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tjnewsnigeria · 8 months ago

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Top Nigerian Newspaper Headlines online Today, What are the top Nigerian Newspaper Headlines for Today, Friday, 23rd August, 2024. Staying updated on the latest developments in Nigeria is essential, especially in today's fast-paced world. Here are the top 13 Nigerian newspaper headlines for August 23, 2024, that capture the most significant news across the country. From breaking stories to in-depth analyses, these headlines reflect the top news in Nigeria this morning. Whether you're interested in politics, business, or social issues, these latest Nigerian newspaper headlines will keep you informed. Dive into the top stories in Nigeria today and stay ahead with the latest updates. The latest Nigerian headlines for August 24, 2024: Here are the latest Nigerian newspaper headlines for Saturday: 1. Supreme Court Affirms Ododo’s Election as Kogi Governor: The Supreme Court has upheld the election of Usman Ododo as the Governor of Kogi State, dismissing the appeals challenging his victory in the gubernatorial election. 2. Supreme Court Affirms Diri’s Re-election as Bayelsa Governor: The Supreme Court has reaffirmed the electoral victory of Bayelsa State Governor, Duoye Diri, of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), dismissing all petitions against his re-election. 3. Tinubu Promises to Equip Nigeria’s Military: President Bola Tinubu has pledged to further equip and empower the Nigerian military to enhance national security. This promise was made during a meeting with military chiefs in Abuja 4. Flood Risk in Abia, Ondo, 8 Others as Nigerian Govt Issues Alert on River Niger Rising Level: The Federal Government has issued an alert on the rising water levels of the River Niger, warning of potential flooding in Abia, Ondo, and eight other states. Citizens in these areas are advised to take precautionary measures. 5. FG Claims Over 20,000 Holding Fake Certificates in Nigeria: The Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, revealed that at least 21,600 people are using fake certificates obtained from institutions in Benin Republic, Togo, and other countries. The government is taking steps to address this issue. 6. Tinubu Swears in Justice Kekere-Ekun as New CJN: In a significant milestone for Nigeria’s judiciary, President Bola Tinubu has administered the oath of office to Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, formally inaugurating her as the 23rd Chief Justice of Nigeria. 7. Afreximbank Finances Oando’s Acquisition of NAOC: The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has provided funding for the $783 million acquisition of Nigerian Agip Oil Company Limited (NAOC) by Oando Petroleum and Natural Gas Company Limited 8. Dispatch Rider Dies in Lagos Auto Crash: A dispatch rider tragically lost his life in an auto crash along the Lekki-Epe Expressway in Lagos on Friday. The incident has raised concerns about road safety in the area. 9. Edo Queens Make History with WAFU Champions League Triumph: Edo Queens have become the second Nigerian club to win the WAFU B CAF Women’s Champions League qualifying tournament, marking a significant achievement in Nigerian women's football. 10. Leverkusen Begin Title Defence with 11th-Minute Stoppage-Time Winner: Super Eagles forward Victor Boniface played a crucial role for Bayer Leverkusen as they began their Bundesliga title defence with a dramatic victory, scoring an 11th-minute stoppage-time winner. 11. Police Rescue 20 Kidnapped Medical Students, House Officer: The Benue State Police Command has successfully rescued 20 medical students and a house officer who were abducted in Otukpo Local Government Area. The rescue operation, led by a tactical squad deployed by the Inspector-General of Police, was carried out without any ransom being paid. 12. Indians Taking Over Jobs in Nigeria’s Oil & Gas Sector – PENGASSAN Laments: The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has raised concerns over the increasing number of Indians occupying jobs in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.

The association is calling for stricter regulations to protect local employment. 13. Lagos Diverts Traffic for Reconstruction of Lagos-Badagry Carriageway: The Lagos State Government has announced traffic diversions to facilitate the reconstruction of the Lagos-Badagry Expressway. Motorists are advised to follow alternative routes and adhere to traffic management measures put in place. 14. Nigeria Records 40 Confirmed Mpox Cases: The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has confirmed 40 cases of Mpox (formerly known as Monkeypox) across the country. The NCDC is urging the public to maintain good hygiene practices and report any suspected cases to health authorities. Nigerian Newspaper Headlines – Top 13 News Stories in Nigeria This Morning, August 23, 2024 15. Botswana Discovers World’s Second-Largest Diamond: Botswana has announced the discovery of the world’s second-largest diamond, weighing 1,174 carats. This remarkable find was made by the Debswana Diamond Company and is expected to significantly boost the country’s economy. That is all for today on Nigerian Newspaper Headlines. Click here more Naija News.

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karuppuezhutthu-blog · 9 months ago

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உதயநிதி துணை முதல்வராக நியமிக்கப்பட்டால் வரவேற்க மாட்டோம்: இபிஎஸ் | We will not welcome udhaynidhi Stalins appointment as Deputy Chief Minister: EPS

சேலம்: “அமைச்சர் உதயநிதி, கருணாநிதியின் பேரன், ஸ்டாலினின் மகன் அவ்வளவு தான். அவர் துணை முதல்வராக நியமிக்கப்பட்டால் வரவேற்க மாட்டோம்” என்று அதிமுக பொதுச்செயலாளர் பழனிசாமி தெரிவித்துள்ளார். அதிமுக பொதுச்செயலாளர் பழனிசாமி முன்னிலையில், மாற்றுக் கட்சியினர் அதிமுக-வில் இணையும் நிகழ்ச்சி, சேலத்தை அடுத்த ஓமலூரில் உள்ள அதிமுக புறநகர் மாவட்ட அலுவலகத்தில் இன்று (ஞாயிற்றுக்கிழமை) நடைபெற்றது. இதில், முன்னாள்…

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indiaepost · 1 year ago

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Lok Sabha election results in TN crucial for Palaniswami and AIADMK's future

Chennai: The results of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Tamil Nadu will be crucial for AIADMK General Secretary and former Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami (EPS). After party coordinator and former Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam (OPS) was ousted from the party along with his supporters in the July 11, 2022 meeting of the AIADMK’s General Council, the party is solely under the control of…

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agentcable · 1 year ago

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Bad Prosecutor Ep. 4 Recap

Deputy Chief Prosecutor Lee Jang-Won's death has left Jin Jung stunned. All evidence indicates that his death was a homicide, but he is the only one who believes this. Jin Jung abandons all duties at the Civil Affairs Division to search for concrete evidence that could disprove Chief Prosecutor Lee's death as a suicide.

If you want to watch the series for yourself, stop reading! This post contains spoilers to the storyline.

Deputy Chief Lee's death was portrayed as a suicide, but Jung suspects it was a murder.

A-Ra investigates the case with Tae-Ho's approval while Jung and A-Ra search for evidence. Meanwhile Chul-Gi remains at the Civil Affairs Office, attempting to distract Jae-Kyung from Jung's absence with an awkward smile. However, Jae-Kyung quickly realizes that Jung is missing. Jung rejects the call from him. He believes that he will be scolded whether he answers or not.

To speed up the process, Jung asks Joong-Do to hack into Deputy Chief Lee's call history. He finds a friend of the victim in the call list and sets up a meeting. At the meeting, he discovers what the deputy chief has been searching for: an MP3 player.

A-Ra is waiting for the deputy chief's autopsy. Evidence of foul play was found upon initial examination of the body, but the offical autopsy report indicates suicide.

Jung and A-Ra regroup after receiving the results. A-Ra suggests they stop investigating since the official paperwork states that it was a suicide. They do not have enough evidence to dispute it. Jung persists and spends the night at his desk searching for evidence. Jae-Kyung offers him to ramyeon and questions why he continues to engage in behaviour that he knows will result in trouble. His answer is, "Because no one else will do it if I don't." When Jae-Kyung asks him to take out the newspapers to the trash, Jung discovers a headline stating that the medical examiner who worked on the deputy chief's autopsy has a history of fabrication or at least allegations of it. Jae-Kyung appears to be carrying some heavy baggage, particularly with Tae-Ho, despite regularly discouraging Jung. This may explain why he is discreetly assisting Jung. Additionally, Jae-Kyung reportedly met with the deputy chief shortly before his death.

Jung asked the deputy chief's daughter for a second autopsy, even though his family was angry with him. She agreed after he suggested that there might be foul play involved. To maintain secrecy, he decides to remove the body covertly and obtain his own medical examiner. Jung also reaches out to an anatomy professor to perform the autopsy discreetly, although he had to use his charm - even if it meant making cringey jokes.

Chul-Gi, Eun-Ji, and Joong-Do are entrusted with sneaking out the body, with Joong-Do playing the role of a corpse. They successfully retrieve the body, but in the chaos, Eun-Ji and Chul-Gi forget that Joong-Do is still inside the coffin. As a result, he is about to be cremated in place of the deputy chief. The crew rescues him, but almost burns him in the cremation machine first.

As everything is unfolding, the chairman of Kangsan Law Firm, Seo Hyun-Kyu is pressuring the justice minister to appoint a specific individual as the new chief prosecutor, following the recent murder of the deputy chief. Seo Hyun-Kyu is the driving force behind this. He first sends out his son and heir, Seo Ji-Han, to deliver the message. However, when it is not promptly followed, he confronts the justice minister himself and hits him hard to break his nose.

At the prosecution office, Do-Hwan faces jeers when his "ladder" suddenly dies. He approaches Tae-Ho promising to do whatever he asks and be his sword but Tae-Ho rejects him.

Chairman Seo has been pushing for Tae-Ho to become the new head. Tae-Ho has been hiding his ambition at work by portraying himself as righteous and unambitious. However, he is just like anyone else who wants to climb up the ladder. He has been collaborating with the chairman, and they are so close that he calls him "hyung".

Tae-Ho arrives at the prosecution office the next day and is greeted as the new chief. He maintains his unambitious and solemn persona. Meanwhile, Jung eagerly awaits the autopsy report. His hunch is confirmed when the second autopsy reveals possible foul play. Do-Hwan arrives with a warrant for Jung's immediate arrest. As he and Chul-Gi prepare to continue investigating, they must now deal with this new development. Jung is charged with the murder of the deputy chief. Unfortunately, Jung did get framed.

#Korea #TV Serie #K-Drama #Bad Prosecutor

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crinaboros · 2 years ago

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EXCLUSIVE: Romanian Environment Ministry releases closed-doors meeting recording, revealing forest and biodiversity loss admission in talk with European Parliament delegates

Article supported by an IJ4EU grant for independent reporting

by Crina-Gabriela Boroş

(Photo: Truck transporting freshly-cut wood from a private forest (according to Romsilva employees present), driving through Romsilva’s Ocolul Domneşti on a rainy day in South Făgăraş mountains, 17 May 2023. Copyrighted - all rights reserved.)

Pressed by us and in a move to refute European Parliament’s petition delegation’s allegation of closed-door policy during a joint meeting in Bucharest, the Romanian Ministry of Environment released the event’s audio recording – probing illegal logging and environment destruction complaints – to Freedom House Romania / PressHub.

On Tuesday May 6, PREShub published the PETI delegation’s reaction to our revelation that media access to key moments of their fact-finding visit to Romania was tightly controlled and severely restricted.

The delegation held discussions with the Ministry of Environment and visited the country, following complaints regarding systemic illegal logging, as well as a list of referrals regarding the destruction of protected habitats.

The PRESShub’s feature contains a quote from the Ministry of Environment’s chief spokesperson, who told us that it was the PETI delegates who did not allow media representatives to attend the technical meeting with the Minister on a critical issue of major public interest.

But PETI delegation lead Yana Toom wrote to PRESShub to “clarify that shortly before the meeting at the Ministry the leader of the delegation asked the participants if they agreed to the participation of journalists in the meeting and that the Minister of Environment objected”.

Romania’s Ministry of the Environment responds to PETI

PRESShub requested a clarification from the Ministry of the Environment, regarding the latter statement from PETI’s response. Afterall, Environment, Waters and Forests Minister’s spokesperson Mihai Drăgan did initially tell us that „the only reason why the press did not have access to the meeting is that this was at the request of PETI delegates. The nature of this meeting is not public”.

A Ministry of Environment’s representative specified that such a discussion between the two sides, about media access, did not take place!

„Following preliminary discussions for the organisation of the meeting on May 15, as well as the PETI Commission’s usual practices for similar actions, MMAP proposed media access for image opportunities at the beginning of the meeting, as well as the support of statements by the participants at the end”, the communique sais.

“The EP representatives had no objections to the proposed format, also stating that, due to the limited time, there will be no press statements from the delegation leadership.”

“Regarding the information according to which there would have been a discussion before the actual meeting, in which the head of the EP delegation would have requested the consent for the participation of journalists and the minister would have opposed it, we specify that the information is totally erroneous, such a discussion did not exist, neither at the beginning of the meeting, nor after it”, an Environment Ministry’s spokesperson said.

As such, “in the spirit of transparency”, the Romanian Environment Ministry is granting access to the full recording of the talks, released exclusively to PRESShub.

Listen to the recording on SoundCloud - https://tinyurl.com/4s4yjmkc.

(Original article published on PRESSHub - https://presshub.ro/exclusive-romanian-environment-ministry-releases-closed-doors-meeting-recording-revealing-forest-and-biodiversity-loss-admission-in-talk-with-european-parliament-delegates-274472/)

LORDS OF TIMBER is a project supported by an IJ4EU grant for independent reporting, managed by the European Journalism Centre and the International Press Institute. This is one article in a series exposing aspects tied to EU’s “famous” “environmental” infringement.

#European Parliament #Romania #Environment #environment ministry #Transparency #watchdog reporting #logging #Natura 2000 #forests #forest management #biodiversity loss

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todaynowreport · 2 years ago

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K’taka Trying To Turn Tn Into Desert: Eps On Mekedatu Row | Chennai News

CHENNAI: AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami on Thursday condemned the Karnataka government’s attempts to build a dam in Mekedatu across the river Cauvery. The former CM warned the ‘Karnataka government’ that the AIADMK would resort to all forms of protests to prevent Tamil Nadu from becoming a desert. EPS was responding to Karnataka deputy chief minister D K Shivakumar’s address to…

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tamildaily · 6 years ago

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gillianthecat · 3 years ago

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The Devil Judge: Episode 5

I just finished The Devil Judge and something about this show compelled me to take copious notes - it had emotional intensity and layers of mystery. These are long and rambling, so they're likely not of interest to anyone else, but since I spent all that time writing it I decided, why not post it. Perhaps someone will find it interesting.

Below are my moment-to-moment reactions, predictions and analysis as I watched episode 5.

eps 1&2 ep3 ep4 ep5 ep6 ep7 ep8 ep9 ep10 ep11 ep12 ep13 ep14 ep15 ep16

I wrote about my initial impressions, up to episode 5, here and here.

This is cleaned up only slightly. I followed the spelling given in the Viki subtitles. I mostly don't explain what I'm reacting to, so this will probably only make sense if you've seen the episode recently. Occasionally I give timestamps.

Interesting that they do so little to change his look between Ga-On and Isaac. That has to be intentional but why I'm not sure yet.

Hello abs.

"I don't think about a guy I've already killed. If I actually killed him, that is." To E at (3:45)

It does seem like she believes he killed her father.

(5:20). Why does G confess here? Is he totally won over by y's tale? Or is it strategic? He must know that Y already knows.

Hmm. Does Y feel seen by g? Did he figure out the frame of the revenge plan? (5:45).

(7:55) "Even if no one else understands. I do." And Y's subtle expression

Then the demand to choose.

"It's fun, being with you" what an interesting explanation to give G. I wonder what was the Korean word they translated as fun.

(9:00) This mysterious exchange with Mysterious Assistant (who was hiding in the study?)

"It is as predicted." "Then why are you doing that?" [what exactly? Letting him back on the panel?] "Who knows? Seeing that I'm being shown such sympathy, should I say I'm a little embarrassed? And I don't have much experience saying that."

(22:30) Where are the cops raiding?

(24:00) Y and Mysterious Assistant plotting on the roof.

(24:38) His smile! In response to G telling him to eat or he'll get wrinkles.

His playfulness with the electronic butler. Cute but maybe also sad - is that the only 'person' he can be playful with?

Also he's probably in a good mood because of Ga-On cooking for him and teasing him.

And he eats it!

Secret blue vest back

(29:04) G and Yun Su Hyeon (YSH) conversation about Y, and about her protecting G.

He's starting to pull away from her and toward Y here.

Baby G's earring!

Same injury as in flashback with mentor? Or just similar make up?

Also her flashback where she explicitly says she becomes a cop to keep rescuing G.

He also tells her to be careful - it's too big for one person. YSH - ‘it's too late now’.

(33:00) loaded convo between Y and Chief Justice.

Same prosecutor here, I think. (Starting around 35:00) Did he plot with JSA?

39:45 JSA explaining (sort of) her plan to Minister Cha.

Oh, Y and JSA don't talk here, just significant looks.

(41:19) Oh wow. The first thing we see on the newspaper he's cutting is the ruler, presumably the one his dad used to hit him with?

This is all very staged. By Y for G? By the directors for the audience?

Y deliberately confusing G about his motives. The way they stared at each other!

"I'm used to being seen as a monster, but you looking at me that way, with that face, hurts my heart." (Y is trying to be manipulative, but maybe he also subconsciously means it? And obviously referring to Isaac's face, but is he also perhaps getting fond of G's face?)

(I haven't even got into the implications of G looking like Isaac. Is it supposed to be as exact as it is? If this really is a romance, are they implying some incestuousness on Y's part? What does this mean?!)

This whole conversation on monsters and victims and pretending to be strong. Y's shifting expressions! "You do waver if I talk like this".

(43:30). Memory/fantasy of protecting his child self from his fathers beating. (The ruler).

This child actor is so good, and also matches Ji Sung so well. It feels very believable that they're the same character.

"Don't hit me. Don't hit me." 😢 and featuring the cross on his wrist.

"I am fed up with this house." (46:35) (that sounds gothic) oh my god his face.

Oh, the lawn/window scene immediately follows. Y has taken to his bed and gets up when he hears them talking.

The moment when I realized this was a gothic romance: Ga-On is playing with Elijah on the sunny lawn and Yo-Han is in the dark house, in his expensive dressing gown, peering through the curtains staring at him. Ga-On leans back on his arms in what is frankly a flirtatious pose, and their eyes meet.

(48:18) - G's face! His unintentionally(?) seductive pose!

(48:40) Next is the mentor scene and a flashback around the motorcycle. Why did G get injured in the past? Is it plot relevant?

Mystery characters so far: The tall man that either assists Y or possibly Y reports to. And now this longhaired woman on the expensive motorcycle

Mentor asks G to choose. G pushes back (uncharacteristic?) (54:00)

G is now starting to side with Y against his mentor and his protector. He's been forced to make a choice. Explicitly asked by both Y and his mentor. This fits both a corruption story and a romance story.

eps 1&2 ep3 ep4 ep5 ep6 ep7 ep8 ep9 ep10 ep11 ep12 ep13 ep14 ep15 ep16

#the devil judge episode 5 #kind of like liveblogging #the devil judge #the devil judge reaction #the devil judge spoilers #reaction by gillianthecat

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win--me · 4 years ago

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The Devil Judge ep 11-12

I bet Kim Ga On wishes he hadn’t gone to law school right about now.

These two episodes were truly amazing. Kim Ga On dove so cleanly into Kang Yo Han’s mess and now, he’s lost his best friend and himself. I was skeptical of the bond that formed between them from the time Kim Ga On left the chief justice. He was making decisions according to his personal feelings about what happened to his family. He and Kang Yo Han both lost their family in different ways and found a new sense of family with each other and Elijah. The difference between their situations is that after Kang Yo Han lost his family, he sought revenge and continued to do so while Kim Ga On had Yoon Su Hyun to stop him. This allowed him to grieve his loss and continue with his life in a manner he enjoyed. Because Kim Ga On had this, he was able to bring a sense of joy into the house when he began living with Kang Yo Han and Elijah.

Kang Yo Han and his manipulation tactics. Kang Yo Han has manipulated Kim Ga On from the very beginning of their relationship, often using his family. Kang Yo Han first brought up Kim Ga On’s family when the three judges were having dinner with each other. At this point, they barely knew each other and Kim Ga On had a big reaction to the invasion of his privacy. After the bomb went off in Kang Yo Han’s office, he took Kim Ga On to his home rather than a hospital, claiming it was safer, and took his phone away. Kim Ga On was injured, unable to get back to his home (or anywhere else he wanted to be) and unable to contact anyone. Kim Ga On eventually got his phone back, but only once Kang Yo Han decided to give it to him. Kang Yo Han constantly kept information from Kim Ga On and only revealed it as he wanted to such as the fact that someone else was serving the thief who defrauded his parents sentence and that he wasn’t going to kill the thief’s family when the set the building on fire with them inside. During both of these encounters, Kim Ga On experienced intense emotional reactions which could have been avoided. Kang Yo Han kept Kim Ga On on the hook and toyed with his feelings. Lastly, in episode 12, Kang Yo Han explicitly tells Kim Ga On that he shouldn’t continue his relationship with Yoo Su Hyun. This is a classic tactic used by manipulators. Making the victim believe that everyone else is wrong and they are right, that they don’t need others, they only need the manipulator.

Kang Yo Han’s history makes him sympathetic. He was almost abandoned to die as a baby and then abused physically and emotionally by his father. He was forced to live in a small room in the basement. He was ostracized by the kids at school. All this is true and he didn’t deserve any of that treatment. As viewers, we see the effects of this abuse in different ways. We see his brutal tactics when dealing with others, and we see an uncle who doesn’t know how to talk to his niece. We learn to care for him as Kim Ga On does. We see how happy he is to eat with others and play games. The thing is, the abused can also be abusers. And that doesn’t excuse those who abused them or their abusive actions against others.

The scene at Minister Cha’s office was amazing. I initially thought that she wouldn’t kill herself when she got the gun because she is a person who saves herself before anyone else, but the more I think about it, her suicide was a way of saving herself. She would rather die than deal with the consequences of her actions. I was horrified when Kim Ga On immediately searched her pockets once seeing her dead body. He also expresses his own horror at his actions.

It was necessary for Yoon Su Hyun to see Kim Ga On in that office. So far, whenever he’s done something shady/awful, he’s been with Kang Yo Han who lead him there. Once Yoon Su Hyun entered the office, Kim Ga On was able to see himself through her eyes. In an earlier episode, she said that if she caught him doing something bad, she’d arrest him herself. I believed she would, but her love for him won over her own principals. I think this is why she’s so mad at Kim Ga On, not only for his actions, but because she betrayed herself to protect him. I hope that their relationship can recover.

I feel bad for Elijah. She didn’t do anything except be born into that family and be in the church when it caught fire. She’s lived a lonely life and experienced constant loss.

I have no idea where this show is going.

#the devil judge #devil judge #park jinyoung #jinyoung #jisung #kdrama #kdramas #long post #my thoughts

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midnightsgift · 4 years ago

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Ep 10 Review

Less so an insightful take on the episode with hindsight but more my first reactions to the scenes as they play out, and perhaps a summary of my thoughts at the end with predictions

>I understand why Ga-on didn’t murder the guy but a part of me wished he did/an opportunity to commit a ‘serious crime’ occurs a gain and he follows through with it. We often see characters like him (Kim Ga-on) where they have a strict moral code pushed to the breaking point, but never truly taking that ‘irreversible step’ whatever that may be for the given shows. They often retain their own moral compass and only really bend in what they believe in, and in this case be shaped by the perspective Kang Yo-han is showing. Quite literally may I add as he holds him still; stopping him running into the fire; directing him to observe the man dancing amongst the burning paper or even the greed of humanity through the risk of negotiation/loss of money. Characters like Ga-on have their world’s image destroyed and him traveling by himself to murder the man portrayed that broken boy he’d be very well. It was unexpected and I LOVED the writing for that and it is already above other shows with similar storylines because of that but i wish he’s given another chance to do something he can never take back in the name of ‘justice’. I want to watch how he lives with himself after, how he’d rationalise his actions and the aftermath. I’d prefer for him to feel guilty but not regret i feel as that would be a clear indication he’s grown into a different man

> Yo-han really got me wanting to get my cards out, and some dominos so i can made a trail to push over,

> I love how Yo-han made ‘who would i play with?’ a passing comment but looked so offended and smug idk how he did it when Ga-on doubled down on it.

>Listen I'm not saying Yo-han is a superstitious man but I am imagining every time he’s plotting he makes a tower and if he gets an ace once it topples he knows he's on to a good one

>lmao the assistant getting shifty when the minister complained bout ppl doing anything for money

>Idk if it they intentionally did it like this but it seemed like Ga-on approached Judge Oh with the video like he hadn’t yet suggested the idea to Chief Kang. If it was like that it’s like their trying to fix the gap they had created, and i think depending on who's idea it was it alludes to two different things, Yo-han’s: he noticed how Sun-ah is probably trying to approach Judge Oh especially after how she was agreeing to her ideas in the meeting of her photoshoot. So now he’s trying to rectify the damage he caused by favouring Judge Kim because ‘only two are need for a majority’ Ga-on’s: he’s trying to maintain a friendly relations ship between Chief Kang and Judge Oh as he’s trying to fix most of Yo-han’s relationships.

The two are such contrasting reasons and its probably me misunderstanding anyway but I love it.

>Ngl and maybe TMI i love that she insinuated she’s murdered ppl by saying she reeks of blood, but as someone who gets periods i would just assume she means i actually smell.

>Argh i love Elijah and how she just shits on them for having such a flawed understanding of ‘hacking’. Elijah Supremacy👑

>He knows how to make an entrance, also sidenote: i live for this soundtrack

>Ah he fucked up, now she’s gonna seek the professor out and start asking questions

>That so sad cuz its true he is poor in what matters

>Someone mentioned it before that Yo-han talks to Sun-ah like she's a child at kindergarten and i can’t unhear it

>Sun-ah seems to be more embarrassed by being a maid than I thought, it seems to be less of a reaction of someone who pissed at the elite but someone who hates her past and wants to blend in.

>Someone also stated that the ppl who have been on trial are representative of the seven deadly sins and with the show already having such heavy Christian symbolism it seemed like a valid observation. So would his be ‘Pride’ i feel like that closely ties with patriots. That or wrath due to the reparation of ‘justified anger’

>Damn he stole his grandmother’s funeral money

>I can’t wait to finally see her as a proper villain

#tdj #the devil judge #midnight watched kdramas #midnight watches TDJ #kang yo han #kim ga on #jung sun ah #yoon soo hyun #kang elijah #park jinyoung #ji-sung

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argumentl · 4 years ago

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The Freedom of Expression, radio version - Ep.34, May 2016 - Death-row art, Bear cub mistaken for puppy, Japan's place in the World Press Freedom Index.

Kaoru starts by saying its the end of May, so the weather is getting a lot hotter, and the air-con in the studio is extremely patchy. It gets very hot randomly, and a few episodes ago, he felt so hot recording the show when the air-con was playing up.

Kaoru's first news is that an art exhibition showcasing artwork produced by death row inmates will be given a second run, after making headlines the first time in 2013. Kaoru picks up on one piece from the exhibition, drawn by Hayashi Masumi, a woman facing the death sentence for putting poison in a pot of curry at a festival in 1998, killing four people and injuring many more. Her artwork consists of orange and black colours, and resembles 4 figures standing in the hanging chamber, with the ropes positioned above thier heads. Joe says Hayashi actually pleaded not guilty to the crime she was charged with. He explains that according to Hayashi's lawyer Yasuda Yoshihiro (a prominent anti-death penalty activist), Hayashi is on a mental decline due to her continued isolation from the outside world. This makes Joe think that this artwork differs from regular art, as it comes with quite a deep message from the inside. He comments that the artisic skill in the pictures is actually quite high. If you were unaware of the exhibition's theme, you would never guess the art was all made by death row inmates. It creates a brief sense that these people who have comitted such terrible crimes aren't really all that different from the rest of us. Kaoru agrees with Joe, and says that within that isolation the prisoners must have been able to concentrate quite closely on the art, it is quite detailed. He feels curious about how it feels to communicate with the outside world in this way. Joe says the exhibition will be held in Hiroshima, which is difficult to get to from Tokyo, but he wants to go in person and see the artwork with his own eyes, instead of just seeing it online. Going back to Hayashi's picture, Kaoru wonders why there are 4 figures in it, as 4 people would never be executed in a row like this in reality. He also says that these pieces of art have all passed checks in order to be released for public viewing, but there must have been more pieces that did not pass the checks. He wants to see those ones too.

Next, they welcome Dobashi for the Tokyo Sports corner. Dobashi is tired after being assigned to help out with covering the Rio de Janeiro Olympics by Hiranabe. Joe says Hiranabe is always too consumed by his own scandals to help out with stuff like this.

Dobashi's first story is about a man in China's Yunnan province who raised an Asian Black bear cub, believing it to a dog. He found it in the mountains and felt sorry for it so brought it home as his pet. When it suddenly started to grow massive he informed the authorities, and discovered it was a bear. The bear was returned to the forest after this. Kaoru says its a good thing the man realised before the bear got any bigger. He says he saw a video of the bear (still in the man's home) eating, and it really was eating a huge amount. Joe says this is way above the level that any dog would eat. Kaoru thinks the bear did look very cute when it was little though. He then says that he recently saw some news from Japan about a bear coming down from the mountains and entering the house of a celebrity. Dobashi, slightly flustered, says he hasn't heard that news, he has been too busy with the Olympics. Kaoru says he also heard something about someone in China mistaking a big dog for a lion. He's not sure whether this is true though. Dobashi then brings up the zoologist Hata Masanori, also know as Mutsugorō, who had raised some lion cubs, and then nearly got eaten by one of them after it grew. Joe says there is tonnes of crazy legends surrounding Mutsugorō, he is a super interesting/eccentric guy.

Dobashi gets serious for his next story, which is that Japan has fallen 11 places to #72 out of 180 countries in the 2016 World Press Freedom Index, compiled by the NPO Reporters Without Borders. Dobashi says this is probably due to the enforcement of the State Secrecy Law, after which the media has lost a lot of its independence and autonomy. #1 in the ranking was Finland, and #180 was Eritrea. #179 was North Korea. Joe says that just before the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, Japan was ranking at about #10. Japan actually uses a Press club system, which to non-Japanese, appears quite restrictive anyway. But since the nuclear accident in 2011 and the way in which it was reported, Japan's ranking has plummeted. Along with the recent State Secrecy Law, and the comments from Minister Takaichi about shutting down politically biased content, the ranking has fallen further. Joe said he once interviewed the Tokyo bureau chief of the New York Times, Martin Fackler about this topic. Fackler said that although the American press is not very free itself, the main difference from the Japanese press is that in Japan, journalists tend to work for one newspaper for thier whole career, whereas in America journalists are overwhelming freelance. Japanese journalists are almost like 'salarymen', competing for promotion within thier own organization. The top level positions in Japanese media organizations come with huge salaries compared to overseas. For this reason, journalists in Japan strive never to write an unpopular article. Fackler thinks the ability to stand up to this kind of system is fading in Japan. Joe wonders what the purpose of media reporting is in light of this reality (i.e. desire to spread news honestly, or just a means of getting closer to a high income).

Kami then intervenes and asks if Hiranabe's salary is high. Dobashi says his is low. Kami reminds them that Hiranabe spent ¥150000 on champagne, and Kaoru then says that despite this, Hiranabe hasn't yet paid his taxi fee to get to the InterFM studio, he asks Dobashi to pay it. Joe thinks its strange that Hiranabe can pay that much for champagne, and at the same time not be able to afford his taxi fee. Kami reminds them of the teeth straightening treatment Hiranaba was apparently also paying for a few weeks ago. He thinks Dobashi must also be getting a high salary. Joe asks Kami what he did in Golden Week, and Kami says he had to work his night shifts because his salary is low.

Getting back on topic, Kaoru questions whether the government is trying to make fools of the people, something about the situation doesn't feel right. It looks like they are taking a too conservative stance, and banning things just to avoid dealing with problems. Joe comments that Tokyo Sports does a good job in the face of this. Dobashi says thats because no topic is off limits for Tokyo Sports. He also says its good to be aware of holding power in this sphere, as too much of it can become a hotbed for corruption. Kami joins them again and says the World Press Freedom Index probably didn't take Tokyo Sports into account. Dobashi replies that Tokyo Sports has no tabboos.

To finish, Kaoru reminds listeners of the new jingle campaign, and plugs the new single and the DVD/Bluray. He then says he is about to start rehersals for Mode of Vulgar, which is sold out. Lastly, he says he will give Dobashi a sticker in exchange for more juicy news in future episodes. Dobashi says he will look for the most tabboo stories he can find.

Songs - Dir en grey/'Yokusou ni dreambox' aruiwa seijuku no rinen to tsumetai ame.

#dir en grey #the freedom of expression #radio

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extraordinarilyextreme · 5 years ago

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finally watched Guardian (2018) and i need to talk

Warning: contains MASSIVE SPOILERS, probably too much music/song analysis, my poor translations from Chinese to English, and some references to the original novel (disclaimer: my novel-reading was mostly jumping around because i have a problem where I’m not fluent enough to read the original Chinese novel and I don’t usually like English translations)

1. the freakin opening theme: We Won’t Be Falling by Chen Xueran... (also I see you Tina Guo on the cello thank you queen)

the amount of chills i get every time an episode starts,,, fantastic! marvelous! the lyrics are very VERY apt to the story of Guardian, esp this drama adaptation

(“We are the one/We will be holding on/For the promise we held for life/For the people we love are leaving” ... “And the story will keep on going”)

1.1. the promise? may i direct you to novel chapter 75?

Shen Wei: “Sometimes I think if one day you can remember everything, then I will be able to say to you: look, I did it, I did all that I had promised you; not one bit did I miss, not one word did I go back on.”

they promise to keep the peace, to protect both Haixing and Dixing; and in the show, it’s a promise they keep with their lives

2. Zhu Yilong plays THREE characters and is able to differentiate them perfectly with particular microexpressions

-Ye Zun (literally, “Respect the Night”; “Lord/Master of the Night” would be a better title) sets off my fight-or-flight instincts even though i think his name tries a little too hard to be edgy; the way he sneers, the smiles that don’t reach his eyes, also that infamous tongue flick when Zhao Yunlan sees through the act... i think it’s both great and sad that Yunlan could differentiate the twins because, why, Shen Wei would never be so openly flirtatious (and wear a deep-cut shirt like that lol)... the delivery of “Xiao Yunlan” disturbed me so much—wonderful, stellar acting

-Black Cloaked Envoy: does his best to bend the rules where he can for the Dixingren because he’s just so fundamentally GOOD; he’s empathetic despite how stern and strict he seems to be, and how much he claims to enforce the clearly-cut laws... he’s an absolute babie ten thousand years ago (Yunlan, doesn’t it hurt your conscience to flirt with such a babie?)

-Shen Wei: in the novel, his name (both surname and first name) are given to him by Kun Lun’s incarnations—there’s a lot of power in naming something, in naming someone; he’s good-natured and gentle, always polite... he pushes up the glasses [that he doesn’t need] a lot, perhaps because he’s used to pushing up his mask as the Envoy

2.1. i find it very striking that Shen Wei dies without his glasses; he doesn’t die as the Envoy, he doesn’t die as the Professor; he dies as a person, as the person who loves Yunlan the most and has loved Yunlan for ten thousand years

2.2. the other notable moments we see Shen Wei without his glasses are where he apologizes to Yunlan [and Yunlan apologizes at the same time because they’re pining idiots] for not noticing the camera in his office, where he sets aside all his pride as Envoy and Professor and kneels in the rain for the man he loves (lwj kneeling after visiting the Burial Mounds, yea?), and of course after he slices up an orange [cuz food = love] only to find Yunlan asleep and drapes his jacket over the silly silly man... anyway, Yunlan is indeed the only person Shen Wei is comfortable enough to reveal everything to, all defenses and masks (literal and figurative) lowered

2.3. that last instance (ep 26) is when Shen Wei pulls out his necklace and reminisces as he gazes fondly at Yunlan; the song that plays during this is 《乱心曲》or “Chaotic Heart Song”... may I direct you to novel chapter 65 where Yunlan finds all the paintings and pictures his Xiao Wei has kept from the centuries?

“邓林之阴初见昆仑君，惊鸿一瞥，乱我心曲。” which translates to “In the shade of the woods I first saw Kunlun-jun; a glimpse of his grace wrought chaos in my heart’s song”

2.4. but also let’s not forget the [in]famous cut wrist scene of ep 23, where our dear Shen Wei, without glasses, as a person who loves Yunlan—not the aloof Envoy or the well-spoken Professor—is reduced to two words: “Worth it.” Yunlan is worth everything to him; this goes without question, without a second thought. Kun Lun (Yunlan) told him not to regret whatever decisions he’ll make, and Ye Zun scolds and laughs at his brother for giving up his life for a human/Haixingren, but of course Shen Wei doesn’t regret dying to protect Yunlan, dying to protect Haixing. (also, peep the behind-the-scenes where Shen Wei grabs Yunlan’s hand for a moment as he blocks the attack from Ye Zun)

2.5. on this same train of thought, Da Qing brings up a line from ten thousand years ago where Shen Wei claimed he would never kill unless it was for the world... and, well, he kills for Yunlan doesn’t he?

3. Bai Yu plays our charismatic Chief Zhao Yunlan/Kun Lun and hoo boy does he do an excellent job; the found family vibes of the SIU are spectacular and the way he flirts with tries to recruit Professor Shen is endearing and touching

3.1. there’s another piece from the OST called 《一点真心》, translated to “A Little Sincerity” though I would use “A Bit of a Sincere Heart” because it too references the novel

Kun Lun’s confession to Xiao Wei: “我富有天下名山大川，想起来也没什么稀奇的，不过就是一堆烂石头野河水，浑身上下，大概也就只有这几分真心能上秤卖上两斤，你要？拿去。” [I’m rich with famed mountains and endless rivers under heaven, but none of it feels rare when I think about it. It’s all just a pile of broken stones and uncultivated streams. From head to toe, there is probably only this bit of my sincere heart that is worth anything weighed on a scale. You want it? Take it.]

Zhao Yunlan’s confession to Shen Wei: “我别的东西也有，只是你可能大多都看不上，只有这一点真心……你要是不接着，那就��了吧。” [I have other things, only you probably would not think much of them. There’s only this bit of my sincere heart... If you don’t want to catch it, then forget it.)

And Shen Wei’s reply to Yunlan’s confession is of course “我接住了。” [I’ve caught it.]

3.2. the novel is a happy ending because Xiao Guo’s important role actually plays a part (i literally don’t understand why the show couldn’t do that after they built up so many expectations about his good character/merit/inability to be corrupted but ANYWAY)... Shen Wei, Xiao Wei, the little Ghost King has a soul and wow isn’t that just beautiful after everything he did to become worthy/deserving of Kun Lun’s attention and love

4. the Zhang Ruonnan and Wang Yike (death-touch Dixingren) case in ep 3 is an obvious parallel to the “brotherly” relationship of WeiLan... Shen Wei’s line of “Many tragedies were destined from the start” references the show of course but also the paradoxical precognition that marks the drama version of WeiLan; in both of their “first meetings”, one of them was always already in love with the other—Yunlan, as Kun Lun, knew he would have to return to his own time at some point and thus doom this impressionable young Envoy to ten thousand years of waiting and Shen Wei (honestly in a Code Geass Lelouch kinda style) knew he would have to die to defeat his brother

4.1. the importance of “touch” in this case alludes to novel WeiLan, where of course Shen Wei watched over all of Kun Lun’s incarnations but wasn’t allowed to get close to him because hungry ghosts would inevitably devour the essence of the people around them; similarly Yike was terrified of touching Ruonnan all this time... but Ruonnan accepted her (just like how novel Kun Lun lets this intriguing little Ghost King trail after him)

4.2. speaking of Shen Wei’s grand plans and the idea of “knowing”, Yunlan reminds him that “You are not a weapon/blade, you are a person.” and wow once again, only Yunlan can pull the humanity from Shen Wei, who has carefully crafted his disguise and personality to fit what people expect of the Envoy and the Professor... but alas, Shen Wei fulfills his promise by in fact making himself a weapon; he poisons himself to become a bomb that will take down his brother

4.3. as many qualms and complaints as I have with Chinese censorship, much in the case of WangXian, i think i prefer the drama version of WeiLan to the novel version; the plot of the Guardian novel is a lot better in my opinion (with references to mythology and legends, as opposed to, what, aliens?? mutants from X-Men? quirks in My Hero Academia??) and yea the relationship of Kun Lun with Xiao Wei is built up a lot better and makes more sense than the time-travel of Yunlan masquerading as Kun Lun with Shen Wei... but there’s an unadulterated, unconditional kind of love that runs through the drama, whereas the novel had some darker (though probably more realistic) vibes of near-possessiveness and ulterior motives... Kun Lun/Yunlan in the novel can be, well, cruel, which is not necessarily out of character; it’s just seems a little wrong to me that you could threaten your partner in a relationship (if you keep things from me again, i really will turn against you + had i known xyz would happen, i really should have killed you)... plus i’m always a sucker for love without an “i love you”, a love that’s conveyed entirely through actions and gazes

5. Yunlan asks Zhou Weiwei (the mirror case) where her jacket was bought because he “wants to get one for [his] girlfriend” and lo and behold, what similarly-styled and colored coat does our Shen Wei show up in a few episodes later? (also the fact that Shen Wei dies wearing this jade-ish-blue-ish coat)

6. boyfriend jacket during the Moutain-River Awl case... boyfriend jacket!!!! Shen Wei claims he doesn’t need it and well he still wears it anyway because Yunlan’s love is unstoppable

6.1. the way Shen Wei grabs Yunlan’s elbow before running down the hill

6.2. Shen Wei being so freaking fine-tuned to Yunlan’s discomfort/pain as always that he drinks wine for him (and passes out immediately—heroics/bde of yllz! wwx and the alcohol tolerance of our dear lwj)

6.2.1. when Minister Gao brings up Yunlan’s dad and the Chief’s hands tighten... and of course nothing can go by Shen Wei, so he changes the topic of the conversation; also the way he leans forward as if to shield Yunlan

6.2.2. Yunlan is similarly Aware of his boyfriend’s boundaries; cue him politely excusing themselves from the dinner with Vice-Minister Guo when Shen Wei (of all people!) fumbles with his chopsticks

6.2.3. Yunlan also blocks Shen Wei from Minister Gao’s sight (subconsciously?) after that wedding showdown... even though he’s unhappy that Shen Wei has kept the identity of the Envoy from him, he trusts the other man enough to recognize there must be a reason; thus he doesn’t want other people to pry into the possibility that Shen Wei is a Dixingren

6.3. also, also that Shen Wei lets Yunlan have his way and use him as a pillow in the car once again (he also adjusts the actual pillow beneath Yunlan’s head to make it more comfortable)

6.3.1 the other Shen-Wei-is-Yunlan’s-pillow scene is when the professor picks up the poor hurting Chief off the road and in the taxi ride home... apparently this was an improvised scene from Bai Yu who just wanted to mess with Long-ge and our great Zhu Yilong just stayed in character and ran with it

6.3.2. the other notable improvised scene is the cute “Black Cloaked gege~ please be careful~ there’s someone is waiting for you at home~” [sorry that i don’t remember the exact line] but once again our great leading actors just stay perfectly in character

6.4. after Shen Wei wakes up from a night of being drunk (lol) Yunlan has left a note for him “I’ve gone back first, stay in touch. -Zhao” and what’s that on the corner of the note? why it’s a winky face

7. when Yunlan grabs the fake Zhang Danni’s wrist to confirm his suspicions, Shen Wei narrows his eyes... (lol is our Black Cloaked gege jealous)

8. when Yunlan claims he can swallow the painkillers dry, Shen Wei clenches his jaw in his anger at this idiot of a man for not taking better care of himself... you’ll find that a lot of Shen Wei’s anger is directed toward his husband being a self-sacrificial fool

8.1. after Yunlan uses the Hallows again and his nose begins to bleed, Zhu Yilong in all his acting glory has Shen Wei furious to the point that his lips tremble (cue Shen Wei angrily shoving a handkerchief into his husband’s face) [i really want to know if they ever broke character during this scene due to their proximity lol]

8.1.1. Shen Wei all but invades Yunlan’s personal space (he really does stand there between Yunlan’s legs guys) and he’s so careful even though he’s angry as he tries to stop the nosebleed; he’s aware the force might tip Yunlan backwards, so he immediately rests his hands on Yunlan’s thighs/knees to steady him

9. Yunlan has claimed that he doesn’t do things for the sake of gaining anything in return and yet every time he’s wanted things from dear Shen Wei... “take off your mask and smile for me”, “join the SID”... the sexual tension is Unreal during these scenes lol, you can see Shen Wei swallow visibly in anticipation + babie Shen Wei of ten thousand years prior all but chokes on his words when he promises to do ANYTHING Kun Lun wants him to do (honey where is your mind GOING???)

9.1. Bai Yu does have a bruise on his knee after the scene where Yunlan asks Shen Wei for something... dunno if it’s the actor’s bruise or the character’s bruise, but if it’s the character’s bruise—how did he get it? what exactly did WeiLan do that evening lol

9.2. also peep the fact that Yunlan almost always has a lollipop in his mouth when talking to Shen Wei... oral fixation much? (also the whole sequence where he tries to explain how to eat a lollipop to babie Shen Wei, wow the amount of homoerotic tension)

9.3. babie Shen Wei’s ears and cheeks are SO RED when Yunlan snatches the mask off his face

10. Yunlan’s hairstyle changes after Shen Wei joins the SIU (joins his family), much like how a bride would change her hairstyle after marriage in China ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (random note but CQL WangXian does this too when lwj puts his hair down/styled over the front of his shoulders when wwx wakes up 16 years later)

11. the first time we see Shen Wei spit up blood, there’s an echo of “Xiao Wei” faintly and Shen Wei mutters to himself “Xiao Lan” before looking up and saying louder “Zhao Yunlan” (nicknames/pet names/names only your family or lover can call you... this trope is good)

11.1. i also think a lot about how in the novel Kun Lun muses before he dies that it’s a shame he won’t see this Little Beauty [Xiao Wei] grow up to be a Great Beauty

12. Shen Wei’s funny little eyebrow raise when Yunlan accidentally reveals he broke into the professor’s apartment once ( “riiiiiiiiight i definitely believe you”)

12.1. though the ep 23 scene is angsty, the fact Yunlan says “It’s the middle of the night, were you hungry?” seems to imply their relationship is a lot closer than just neighbors... they’re probably used to sharing an apartment/room at this point :)

13. when Yunlan is hurt, Zhu Hong looks to him but he only has eyes for Shen Wei

13.1. after Yunlan is blinded, Zhu Hong is the one cradling him but he calls for Shen Wei first and reaches for his hand; Shen Wei of course responds immediately “it’s me”

13.1.1. both times after Yunlan gets his eyesight back, the first thing he sees is the person who loves him the most

14. Shen Wei warms up the congee in the morning with his magic after he watches over Yunlan when his stomach pain acts up (domestic use of magic? yes please)

15. the bomb defusing scene in the hospital (video game -> reality case) really is framed like a wedding proposal... also the way that Shen Wei smirks lol he’s so proud of his husband

16. after his Envoy identity is revealed, Shen Wei all but abuses his Black Cloaked Envoy voice to stop his stupid husband from doing stupid things that will hurt himself and every time Yunlan is properly sh00k by it

16.1. we really go from Chief Zhao remarking in the Mountain-River Awl case that he’s used to ordering people around, not receiving orders to married bickering with Shen Wei to then agreeing to everything Shen Wei tells him to do

17. the fact that “Shen Wei, ah, Shen Wei... You are such a good person, how could I bear to let you go?” is an actual line from the censored DRAMA astounds me, nevermind that Shen Wei just made breakfast for his man and Yunlan is basically pouting up at him from the bed

17.1. the way Yunlan’s dad warns him to stay away from Shen Wei and Yunlan responds with something like “he’s sincerely good to me, I want to be with him”... “be with him”???? [inhales deeply] yea this is definitely a “brotherly relationship”

18. Yunlan’s “WOW” after the Envoy kills the monsters in the cave of the Mountain-River Awl case is hilarious and i dont understand how such a noise is physically possible,,, it sounds like a growl?????

18.1. Zhu Yilong was asked to mimic it during an interview (which he did not do and only half-heartedly gave a “wow”) and then Bai Yu did it again

19. also i inevitably got attached to the side ship of Lao Chu and Xiao Guo... they have so much skinship for a censored “brotherly relationship” lmao

the amount of face-touching and hand-holding that they do is unreal... they’re more canon than WeiLan in the drama adaptation methinks

20. 《时间飞行》or “Flying Across Time” sounds like Yunlan’s reply to Shen Wei’s《只是太在意》or “Just Cared Too Much”

20.1. the lyrics of both these songs really cements this idea that both of WeiLan believe the other to be too good... Kun Lun was a god in the novel, and Xiao Wei was just a soulless little Ghost King... and then we have the incorrigible Chief Zhao pining after the beautiful and kind Professor Shen... i just have a lot of feelings about them becoming better people for each other, that their love really does make each other stronger

21. my favorite two pieces from the OST are Shen Wei’s theme (arranged by Kun Luo) and Kun Lun’s theme (arranged by Chen Xueran)

head’s up: it’s been like four years since i last even glanced at music theory so a lot of this might just make no sense to an actual professional

-Shen Wei: written in 4/4 time, Ab Major, melody is primarily carried by piano + strings; the piano almost sticks exclusively to triplets whereas the strings are in steady whole, quarter, and eighth notes—which creates in interesting impressionistic effect, kind of like hazy smoke or the ripples across the surface of a lake; every single measure uses decrescendo, so the first triplet is always the loudest and the three that follow get progressively softer (mimicking an echo)... the piece ends on the seventh note of the scale, which is usually a pretty awkward place to end and yet it doesn’t feel wrong it all; the piece uses a ritardando in the last three measures, and we simply drift off with that last G... i think it’s a beautifully written piece that perfectly portrays such a complex character as Shen Wei, someone who loved with everything he had, and was just so overwhelmingly good... and then he simply disappears as if the dream has ended. it makes me think of how he guarded over Kun Lun/Zhao Yunlan for thousands of years in the novel, never ever ever daring to meet him... and yet the other man always felt like he was waiting for someone

-Kun Lun: written in 3/4 time, a minor, there’s no real complex shift in the melody although there’s brief modulation into E major (dominant/fifth note); it’s a fairly somber piece, especially when the strings join in... it’s a steady waltz, and it finishes with the scale (second to last major is g, last major is a), like a circle coming back around [like their love story perhaps?]... there’s a finality to it, a completeness, a wholeness, which makes sense in the drama-verse because the moment Yunlan takes up the name of Kun Lun is when his love story with Shen Wei all fits together. the piece feels a little lonely in its minor key and all, a little sad, indeed as if you were standing at the top of a mountain surrounded by clouds and mist... the constant meter also reminds me of like the steady drip of water, the perpetual and inevitable passage of the days and time

-i don’t really understand how because the keys of the two pieces don’t fit together easily, but somehow it doesn’t feel wrong to play the pieces back to back; the melodies of both seem to call upon each other despite the differences in key and time signature, so it actually feels right. a circle without a beginning or an ending, wouldn’t you want your love to be so infinite?

-when yunlan finds shen wei in their bubble outside of time, when shen wei is about to leave him, shen wei is wearing the outfit of their first meeting. and the lyrics go “Across time, I am in the same place”... surely, they will find each other again.

#guardian #cdrama ramblings #zhenhun #镇魂 guardian

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mitigatedchaos · 4 years ago

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Review: SAC_2045

(~3,700 words, 15 minutes)

This post will contain some minor spoilers for SAC_2045.

Summary: You may have thought SAC_2045 was a poor entry in the Ghost in the Shell franchise - actually, it's just intended for younger audiences.

Previously: Standalone Complex 202045:1-4 (superseded)

-☆☆☆-

And what did you think of the remaining episodes of GitS:SAC_2045?

[ @irradiate-space ]

Standalone Complex

There's a certain indescribable feeling associated with Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex as a work, an artistic touch related to the director associated with it, independent of other considerations. SAC_2045 has it, which isn't too surprising since Kenji Kamiyama is back.

SAC_2045 is Standalone Complex. For a brief moment, while watching it, I inhabited my pre-2016 personality and outlook. I can't tell you how much that means to me. Since the arrival of streaming I've tended to bingewatch series, but on the first run-through I decided not to bingewatch this one.

If you approach this show as season 4 of Standalone Complex (Solid State Society being season 3), it's underwhelming. Now, viewing it again, it's become obvious that a conventional season 4 of Standalone Complex was never the intent of SAC_2045 to begin with.

For those of you who have delayed until now, the English dub has been uploaded - it released without one due to the pandemic. They bring back a number of the voice actors from the excellent Standalone Complex dub, though having already watched it with subtitles, I didn't feel the need to confirm the dub's quality.

Sustainable War

To properly describe a new theory of war is the same thing as to invent it. While the idea of war as a for-profit industry has been kicked around for some time, it's generally assumed that this is a kind of parasitic relationship on the part of the war-making industry.

As time goes on, warfare becomes more abstract (partly because warfare happens where it can happen), much like society itself is becoming more abstract as information moves more quickly and humanity gains access to more energy.[1] In SAC_2045, "Sustainable War" is part of the context of the world and its current issues, but we aren't really told how it works - if it's similar to contemporary information warfare and a blurring of the lines between state and non-state actors, it's bound to be quite confusing.

I believe my earlier assessment of "Sustainable War" is correct. The key feature of sustainable war, the reason they say it's safe if you leave it to the experts, is likely that it involves AIs constantly forecasting against each other and moving units around with few direct confrontations. The goal would be to lock in a victory without having to fire a shot, except for small skirmishes that don't escalate to major incidents (due to the AI forecasting).

The presence of armed separatist movements even in Japan may also indicate that the ruling institutional bodies are engaged in a kind of Post-International Politics,[2] which treats all international relations as fundamentally existing between subnational entities - however, I believe that later information suggests this wasn't their original intent.

What makes it "sustainable"? Since if done correctly, very little is actually physically destroyed, the cost is less than conventional warfare, and thus the war can continue indefinitely. Why does it threaten humanity with destruction? Because there's an awful lot of military hardware waiting for someone to actually pull the trigger.

Season 1: Ep. 2

So what is the intent of the series' creators? I think they may be telling us through this dialogue between Togusa and Section Chief Daisuke Aramaki in episode 2.

Aramaki: Seems time has toughened you up. Togusa: Is that supposed to be a compliment? Aramaki: It is if you want it to be. Togusa: Then thanks for the kind words. “I made the right decision by choosing this line of work over my marriage.” That’s what you’re saying? Aramaki: Perhaps. [...] Togusa: They're bringing back Section 9? [...] Aramaki: But my takeaway from the proposal is this: The PM's reason for the urgent reforming of Section 9 takes priority over his personal motives. I believe his true objective is meeting the Americans' demands for the dispatch of special resources. Togusa: So it's as the Liberals feared? An American-born Prime Minister would be no more than an American puppet? Aramaki: I've yet to meet him in person, so I can't really say. But this is an opportunity to have the Major and the rest of you undertake a major operation for me once more. Togusa: What sort of op? Aramaki: Over the past few years, I have searched for an answer on how to deal with a society in turmoil. I'd like you people to lay the groundwork that will help the next generation find that answer. Togusa: I don't know what a man in my position can contribute, but I'll humbly offer whatever assistance I can.

Those of us who cried, Kamiyama, tell us the future once more! based on Standalone Complex's prophetic analysis of a memetic crime wave were bound to be disappointed. SAC_2045 is less rooted in the near future than in the now - cyberbullying, endless war amidst historic prosperity, employment suppressed by automation, savings eaten up by the complex machinations of finance, and a breakdown of national borders? That's today.

Those of us who hoped for a Ghost in the Shell: Unicorn, a psychically overpowering work that synthesizes the full body of Ghost in the Shell into a single coherent form to elevate us to a higher level of understanding, should have tempered our expectations. To reach each new philosophical level is more difficult than the last - to achieve that with Ghost in the Shell of all things would have required a multidisciplinary genius near the limits of current understanding.

Kenji Kamiyama is just an anime director. And anyhow, Gundam Unicorn was a book before it was an animated series. And who among us even knew we'd have to write a book before 2015? Ghost in the Shell was well-understood enough, so I instead wrote 25,000 words worth of hypothetical country and became a blogger, like the infamous Scott Alexander.[3]

If we approach SAC_2045 from the lens that it's a humbler work designed for younger audiences, however, some of the creative decisions make more sense.

Purin

Just how old is Purin, the MIT grad who joins the team later on? If I had to guess, that's '23歳' on that profile she provides, and Ishikawa notes that she 'skipped a few grades' on her way to a PhD. But she acts like someone a lot younger. She's enthusiastic and we're assured she's intelligent, but seems to be lacking social training. For example, she makes the mistake of assembling an era-accurate music player for Batou combined with a playlist after consulting the Tachikomas to find out what he listens to. There are two ways to take this.

The first is that she's intended as a relateable character for someone who would make this class of mistake. It's the sort of mistake I might have made at age 13-14, meaning that the show would probably be aimed at someone that age or lower. Overly enthusiastic, doesn't understand romantic relationships, impulsive, poor reading of boundaries / poor modelling of others outside of certain domains, impulsive in a way that causes social screw-ups? Yeah that could certainly apply to an ADHD kid of about that age.

And all of a sudden the tone of the first five episodes with the gun-fighting, the literal Agent Smith, the decision to place the focus in America, and even the mystery of the series being much simpler than Standalone Complex 2nd Gig's plot regarding Asian refugees in Japan make a lot more sense. This is Ghost in the Shell for kids!

Wow, I didn't think that could be done!

...is what I should say, except that around the time I acquired the ability to futurist shitpost, and I used that ability to predict that it would.

Purin II

The second reading is that the youth of the future are fucked up. She probably has some tricked out modifications, both cybernetic and genetic. Now usually you would tell someone to try to become a well-rounded human being. But...

The global economy has crashed. Batou mistakes her for a robot - creatures that look like pretty young women are a dime a dozen. In the dating market, she would be competing with full sensory immersion VR pornography on the one hand, and at the upper end of society where cybernetics are more widely available, likely women with a similar appearance but decades more experience and professional standing.

Note that in the original Standalone Complex, the team take down an 80-year-old Russian spy with the full prosthetic body of a 20-year-old. Full cyborgs aren't common then, nor are they in SAC_2045 (though cyberbrains are ubiquitous), but if the economy recovers that may change, and the sector she's trying to get in to (full-time salaried government rather than marginal private employment it would seem) is going to be very tough to enter either way.

So Purin may have to be over-optimized even to just appear on the screen. In fact, she says,

"Just so I could work at Section 9, I moved most of my sentimental memories to external storage."

Youch! It's no wonder she's socially maladjusted. Just how much of her social learning (in particular key events necessary to rebuild logical inferences on the boundaries of behavior on the fly) has she locked away?

Purin III

But you know who Purin looks like? Notorious internet personality, Gamer Girl Bath Water seller, and IRL video game character Belle Delphine.[4]

Or rather, it's the other way around - 2D animation compresses real detail into suggestive abstraction, letting your mind fill in the rest. Going from those impossible 2D shapes to 3 dimensions creates strange results, like training your machine learning algorithm on the salient features of a cat's face, applying it to human shape, and putting pink hair on the result. Belle Delphine adopts that otherworldly kind of appearance as part of her act.

Technically, this a stylistic choice. Within the framework of SAC_2045, this is what "a 23-year-old female" looks like.

Purin is in fact so non-threatening that her big red coat obscures her figure. I'm gonna go with younger audience. Now if only I could remember what pronoun she uses.[5/☆]

Motoko

With a full prosthetic body, outward signs of human-like aging are almost an artistic expression, much like in a world with cheap tissue engineering, visible scars are a choice.

When she was first introduced in the original Ghost in the Shell manga, we don't know how old Motoko Kusanagi is. It was once said that her name is analogous to "Jane Excalibur," which in English would be an obvious alias. In the first movie (from 1995), she's cool, almost cold and robotic.

In the original Standalone Complex, Motoko has a more mature personality than in the manga, but she has a clearly adult look by the standards of anime. Seriously, check out this fantastic character design (combat suit), although admittedly the better-known "leather jacket and bathing suit" design is more ridiculous, fashion-wise.[6] (Fortunately, she gets pants in her much more stylish second season outfit.)

ARISE starts off with a young Motoko Kusanagi in a chaotic post-war period before the Section 9 we know was assembled. This shows in her character design, but it really shows in her personality. This was actually why I had joked about an even earlier Ghost in the Shell.

There is a sense in which the 2017 live-action movie's Motoko is even younger. Scarlett Johansson is a killer cyborg with amnesia. She doesn't even have one day of formal combat training.

Motoko 2045

Ilya Kuvshinov designed SAC_2045's Motoko Kusanagi.

Yes, that Ilya Kuvshinov. You could be forgiven for thinking this is a teenager that hardboiled assassins Saitou and Ishikawa in the background have been hired to bodyguard.

Despite this, Atsuko Tanaka has resumed her role as Motoko's voice actress. Standalone Complex's Motoko looked 25 and felt mid-30s. SAC_2045's Motoko looks 16 and has the voice and attitude of 40.

This may make more sense than you might think.

Through Whose Eyes?

Throughout much of Ghost in the Shell as a franchise, Togusa, the only non-cyborg on the team, who is pulled from a police department instead of a military background, tends to be character used to help the people of our time relate to the future. He's the guy that doesn't know the things we also don't know, so in explaining concepts to Togusa they're explained to the audience.

In SAC_2045, most of the team are off doing cool cyborg things in America. Aramaki (whose in-world function is to create the bureaucratic environment within which Section 9 operates) tasks Togusa with finding them. The original Standalone Complex first aired in 2003. It's been 17 years since it was created - a similar situation to finding someone that reached adulthood who was born after 9/11. And during this time, Togusa's life has changed - the family man is now separated from his wife. And the world has changed - Togusa is now working for a private security firm. Togusa's role in the first five episodes isn't to guide the new viewers.

His purpose is to guide or stand-in for the old viewers.

The New Viewers

"Do you still hold a grudge against the Major and the others for leaving you behind?"

For the original viewers, SAC_2045 is your world, too. Togusa is there. Togusa is you.

The new viewers are Purin. Enthusiastic and smart but awkward and not confident in their skills. How could they measure up to these much more talented and experienced characters? (Also consider who is going to watch any sort of Ghost in the Shell - it's probably going to be a moderately bright and introverted kid, who is the kind of person that may be more comfortable socializing with people outside of their age band.)

But Motoko is visually separated from the rest of Section 9. Batou, Saitou, Ishikawa, Boma... they all have a much more adult look in keeping with their appearance in previous versions of Ghost in the Shell. What gives?

Batou is sort of a cool adult male figure - this is actually a pretty natural use of the character and his sense of humor as previously established in other Ghost in the Shell properties. We especially see this come through in 「PIE IN THE SKY - First Bank Robbery」 episode, with the old folks and the 21st century bank robbery.

Motoko's difference in appearance is because she's acting as a bridge between the two. The new viewer (as represented by Purin) is supposed to grow into being like Motoko as they gain confidence and experience. (The characters aren't each limited to a single role, of course.)

But SAC_2045 is still a work that's shared between two groups, similar to how the excellent Into the Spiderverse features both the teenage Miles Morales and an older Peter Parker that has lost his way, with the loss of the vibrant young adult Peter Parker being what starts the plot going.

The Last Quarter

With this framework, the rest of the work should express its nature as targeted at a younger audience itself. Watch the last few episodes through this lens and you'll see how much sense it makes. One takes place at a school. Even the bizarre 3D style that resembles recent video games makes more sense. If we take Togusa's earlier conversation with Aramaki as a discussion of SAC_2045 itself, later on there's even a sort of acknowledgement that Ghost in the Shell is a difficult work for someone of a young age.

So with that context in mind, does it work?

Standalone Complex

If I remember correctly, years ago, when I was perhaps 15 or 16, I was watching a tiny CRT television some time after midnight, and I saw the thirteenth episode of the original Standalone Complex - NOT EQUAL. It was like nothing I had ever seen before. I was immediately taken by it. And, from what I remember, I immediately understood it.

It was as though it were made just for me.[7]

To me, Ghost in the Shell is like a textbook. I thought that as a creator who has reached a place where I am able to be involved in that kind of work, I'm in a position where I have to convey its contents to a younger audience. Well, I knew it would be a lot of work, but I figured it would be my way of giving back to Ghost in the Shell. I thought that I needed to accept the baton and offer Ghost in the Shell to a young audience, to the same degree that Ghost in the Shell raised me to be who I am.

- Tow Ubukata, in a 2015 interview, regarding ARISE

For many people, Ghost in the Shell is a profound influence. I felt that it lifted me to a new level of understanding.

SAC_2045

But what about SAC_2045?

I can't view Ghost in the Shell with new eyes. When I first saw it, I wasn't the kind of person that casually memes futuristic ethical dilemmas as a means of practicing politics.

Compared to the anime I watched back when I was 13, would I have watched SAC_2045? Yes. Is it more philosophically and politically sophisticated? Yes. Would I have found it memorable? I think so.

Would a 13-year these days watch it? That's difficult to assess. I bet someone who does data science for Netflix could tell us, if they wanted. I'm sure Kenji Kamiyama and Shinji Aramaki are considering the same thing.

2017

How does it stack up compared to the rest of the franchise?

For most enthusiasts it's going to be one of the weaker entries, though it certainly does a better job explaining itself than ARISE.

Compare it to 2017's live action movie, however, and I think we'll find it isn't the weakest. The reason is that the writers of Ghost in the Shell (2017) decided to tell a story about bodily consent in which becoming a cyborg is a form of trauma. On some level this may have been a reasonable decision, but they didn't commit to the concept sufficiently fully to execute it well enough to carry the movie - and simultaneously, they dumbed down parts of the regular Ghost in the Shell material for American audiences. As a result the movie flopped both financially and artistically - except for the visuals.

In fact, I wrote a sequence of posts (1, 2, 3, 4) on how to rewrite the live action movie as an actual Ghost in the Shell property. I feel no need to do so for SAC_2045 - and I can't even think of what changes would need to be made.

I look forward to the second season.

-☆☆☆-

[1] It's short, but that's a concept in this post. "Advanced by Left-Wing theorists, Ninth Generation warfare sees all acts as existing on a spectrum of political violence. Most acts of ninth generation warfare consist of extreme pranks."

[2] If we accept the idea of "Fifth-Generation Warfare" as motivated by a desire to prevent the enemy from using their conventional military assets, then a corresponding theory of international politics would involve preventing enemy factions within foreign governments from taking control of those governments' institutions - effectively treating all countries as in continuous level of conflict analogous to a soft civil war.

[3] There is a kind of technique to this, but in my case I substituted ADHD for raw IQ and conscientiousness, which is part of why my posts are so much shorter than, for instance, Moldbug's. In any case, technically, Scott's blog posts on the matter amount to roughly a mere 11,600 words, and the book of the black forest amounts to approximately 26,000 words (which I'm told is entertaining reading), but I'm sure if we go looking we can find an additional 15,000 words worth of worldbuilding from a man known for writing 16,000 word blog posts.

[4] Would it be more of a legal liability to sell regular water with GGBW branding, or actual GGBW that could prove to be a potential health hazard?

[5/☆] There's some future strand lurking beneath the surface here that I can't quite put into words; a culturally divergent moe meltdown where an appearance this ridiculous becomes normalized among some sub-population. To quote the Funko Pop Hatred post,

There are questions about the anatomy of anime people and their internal organs, and particularly about what sort of impact-dampening alien meta-material their softer bits are made out of, but at least homo sapiens gokuensis looks like it’s a branch off a similar starting hominid! Whatever transhuman engineering company was responsible for manufacturing the creatures in the typical harem anime has some weird ideas about human beings, but we’re clearly in their ancient lineage somewhere.

Under Late Safetyism, everyone is a declawed catgirl.

Anyhow, I don't want to alarm you, but I can't guarantee that this won't be the future somewhere. Both Purin and Belle Delphine resemble Xiaoice, "The AI Girlfriend Seducing China's Lonely Men." (2020)

[6] Motoko's ridiculous outfits are a major flex on the non-cyborgs, who aren't indifferent to ambient temperature and whose natural bodies may have unflattering features. Similarly wild fashions can exist in places like Second Life, a 3D digital platform with mostly user-uploaded content. Presumably they're also a flex on every Japanese salaryman who still has to dress like a normal guy.

[7] "It's as though it were made just for me" is also how I feel about the original game Mirror's Edge. Its follow-up, Catalyst, is also a personal favorite of mine.

#miti does media #longpost #flagpost #ghost in the shell #sac_2045 #standalone complex #review

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