#800 Values for New Era Human Being

[jiejing-lifechanyuan]

Chinese-English-Thai: Value 5 of 800 Values for New Era Human Being+ ChatGPT Translation

[lifechanyuan]

Now We Must Be Superhuman

Deiform Buddha

The Chanyuan Celestials, armed with Lifechanyuan values, are no longer ordinary people; they are superhumans. Our ultimate "big boss" is the Greatest Creator. With the Greatest Creator as our foundation and guided by Jesus Christ, Buddha Shakyamuni, Sage Laozi, and Prophet Muhammad, we represent the most civilized, exceptional, rational, and wise beings on Earth.

In the future, humanity will be led and managed by the Chanyuan Celestials. Can we rely on the United Nations? Or on nations like the United States, China, Japan, Germany, or the United Kingdom? Can religions such as Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, or Hinduism guide us? What about political parties or spiritual leaders? None of these can truly lead humanity forward. Only Lifechanyuan and the Chanyuan Celestials are capable of taking on this responsibility.

Therefore, every Celestial must become a superhuman, capable of leading as a president in their own right.

To usher in the Lifechanyuan Era—a world where "the worthy are not overlooked," "the world is one family”, "No one picks up what isn’t theirs on the road, and doors are left unlocked at night," where harmony prevails, and everyone lives joyfully, freely, and happily—we must step up as leaders. All powers must yield to Lifechanyuan, and all people must live according to the guidance of the Chanyuan Celestials. What people understand, we will implement; what they do not understand, we will enforce—there is no room for negotiation.

Humanity has endured millennia of suffering. This cannot continue. From the hands of the Chanyuan Celestials, a new world, a new era, a new way of life, and a new mode of living must emerge.

The relationship between Lifechanyuan as a whole and each individual Celestial is akin to that of a transformer. Together, the Celestials form a colossal entity; separately, they are self-sufficient, functional units.

Every Celestial must now become a Xuefeng. Within Lifechanyuan, Xuefeng continues to guide the Celestials. Outside Lifechanyuan, each Celestial serves as a guide to the world. The current five hundred Celestials effectively embody five hundred Xuefengs.

We have organized 800 Chanyuan values from the Chanyuan Corpus. These values not only define the worldview, values, and outlook on life and LIFE of the Celestials but must also serve as the guiding framework for all of humanity. We will spread these ideas globally. According to the three elements of consciousness, structure, and energy, Lifechanyuan’s values represent the consciousness. From this consciousness, we must create a corresponding structure; without structure, energy cannot be anchored.

As outlined in The Lifechanyuan Overview, this structure includes a General Director as the World President and 256 Branch Director as regional governors. Its operational program follows the design by the Yang Saint. Currently, Deiform Buddha oversees consciousness, Foshan Buddha handles overall leadership, Qiankun Buddha designs the program, and Taiji Buddha oversees its operation, with each Celestial finding their appropriate position within this framework.

Good intentions alone are insufficient. Effective measures and methods are essential. History has shown us this. Buddhism and Christianity had good intentions, but without proper measures and methods, their impact was limited. Similarly, achieving the Lifechanyuan Era through force is impossible, as evidenced by the downfall of the Third Reich in Germany and Japan. Violent class struggles have also proven ineffective, as the failure of global communist movements illustrates. Authoritarian rule through religious governance is not the answer either, as shown by the current state of the Islamic world. Even democratic debate and voting fail to produce effective results, as demonstrated by the conditions of the United Nations and the United States.

What we need is unified will combined with individual joy and freedom—an approach aligned with Lifechanyuan’s values.

Faced with a fragmented humanity, how can we bring about unity of will? First, we must recognize that the era of humanity’s future is undoubtedly the Lifechanyuan Era. This transformation is an inevitable, objective process, not subject to individual will. No person, organization, or nation can halt this trend. Our role as Celestials is to facilitate this transformation.

We do not rely on weapons, battles, or sacrifice. We implement change as if playing a “household game,” quietly and effortlessly—sitting, standing, lying down, or simply thinking. We eliminate potential threats from afar and address hidden dangers imperceptibly.

Let me illustrate this with a recent example, verified by Canghai Buddha.

Some time ago, Xiaoxi was slandering Lifechanyuan and me, Xuefeng, on Boxun. I told Canghai Buddha, “This individual is too brazen. Let’s give him three days of angina as a reminder.” Soon after, Xiaoxi disappeared from Boxun. To confirm the "miracle," I wrote an article titled Without Xiaoxi's Arrogance, I'm Feeling Lonely and posted a follow-up comment in our community asking if Xiaoxi’s heart pain had subsided. A few days later, it was confirmed that Xiaoxi had indeed suffered heart issues.

This is the power of thinking. I can cause blindness, deafness, bone fractures, illnesses, accidents, or even make individuals vanish. Those who oppose Lifechanyuan will be silenced, and if necessary, driven to madness.

I hope all Celestials will develop this ability. Cleaning up the trash shouldn’t fall on my shoulders alone. Together, we can create a beautiful homeland.

Good remains good, even if it appears evil; evil remains evil, even if it appears good

As long as we uphold Lifechanyuan’s values and act for the Lifechanyuan Era, all we do is righteous and correct.

When practicing this mental power, begin with weaker targets. For example, make mice relocate, compel someone to turn around unexpectedly, or cause someone to laugh or cry without reason. Gradually, align the world around you with your will. As a rule, avoid harming life unless absolutely necessary. Remember, all forces—material or nonmaterial—have counterforces. Do not let these counterforces backfire.

The theme of this article is that we must now become superhuman. We must escape the sea of suffering ourselves and save others from it. If we do not become superhuman, we are like clay Buddhas crossing a river—unable to protect ourselves.

How to become superhuman? Start with those around you. Gradually influence everyone you interact with to live according to your will—the values of Lifechanyuan. Confront obstacles by removing them mentally. Envision yourself piloting an airplane, crashing through barriers—not physically, but mentally.

For kind, honest, simple, hardworking, and trustworthy individuals, offer them the greatest possible freedom and happiness. For the wicked, enforce the greatest possible constraints. Treat the righteous with righteous methods, and the wicked with strict methods. Never treat the righteous with strict methods, and never treat the wicked with righteous methods.

When dealing with loved ones, use gentle persuasion to keep them happy every day, and exercise the greatest patience in waiting for their transformation. Avoid arguments and confrontation. Instead, take on more household chores, fulfill your responsibilities, and do your utmost to free yourself from any lingering concerns or attachments. Repay any debts as soon as possible, so your heart will be free of guilt. In this way, when the opportunity arises, we can depart for the Celestial Islands Continent at any time.

Remember, life is merely a brief journey of LIFE through the human world, like playing a game. Incorporate everything into this game and play along.

Congratulations to everyone for climbing over another great mountain. Submitting your “homework” was one such mountain. For those who have crossed it, let us continue our playful and joyful banter as we travel together toward the unfamiliar and distant lands. As for those who have not, let them stay on the other side of the mountain. Their ancestors, generation after generation, remained there their entire lives. Let them follow in their ancestors’ footsteps. But as for us, we shall no longer be trapped in the cycle of reincarnation.

[baichuancao]

800 Values for New Era Human Beings (No.621- No.630) #life #humanity

[adj4mp]

How would I do things differently as PM?

I don't think I'll ever be Prime Minister, even if I do become an MP I don't think I'm suited for the top job.

That said I do have the seeds of a plan.

Starting off I think that a lot of legislation is too partisan and it's too easy for one party or another to work in a way that delivers in the short term the things they believe helps the country most only for the next government to 'fix' it by ripping it all out and starting again. So much of the early years of legislation for a new government is focusing on putting 'right' things that were done 'wrong' by the previous governments. And the majority of the debates that are had are grandstanding on minor issues rather than co-operating on getting the best and most agreeable legislation for all involved.

If I were PM my first order of business would be finding the best economist from each party, the person who if their leader was PM, not me, would be their Chancellor of the Exchequer I'd want those 6 to 8 people to sit in a room and come up with one budget, I'd sit there and listen to all their arguments and the one that was most reasonable, the one that listened and came up with the best compromises, that person would be my Chancellor, but no budget or spending plan would be put forward until the majority of the people in that room agreed on it.

The next thing would be to appoint ministers for all the major government departments, there are 24 of these, and I'd appoint them to parties based on vote share and to individuals based on merit and passion. I would want to assemble the best cabinet from the available pool of applicants, ~650 MPs and ~800 Peers would all be considered for each of the 24 jobs they'd like to apply for. The principle here is that I want the best available government and the one that most represents the nation's will as a whole. I do not at all think that this is done by ignoring qualified candidates based on party lines.

I would encourage people to sit on the different sides of the house based on their stance on the current topic, you're either in support or opposition to that topic, MPs do not have to be always on one side or the other based on party loyalty.

The role of the leader of the opposition would be selected by every MP not in the government and could be reselected at any time outside of the chamber being used for official business. And they'd be encouraged to form a shadow cabinet that'd be maximally critical of governmental decisions.

This would be a huge shake-up from the way things have run up until this point but I think it'd produce legislation that most future governments could consider a reasonable foundation on which to build rather than starting again from scratch.

As for my personal direction, I'd encourage all decision-making to look towards the future and do the most good for the most people now and for as far as we can foresee. Not one of us should be considered saints by history, we're not visionaries or people who did things especially well, I'd like to be seen as the best that the era had to offer, but still human and flawed and ultimately as holding views and ideals that were archaic and broken, in the same way we can look at history and go isn't it daft how many powerful men ignored the plight and value of women, or how many landowners failed to see the value in the common worker.

[back2themax]

Dark Fate: who was this movie for?

I’m serious. Who was this movie for because it definitely wasn’t fans of the franchise.

Now, I’m a firm believer that the movies should have ended after T2. (I’m also a fan of the original, conclusive, end.) it was a contained and personal story that didn’t leave a lot of wiggle room for more movies. Terminator is different in that it had a specific story it wanted to tell and it did in two movies. Unlike alien or other sci-fi horrors which are really body count movies- maximum carnage and the main character lives on for another movie. Terminator was never about the body count/explosions. While I don’t think they should’ve made more movies I do think there was a lot of stories you could pull from the universe. (None of the sequels do it or do it particularly well.)

All of the sequels have something of value , even if they aren’t great movies. There’s always a concept or a bit of lore I really enjoy. At the end of the day they always disappoint because there’s always that spec of good in there. potential they never utilize. But with Dark fate I’m struggling to find that good.

—

I want to state out of the gate that I’m not doing this review to be “salty” or do anything In bad faith, but purely out of frustration as someone who’s a fan of the franchise. One of the spots the movie suffers in is that, none of its choices feel particularly justified? They have all this happening without a clear reason and it leads to the choice of the main 2 new cast members being women feeling straight out of the “2016 #girlboss all men are evil” era of movies. It feels like Sarah’s “men like you.” Speech. It feels like they’re women because the directors wanted to seem cool or progressive rather than actually having a plan or character in mind. Like a lot of reboots and sequels in the more modern age it feels the need to shit on the original in the most? Bad faith way possible? “In the original she was only there because she’s a mom and helpless woman - that’s so bad we’re cool, we say fuck!” It’s desperate and a really bad take on the original as Sarah was never ‘just the mother of the savior’ and yes? She was helpless… because it’s so expressly clear she’s a regular human being with all of this happening around her and trying to kill her it’s - the first step I character development? Her trauma is what made her into the badass mom in the second film. She was always so much more then “mother Mary” and that line makes me- ick- it’s so out of character I can’t—

It feels like the horrible Hollywood take of “if a woman isn’t perfectly badass and Indestructible from the beginning it’s sexist” this movie acts like it’s revolutionary for a woman to curse.

Why not just make a reboot/ it doesn’t justify itself as a reboot-

So, it’s another attempt at rebooting the franchise after the attempt in 2015. Except that… if you want to reboot why not just make a full on reboot with these new characters this new future etc? They keep Sarah and a T-800 around to basically “remember how good the original timeline was? Sucks it’s gone now” and show off their acting skills (which, I love Linda and Arnie and they preformed great with .. a less then stellar script but they didn’t need a movie to just show off) and keeping character’s from the OG timeline around after being displaced is ripped straight from Genysis besides the fact.

So this new timeline, doesn’t exactly justify itself. What makes Legion , Dani and Grace different? It’s a few name changes and a few tech changes but ultimately the same story except. Dani as Sarah , Grace as Kyle and they’re both John somehow? Dani more clearly as she’s the Ressistance leader and Grace because she’s her adopted kid!

Speaking of which … I never use the word “queerbait” as I’ve yet to watch anything to really do so but this is the dictionary definition. You’d assume they’d be a couple or have some kind of romance since they fill the original roles but it turns out- Dani is the adopted mother of Grace. Which- seeing how many people ship them… are we all ignoring that? Because I’m uncomfortable.

There’s not anything to really make it stand on its own. It’s still- future war, destined leader, must protect them. There’s no major enough difference to say why we need this new cast, new world etc. with genysis- I’ll give it props as there is MAJOR changes to how things go VS the og timeline- like Sarah growing up under a terminator, zombie mind controlled John Connor etc - this one is just “what if girls.” It particularly ercs me because Dani is basically a adult John Connor how he should have always acted. Sweet, caring but takes no shit- has a lot of faith and trust in humanity, has the skills etc … except her speeches aren’t nearly as strong not growing up with Sarah ( “fuck fate” I’m trembling..)

Something I did like-

Quick break of positivity before I go back to , almost ranting about this movie and it’s weird as hell choices. Something I liked in this movie was the Rev 9

It is a combo of skeleton and liquid metal which can break and fight simultaneously with the same ‘brain’ as well as imitate clothes without stealing them. It is the most human of the terminator’s we seen and has to be the perfect infiltrator. Now the combo isn’t new as the TX had been around, but frankly not as impressive. And see we know the rev 9 is from legion because “black instead of silver metal” oooo. Another shot I LOVE is with the chain, breaking his jaw and how GRACES SKIN LITERALLY RIPS OPEN ?! But they don’t focus on the shot and it’s ?! No! That was good! That was great! Focus on that! What-

Carl was also enjoyable but he will never quite be on the level of Bob or Pops for me. However his intense conversation about room design and the inclusion of a Dyson is 👌

Too much at their hands, they’re a resistance not army-

This is more something that applied to all of the sequels but here especially. It’s a human resistance not the full armed forces! They have… way to much. Way more then they should? In the original it was kinda established to be maybe 40 people and a old jeep it’s not the marines people! Idk they just keep getting more militant and more powerful and more tech ??? Why? How’d they get this stuff the world is 90% rubble. Also billions were whipped out how is there so many of you - certainly not EVERY survivor is fighting. Also a issue with salvation but they really really shouldn’t have any sort of air unit- if your in the air your shot dead in seconds it’s obvious to see you - the whole point is to hide and fight low and I’m- my head hurts. Also ??? A problem with all sequels after T2 but everyone’s making the future way to bright? Seriously why is it like bright white outside. Where’s my dark blues and shadows - not only for aesthetic but smoke, smog, aftermath. There’s no way it could be that bright out.

So the “human with augmentation’s” makes no fucking sense. I’m sorry. Your fighting machines and your first thought to fight back is “let’s put one inside of somebody” ??????? Hello? Not to mention how they make it sound like a established thing but all it is , is a allergic reaction time bomb. “We heard your allergic to Nickel. So we replaced your knees with Nickel” if they last 2-3 hours tops? What is the point. If they run into a problem they’re dead. That’s the worst fucking plan I’ve ever seen in my life. Like half the movie Grace is Nerfed and is more of a hinderance to everyone then a help. 3 people are dying and she has to take her epipen. Girl-

Grace-

Congrats terminator franchise. I’ve never hated a character before in my life but now I hate two (#1 spot will forever be Kate Brewster.) seriously can someone tell me if we’re supposed to LIKE Grace? I’m genuinely asking because she is so despicable the entire movie. The Rev 9 acts more human then her! She’s just a dick. That’s it. That’s her whole character is to yell and growl and scream the whole movie. She’s the best. She’s the smartest. No one else knows anything. How dare you speak in her presence.

She’s not a protector. She’s abusive. I’m almost happy it’s not romance because that’d be so much worse. “Your cannot talk to people who are not me. You cannot have friends. You cannot try to help yourself, your weak. You can’t help anyone. You can’t leave my sight. You can’t move.” That’s not protection that’s ownership. She is so unnecessarily rude to Sarah for no reason. Sarah had long since proved herself trustable, had explained herself SEVERAL times- she’s from a timeline that never happened (in this world) she’s lost, bitter and mourning a world she’s starting to forget. She knows how much this sucks and is a comfort to Dani and Grace loses her absolute shit on this woman because how dare Dani talk to or take comfort in anyone but her.

It’s to the point she is so rude that any time there’s a point we’re supposed to sympathize? I can’t. She’s your mother figure? Not a remote excuse to act how you do. You realize that there helping right? Maybe they’re trying to do a War ruined person take- but they’re doing PTSD extremely poorly compared to the great examples we already get in the franchise? Kyle Reese and Sarah Connor. We see them at their lowest, we see them scream and bark and freak out but we also see the soft. We see the calm, we see the kindness and humanity at the center of their being. They’re actually characters- there’s nuance! Grace is just - we see two flashbacks and they expect us to forgive and forget her behavior in the entire fucking movie. She learns nothing. She doesn’t change or grow or - it’s frustrating.

Sarah-

This is getting long so I’m going to keep it brief. While I love her performance, I feel like there was some serious character assassination? Not only making her do the “mother Mary” talk but also the fact that this woman would never forget John if you killed her. While it is a powerful angst filled moment and I can love it for that- it’s both out of character and outright untrue. John had a entire box filled with photos she took and sent to him, some of him too. And even if not- his foster parents had photos, the news had photos etc - her never taking a photo is a lie and it’s frustrating. But I like that she gets to connect with Dani? She’s seen herself in the same situation and to quote “it SUCKS” she’s a tough love mother figure and it’s nice to see her like that again? Even if the movie treats her like dirt.

Ps- shouldn’t have killed John Connor for multiple reasons but especially since it was unjustified in the timeline it created and LITERALLY MADE THE ORIGINAL TWO MOVIES POINTLESS along side Sarah and Carl - also because he’s my boy… it’s personal.

[nutty1005]

Xiao Zhan: It’s Your Turn

Translator’s Note: This article comes from VogueMe Magazine 2020 Feb Issue.

Currently, the trend in the entertainment business is to get famous overnight, the statistics dictate everything – a drama, a variety show, a song… all of which could give birth to a super idol, fame, commercial value and opportunities that come along with it. In 2019, the drama “The Untamed”, adapted from an internet novel, became this window of opportunity. This is the story of a young man who received the opportunity. And like other idols created by their era, his fanbase grew immensely, radiating throughout the youth, his name etched in time. All of these simply points to this – it’s now Xiao Zhan’s turn.

1

The summer of 2015, Xiao Zhan had not yet realized that he was going to job switch from the design firm opened by his teacher. The teacher did not feel so as well – as Xiao Zhan left for the talent search variety show, he told him, “Go play, come back to work once you’ve been eliminated.”

The show was called “X-FIRE”, and positions itself as a large scaled youth talent development inspirational show. During broadcast, the description says “16 secretly trained youths painstakingly selected from a few thousand 16-24 year olds”. At that time, Xiao Zhan was 23 years old – nearing the upper age limit.

Xiao Zhan just wanted to “play around a bit”. He felt that he would be just touring for a round, and he would be back after a week. As the former class Cultural Committee Member in his university, Xiao Zhan loved singing, won quite a few inter-school cultural activities awards, but never trained in dance-singing. Xiao Zhan, who graduated in graphic design, learnt drawing since young, but never thought of becoming an artist, because “it is hard to survive as an artist, you still need to earn a living”. He was willing to lead a simple life and go to work everyday, with a direct and clear life plan – as a graphic designer, do his work well, then open his own firm.

The summer 4 years later, the name “Xiao Zhan” meant a lot of different things – a member of a pop group, the lead actor of one of the most popular drama, the owner of a Weibo account with more than 22million followers, or as what Chinese entertainment business puts it – a “top traffic”. The topics and imagery surrounding him includes – Xiao Zhan’s looks, Xiao Zhan’s design talent, Xiao Zhan’s professionalism, Xiao Zhan’s role as Wei Wuxian…

And like the other idols who broke out in this era, he has his own set of records – moderators of Bilibili (a video hosting site in China) nagged that his drama fans uploaded so much of his videos that they “almost see him 800 times a day”, Xiao Zhan was jokingly proclaimed as “The Man who caused the Bloodbath of Bilibili”; he became the cover person of a magazine, and the two mobile sales platform app broke down consecutively on the day of the sales; his popularity in 2020 only got higher – on 9 Jan, according to Tian Mao statistics (TN: Taobao eShopping Mall), the Portrait magazine, where he was the cover person, sold out 100,000 copies in 3 seconds, overall sales exceeding 13million Chinese yuan, a poster was spread all around the internet with the accompanying text “a fandom that brought paper media back from its grave” – this is the Xiao Zhan statistics.

But different from the breakout idols, Xiao Zhan did not encounter major controversies (TN: This was published early Feb), and his career did not seem to go through much fluctuations. He never thought that he would be at this point – “Sometimes you’re not ready, but life has already pushed you to ahead. What you can do is to quickly keep up with the pace.” He is now at the stage where any of his actions are “studied under a magnifying glass”, but he feels that his stress levels are not as high as his previous few years, “the past few years, I had the drive but nowhere to use that, now I know how to work hard.”

2

During the initial auditions, Xiao Zhan still continued to work as per normal, go onstage – sing – leave, which was quite fun. After the selection down to 32 persons, he did not think much of it, and left his work to go to Beijing to practice the dance for the variety show. After the selection down to 16 persons, he practiced everything – dancing, vocals and flexibility training.

He did not think much of what would happen later. The winter in Beijing was especially cold, after the show recording, it would be around 3am or 4am, and there would be fans waiting for him outside of the studio – Xiao Zhan felt quite sorry for them, “All are young girls, it’s so cold and so dark.” He felt surreal having fans. When the 16 of them went to Zhejiang TV “Running 2016” New Year Eve performance, he saw the stage and felt that it was especially big and he was especially happy, and kept making sure he remembered the moves so as not to make any mistakes. After the final battle, Xiao Zhan’s team lost, but he and a few of his teammates were rescued by fan votes.

In 2016, Xiao Zhan debuted as part of X-Nine. During the signing of the contract, Xiao Zhan finally realized that he was going to make a career switch. “When you look at it now, 23 year old is also still a child, but no one took me as a child then.” – Xiao Zhan was the oldest in the group, he made his own decision to sign the contract, he thought that if it did not work out, he could go back to work, there was no need for him to paint himself into a corner.

3½ years after his debut, Artist Xiao Zhan still had to explain to interviewers his obsession with going to work. That day, he had a pimple on the left side of his face, and the makeup artist was applying essences on his face. The makeup room was simply a curtained area in the basement of the Art Gallery, full of passing staff, the editor was discussing the shooting schedule with his manager, the stylist was here delivering clothes, and he sat there with his eyes closed, allowing others to apply whatever it is on his face.

Xiao Zhan’s eyes are long, and also wide, he is very fair and his side profile is graceful and beautiful. With his looks, one would imagine that his personality would be cooler, more introvert, with mild melancholy, like those prince-like male leads in romantic dramas. But his personality does not really match his looks – he is serious, disciplined, he does not talk much initially, but overall he is a relaxed person, and quite funny occasionally.

“A lot of art students do not want to go to work,” the interviewer said. Xiao Zhan learnt drawing since young, some of his happiest moments in his childhood would be to win drawing awards or to have his works praised by his teachers, other unimportant happy moments includes had a good lunch, went to an amusement park, or had a liking for a girl in high school.

“They never went through the society school of hard knocks,” Xiao Zhan said. He described himself as someone who went through “quite a fair bit of knocking”. Since young, his father thought him to be independent, taught him budgeting, and told him stories about Bill Gates’s children… “I wanted to say, god, you’re not Bill Gates.” Despite all these, Xiao Zhan stopped using his parents’ money ever since his university graduation.

Xiao Zhan not only learnt drawing, he also learnt violin, go and Chinese calligraphy… pushed him to study in “National Key” middle school, “National Key” high school (TN: National Key refers to the top range of schools in China). He was an obedient child, but as a standard art student, Xiao Zhan was better in humanity subjects, and his math was not good, hence all the while he had always been the mid-bottom of the pack, which worried his family of 3 quite a fair bit.

Studying graphic design in university, Xiao Zhan felt that his university life was quite comfortable – everyday before class he would adjust himself a bit, although in the end it seemed like it did not work well after all, but at least his results were decent. Xiao Zhan emphasized that he was “definitely not the school hottie”. He was a good student. After he had learnt what the teachers taught, he started a studio on the side. The design studio would take on poster and logo design work; the photography studio only have 3 persons, Xiao Zhan did the photo taking, the other 2 did lighting. Before graduation he went to intern in a design firm, hence it was easy for him to find a job. Within a year of working, his monthly salary was around 4,000 to 5,000 Chinese Yuan, which would quite alright for Chongqing at that point in time.

Being part of a boy group releasing albums, shooting web dramas. The way to do things right was quite different from his previous job – his characterization in the group is a warm guy, although Xiao Zhan did not like characterization, he seriously fulfilled his role, and he was obedient. When someone in the variety show suggested that he lose some weight, he replied “I’m quite thin already I still have to lose weight”. As a commoner, Xiao Zhan was 183cm and 150lbs, his mother would always say he was too thin, and he felt so himself as well. That person showed him the film, “the camera lens is a really scary thing, I literally looked like a ball”. It was not easy for Xiao Zhan to lose weight, so he did it brutally. He was so hungry that he dreamed that he was eating. Xiao Zhan is now 127lbs, but this was not his thinnest.

“How was it like after debut?” “Unoccupied.” (TN: Xiao Zhan used the Chinese phrase “picking at his feet” to describe the state of emptiness.) Xiao Zhan’s words were paced and gentle, most were caught unawares by the sudden switch to casual humor, he might not be laughing, after others laughed he would continue his conversation seriously.

After his debut, he felt that he was freer than the times when he was still an intern. But he did not allow himself to stay free, he took vocal and dancing lessons, making sure that he could do sing-dancing to the best of his abilities. But he was still a bit lost – when he was still a designer, his future was clear and straight, but after his debut he had no clue where his future led to.

3

“I could count the number of dramas I’ve acted in with my fingers,” Xiao Zhan said. After which, he started counting them – “Battle through the Heavens”, “The Wolf”, “Oh! My Emperor”, “The Untamed”, “Joy of Life”, “Jade Dynasty”, “The Oath of Love”… the earliest work “Super Star Academy” was not counted – It was shot with his boy group, he was still fat, and he had no clue what he was doing.

Acting was his own idea. When he started auditioning he had not even attended any performance classes, he saw the director, took a piece of paper that indicated the scene and lines, and just went for it. Xiao Zhan did not feel that it was awkward, it was something he wanted to do, so he would do so without any inhibitions, and grasp every opportunity to do so. Singing was something that he always liked, his first single after debut was a song voted by his fans. With the stage and his fans, with attention, he would always want to do it better. Acting was something totally foreign to him.

The first turning point was “The Wolf”. When auditioning, within 2 hours, Xiao Zhan had tried many roles – the bounty hunter who was threatening someone, the prince whose brother was about to be executed… Xiao Zhan won the role of the bounty hunter – the 4th character on the character roll, Ji Chong. During the pre-shoot training he was still acting in “Battle through the Heavens”, daytime he would be shooting, nighttime he would be having performance classes. He did not feel it was tough then, as long as he had time to sleep. “Work is something I am willing to do, I will only feel very motivated, tomorrow must be done better than today.” Xiao Zhan liked Wei Wuxian, felt that he was vivid. When acting, during the first month he would be second guessing himself everyday, is the portrayal accurate? Would the audience accept it? Xiao Zhan checked with the director everyday. After a month, he stopped asking, he felt that he was Wei Wuxian. Dramas adapted from web novels are rarely positively received, his hopes for Wei Wuxian was that “I hope people would not dislike the character because of my acting”.

The summer of 2019, the drama aired, and the real turning point arrived.

Billions of fans, frequent trending topics on Weibo, appearing on multiple magazine covers and even causing the sales platform app to crash…

He is one of the few artists in Weibo that sets his account as “only posts in the past 6 months are viewable”, but it did not affect his popularity. His interaction with his fans are witty, the statistics are more than enough to attract attention. Last year on the Chinese Valentine’s Day (TN: 7th of the 7th Lunar month), he posted a photo informing his fans that he had put on weight, his pants folded up, legs in the swimming pool. One of his fans replied, “Fine, good to know that your leg hairs are doing fine.” This reply was boosted to the top with 190,000 likes.

“After watching ‘The Untamed’ and ‘Joy of Life’ and then meeting you, I feel like you are very similar to your performance method, calm. You are like an AI, whatever you do you’re especially precise.” “You’re highly professional.” The interviewer concluded.

At the start of the conversation, Xiao Zhan just finished an exterior photo shoot, we were both seated, leaning forward and warming hands above the radiator. He said, “Artist is just a job, I don’t like artists to place themselves on a pedestal, just like today you are the reporter who is interviewing me, today I am someone being interviewed. Cooperation, is just so that we can complete our jobs, coming in for the photo shoot is my job today, every single staff is also executing this job, it’s just the role is different.” Because he went through the society “school of hard knocks”, he respected and understood the truth behind teamwork.

As someone who once had to face clients, he knew how it felt as someone at the receiving end of endless unreasonable requests, and therefore he did not want to be someone like that. His standards for work is consistent – high efficiency, good results, everyone is happy, no one has to serve another person. Also “once I am done I will knock off, after I knock off no one should come find me, let me be alone.”

“Everyone works to fulfill their needs, they have entertainment after they knock off, they have freedom and privacy. As a public figure, artist, the product is yourself, the works are also yourself. You have to output materials, contribute works, and then gain the opportunity to grow, for higher social status, value and better lifestyle. For some people, besides their career, they also included their dreams,” the interviewer said.

“The understanding is very thorough. You win some, you lose some, after becoming a public figure it meant that there are multiple pairs of eyes staring at you, anything you do would be judged. Whether it is positive or misguided. Truth and falsehoods, isn’t this circle just like this? Whether the rumors or the gossip is true or false, who knows?” Xiao Zhan said.

4

On 5 Jan 2020, Xiao Zhan was working in a sculpture garden in Shanghai Songjiang, shooting a series of photographs to be the cover of VogueMe. It was cold, the gallery’s doors were open, and the wind blew from the first floor to the basement. Everyone was wearing winter jackets.

In the morning, beside the metal sculpture on the first floor, Xiao Zhan and model Chen Yu faced the camera separately. As the shutters rolled, they did not exchange glances or touch each other. As the photographer requested the model to sit on the ground, Xiao Zhan said his only sentence to her, “Careful your head.” and used his hands to shield her head from the protruding portion of the sculpture.

That day’s Weibo opening advertisement was also Xiao Zhan. As per the photographer’s request, he tilted his head up slightly and gave a cold gaze, or side glancing a faraway place, but also at the same time, he was smiling sweetly on mobile phone screens, promoting a series of instant food products.

In the afternoon, the team went to the exterior, to a concrete sculpture beside the gallery entrance, where he and the model stood in front of, facing the camera. The arm was on the model’s shoulders, and the two of them looked at the camera – he was even thinner than the model. In yet another set, the staff erected a ladder to one of the rooftop grass patches on the gallery buildings. An ice cold rock slab was selected, which the assistant padded using a jacket, and tested the light levels. After which, it was Xiao Zhan’s turn. He was wearing a red jacket with blue shirt, wearing a baseball cap, lying on his side on the rock slab, supporting his head with his arm. In between shoots, the assisted would hand him a long wool top, with deep blue diamond checks, quite thin. The top was flipped over, he slipped his hands into the sleeves to protect the front of his body, his assistant handed over another water bottle that contained warm mineral water to warm his hands. Xiao Zhan basically did not speak, he placed the bottle on his neck to gain some warmth.

An artist’s job, the profession included losing weight, staying hungry, freezing and staying up overnight, wearing winter clothes in summer is the norm, not drinking water prior to any shoots to prevent water bloating on screen… people who do those well may become famous, if they look good or are lucky they may become even more famous. Now Xiao Zhan has an opportunity, and like his previous job, he chose to be down-to-earth and do it well.

In the evening, the green screens were setup in basement 2 of the gallery. 17:44, Xiao Zhan was in position, his manager reminded the stylist to take note of the clothes’ proportion – “The sweater is too long.” Hence, the sweater was folded up. After the camera assistant brought down the Apple machines, the cameraman adjusted his machines, and started shooting the video. Quite a few scenes were done in one take, in the middle there was a break, the manager and the camera crew were discussing camera positions. This was the 10th hour of the shoot, Xiao Zhan sat behind the table, laid his head on a prop gift box and waited quietly – we could not see if he was tired or not.

The shoot ended, and the sky was already dark. Xiao Zhan has not yet knocked off. The media had ended their work, the manager was darting around, arranging for Xiao Zhan to change out and get on his car, to rush to his rehearsal that night – they were already behind schedule. Both teams bid their farewell, Xiao Zhan warm and gentle, still unclear whether he was tired. After less than an hour’s journey, he would need to go onstage to sing, and thereafter, his work would be to complete the costume testing of 20 different sets of clothes.

The Initial Cold

The time set for the shoot was 9am, Xiao Zhan arrived at the rural set at 8.30am. His overnight flight arrived only the day before, meeting Xiao Zhan on the cold morning of a deep southern winter, his spirits looked great, his face having the same kindness as usual. The endless job schedules taught him how to conserve his energy – no casual conversation, not even to his staff; take every opportunity to eat or rest; absolutely no procrastination, ensure efficiency, do his best to accommodate and complete every job. He is a highly disciplined and professional artist.

In this shoot, the warm, gentle smiles have been replaced by cold, sharp glares, the metal and concrete sculptures gave him a few minutes of inner emotions and narrative, his scenes with the model was almost like he was acting in the set of “Last Year at Marienbad”. Xiao Zhan displayed emotions and charm very different from usual self – this is the power of an actor. The darker filters and monochrome imagery restored the caution that the youth of his age would have, it was the concealed feelings of a sunny boy. With such an idol, not only he can warm your hearts, there are still much to expect from him.

[noragami-ru-manga]

Magatsukami. On Yato’s attitude towards his job

I might be a little late for the party with this kind of analysis (I mean, magatsukami who? we only know Yatogami-sama, the god of fortune). Still, have fun with this one *throws another lengthy-ass post at you*

`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

It probably won’t come as a surprise to anyone that my favorite character in Noragami is the noragami himself. I mean, what did you expect? Yato is an excellent protagonist who holds the narrative focus really well and whose character development is interesting to observe. A lot of things can be and have been written about him, his relationships with Father / Nora /Hiyori / Yukine / Kazuma / Ebisu / etc. What I want to examine is his attitude towards his calling of a magatsukami, or god of calamity, throughout his known life.

Past

I think it makes sense to start from the beginning, i.e. from Yato’s childhood, when his job was nothing but a game to him. Father created him to “cull the heard” and named him Yaboku. He knew what Father’s wish was from the start, even before he got Hiiro as his instrument. Naturally, there’s nothing to say about Yato’s attitude towards his role as a magatsukami at this point – little Yaboku probably doesn’t even know the term.  Here, Father is teaching him how to be a god – in his opinion, anyway.

Rule #1: gods can do whatever they want. Father teaches by example: Yaboku can come and take anything on display in the market without paying for it; since no one can see him, no one will notice anything missing, and if they do, they won’t know who stole from them. A nice little lesson, isn’t it?

Rule #2: gods must fulfill human wishes. Father means his own wish, of course, but divine instincts show through, so Yaboku regards any request as a wish/prayer – like when his victims beg for their lives, for example. Except Father’s wish (or Yaboku’s own wish to make his father happy) is stronger, so those prayers go unanswered.

That’s how Yaboku starts fulfilling his role thinking of it as merely a game. What’s curious is that he seems to have had doubts about Father’s wish before the very first “game”:

But even if he’s had those doubts before, they are completely gone when Father praises him. After that Yaboku hasn’t given much thought to what he’s doing, cause the more ears he brings home, the more Father praises him, and what else can a child dream of?  And as a child he also asks his innocent questions that make your skin crawl – e.g., how come there was another human inside the belly of a woman he “played” with?

That’s how it was before a nameless shinki stumbled upon Yaboku – a shinki whom he named Sakura and who started calling him Yato by mistake. Sakura starts teaching Yato right away, probably without even stopping to think where he got those disturbing habits in the first place. It’s understandable though since she hasn’t been a shinki for that long. Sakura doesn’t know much about the Far shore, including things that are crucial to her survival – like how the water from a spring can heal her blight; it’s unlikely that the thought of a god having a parent who’s raised him to be way he was would have crossed her mind. But she has some very strong views of good and evil, and she starts conveying them to Yato as well, and with a nice and clear reasoning at that. Sakura doesn’t tell him that stealing is wrong “because she said so” – she explains that taking others’ belongings and disrupting the established rules of human interactions by doing so will lead to driving other people away and being left all alone. Unfortunately, she doesn’t have time to teach Yato the value of human life before he takes her to “play” with him instead of Hiiro.

Of course, Sakura is shocked that Yato’s used her to just up and kill an unsuspecting man, so she stings him and runs away. However, she comes back after her conversation with Tsuyu regarding the nature of the gods and keeps teaching Yato to love and have sympathy for humans. Nevertheless, the incident with the man who was dragged by his horse shows just how much Father’s lessons are engraved in Yato’s brain. The first thing to come to his mind is to slay the horse; luckily, Sakura is fast enough to tell him that he’s supposed to cut the rope,  so the man is saved and Yato gets his first show of gratitude from a living human (Father doesn’t really count). From this point on, Yato is not as keen to go and “play” with Hiiro, but he doesn’t abandon his games completely because he still wants to be praised by Father.

So Yato keeps “playing” with Hiiro while also helping out humans with Sakura. It’s the beginning of recurring future situations when Yato will have other shinki whom he won’t use to fulfill Father’s requests and simply disappear for a while to do his job as a magatsukami instead.

It’s pretty obvious that Yato has never got over Sakura’s death – he prefers the name she’s given him, and he also gives his new shinki a part of her human name. But there’s something else to consider. When Sakura explains to Yato what shrines are for, she asks him to be respectful towards any and every wish, and he remembers that.

It’s the same thing he tells to Rabo in “The clash of the gods of calamity”. It’s hard to pinpoint when exactly this extra takes place, considering the only historical reference here is the Toshima clan, which existed in 8-15th centuries, and there’s no way I can determine the time period by people’s clothes. Knowing that Yato was born in 10th century doesn’t help much cause it means that the events of “The clash of the gods of calamity” could take place anytime between 10th and 15th century.

Anyway, for a small extra like this, quite a lot of things actually happen in “The clash…”. Yato is seemingly working on his own now. For the usual payment of five yen he is asked to avenge a girl who was robbed and killed by a female thug from her own village. He and Hiiro come upon some ayakashi-possessed bandits while looking for that woman. They try to kill Yato but fail cause he kills them first, without hesitation or regret.

By the way, the “clash” of the gods of calamity isn’t that much of a clash, really – Yato and Rabo simultaneously slay the last gang member and that’s how they get to know each other. Well, sometimes that happens.

I find the next scene very interesting though. Rabo is pouring wine to Yato’s cup, not knowing that the latter has never drunk the stuff before since Father thinks he’s too young for that. As soon as Yato hears Rabo saying that if his father forbids then he really shouldn’t be drinking, he chugs down the entire bottle. It shows how Yato is already trying to defy his father, even if it is with small acts like that since he’s unable to do much else. And Hiiro calling him Yato and not Yaboku proves that at this point Yato is refusing to go by the name his father has given him and uses the one Sakura’s made up instead. And as they say, drunkenness reveals what soberness conceals; so when Rabo expresses the thought that Yato’s impressive battle skills could attract the attention of samurai, Yato says the same thing Sakura said before, adding a little more of his (or rather, his father’s) thoughts to it.

And yes, Yato actually finds the woman he was tasked to kill by the victim’s brother, and brought back a kimono. After all, the brother’s wish not so much about killing that thug as. It was about bringing back the kimono that was stolen from his sister’s dead body so that she may rest in peace. The drunken confession and the situation with kimono show that Yato, who was torn between Father and Sakura as a child, has learnt to compromise. He will be doing what his father demands of him and fulfill his role of a magatsukami because Sakura asked him to treat every wish with respect.

We don’t know what Yato had been doing for the next 300-800 years. Chronologically, the next event in his life we know of is the slaughter of the Ma clan, which happened sometime 200 years prior to the events of the manga. By that time, nasty rumors about him have been going around on the Far shore.

How true the rumors of Yato’s avarice were is hard to judge. Apart from the Bubble era, when his customers would pay him in thousands of yens, he is shown to only ever take 5 yen per wish. Granted, he’s had some side jobs as well since saving up for his shrine by granting wishes only is pretty much impossible. He’s tried to become a pop-idol, has sold rhinoceros beetles and Bishamon doujins, but even in those cases his prices, apparently, would always fall to 5 yen in the end (or maybe that’s the price he’s wanted to have and simply used the old marketing ploy of fake discounts).

Or maybe what Kazuma refers to as avarice is Yato taking the money for the prayers in person and for every one of them.  After all, renowned gods have a different approach to granting wishes.  They can’t possibly respond to every single prayer left at their shrines, so there’s probably no clear proportion to the number of prayers heard and granted in their case. People simply pray to them and hope that one day their wish comes true and the gods try to grant those wishes whenever they can, but unlike Yato, they don’t actually appear in front of their believers.

Anyway, when Kazuma pleads him to slay the Ma clan, who are turning turning into ayakashi en mass, Yato does ask whether he can actually pay for his prayer. But when Kazuma answers that he’d rather return his name to his mistress than become a nora, Yato agrees to grant his wish without down payment.

If you really think about it, Yato didn’t have anything to gain from this particular job. Suppose Kazuma keeps his word and pays later, so what? He’s a shinki, not a living human; is there any point in granting the wish of someone who can’t help Yato spread his name among the living? The way I see it, Yato shouldn’t care whether other gods or their shinki know about him, as for him the only thing that matters is to be remembered by humans. It’s also not a job from his Father that he wouldn’t have the guts to turn down. And yet Yato takes the request anyway without even telling Kazuma how much he’ll have to pay. Maybe he thinks that Kazuma can figure out on his own that the price is 5 yen; or maybe he doesn’t intend to get the money at all.

The thing that caught my eye in the scene where Yato slays the Ma clan is his reaction to their deaths. He starts cutting them as usual but then stops and doesn’t want to continue, so Hiiro has to persuade him to keep going.

This whole situation is probably an unwelcome reminder that he had to mercy kill Sakura, who also turned into an ayakashi. I actually find it curious how Yato seems to make a distinction between shinki and humans. If we go back to his childhood again, he used to kill humans without giving much thought to the fact that dying kind of hurts. But he instantly recognized that Sakura was a shinki and helped her wash away her blight for no apparent reason. In other words, he knew what compassion was (which Tsuyu also noted when Yato came looking for Sakura to Sugawara-no-Michizane’s shrine) but he only felt it for shinki, not humans. Sakura was the one who made him extend that compassion to humans, too (I’m starting to think that this post should be renamed into “1000 and 1 reason why Sakura is awesome and deserves more love”). What I’m saying here is that maybe, apart from being reminded about Sakura’s fate, Yato is unwilling to kill Bishamon’s shinki because he’s started to value human lives less than shinki’s once again. After all, killing people is his job , and he has to do that a lot. Sakura may have taught him compassion towards humans, but at this point she’s been dead for the second time for like 800 years or so. Yato may have relearnt to not feel sympathy towards humans who he had to kill in order to grant other peoples’ wishes. Killing shinki deliberately, on the other hand, is not something he usually does, unless it’s in a fight with another god.

Anyway, Yato does finish the job and slays every shinki of the Ma clan but one, earning himself both a mortal enemy and his first friend.

Four years later Kazuma seeks out Yato to repay his debt, which only increases my suspicions that Yato had no intention of ever taking the money for killing Bishamon’s shinki. He even fails to recall who Kazuma is and needs to be reminded. Naturally, Kazuma has to ask why Yato, who was rumored to delight in murders, decided to help him. Yato’s answer is curt: Kazuma made a wish, he granted it, end of story. Later, when Yukine asks the same question, Yato responds with “because I wanted to”. I think that he says that automatically to protect Kazuma, who also acknowledges at one point that Yato could have admitted that he he’d killed the Ma clan because he was asked to but opted to silently run from Bishamon instead. It’s obvious that Yato doesn’t tell the whole truth on both occasions. It’s possible that he decided to grant Kazuma’s wish because he’d admired Bishamon since he was a kid and even was somewhat jealous of her power, so he wanted to help. But his main reason had to be Kazuma’s loyalty to Bishamon. Even back then Yato couldn’t keep his shinki from leaving him, and Hiiro has never belonged to him fully – not only was she a nora, out of all her masters she served Father first.

The last episode from Yato’s past before the events of the manga worth examining is meeting Daikoku and Kofuku. It happens around 1900’s; Daikoku is turning into an ayakashi because he’s got mad at Kofuku for releasing their surrogate son shinki Daigo, thinking that it would be better that way. Kazuma refers him to Yato saying that the latter can cut anything, even separate memories from their owner. Yato, who happens to have only a regular knife, not a shinki, pretends to do just that. The circumstances of their meeting are interesting to me cause they solidify a certain trend. It’s ironic that Yato’s job as a magatsukami gave him his first healthy relationships – first his unlikely friendship with Kazuma, who then introduced him do Daikoku (and through him with Kofuku) when Daikoku also sought help from the god of calamity.

In short, here’s a picture of Yato’s attitude towards his job as a magatsukami before the main plot of the manga. In his childhood, he was a god of calamity for a specific person and thought of his calling as a game and a way to please his father. Then Sakura made him reevaluate his views of his responsibilities as a god. The time Yato’d spent with her was not enough to change him completely, but the foundation was made. We don’t know for sure if he started granting other people’s wishes on Father’s order or if it was his own decision to do what Sakura told him, that he needed to answer any prayer no matter what it was. But if the story with the kimono is indicative of what sort of work he’s been doing, then it means that, for centuries now, Yato has taken to granting wishes that had to do with punishing criminals. Maybe the reason he didn’t pity his victims was because they weren’t all that innocent themselves.

Present

Yato is introduced as a “delivery god” in the beginning of the manga. The fact that he is actually a magatsukami won’t be revealed until chapter 27, To be fair, Kofuku does mention that he is, in fact, a warrior god, so he’s killed people, but Daikoku corrects her and says that he doesn’t do that anymore. However, in the very first chapter, when Yato learns that his client Mutsumi’s trouble is bullying, he offers to resort to violence.

Judging by Tomone’s reaction, she doesn’t take him seriously even when Yato says that slaying is the only thing he’s good at and proceeds to ask Mutsumi to list the people whose heads he needs to take. As far as she knows, Yato keeps saying things like that but actually slays ayakashi, not people. Would he really have killed students to sort a problem like that? Considering that later chapters show him only going after criminals, I think not. It’s just that old habits die hard, I guess.

Chapters 27-28 show in detail what kind of jobs Yato does as a magatsukami. Both of these he gets from Father through Nora. What’s interesting (especially compared to the anime) is that he agreed on the first one on his own – he wanted it to be his last job with Hiiro before stopping to grant these kinds of wishes completely. It’s a prayer from a woman who thinks that her daughter’s murderer’s punishment is not strict enough. Contract killing is a pricy thing, so the woman offers Yato a wad of cash that he refuses to take and only accepts his usual 5 yen.

Yato could have taken the entire bundle, which would have solved his financial problems for some time at least. Or he could have chosen any sum other than 5 yen to symbolically detach this job from the requests he takes as a delivery god – but he didn’t. He refuses to accept the whole wad because the life of that criminal has no value to him, but he takes his 5 yen because, for him personally, this wish has the same worth as any other.

The second job is a serial killer who supposedly killed four people and buried them in his garden without ever being caught by the police. This time Yato does not speak with the client directly, so he asks Hiiro if the information is 100% accurate. I personally wouldn’t trust her on that, but apparently Yato finds her words – that the one who’s asked to kill the murderer was his own mother – convincing enough. Except this case turns out to be more difficult that the first. The target has a son, whose mother, according to Hiiro, was the guy’s last victim. Yato decides to go through with the task, but first he locks up the boy in the next room. And again, it’s not clear whether he even gets paid for this job since it turns out that the client is long dead and the second part of her wish was for Yato to find a place where her grandson could live in peace.  The difference in Yato’s behavior in this situation and “The clash of the gods of calamity” is significant. He  felt no remorse in “The clash...” when he was killing those thugs. Here though, he is hesitant at first, just like with Bishamon’s shinki, because he doesn’t want to leave a child fatherless. He only makes his decision when Hiiro implies that the kid is also in danger. And Yato still tries to at least not traumatize the boy by killing his father right in front of him.

And now we’re at the point which was mentioned in the beginning of this post. In Yomi, Ebisu asks Yato why he exists and Yato replies that his job is necessary because the Heavens fail at doing theirs. There’s evidence to that: just before this exchange Ebisu says it himself, that he’s heard Yato’s name in some oral traditions, and Hiiro earlier called the kind of work Yato does “the Yatogami miracle”. So Yato the god of calamity actually has (or at least had) followers other than Father, it’s delivery god Yato that doesn’t. Father and Hiiro also do anything in their power to persuade Yato that people need his job. Of course, he doesn’t like that he has to be kept prisoner to fulfill his functions. He seemingly only agrees to do what he’s told because it’s the best course of action for him at the moment and goes berserk when he realizes that Hiyori might forget him if he doesn’t go back soon. Nevertheless, Father and Hiiro’s manipulations combined with genuine gratitude from those who need “the Yatogami miracle” have an impact on him, which is evident in his answer to Ebisu.

Whether Yato likes it or not, his words about the cracks in Heavenly justice (or more specifically, “the holes in Heaven’s net”, which is supposed to catch all evil-doers) mirror Father’s opinion of the Heavens.  Father’s plan to simply kill people and thus diminish the number of those who believe in gods seems to be really flawed to me. So maybe he understood that, too, and chose a different approach. I’ve written earlier that we don’t know if Yato started granting other people’s wishes on Father’s orders or Sakura’s request. But I can imagine that it was part of Father’s plan. Originally Yato was forbidden from even talking to strangers. However, having noticed that he was changing because of Sakura, Father might have started to teach Yato to answer prayers of revenge/restoring justice – to show him how often gods don’t respond to people’s wishes before it’s too late and the only thing that’s left is revenge. Yato may not have given a lot of consideration to that, thinking that he was doing what any god should be doing – answering prayers to continue his existence. But the number of wishes like those only grew, and so the idea that he really was a “necessary evil”, as Father puts it, became more and more ingrained in his mind.    

Another important aspect of Yato’s attitude towards his job as a magatsukami is that, in a way, he has an addiction to it. The last time he returned to this field of work he was literally kidnapped and held hostage. But he’s never actively tried leaving Father and Nora before.

There are multiple reasons why Yato wouldn’t leave until he was told he was free to go. Firstly, he simply didn’t have anywhere to go. Sure, we’ve been shown that his previous shinki weren’t completely unconcerned about him – after all, they would come to Kofuku looking for him. However, since no shinki other than Yukine (except Hiiro) stayed with him for longer than a year, he probably wouldn’t have much commitment towards them. (The official translators actually raised an interesting question in their blog; at least, I never thought much about it before. As we know, it’s established that there are lots of gods who are born from small wishes and don’t exist for long but still manage to name a shinki or two. Kunimi’s first master was like that – he was a doll-like god with his own miniature shrine, born from a game. This wasn’t enough when the children who made him up stopped believing in him. When that god disappeared, the name he gave to Kunimi did not, so as long as Kunimi has a master, he will always be a nora. Here’s the question: how many of Yato’s shinki thought that he simply stopped existing and went looking for another master? Kofuku says that sometimes Yato would go missing for years,  so the shinki who got the -Ne name not long before he’d return to Father (you know, the ones that would come to Kofuku) were either eaten by ayakashi or found another master and became forever noras).

Secondly, Father and Nora provided him with food and protection from “wild” ayakashi, so Yato didn’t need to think of places to spend the night. After all, he wasn’t always so lucky as to find a large shrine with a roof like Tenjin’s; sometimes he would sleep besides statues of Buddha.

Thirdly, he couldn’t go against his father’s wishes. Even though he’s had other believers (how else his name would appear in those oral traditions Ebisu was talking about?) he is convinced that Father is his lifeline. When Hiyori saw Yato’s reaction to those who commit suicide, she thought he hated them because they throw away the lives that shinki would love to have lived. That is true, but it’s not the only reason. Unlike renowned gods, Yato is in the position of someone who could die any moment. Unlike humans though, he wouldn’t have a second chance as a shinki, or go to the afterworld where he already is – he would simply stop existing and no one would ever remember that he was there. To him there’s no difference between gods who don’t appreciate their immortal lives or suicidal people – from his point of view, they all willingly give up on something that he’s working so hard to gain.

And if he wanted to keep that something, he had to work as a god of calamity.

Fourthly, no matter how different Father’s and Sakura’s lessons and approaches were, the one thing Yato’s learnt from them both is that he needs to grant any wish. Not because someone has to do the dirty work when the Heavens are idle, not because they support his existence as a god – it’s something he has to do because it’s the right thing to do. It’s ingrained in his mind. Even the actual plot of Noragami starts when Yato decides to grant Hiyori’s wish, even though she’s never finished her sentence, and takes her 5 yen on his own initiative.

And we also shouldn’t forget that, even though it doesn’t concern him anymore, up to recently Yato still wanted Father’s praise. Father doesn’t say a single nice thing to him now, but that’s not how it’s been before.

On the other hand, Father keeps newspaper clippings of mysterious deaths caused by “the Yatogami miracle” the same way normal parents have keepsakes made by their children. Except that doesn’t make Yato happy at all.

Finally, Yato reveals one more important reason to Yukine after he’s released Nora and decided to become a god of fortune.

On the surface, Yato seems to be quite full of himself. When he does something impressive or, alternatively, other characters question his competence, he responds with “how long do you think I’ve been a god?” Yet none of the hundreds, maybe even thousands of other jobs he’s done would give him recognition comparable to his work as a god of calamity. Sure, people would sometimes give him beer or food as a tip for his “delivery god” jobs. But Rabo told him that his battle skills could win him glory among samurai. People would offer much larger sums of money for contract killing than for cleaning bathrooms or looking for missing pets, even if Yato wouldn’t take them. The more he killed, the more praise he would get from his Father.

I think this quote from FMA describes his situation perfectly:

Yato keeps saying that the only thing he’s really good at is slaying. No wander he would want to keep doing something he thinks is his strong side. Getting praise and gratitude from others is important, but every person has the need in self-actualization. His job as a magatsukami has been giving him exactly that – not just the chance to know that hi’s good at what he’s doing, but to see it with his own eyes. Kazuma may not have been too far off course when he said that Yato delighted in atrocities: even when he would occasionally have doubts in what he was doing (like killing Bishamon’s shinki or the serial killer who had a son), some part of him must have felt that satisfaction and pride of a job well done.

  In short, Yato’s attitude towards his job as a magatsukami is very ambiguous. It would give him protection from his enemies (ayakashi), food and shelter, the absence of which may not be lethal but is still notable.  It would also deprive him of the possibility to have autonomy in his actions, to move around freely and decide anything in his life. It would bind him to Father, the man whose magnificent child rearing methods are the reason Yato’s mental state alternates between that of a thousand-year-old god, a bratty child, or a rebelling teen.  It’s also led him to Kazuma, Kofuku and Daikoku and later Ebisu, and each of these encounters has brought something good to his uneasy life. It would always remind him that killing is the only thing he’s good at while showing just how good he is.

Future?

Yato found his will to stop doing the job of a god of calamity when  Ebisu showed him that making others happy doesn’t always mean granting others’ wishes. He saw that a god can have their own will, like Ebisu having his own wish to decrease the number of disasters in the human world by controlling ayakashi. He released Hiiro after being unable to do that for a thousand years. Whether he knew that a god doesn’t get to name a shinki they have once released is unknown, but what’s done is done – he will never “play” with Hiiro again.

However, “god of calamity” is not a mere description of his previous functions. A god’s “profession” is also their nature. Kofuku can cause a pandemonium by the sheer force of her aura alone. Ebisu, a god of fortune, is tremendously lucky (well, safe for being falsely accused and executed he is a pretty lucky god). The problem Yato currently faces is that when he was working as a magatsukami he didn’t think twice about how his actions would affect other people. But now he can’t get rid of the thought that even if he isn’t a divine assassin anymore, his nature as a god of calamity hasn’t changed, so he is the reason of all the bad things happening to the people closest to him.

Hiyori says to Yato that he’s been her god of fortune for a while. That’s nice and all, but all the problems that Hiyori’s classmates list have been caused by Yato directly or indirectly. The accident? If Hiyori hadn’t tried to save him from the bus, the accident wouldn’t have happened and she wouldn’t have become a half-ayakashi. The call girl accusations? Yato was the one possessing Hiyori’s body and giving his visit cards to anyone he could find. And the fact that he calls himself a “delivery god” even in original Japanese only exacerbates the matter. In Japan, house calling a prostitute is referred to as “health delivery”, so the reaction to his visit cards is understandable. And though the hospital incident has been staged by Father, he’s done that because he got mad at Hiyori for trying to lead Yaboku astray from his true path of a god of calamity. That’s quite the food for thought. Moreover, even though Yukine and Hiyori go out of their way to make Yato a god of fortune, even though he tries his hardest to achieve that, he can’t get away from being reminded of who he used to be.

To make Yato a god of fortune, Yukine suggests that he keeps doing what he’s been doing, only with a different goal in mind – slaying ayakashi, not humans, and do all that without being asked. But if his methods haven’t changeв, is there a chance that we’ll still see magatsukami!Yato again? I’m NOT saying that this is how the story will end, because it would completely undermine the message of this series. However, when Bishamon nearly killed Father, it was Yukine who decided to strike her when he saw Yato passing out; it was his hafuri power that sundered the Heavens. But Yato also felt something in that moment– something he hasn’t felt for a long time.

So… who knows?

P.S. if you have a Yato overdose from this post, please don’t blame me

[lady-plantagenet]

Unsolicited Book Reviews (n3): The Sunne in Splendour

Rating:

⭐️⭐️⭐️(+1/2?)

Even before I had an account, I tended to go to tumblr to see people’s opinions before buying a histfic. Certain books are either severely underrepresented, where I feel like there needs to be something on them, whereas others, though talked about enough, something more can still be said about them. So for my quarantine fun, I have decided to start a series where I review every medieval historical fiction novel I read. Hopefully, it will either start interesting discussions or at least be some help for those browsing its tag when considering purchasing it.

TL;DR: Keep in mind that I’m harsh with my ratings. I don’t expect my historical fiction to offer some sort of insight about the human condition or be some perfectly manicured prose, but this book’s biggest detriment was its lack of depth. Some scenes packed a serious emotional punch, but then again I am attached to this era and given the length, it would be insane not to. I learned a lot - no lie, but while my background knowledge on the wars of the roses has become enriched, I feel no closer to Richard.

Plot: We follow Richard III from a young boy at eight right before the catastrophe that was Ludlow to his death and a few years after. This story seems to be told through omniscient third person point of view, which creates issues when it comes to voice - a lot of the characters sound the same (John ‘Jack’ Howard, Francis Lovell, Richard Catesby to name a few). This is only a natural consequence of the sheer amount of people Penman chose to portray. I’m honestly still grateful for this as I was not a fan of Richard III’s POV, but really enjoyed Richard Neville Earl of Warwick’s, Margaret of Anjou and Cecily Neville’s. Everytime these three were the center of the chapter, it was truly enjoyable and multi-faceted which comes to show that Penman is capable of writing complexity when she wants to. I would also like to add that the author’s knowledge of medieval life (e.g. the food, the dogs, the nature of battles) was a high point of this novel and did something to counter-balance the rampant late 20th century flavour in this novel. She tries way too hard to adapt a medieval man such as Richard to our modern values to propagate her Richardian Agenda, which ultimately underscored this.

It must be said though that the author clearly did her research as most of what she said regarding minutae such as: what day of the week it was, where the characters were at one time, details of documents, who did what in which battle, what laws were passed etc... I had just come back to this time period after some years and I thought I knew all there was to know, yet, here comes this book which springboarded me into a wealth of new research - I suppose I am grateful for that. However, do not let that delude you into thinking it is comprehensive. There were historical innacuracies which I can only guess were intentionally made for the sake of the author’s Richardian goal e.g. Anne Neville being forced into her marital duties when historicalMargaret of Anjou made it clear that there would be no consummation until Warwick would prevail at Barnet, Isabel Neville being ‘abandoned’ by her husband in France when really it was only about 4 months they were apart and it would have made no sense for Isabel to sail with an invasionary force, Richard III abolishing benevolence tax because he thought it unfair as opposed to the reality which was that he had failed in his initial attempt to raise them because the population opposed, Richard III allowing the marriage between Jane Shore and Thomas Lynsom when in reality he had initially opposed it... Historical fiction is entitled to innacuracies but given that the author made it clear in her afterword that the only time she strayed was setting a scene in Windsor as opposed to Westminster, it is dishonest to conceal the aforementioned blips, especially when they are so unobvious that it would take a seasoned enthusiast to spot them. As you can tell they either do have a negative bearing on Richard’s image as a saint or show detractors in a positive light, clearly neither that which she was in a mood to explain away.

Characterisation: I can not stress enough how well Cecily Neville was portrayed, every scene she was in, I felt. She tends to be a very difficult character to get because of the whole illegitimacy rumour which casts shades of doubt. She was proud but also pious, subservient but also commanding... just an incredible woman of gravity. I enjoyed Warwick in all his flamboyancy as well and Edward IV was masterfully portrayed as the intelligent but forgiving man that he was. You could clearly see how despite his indulgent character, he knew when it was time to be serious, it was a joy to read the scenes where he strikes people into subserviancy. Anne Beauchamp was also quite a treat for the little time we had with her.

There were also some portrayals of mixed quality: George Duke of Clarence for one, his warped sense of humour and charm were well presented, his unpredictability adequately captured. The issue I have though is that no man is unpredictable to themselves and while it may make sense for other characters to see his temperaments as those like a weather vane it would make no sense for it to be this way in the chapters where he is the POV. Penman’s basically wrote him off as crazy (I mean literally mad) for the majority of the story which is utter tripe given that the whole madness angle is a modern invention. I won’t write more on this now as it deserves its own post (btw if anyone wants me to elaborate on anything I said so far send me an ask). Last thing I will say though: the last scene we have with him is utterly tragic and still sticks with me today, honestly the best writing in this novel was during the ‘Anne’ Book and ‘Protector of the North’ in the years surrounding George’s death. Speaking of, where do I begin with Isabel Neville and Elizabeth Woodville? Their marriages with Richard’s brothers are portrayed negatively for no other reason than to set up Richard and Anne Neville as a perfect love story. This story-telling technique is cheap as hell and I did not expect to find it in a novel so highly acclaimed for its ‘quality’. Let me make this clear: The marriage which was hailed as a love match at that time was that of Elizabeth Woodville and Edward IV. Anne and Richard could have been just as much a marriage of politics as George and Isabel’s, or the latter’s just as much a love match. George fought for Isabel just as much, if not more than Richard did for Anne, George stayed loyal for a surety whereas Richard’s bastard John’s conception may have coincided with his marriage according to Hicks, Marrying Anne was highly advantageous for Richard as marrying Isabel for George... I could go on. Therefore, why is Isabel constantly described as wretched, miserable and at one point abused(!) by her husband whereas Richard was nothing but gentle to the happy Anne. The Mary of Burgundy proposal story is often cited as proof that George only cared about power... but what about Richard’s proposal to Joanna of Portugal one month after Anne died? This may sound minor but it’s a perfect example of the author trying hard to make Richard a modern romantic figure which he wasn’t. I think he may have loved Anne Neville, but that doesn’t change the fact that he was a medieval king and made marriage provisions after her death to secure the succession. For a 800+ page novel about Richard III some seminal pieces of information were left out such as his seizure of the aged Dowager Countess of Oxford’s Howard fortune, the mysterious circumstances in which George Neville Duke of Bedford died young and unmarried after becoming his ward. All in all, do not let the wonderful historical detail fool you into thinking this is a complete account of Richard III’s day to day life.

Don’t even get me started on the Woodvilles... They were all treacherous villains and social climbers who belonged in hell. EVEN ANTHONY WOODVILLE - what has he ever done to Penman or anyone? All scenes with Elizabeth Woodville at the beggining were bedding scenes pretty much, which shows that the author saw her as nothing more than a heartless seductress. There was even a point where Edward in his rage said: ‘you would lie with a leper if it meant you becoming Queen’ and I was just shocked at that. I was further shocked when her daughter Elizabeth of York was musing that if her mother had been a good wife her father wouldn’t have needed to stray and I was just like... ‘I thought we were trying to be sensible in this book 0_0’ - How is it appropriate to have a woman blamed for her husband’s infidelity? How can we have such blatant classism and sexism on the one hand and late 20th century wokeness on the other? It’s what I said earlier, the author can’t prop up Richard and Anne without putting down all other couples in this book. By the end of the book I was honestly finding myself cheering for Elizabeth Woodville as she was becoming the woman with sense and cunning as we all know her, the saving grace of this entire characterisation was that Elizabeth became the only person with a brain by the end (I doubt this was the author’s intention). Down here in this category of bad characterisation I will add Richard and Anne themselves. Anne Neville though often absolutely adorable to me lacked any personality trait apart from being in love with Richard and past sexual abuse by Edward (which didn’t historically happen). Anne’s father and only sister die and she barely thinks about them, which severely undermines her portrayal as a loving and empathetic person. Her death scene and wane was tragic and affected me as a reader but holy Christ before that the author was very heavy handed throughout the book with her martyrisation of Anne, even when she was a young girl and everything was going well she cried in nearly every goddamn scene. Yes, this is Warwick’s daughter we are talking about. Richard (unlike the real great man that once lived on this earth) was similarly flawless and any small flaw he had was something like: ‘too trusting’, ‘acts then thinks’ - essentially ‘too good for this world’ flaws. No one is like this, least of all the real Richard who would not recognise this weird contrived romanticisation of a man. The saving grace of all this is that he admitted around the end to himself and Anne that he did want to be king a little bit, which YES, at least we get that because no one goes through all the procedures he did and endangers the survival of their house, unless they wanted to become king, at least a little bit. All in all, if Penman’s Richard III is the real man, all I have to say is: thank god his reign was cut short because this character would have made a terrible and weak monarch.

Prose: And here is where another of the stars was deducted. The prose is largely very pedestrian. It was full of modern phrases such as ‘hear me out’, ‘He thinks I am in the wrong’ ‘he can’t get away with this’ and other such likes. Also, I know it’s difficult to write a book where everyone’s names are Elizabeth, Edward, Richard and Anne, but apart from ‘Nan’ which was a nickname of that time, the modernity of ‘Bess’, ‘Bella’ or ‘Lisbet’ and the use of them in-text and not just dialogue, did much to draw me out of the medieval era. This is not just a criticism towards Penman but a grand majority of historical fiction novelists of this period. Having said that, her choice to cut conjunctions and use the word ‘be’ intead of ‘is’ or ‘are’ did not bother me at all and I found it effective in dating the language a bit. I appreciate that writing in poetic prose for 800+ pages is extremely difficult, but other’s have done it. And even in other novel where that’s not the case, the writing is still profound and impactful and conveys a deeper meaning, whereas here it’s more of a fictionalised history book. The author appears to have some imagination as the few scenes she made up e.g. Catherine Woodville’s visit to Richard or Edward summoning Edmund’s previous carer John to talk about Edmund as he was trying to deal with the grief of losing George, any scene with Cecily Neville in it, Anne Neville and Veronique (OC lady-in-waiting to her) when they were in hiding, Rosamund and Richard at the end, Margaret of Anjou when she was lodged at that abbey, When Stillington visited George before his death to give him a rosary and last rites and he refused to get them from him, Anne and Richard going to Middleham and Isabel’s lying in state were just some of them. However, even if you took all those well-written scenes and stuck them together they would not be more than maybe 150 pages which is not good in such a massive novel. I really don’t know how I would rank the prose, I feel weird saying it’s at the low bestseller level because at least it’s not overwritten and annoying, however, it lacked a lot of soul most of the time, which is dissapointing given what Penman had to work with. I can see that the author has some strengths, for example she’s good at writing about the weather and the natural landscape, she’s also good at describing facial expressions. But her massive flaw is dialogue and flow - especially the latter. The flow is hindered by her abject inability to weave historical events and their happenings into the prose, so she often settles for an exposition dump, especially when it comes to some male chatacter’s POV such as John Howard, Francis Lovell or Buckingham. A lot of the characters exposited at each other too, which wasted the opportunity for some serious character profiles. Basically too much telling and not enough showing. In conclusion, It didn’t always feel clunky, expository or laboured, but it way too often did for the good to be redeemed by the bad prose-wise.

In Conclusion, I cheated on this book a couple of times when it dragged, but got right back into it whenever the good sections came along. It is one of these books which people cannot stop raving about and I can’t stress how much I wanted to love it when I got it. It’s nice being a fan of something a lot of people are too for once, but it was just not to be. But at least now I can say I have read the cult classic of this histfic niche which apparently everyone has read and cried over. Even though it took me 7 months where others got through it in a week through sleepless nights. Despite all the negativity in this review, I would still reccomend it as it is a solid book and written by someone who clearly gets the conflict and time period. You will learn lots with this book (I intend to keep it as a sort of timeline) regarding things that you might otherwise find too dry to research in depth e.g. battle strategies and sieges. But what you will not learn about is the characters’ psychologies and personalities though Penman tries very hard and heavy-handedly to exposit their feelings to us.

[frosteee]

Undertaker and the Money-Making Victorian Funeral

Undertaker has been secretly experimenting on human corpses with the intent to create perfect living dolls. For exactly how long, we don't know, but Undertaker's 'long, long time' revelation will do for now.

According to him, his experiments pre-date the Phantomhive massacre, and it was because he had been active so long that he was able to immediately preserve R!Ciel's body as he did.

We know that the Aurora Society was funded both by wealthy nobles as well as their parent company, 'Osiris'. Undertaker infiltrated the Society, fed into their existing initiative, and lent them his technology so they could continue to show the public their work, believing they were actually creating medicine and helping people. Money wasn't an issue, since they had many wealthy patrons and powerful backing.

But this begs the question: how did Undertaker finance his experiments up to that point? It appears that he kept them secret even from the Phantomhive family, and therefore could not rely on their patronage.

His experiments, the means necessary for those experiments required a lot of coin - minus the bodies, of course. He could get those regularly from both his cover job as well as underworld connections. Heck, he probably knew some grave diggers who he could pay to get him some if he wanted. That sort of thing was quite prevalent, and a big source of public concern, at the time.

Undertaker defected fifty years prior to the series beginning. Whether he was already living something of a double life up to this point, now he had chosen to live entirely by his own wits and means. His connections to the Phantomhive family no doubt helped his situation, but he could not rely on them for everything. He had to make a living in the human world for the first time in a long time, something that would allow him to keep himself going in daily life as well as his secret work.

You never see a poor undertaker. Not sure if that's an actual saying, but it's true. Undertaker chose a very lucrative profession. Undertakers are always needed, but in the 1800s, and especially by the middle of the century, their work was the subject of much demand and critique.

Burial Insurance

The shame of a pauper's burial among the poor, although often inescapable, was an enormous fear. Capitalising on these fears, the 'burial insurance' was born.

'At great expense, people bought burial insurance to avoid the indignity of a pauper funeral paid for by the parish; many contributed weekly to “funeral clubs” in order to save enough for decent trappings: black garments for the family, the use of a hearse and coachman, and the coffin itself – black for an adult, white for a child.'

- Funding funerals through history

This highlights just how much a good send-off was valued. Funeral clubs were so desperately sought after that there was a lot of fraud and scams about, and the poor were duped into paying money to fake clubs and forced into the workhouse.

Unfortunately, the intense need to avoid a pauper's burial and put on a funeral that kept up appearances also faced the poor with crippling debt and destitution. Their reluctance to touch the money set aside for their burial, even to the cost of their health and necessities, often assured they would need it sooner than later.

'A first-rate internment'

Even for the middle class and wealthy, funerals were expensive. They, who could (mostly) afford such prices, were prime targets for undertakers to manipulate into buying as many excessive and unnecessary additions and items to the proceeding as possible. Being seen to mourn appropriate to the feelings of one's extreme grief, as well as their status, was of utmost importance - so they gladly imparted their cash to a very happy undertaker.

'The average funeral costs for an aristocrat in the 1840s ran at between £800 and £1,500, for a gentleman £200 to £400; the Duke of Wellingron's cost all of £11,000, and was widely criticized for its extravagance, and indeed the 1850s probably marked the high point of funeral ostentation.'

- The Victorians: Life and Death by Professor Richard J Evans

If Undertaker set up shop soon after he defected (1838), somewhere in between the year Victoria became Queen (1837) and Vincent Phantomhive's birth (1851), then he would be slap bang in this 'golden era' of undertaker business.

By the 1890s, in response to wide criticism (Charles Dickens expressed his hatred and contempt of undertakers many times in his novels - characters like Mr Sowerberry in Oliver Twist were miserly, unpleasant individuals who unashambly fleeced their clients), among other factors, funeral prices were much reduced (The Victorians: Life and Death).

Still, if our Undertaker followed the same immoral trend as his fellows by robbing his clients blind in the name of a showy, socially-approved funeral, he would have accrued more than enough money to supplement his experiments, including the machine he built for the Aurora Society and the other work he did for them.

Undertaker would also have been able to buy the materials he needed to keep the trial-and-error going for so many years before that point. He also has enough money to continue doing so, and though it's unclear how much financially he assisted with Bravat's cult activities, I would imagine he contributed something to get them to the point O!Ciel met them at. Whatever the case, he is clearly able to get along fine despite having closed up shop.

I wouldn't be surprised at all if part of the reason Undertaker took on his profession for the money. Not only is it a handy cover and a door to the underworld, it also has provided him with the coin necessary to fund his greatest ambition in his new life.

[islanublar]

Investors: Masrani Global

PROFILE

Masrani is one of the world's most successful corporations, with portfolios in both the commercial and industrial sectors and services spanning telecommunications, oil production, biological engineering, and construction. Generating a total profit of over $800 million in the 2014 fiscal year, Masrani can credit vision and innovation in its successes over the last two decades with CEO Simon Masrani at the helm.

Since the Masrani Global Corporation's NASDAQ market debut in 2000, Masrani has witnessed growth to over 70,000 team members, 250,000 shareholders from all across the world, and a list of stakeholders growing every day. Masrani is a significant global employer and CEO Simon Masrani has led from the top through acts of philanthropy and community engagement.

Investors have much to gain with the Masrani Corporation. Being one of NASDAQ 100 and Fortune 500 companies, 2014 saw a share price index increase of 13.2% from Q1 to Q4. With the world's best market analysts driving the corporation’s financial sectors, you can be assured that you're investing in the future with Masrani.

STOCK

NASDAQ MSRN (YTD): The above graph represents the year-to-date share-price index for MSRN on the NASDAQ market since Janurary 1, 2015.

NASDAQ Share Price Index: $158.12* -3.36 ⇓ 2.08%

CEO'S MESSAGE

As one of the leading Fortune 500 companies, Masrani Global has continued to advance and excel in major markets around the world. America, Asia, Europe and Australasia, no region has been left untouched. Having overseen a magnificent year in our two leading fields - namely genetics and research & development - we have set our sights on improving on new horizons.

Since its inauguration in 2005, Jurassic World has captivated millions around the globe. By 2015 we are expecting our 10 millionth visitor to Isla Nublar. For investors, that spells success.

What does 2015 hold? We have a world-class genetics and research and development team who have some ideas that will take genetics to the next level. Using InGen technology, combined with Masrani innovation, the world is ours to make and enjoy. I wish all of you the best as we head into a new era.

Chief Executive Officer: Simon Masrani reflects on an encouraging start to the 2014-15 financial year.

FY2014 REPORT

The Masrani Global Corporation posted one the most successful years in its history during the 2014 financial year, thanks in large part to investments in more sustainable energy technologies early in Q2. Now the world's 12th richest company, Masrani Global entered the 2015 fiscal year valued at 562.15 billion dollars.

Despite Masrani Oil's L-12 hiccup in August, 2014 was a year for investors to largely celebrate. Starting off Q1 with a share price index of $159.12, Masrani Global (NASDAQ: MSRN) continued its steady rise ending the year on a high of $180.12 after a series of innovative technological approaches. For the eighth year in a row, Masrani Global showed why it is one of the world's safest investments - with a net profit of 822.38 million dollars and a positive share price index increase of 13.2% over FY2014.

Simon Masrani was optimistic on the future prospects of the workforce. "We recently set up the Masrani scholarship program, which has assisted top graduates find positions within our companies all over the world", he said from Masrani's recently renovated offices in Shanghai. "We encourage our interns to think with fresh and open minds. If someone has a good idea, it needs to be nurtured. Some of the world's most successful ventures have come from young talent who just hung onto one unique idea. This is where the true future investment of Masrani lays."

2014 saw the continued investment of assets within the industrial (Masrani Oil, Timack Construction) and technological (InGen, Tatsu Technology) fields. While the overall intention was to focus on new technologies, sharing of information across subsidiaries was the underlying philosophy.

"Last year was one of scientific advancement", said Mr. Richard Wiesner, COO of Masrani Global. "We witnessed various subsidiaries working with each other to bring about the most exciting innovations the world has yet to see. Mascom launched satellites carrying Tatsuo processors, Analysys provided data that helped Medixal drive innovative healthcare, and Axis Boulder helped Masrani Oil make advances in sustainability."

Dr. Henry Wu, Lead Geneticist of InGen Technologies, was also excited about the future prospects of Jurassic World. Speaking from a scientific convention in Chicago, he said, "Thanks to the changing nature of genetics and the limitless power of the human imagination, we can now push boundaries that were once considered to be decades away."

Wiesner credited Jurassic World's latest success to Simon Masrani's recent announcement of the new Indominus rex attraction. “Since opening we've seen online bookings skyrocket” he explained. “2015 is going to be a fantastic year for Jurassic World."

InGen Technologies temporarily closed down two of its mines in Argentina to focus on its Martel expedition in Siberia, a move that has so far yielded an abundance of highly preserved carcasses. Despite the exciting finds, Dr. Henry Wu has held back on speculating whether Jurassic World might be including recreated assets from the Cenozoic Era. "Right now we are focused on the construction of the world's most complete genomic library", Dr. Wu reiterated. "But if the world tells us that's what they want to see, we're more than prepared."

FY2013 Report

Masrani continued it's trend since 2008 to post billion dollar profits over the financial year. Now a $521.42 multi-billion corporation, Masrani Globlal is on the verge of being one of the world's top 10 companies by 2020 should current market predictions continue.

Showing no change in course for the last four years, Masrani Global (NASDAQ: MSRN) continued to set its high standards for 2013. Showing a steady incline, starting off the year in Q1 with a share price index of $138.52 and ending the year at Q4 on a high of $159.12 after rumors of further investment in InGen resources.

Hiring an additional 4,000 staff over the course of the year, Masrani looked to increase its workforce in the United Arab Emirates, with an upgraded oil refinary expecting to be completed in early 2014. With a workforce age of just under 32 years of age, Marani Global is one of the most proactive workforces in the world looking in every corner for fresh talent.

Thanks to a scholarship program with Masrani, young college students excelling in their studies can now take up internships in field offices around the globe. With inauguration set for December 2014, the Masrani scholarship program has so far seen over 80,000 applications in its first year alone.

In the last two years further investment of assets within the industrial (Masrani Oil, Timack Construction) and technological (InGen, Tatsu Technology) fields continued to be made, exciting investors with new technologies and greater profits.

"Scientific advancement is something that cannot be compromised on", said Simon Masrani. "In today's world the competition is great, and with much at stake, and with the power to deliver, we find ourselves in a unique position to deliver technical advancement capabilities that go beyond the imagination."

Despite scientific advancements, Jurassic World continued to spark debate. Within the last three years, despite visitor rates climbing, the peak in numbers continued to appear during the American school holiday season, where staff on Isla Nublar are operating at 100% capacity.

Masrani Corporation's Chief Operations Officer Mr. Richard Wiesner described the year's success as merely acceptable. "You can't expect the world's greatest theme park to merely rely on the same attractions. We need to be proactive, thinking of bigger and better things. Isla Nublar only peaks in attendance during the American holiday season. Why? Proximity. The world has seen what we have to offer, but they aren't in awe as they once used to be. We need to change that. We have a chance to over the upcoming few years."

Despite speculations in the media that Jurassic World might be seen as a slowing attraction, investors can enjoy last month's announcement of a further 300 hotel rooms to be built on the island. Some big plans are coming, so stay tuned in 2014.

Last 4 FY Profit: Masrani Corporation profit in millions of dollars.

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING

Following in the footsteps of my father to make his company into a global corporation has been a lifelong goal. I have nothing but the investors of this company to thank, for they have joined me in this vision.

Simon Masrani - Chief Executive Officer, Masrani

The success that this company has given back to its investors has been incredible. It is something that other companies strive to replicate, but often can't deliver. Masrani has set new investment standards.

Richard Wiesner - Chief Operations Officer, Masrani

The pleasure it gives me to see that with every building we construct is another addition to help the global economy is greatly satisfying. With 8,000 workers, we all look forward to building the future.

Anthony Leigh - Director of Operations, Timack Construction

With Masrani Energy in Abu Dhabi, our workers come from diverse backgrounds with diverse skills, all towards one common goal - to build on the success of the Masrani corporation.

Jennifer Oliver - HR Manager, Masrani Energy

[jiejing-lifechanyuan]

Chinese-English-Thai: Value 4 of 800 Values for New Era Human Being+ ChatGPT Translation

4. 百分之七十五的罪犯不是天生的，而是被不健康的文化和人类制定的生产生活秩序逼出来的。

Three quarters of all criminals are not inherently criminal, but are forced into their situations by unhealthy cultures and social systems which have been established by humanity.

สามในสี่ของอาชญากรไม่ได้เกิดมาพร้อมกับความเป็นอาชญากร แต่พวกเขาถูกบังคับเข้าสู่สถานการณ์นี้จากวัฒนธรรมที่ไม่ดีและระบบสังคมที่มนุษย์สร้างขึ้น

CHATGPT TRANSLATION

---

大多数犯罪并非天生就有恶意，而是由不健康的文化和人类制定的错误生产生活秩序所逼迫的。在这样的社会环境下，很多人面临生存的压力和困境，往往没有选择的余地，最终走上了犯罪的道路。这些问题根源于不合理的生产生活秩序和不公平的社会制度。我们需要改变这些错误的生产生活秩序，建立一个更加公正、健康和符合人性的生产生活秩序和社会制度，关注每个人的基本需求和尊严，从而减少社会问题和犯罪的发生。

Most crimes are not inherently malicious, but are driven by unhealthy cultures and the wrong social and economic systems established by humanity. In such an environment, many people face immense pressures and difficulties, often with no alternatives, and eventually turn to crime. These problems stem from unreasonable production and living orders and unjust social systems. We need to change these wrong systems, creating a more just, healthy, and humane production and living order and social system, addressing the basic needs and dignity of every individual, and thereby reducing social problems and crime.

อาชญากรส่วนใหญ่ไม่ได้เกิดจากความชั่วร้ายโดยธรรมชาติ แต่เกิดจากวัฒนธรรมที่ไม่ดีและระเบียบการผลิตและการดำรงชีวิตที่ผิดพลาดที่มนุษย์สร้างขึ้น ในสภาพแวดล้อมแบบนี้ หลายคนต��องเผชิญกับความกดดันและสถานการณ์ที่ยากลำบาก และมักไม่มีทางเลือกอื่น จึงหันไปทางอาชญากรรม ปัญหาเหล่านี้มาจากระเบียบการผลิตและการดำรงชีวิตที่ไม่เหมาะสมและระบบสังคมที่ไม่ยุติธรรม เราจำเป็นต้องเปลี่ยนแปลงระเบียบเหล่านี้ สร้างระเบียบการผลิตและการดำรงชีวิตและระบบสังคมที่ยุติธรรม มีสุขภาพดี และสอดคล้องกับคุณค่าความเป็นมนุษย์ ดูแลความต้องการพื้นฐานและเกียรติของทุกคน เพื่อลดปัญหาสังคมและการเกิดอาชญากรรม

~

To read more 800 Values for New Era Human Being online from:https://en.chanyuan8.org/800-values-for-new-era-human-being-third-edition/800-values-prologue-100

To FREE download 800 Values for New Era Human Being in PDF from:https://lifechanyuanvalues.wordpress.com/2024/06/23/some-pdfs-of-lifechanyuan-values/

[lifechanyuan]

The Acquisition and Consumption Algorithm of the F Coin

Xuefeng

March 30, 2023

(Edited by Peter)

If you have acquired 5000 F Coins, you can enter the paradise on earth – the Kingdom of the Greatest Creator, where basic living conditions are provided for you, retirement is not a problem, being a bridegroom every day and a bride every night is not a problem, and you no longer have to worry about food, clothing, shelter, aging, illness, and death. You don't have to worry about unemployment, loneliness, let alone theft, or fraud. This place is so beautiful that you'll exclaim: "It's awesome!"

So, how do you get F-Coins?

If you distribute the Chat-plains webpage to 10 people, you will get 1 F Coin. If you distribute it to 100 people, you will get 10 F Coins, and so on.

If you distribute the "800 Values for New Era Human Being (3rd Edition)" to 10 people, you will get 1 F Coin. If you distribute it to 100 people, you will get 10 F Coins, and so on.

If you make a contribution to Lifechanyuan International Family Society by donating $5, you will get 1 F Coin. If you donate $100, you will get 20 F Coins, and so on.

If you volunteer for the paradise on earth - the Kingdom of the Greatest Creator, you will get 2 F Coins for a day's work and 20 F Coins for 10 days' work.

If you help outstanding people in various fields, such as scientists, musicians, professors, doctors, thinkers, entrepreneurs, writers, famous craftsmen, singers, and dancers, out of their difficulties in life, you will get 100 F Coins for each person you help.

If you save someone from the brink of death, no matter for what reason, you will get 100 F Coins.

If you participate in rescue work in the event of a natural disaster, you will get 2 F Coins per day.

If you volunteer for no pay, no matter where you are, you will get 1 F Coin per day.

As long as you provide conclusive evidence, a certificate will be issued to you. With this certificate, when your F Coins accumulate to 5000, you can enter and take pleasure in the paradise on earth - the Kingdom of the Greatest Creator.

The following are the details of how F Coins are consumed.

Killing a wild animal, including a wild bird, will consume 1 F Coin.

Injuring a person will consume 100 F Coins.

Fighting with someone once will consume 2 F Coins.

Quarreling with someone once will consume 0.5 F Coin.

Insulting and framing someone once will consume 5 F Coins.

If a student reports a teacher, a disciple reports a master, or a child reports a parent, the student, disciple, or child will consume 10 F Coins.

Stealing someone else's property will consume 2 F Coins per time.

Raping someone will consume 100 F Coins per time.

For the above consumption, as long as someone provides evidence, the corresponding amount will be deducted from their "heavenly treasure F Coins." Once the total number of F Coins of a member living in the paradise on earth - the Kingdom of the Greatest Creator below 5000 due to consumption, they will be immediately expelled from the Kingdom of the Greatest Creator. When they accumulate enough F Coins outside the Kingdom of the Greatest Creator, they can return to the Kingdom of the Greatest Creator again.

As of March 2031, the above rules for acquiring and consuming F Coins will not become outdated, but more detailed rules will be introduced in the future.

[baichuancao]

800 Values for New Era Human Beings (No.601- No.620) #humanity #life

[your-wings-of-freedom]

♡ ~ 𝐑𝐮𝐥𝐞𝐬 ~ ♡

~ 𝑈𝑝𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑠 𝑜𝑓 28𝑡ℎ 𝐴𝑢𝑔𝑢𝑠𝑡 2020~ 𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑤𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑟𝑢𝑙𝑒𝑠/𝑔𝑢𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑠 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑤𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑠 𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡. 𝐼 𝑑𝑜 ℎ𝑜𝑝𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑒𝑛𝑗𝑜𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑤𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑚𝑎𝑦 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑑! 𝑆𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑓 𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑠,

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰:

I am but a little blog run by someone who works full time, has full-time commitments and is a permanently exhausted pigeon, so I ask for patience.

I tend to write 𝑎 𝑙𝑜𝑡. If you’re after an 800 word fic, I can’t limit myself when I just want to describe every aspect of the story XD

I am very insecure of my writing. I’ve come back after a year hiatus so - if you happen to like a story, I would appreciate it if you could let me know, even if it’s just via anon. It would mean the absolute world to me.

I’m a very nice, friendly and lonely person so please don’t be afraid to pop into my inbox for whatever reason. Literally just message me like we’ve been friends forever, it’s the best thing!

𝐑𝐮𝐥𝐞𝐬:

Please be patient and respectful. Any hate sent via DM or Anon Ask will be ignored as I will not give in to the satisfaction of answering.

𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞𝐬: I LOVE Hurt-Comfort fluff the most, but (by default as well), I write romance, fluff. I’m not good with too much angst nor with other genres, so I apologise if this is very bland. I just love my comfort-feels and wholesome feels.

I’ll only write Reader x one character. I’m not good with doing multiple characters.

𝐒𝐦𝐮𝐭: Admittedly, I’ve never written it before, but I’m willing to try and write it for you if it’s something you want to request. But keep it vanilla/basic for me as I will not write anything too complicated or BDSM-wise.

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬: So far I’m only confident writing Levi and Reiner. Please don’t request anyone else. Again, I’m sorry if it’s a very limited blog to you.

𝐑𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐬: I will try my best to write requests in order but it depends on inspiration/motivation. I might be more inspired to write one fic than the other but I will get to your fic! More complex plot requests might take longer. If there is a request I feel I cannot do, I will privately answer and let you know rather than having you wait for it to be written and it never will.

𝐓𝐚𝐠𝐬: If you’d like to be tagged in stories, please let me know! (this will honestly be the highlight in my ask/inbox!). If you have a specific character you want to be tagged in their stories - just let me know!

𝐓𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐮𝐛𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐬: I am more than happy to write them on the proviso that it’s from a healing/recovery point of view and not explicitly detailing the action of it happening (if that makes sense). And, of course, as long as I feel comfortable writing it. Some subjects I won’t due to not being well-educated on it and fear I may give misleading information. But I will privately reply to you if this is the case.

Will 𝐍𝐎𝐓 Write: Pedophilia, Rape etc. for obvious reasons.

𝐅𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐦𝐬:

I write for other fandoms too! I even have a separate blog for one of them if you’d like to head over and see my style of writing; Bleeding Thirium

Detroit: Become Human (Blog: Bleeding Thirium) - Gavin Reed, RK900, Hank Anderson

Marvel: Bucky Barnes [Including 1940s - but please specify]

Harry Potter: Sirius Black, Severus Snape

OHSHC: Kyoya Ootori

Fruits Basket: Hatori Sohma

𝐎𝐂𝐬:

I also have two main OCs that I am happy to write with a x reader for you (Something new/different I thought I’d do) I’ve never done this before outside of roleplay!

𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐞: Gay surgeon who’s a wholesome guy. Dedicated to his job. Losing patients hits him real hard. Has had three serious relationships but they all left him after promising him that they understood his position, but in the end, they couldn’t handle his long hours and constant cancelling of plans. He has a heart of gold, needs someone to love him, will dote on the person and just very caring. (If you have female pronouns, I’m happy to write it from a big brother/mentor point of view).

𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬: Straight SWAT Captain. He’s a widower who lost his wife in a car accident. He’s also lost his brother and Dad to fighting in the war. He’s stoic, serious but will deeply love and adore his S/O. He has a lot of old-fashioned values (think a romanticized 1940s era but in a modern setting!)

So there we have it! I apologise if it’s a lot to read. But you’ve made it this far - so it can’t be all bad! I’m super friendly, I promise. So please don’t hesitate to pop in my inbox or ask box! Thank you lovely person! I hope you have a wonderful day/evening! Much love xxx

[cinematological]

The inevitability of destiny: Terminator Dark Fate (Spoilers for the Terminator Franchise)

Trapped between a massive generation of dying boomers who become progressively more afraid of change and a massive generation of millennials who have accepted that life will be only the most brutal and rapid change, my generation was perfectly primed to fall in love with Terminator movies. Too young to see the original Terminator (written and directed by James Cameron) in theatres in 1984, it was the perfect VHS fodder for me and my teenage friends. With its dramatic (and misleading) VHS cover announcing Arnold Schwarzenegger’s titular Terminator as the T-800 (actually a T101 model 800, neatly retconned by Cameron in T2), it represented the most neon and gun porn pastiche of the era. Gritty, methodical and relentless, The Terminator as a film is tense, romantic and cathartic. Cameron’s vision as director matches the mission of the killer cyborg (Schwarzenegger), and the film moves forward building to a literal and metaphorical climax.

With humanity having beaten the machines back in the future, Skynet, a self-aware AI and metaphor for the fear of cold war inspired nuclear fire, sends back a T-101 to kill the mother of the man (John Conner) who leads the human resistance. Sarah Conner (Linda Hamilton) is the beating heart and soul of The Terminator, a young waitress flung into a threat she has never conceived or is prepared for. Sent from the future to save her, Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn) is a human soldier who has essentially time-stalked Sarah, having been prompted to pine for her by his son John Conner, who never tells Reese that he destined to fall in love with and impregnate Sarah Conner during his mission. Reese’s body is scarred and worn, and Biehn’s intensity makes him the shitty but pretty boyfriend who is a great lay but also might get drunk and beat the shit out of you.

The Terminator is a crucible in which Sarah Conner, the leader and mother of the resistance is formed, and ends on a delightfully bleak note, as she drives pregnant into the Mexican mountains, to prepare for the nuclear war to come, Judgement Day.

Imagine leaving your teens as a young cis man, formed by Schwarzenegger action films and Cameron’s next films, Aliens and The Abyss. The late ’80s and early ’90s saw the end of the cold war, the rise of climate consciousness and a false sense of hope. Genre films had yet to slump as they would in the mid-1990s. Schwarzenegger had begun to make comedies as well as action films, Linda Hamilton had spent years romancing Ron Perlman as the Beauty to his Beast, and Michael Biehn was carefully destroying his career by falling into drug addiction. Imagine going to the movies, because it would be at least a year before a film would come to home video, and seeing a teaser for Terminator 2 or T2: Judgement Day, a film you had no idea was being made. I don’t remember what movie it was in front of but I remember I saw it at the Paramount Theatre in the defunct Famous Players chain. I remember gasping when I realized what movie it was, and I remember the audience cheering.

T2 was the first movie that I felt the marketing had betrayed the intent. Seen in a vacuum such as when I showed T1& T2 back to back to my step-son, the return of the T-101 is a tense Mexican stand-off of suspense.

Released in 1991 but set in 1994 or 95, Sarah Conner is now essentially a terminator in human form. Having carved her body and her mind into sharp angles of muscles and determination, and honed by the hopelessness that the end of the world is inevitable, Sarah has raised her son to be a military leader. This myopic world view has also dulled her empathy and emotional connection with her son, while he craves her affection. Incarcerated in a psychiatric institution indefinitely, Sarah uses her wits to try and escape while being tormented by her dreams and the staff. John Conner (Edward Furlong) is a young teen, bouncing between foster parents. He is skilled and clever but extremely unhappy. Two terminators are sent back simultaneously, a new T-101 sent by the resistance to protect and obey John, and a prototype, the T-1000 (Robert Patrick).

Seemingly unfettered by budget, T2 was the most expensive film ever made when released. Unlike the 4 million dollars spent on T1, T2 has an enormous scope and helped usher in the era of digital EFX, paving the way for Jurassic Park. Perhaps paradoxically, T2 is as relentless and methodical as T1, despite the exponential increase in resources. Like Sarah’s physical transformation, it is optimized for maximum impact with the least amount of excess.

Following parallel stories of John and Sarah as they work their way to each other, the T-1000 is an even more terrifying and perhaps undefeatable foe than the T-101. A mimetic polymorph, the T-1000 is an amorphous blob of metal than can form into roughly human-sized shapes, mimic people, and form large stabby weapons on its arm. Patrick’s performance is wryer than Schwarzenegger’s machine, but once again Hamilton is the emotional core of the film. She narrates the film, and it is her dogged determination to change the future despite the endless pursuit of an overwhelming foe that drives the plot.

While T1 accepts that the future is inevitable, T2 writhes and pushes at the chains of fate, becoming more deterministic. Having reconciled with John and taught the T-101 to begin to understand the value of humanity, T2 leaves the future open and uncertain, other than that Judgement Day has been thwarted.

Terminator Dark Fate makes two assumptions of the audience: that it has seen T2 and that the three sequels since T2 no longer exist. I have an enormous soft spot for Terminator 3 directed by Jonathan Mostow. Released in 2003 it was the last of an era of large scale physical action movies that relied less on CG than on practical effects. While CG is deployed and has not aged well, locations, sets and models are the predominant methods of staging action sequences. It is also the bleakest of the franchise, where an adult John Conner(Nick Stahl) mourns the loss of his mother, only to learn from a returning T-101 that Judgement Day was not stopped, merely delayed. Kate Brewster (Claire Danes) is initially kidnapped by the T-101 as they are pursued by a female terminator, known as the TX (Kristanna Loken). Unlike the T1000, she has a metal skeleton covered by liquid metal. T3 ends with the self-sacrifice of the T-101, the destruction of the TX and inevitability of fate, as nuclear war envelops the globe.

Terminator: Salvation promised the movie we had all hoped for, the future war writ large. It completely fails at its goal, following a Terminator that thinks it’s a person (Sam Worthington) and a stalwart yet not a leader John Conner (Christian Bale) as they battle the early Hunter Killer machines and Terminator models. Expensive, grim and empty, Salvation falls into the excesses of director McG but has no sense of character, plot or momentum. A digital T-101 returns in the climax and is deeply unsatisfying.

Terminator Genisys (directed by Alan Taylor) is a 2015 mashup remix, using Back to the Future 2 as a model for revisiting the events of T1 and T2 while building on a new story. Again the T-101 is sent back to save Sarah(Emilia Clarke) and Kyle(Jai Courtney) from a different T-1000, and to build a time travel device, allowing the pair to move forward from the early ’90s to the 2010s. John Conner (Jason Clarke) travels back in time to confront his mother in a parallel story from the future, only to reveal that he has become a Terminator. All three of these sequels end with clear sequel bait, for films that will never come. The inevitability of these films is to kick at the same can, fruitlessly.

Dark Fate announces its allegiance and intentions in the opening seconds of the titles, interspersed with a scene from T2 where Sarah, broken by the weight of the death of the world, futilely struggles against her captor’s disbelief that the end is nigh. A startling prologue set in 1998 heavily aided by CG de-ageing sets the emotional stakes for the film, which unfortunately does not include the ostensible stars of the film.

Two beings then fall from the sky, a startling Mackenzie Davis as Grace, whose physical transformation mirroring that of Linda Hamilton’s in T2. She is sinew and muscle, stretched out over an Amazonian frame. Her expressive eyes plead from a face cut from stone, and she is exposed as an augmented human. Once more a Terminator, this time a Rev-9 played by Gabriel Luna, returns to stock the new saviour of the future, Dani Ramos (Natalia Reyes). The Rev-9 is a black steel skeleton covered by a separate liquid metal form that can function autonomously and is indestructible.  A grizzled Sarah Conner returns to help Grace save Dani from the Rev 9 and ends up recruiting a T-101 that is stranded in 2019.

SPOILERS FOR DARK FATE

As a pastiche of all the previous films, Dark Fate is the most entertaining and exciting Terminator sequels since T2. It is essentially The Force Awakens in that it is a rehash of T1’s plot, with different pieces moving around the chessboard. It hand-waves at the significance of making it's lead’s Hispanic, and even passes through a detention center in Texas, but has nothing to say about it.  It follows the template of guns, large trucks, car chases and helicopters set by T1 & T2, but ends the film eschewing the physicality of locations and vehicles and devolves into digital nonsense. The first two-thirds of the film is fun, and surprisingly emotional, as Schwarzenegger’s T-101 has spent the last 21 years, having completed its mission, learning to be human. It has helped build a home, raised a step-son, and become a hell of a drapery salesman. Schwarzenegger’s “Carl” brings enormous pathos to the role, as an artificial being seeking purpose surrounding by humans beleaguered by it.

The hands of up to a dozen writers are apparent in the finished film, as plot threads and hints of characterization are touched on and forgotten. Grace seems designed to explore the concept of a human that has become more of a machine in contrast to Carl, who is a machine learning to be human, but the idea is never explored. She exists simply to protect Grace because, despite Sarah’s protestations that the future can be changed, the one aspect that seems immutable is that humanity will face self-created mechanical extinction, and leaders will rise to unite us. Sarah did change the future, eliminating Skynet, only to have it be replaced by Legion, a machine learning AI designed to combat cyber-warfare that quickly sets about eliminating the species. Unlike Skynet’s pre-internet incarnation as a military designed weapons platform and autonomous vehicle operator, Legion has no basis in the physical world, yet creates identical terminators and hunter-killer robots. It seems that the future will doggedly hand on terminators no matter what creates them.

Director Tim Miller aspires to pay homage to James Cameron’s vision and mostly succeeds. In an early car chase, I found myself wishing he had more closely aped Cameron’s direction in using wide angles of vehicular mayhem and letting the stunt work deliver the thrills. Miller relies on longer lenses, shaky medium shots and faster cutting to build tension and while never annoying or incompetent it becomes an albatross in the film’s last third. James Cameron's action films never eschew physics unless it is motivated by something extraordinary, where Miller relies far too much on spongy digital doubles and ridiculous action. In quieter moments, emotional beats seem missed, though a late sequence where Sarah shares with Dani the extent of her pain and loss is a beautiful measure of restraint and performance.

[icedcoffeetrees]

Digital Citizenship and Politics in a World that may not Always be What it Seems

Are you influenced by political opinion through social media?

Political discourse online is a great example of digital citizenship. Matters of state are often debated online as part of our civic culture. That discourse can originate with international agitators, as well as domestic contributors like politicians and citizen journalists (Young 2010, pp.205-216).

But is everyone doing the right thing?

Digital citizenship has many definitions and it’s probably best to nail it down using some academic opinions that range from;

Attitudes and participation in politics and policy (Mossberger, Tolbert & McNeal 2008, pp.4-9), 

Beliefs such as freedom of speech, welfare and dignity (Isin & Ruppert 2015, pp.19-23). 

Appropriate dealings using internet tools across finance, ethical and moral considerations, health and well-being, people, values, the environment and more (Crockett (2015, pp.39-40 ).

Digital citizenship is about a person’s behaviour online, their responsibilities and how they contribute.

Our civic culture links politics and society, contributing to an effective political system. Civic culture includes the way we communicate about politics online, as well as things like respect, trust and consensus. It connects with digital citizenship to provide positive actions by populations according to Couldrey et al. (2014, pp.615-617).

Social media is a big player in our civic culture, to the tune of 3.4 billion social media accounts worldwide (Statistica 2018). Political parties, activist groups, commentators and even internet trolls have a line to huge audiences in either a one-size-fit capacity, or differentiated to suit their tastes through networked individualism. Unprecedented numbers of social media users mean increased capacity for engagement. Obama was the benchmark for this in 2008. 

Influencers through social media may not be what they seem, though. They may not even be real.

In the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election, fake social media accounts designed through computer code to act human were used. Social media robots searched for phrases/hashtags, followed accounts and even judged opinion. Organisations like Pandora can create an artificial intelligence, while less-advanced code is available online for budget-conscious, propaganda enthusiasts (Bessi & Ferrara, 2016).

Recently, Oxford University writers revealed political interference across numerous geographical borders (Howard & Woolley 2018, pp.6-7).  In relation to the United States 2016 Presidential Election, the authors described ‘armies of bots’ influencing the vote on social media (2018, pp.190-193).  

Political opinions across social media, amateur or otherwise, have been called into question. Social media entrepreneurs seem reluctant to act as fake news and fake accounts are used strategically over networks.  

Indeed, financial values attributed by markets to those social media organisations are heavily influenced by user and traffic quantities and may be causing a reluctance to self-regulate. Responsibility to act falls somewhere between the complex debate on government regulation, corporate citizenship described by Hoff-Clausen & Ihlen (2015, pp.18-35) and digital citizenship by the individuals controlling and within those platforms.

In the interview below, Samantha Bradshaw indicated bots are widespread. Some for good purposes and some not (Y Combinator 2019). There is no question that political players and commentators now engage using social media, but are they acting responsibly or interfering with a sovereign state’s democratic process if they use bots?

What’s your views on fake news and social media accounts across Facebook and other networks?

References

Abeshouse, B 2018, Facebook, Russian trolls and the new era of information warfare, AlJazeera, viewed 9 January 2019, < https://www.aljazeera.com/blogs/americas/2018/01/facebook-russian-trolls-era-information-warfare-180131135425603.html>.

Bessi, A & Ferrara, E 2016, ‘Social Bots distort the 2016 U.S. Presidential election online discussion’, First Monday, Vol.21, No.11, viewed 2 January 2019, <https://firstmonday.org/article/view/7090/5653>. 

BBC 2018, Facebook will not remove fake news - but will 'demote' it, BBC News, viewed 9 January 2019, <https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-44809815>.

Carr, D 2008, How Obama Tapped Into Social Networks’ Power, New York Times, viewed 10 January 2019, <https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/10/business/media/10carr.html>.

Couldry, N, Stephansen, H, Fotopoulou, A, MacDonald, R, Clark, W & Dickens, L 2014, ‘Digital citizenship? Narrative exchange and the changing terms of civic culture’, Citizenship Studies, vol. 18, no. 6-7, pp. 615-629.

Crockett, L 2015, ‘Conversation: Digital Citizenship,’ The Social Educator, vol.33, no.1, pp. 39-43.

Frier, S 2018, Facebook Has Removed More Than 800 U.S. Accounts Spreading Fake News, Time, viewed 16 January 2019, <http://time.com/5422546/facebook-removes-800-fake-news-accounts/>.

Hoff-Clausen , E & Ihlen, O 2015, ‘The Rhetorical Citizenship of Corporations in the Digital Age’, in Adi, A, Grigore, G & Crowther D (eds) Corporate Social Responsibility in the Digital Age (Developments in Corporate Governance and Responsibility), Volume 7, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, pp.17 – 37.

Howard, PN & Woolley, SC 2018, Computational Propaganda, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Isin, EF & Ruppert, ES 2015, Being Digital Citizens, Rowman & Littlefield International, London.

Maverick, JB 2018, The Top 6 Shareholders of Facebook, Investopedia, viewed 8 January 2019,<https://www.investopedia.com/articles/insights/082216/top-9-shareholders-facebook-fb.asp>.

Mossberger, K, Tolbert, C & McNeal, R 2008, Digital Citizenship: The Internet, Society, and Participation, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass.

Pandora Bots 2019, Home, Pandora Bots, viewed 11 January 2019, <https://developer.pandorabots.com/>.

Smith, A 2009, The Internet’s Role in Campaign 2008, Pew Research Centre, viewed 15 January 2019, <http://www.pewinternet.org/2009/04/15/the-internets-role-in-campaign-2008/>.

Statista 2018, Global digital population as of October 2018 (in millions), Statista, viewed 10 January 2019, < https://www.statista.com/statistics/617136/digital-population-worldwide/>.