#just began episode 5 so i dont have all possible context

[spinaroos-47]

Cant get an image right now of her, but the image of Kazuki's partner in the intro caught my attention since theres hydrangeas all around her. Blue and purple hydrangeas

Blue hydrangeas symbolize apology, regret, and forgiveness, and purple hydrangeas mean a desire for deeper understanding (and abundance, elegance and royalty, but its not something relevant for this)

Really nice touch for a lot of feelings kazuki might have surrounding her, more for the meaning of the blue ones than the purple, though

[cccrhirdb1]

week 5 notes on references

gna put some notes in about my chosen references!!

how I expand my learning by contextualising the quotes i have chosen!! / why i might use the quotes

Quotes to use ??;

“Science throughout its history has had a complex relationship with seeing things. If I were searching for a way of trying to grasp at its most fundamental level just what kind of activity science was, I think that thinking about science in terms of seeing would be a very good place to start.”  - how they view the stars to then relate to planting etc. 

Science reading iwan morsys 

How does it relate to the world around us? - could use to help explain how matariki relates to the world around. Maori use matariki as a signal to plant crops, look to each of the individual stars to decide what could be a better harvest in the coming months etc. Use matariki for navigation - would honestly work better as a quote for matai arorangi though probably rather than matariki.

"Perhaps this is because it took conventonal Western science up untl at least the later half of the 20th century to fgure most of this out, and we like to believe that Western-style science is the most advanced of all. So how did the old people do it? Of course, I can only guess. I see the advantages in being ‘stone-age’ – that in the evenings, you only had the night sky to look at, and stories to tell. That over generatons, stories built upon older stories, certain people with partcularly clear vision saw paterns in the night sky, or notced movements, a distant star going supernova perhaps, or the blinking out of light from a long dead sun. It is possible they looked inward as ofen as out, travelling the complex pathways of the mind and spirit, touching ancient wisdoms about our origins only dreams can ofer. And, in the darkness with only natural light from the milky way to see by, they began to understand what lay behind the stars, what went before them, the place of potental, Te Korekore, with Io twitching into life. "

“That is a story, and what is important about it is not that we believe it is true, but that we understand what it stands for.”

Twitch Tina Makereti

two different quotes from tina makereti that i could use??? I would paraphrase/shorten the first quote by taking out bits that I do not need /dont relate to what I am writing about/to reduce my word count so then I can just talk about how maori used matariki to search for knowledge about navigation and crop growing and remembering their family etc. good to help ground/bring in the idea through using the quote. im pretty certain tina's second quote is talking about the creation of the world (and what maori believe about it) but i think it could also be used in the context of matariki, matariki stands for connection and rememberance which in some ways are deeper and more important than the other things we use matariki for (crop growing, navigation) at the end of the day you only have each other and in the society of today that is so rushed I think it's much better to highlight this point and bring it to the forefront rather than any other ideas associated with matariki.

"We’ve orientated our entire world and our entire… cycle to fit into the northern hemisphere. Why do they celebrate New Years in the middle of winter and we do it in the middle of summer?"

This is kiwi rangi matamua 

good little one sentence to use to go into the maramataka, doesn't really explain much about the calendar system but can be used to go into it - also like using dr rangi matamua because he advised the government on it and I was really drawn to the podcast episode about this.

‘Ngā Mata o te Ariki Tāwhirimātea’ (The Eyes of Tāwhirimātea)'

a video that helps to explain this quoite and expand my learning!!

a video on the myth/legend of tawhirimatea so I know what it is in case I want to use it in my description. (maybe) just in case i want to go into the myth side of matariki - although this is just one myth about it there are many different from all the different tribes around nz. I feel it's also just good to have a direct quote/reference to what matariki fully stands for from another source on stream so that I can tick the using multiple resources box off.

“I understand that there are tribal variations and differences, and that's awesome. It's meant to be different because we're different. I really support the coming through of traditional regional variations. My version has nine stars, because I can only go off what my ancestor says. If you have seven, have seven, if you have Puanga, have Puanga. And for Pākeha, accepting that has been a lot better, but Māori, we can get pretty territorial about stuff, like 'that's not what we believe'. That's the bit that makes me hōhā because that's not the point. The point is we celebrate it.”

would paraphrase to explain how different tribes believe in different things relating to matariki - then could use to explain the holiday and people's response to it becoming a national holiday in nz!! could then use the bit where he says the point is that we celebrate it and add/uplift it by also using tina makereti's quote about how it's important that we understand what a story is for??

[drivingsideways]

k-drama rec list

Prior to 2020 I’d maybe watched 2 k-dramas in my entire life, but this year I got sucked in, thanks to some great recs, and y’know, *gestures * everything.  

I think I’d held off watching kdramas because my impression of them was limited to romances that I didn’t enjoy at all. But this was the year I discovered the equivalent of “gen fic” kdrama- dramas that had wonderful ensemble casts, strong story lines that weren’t entirely romance focused and also a variety in terms of themes and styles. A big plus was that I found so many of these dramas had women leading the writers’ room, and seeing the effect of that in the story telling. (Notable exceptions: a certain “star” writer who should please stop inflicting her badly written, formulaic crap on the world, yes Kim Eun-Sook, I mean you, and whoever wrote that trashfire Flower of Evil)

So here I am with my own rec list! Caveat- these are mostly not the dramas released in 2020, I’m still playing catch up! :)

Under the cut for length

My Mister/ My Ahjussi  (2018, Written by Park Hae-Young, Directed by Kim Won-Seok, starring Lee Sun-kyun and Lee Ji-eun aka IU) 

This was definitely my absolute favourite of the shows I watched this year across western/ asian media. It’s a story about the thread that binds us all and the ineffability of human connection. It’s also a story that deconstructs ideas of masculinity and honour and shame in a non-western context, but with an extremely compassionate touch.  It’s a story that doesn’t shy away from showing the consequences of material and spiritual poverty; and how one can so easily feed into the other. It’s a love story that isn’t a romance, except that it’s a Romance. It’s about finding salvation in one another and in the kindness of strangers.  It’s about choosing life, and picking yourself up off the floor to take that one last step and then the next and then the next. The one quibble I have with the series is that it could have been better paced, it does get extremely slow after the half way mark. But god, do they land the ending. Both Lee Sun-kyun and IU turn in absolutely heartbreaking performances, and fair warning, be prepared to go through an entire box of tissues watching this series. 

Life  (2018,  written by Lee Soo-yeon  and directed by Hong Jong-chan, starring Lee Dong-wook, Cho Seung-woo, Won Jin-ah, Lee Kyu-hyung, Yoo Jae-myung and Moon So-ri.)

Medical dramas are very much not my thing, and I wouldn’t have taken a chance on it except that @michyeosseo said I should, and she was right! It’s a medical drama in the sense that it’s set in a hospital, but rather than a “case-fic” format, this is actually a sharp commentary on the corporatization of health care, and the business of mixing, well, money and what should be a fundamental human right. Writer Lee Soo-yeon was coming off the global success of Stranger/Secret Forest S1 when this aired, so I understand that expectations were probably sky-high, and people were disappointed when this show didn’t give them the adrenaline rush that they wanted. On the other hand, I thought that this outing was really much more nuanced in terms of the politics and also how the ending doesn’t allow you the luxury of easy-fixes. This show has a great ensemble cast, and while it took me a while to get used to Lee Dong-wook’s woodenness (i ended up calling him mr.cadaver after watching this and was surprised to learn that he’s very popular?), in the end I was quite sold on his version of angry angst-bucket elder-sibling Dr.Ye Jin-woo. His best scenes were with Lee Kyu-hyung who turns in a lovely, achy performance as the paraplegic Dr. Ye Seon-woo who just wants to live a normal life. The love story between the two brothers is actually the emotional backbone of the story, and I think they landed that perfectly. 

My one quibble with writer-nim is that she ended up writing in a forgettable and somewhat (for me at least) uncomfortable romance between the characters played by Won Jin-ah and Cho Seung-Woo. I think part of my uncomfortable-feeling was that I got the strong sense that the writer herself didn’t want to write this romance, it was as if she was being made to shoe-horn it in for Studio Reasons, and she basically grit her teeth and did the worst possible job of it.  I do wish we could have absolutely had the OT3 of my dreams: Moon So-ri/Cho Seung-woo/Yoo Jae-myung like, c’mon TV gods MAKE IT HAPPEN, just...look at them!!!! 

Anyway, that apart, I think this was a very engaging series, and by engaging, I also mean thirst-enabling, see below. 

 Stranger (aka Secret Forest  or Forest of Secrets) S1 & 2 : (2017-, Written by Lee Soo-yeon, directed by 

2017′s smash hit aired a much anticipated second season in 2020, and I managed to catch up just in time to watch that live, so that was thrilling :D . Writer Lee Soo-yeon  mixes up thriller/office comedy/political commentary in an ambitious series. I think S1 is more “exciting” than S2 in terms of the mystery and pacing,  but S2 is far more dense and interesting in terms of political commentary because it takes a long hard look at institutional corruption and in true writer-nim fashion doesn’t prescribe any easy solutions. Anyway, please enjoy public prosecutor Cho Seung-woo and police officer Bae Doona as partners/soulmates kicking ass and taking names in pursuit of Truth, Justice and just a goddamn peaceful meal, along with a stunningly competent ensemble cast. Also yes, Han Yeo Jin is a lesbian, sorry, I don’t make the rules. 

Search: WWW  (2019, Written by Kwon Do-Eun, directed by Jung Ji-hyun & Kwon Young-il, starring  Im Soo-jung, Lee Da-hee, Jeon Hye-jin)

GOD. Where do I start? +1000 for writer Kwon Do-Eun saying “fuck the patriarchy” in the most grandiose way possible, i.e. absolutely refusing to acknowledge that it exists. Yes, this is that power fantasy, and it’s also a fun, slice-of-life  tale about three women navigating their way through work, romance, national politics and everything in between. It’s true that I wasn’t entirely sold on the amount of time spent on the romance, and I really wish they’d actually had a textual wlw romance, though the subtext through the entire series is PRACTICALLY TEXT. But still, it maintains that veneer of plausible deniability and I think queer fans who are sick of that kind of treatment in media have a very valid grouse against the show. On the other hand, personally I felt that the queer-platonic vibe of the show is very wonderful and true to real life, and it was only reinforced by the ending. This is a show written by a woman for women (like me), and it shows. 

Hyena  (2020, Written by Kim Roo-Ri, directed by Jang Tae-yoo & Lee Chang Woo, starring  Kim Hye-soo and Ju Ji-hoon )

Those of you who’ve been watching hit zombie epic Kingdom are probably familiar with Ju Ji-hoon’s brand of sexiness already. I had not watched Kingdom and got hit in the face by Mr.Sexy McSexyPants’ turn as a brash, privileged-by-birth, up and coming lawyer who gets completely runover by the smoking hot and incredibly dangerous fellow lawyer/competitor from the other side of the tracks in the person of Kim Hye-Soo. When I say they set the room on fire, I mean it, ok. Every single scene between these two is an actual bonfire of sexual attraction and emotional hand grenades, and they’re both absolutely riveting to watch. “Flower of Evil” wishes they had what this show has- an actual grown up romance as opposed to a thirteen year old twilight fan’s idea of an adult romance. 

The “lawyer” shenanigans and the “cases” are hit or miss, and I think the occasional comedy fell flat for me. But that’s not why I mainlined like 6 episodes of this series overnight like a coke addict, and that’s not why you’re going to do it either. It’s so RARE, even in these enlightened days to find a female character like Jung Geum-ja: hard as nails, unapologetic about it, and not punished by the narrative for it. The best part for me is that she feels like a woman’s woman, not a man’s idea of what a Strong Female Character should be. Anyways, when I grow up I want to have what Kim Hye-soo has ok?

Other dramas that I watched this year, quickly rated:

The King: Eternal Monarch (3/10 and those 3 points are only for the combined goodness of second leads who deserved better- Jung Eun Chae, Woo Do Hwan and Kim Kyung Nam. Please head over to my AO3 and read my attempts to fix this garbage fire and rescue their characters from canon)

Flower of Evil (-10/100, dont @ me)

Tale of the Nine Tailed (5/10, I think it succeeds at what it set out to do, which is a light hearted, sweet fantasy-romance-melodrama, plus “second lead” Kim Beom will make you cry as the hot mess of a half human/ half fox spirit ALL TEARS character. I think if you’re into kdrama romances as a genre, this is probably a good bet?)

Signal  (7/10,  This was the first full kdrama I watched this year and would definitely recommend. It’s a police procedural with time travel shenanigans and has an engaging plot, good pacing, texture and compelling performances. My one disappointment with it was the way they wrote Kim Hye-soo’s character. As literally the only female character to survive in any way, she was given short shrift, and toward the end it really began to grate on me.)

Six Flying Dragons - (7/10, also would recommend if you’re interested in Korean historicals. It definitely already feels a bit dated in terms of styling and production values, and even scripting and acting choices. But it has a good balance of fantasy and history and political commentary. I was not a fan of Yoo In-Ah’s performance in this series, but it’s not anything that would make you want to nope out of the series. It’s GoT , if GoT was thoughtful about politics and characters and not the misogynist, racist trashfire that it became.)

My Country: The New Age - (3.5/10, and that’s 3 points to Jang Hyuk’s fan and 0.5.points to Woo Do Hwan’s heaving bosom. If you like your historical drama/fantasy with very pretty men, very gay subtext -seriously RIP to show makers who thought they could hetero it but didn’t account for Woo Do Hwan’s Tragic Face- lots of blood and tears and very nonsense plot, this is right up your alley. I probably would have enjoyed it more in other circumstances, I think? But this one just annoyed me too much at the time! 

I have a couple of more dramas to watch on my list, that’ll probably carry me over into 2021, so see ya on the other side! :D

[k0-gane]

hey y’all. my friend asked why vld sucked this season so i ended up writing on junior thesis on that instead (not really but. may as well be) so i thought i’d share it here.

i tried to keep it as unbiased towards ships as possible, but with the way s8 began, i couldnt keep it entirely unbiased.

first off, rushed romantic plots that add nothing to the story. like at this rate no one gives a shit that it wasnt klance or anything, its just the fact that it came out of *nowhere.* it had no build up, and the voice actors and producers said there would be ONE romantic subplot, and that it would be slow burn, and give lance "what he needs, not what he wants." we got neither. it was the girl who hed been oogling over since the beginning, who showed no interest in him the entire time. up until some random episode in s7? for like half a second. first episode of s8 is them going on a date and its all just very one sided and icky. he's like "oh man i love u" and allura isnt showing ANY interest what so ever and it just feels. wrong and lazy.

so they get together, fast forward through a bunch of episodes that are PAINFULLY BORING. by the end of it, they kill off allura for *no reason.* and destroy any strong character traits she had (which they already did with the allurance arc, since she was always portrayed as someone very independent). i didnt even like her that much as a character but even i can see how they fucked that up?

did i mention how slow and boring it was. not as bad as s7 but jesus fuck i had to skip some parts of the episodes.

for the past like... 3 seasons, theyve made voltron irrelevant. its supposed to be the strongest weapon in the universe, emphasized *so many times.* but then suddenly. everyone and their mother has something that is equal or greater in strength than voltron. at first it makes sense, with lotor's version, he built it with allura before saying "lmao sike!!" but ofc heroes always win despite a Hard and Rough fight. then next season, they return to Earth, and theyre EXTREMELY behind all the other races that the paladins have come across. yet look at that. they have something similar to voltron, and Shiro ends up captaining it. its also much larger (albeit not as agile) but it does the same as lotor's version and the original voltron. goes from ships to one big mecha. then we have the robeasts for s8. which theres i think 5 or 6 of them. wow. great. they dont do the whole ship to mecha thing, but are built the same way as the other 3 things to my understandings.

what makes voltron "the most powerful weapon in the universe" if anyone can manufacture it?

end of s8! lance suddenly becomes altean, with absolutely NO explanation. was he always part altean? but that wouldnt make sense, since its emphasized a whole lot that his family is just cuban, with absolutely no alien origins. is it like some sort of disease that transferred onto him? is allura's spirit supposedly living inside him? we were never told. so that's fun.

he also becomes a fucking farmer at the end. he was the guy who was always like "im gonna be the best pilot ever, no matter what!!!" and that was his only dream to be a fighter pilot. why the fuck would he throw it away to be a farmer? its just.. wh??

also they threw away everything that i loved about keith, but that had been happening for the past few seasons. he's basically a carbon copy of shiro now.

lastly for salt in the wound: they tried to clean up the whole shiro being gay thing. they added him getting married to some nameless character guy at the end. it was basically a "haha look! see! we told you he was gay! there's the rep that you guys wanted and that we claimed you'd get!" for context, they claimed that the rep in voltron would satisfy the viewers.