#also side note: as far as i know it's not official ! ! ! it's a wholly fan made comic that managed to get a limited print run ! ! ! !

[miodiodavinci]

TIL there was an official zola manga?? Do you happen to have a link to an English translation? ;v; I tried googling but my skills were too weak hh. I would love to read it omg

ps. Also wanted to say I loooove your art and covers a bunch! Been lurking for many years but suffice to say I still get super excited when I see you post. Hope you have a great day :)

a a a a a thank you ! ! ! ! it's always great to hear from some fellow lurkers w

as for an english translation, i'm afraid i don't know if there is one yet ;; __ ;; i don't know if anyone has proper scans beyond the first chapter that i think?? was posted online by the author??? though i suppose if you manage to buy the ebook version you'd have that at least ksjhdflgkj

i'm honestly hoping someone goes through with making one someday ! ! ! especially now that the zolas have been revived ! ! !

[lv-iceprince]

@najatheangel

Hi there love! Apologies for the super dooper late ship but I hope this ship finds its way to you at the right time! Thank you so much for requesting! I truly loved doing this ship for you, it has definitely been one of my favourite ships to do <3 <3

~Your Company~ SM Entertainment  ~Group Name~ Pandora

~Members~  7

~Debut Date~ July 18th, 2022

~Pre-Debut Days~

Your optimism had you thriving throughout your trainee days even if you were training at a company as high up as SM. For the majority of your time you seemed to fly under the radar. It was difficult to cope in such a way but in reality this wholly benefited you in the long run. You could spend way more time putting energy into the areas of performing that you wanted to improve upon. This is the main reason to your success when you debuted. You were the quiet spoken but well adjusted trainee, even if something caught you off guard you remained level-headed. Sure you were stressed but you didn't let the others know that.

You excelled in your vocals almost immediately, it was clear that you had a story to tell and you did so through strong and stable vocals. Though you had a passion for dance and liked to spend time practicing you were already walking the path of being one of your generations iconic vocalists.

During this time you had spoken to some trainees and had been on a neutral note with all of them until the day you were selected as one of the members of Pandora. This is where your journey truly started and you managed to find a deep and unwavering friendship between your group members and other senior idols.

~About You~

~Your Position/s~ Main vocalist & Sub-Dancer.

You’re the duality queen! People don’t shut up about how kind and soft you are until you step foot onto the stage. You are quite vicious on stage, even if you don’t allude to other groups being rivals it is clear in your performance, you are giving your all so that you earn your spot as one of the icons of your generation. 

Everyone knows how soft and cute you are but your group promotes the baddie in you, you just bring the hyped up energy even if you are officially a sub-dancer.

Off stage you are someone who need's to be protected similar to your boyfriend you are just so honest, clumsy and goofy, leading you being one of the most biased members. You still act like an idol to some degree but it's also easy to forget you are one. Even if you aren't 100% humble you just act so normal, you're the type of idol to stop and have a conversation with fans who approach you. In other words SM needs to keep a close eye on you.

You came up with the idea of lives devoted to you painting or drawing while going over your day, some day's you even teach people how to draw. Your artsy side is one of your charming points, so much so that you created a wave of fans who just draw or dress similar to you. Basically you're an accidental artistic trendsetter.

Your members coddle you for sure, even if you insist that you should pull your weight or take care of them. It's just second nature to them, you're the one who they love to praise and protect. But this also gives them permission to playfully mock you, force you to do aegyo or poke your cheek. Your cheek is free real estate to them.

You're pretty active on your youtube channel despite being one of the more shy, introverted members you have the most content out as far as covers (singing and dancing) and lives go.

Your entire group is full of 5 star personalities who never underperform, this is especially true for you. Being strict and hard on yourself was a trait that followed you into debut, the one difference is that now you have your members who can sense that you are overworking yourself even if you don't say anything. They truly love you and will always protect your sanity. The Pandora members are truly your new family.

~Debut Song~

Kill the Lights in the style of Eve, Psyche & The Bluebeard’s wife by LE SSERAFIM

~Other Songs Include~

(That) Sexy Sway in the style of Get It by PRISTIN V

Paparazzo in the style of Movie Star by CIX

Prince of Spades in the style of Mayday by VICTON 

~Debut Album~ Like Royalty

~Stage Outfits~

~Relationships~

~Best Friend~ Jihyo (TWICE)

It is a no brainer that you became friends, you're both so authentic and honest with who you are. Which is why Jihyo chooses to give it her all in this friendship. You could also say that she was completely unbiased when first meeting you. It was early in your debut so she wasn't familiar with Pandora or their members, but through passing you met and she was pleasantly surprised with your humble nature. Sure you weren't far into your career but there was always the possibility that you were already big headed. Which wasn't the case.

Long after meeting continued to be a persistent thought in the back of her head until she saw you again and finally asked if you could hang out or if you had a way she could contact you. It was highly formal but it worked.

There are little to no secrets held between the two of you purely because you both have this kind of sixth sense. It detects when either one of you is feeling out of sorts or not voicing their opinion to the fullest; and Jihyo hates when you feel like you can't say what's on your mind.

Sometimes she can seem a little pushy, she really is an overbearing mum friend at times. But when all is said and done she really does mean well in her intentions. She will have your back for life, offering casual advice to ensure that you aren't led astray or feel alone. You're like a little sister to her. You brighten her day and she finds herself constantly checking for a dm from you, the regular "How are you?".

She is a fairly private person, but somehow you managed to get her to venture out for a coffee or a girl trip to Jeju Island. You have added so much to her life and she constantly wonders what life would be like if the two of you hadn't met.

~Friends~ Changbin (Stray Kids), Karina (AESPA), Taeyang (SF9), Chuu (LOONA), Miyeon ((G)Idle) and Kai (EXO).

~Boyfriend~ Mingi (ATEEZ)

The loved and cherished couple. When the news had broken out people were mildly shocked but definitely not surprised. In the time you were around Mingi you couldn't erase your bright smile which fans could see a mile away. You met Mingi at Inkigayo where you were both preparing for your live stages, the day was hectic and he had forgotten his phone in the dressing room he was in prior. In the time it took for him to backtrack where he had left it Pandora had moved into the room. You placed your bag down ignoring the phone that sat to the side of your right elbow. The creak of the door startled you as you looked up at the tall man standing at the door.

Mingi was an absolute mess, he knew how to be confident but in this scenario he was so unbelievably awkward. His voice slightly cracked as he asked if anyone had seen a phone lying around. It didn't take long for your eyes to fall onto his phone, holding it up you spoke in the sweetest voice he had ever heard. "I think I found it." Mingi walked over with a beautiful smile he grabbed the phone from you. In that moment both of you felt the electricity that started in his fingertips and ending in yours. Saying goodbye you wished him luck on his stage. "Thank you." and with that the rapper left.

After their performance had come to an end Mingi was sure that he had just met his lucky charm. Unfortunately for him he didn't even know the name of the angel who helped him out. So after a brief moment of self pity his gaze flickered over to a small screen playing your groups live performance. Amongst the other members he immediately recognized you, and his heart fluttered yet again. And the rest was history. After your performance Mingi managed to catch up with you and properly introduce himself

Both fandoms are hella possessive of the two of you, Atiny swear they haven't seen Mingi smile and blush this much and your fans can tell how much he has influenced you to be kinder to yourself. Mingi will always take care of you, he knows you can handle things fine on your own but that didn't change the fact that he loved you and would give you the whole damn world to you.

He is also your designated hype man, but you're his hype girl. If you have a sexy comeback stage he will be an absolute mess while loudly announcing that you were his while scolding the members for looking at you for a few seconds too long. You also do the same. When you saw the first Bouncy performance you were simultaneously on your knees and blowing up his phone with messages stating just how proud you were.

Your relationship is also one of the idol relationships that people use as an example that idols can have such a special connection with each other, but Mingi doesn't need that validation, he knows how lucky he is to have someone like you.

~Crushing on You~ Heeseung (Enhypen)

In some ways he felt like he had a lot going for him but something that bothers him is the way he blew it multiple times in a row while talking to you. Heeseung has rizz, but he also stumbles over his words when he is caught off guard. He truly just didn't expect you to be this attractive in person. Sunoo and Jake wouldn't shut up over how cool they found this new group Pandora's concept. And while Heeseung wasn't a fan he still thought you were wildly attractive and wildly talented. A fatal combo.

You have to be something amazing to leave THE Lee Heeseung a stuttering mess. He felt so fortunate to have so many opportunities to speak to you but he blew all of them so after a while he would just wave and shoot you a smile.

He felt broken honestly, he was so smooth on stage but for some reason he couldn't voice how he felt. After some time he began to lose hope, there was no way he could have a chance at dating you and he settled. However, his crush on you never went away. Even after news of you and Mingi dating made headlines he was still very humble and mature about it. You were such a kind and wonderful person and he still held his crush on you close to his heart.

~Other Idols Crushing On You~ Yeonjun (TXT), Kihyun (Monsta X), Taeyong (NCT), Gunil (Xdinary Heroes), Yeonkyu (ATBO), Jiung (P1harmony) and Ten (NCT)

~Extra Info~

Both you and Mingi are reality show champions not only are you two an amazing team you're also such an entertaining couple. People just love seeing how much you complete each other.

You branch out as a soloist for some time, though your still in Pandora you find great success and garner a new wave of fans.

~Scandal~ You were running late to your next schedule and appeared to be quiet rude and abrupt as you ignored fans who wanted to say hello.

[stillsearchingforsomething]

And isn’t just so pretty to think all along there was some invisible string

November 2019

When Taylor wakes up she’s alone and even though she knows Karlie is working all day, she can't help but pout softly in disappointment at the sight of the empty bed before her.

She rolls over onto the cool sheets and snuggles into Karlie’s pillow breathing deeply, when her gaze is caught by the large bouquet of roses on the bedside table.

Taylor shuffles up into a sitting position and leans over to pluck the small white envelope out of the sea of red flowers.

"My darling Taylor, happy November 13th! I know it’s not technically the day we met or even our anniversary, but it is the day my life changed forever.

I’m grateful for every day I get to spend with you. I love you. I can’t wait to celebrate with you tonight.

All my love,

Karlie"

Taylor can’t help but smile at Karlie’s sweet words and she reaches under her pillow for her phone so that she can thank Karlie for her gift. Neither of them really make a big deal out of the day but they still both like to mark it in some small way. Taylor decides against calling Karlie, she’s not sure if she has meetings today so doesn’t want to risk it, deciding to settle for a text instead.

She pulls up the acoustic version of the Lover remix that she had recorded the week before on her phone and sends it to Karlie with the caption the girl in my story has always been you. The version that she recorded with Shawn Mendes will go live later that day but Taylor thinks that Karlie deserves a preview before anyone else.

Taylor shuffles out of bed and plucks up the vase of flowers to bring downstairs and feed the cats and make some coffee, smiling when she realises that Karlie has forgone the traditional dozen roses and opted for 13 instead. As she shuffles around the kitchen of their apartment, she can’t help but reminisce on her relationship with Karlie and how far they have come in the last six years.

If anyone would have told Taylor that day that she was about to meet the person who would change her life forever, she would have had a hard time believing it. She hadn’t been expecting to fall in love but had been completely blindsided by Karlie as soon as she had met her.But looking back on it now with the benefit of hindsight there were so many signs that Karlie was always meant to be someone incredibly important to her.

The first time it happened, Taylor hadn’t been surprised. She’d heard enough about Karlie from Lily and other mutual friends to know that they were probably on to something when they said that Taylor and Karlie would be fast friends. But neither of them had expected to have quite so much in common.

It had all started with a simple text. Well, technically it had all started with a quote in Vogue magazine. A quote in Vogue and then a tweet in response to said quote. And then a lingerie fashion show. And then some flirting, some drinks, some kissing and a lot of texting.

That’s how Taylor had ended up at Karlie’s apartment in New York one afternoon in December a couple of weeks after they had met for a Christmas cookie baking date. Karlie had been banking on the cookies being enough of an activity that she would have something to focus on besides the fact that Taylor Swift was standing in her kitchen, looking adorable concentrating on her frosting and wholly kissable.

But they had spent the afternoon baking and decorating their cookies, settling easily into the same light-hearted banter with a side of flirting that they had been enjoying over text since Karlie had slipped Taylor her number the day they met.

They had both been laughing and playfully trash talking each other’s decorating skills and listening to one of Karlie’s playlists, when You’re so vain by Carly Simon came on over the small speaker and Karlie had mentioned offhandedly that her parents had named her after the singer.

Taylor had been so taken aback that she almost messed up the Santa cookie she had been decorating. Karlie hadn’t been sure why that was such a big deal until Taylor explained that her parents had named her after James Taylor.

When Karlie had done nothing but stare at her blankly, Taylor explained that they had been married and a shy, slightly awkward silence settled over them.

In an attempt to break the tension, Karlie had smeared some frosting on Taylor’s cheek and had ducked her head to press her lips against the spot, her tongue peeking out to swipe against Taylor’s skin.

The food fight that followed had left them both giggling and breathless, with sticky faces. Karlie had pressed Taylor up against her kitchen counter, pinning her there with an arm on either side of her and had trailed her lips from Taylor’s cheek to her lips, dotting kisses as she went before kissing her soundly, all thoughts of James Taylor and Carly Simon forgotten.

The second time it happened had been on their trip to Big Sur, what they both considered to be their real anniversary and the beginning of their official relationship after months of keeping it casual, although each of them knowing that the way they were beginning to feel was anything but casual.

Taylor had been planning on playing Karlie her new album on the trip but had been waiting for the right opportunity to broach the subject. It wasn’t the normal level of nerves that would accompany sharing what she had been working on for the last year and a half with someone. The fact that that someone happened to be the girl that she had fallen hopelessly in love with and the album in question happened to contain a number of songs about her ex-girlfriend wasn’t helping matters.

But when Karlie had reached out to link her fingers with Taylor’s where they were rested on the centre console and squeezed her hand, Taylor seemed to come to a decision.

When Taylor had asked Karlie if she truly liked her music, making it clear that she wouldn't hold it against her if she didn't, Karlie had rushed to reassure the singer.

Karlie had tugged on Taylor’s hand, bringing it to her lips and pressing a kiss to it before asking if she had ever told Taylor about the time that she had gone to the Fearless tour with her sisters when it came to St. Louis.

Taylor had snapped her head to look at Karlie, trying to gauge if she was serious as Karlie had mentioned it so casually. Karlie had smiled at Taylor’s shocked expression and just nodded before explaining that she Kariann and Kimby had all gone.

When Taylor asked her why she hadn't ever mentioned it, Karlie had just shrugged and explained that she didn’t want to make it weird. She had told Taylor that she was a fan of hers when they had met and she didn’t see any reason to labour the point.

Taylor had just smiled and shook her head, before taking a deep breath and asking Karlie to play “Road Trip Mix 13” on her iPod that was hooked up to the stereo system.

Karlie had leaned over to press a kiss against Taylor’s cheek, sensing that she needed some extra reassurance that no matter what Karlie was about to hear, it wasn’t going to change anything about how she felt about Taylor.

Taylor had come to regret her decision to do this whilst they were driving, she had hoped that it would be a welcome distraction but she had found herself wishing that she could look at Karlie to try and gauge her reaction. Instead she had focused on the gentle pressure of Karlie’s hand in hers, squeezing softly as the opening notes to Welcome to New York filled the car.

Those were just some of the things that they could laugh off at the beginning of their relationship as being crazy coincidences and not think any more about, but now six years later, it feels like the first signs of many that they were just meant to be.

Later that night, after enjoying the dinner that Taylor had prepared for them and then spending the rest of the evening enjoying each other, they were tangled together in the sheets of their bed, trading gentle kisses as their heart rates slowly returned to normal.

“Best day ever” Karlie mumbles in between pressing kisses to Taylor’s lips. Karlie shifts over to settle on her back and Taylor ducks down to lay her head on her chest. A comfortable silence settles over them both and the steady rhythm of Karlie’s heartbeat under her ear along with the gentle pressure of Karlie’s hand stroking up and down her bare back is almost enough to lull her to sleep.

“Did you know that I almost wasn’t going to do the fashion show?”

It takes Karlie’s brain a couple of seconds to process Taylor’s words, having been teetering on the brink of sleep herself. “What fashion show?” she asks confused.

“The VS fashion show,” Taylor clarifies shifting slightly so that she can look up at Karlie.

“Really?”

“Yeah, my management weren’t sure it would be good for my image, too risqué.” Taylor explains.

Karlie can’t help but smirk slightly at that, tightening her arms that are wrapped around Taylor’s waist and pulling her against her more firmly. “I can’t say I disagree with them, you wear lingerie really well," Karlie says biting her lower lip and letting her gaze sweep down Taylor's body.

Taylor gives her a playful shove but Karlie can tell that she’s secretly pleased with the compliment and the kiss that she drops on Karlie’s chest confirms the fact.

“How did I not know about this?” Karlie asks, turning the conversation back to Taylor’s earlier revelation.

“Honestly, I had kind of forgotten, I was just thinking about it today,” Taylor replies and Karlie can tell by the soft frown etched on her face that there is something else Taylor has on her mind.

She also knows from experience that there is no point in trying to push Taylor to say more so she just drops a kiss to the top of her head, content to wait her out.

A few moments later. “Do you ever think about what would have happened if we hadn’t have met that day?” Taylor whispers.

Karlie takes Taylor's hand from where it rests against her stomach and brushes her fingers over the angel wings ring that sits on the fourth finger of her left hand and she smiles, thinking of course Taylor would choose to wear that ring specifically today of all days. Most people assume that it's Taylor's ring and although that is technically true, she didn't get it for being an honorary angel and performing at two Victoria's Secret shows, Karlie had gotten it after walking her last VS show and gifted it to Taylor on the first anniversary of the day that they had met.

Karlie pauses to think for a moment before answering with a definitive no. Taylor is staring at her expectantly so Karlie elaborates. “I don’t even want to think about what my life would be like without you in it.”

“But what if I hadn’t been performing that year?” Taylor asks, shifting up so that she can prop herself up on her arm. “Or if you hadn’t been walking in that show? Or even if we had both been there but hadn’t been on stage at the same time? Or if Lily hadn’t introduced us” Taylor presses, getting more frantic with each question.

Karlie nudges Taylor over on to her side and then settles beside her on the pillow, so close that their noses are almost touching. “You wanna know what I think?” Karlie asks and Taylor just nods as if that should be obvious.

“I think that we met exactly when we were supposed to,” Karlie says, threading her fingers through Taylor’s hair in an effort to soothe her. “And I don’t know if it was fate or some higher power or what, but I think you and I were meant to be,” Karlie continues and Taylor feels warmth settle in her chest at Karlie’s words.

“And if it hadn’t been that day, it would have been another,” Karlie whispers in the small space between them before pressing a gentle kiss to Taylor’s cheek, then the tip of her nose, followed by each eyelid and then her forehead.

“And all the stuff that came before, the good and the bad led us to that moment, where we were both exactly meant to be” Karlie says against Taylor’s lips before Taylor leans forward and closes the minute gap between them and kisses Karlie soundly.

Let me know what you think, comments make me smile!

I meant to have this up on November 13th but the last couple of weeks have been a wild ride. I have no idea what's happening but I'll be here writing for as long as inspiration strikes...

[ryqoshay]

How to Handle a Nico - Dinner at the Nishikino’s

Primary Pairing: NicoMaki Words: ~4.1k Rating: K Time Frame: Late in Maki’s 1st year and Nico’s 3rd year in college. Story Arc: Stand Alone

Author’s Note: This chapter was assembled from a patchwork of about a dozen instances I wanted to include and thus wrote each separately. And somewhere along the lines, MS Word decided not to sync between my PC and mobile devices, so I ended up with two, slightly differently edited versions. Thus, here’s hoping my self-purported prowess with prose was successful in stitching this scene into a sensible structure. Please forgive any unsightly seams.

Nico couldn’t remember the last time she had been this nervous. No, wait, just a few days ago, her first date with Maki. Well, first official date, not counting all of the not-actually-date-but-technically-were-dates from years prior. Unfortunately, that was quickly falling into second place as she approached the gate to the Nishikino home.

Perhaps the date had been easier because she knew Maki, knew Maki liked her, knew Maki liked spending time with her, knew Maki wanted to date her, and was fairly confident Maki was attracted to her. She had known all of these things even before they started dating officially. As such, looking back, she wasn’t sure why she had been so nervous for their first date, because with the exception of one little hiccup named Etsuko, it had all gone splendidly.

But the parental Nishikinos were more of an unknown. Nico had met both of Maki’s parents a handful of times throughout the years, but had never really gotten to know either. She was all but certain she would have little problems with Maki’s mother as she had apparently been talking behind the scenes with her mother about her and Maki’s developing relationship. And she had been quite supportive of Maki’s time as a school idol, so Nico didn’t think she would object to her intended career choice.

Maki’s father on the other hand… Nico remembered quite vividly when he almost made Maki quit being a school idol after her grades slipped the tiniest of bits; not even enough for her to drop from her position as top of her class. Umi had been the one to stand up to him, which made sense insofar as she understood having parents with high expectations. Still, looking back, Nico couldn’t help feeling a bit of regret that she hadn’t been the one to protect Maki. Sure, she had offered her support, but…

“Good evening, Yazawa-san.” A voice came over the speaker.

Nico jumped. Had she even pushed the button to announce her presence?

“Yes, good evening.” She replied as she recognized the voice of the Nishikino estate manager.

“Ojou-sama has informed me of pending arrival, though as always, you are most welcome here.”

“Thanks.” Nico replied as the buzzer sounded to indicate the gate was unlocked.

One gate down, literally. Nico thought as she made her way toward the front door. Though part of her wished Maki had been the one to answer the intercom, she was nonetheless thankful that it had been a member of the house staff with whom she got along well. At least it hadn’t been…

“D-Dr. Nishikino?” Nico sputtered as the door suddenly swung open to reveal a towering, bespectacled man who immediately fixed her with a cool and calculating gaze.

Damn. Why had she stuttered? This wasn’t the first time she had met Maki’s father, and if all went well tonight, it wouldn’t be the last. You can do this Nico! Sure it wasn’t the man she expected and she was caught a bit unaware, but… Gah! Stop being intimidated. You’re here for a reason! And that reason is Maki-chan!

“Yazawa-san.” Maki’s father stated flatly.

“Hi…” Nico cutoff by clearing her throat. “Good evening.” She corrected, offering a polite bow. “I’m…”

“I’m afraid my daughter will be unable to entertain your visit tonight.” Dr. Nishikino interrupted. “We are expecting an important guest who should be arriving presently.”

I’m an important guest? No, wait, of course I am! I’m Maki’s girlfriend now. So, buck up and tell him that.

“Yes, sir, that guest is me.” For emphasis, Nico indicated the stylish dress she had picked out specifically for the occasion. “I’m Maki’s date.”

“…” Dr. Nishikino raised an eyebrow but remained steadfast in his position.

“Nico-chan!” the voice of an angelic savior came from behind the barrier of the paternal Nishikino. “Papa, let her in.”

Dr. Nishikino stepped aside and…

Holy… Nico had to make a conscious effort to avoid letting her jaw hit the floor. Not that Nico, at any point, had forgotten that Maki was beautiful, but when the redhead went all out, it was all she could do not to stare. Though elegantly modest, the deep purple dress still managed to highlight Maki’s best features.

“You’re early.” Maki said, bringing Nico back to reality.

“I’m sorry, did I take you away from your precious piano?” Nico couldn’t help teasing a bit, figuring the younger girl had wanted to arrive at her parents’ home earlier for a few moments of nostalgia with the instrument she grew up playing.

“Yeah, actually.” Maki admitted as she glanced away sheepishly.

“Well maybe after dinner, you can continue your concert, but with an audience?” Nico pointed herself as if it wasn’t already obvious who she meant.

“I’d like that.”

“You look lovely, by the way. Purple always looks good on you, Maki-chan.”

“Thanks.” Maki replied as pink dusted her cheeks. “You look good too. I like when you leave your hair down. It makes you look more…” She trailed off.

“More?”

“Sorry, I meant…”

“More mature?” Nico completed what she believed to be her girlfriend’s thought.

“Uhm… yeah…”

“I’ll have you know Nico is always mature.” She squared her shoulders and placed her hands on her hips pridefully.

Maki raised an eyebrow in a way that left no question as to her linage.

“Anyway, I haven’t seen that dress before, is it new?”

Maki nodded. “Mama and I just got back a little while ago from picking it out.”

Huh… Mama and I were also just out shopping for my dress. Nico thought to herself. And, wait a minute… “We match.” Or at least they matched in the way their old idol costumes matched in overall theme and enough details to be an obvious set while maintaining enough individuality to be unique as well.

“We do?” Maki glanced down at herself before back at Nico. After half a second, she smiled. “Yeah, we do. What a nice coincidence.”

Nico found herself wondering if the coincidence was perchance planned by a pair of meddling mothers who meant well. She made a mental note to ask her mother about the issue later, if for no other reason than to thank her for the cute gesture.

“So, dinner isn’t for a little while yet” Maki continued “but they might have appetizers ready already so why don’t we head to the dining room and I’ll quick check?”

“Lead the way.” Nico decided not to bring up how she still got lost in the huge house, even after visiting frequently over the last few years.

“You coming, Papa?”

Nico realized she had all but forgotten the paternal Nishikino was still there. Stealing a quick side glance, she found him quietly observing the couple. If she was reading things correctly, his aura had warmed somewhat, though was no less calculating than before; gears were obviously grinding behind his stoic expression.

“Your mother and I will meet you at the table.” Dr. Nishikino stated. “I’ll go find her.”

As Maki took her hand to lead her through the house, Nico noticed her grip was tighter than normal. A lot tighter. Maki was more nervous than she was letting on. Just how worried was she about her father’s approval of their relationship? Nico already knew Maki’s mother was wholly supportive, as was her own, but the only things she really knew about Maki’s father were that he had high expectations for his daughter and was not particularly fond of idols.

“Wait, Maki-chan,” Nico said, stopping in the hallway before they reached their destination “hold up a moment.”

“Eh?” Maki uttered, not seeming to notice the change and almost yanking Nico’s arm out of the socket before being held to a halt. “Nico-chan?”

“What’s wrong?”

“Wh-what do you mean?”

“Maki.” Nico fixed her girlfriend with a steady stare. The redhead returned the gaze, though was far more furtive, and when she began to fidget with her hair, Nico reached out and gently touched her hand. “What’s wrong?” She repeated.

Maki released a puff of air. “I’m nervous, alright? I… I just really want Papa to like you.”

“I’m nervous too.” Nico admitted, her thoughts racing through things she could say to calm them both down. “But you know, he didn’t turn me away at the door, so that’s gotta count for something, right?” She paused for a moment. “Well, technically, he did, but that was before he realized why I was here, but he still let me in, so that has to mean he’s willing to give me a chance, right?”

“I just… I know he’ll bring up idols, and…”

“Maki-chan.” Nico took a step in to close some of the distance between them. “Nico didn’t become the No. 1 Idol in the Universe without learning a thing or two about reading her audience.”

“…” Maki’s expression wasn’t one of disbelief but of continued concern.

“Look, I’m not going to lie to your father about my career of choice, but I’m also not going to try to convert him into a fan or convince him that idols are the most amazing thing ever, even if I believe that myself.”

“I know…”

“And I am attending college and aim to get a degree.” Nico continued. “Sure it won’t be a fancy medical degree like yours, but I’m getting it while still being an idol. So that’s also gotta count for something, right?”

“Papa does respect hard work.”

“And Nico is a hard worker.”

“I know.” Maki affirmed, dropping her hand before leaning her head into Nico’s hand. “Nico-chan is one of the hardest workers I know when it comes to working toward her goals. It’s always admired, and envied, about you.”

Nico scoffed. “You say that as if you don’t work hard as well, Maki-chan.”

“Mmm…” Maki hummed in a tone that implied she was paying attention to something other than the conversation at hand.

Hand… Maki closed her eyes and nuzzled her cheek against Nico’s hand, causing her to open her fingers to increase contact. It should be fine here, right? Nico moved in the rest of the way and tilted her chin up. Maki followed her hand as Nico guided her down. Their lips touched and…

“Oh dear…” A startled voice uttered, causing the couple to jolt away from each other. “I’m terribly sorry to interrupt, Ojou-sama.”

“I-It’s f-fine…” A blushing Maki stumbled through.

Nico recognized the woman one of the newer members of the Nishikino house staff. She was responsible for general assistance wherever needed.

“Welcome, Yazawa-san.” The woman said with a polite bow, but when she righted herself, her expression was thoughtful. “Although, now that you’re dating Ojou-sama, perhaps Yazawa-sama is more appropriate?”

“Just Nico is fine.” Nico assured.

“Right, anyway, I’m on my away to retrieve some bottles of Cloudy Bay at the behest of the master.”

“White?” Maki inquired.

The woman nodded. “We’ve prepared a delightful shrimp pasta for the main course.” She turned to Nico. “Ojou-sama has informed us of your talent in the kitchen, so we hope to meet your standards, Yazawa-sama.”

Guess the new title is going to stick. Nico thought to herself. “I’m sure it will be great.”

“The caprese salads should be ready if you wish to head to the dining room now.”

“Tomatoes, of course.” Nico couldn’t help commenting.

“Yes.” The staff member confirmed. “We have also been informed of one of your preferences, so for dessert, we will be serving traditional crepes with lemon and sugar.”

“Sounds delicious.”

The woman smiled before bowing again to excuse herself and hurrying down the hall.

“Is there anything wrong with your father requesting white wine?” Nico asked, trying to gauge her girlfriend’s reaction.

“I don’t believe so.” Maki shook her head. “White is better paired with seafood, after all.”

“Yes, but…?”

“No, sorry, I didn’t mean it like that.” Maki shook her head again. “Cloudy Bay is actually one of Papa’s favorites. He’s quite fond of the New Zealand area in general.”

“One of his favorites? That’s gotta be a good sign, right?”

“I hope so.”

Nico took a deep breath, held it for a moment, then released it slowly. “Well, the salad is apparently ready, so we may as well get to it.”

Maki nodded before taking Nico’s hand once more to complete their journey to the dining room. Nico noted, thankfully, that her girlfriend’s grip was far more relaxed this time around.

Upon arrival, the couple was greeted by the Nishikino estate manager who showed them to their seats. Shortly thereafter, Maki’s parents arrived and took their own seats. Next the chef and her assistant from before arrived with the first course. Finally, the first bottle of wine was uncorked and the meal was underway.

“So, Yazawa-san,” Dr. Nishikino stated, drawing Nico’s attention “you’ve known Maki since high school, am I correct?”

“Yes.” Nico affirmed. “It was Maki-chan’s first year and my third.”

“I see. And were you one of the girls who helped convince her to become an idol?”

Well, that didn’t take long for the subject to come up. Nico thought to herself. Straight to the point, I guess, unlike a certain dishonest daughter of his…

“Actually, it was the other way around.” Nico replied.

“Oh?”

“I was in a disillusioned and jaded state back then, after my first attempt at forming a group fell through.” Nico admitted. “And it was Honoka and Maki-chan and the others that pulled me out of my funk and helped me remember why I adored idols so much and wanted so desperately to be one.” She couldn’t help smiling as fond memories flooded her mind. “I really do owe them all a debt of gratitude for that.”

“I see. And you are still an idol now?”

“Part time.” Nico nodded. “I was able to find a small production company that was willing to work around my classes. It fills up my schedule and keeps me busy, but also lets me keep my foot in the door.”

“Because you intend to go full time even once you’ve earned a degree?”

Nico wasn’t particularly fond of the wording of the question and had to resist the urge to call it out; had it been Maki and they were in a more casual setting, she likely would have done so.

“I do.” She said aloud instead. “And once I retire from being an idol, the degree will help me find other employment.”

“And what type of employment might that be?”

“Something still in the industry, if possible.” Out of the corner of her eye, Nico caught a suppressed expression of surprise on her girlfriend’s face. Understandable, as it was news to Maki as well. “Choreographer, trainer, costume design, heck maybe even a producer, someday. Basically, I’d like to pay forward my debt by helping the next generations of idols.”

“And one is able to earn a living in such an industry?”

“Others have before me; I believe I can as well.” Nico gave another glance to the redhead beside her. “I may not have the skills to become a life-saving doctor like Maki, but I can still do my part to make the world a better place; one smile at a time.”

“Medicine, law, business, engineering,” Maki’s mother suddenly spoke up “these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.” She smiled at Nico. “I believe Mr. Keating’s words hold true for many things. Music, painting, writing, really the arts as a whole are what make life worth living.”

“Mr. Keating?” Nico inquired.

“The lead character of Dead Poets Society.” Maki responded. “We should watch it sometime, Nico-chan; it’s really good.”

“And it is because the arts are so important” Dr. Nishikino continued “that my husband and I strive to support them as much as possible. In fact, we will be attending a performance of The Barber of Seville late next month and have not even started sending out invites to fill our box. You two are more than welcome to join us.”

At this, Maki’s eyes lit up. “Next month? When?”

“I’ll message you the dates later, but it’s a weekend so you should be able to work it into your study schedule.”

Maki turned to Nico with an expression rivaling the one she wore when December started. “Do you want to come with me?”

Nico smiled at her girlfriend’s excitement and word choice. “I’d love to. But where have I heard that title before?”

“From my playlist.”

“Tchaikovsky?” Nico made sure to pronounce the name as correctly as she could.

Maki shook her head. “Rossini.”

Nico racked her memory. “Cinderella?”

“Yes, different opera, same composer.”

“One smile at a time, you said?” Maki’s father suddenly stated.

“Oh, yeah.” Nico recalled her words from a few minutes ago.

The barest hint of something tugged at the edges of Dr. Nishikino’s lips. “Well, if nothing else, you have succeeded in making my daughter smile.” He nodded toward Maki, directing Nico’s attention back to the mentioned reaction. “And as my wife and I can attest, that is not always the easiest of tasks.”

“… P-Papa…” Maki offered a mild protest as pink dusted her cheeks and her mother chuckled.

Nico couldn’t help a smile of her own as she turned back to Maki’s father. “I think I’m up to the challenge.”

“Indeed.”

Wait… wasn’t this a bit hypocritical? Nico suddenly thought. Why claim to be a patron of the arts while simultaneously disallowing one’s daughter from being an artist?

On occasion, Maki had bemoaned being railroaded into the medical career while her dreams of being a professional pianist were dismissed as a passing fancy. Yet she hadn’t acknowledged the contradiction. Was she even aware of it? With the level of reverence Maki held for her parents, Nico could easily imagine her remaining oblivious; well, that and Maki’s overall naivete in many aspects of life.

Should she tell her? Was it even Nico’s place say such a thing? Nico was no stranger to speaking her mind when it came to her own interests, or those of her siblings. And she was dating Maki now, which meant defending her girlfriend’s best interests also shouldn’t surprise anyone. Or at least what she believed to be Maki’s best interests, as her parents obviously felt differently.

“On a related topic, Yazawa-san, Maki has told us much about your shared love of music.” Dr. Nishikino continued.

Nico derailed her own train of thought and refocused her attention on the conversation at hand. “It is one of our favorite subjects to discuss… or argue over.”

“And you often listen together while studying.”

“I believe music helps keep us in a good mood, which then helps us study.” Nico explained.

“I think we can all attest to the positive effects of music.” The Nishikino matriarch said.

“Indeed.” Her husband agreed.

“And Maki-chan has helped expand my appreciation of other genres of music.” Nico turned to her girlfriend. “And I’d like to think I’ve expanded hers as well.”

Maki nodded an affirmation with a smile.

“Maki also has told us that she often helps you study.”

“She does.” Nico confirmed. “Maki is incredibly smart. Even if she doesn’t know the answer to a problem, she is often able to logic things through and help guide me in the right direction. Honestly, if I didn’t already know she was going to be a doctor, I’d’ve suggested she become a teacher.”

“Now that would be an interesting career choice.” Maki’s mother said thoughtfully.

“Hrm…” Her father seemed less than convinced. “So, do you help her study in return?”

“Well…” Nico started.

“Nico-chan helps in other ways, Papa.” Maki offered. “Even if she isn’t able to help me with a given topic, she helps ensure I take regular breaks so I can come back with better focus. She makes sure I’m hydrated and helps track my nutrition and is quite insistent on keeping a decent sleep schedule. Honestly, she’s better at taking care of me than I am.” Her eyes widened as her admission registered in her mind.

“That’s right,” Her mother continued with the thoughtfulness from earlier, though Nico was sure she detected some teasing undertones “wasn’t it Nico that saved Maki from herself back on her birthday?”

“Mama…” Maki was losing a battle in trying to keep down another blush.

“Maki is very diligent in her studies.” Nico stated. “And I’m happy to help where I can.”

“Hmm… sounds like another couple we know, right Dear?” Dr. Nishikino sent a sly smile toward her husband, the teasing more obvious now.

“… Perhaps.” Maki’s father conceded.

Was it Nico’s imagination or did she just catch another glimpse into the source of some of Maki’s behavior? The Nishikino patriarch wasn’t the easiest to read behind his stoic mask, but his daughter wasn’t always straightforward with her emotions either and Nico had figured her out fairly well by this point.

As far as Nico was concerned, the rest of dinner went quite smoothly. Once Maki’s father got past his initial questions, he remained mostly quite. It ended up being Nico and Maki’s mother carrying the bulk of the conversations, which honestly didn’t really surprise Nico all that much. Maki’s mother inquired about Nico’s family, though Nico suspected she already knew most of the things anyway and it was more for Maki’s father’s sake. Still, Nico wasn’t about to pass up the opportunity to brag about her amazing siblings and about how proud of them she was in taking care of the household and themselves in her absence.

After dinner, Maki’s parents excused themselves to finish up the day’s emails and paperwork. Nico couldn’t help but wonder if that would be something Maki would end up doing once she became more involved with the hospital administrative duties.

As for Nico herself, she joined Maki in the Nishikino music room for the previously promised private concert. There, she had happily settled into the best seat in the house, next her girlfriend on the bench. All in all, it was a wonderful conclusion to what she believed to be a wonderful night. However, as confident as she was, she still wanted to be sure, so she made a mental note to ask the one she believed would know best, or at least better than herself.

“So, how did I do?” Nico asked, once she was sure they were well beyond earshot of anyone even remotely associated with the Nishikino residence.

“You were perfect, Nico-chan.” Maki responded with a smile that sent a warm feeling through Nico’s chest. “I think Papa likes you and is fine with us dating, and we already know how Mama feels.”

Thank the gods… Nico thought with relief. And with that load off her mind, “Of course I was perfect,” she decided to get in some teasing of her own, after spending the evening watching Dr. Nishikino do so “Nico is always perfect.” She grinned and held up her signature gesture.

“Id…” Maki’s typical retort was interrupted by a yawn.

Nico laughed before continuing the tradition. “You love it.”

“… Maybe…” Maki managed to get out as her energy seemed to be leaving her rapidly.

Nico leaned her shoulder into her girlfriend. “Steady there, Maki-chan, you going to be alright getting back to your dormroom?”

“Eh? But, I thought…”

“You thought…?”

“I thought I was going to your place?”

“Well you can, obviously you’re always welcome, but…” Nico motioned to Maki’s outfit, taking the moment to enjoy the view as well “I figured since you don’t have a change of clothes, you wouldn’t want to put this back on in the morning.”

“It’s fine…” Maki stifled another yawn. “I just want to go home…” She blinked and shook her head. “I mean your home… Yours… yours and Nozomi’s, I mean… ueeehhh…”

Nico chuckled. “It’s your home too, Maki-chan.” By the gods did she want to kiss the redhead whose cheeks were now matching her hair, but even this late at night, there was a risk of being seen. Later. She promised herself. “Nozomi and my names may be on the lease,” she said instead “but that doesn’t make it any less home to you or Eli.”

“T-thank you…”

“You don’t have to thank me for that; that much is normal for couples, right? But you know, Eli does leave a lot of stuff in Nozomi’s room…” Nico thought aloud “perhaps I should clear out a drawer and make some room in the closet for you.”

“I’d like that.” Maki smiled. “I’ll be sure to bring some stuff over soon.”

“Good. For tonight, you can borrow your usual sleep shirt and we’ll figure out something else in the morning. I think the outfit I lent you the other day is clean, but if not, maybe Nozomi has something that will fit you.”

Maki nodded.

“Then it’s settled.” Nico took Maki’s hand as they boarded the train together. “Let’s go home.”

Author’s Note Continued in Followup Post

[canchewread]

Editor’s note: a few months ago on this blog, I wrote a short essay that used a quote from Matt Taibbi’s “Insane Clown President” as a vehicle to explore structural similarities between establishment power in the Republican Party and the Democratic Party, as it pertained to the ability to hold off an internal insurgency during their respective nomination processes. Today, I’d like to return to that argument and discuss why there are even more structural reasons to believe Bernie Sanders will eventually emerge as the Democratic candidate in 2020; but first, let’s look at our quote.

-----

A Brief Look at Listen Liberal:

Today’s quoted passage comes from the 2017 updated paperback edition of Thomas Frank’s “Listen Liberal: Or, What Ever Happened to the Party of the People” - a book about which I have many complicated feelings and opinions.

First and foremost I should say that this book is quite frankly an excellent study of the how and why behind the US Democratic Party’s abandonment of the labor class and subsequent marriage to the far more affluent and influential professional class. As those of you who read my theory work are no doubt aware, this is a subject near and dear to my heart and as such I’m inclined to view Frank’s illuminating tome in a very favorable light.

As the author himself notes, “Listen, Liberal” is primarily an autopsy of the Democratic Party’s historic failure to reconnect with the labor class in the post Bush era, despite the existence of optimal conditions for success in doing so and the obvious tangible benefits that strategy would have presented. Frank also devotes multiple chapters to exposing how the idiosyncrasies, arrogant assumptions and open blind spots inherent to the rarely-discussed professional class - which now represents the “soul” of the Democratic Party (such as it is) - have acted as a driving force behind this failure. This identification and discussion of what Frank calls “the professional class” is to my knowledge, wholly unique in current mainstream literature and after reading “Listen, Liberal” I found it impossible to ignore the connections between the dominant beliefs of this professional class and the disastrous campaign run by Hillary Clinton in the 2016 US election.

On both of these fronts, it is unreasonable to regard this book as anything less than a smashing success and within the confines of those two discussions, this is quite literally “must read” material. Indeed, if America had anything resembling a “free and democratic press“ Frank would probably be lauded as a brilliant soothsayer who effectively predicted Clinton’s 2016 election loss in March of that year - before she’d even sew up the Democratic Party nomination.

So, what’s the problem? Fundamentally, Thomas Frank is himself a professional class liberal; albeit a reformist - but certainly not a radical. While this naturally makes his analysis of what’s wrong with the liberal professional class more incisive and accurate, it has the downside of clouding his understanding of the very working/labor class people he’s arguing the Dem Party needs to return to representing.

In fact, I’d go so far as to argue that the author’s very conception of class is rendered at least somewhat inaccurate by the sheer number of comfortable mainstream “truths” he adopts without question in “Listen, Liberal” - things like the standard (and incorrect) North American conception of “the middle class” or his belief and insistence that the Democratic Party has a long history of supporting and representing this same “middle class.”

Truthfully, the so-called “New Dealers” that came to power in the post-war, anticommunist era after the death of FDR (who himself represented a desperate compromise by elite liberals to retain power in the face of a labor class revolt) were just as married to capital and the professional class as the corporate, center-right party Frank derides today. Even if you ignore the Democratic Party’s violent, authoritarian attempts to shatter labor on behalf of American capital from the end of the Civil War, all the way up to Woodrow Wilson’s “Red Scare” - there is almost no historical record of the Party as a whole supporting labor over capital, with the exception of FDR’s four term Presidency. Whereas Frank identifies the betrayal of the working class as something that largely begun under Bill Clinton, any history student worth their salt will tell you that Truman’s post-war, anti-Communist crusade effectively destroyed organized labor in America and eventually ushered in the modern neoliberal era the author correctly identifies as being toxic for the labor class.

In short, while Frank does a magnificent job of identifying what’s wrong with the Democratic Party today - his ideas about how to address those problems are fundamentally rooted in a reformist fantasy that at some point in the past, the Democratic Party ever stood with labor when the working class didn’t have a knife at their throat. This is simply not accurate, and as such it distorts some of Frank’s theories about where we go from here; after all, if you can’t even properly identify the “labor class” it’s hard to see how you’re going to restore political power to them. This problem isn’t big enough to seriously impact the value of “Listen, Liberal” for those looking to understand the professional class or why the modern Democratic Party is completely out of touch, but it also makes it impossible to recommend the work to readers without noting that Frank’s reformist tendencies and nostalgia for a party that probably never existed, occasionally cause him to get the wrong answer. In the final analysis this makes “Listen, Liberal” an unquestionably important, if imperfect addition to “the discourse.”

Bernie, Biden and the 2020 Democratic Party Nomination

So, if Frank is right and the Democratic Party has not only abandoned the labor class, but actually no longer even has any real contact with the roughly eighty-nine percent of the population who ultimately comprise the labor class - what does this mean for the 2020 Democratic Party nomination contest currently being waged across America? What does it mean if the Democratic Party establishment has lost touch with most of its base? Good things, if you’re a fan of Vermont’s democratic socialist Senator, Bernie Sanders.

In my February article, we examined the eerie similarities between the quietly shattered mainstream Republican leadership in the wake of losing the 2012 election, and their counterparts in the Democratic Party after their shameful elevation of, and eventually defeat to, a reality TV host, billionaire fascist. The crux of my argument then was that the leadership of both parties had expended all of their political capital to force through an unpopular (and ultimately unsuccessful) candidate against the wishes of growing insurgent forces within their own base. When these candidates then failed to deliver victory, the power structure behind these failures was left shattered, and wholly inadequate for the purposes of opposing those same insurgent forces during the next election cycle.

In the case of the Republicans, we already know how that story ends because Trump was indeed propelled to the nomination by a revanchist, reactionary base he easily pried away from mainstream GOP candidates, simply by being a better fascist than anyone else up on the stage. Whether or not that effect will be repeated on the Democratic side of the equation with a wholly different type of insurgency, is a question we won’t be able to answer until the end of the 2020 nomination contest - but as you can read, I’m betting that answer is “yes.”

Now that the nomination race has more fully shaken out, let’s take a look at the structural similarities between the nomination races themselves. How does the 2016 GOP contest that ultimately served up Donald Trump resemble the crowded 2020 Dem nomination race and what can that tell us about who will eventually emerge to run against the swine emperor?     

The first and most obvious similarity between the two nomination contests is the sheer size of the field; the 2016 Republican nomination fight began as a seventeen candidate “clown car” battle while there are currently twenty-two officially declared candidates (Rolling Stone forgot to count Mike Gravel) for the 2020 Democratic Party nomination. Furthermore, although Biden’s supporters would undoubtedly deny it, there are a number of strong similarities between Palooka Joe and presumed 2016 Republican front-runner Jeb Bush - neither is a particularly strong campaigner, neither of them has met a banker or wealthy donor they didn’t love and both men advocate for policies and positions that are fundamentally out of step with their own party’s base. Finally of course, there’s the breakdown of the field into the various “lanes” that you would expect in each primary. In both cases, there is really only one viable insurgent candidate and very little tangible policy differences between the rest of the field - with apologies to Tulsi Gabbard (not viable) and Liz Warren (not insurgent enough.)

For perhaps the first time in his life, being left of and therefore outside of, the mainstream liberal orthodoxy is working in Bernie’s favor here - just as Trump’s open fascist tendencies worked to differentiate Herr Donald from the rest of the 2016  GOP field, and galvanize insurgent support around him for a revolt against the mainstream GOP leadership and their chosen candidate. More to the point however, the ace up Bernie’s sleeve is the fact that his policy platform and long-held public positions actually cleave far, far closer to those of the voting public than those of Joe Biden or the rest of the neoliberal passengers on the 2020 Dem Nomination fail-bus do.

Why does this matter? There’s a clue if you remember that when the 2016 GOP nomination began, the vast majority of the Republican establishment (and their candidates) were united in their opposition to Trump - mainstream “conservative media” in particular regarded him as a crude, hopeless outsider who would be dispatched quickly; even Fox News opposed Trump until it was clear he’d win the nomination for example. Of course, that’s not what happened is it? Why?

To put it simply, establishment Republicans either forgot about, or simply had no real connection anymore, to their own base. After a solid three decades of pushing the party further right, employing revanchist ideas to consolidate power and openly inviting extremist elements into the party, GOP leadership found itself facing down a voting base that agreed with and admired Trump’s open fascism, more than they agreed with anything Jeb Bush or the other fifteen candidates in the race had to offer. Republican primary voters wanted a crude, bigoted, anti-establishment candidate; they wanted to punish liberals and leftists, they did in fact like fascism, they did in fact like racism, etc. This in turn made Downmarket Mussolini largely unassailable because attacking the things that made Trump different from the rest of the field, also explicitly meant attacking the voting base and the ideas or values they shared with Trump!

Well, all of that took basically one primary contest for GOP mainstream candidates and their campaign advisors to figure out. Once they could no longer afford to attack Trump, the rest of the candidates predictably turned their attention on Jeb Bush (and each other) - resulting in a truly spectacular level of chaos, carnage and cannibalism. At various points the mainstream Republican leadership tried to rally the party around a single, “Trump-slayer” candidate (Bush, Rubio, Kasich and eventually Cruz) but because the party was no longer strong enough to force candidates out of the field, the result was always the same - the candidates who weren’t favored by the establishment at that moment would largely ignore Trump and tear down the presumed “unity” candidate, just to stay alive in the race.

Frankly, if you think about it from the perspective of the candidates, such behavior was perfectly rational - after all, attacking Trump not only brought the ire of the base, but also helped someone else get closer to the nomination; at that point you might as well just drop out unless you’re prepared to wrestle away the title of chosen unity candidate from whichever stiff the GOP establishment picked to rally behind at that time. The rest is as they say, “history.”

Turning our attention back to the 2020 Democratic Party nomination race, it’s impossible not to notice how similar the contest appears to the one that ultimately destroyed the RNC and surrendered control of the party to an insurgent candidate more in line with their own voting base; namely Donald Trump.

Although the issues that drive the democratic socialist movement behind Sanders are entirely different than the issues that drive Trump Nation, the dynamics of the struggle that propelled the swine emperor to victory are clearly being replicated on the Democratic side, with Bernie Sanders (and to a lesser degree, perhaps Elizabeth Warren.) Any policy or ideology based attack on Sanders, is effectively going to be an attack on the base - and in the meantime, every vote a candidate can snatch away from Sanders is going to help Joe Biden as much, or more, than any other candidate on the stage.

In light of all this, I believe there’s really only one more question you have to ask yourself - do you believe that the roughly nineteen other mainstream neoliberal candidates are in this race to make Creepy Uncle Joe Biden the President of the United States?

Before you answer I want you to think about who these people really are for a moment; Senators, members of Congress, government officials - many of whom have never lost an election in their entire lives. They each have their own donors, their own campaign war-chests, their own in-pocket media minions and supporters. These are people from the right families, and the right educational background who believe they have been overachieving their entire lives. They’re the success stories of capitalism, the best and the brightest; valedictorians, doctorate holders, egomaniacs who think they’re “the smartest people in the room” no matter what room they walk into.

Do you believe that these folks are going to lay down for the oldest, slowest, fattest antelope on the plains, in Palooka Joe - just because Tom f*cking Perez says so? If the Democratic Party establishment actually had the power and influence necessary to force them out of the race to prop-up an anti-Sanders coalition, don’t you think it would have happened already? The polls have pointed to a Biden versus Sanders race for months and months now, with no variation whatsoever on that front - shouldn’t neoliberals be dropping out and supporting Biden already if there is to be a united anti-Sanders resistance from the party?

When the rubber hits the road, do you sincerely think the other nineteen candidates are going to help the Democratic Party take out Bernie, even if it helps Joe Biden get further out in front of the rest of the pack?

Yeah, neither do I.

All of this is actually kind of ironic because the Democratic Party establishment has spent the past three years constantly attacking Bernie by saying he’s like Trump. This is of course balderdash; Sanders is nothing like Downmarket Mussolini and even ignoring the vast gap in their stated ideologies, their campaign styles aren’t even remotely similar either. But in the wake of their disastrous failure in the 2016 election, the Democratic Party establishment has found itself in absolutely the same position their Republican brethren faced in the wake of their 2012 loss with Mitt Romney. That is the real similarity, and in the end I believe that’s why Bernie Sanders will win the 2020 Democratic Party nomination.

That is, unless they shoot him.

- nina illingworth

[laurasauras]

so, i think the main thing that bothers me about crimes of grindelwald is that it reinforces this idea that’s been bothering me for a while and that’s my growing disillusionment with jk rowling. this is a loooong post, so i’m chucking it under a cut. tl;dr, i've fallen out of love with the series and much like falling out of love with a person makes you realise that they were always kind of annoying, that’s what’s happening to me with her.

everyone and their dog (with the exception of jk herself) has realised that her inability to leave the books she wrote alone has stifled a fandom space that was one of the first wide spread communities that was outright encouraged to create and this is objectively a bad thing. the fact that her fans are being told the “correct” and “canon” answers to their big questions in the series is objectively a bad thing. fandom as a concept is a collection of people dedicated to consuming media in a deeper way; we reject the notion of passive viewing and search for meaning in the way that our high school teachers would be delighted in. i think enough people have talked about that that i don’t particularly need to.

here’s the thing that’s just hit me though: the saying “don’t meet your heroes” used to feel like a far off concept, because i wasn’t doing anything special enough to justify ever meeting my favourite author, and for over a decade if you asked me the “who would you have dinner with if it could be anyone in the world?” my answer was probably her. except now that has happened.

to clarify, i haven’t had dinner with jk rowling. but thanks to twitter, it kind of feels like i have. and the story goes the same way the cautionary “don’t meet your heroes” story always goes in sit coms. for the first half hour of dinner i was delighted to hear more about her thoughts when writing the harry potter series and learn tid bits that she never included. she mentioned the charity work she does, said she supported me no matter what and highlighted enough issues that gave me the impression that not only was my favourite author just as engaging in “real life”, she was also a good person. for the next little bit she showed me what else she was working on and i have always loved her writing style, so i enjoyed that too. i looked forward to seeing where she was going from there, to what new stories i could enjoy as i grew older.

and then she started talking about harry potter again. i was glad, at first. i thought i could never hear enough about it. but cursed child was bad. i like reading plays, i knew that wasn’t the issue. i decided that she had put her name on it but she had delegated the story to other people because i couldn’t quite connect the baby’s first fanfiction storyline with the woman i had grown to know over the rest of the dinner. and fantastic beasts was ... good? but so wholly unnecessary. i decided that she just wanted to keep giving to charity and this was how she was doing it. 

and then, just when i was starting to hint that the dinner party was over and she could leave now, five minutes ago (really i just wanted to go to bed and pretend like the only things i’d ever heard for her were the words written in her books), it all clicked into place.

they’re all the same story.

harry potter was so successful because children connected deeply with the idea that one day a giant would knock on the door and take them away from the bullies and the boredom and into a world of magic. harry was an average boy who made mistakes and yet did remarkable things. and harry potter is, really, a very long, very detailed fairy tale. once upon a time there was a boy who lived with his wicked aunt and uncle. this is how he saved the world.

(i could easily make this argument for the casual vacancy and the cormoran strike books as well, but i’m going to stick with the newly franchised “wizarding world” for clarity.)

spoilers below for cursed child, fantastic beasts and crimes of grindelwald.

in cursed child, there were a lot of minor problems that niggled at me that are very similar to the things that niggle me about the twitter feed of jk rowling, she seemed intent on retconning her novels to have more meaning, in name dropping this, that and the other as if providing her fans with the ability to go “oh! it’s the trolley lady! i remember her! how cool that she’s significant and also a horrifying monster!” but my major grievance was with the “twist” that voldemort had had a daughter with bellatrix lestrange (in what time, seriously, when did she have the 9 months to spare) and she was going to bring her daddy back to wreak havoc. and this to me seemed like yet another “the ordinary person is more significant than you thought!” story, which seemed lazy. why did delphini have to be related to the two biggest villains in order to want to bring voldemort back? could she think of no other reason for someone to want that? (no, she couldn’t, she couldn’t think of any reason to siding with him in the first place other than “they’re the bad guys, the slytherins”.)

(another grievance i have is that jk rowling has no idea how to write a realistic villain. or rather, when she does succeed in empathising with why someone would hurt another person, she refuses to see them as a villain. snape and dumbledore would make very interesting antagonists, but she’d much rather have “he was conceived under a love potion and therefore is incapable of love” be a reason for doing great harm than “people have been telling him he was a fantastic person since he got top of his class in transfiguration and he is sure that he could make the world better if only people would do as he says without questioning him ever”. side note: jude law absolutely nailed the manipulative dumbledore vibe in crimes of grindelwald, that was literally the only good part of the film, that and the jangly cat toy thing.)

and okay, that was fine, i was just going to pretend that cursed child never existed. i think i am not alone in that camp. and the first fantastic beasts story was pretty good, nothing to write home about or like, remember after you’ve watched it, but a fine way to spend a couple of hours. and then she pulled the same move with crimes of grindelwald!

oh, guess what, this boy who was the main character in the first movie and now has no personality in the second movie, yeah, him, the one who was abused and who tried to hide his magic but it came out in explosive ways, yeah, he was dumbledore’s little brother the whole time.

because he couldn’t just be any abused kid. because again, the fact that it doesn’t make sense and the timeline does not fit is irrelevant. it’s punchy, it’s another name drop, it’s gonna make the audience gasp. i mean, it made me and the friend i saw the movie with laugh out loud, but the intention was there.

how could the perfect dumbledore family abandon a child like that? hey, this is starting to sound exactly like the tragic and complicated backstory we already got in deathly hallows! and hey, wasn’t that already kind of a reference to the way harry himself was treated?

i’m just tired. i’m tired of this new laziness making me re-examine the original series and realise just how shallow that was too. i’m tired of liking fanfiction more than any of the things she’s written. i’m tired of well meaning family and friends buying me harry potter mugs and slippers and whatever else for christmas because i was in love with this franchise from the age of 7 and i don’t have the heart to explain that the increasing consumerism of it is one of the many reasons that my love is firmly in the past tense now.

so, i don’t think i’ll be touching my harry potter fanfics for a while. it sucks to officially abandon projects i spent so many hours on but i went to try and reread so i could continue one and i’m tired of that world. i hope it isn’t forever. the books were such a huge part of my childhood and have absolutely influenced me as a writer. but for now, we’re on a break.

[tudorscharlot]

Bohemian Rhapsody (Bryan Singer/Dexter Fletcher, 2018)

31 Halloweens of October #34

(An important note about the following tirade: I know that this film was written by Anthony McCarten and Peter Morgan and that it was directed by Bryan Singer and Dexter Fletcher. But it is obvious from the course of its labored, years-long development and from the final product itself that this film was made in strict accordance with the views of Brian May and Roger Taylor. And I hold them ultimately responsible for the film that was made.)   This is the most deeply offensive film I've seen in years (probably since I saw Nymphomaniac: Vol. II). The music of Queen is so important to me on an emotional level and on a fundamental, worldview level that it would be fair to describe my devotion to it as religious. And I know I'm not alone on planet earth in feeling that way. Fuck this movie and everyone responsible for it forever. Do not go and see this. Don't give them your money and don't give them any sense of validation that what they've done is acceptable. (After seeing the cringe-inducing trailer, I vowed to never give this film a cent of my money. But then I was unexpectedly given a free ticket to see it. I went to see Suspiria for the second time in 24 hours with my best friend, but the theater it was showing in was having technical problems. The theater manager gave us tickets to a later showing of Suspiria and offered us free passes to anything that was playing right then, as well as free concessions. Even though I was now essentially being paid to see this film, I still only reluctantly accepted the situation.) It feels like a cheap shot to come at this movie over the chronological inaccuracies. The last thing I ever want to be is one of those "ACTUALLY..." guys who misses the poetic forest for the literal trees. I don't think it's critically important in a non-documentary, narrative film to be 100% accurate on dry, historical details, especially when it benefits the narrative structure to make slight revisions and combinations of events. Liberties taken in service of the spirit of the larger truth are fine by me. But the extremity of what they did in this film is egregious, lazy, and ultimately just confusing. So yes, I am going to go there, right now. The vocal version of "Seven Seas of Rhye" was not recorded during the sessions for Queen. "Another One Bites the Dust" was recorded three years after "We Will Rock You". Freddie Mercury did not release his first solo album until four years after Roger Taylor released his first solo album and one year after Roger released his second solo album (which goes some way toward debunking the notion that the band viewed Freddie's solo projects as a betrayal). Freddie did not return from an extended period of isolation in Munich and beg the band to perform at Live Aid. Queen just had completed the massive, nearly year-long world tour for The Works less than two months before their appearance at Live Aid - it had not been years since they played onstage together. The band did not decide to start sharing all writing credits equally until they recorded The Miracle three years and two albums after Live Aid. And, as far as is publicly known, Freddie Mercury did not find out that he was HIV-positive until 1986 or 1987. (And this is all off the top of my head.)

None of this should matter, but it does matter. Because the moment that Brian May and Roger Taylor slapped their names on this thing as executive producers, the nature of the project and its relationship to the Queen oeuvre changed. What is this movie, and who is it for? Queen is one of the biggest bands ever, but I would still argue that a biopic about Freddie Mercury ought to be aimed primarily at people already familiar with him and Queen and the music they made. It should be for the fans, and the filmmakers should assume a certain basic level of familiarity with their story among viewers. And in that case, they should know that having all of these historical inaccuracies is only going to irritate devotees like me who have a deeper-than-Wikipedia knowledge of the subject matter. And, whether or not these inaccuracies irritate me, I'd certainly expect them to irritate the two men who lived these experiences and who exercised serious executive control over this movie from start to finish. Why would Brian and Roger sign off on such an error-riddled version of their own story? I mentioned Wikipedia up there, and I've read at least one review that snarkily described this film as an adaptation of the Wikipedia entry for Queen. I think that even that is giving it too much credit. This film is like an adaptation of a Buzzfeed "25 Things You Might Not Know About Queen" list (with an emphasis on the factual inaccuracies those lists always have). Bohemian Rhapsody is clearly not intended as a thoughtful love-letter to serious fans of Queen. So does that mean it is aimed at the widest common denominator - a promotional item designed and deployed to attract record-buyers (or Spotify-streamers) unfamiliar with the band? And to stoke nostalgia among extant fans who may then be enticed to buy whatever new reconfiguration of Queen's Greatest Hits is being released along with this film? On the one hand, yes, obviously. I'll never fault living artists (or the estates of deceased artists) for working to keep their valuable bodies of work alive in the public consciousness and available to new generations of potential fans. But there are tasteful, thoughtful, discerning ways to do this (see the recent John Lennon Imagine boxed set or Queen's own Made in Heaven album). Careful and caring artists or estates share archival or celebratory releases that add substance. Greedy people who've lost the plot completely offer up crass, sloppy, tasteless cash grabs. And that's what this goddamned movie is. And what virtually everything Brian May and Roger Taylor have done in the name of Queen over the last two decades has been. I say "greedy" and "cash grab," but I don't think this is just about money. It's also more abstract. There's an idea and an image of Queen that is very real for them and for me and for so many people in the world, and it is precious. But Queen is in the past. Queen as we know them and want them ended when Freddie Mercury left us. It's not right and it's not fair, but what was can never be again. No matter how many Queen + whatever asshole tours or holograms or biopics are shoved at us. On the other hand, though, this film is a far more dangerous thing than just a promotional cash grab. It is a piece of propaganda. When Brian May and Roger Taylor made themselves executive producers of this film, it became canon. Which confers on this film and its creators a much higher level of responsibility with regards to the legacy of Queen. And every person who made this film failed to be honest or faithful to Freddie and the idea of Queen. It's shameful. Even if Brian and Roger set out to share an honest but loving account of the story of Freddie and Queen, such an endeavor is impossible in their hands. It is impossible for two members of a four-person group to present their own version of events and group dynamics to the world as though it were an official and objective record of what happened and get it right. Even free of conscious, questionable intentions, they are too close to be objective. But I do not believe they are free of conscious, questionable intentions. This film never disputes Freddie Mercury's genius talents as a performer or songwriter. And it is generous in its portrayal of his kindness, sweetness, and wit. But it also presents him as a pill-popping sexual deviant whose pursuit of a solo career in the 1980s was an ego-driven affront to the unity of Queen, rather than the healthy and fairly standard outlet for expression that any artist a decade in with a massively successful band tends to engage in (see also: Roger Taylor, for fuck's sake). And it also presents him as the only real source of discord in the band. This is all in striking contrast to the presentation of Brian and Roger as blandly stable family men dedicated wholly to the vision of Queen. (There are a couple of winking references to Roger cheating on his wife, but these references lack the weight of similar events in Freddie's story.) An important side-note: It should also be mentioned that John Deacon is presented as basically a non-entity whose only contribution is to frequently make silly faces that are eerily like Andy Samberg mugging (seriously, find a still or clip of this actor in this movie - it's fucked up). In real life, John Deacon more or less permanently parted ways with Brian May and Roger Taylor in the late 1990s. It has been widely assumed (he may even have said so at some point) that this was because he didn't like the way they were handling the legacy of the band. Fast-forward to 2018 and this film's portrayal of John seems to be grinding a major axe of butt-hurt at him. It's so fucking petty. But back to Freddie. What do we know about Freddie Mercury, the private citizen? We know he was extremely private and largely refused to ever discuss his personal life with the press. That doesn't mean that it's strictly off-limits and inappropriate to discuss his private life in a film about him now. There are private things about Freddie (both personal and professional) that the surviving members of Queen definitely knew. Jim Hutton and others have shared personal things about Freddie over the years since his death, as well. I believe it's okay to respectfully reveal private details in the service of telling a great artist's story. The problem here is that Brian and Roger have shot any credibility they had as reliable or unbiased sources. If they can't even get the decade and order in which two of their biggest hits were recorded - if accurately representing something as verifiable and relevant to the development of their work as that isn't important for this film, why should and how can we believe anything this films tells us that can't be verified beyond "the executive producers say it happened"? If major events in their recording and performing career can be juggled around willy-nilly to fit the desired narrative arc, how we can trust that the same wild liberties aren’t being taken with unverifiable closed-door meetings and private arguments? I'm SURE that Freddie Mercury was sometimes flamboyantly egotistical in the studio and backstage. But I'm equally sure that every other member of Queen was just as egotistical, just as often. They never would have accomplished the things they accomplished if there weren't huge amounts of ego and ambition and personal investment between them. But I do not buy that this film accurately represents Freddie's temperament, his ego, or his behavior in many of the specific situations it reenacts. It doesn’t get his style. Watch any video of Freddie performing or being interviewed - this film doesn't get him at all. I'm not queer and I'm not Parsi, but the way this film handles Freddie's relationship with his ethnicity, with his family, and with his sexuality feels pretty boilerplate and cliched. It doesn't strike me that any particularly negative stereotypes are being indulged, but it does feel like a lot of simplistic movie tropes are employed to quickly dispense with these matters. I am glad that so much attention is given to Freddie's relationship with Mary Austin, but it nonetheless feels tonally wrong. I think that their relationship was beautiful and I don't think this movie quite gets it. And sure, what the fuck do I know? Very little. But I know they were lifelong companions in ways that went far beyond sex, and that she was the love of his life. And I know that I can't trust that the two guys who were there are representing it truthfully now. I'd rather take Freddie's word for it. And UGH. What the ever-loving fuck is up with Rami Malek's prosthetic bucked teeth in this movie? Let's get something straight: Freddie Mercury was a physically beautiful man. My god, he was. It is an obnoxious insult to have some guy prancing around like fucking Nosferatu playing at being Freddie Mercury. No serious actor would need fake teeth to play this role, and no serious filmmaker would ever even consider such a thing. All this heavy, meta shit aside, this is also just a bad movie on the most basic level. It is so bloated with unnecessary show-off shots, rock and roll biopic cliches, embarrassing dialogue, and one-dimensional performances that even hearing some of my favorite music ever at high volumes in a movie theater couldn't transport me. Some serious acting talent was assembled here, and some of the cast do an admirable job with what they were given, but this movie has no heart. Bohemian Rhapsody makes Freddie Mercury a caricature. It tries not to, and it really is mostly a very flattering caricature. But it's a reduction that fails terribly in its mission to show us who Freddie Mercury was. Freddie Mercury deserves infinitely better than this film. This film should not have been made. If they had gotten everything perfectly right, it would still be a pointless and distasteful exercise. Go watch any video of Freddie Mercury performing or just talking and the emptiness of this film becomes instantly clear. (Note: I’ve tagged this film with my October horror film viewing because this film is horrible.)

[the-nysh]

Saitama Cares Masterpost

PART ONE

Yep, THIS IS a comprehensive and ongoing list + commentary (with pictures!) of every moment Saitama shows care/concern for Genos in the story, to eliminate the common misconception that Saitama is either ‘heartless’ (no way) or that the sentiments between them are only one-sided from Genos (not true; the characters just express their outward emotions differently). To establish that Saitama does not treat Genos with the same indifference of a complete stranger/acquaintance, but rather in fact grows fond of him to the point he treats Genos noticeably different than others. With particular emphasis on moments from the original webcomic, AS PROOF Saitama’s subtle way of caring originates from the source material itself. Feel free to use as a reference list or supplemental material to enrich fan content or expand people’s positive perspective of the egg!

Current chapters covered: up through the meteor arc (ch23) Words: 1800+

Chapter 6, the moment they met. They don’t even know each other, yet Saitama genuinely thanks and compliments Genos as ‘awesome/amazing’ for saving him from the mosquito hoard. Not even caring or noticing that his own clothes have been completely burned off in the process. No complaints from him at all, just that he’s pleased and impressed by Genos, even making chance lighthearted puns during the moment too:

Chapter 10, vs Asura Rhino/Carnage Kabuto, which was their first outing together, the same day as, and immediately after Genos arrived to Saitama’s door, with his backstory given and disciple proposition declared.

The ‘Modern Art’ scene, where Saitama stares in stunned, confused concern at Genos getting embedded into the wall, IGNORING the face of the monster, with his attention only on Genos until he declares, ‘you’ll pay.’ The manga increased this to two pages, with wider body shots of Saitama’s stunned reaction, however, his ‘ignore the monster’ pose was changed to 90 degrees instead of how the webcomic shows his head turned at an opposite 180:

The catching scene, (the ‘leg hold’ in the anime). The manga has an extra panel of Saitama watching Genos’ fight (and swoops in off-panel to catch him), but the webcomic has Saitama suddenly appear at his side. His supportive hand on Genos’ shoulder was changed to his waist in the manga too. The manga further shows Saitama kneeling at Genos’ side while supporting his back for the ‘don’t push yourself so hard’ panel.

The ‘afro’ scene. The egg OVERTLY CONCERNED if Genos is ok from the blowback, yelling with visible sweat drops over his condition (same worried reaction in the manga). The webcomic’s ‘son of a bitch!’ line in response to the monster doing this to him is a personal fav of mine (even if it’s just the translator’s personal choice to use that language). 8D As is his raised fist with his serious expression, ready to dish out retribution. He looks angrier here, so I definitely prefer it to the manga’s version:

Chapter 11, when prompted by the monster to explain his strength training regimen, rather than simply answering him, Saitama directly addresses Genos about it instead, instructing him to ‘listen up’ and focus on the important parts:

Two birds with one stone here, yes, but Saitama makes sure he has Genos’ attention first and performs his ‘teacher role’ mainly for him, and not caring as much for the other two in the audience (barely even notices the scientist in the room). When Genos responds in a furious fit at him, Saitama is visibly shocked (stress sweat included), but CALMLY meets his distress with open honesty. Caring about Genos’ reaction and making sure he understands the truth. Not caring at all for the monster’s version of rage (sales are more important than that).

Chapter 15, while Saitama is at first in shock over the news of his nonexistent popularity (and wants to be left alone in his distress, telling Genos to go home), after learning why, he’s then interested whether Genos has already registered as a hero or not, with neither of them wanting to register alone. (Genos was never interested in joining in the first place: “no, I wouldn’t do something like that/I’m not interested.”) Genos gives him the necessary background info and exposition, but Saitama is the one to initiate the idea they register together, with the deal that if Genos comes with him, he’ll make him his disciple ‘for real.’ Of course Genos elatedly flips his mind right there and agrees to go along! (This agreement was allll on Saitama’s insistence here; in fact, you could say it was Saitama who bribed him to register because he didn’t want to do it alone.)   

Chapter 16: Upon passing together and Genos beaming to him that he’s looking forward to his official teachings, Saitama contemplates that maaaaybe he was too quick to make that promise, especially to the type of guy Genos is (cyborg, upstanding, diligent, serious, hardworking, loyal, overeager, honest to a fault). Essentially, feeling wholly unprepared to have signed up for a task (and tutelage over a person) that’s much more than he’s comfortably qualified (or even really wants) to handle. But, he has to step up and take this teacher role (and hero job) seriously now. Does he fall back and refuse? No, he takes responsibility for his actions and makes the most of it. When alone, he reviews their hero ranks, with himself in Class C and Genos in Class S, contemplating the gap he has to climb to reach him and thinking about him: “could it be that Genos is actually really amazing?”  

Chapter 17, their spar. Indulging on Genos’ request for a match, as their first test bout as newly appointed teacher-student. Saitama keeps it playful and not too serious, as it’s not fighting ‘for real’ to him. Tagging Genos with the cute cheek poke (with a fun smile!) and forehead flick after demonstrating a fist of his power to his face. Important to note that a parallel scene happens much later in the manga vs Suiryu in the martial arts tournament. Also not fighting ‘for real’ there either. Both of Saitama’s ‘opponents’ want him to get serous and display his power, but the difference between Saitama’s two punches is that he shreds Suiryu’s clothes in humiliation (Saitama’s close-up afterimage behind Genos could have shielded him from some of the blast too). Saitama was not having the same fun in the tournament (or smiling during that match), unlike in his spar with Genos, nor does he care for Suiryu the same way (flat out refusing his disciple request in comparison too). Saitama asks Genos out for udon, which the anime even shows in full with a competitive, fun eating match (which Genos wins this time, and Saitama, genuinely impressed, tells him he’s amazing again).

Chapter 18, Genos moves in. It’d been 5 days since their spar in the webcomic/manga, but the anime changed it to that very same night (after the udon). Webcomic Saitama doesn’t mind that Genos regularly comes over, but moving in is another story. Immediately changing his mind upon seeing Genos’ loaded rent money (offering payment upfront IS polite & proper boarding manners, whether or not Genos was aware of Saitama’s tight finances then to legitimately bribe him). However, ONE’s stated that Saitama has never used Genos’ rent money. 

Genos came prepared and eager to learn (with his notebook), but conversely, Saitama believes he has nothing to teach him (muscle training is useless for a cyborg after all), and importantly, doesn’t want to play at this teacher charade any longer if it’s like he’s deceiving or taking advantage of Genos:

It would become all the more morally unacceptable (really, Saitama would feel bad) to continue half-assedly and meet Genos’ high & honest expectations of him with deceit like that. Genos has raised the bar to the point Saitama’s been put on the spot and can’t simply mess around with this anymore. Establishing right here how much Saitama’s conflicted about this: even if he’s empty handed, ideally he wants to match Genos’ eagerness with open honesty and NOT deception or having to abuse his position of power. (Saitama is a good egg and he’s TRYING to do this teacher thing right!) But he doesn’t know how or what else to teach him aside from what he already knows, (knowing Genos won’t simply accept his training method either). Scrambling and pressed for time (gotta juggle his hero quota deadline), he settles for a temporary, on-the-spot goal for Genos to aim for in the meantime (top10 hero spot). Saitama assumes the advice he gives is bullshit, but it DOES logically consider Genos’ limitations and key mental aspects he needs to improve, so it is viable insight and not as far-fetched as Saitama thinks (it’s actually pretty spot-on): 

Chapter 20, interested whether Genos has done any hero work yet to raise his rank too (popularity a different story). RECEIVES GENOS’ PRAISE HERE. In contrast to the comments from fans who don’t personally know him, Genos gives his honest opinion of Saitama, ‘the most incredible man he’s met,’ since he knows him. While Genos doesn’t value what his fans have to say (and Saitama shocked he isn’t embarrassed reading them out loud), the same can’t be said whether Saitama doesn’t appreciate what this particular ‘fan’ has to say about him. ;3 He brushes off Genos’ words as flattery (in anime, as ‘buttering him up’), but the manga and anime show him with a little pleased smile. So while Saitama is bad at receiving/taking compliments from him, on some level he IS glad there’s someone who finally appreciates him.    

Chapter 21, THE METEOR. Arrives in impeccable timing to save Genos. Saitama probably heard the news on his own, geared up and rushed to the scene, witnessed Genos’ whole flashy attempt to blast the meteor, stood back for him, and only approached at the last possible moment when Genos absolutely needed his help. He personally instructs Bang to take care of Genos for him and evacuate to safety while he takes care of the meteor:

The manga has Saitama arrive in extra dramatic flourish (+color in the digital version), hidden behind his speech bubble until Genos turns and lightens up in astonished recognition (complete with shoujo sparkles). :’) Saitama went through the trouble to do all of that and arrive directly at Genos’ side, when he could have simply destroyed the meteor by jumping from the vicinity of his apartment. Not only that, but he gave Genos room to finish his attack without rushing in and ‘stealing his thunder’ so to speak. Saitama knows Genos is usually strong enough to take care of himself, which is a reoccurring sentiment from him (even repeated by ONE & Murata in interviews), so he only intervenes and steps in when he sees Genos rendered helpless to fight anymore, which here, also revives Genos’ hope at his lowest moment (when he pretty much accepted his grave). :’))) 

Chapter 22, the meteor aftermath. Genos laments that the HA didn’t call Saitama in the first place (instead of him) to more effectively handle it with Metal Knight to reduce damage to a minimum. But Saitama immediately rationalizes Metal Knight wouldn’t have been a team player anyway and that he (himself) handled things just fine since no one died. Coolly assuring Genos not to brood/worry over what didn’t happen and to focus on the positive outcome instead. Like for instance, interested in whether their ranks went up (specifically asking Genos in terms of ‘we/our,’ not just for himself). Plus, when Genos starts talking threat levels, Saitama freely asks him to clarify what they mean. At this point in time, Saitama is comfortable with Genos’ level of intel/knowledge, and is fine asking him about things he doesn’t understand. (aka when the student informs the teacher, and the teacher’s totally cool with it! :D Never has been seen again, ch7′s 20-words-or-less policy!)

Chapter 23, the tank top rookie crushing. Where Saitama bellows to the crowd how he doesn’t care about their approval or whether they hate him. Interestingly, neither the webcomic nor the manga show how the scene resolves (it just cuts to a several day’s time skip), but the anime resolves it by having Genos arrive at the scene to pacify Saitama’s anger with a simple but effective, ‘let’s go home’ (with sustained, sincere eye contact too). This is ALSO where the anime places Genos’ praise from ch20, now as the iconic ‘sunset confession scene’ with Saitama’s ‘you don’t have to butter me up like that’ line as he turns around with a pleased little smile. Here, it’s in direct contrast to how Saitama views the public, because he DOES appreciate and care what Genos thinks of him (no matter how humbly he accepts it). When even one person’s support more than makes up for the combined hypothetical cheers of a whole fanclub or the voices of the public – right now, just Genos’ words are enough for Saitama. :’)

TO BE CONTINUED

[rozalynpaige]

About The Know’s video titled “Final Fantasy 7 Remake & Kingdom Hearts 3 GET HITMANNED?”

On May 26th, 2017, YouTube news channel The Know released a video titled “Final Fantasy 7 Remake & Kingdom Hearts 3 GET HITMANNED?” and... there is so much wrong with it.

Since this post turned out really long, I’m gonna put a TL;DR here at the top so I can put my explanations and sources under a Read More, so as not to clog up y’all’s dashes.

TL;DR:

Kingdom Hearts 3 is not in FF15 Development Hell. The Know saying that Jose compared KH3′s development to FF15′s is actually wholly incorrect, as he did no such thing. He even clarified that he didn’t. Please note, to be fair to The Know: This can be blamed on mistranslation, as the tweet they were referencing was originally in Spanish. They are not the only ones to reach this incorrect conclusion from the mistranslated tweet. So, try not to be harsh on The Know, guys.

Jose most likely was only implying that minor content would be cut from KH3 if it isn’t 100% done by its deadline, not that we would be getting an incomplete game a la FF15. As he said on May 9th, “There is no rush when you delay a game twice.”

“These are games we intend to release in the next three years” does not mean “Three years from now”, The Know. How can you go from reading aloud a tweet that says “2018″ twice to saying “What if it doesn’t come out until 2020 because they said ‘in the next three years’”? I feel that The Know’s comments about KH3 not coming until “2020 or later” are entirely overreaction. While Jose_Strife’s claim of a 2018 release for KH3 is still officially just a rumor, he may not be far off. We’ll just have to wait and see, possibly at E3 2017, if Jose is right about them releasing a KH3 trailer there.

We already knew, since 2015, that the Final Fantasy 7 Remake will be released episodically. How is this news, The Know?? It is not as bad as it seems, however. FF7 Re’s episodes will be full games, a la FF13. FF13 is a series of three games (XIII, XIII-2, and XIII-3), and Square Enix considers it to be “episodic”. Square Enix said that FF7 Re’s “episodic” nature will be based on FF13′s release structure.

I don’t think KH3 will be released episodically. Even if it is, I believe it’ll be like FF7 Re and FF13.

Explanations and sources below the Read More. For a slightly more manageable read, I’ve split up the sections through use of horizontal line and making pseudo-headers with bold text placed between “~~~”.

~~~First...~~~

I will start with their inaccurate information about what Twitter user Jose_Strife said in regards to Kingdom Hearts 3.

If you don’t know who Jose_Strife is or why anyone would consider him an authority on Kingdom Hearts news... In summary, he appears to have connections, and his “leaked info” has been right before. On May 8th, 2017, he made a series of tweets about Kingdom Hearts 3′s current state in development, said there will be a trailer at E3, and even said the planned release year is 2018. These tweets were in Spanish, so English-speakers had to translate them. This led to misunderstandings from faulty translations, and on May 9th, he tweeted clarifications in English. This is where The Know got tripped up.

~~~Comparison to FF15′s development~~~

First off, they claim that Jose_Strife compared KH3′s development to that of Final Fantasy 15. This is completely untrue. The misunderstanding comes from the following tweet:

“Y, para sorpresa de nadie, todo esto es culpa del infierno de desarrollo de Versus.” which got translated to “And, to the surprise of no one, all this is guilt Versus development hell.” (Link)

He refers to FF15 by its original name, Final Fantasy 13 Versus. Somehow, The Know (and admittedly, other people) took this to be him saying KH3 is in the same development hell as FF15. On May 9th, he clarified with this English tweet:

“Reports about kh3 being in development hell like Versus are also inaccurate. I said that the development of Versus was a hell.” (Link)

The impression I’m getting here is that he had been trying to make an off-hand comment about Square Enix’s actions being a result of guilt from FF15′s development... or something. Either way, KH3 is not in FF15 Development Hell, at all.

~~~KH3′s deadline; incomplete release?~~~

Second, The Know insinuated that Jose_Strife said, if KH3 doesn’t meet its deadline in 2018, story content will be cut and we’ll be given an incomplete game. I’m pretty sure this is incorrect, as well, judging by various tweets he posted.

In English, on May 9th: “Square Enix is not rushing KH3. That reports are incorrect.” (Link)

In English, on May 9th: “If they can't finish something when they hit the deadline, it'll be cut. There is no rush when you delay a game twice.” (Link)

He says that KH3 has been delayed twice, which indicates that Square Enix may be trying to avoid cutting major content. This is further supported by the following English tweet from May 9th:

“If Nomura was a Osaka team resident and he set his goals accurately, the game would be out in December like planned.” (Link)

Meaning that Tetsuya Nomura had initially expected KH3 to be released December 2017. When it was realized that it won’t be finished by then, the release date was delayed to sometime in 2018, according to Jose. Of course, this is by far not an official release date and can only be considered a rumor.

Assuming Jose is right, if KH3 was really going to go the way of FF15 - an incomplete release with cut story content that requires downloaded updates to finish - would they really have delayed the release? I think they would have stuck with the December 2017 release, if that was the case. But they seem to want to avoid repeating their mistake with FF15 (that possible “guilt” mentioned earlier).

There was also a Spanish tweet on May 8th that may clarify what kind of content Jose_Strife meant would be cut if KH3 doesn’t meet the deadline:

“Como muchos sabréis, KH2, BBS y 3D tuvieron contenido recortado, por lo que no es nada nuevo en KH. Todo lo planeado no estará en 3, simple.” which got translated to “As many of you know, KH2, BBS and 3D had content cut out, so it is nothing new in KH. The plan will not be in 3, simple” (Link)

Basically, pointing out that previous Kingdom Hearts games had content cut out and it has never been a big deal. There are actually YouTube videos out there where people talk about the games’ cut content, including unused assets that can be found in the coding, and it’s often pretty minor.

Just to put context to what I mean by that:

Content cut from KH2 includes:

Two keyblades, which had models.

Two Heartless, which appeared to have textured models. They were seen in an advertisement.

Not-so-minor: They changed their plans for how the battle against Xemnas would go.

You were going to be able to fight each member of Organization XIII for fun in Olympus Colosseum. This idea was later implemented in the Final Mix version of KH2.

Summons of Woody and Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story. Their untextured models can be found in the game’s code. The best guess for why they were cut is because Square Enix didn’t have the rights to use any Pixar IPs. Hopefully they’ll eventually get the rights to Pixar movies.

This YouTube video talks about this info and has images, including concept art of old ideas for the Xemnas battle.

Content cut from Birth by Sleep includes:

A keyblade, which had a textured model.

An appearance by Pleakley in the Lilo & Stitch world. He has a model, but it has no texture.

Not-so-minor: A world based on The Jungle Book.

Not-so-minor: The Mirage Arena was actually going to have a story, where it was headed by Final Fantasy 8 character Laguna Loire. For whatever reason, Square Enix decided that Laguna would be in either Dissidia 012 or KH: BBS, not both. They went with Dissidia 012.

Cut content from Dream Drop Distance includes:

Plans for a rabbit-like Dream Eater

Sora was going to visit the old Tron world from KH2, while Riku visited the world based on the newer Tron movie.

Sora was going to visit the world based on the old Fantasia movie, while Riku visited one based on Fantasia 2000.

The latter two cut from Dream Drop Distance were due to time constraints, in regards to how long it takes to build a world. Side note: The fact that building a world takes a lot of time may be one reason KH3 is taking so long - Nomura said it has more worlds than KH2 and the worlds are bigger and seamless.

All in all, the content cut from previous KH games did not result in cutting out story content, and they were minor cuts in the grand scheme of each game. This seems to be what Jose is implying will happen if KH3 doesn’t meet its deadline - minor content and ideas cut out, but the story and significant parts still intact.

~~~“KH3 will release in 2018″/“We might not get it until 2020?!”~~~

Seriously, The Know, which is it?

If you ask me, we’ll more likely be getting KH3 in 2018. However, there’s still no official release date (as of May 28th), so Jose_Strife’s claims of 2018 being its release year are still considered mere rumor. That said, it’s looking like Jose’s rumor may not be far from the truth, and like I said earlier, he has a tendency to be right about these things.

KH 1.5+2.5 and KH 2.8 were released for PS4 in 2017. If you get both of these packages, you’ll have the entire current Kingdom Hearts series on one console. Granted, in those packages, 358/2 Days and Re: Coded are cutscene movies and KH X is a movie, but it’s still the whole current series.

Jose claims we’ll be getting a KH3 trailer at E3 2017.

The Kingdom Hearts Facebook and Twitter accounts have been a lot more active since, about, early January this year (2017), posting every one or two days. Whereas, late last year, there were anywhere between 4 and 25 days between posts. Granted, they’re mostly posting about the previous games and asking fans about things like their favorite Drive Form from KH2 or their favorite ice cream item from Birth by Sleep. But the noticeable increase in activity could be them trying to draw up interest and attention, which would make sense if KH3′s release is coming up.

It’s common for a video game company to begin its major promotional campaign about a year before the game releases. If KH3 is due to release sometime in 2018, it would be a good idea to begin its promotional campaign soon. If they do release a trailer at E3 2017, that trailer may announce the release date and kick off the promotional campaign.

As for The Know’s comments about KH3 possibly not being released until 2020 or later...

That was entirely based on Square Enix’s presentation of “These are games we intend to release in the next three years” along with images of the titles for Kingdom Hearts 3, Final Fantasy 7 Remake, and their Marvel IP. That does not, in any way, mean “These are games we intend to release three years from now”, which is the scenario that The Know presented. It means “These are games you can look forward to within the next three years.” 2018 is included in that “next three years”, you know.

So, in my opinion, The Know’s scenario of a 2020 or later release is mere overreaction.

~~~Episodic releases?! Oh no!!~~~

Calm down. We’ve already known since 2015 that the Final Fantasy 7 Remake will be released episodically.

Here’s an article from 2015 that talks about it

And another from 2015

And one from 2016 that explains that it’s not as bad as it sounds

When we hear “episodic release”, I think a lot of us are thinking of Life is Strange and Tell Tale Games (such as, Tell Tale’s The Walking Dead), where you get one game split up into bite-sized pieces that are released individually.

That is not what they’re doing with FF7 Re.

FF7 Re’s episodes will be full games, a la Final Fantasy 13 - one big story, told through a series of full games. And of course they have to do this with FF7 Re. The original FF7 was spread across 3 discs! Though, they were all released at the same time in the same disc case. Ahh, the old days.

Will Kingdom Hearts 3 have an episodic release? Personally, I don’t think so. However, if it does, I’m confident that it will be a case just like FF7 Re and FF13, where each episode is a full game.

[rolandfontana]

Fan Bing Bing’s International Business Lesson

Photo by George Baird

I had a sorta friend in college who smoked like a chimney and drank like a Supreme Court Justice. When people would point out the danger of his ways he would respond by emphatically noting that his grandfather also smoked and drank just as much and he was still alive and kicking at 88. Does anyone not see a problem with this analysis?

And yet, my firm’s international lawyers often hear something similar as an excuse for why some company or some person is doing XY or Z that is not legal. Sometimes they will add that so and so who is a native of the country in which they are doing business has told them that this or that is okay, which to me is the equivalent of relying on someone with no medical training saying it’s okay to smoke.

What has happened to Fan Bing Bing spurs me to mention the above. Fan Bing Bing is a terrific movie actress who recently got into BIG trouble with the Chinese tax authorities for having underreported her income via a dual-contract system in which only one contract is disclosed to the tax authorities. For more on this, check out China Movie Stars and The Two-Contract Problem. But it isn’t just movie stars that employ the two-contract tax dodge; many foreign companies and expats do as well:

Even if Fan Bingbing hasn’t done a single thing wrong (which is very possible), it wouldn’t be surprising to learn that tax evasion is rampant in the film business. Tax evasion is like a national sport in China. Mainland factories regularly misreport income by having payments go to a Hong Kong or Taiwanese holding company. So-called “independent contractors” in China rarely report their income because they and their foreign employer are both operating illegally. And the billion-dollar daigou business is profitable largely through tax and customs fraud.

Around once a month (and 4-5 times in December and January — not kidding), our international lawyers get a call from a foreigner in big trouble somewhere like China or Indonesia for having done something illegal. I myself have taken many of these calls and they usually start out with the person in trouble saying something like the following:

I always follow the law and I wanted to follow the law in __________ [country] but my ___________ assured me that this is how things are done in ___________[country] and so I reluctantly went along. And now I am in legal trouble for having done…..

The person who usually gets the blame is the accountant or general manager or even the person’s wife who is a native of whatever country in which the person is having his legal problems — I say “his” here because I cannot remember getting such a call from anyone not male. My tactic is to quickly push through this sort of discussion by bluntly saying, well yes, not paying your taxes or not doing X is illegal pretty much everywhere in the world and I am not aware of any country in the world where it is a defense to say that everyone else is operating illegally as well. So at this point, what I suggest is that we bring in a top-flight criminal lawyer and work on doing whatever we can to prevent you from going to jail and to reduce what you will need to pay.

Around ten years ago, A reader sent me an article regarding the Sri Lankan parents being denied the return of their 17 year old daughter by a United States judge because the family was unable to prove they were in the United States legally. The judge was denying the daughter’s return both for immigration reasons and because her parents’ credibility had been so damaged by their history of immigration untruths. The reader asked if we were aware of anything like this having happened in China or the United States with Chinese businesspeople and whether “something like this” can impact one’s business in China. I responded by listing out all sorts of examples we had seen where one’s immigration status has harmed a business.

Many years ago, I was involved in an international litigation matter involving two Russian fishing companies. One of the key witnesses for the Russian company on the other side was a woman who had secured a US visa based on her supposed extensive education and experience in the fishing industry in Russia. She had secured this visa by claiming a college degree from one of Russia’s best fishing institutes and by claiming to have spent many years working for one of its largest fishing companies. One of my firm’s crackerjack paralegals somehow acquired a copy of this person’s visa application and noticed that her college degree from a college in Town A in Russia had been stamped by someone in Town B in Russia. This was the equivalent of a Harvard degree with an official Yale stamp on it. In other words, it could never happen if the degree were not a fake.

Our next move was to depose this person and depose her we did. At her deposition, we asked her a series of questions intended to make clear we knew she had lied to get into the United States, including the following:

1. Who was your favorite professor? She said she had no favorite. 2. Name one of your professors. She said she could not remember a single one. 3. Name one professor at the entire college. She said she could not remember a single one. 4. Who was your best friend at college? She said she was too busy studying to have had any friends. 5. Name one fellow student at your college. She said she could not remember a single one. 6. List the classes you took. She gave a really vague answer. 7. Name some of the buildings on your campus. She could not remember a single one. 8. Describe the campus. She gave an incredibly vague description.

We asked the same sort of questions regarding the fishing company at which she had allegedly worked in Russia and we got the same sort of answers.

And guess what, this key witness for the other side never showed up to testify at trial, which greatly strengthened our case and probably helped us prevail. I have no doubt her failure to appear stemmed from her fear of her illegal immigration status being publicly exposed.

I was once contacted by a Russian-American company that wanted my firm to sue an American company over a debt. I pushed my client about skeletons in his and his company’s closet and he admitted he was in the United States on a student visa and so should not have been working at all. We talked about how his bringing this case would probably expose him to visa issues and how he should think long and hard before he brought it. He chose not to bring the case and instead to just walk away from a not insubstantial debt.

We have had to tell a number of foreigners in China the same thing when they have sought our help in collecting on a debt in China or in suing their Chinese partner for having run off with what the foreigner thought was its own business. If you or your business are not 100% legal in China, you have pretty much foreclosed your ability to sue anyone in China, no matter what they do to you. To put it bluntly, you are ripe for the plucking.

A handful of times (usually during periods of stepped-up visa enforcement), my firm has been contacted by foreigners with illegal businesses in China who have either been denied re-entry into China or have been told to leave. These people are desperately seeking our help to get them back into China. They are desperate because their profitable China based businesses cannot function without them. The odds of our being able to help them are slim.

One of the most underrated benefits of having a Wholly Foreign Owned Entity (WFOE) in China is that entity’s ability to hire foreigners and those foreigners’ ability to secure Chinese work visas (Z visas). These companies are legal and they have standing to sue and since their employees are working in China legally on Z visas, they have nothing to fear by testifying on the company’s behalf.

And we too have seen our share of double contracts. Many years ago, a European company hired us to sue an American company for having failed to pay around 2.5 million dollars for the sale of a used airplane (I have forgotten the exact amount). This company told us they had a written contract for this transaction and we told them we like their case. They then sent us the contract and instead of it listing the airplane price at $2.5 million, it listed it at $600,000. We raised the monetary discrepancy with the client who explained that “yes, this is what the contract says but the deal was for $2.5 million and the only reason it wasn’t written in the contract that way was because the other side insisted on it saying $600,000 to minimize its duties when it took the plane to its own country. We told them we were no longer interested in pursuing the case and as far as I know they ended up having to walk away from $2.5 million.

One of my favorite stories is when I went to Papua New Guinea to help a Sakhalin Island client secure the return of two helicopters. When I landed in Port Moresby, I was asked if I was in the country as a tourist or for business. The tourist visa was something around $35 and the business visa was something around $350, but I said “business” and I paid the much higher fee. I then flew to Goroka where I met the next day with the governor of the Eastern Highlands Province, Malcolm “Kela” Smith. I was told “Kela” means bald man. The first thing Mr. Smith did when I met with him was to check my passport. When it revealed I was there on a business visa, I could sense a change in his view of me. Though he never confirmed this to me, I am convinced that had my passport revealed I was in PNG on a tourist visa, Mr. Smith would either have had me thrown out of the country or he would have refused to meet with me because I was in the country illegally. Kela Smith ended up meeting with me and with my client and within a day or two we had a deal whereby my client would get his helicopters back.

With so many companies these days looking to set up in Asian countries with even weaker law enforcement than China, our international business lawyers are often finding ourselves stressing the advantages of scrupulously following a country’s laws even when doing so is difficult and expensive. Our experience is that this virtually always pays off in the end — economically, with stability, and with peace of mind.

The simple and obvious bottom line here is that if you are going to be doing business in a foreign country it pays to do so legally.

  Fan Bing Bing’s International Business Lesson syndicated from https://immigrationattorneyto.wordpress.com/