time. “The students are almost too well behaved,” he wrote in his letter from China that was excerpted in the Record in 1989. In a 1994 profile ahead of his honeymoon in China, Walz told the Star-Herald that it had been hard to memorize names and tell his students apart (although he also noted that Chinese students thought all Americans looked alike.) To the Times-Herald in 1993, he described his students as not overly creative but industrious: “[T]here was never even any unfinished homework,” he recalled. And, for Walz, mostly used to small-town life, the sheer scale of China was astonishing: “The people were the best part, and the worst part was the number of people.”

The contemporaneous (and surprisingly extensive) record of how Walz’s time in China influenced him clearly rejects the idea that Walz was groomed or otherwise misled by his time in the country. He was an earnest, young observer of a society and government radically unlike his own. After repeated exposure, however, China became increasingly familiar to him. His opinions about the Chinese people and their government derived from firsthand observations, filtered through his own background and reading.

Neither a hawk nor a dove, Walz approached China as a student and a teacher—an owl, to steal a metaphor. Throughout these early interviews, his insistence on the separation between a people and their government—and his repeated criticism of the Chinese government—was plain. So was his emphasis on the importance of democracy and recognizing where the United States fell short.

People change, and seeking clues to how a potential Vice President Walz would act based on how high school teacher Walz approached his lessons is clearly perilous. Still, it seems clear that Walz values facts, and in particular experience, rather than theory or ideology; that he has deeply held core beliefs about China’s people and government set in the era of Tiananmen; and that his commitment to promoting human rights—and U.S. economic interests in trade negotiations—is longstanding.

With that background, leavened by subsequent experience on China issues as a member of Congress, it seems more likely than not that Walz would be neither inflexibly hostile nor naïve about relations with Beijing.

[feminismisstillahatemovement]

BURBANK, CA - At the entertainment giant's world headquarters, Disney Imagineers showed off new technology that uses artificial intelligence to scan the more than 700 episodes of "The Simpsons" and replace Bart Simpson's probably-offensive catchphrase "Cowabunga!" with the much less problematic and more profitable catchphrase "Taiwan is not a sovereign state, dude!"

Sam Carter, Disney's Executive Vice President of Tyrant Placation, gushed over the technological achievement. "This new AI process is truly a great leap forward," said Carter. "It allows us to instantly scan hundreds of hours of audio for Bart's previous catchphrase, which is probably very offensive. We haven't really looked into why it's offensive yet, but I mean, c'mon - it's more than six months old and it's said exclusively by white people, so… definitely a slur."

"But anyway, we can now digitally remove that hateful rhetoric and replace it with a new, totally accurate, and not offensive catchphrase that we can all agree on. And if anything makes great comedy, it's computer-generated statements that have been pre-approved by a communist politburo, am I right?"

Executives also announced plans to expand the use of the technology, originally developed by Wu Xiao Fan, Ltd. (translated: "You don't need to know"), into much more of Disney's back catalog.

Carter explained further, while a Chinese government representative held a large bag of cash just out of his reach, "In the future, Fozzie Bear's 'Wakka wakka' will become 'Hong Kong protesters are a menace!' and Chewbacca's 'Gggwwarrr!' will become 'I'm sure Peng Shuai is just fine!' It's yet another example of Chinese communist-approved technology making things better for everyone."

[suprememastertv]

🌱 Vegan 2 cut methane, 🌍 2 save the world, 👶 2 save this n future generations

✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

💗 Please join Supreme Master Ching Hai to sincerely thank God Almighty for World Vegan, World Peace and souls’ Liberation 💗 Every day at 9:00 PM Hong Kong time 🙏

SupremeMasterTV.com

[melyzard]

I was wondering if you have resources on how to explain (in good faith) to someone why AI created images are bad. I'm struggling how to explain to someone who uses AI to create fandom images, b/c I feel I can't justify my own use of photoshop to create manips also for fandom purposes, & they've implied to me they're hoping to use AI to take a photoshopped manip I made to create their own "version". I know one of the issues is stealing original artwork to make imitations fast and easy.

Hey anon. There are a lot of reasons that AI as it is used right now can be a huge problem - but the easiest ones to lean on are:

1) that it finds, reinforces, and in some cases even enforces biases and stereotypes that can cause actual harm to real people. (For example: a black character in fandom will consistently be depicted by AI as lighter and lighter skinned until they become white, or a character described as Jewish will...well, in most generators, gain some 'villain' characteristics, and so on. Consider someone putting a canonically transgender character through an AI bias, or a woman who is not perhaps well loved by fandom....)

2) it creates misinformation and passes it off as real (it can make blatant lies seem credible, because people believe what they see, and in fandom terms, this can mean people trying to 'prove' that the creator stole their content from elsewhere, or allow someone to create and sell their own 'version' of content that is functionally unidentifiable from canon

3) it's theft. The algorithm didn't come up with anything that it "makes," it just steals some real person's work and then mangles is a bit before regurgitating it with usually no credit to the original, actual creator. (In fandom terms: you have just done the equivalent of cropping out someone else's watermark and calling yourself the original artist. After all, the AI tool you used got that content from somewhere; it did not draw you a picture, it copy pasted a picture)

4) In some places, selling or distributing AI art is or may soon be illegal - and if it's not illegal, there are plenty of artists launching class action lawsuits against those who write the algorithm, and those who use it. Turns out artists don't like having their art stolen, mangled, and passed off as someone else's. Go figure.

Here are some articles that might help lay out more clear examples and arguments, from people more knowledgeable than me (I tried to imbed the links with anti-paywall and anti-tracker add ons, but if tumblr ate my formatting, just type "12ft.io/" in front of the url, or type the article name into your search engine and run it through your own ad-blocking, anti tracking set up):

These fake images reveal how AI amplifies our worst stereotypes [Source: Washington Post, Nov 2023]

Humans Are Biased; AI is even worse (Here's Why That Matters) [Source: Bloomburg, Dec 2023]

Why Artists Hate AI Art [Source: Tech Republic, Nov 2023]

Why Illustrators Are Furious About AI 'Art' [Source: The Guardian, Jan 2023]

Artists Are Losing The War Against AI [Source: The Atlantic, Oct 2023]

This tool lets you see for yourself how biased an AI can be [Source: MIT Technology Review, March 2023]

Midjourney's Class-Action lawsuit and what it could mean for future AI Image Generators [Source: Fortune Magazine, Jan 2024]

What the latest US Court rulings mean for AI Generated Copyright Status [Source: The Art Newspaper, Sep 2023]

AI-Generated Content and Copyright Law [Source: Built-in Magazine, Aug 2023 - take note that this is already outdated, it was just the most comprehensive recent article I could find quickly]

AI is making mincemeat out of art (not to mention intellectual property) [Source: The LA Times, Jan 2024]

Midjourney Allegedly Scraped Magic: The Gathering art for algorithm [Source: Kotaku, Jan 2024]

Leaked: the names of more than 16,000 non-consenting artists allegedly used to train Midjourney’s AI [Source: The Art Newpaper, Jan 2024]

[mybeingthere]

Mitsuru Watanabe, Japanese, b. 1953

Mitsuru Watanabe was born in 1953 in the Aomori Prefecture in Japan, the youngest of four siblings. His mother was an amateur painter who set an example for her children, not only with her own work, but also with an extensive library of art books in the family home. The young Mitsuru gradually began to browse through the books, thus introducing himself to a wide variety of styles, aesthetics and historical images. In addition, he poured over books on drawing and painting techniques, establishing a foundation for his future work as a professional artist.

His junior high school did offer an art class, but it was not particularly inspiring, and in high school, there was no art education offered. That left Mitsuru to study on his own, and after graduation in 1972, he again consulted art books about painting techniques, which provided some basic guidance. His introduction to professional training came as a result of an advertisement that he placed in an art magazine in the hope of attracting some clients for his painting. Instead one of his paintings was purchased by a collector on behalf of the painter Seiichiro Ban (b. 1950), who was impressed with the younger artist’s work. He invited Mitsuru to Kyoto, eventually teaching him “everything about painting techniques”, including the use of oils, brushwork and color adjustment. In the process, the two men became good friends.

Meanwhile, Mitsuru worked for a printing company for a few years. Eventually, he gave it up in order to paint, and for several years, he paid the bills by gambling at mahjong and pachinko (Japanese pinball). In spite of the hardships of such an uncertain mode of living, he looks back fondly on this period.

By 1975, he met and married his wife, and moved to Hachinohe City. The family soon grew to include a son and two daughters. Looking back on those early days, Mitsuru recalls spending many days reading in a library while taking care of his son. He requested books on philosophy, religious studies, cultural anthropology, psychoanalysis and contemporary criticism, all of which the library provided. A few years later, when his paintings were selling well, a librarian mentioned to him that they had spent over 200,000 yen per year on his requests; and that his absence from the library meant that they no longer had such a generous budget allotment.

With a growing family, Mitsuru realized that he would need to increase his income. He had become friends with a local theatrical troupe, even writing a play for the group at one point, and thought that they might be interested in purchasing some of his paintings. With these funds, he was able to organize a successful solo exhibition in Hachinohe. Ultimately, he was able to raise enough money to advertise his work in an art magazine and stage an exhibition in Ginza. Most of the paintings sold and Mitsuru’s career was launched.

In the 1980s, Japan was enjoying an economic boom, including the market for contemporary art. Although progress was slow initially, Mitsuru’s work began to attract attention in Tokyo. When he won the 10 million yen prize in the Second Ryohei Koiso Grand Prize Exhibition in 1994, the gallery world took notice. Soon he was working with a gallery in Ginza, which in turn led to Mitsuru’s art being noticed by a Hong Kong gallery; this broadened the international market for his art.

In 1990, Mitsuru met and befriended Hiroshi Furuyoshi after seeing an exhibition of his work. Hiroshi’s collection of international art books provided inspiration, and, as Mitsuru notes, Hiroshi “generously taught me about [western] painting techniques.”

His work offers a compelling mix of Japanese and Western traditions. He borrows imagery freely from a number of western artists, ranging from Pieter Brueghel and Hieronymus Bosch to Henri Rousseau. These “borrowed images” are grounded in the Japanese tradition of shyakkei (borrowed landscape) which utilizes nearby natural landmarks as the backdrop to the design of a garden. Likewise, Mitsuru incorporates traditional western images both as the stage for his work and occasionally as commentary in the form of small visual quotations from old master paintings by Peter Paul Rubens, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Erie Loran, as well as the Japanese contemporary artist Hayami Gyosyu.

Almost all of Mitsuru’s paintings feature his children as his models. In the 2018 painting, In the Forest-with Deposition of Christ, one of his daughters is shown strumming a guitar while comfortably seated in one of Henri Rousseau’s forests. The lion from Rousseau’s painting of The Sleeping Gypsy (1897) grazes casually nearby at a much smaller scale. And on the other side of the canvas, Peter Paul Rubens’ The Descent from the Cross (1612-14) is inserted into the forest landscape as if it were a staged tableau. In the 2019 painting, Naoko Walking in Rousseau’s Forest, the artist’s daughter again appears, this time walking on air with her “Hello Kitty” purse slung over her shoulder and a Canon camera pointed straight at the viewer as if it were a gun.

The combination of humor and serious cultural commentary is characteristic of Mitsuru’s painting. He notes that this too is based on an older Japanese trope, Honka-dori, in which new tanka poetry is created by quoting from famous older tanka poems. Mitsuru has used iconic western paintings coupled with very contemporary Japanese images to initiate a discussion about the cross-cultural influences of each tradition. And his children have become the ambassadors of that conversation. As Mitsuru comments “As long as I live, they will go around the world of painting as a child, like Peter Pan.”

Janet Whitmore, Ph.D.

https://rehs.com/Mitsuru_Watanabe_Naoko_Playing_in_Boschs...

[tryingtodotheright-thing]

Hello, Sunset - 11

AN: This chapter is long overdue, I'm sorry for the long wait. A lot has happened in my personal and work life and I've just not been in the head space to write. Writing is my escape and right now I need it so thank you to everyone who reads this. PAIRING: Seungcheol x fem!reader GENRE: exes to lovers, idol verse, angst WORD COUNT: 5,111 WARNINGS: reader has anxiety and depression, swearing, mentions of alcohol Text in blue is spoken/written in Korean. PREVIOUS / NEXT

The seatbelt sign glared at her as the plane began its descent. She moved her seat upright again and buckled the straps together. Eyes closed again and grasping the seat handles tightly, Y/N tried her best to ignore the nervousness that brushed over her. She waited for the touchdown, anticipating the brunt force of the aircraft’s wheels touching the tarmac and wondering why this part of the journey always felt the longest. She could forget that she was in a metal box in mid-air for hours, sleeping and eating without care, but as soon as it came to the climax of the journey, the fear returned in twofold. The aircraft shook violently for a few seconds, stuttered in its movements before it slowly began to glide to a stop. The captain’s announcement rang through the plane and Y/N took this as a sign to turn her phone back on. She noticed Emma doing the same next to her. 

As the device in her hand came back to life, it began to buzz with notifications. Seeing Seungcheol’s name in the list of people who had contacted her in the four hours spent offline brought back the butterflies she thought she would never experience again. She still couldn’t decide if the events of last night were real or not. Was it a dream or would it become a nightmare? Only time would tell. It would be naive of her to not feel apprehensive about giving Seungcheol a second chance. Just because she forgave doesn’t mean that she forgot. She’d told him that last night as they hid away in her hotel room. They held hands with her head on his shoulder, admired the city view from the sofa and watched the night give way to dawn then sunrise. 

It’s easier to build a new relationship than fix one that was splintered. It wasn’t to say that they would fail before they even started but to give them both a reality check. It meant learning to love each other all over again, they were different people from when they had first met after all. It meant moving slowly, taking one step at a time to grow the trust that had eroded. It meant patience, because there will be arguments, probably more than the first time around. It meant reassurance, showering each other with love to drown the doubts that were sure to crop up. Until they felt secure in themselves and in each other, until they truly could read each other’s hearts, until their love became a strength that only grew with each obstacle. Let’s work hard for it together, Y/N had said as she handed back the box with two rings, one that told of their past and one that spoke of a future. Give them back to me when we can take pride in our love, she had said. 

Seungcheol 

Thank you.

06:43

I love you. I’ll say it everyday. I promise.

06:44

I miss you already.

07:15

I took a nap and yup, I still miss you.

10:25

Have you landed? What time should I call you today?

11:03

Emma sighed next to her as Y/N grinned as she read the messages. She’d missed this, being adored so unapologetically by someone who knew her. Some may find the multiple messages annoying but she just found it cute. 

“What time are rehearsals today?”

Emma ignored her question and got up from her seat, gesturing for her to do the same. By the time that Y/N was reminiscing about the previous night, the plane had arrived at the gate and they were now ready to offboard. Y/N and Emma were being ushered out first, before from the general public. Y/N put on her trusty prescription sunglasses and grabbed her carry on. Spring had already arrived in Hong Kong, the weather much favourable to the cold air in Seoul. The pair walked in silence, fast strides taking them through the terminal and quickly clearing immigration. They quickly greeted the fans who had chosen to welcome her arrival before jumping into an SUV that would take them to their temporary home for three days. Y/N knew that Emma was displeased with her and she knew why. This would be the first hurdle for her to overcome. And it would be an important one to overcome as she needed Emma’s support. She waited till they were in the hotel to say anything. Knowing Emma’s personality, she would probably address it even if Y/N didn’t. 

As if Y/N had predicted it, as soon as the suite’s door closed behind the pair, Emma dragged Y/N to the seating area.

“Sit.” She pointed to the armchair opposite her. Y/N obeyed immediately and began to pacify her friend and manager.

“Emma, I know you’re-”

“Oh yes, this should be good. Let’s hear why you think it’s a good idea to get back into a relationship with someone who was unhealthy for you.”

“Emma, I’m not denying that things went south but you can’t call him unhealthy. I’ll admit it, the relationship was unhealthy and he was in the wrong but so was I. I have a share in why it was unhealthy, an equal share actually.” 

She received no response to this. Emma was direct and could be brusque and this often led to others seeing her as rude. Y/N knew better. Emma dealt with facts, with black and white but it didn’t mean she didn’t care. In fact, she probably cared more than others once she decided to take someone under her wings. Y/N had witnessed and received Emma’s affection and care through the past three years, but especially the past 12 months. 

“He knows what he did was wrong. He also knows that he needs to work on himself, just like I do. Neither of us knew what we were getting into last time but we know better now. We may have been adults but it doesn’t mean we were mature in how we handled our relationship.”

Emma nodded in acknowledgment, as this was a criticism she had previously often said to Y/N’s deaf ears. 

“We won’t seclude ourselves this time. We’ll share a space together but won’t depend on each other for all our needs. We’ll have our friends who will point it out if we fall into our bad habits again. You’ll do that for me right, Emma?”

Y/N might not have Joshua’s deer eyes but hers did just fine to get her friend to a compromise. 

“Just because I look out for you doesn’t mean I don’t think this is stupid. Got it?”

“I got it! Promise you won’t regret it!”

Emma threw a glare at Y/N’s smiling face. “Go and sleep! You have rehearsals in four hours and I bet you were up all night.” 

Agreeing, she rolled her luggage to her room and called out good night in a cheery tone even though it was approaching midday local time.

“You better not stay awake on the phone instead of sleeping! You can call your beau when the concert is over. You need all the rest you can get.”

Y/N ducked her head in guilt as calling Seungcheol had definitely been her immediate plan. Promising her manager that she’ll behave, Y/N said goodbye to Emma before she returned to her own hotel room. The tiredness suddenly overtook Y/N once she was alone. After a quick face wash and changing into her pyjamas, Y/N dropped into bed and fell asleep promptly. 

Performing in Hong Kong was a huge feat, especially for someone only in their third year of musical career and singing Western music. Y/N was grateful to Sian and Emma for all the marketing and Chinese show appearances that led to her being able to perform as she had last night. The whole experience had been special to her, but especially because Rachel and her parents had been in the audience watching her perform. Rachel’s parents had taken her under their wings and showered her with so much love during her childhood, she’d often forget the neglect and lack of love from her own parents until she’d return to her empty home. They’d seen the child for who she was: too mature for her age and settled to a lifetime of lacklustre responses from parents who measured her worth in grades and prestige. 

The Lin family adopted her in all but names. Y/N became Jie Jie to Rachel’s younger siblings. She adored and cared for them, often being the preferred elder sister to approach for any help. It probably helped that Rachel called them brats who ruined her reign over the household and told her to stop spoiling the brats. Last night, her didi and meimei had also come to watch her perform and she’d promised to treat them to whatever they wanted today. Ying Yue wanted to go shopping whilst Kai simply planned to eat his way through the city. Rachel wanted to ditch her siblings and go to Disneyland because she claimed she was still a kid even though she’d celebrated her 30th birthday last month.  Y/N had flown out Eun Ji and Rachel to her Paris show before they’d spent a few days enjoying a girls’ trip in the city of love and marked the milestone birthday for Rachel, not before making her cry about growing old of course.  

“Y/N Jie Jie, let’s get going! I think I’m going to faint any second if you don’t feed me.”

“Ughhh, you’re such a pig. All you do is think with your stomach.” 

“Ying Yue! Don’t talk to your brother like that!”

“What? I’m not wrong,” the younger girl rolled her eyes. 

Y/N continued to lecture the girl on being nicer to her brother and not making comments about his eating habits whilst they put on their shoes. Kai grinned secretly, enjoying the telling off his sister was receiving. Rachel stuck her head in her parents’ hotel room doorway and shouted, “Ma, Ba, we’re taking the kids out. We’ll be back late. Let one of us know if you’re going out or want to join us.”

Rachel shepherded the group out of the hotel suite, guiding them towards the lift, slinging an arm around her teenage brother’s shoulders as they walked. The pair bounced off ideas of what they could eat, refusing each other’s suggestions and putting forward their personal favourites instead. Meanwhile, Y/N was now pacifying a pouting Ying Yue, promising they’ll go shopping if she apologised to her brother and played fairly with her siblings for the rest of the day. The four siblings (because that’s what they were, Y/N included) had a blast, reminiscing over their childhood as they ate their way through a food market, modelled fancy outfits they would definitely not be buying later and teased each other as they played arcade games. Spending time with family was healing for Y/N’s soul. Being with them allowed her to take the masks off, shake off the anxiety that rested on her shoulders as an unwelcome companion most days and pretend she was the Y/N who ate her way through packets of marshmallows practising the ‘Chubby Bunny’ challenge. 

Rachel’s parents joined the group for dinner after enjoying their own exploration of the city. It was a rowdy meal as Uncle David and Aunty Angela imbibed a little too much of the free flowing liquor and the kids grew more and more embarrassed by their parents' affectionate gestures, mostly directed at each other.

“Ba, Ma, I’m a kid! I shouldn’t be seeing this!” Kai whined, covering his eyes when his parents shared a quick kiss. 

“How do you think you got here kid?”

“Ba!” Rachel, Ying Yue and Kai groaned in unison as Y/N tipped her head back and chuckled. 

Their father gave a bellowing laugh as their mother covered her face in embarrassment whilst giggling. The joyful mood continued the rest of the evening as the servers brought more dishes to the table and removed the empty plates that had been devoured. Y/N rested her head on Rachel’s shoulder, content in life as she listened into the conversations around her. Kai and Ying Yue were making plans for the next day, agreeing that a trip to Disneyland probably shouldn’t be missed but wondering how to stop their eldest sister from gloating for them choosing her itinerary suggestion. 

Y/N’s phone buzzed from where it rested on her lap. She turned the phone so the screen faced her and sat up straight when she saw that it was Seungcheol calling her. She quickly excused herself to take the call but not before Rachel read the name of the caller.

“Hey babe, are you back at the hotel? Is now a good time for our call?” 

It had only been a few days since their relationship had rekindled but sometimes it felt like they had never stopped. They were texting all the time and squeezed in a call at least once a day and sometimes more often, depending on which part of the world they were living in that day. 

“Hi love, we’re still out but it’s fine, I can talk now. I know you should be heading to bed soon. How was your day? Are you back in Daegu now?”

They shared the details of the day’s happenings to the littlest things so the other person could feel as if they’d been there all along. They cooed over the cute action of the day from Kkuma, complained about how tiring it was walking all day and gushed over how much they missed each other. Falling back into this rhythm, all the old feelings buried deep inside Y/N resurfaced twofold. The emotions were felt more intensely this time around, coloured by the regret of missed time and bittersweet desperation to make up for it. 

“The kids are going to Disneyland tomorrow whilst I take Uncle and Aunty with me to Art Basel tomorrow,” Y/N paused as Seungcheol yawned sleepily before suggesting he should go to bed soon, "Mmm. You too. Sweet dreams. I love you. Bye, love.”

Y/N turned around to head back into the private room they were dining in and saw Rachel waiting a few feet away, arms crossed with her eyebrows raised. 

The sight of her friend spurred Y/N into tears that she hadn’t realised she was holding back. Rachel rushed over and wrapped her friend in her comforting arms, rubbing her back as Y/N’s cries grew louder.

“I’ve got you. Let it out, hun. It must have been hard for you. You’re doing so well.” 

The words of reassurance and love were repeated until the crying had dwindled to an occasional sniffle. Y/N tapped Rachel’s arms to let her know she wants to be released, which Rachel did after squeezing the woman in her arms in a show of love. Rachel wiped away the tear tracks from her friend’s face before guiding her to the ladies room so she could freshen up. Rachel thought her friend looked beautiful even after all that ugly crying and told Y/N so. Y/N let out watery chuckles at this as she patted her face with cold water.

The pair agreed that the public space wasn’t the place for a conversation and that they'd pick up the conversation when they were back at the hotel. They walked back to their table with their arms looped. By the time they returned, their active day out was starting to take effect on everyone as their energies had dipped and the group were ready for bed. Refreshed and dressed in their comfy PJs, an hour later, the two best friends were wrapped by duvet in Rachel’s hotel room, the TV on low volume as background noise and Eun Ji dialled in on FaceTime on Y/N’s iPad. The iPad screen was black as their friend had the camera on but hadn’t turned the light on in her bedroom in Gangnam. 

“Alright, you’ve had enough time now to come up with your explanation. Spill the tea, bitch.”

Shoving the friend beside her playfully, Y/N launched into her story about the happenings of the past week. The thinking and healing she had been doing in Japan, her conversation with Joshua, meeting Seungcheol again, the diamond ring he’d left behind, deciding to give it a go again, she told them all about it over the twilight hours. Her best friends listened patiently, chiming in on their thoughts and tutting when they disagreed on something. Telling her friends helped Y/N process what had happened better and reflect on her thoughts on the whole situation. They were people who balanced her good and bad parts and getting their perspective whilst knowing they would never judge her on her actions is one of the things she treasured about their friendship.

“So, why were you crying earlier?” Eun Ji asked. “It sounds like you are happy to have him back in your life. Did something happen today?”

“No, no, nothing like that. I just, I just got overwhelmed I guess. When I saw Rachel, I felt guilty about not telling you both what happened and then I got scared that you’d be angry that I’ve gone back to this relationship. It’s easy right now but what about in a few months time when we’re both busier and things aren’t so new anymore and what if we fall into bad habits again. And then I started worrying about how quickly I’ve forgiven him and how much happier I am after a few days of him in life and what if it doesn’t work out this time around too and then how do I pick myself up a second time around. I guess I’m just worried about all the what ifs. I made a decision but I haven’t quite processed it.”

Her friends didn’t immediately respond. The silence was loud for Y/N as she chewed over what she had just poured out. Maybe she was still not finished processing. 

“I am not saying you’re wrong to think about the what ifs. In fact, we are built to think about risks and be in a flight or fight mode during a new situation right. The fear brain is taking over right now and whilst you should consider all the what ifs you’ve just mentioned, you should do it when you’re calm.”

Y/N nodded in agreement. She needed to see if her therapist would be able to extend her next session because an hour was not going to be enough. 

“Rachel’s right. But also, why don’t you look at the other spectrum of what ifs that you were debating just a week ago before you reconnected? What if you never met Seungcheol again, whether that was for closure or for a second chance? Wouldn’t you regret that more?”

Hearing that was like having a light switch on for Y/N. Of course, she would regret that. She would regret that much more than to have tried again. 

“Don’t write the ending before anything has even happened. You know where you went wrong last time so you know what to avoid. But that’s not to say both of you won’t make mistakes, perhaps you’ll make new ones this time. You just need to work through them together.”

“Wahhh. Choi Eun Ji, who are you? You sound more and more like your Psychology PHD holding boyfriend. Maybe I should date a chef if it means he’ll influence me to cook edible food.” Rachel lightened the mood, knowing that Y/N had been given food for thought and they didn’t need to talk so seriously anymore.

“I was always this intelligent, you dumb bitch.” 

Rachel swore in Mandarin in response. “I gave you a better fashion sense, became friends with you so people could be somewhat accurate when they tutted about Chinese tourists whenever you posed for a picture in Central London and shared my hangover cure with you all for what? For you to call me a dumb bitch. You raise a kid with your blood, sweat and tears and all you get is ungratefulness. Oh, my head!”

Eun Ji groaned at her friend’s monologue as Y/N laughed at their craziness and started singing BTS’ Blood, Sweat & Tears, Rachel joining in when she’d finished ranting.

“Okay, it’s past 3am in Seoul and I’m tired of you both. I’m going to bed before you losers keep me up all night.”

The trio said quick goodbyes before the iPad screen blinked and turned fully black. Y/N wrapped her arms around Rachel and swayed a few times before releasing Rachel from her capture and unravelled herself from the bedding to head to her own room. 

“Y/N?” Rachel called as she was about to leave the room. She turned to look at her friend. “You’ll both work it out this time. I believe it. I’m so happy for you.” 

Y/N smiled brightly and nodded. She mouthed the words ‘thank you’ to her friend before heading to bed.

The next morning, after Lily had briefed her on what she needed to prepare for the art fair that evening and sent through the paintings that were on sale, Y/N texted Emma and Sian to see if they’d be able to squeeze in a call today. Emma had flown to Taipei immediately after the Hong Kong concert to spend a few days sightseeing with her husband. She’d warned Emma that the call was to tell Sian about Seungcheol and had asked for her backing. She sent off the three siblings to Disneyland with a hug and shoved a card to Kai to treat themselves to whatever they wanted while Rachel complained about her spoiling the brats again. The Lin family patriarch and matriarch headed off to brunch with some old friends after nursing their headovers with the hangover drink Y/N had bought them. They promised to return in plenty of time to get ready for an evening of art. Alone in a peaceful silence, Y/N had a morning of recharge. She texted good morning to Seungcheol, Eun Ji and Joshua as she waited to remove her face pack and for her room service to arrive. The timer went off not long after and Y/N peeled over the smooth mask from her face and patted the serum in her skin. The morning of R&R was going smoothly as her breakfast arrived not long after. She found herself sipping her iced coffee and watching an old episode of Doctor Who in bed in between texting back everyone. 

Emma & Y/N

Y/N Telling Sian the news. 07:54

Emma I gave Sian a warning so she knows but pretend I haven’t told you. Being a double agent is so hard… 08:43

Y/N What do you want? 08:50

Emma Hmm been thinking of redecorating the house. 09:05

Y/N I’m not buying you a painting.  Try again. 09:20

Eun Ji & Y/N

Y/N Good morning, bestie 😘 07:45

Eun Ji 🩰 Bad Y/N Bad morning. Ughhhh. I’m so tired. Don’t want to go to work today.  Joon says hi.  07:49

Y/N Hi, Joon! How are you? 07:57

Eun Ji 🩰 Text him on his number. What am I, your messenger pigeon? 08:02

Why does a bad night’s sleep hit you harder once you’re 30? This is worse than a hangover. 08:03

Y/N Yes! I only keep you around because your boyfriend is so nice and he makes amazing pancakes. 08:05

You’re so old. 08:06

Eun Ji 🩰 We’re the same age, bitch. 08:11

Y/N Nope. You’re 30 and I’m not, so you’re old. 08:24

Eun Ji 🩰 You’re blocked for the day.  08:31

Joshua & Y/N

Y/N Top of the mornin to ya! 07:44

Joshie 🦌 My friend, my sister from another mister, is that really you texting me first? 08:03

Y/N Fuck off. 08:13

Joshie 🦌 And there’s Y/N. I guess someone stole your phone earlier. 08:27

Y/N Tried the ‘nice’ thing. Didn’t quite work for me. 08:29

Joshie 🦌 You have to be born with kindness. Like me. 08:33

Y/N Fuck off. 08:37

Seungcheol & Y/N

Y/N Love you. Hope you have a good day today. 07:16

Seungcheol ♥️ Love you more. It’s already a good day because I woke up to your text. 08:39

Y/N 😍 08:40

Seungcheol ♥️ Call you in 30 mins? Need to feed Kkuma first. 08:40

Y/N Yes! Whenever you’re ready, love. Feed the baby and make sure you eat something too! 08:42

The day passed slowly but it didn’t drag. The change of pace was much needed and it’s why she’d planned in the extra few days before the next concert, even if it wasn’t the most cost efficient thing to do. Seungcheol video called her as promised and the pair caught up on things they’d missed during their time apart. Whilst it hurt to be reminded of why they’d not been present when these things happened, they didn’t hide away from it. They spoke for hours and hours, not ending the call even as they went about their day. They were still on the line when Y/N had finished her make up and changed into her dress for the evening outing. They’d switched to a video call so Seungcheol could admire her (his words). 

“I think I might go blind. You’re too beautiful.” Rachel pretended to throw up in the background, having returned from an exhausting adventure at the happiest place on Earth. 

“Ignore her, she’s just jealous.”

“I’m the one who’s jealous. Can’t believe I’m not there with you. If I was there right now...” Seungcheol cut off his sentence but the message was clear to Y/N as she grew warm from his attention and desire. 

Rachel retched loudly, “I can’t listen to any more of this. Choi Seungcheol-ssi, this hasn’t been fun. I have not missed being the third-wheel. Don’t hog my friend, I’m flying back tomorrow.”

Seungcheol laughed and agreed to give back Y/N and end the call if it meant that he’s got the best friend's approval again. Rachel waved him off saying he’d have to try harder and ended the call first. 

“Ya!”

“You had enough time on the phone. You spoke to each other for-”, Rachel picked up Y/N’s phone to check, “- nearly, what the hell Y/N, SEVEN HOURS?! The two of you are disgustingly cute.”

Y/N giggled at Rachel’s alarm and took her phone back, shooting off a quick text of “Love you” to Seungcheol. She packed her clutch bag with the essentials Rachel handed over and gave herself a quick glance over in the middle.

“This purple looks so good on you. I chose well.” Y/N agreed. Rachel was her go to when she was stuck on what to wear. She was definitely the fashionable and stylish friend in their trio. 

“She got it from me,” chimed Aunty Angela as she fixed her earrings. 

Y/N whistled in appreciation as she admired the older woman in a midi form-fitting black dress. 

“Yan Ya dear, please tell your Ba to hurry up. He’s probably still watching TV.” Rachel obeyed and left to check up on her father. 

“Now, let me look at you.” Y/N stood still in front of her. She held Y/N’s face in hands and kissed the younger woman’s cheek with affection.”You look happy, child, and it makes you even more radiant.”

Y/N teared up at the compliment and hugged the woman who had shown her what maternal love should be like. 

“Sian will come around. Don’t worry too much, okay?” She referred to the call Y/N had earlier that afternoon with Sian and Emma. Seungcheol had asked to join so he’d stayed on the line as she had the call with the Head of Talent at W Music. Rachel and her mother had been present, getting Rachel’s mother ready for the night and so had overheard snippets of the call. Y/N, too, knew that Sian would come around. She was a great businesswoman and that was the front she presented in today’s call but she cared about Y/N and would accept the relationship. Seungcheol had apologised and had let Sian know that he’ll be informing PLEDIS and HYBE today, that he would be setting his boundaries and promised they wouldn’t try to meddle. Sian had scoffed at that. Y/N had too, in her head. There’s no way the Korean entertainment conglomerate would accept its artist dating so easily, particularly after the ‘scandal’ this year. But she needed to believe in Seungcheol and that he would manage his agency and stand up for their relationship.

“Thanks, Aunty.” The pair smiled at each other before gathering the rest of their belongings. Ying Yue and Kai knocked on the door before walking in. They complimented the pair on their looks and updated them that their father was on his way.

“Ma, Y/N Jie Jie, stand over there. Let me take a picture of you both!” Ying Yue directed the pair to pose and clicked away on her phone. 

“I am so lucky to be taking two beautiful women out tonight.” Uncle David commented on arrival.

“Ba, go and join them!” The middle child took more pictures to remember the night. They ended the mini photo shoot with a selfie Kai took of the whole group, extending his arm to capture all the members of the family of 6. 

“Let’s go and pretend I understand art,” Uncle David joked as he offered his arms for both ladies he’d be accompanying.

“Speak for yourself, dear. I am an art magazine editor, remember?”

“Yes, Uncle. I’ve not just been invited as a celebrity, I’m actually going there to buy art, remember?”

“Ooh, do you think you’ll be able to secure the piece from Kim Soo Ja, Y/N?”

The ladies walked off, ignoring the arms offered to them and bounced off each other’s enthusiasm about the artists being displayed at the exhibition. 

“Good luck, Ba.” Kai patted his father on his shoulder. His father patted his son’s hand in return, commiserating with each other over their fortune of being the only males in the family. Ying Yue and Rachel rolled their eyes at the dramatic duo and returned to looking through the pictures they just took.

“Thanks son, I need it.” With a sigh, their father followed after his wife and Y/N whilst Kai watched over him with pride.

[novemquadragintillion]

I'm reading LotM for a second time, and am currently in the beginning of arc 2 ~

I'm enjoying it WAY MORE currently!! I think one of LotM's weaknesses as a story is that the author gives us way too much information in the first arc. There's so many names of people and titles of stuff! I was so confused the first time around!! I had finished the story with lots of information holes related to lore. It was like having a puzzle that's 3/4ths finished, with 1/4th of it being loose puzzle pieces. (I loved reading it nevertheless). Rereading LotM, however, is like finally placing those remaining pieces together 💛 (or at least most of them). Info like the Nation of Evernight have become a lot more clear to me now.

So I'm enjoying it so much more. It's so exciting when you know what will generally happen!! I'm like "THE FIRST MENTION OF INCY BOY AND 0-08!!- OH THERE'S AZIK!!! *sends Azik a hug*- OH THERE'S LENAVUS. I hate Mr. Lenavus, all my homies hate Lenavus.- OH THERE'S TRISSY!!!!!!- " etc etc. And oh gosh the Tarot Club!! I love seeing the Club's development again.

I'm also remembering bits of how I used to feel about certain characters. I haven't realized until now how great Frye is. I hadn't paid much attention to him during the first time. Now, I just wish he was more of a major character in the story. Meanwhile, I remember I thought that Leonard was an antagonist and would become Klein's enemy in the future. I was so wrong 😂 But I understand why I thought that. Klein and Leonard are passive aggressive and suspicious of each other in the beginning lol

Every time the story shows Melissa, Benson and Klein planning for the future, like going to Desi Bay and famous restaurants after they save up, I feel so sympathetic...

The scene of Old Neil's death did not fail to make me cry again... And with Dunn Smith...

Things are more clear and I'm so happy that I decided to read it. I wish there were physical copies in north America. (Btw I love Hong Kong's LotM cover art so much ❤️ If LotM is published in America, I hope the art is similar!)

When I read LotM for the first time, I had taken notes on the story and my thoughts and feelings in a notepad app I have. So, while I'm rereading, I'm also reading the notes I had made previously, and it's been fun to compare 😂 I will continue on!! Meanwhile, I'm slowly keeping up with CoI <3 there's so much chaos happening there... I'm taking notes on it as well. Maybe I'll reread CoI someday too!!

(I've been thinking.... I feel like Circle of Inevitability kind of... misses certain feelings I get from reading LotM 1. Seeing Klein learn how to set up rituals, him finding intricate ways to keep items on him and do certain things like visiting Sefirah Castle, we don't see those details barely in CoI. Klein had to carefully choose what to keep with him, because sometimes he didn't have time to go to the Castle, and he had to keep a lot more secrets compared to Lumian, it feels like. I enjoy how we get to see Klein using particular candles and daggers to set up walls of spirituality and crafting charms and experimenting a ton. Also, I think LotM focused more on sealed artifacts/ items, while CoI focused more on evil god Beyonder pathways. I like the artifacts more~ I still like CoI overall, don't get me wrong (⁠人⁠ ⁠•͈⁠ᴗ⁠•͈⁠))

[humanrightsupdates]

Hong Kong: Quash Baseless Convictions of Activists

(New York) – The Hong Kong government should immediately quash a court’s groundless national security law convictions of prominent pro-democracy activists, Human Rights Watch said today.

On May 30, 2024, three judges handpicked by the Beijing-controlled Hong Kong chief executive convicted 14 activists and former elected lawmakers under the draconian National Security Law. Two were acquitted. Earlier, 31 other defendants had pleaded guilty in hopes of more lenient sentencing. The court will announce sentences, which could amount to life in prison, at a future date.

“Hong Kong’s mass show trial lays bare Beijing’s utter contempt for fundamental freedoms and democratic political processes,” said Maya Wang, acting China director at Human Rights Watch. “The Hong Kong government needs to quash the convictions of these activists and fulfill its legal obligations to protect the rights of the Hong Kong people, including their right to freely elect their government.”

In Hong Kong’s largest national security case, the authorities charged the 47 democracy activists across several generations with “conspiracy to commit subversion” under article 22 of the National Security Law. Those accused included former lawmakers, protest leaders, labor organizers, and academics ranging in age from 26 to 68. Many have been in pretrial detention since their arrests more than three years ago, in January 2021.

[the-monkey-ruler]

what other stuff has become popular new fixtures in jttw adaptions?

Oh goodness that is going to be hard to pin down but from what I have seen the most popular Xiyouji adaptations have been at least

1960 Alakazam the Great - only saying this one because it is one of the first cartoon of Sun Wukong that was exposed to the West and while not hugely influential there made such an impact in Japan, leading to this version inspiring cartoon shows and even a remark movie years later. I hope that this verse keeps getting talked about and maybe a tv series about him can come around.

1961 Havoc in Heaven - this version will not die and will never die, this is the OG Wukong for so many people then and now, the defining master among Wukong's. Out of all the media, this is the most marketed and the most well-known. While not having new movies or tv shows this one is seen in commercials, shorts, toys, and designs. This Wukong's influence on things from children's clothing to even watches for thousands of dollars is mind staggering. If I would think anyone could last another 400 years with their impact of influence, it would be this Wukong, he is almost 100 since his first debut and he is still going strong. I have no doubt he will still be there in the next 40 years to celebrate his 100th birthday.

1978 Monkey (Saiyūki) - the popularity of this one wasn't in China but rather in Japan and even the dub in Europe. This is what really brought a generation of Western audiences into Xiyouji media. Went on to inspire more Japanese Saiyuki media as this was that standard with a female cast of Sanzang and a more outrageous Wukong. This one has most recently influenced the Netflix tv series Legends of the Monkey King.

1986 Dragon Ball - I feel I am kinda cheating by including Dragon Ball because it's only really the first dragon ball series that followed a similar 'journey' plot structure but it did get the franchise going and led to its future success in Dragon Ball Z. While current Dragon Ball has undoubtedly becomes its own thing with only it's main character having the same name as Sun Wukong it cannot be doubted the mass influence this media has on current culture and while no longer quite Xiyouji media, it was still started with it and should be noted.

1986 Journey to the West - this one set the standard for Wukong's live-action actors. Like sure there was plenty of life-action Wukong movies before this, so many in movies and even other tv specials but this is the most defining cast and most loyal plot following series that defined what people think when they think of Wukong, Saznag, Bajie, Wujing, and even Bailong. This was the series that didn't give Bailong a name but they were the ones that gave him the unforgettable plot of having a finance, something that has spun into SERVAL movies and even a tv series. The Wukong actor set how other Wukong actors were to play the character for years to come. So many movies use these designs in their own movies as it was so recognizable and notable. While other live-action series have come out that have tried to capture that same magic I have not seen anything nearly as nearly all-encompassing to audiences as 1986

1995 A Chinese Odyssey: Pandora's Box and A Chinese Odyssey Part Two: Cinderella - this piece in particular was revolutionary, I cannot express that enough. While it wasn't huge in Hong Kong on its debut it was near worshiped by mainland audiences about 5 years later, just through being watched through pirated VHS that grew its popularity on the early 2000s internet. It was so popular that it was given theater releases again, and even college classes over these media with how effective it was in changing Wukong's image in modern culture. He went from being an upright, stoppable hero to a man with heartache, identity issues, and being forced to being a product of the system, many things early 2000s youth related to on another level. You couldn't go anywhere not knowing "It was only when I lost her, that I felt regretful. It's the most painful ordeal in this world. If I'm given another chance I will say three words to her "I love you" If there's a need to put a time limit to this love, I hope it's ten thousand years." People who never watched the movie knew this quote. Went on to inspire the Bio of Wukong webnoval which was turned into Immortal Demon Slayer. Even argued it inspired Conquering the Demon and Demon Strikes Back.

1996 Journey to the West- one of the most controversial but beloved series with how it changes plot lines but the increased character development and character-driven narratives within the story. Dicky Cheung brought a talent that was unmatched and honesty their risks with changes in plot lines paid off greatly with how much care they put into their characters. This version was not afraid to take risks when it came to changes and performed greatly by giving the characters such deep meaningful moments and amazing humor, drama, and action. This has influenced when it comes to being a lot of people's first Xiyouji love action experience and that fun-loving hero in Wukong can be seen in other Wukong designs.

1999 Legends of the Monkey King - another generation-defining Wukong media, I find it so hard to find people that don't know him or watched him as this was and arguably still is the best animated Wukong retelling to date. The characters were lively and the actions was fierce but it gave each episode such life. At the moment there hasn't been another animated retelling that has had the same influence that this one has. At least no other tv series that I am aware of.

1999 Lotus Lantern - While not really Xiyouji retelling, this version completely rewrote Lotus Lantern media and its connection to Sun Wukong. This was the first time we see Wukong giving solo attention as a shifu to Chenxiang and before this version, you would see Chenxiang having some other teacher in live action movies or even mention of his brother and his accidental killing of a noble son. But after this movie that version has been GREATLY overshadowed with Sun Wukong being Chenxiang, leading to about three more movies and at least three tv series. with the same concept. The idea of Erlang Shen's greatest rival teaching his nephew to defeat him was so captive to audiences that it has had a stronghold of the version since.

2009 Monkey King - This one's media influence was large but more so in how it was in both merchandising and promotional material. This piece of media leads to a particular focus on Wukong in his younger years, leading to more media in the future following a concept similar. However, the largest connection this series has had is with it's spin-off series for children's education called Little Monkey King.

2015 Monkey King: Hero Is Back - another defining Sun Wukong in the animated department, not seen since 1999 with how well received and beloved this Wukong is. This was a lot of people's first movie Wukong and brought in another wave of Xiyouji fans into the series and adored. This series led to a game being created and even promises of a sequel and prequel in the works. There is a large agreement this Wukong was to inspire the Monkey King Reborn movie that came out a few years later.

And at the moment I believe that I'm going to have to stop there as these are series that I have seen prevails and while there have been great movies and shows since Imma have to wait to see which really make an impact on further media. But until then I would think that these are some of the most defining media to date that have affected other media as well!

[dropintomanga]

Manga I Enjoyed in 2023

It's been another great year for manga. And I don't think we wouldn't have it any other way, right?

I got to read a bunch of manga, old and new, this year. But these titles stood out to me the the most.

Honorable Mention: Kindergarten WARS by You Chiba - This was something I needed, post-Assassination Classroom. A school filled with rich kids protected by assassins who have nowhere to go fighting against assassins trying to kill the kids. Not only that, the main female lead is desperate for a boyfriend and will date anyone who looks hot. But if they have certain peeves, the bodies will hit the floor. This is a really funny series with fun characters and a lot of action. It also has one of the best gags of the year.

Favorite Ongoing Weekly Manga: Akane-banashi by Yuki Suenaga and Takamase Moue - Akane-banashi continues to impress me every week. I absolutely love how every chapter continues to be impactful. Akane is still a refreshing protagonist and I love how it feels that even though she can win rakugo competitions based on sheer determination, Akane knows that she has a lot to learn. This is a stand-out manga that is excellent for teenagers.

Here's my top 5 manga of the year!

5.) A Home Far Away and The Yakuza's Bias by Teki Yatsuda (tie) - Once I got into K-Pop, I had to check out The Yakuza's Bias. I enjoyed a lot of the humor and the gags are well-done. It's a title that really showcases what it means to take a deep dive into fandom when you're new at it in hilarious fashion. But Yatsuda's debut work about 2 boys on the run is one of the best things I've read all year. It's truly a heartbreaking LGBT romance that will touch a lot of emotions. Also, Yatsuda's art is absolutely gorgeous and I can't wait to see their new work being licensed in the future.

4.) ZOM 100: Bucket List of the Dead by Haro Aso and Kotaro Tanaka - The only zombie manga story I read was Kengo Hanazawa's I Am A Hero, but I gave this title a follow because people were telling me about it due to its messaging. ZOM 100 stands out as an upbeat zombie apocalypse story that speaks to the resilience of people in tough times. I think we all forget that we can do great things in times of adversity if we all get support. There's some great moments in this series worth talking about. I never felt bored reading it. I'm glad I gave this manga a chance because I really think depressed people need to be told that while it's okay to feel the way they feel, they can still try and people shouldn't shame them for it.

3.) Kowloon Generic Romance by Jun Mayuzuki - Hong Kong nostalgia at its finest, in my opinion. This is one of the most fascinating stories of 2023 with regards to finding your identity and reconciling your past with your present. I have this high up because I really like how the central love story is slowly tying into a bigger mystery on why the world in the manga seems very off. People struggle so much with their pasts and I feel that this manga resonates with those folks. Especially me as I find myself longing for past moments that I dearly miss despite having not-so-pleasant experiences I would like to forget.

2.) Chainsaw Man Part II by Tatsuki Fujimoto - I absolutely adore this series. Fujimoto pulls no stops in telling the story he wants to tell. I love the new female characters that have all shown up and the return of a very notable one. I like Denji's development as he really doesn't know what he wants despite being granted a frightening power that continues to be a target to those who want to use him. This is the story of a "hero" who doesn't have the resilience to be an actual hero. It's also a story about people having their emotional needs warped into desires in the worst way.

1.) The Summer Hikaru Died by Mokumokuren - I normally don't read horror manga, but this manga is phenomenal. There was so much hype about the manga being released here in the U.S. and it has delivered in all cylinders. The art is great. The usage of sound effects to convey a sense of dread is top-notch. The interpersonal dynamic between the two main characters is frighteningly realistic. This manga, at its core, about dealing with a relationship that should've ended, but didn't. As much as we talk about needing relationships with people to survive, they have to end sometimes. There's a lot of horror and dread over how to talk about a relationship ending and good god, the manga delivers on displaying that. I also love the subtle reminder that bad relationships have serious consequences for everyone else. In real life, we've seen how abuse and interpersonal trauma trickles down from the victim into other parts of life and other people. All of this makes The Summer Hikaru Died my top manga of 2023.

I hope you all enjoyed my top picks. There's been a lot of fun reads that I probably missed out on, so let me know what you guys enjoyed. 2024 is probably going to be another great year for manga and there's already titles I'm looking forward to.

See you all in 2024!

[emeraldspiral]

Random unsorted thoughts on Godzilla x Kong:

Both this film and the last one felt like they had a story for Kong but were really struggling to come up with anything for Godzilla, so they just have him attacking random cities to kill time until they actually need him for the finale. This story in particular feels like they could've easily just cut Godzilla out all together and made it a solo Kong movie.

I'm glad Shimo didn't die, she's very pretty and she suffered a lot and deserved better.

When Ilene said to Bernie "We met in Hong Kong" I actually said out like "No you didn't". The two parties were never shown on screen together for the entire movie.

Mothra was underutilized once again but at least she's back now and didn't die, so hopefully she'll get her due in the next film. She really felt like a late addition though cause they didn't really do much set-up to explain why she was hibernating in the Hollow Earth already in moth form or why Jia was needed to awaken her.

Also, when they first introduced the Iwi leader before showing her face, I thought there was gonna be a plot twist where it turned out the Iwi didn't die in the storm, they escaped into the Hollow Earth and the leader would turn out to be Jia's twin sister. So the reason they needed Jia was because Mothra can only be awakened by a pair of twins with psychic powers. The fact that they didn't do this just kinda makes me a little angrier about the fact that they didn't bring back Ilene Chen or her sister when they were already set-up as the Monsterverse equivalent of Mothra's fairies.

It seems like they didn't get the music rights back for this movie because both Mothra and Godzilla's leitmotifs sound like generic knock-offs.

One thing this movie does that I really appreciate, and have actually been asking for, is extended sequences where we're just following the monsters with no humans around and no dialog. We get a lot of that in Kong's story, and I guess they felt like it was a safe enough choice because primates are very humanlike and can express themselves in ways that are very readable to humans. Plus the apes are supposed to be pretty intelligent, so they can put Kong into a story that could easily have been about a human character. I would like to see Godzilla get some of that treatment too, but I doubt they'll ever do it because it's harder to make him look and act human or put him into a humanly relatable plot. But like, I want that though. I want something almost like a nature documentary where it's just about animal survival in the wild, not a whole thing about finding a kingdom of primates enslaved by a cruel dictator using an ice dragon to keep everyone in line and fighting to liberate them from their oppressor.

Kong's arm brace was a deus ex machina if I ever saw one. Literally nothing hinted at its existence until it was needed to solve a very specific problem immediately after it was introduced. The entire thing plays out as one contrived coincidence after another. Like, "We had an idea for a thing, but they said it was a bad idea and shut it down. BUT ONLY AFTER WE ALREADY BUILT A WHOLE ENTIRE PROTOTYPE THAT WORKS PERFECTLY. Also, it just happens to be where we are right now. Also convenient that it was Kong's right arm instead of his left that got hurt, or one of his legs. Also, the explanation for it is that they wanted to give him an enhancement so he'd stand more of a chance against something like Godzilla in the future. It wasn't supposed to be a medical device, but it just happened to have a system for injecting Kong with meds built in, and also had those meds already loaded into the syringes ready to go at a moment's notice.

This is the third time a Titan being critically injured and needing human assistance before the final battle has been a plot point. When it happened in KOTM I feel like it worked because it was a very simple fix: Godzilla's hurt and needs radiation to regenerate, so we detonate a bomb to give him a lot of it at once so he can regenerate faster and kick Ghidorah's ass. Second time it happened it was like, "Isn't this already a discredited cliche by now? Like, that's not what defib paddles are for or how they work." In this movie, when they first introduced Trapper I was like, "Oh cool, a Titan veterinarian. That makes sense as a world building element and it gives the human characters a way to impact the story without it feeling forced." Like, the vet would be able to diagnose problems that the Titans are experiencing and figure out how to treat them, or make educated guesses about what an antagonistic Titan's weakness might be and how to exploit it based on his understanding of Titan biomedicine. But after pulling Kong's tooth, Trapper being a vet doesn't really affect the plot. Like, he didn't need that background just to know the arm brace existed and go get it and put it on him. They didn't even emphasize like, him having good beside manner to keep Kong calm because he knows how to work with animals.

I do appreciate that they introduced him as Ilene's ex so you think they're maybe going to get back together, but then for the rest of the movie it seems like it's actually Trapper and Bernie who've got the romance subplot going on.

I did not expect Kong being smart and resourceful and capable of making traps to end up being the set-up for some actually kinda hilarious moments like beaning a monkey with a rock and hitting Godzilla with pocket sand. Kong trying to drag Godzilla into the Hollow Earth by the tail was also funny. The whole reunion in general is kind of hilarious because they parted on good terms, Kong figures out that he needs help and goes to get Godzilla, but Godzilla's like "I thought I told you never to show your face here again!" so Kong just tries to straight-up kidnap him. Then Mothra shows up to make Godzilla understand why Kong is trying to make him deal with his problems.

Although, Godzilla was already juicing up like crazy because he was hearing the Iwi distress calls right? So he knew something was coming and he wanted to help, but he didn't want to hear it when Kong came to actually ask for help.