#children of mixed race with Korean soldiers

[falseandrealultravival]

Lai Dai Han (Lai Đại Hàn): The Truth that's Inconvenient for Korea (Essay)

Statue of Lai Dai Han

The 320,000 Korean troops sent to South Vietnam during the Vietnam War committed a war crime that will never be forgotten. Under the pretext of wiping out the Viet Cong in South Vietnam, they indiscriminately massacred local people and gang-raped women, causing countless children (5,000-30,000). These children are called "Lai Dai Han" (children of mixed race with Korean soldiers). They are not accepted in either Vietnam or Korea and live in discrimination.

In the extreme conditions of the battlefield, the true nature of human beings is revealed, but what about the wildness of these Korean soldiers? They are no less cruel than American or Russian soldiers. In Korea, the topic of Lai Dai Han is taboo, and although there were media outlets that tried to cover it, the Veterans' Association headed by former President Chun Doo-hwan (全斗煥) suppressed it. Chun Doo-hwan was the commander of the Vietnam Expeditionary Forces. Vietnam, which wants economic assistance from Korea, does not want to touch on the Lai Dai Han.

South Korea, which has committed such evil deeds, is persistently erecting statues of comfort women around the world to criticize Japan for the "comfort women issue," which is said that the Japanese military Kidnapped Korean women and made them "sex slaves", but this is ridiculous. In the first place, the "comfort women issue" is a fabrication by the Asahi Shimbun (newspaper) of Japan, and South Korea is just taking advantage of the situation of it. In the face of the Vicious Lai Dai Han issue, South Korea has no right to criticize anything including Japan. (The Japanese military consensually employed Korean women as prostitutes. Not sex slaves.) The UK has erected in Vietnam a statue of Lai Dai Han in front of the South Korean embassy to commemorate the evil deeds. Japan should also erect a statue of Lai Dai Han next to the statue of comfort women all over the world.

Rei Morishita

2024.07.21

ライダイハン：韓国にとって都合の悪い真実（エッセイ）

ベトナム戦争の折、派遣された韓国軍３２万人は、決して消えない戦争犯罪を犯している。それは南ベトナムでベトコンを掃討する名目で、現地の人を無差別に虐殺、また女性を輪姦して夥しい数（５０００－３万）の子供たちを生ませたことだ。この子供たちを「ライダイハン」（韓国兵との混血児）と呼ぶ。彼らはベトナムでも韓国でも受け入れらえず、差別されて生きている。

戦場という極限状態において、人間の本性があらわになるが、この韓国兵たちの荒みぶりはどうだろう。アメリカ兵、ロシア兵にも劣らない酷さだ。韓国では、ライダイハンの話題はタブーであるし、取り上げようとするマスコミはあったが、韓国大統領も務めた全斗煥を首魁とする退役軍人会が握りつぶした。全斗煥はベトナム派遣韓国軍の指揮官だった。韓国の経済的援助が欲しいベトナムも、ライダイハンには触れたくない。

こんな悪行をする韓国が、日本軍が朝鮮人女性を誘拐し「性奴隷」にしたとされる「従軍慰安婦問題」で、非難のため世界に慰安婦像をしつこく立てまくっているが、ちゃんちゃらおかしい。そもそも「従軍慰安婦問題」は日本の朝日新聞の捏造であり、それに韓国は乗っているに過ぎない。ライダイハンを前にすると、韓国がなにか非難する筋合いはない。（実際、日本軍は、合意の上で韓国人女性を売春婦として雇っていた。）イギリスは、ベトナムで、韓国大使館の前に、ライダイハン像を立て、その悪行を顕彰している。日本も従軍慰安婦像の隣に、ライダイハン像を立てるとよい。

[teenslib]

IT’S FINALLY DONE! Every year, the Rainbow Book List Committee has more books to review, because literature is slowing getting queerer, and children’s and YA lit are at the forefront of that change. This year, our committee of 13 people had to review nearly 500 eligible titles, and 130 (well, 129) were good enough and queer enough to make the list. There were so many terrific books that we got a special dispensation to create TWO Top Ten lists--the first time the committee has done so! The Top Tens are below, and please visit the link above for the full list.

I’m proud of our committee’s focus on diversity--along lines of race, ethnicity, queer identity, and even genre. At least half of the Top Ten Books for Young Readers and seven of the Top Ten for Teen Readers are about characters of color, and most of those were written by authors of color. We also tried to feature as many different letters of the alphabet soup as possible. I’ve noted the racial and LGBTQIA+ rep for the books that I’ve read.

Here are the Top Ten Books for Young Readers:

Ana on the Edge by Sass, A.J. Ages 8 to 12. Sports Fiction/Figure Skating. MC is nonbinary and Jewish-Chinese-American. Ana is a champion figure-skater. She hates her new princess-themed program, but how can she tell her mother that, when it cost so much money? And why does it bother her so much, anyway? When she finds the word ‘nonbinary,’ she realizes why the program doesn’t fit, but she still has a lot of work to do repairing relationships that have suffered in the meantime.

The Deep & Dark Blue by Smith, Niki. Ages 8 to 12. Fantasy. One of 2 MCs is a trans girl, all characters appear to be Southeast Asian. A pair of twins flee after a political coup that puts their lives at risk. They decide to disguise themselves as Hanna and Grayce, two girls living in the Communion of the Blue, an order of weaving women who spin magic like wool. What one twin doesn’t know is that, for the other, being Grayce isn’t a disguise. This is a beautiful story about self-discovery, acceptance, and affirmation.

Drawing on Walls: A Story of Keith Haring by Burgess, Matthew and Josh Cochran (Illustrator). Ages 6 to 14. Biography. MC is a white gay man. This colorful picture-book biography traces the life and art of Keith Haring.

The Every Body Book: LGBTQ+ Inclusive Guide for Kids about Sex, Gender, Bodies, and Families by Simon, Rachel E. and Noah Grigni (Illustrator). Ages 8 to 12. Nonfiction/Health. Various identities and races included. Filled with self-affirming information, The Every Body Book uses inclusive language, illustrations, and facts to cover a number of important topics for young people including consent, relationships, gender, sex, puberty, and hormones.

King and the Dragonflies by Callender, Kacen. Ages 8 to 12. Realistic Fiction. MC is a gay black boy, his best friend is a gay white boy. King’s family–especially his father–have strong opinions about what it means to be a Black man, and they don’t allow for being gay. But King admires his friend Sandy for escaping an abusive home and living his truth no matter what. If King comes out, too, can his father learn to change?

Magic Fish by Nguyen, Trung Le. Ages 12 and up. Realistic Fiction/Fantasy. MC is a gay Vietnamese-American boy. A young Vietnamese-American boy literally can’t find the words to tell his parents that he’s gay, but cross-cultural fairytales help bridge the language barrier in this beautifully-illustrated graphic novel. 

My Maddy by Pitman, Gayle E. and Violet Tobacco (Illustrator). Ages 4-8. Realistic Fiction. MC’s parent is nonbinary, MC and her parent are white. My Maddy is a heartwarming story about a young girl and her parent. Readers learn that not all parents are boys or girls; some parents are just themselves. In this young girl’s case, that parent is her Maddy, a loving, caring parent who lives outside the gender binary.

My Rainbow by Neal, DeShanna, Trinity Neal, and Art Twink (Illustrator). Ages 4-8. Realistic Fiction. MC is an autistic black trans girl. Autistic trans girl Trinity wants to have long hair, but growing it out is too itchy! None of the wigs in the store are quite right, so Mom makes Trinity a special rainbow wig.

Our Subway Baby by Mercurio, Peter and Leo Espinosa (Illustrator). Ages 4 to 8. Adoption Non-fiction. MCs are white gay men, the baby they adopt is Black. Loving illustrations help tell the story of how an infant abandoned in a NYC subway station was adopted by the man who found him and his partner.

Snapdragon by Leyh, Kat. Snapdragon. Ages 10 to 14. Fantasy. Haven’t read this one yet, so I can’t comment on its representation. Snap gets to know the town witch and discovers that she may in fact have real magic and a secret connection to Snap’s family’s past.

And here are the Top Ten Books for Teen Readers:

All Boys Aren’t Blue: A Memoir-Manifesto by Johnson, George M. Ages 14 to 18. Memoir. Author/MC is a gay Black man. “Memoir-manifesto” is a well-chosen label for this book, which relates stories from the author’s childhood and young adulthood and contextualizes them within a queer Black experience. Although the author’s family is loving and supportive, pervasive heteronormativity, queerphobia, and anti-Black racism threaten his mental, emotional, and physical safety.

Camp by Rosen, L.C. Ages 14 and up. Realistic Fiction. MC and his love interest are gay Jewish boys. For Randy, going away to Camp Outland is a breath of fresh air, a time to be exactly who Randy can’t always be at school. But this year will be different. This year, Randy won’t be the flamboyant theater kid, this year Randy will be exactly the type of bro Hudson would want to date. Changing a thing or too will be necessary for Randy to succeed, even if that means leaving some friends behind.

Cemetery Boys by Thomas, Aiden. Ages 13 and up. Paranormal/Romance. MC is a trans Latino, his love interest is a gay Latino. Yadriel accidentally summons the wrong ghost in an attempt to prove himself a real brujo to his family who struggle to accept his gender identity. Though he thinks he is summoning the ghost of his cousin, he actually summons the ghost of Julian Diaz, and finds himself with not one, but two, mysterious deaths to investigate.

Circus Rose by Cornwell, Betsy. Ages 12 and up. Fantasy. One MC is white and one is mixed-race, one is a lesbian and one is questioning. Ivory and Rosie are twins and half-sisters, born to a bearded woman who refused to choose between her lovers, and raised in their mother’s circus. After a long foreign tour, they come home to find themselves under attack by religious zealots. As tragedy follows tragedy, will Ivory be able to save her circus family?

Elatsoe by Little Badger, Darcie  and Rovina Cai (Illustrator). Ages 12 and up. Mystery. MC is an aro/ace Lipan Apache girl. In this OwnVoices novel, Elatsoe is on a mission to discover who killed her beloved cousin, and why. If not for her cousin, then she is doing this for her people, the Indigenous Lipan Apache tribe. Elatsoe has the ability to raise ghosts from the dead, a tradition that has been passed down through generations. On this journey it will take vulnerability, wit, and the legends of her people for Elatsoe to understand all that is hidden in the small town of Willowbee.

I’ll Be the One by Lee, Lyla. Ages 13 and up. Realistic Fiction. MC is a bi Korean-American girl, her love interest is a bi Korean boy. Skye Shin dreams of becoming the world’s first plus-sized K-pop star, and a reality TV competition may just be her chance. To win, she’ll have to deal with fatphobic beauty standards, fierce competition, and intense media scrutiny–as well as unexpected attraction to one of her competitors.

Miss Meteor by Mejia, Tehlor Kay and Anna-Marie McLemore. Ages 14 and up. Magical Realism. (I haven’t read this one, but I think both MCs are WLW Latinas.) Lita is a star – literally. After falling to earth several years ago, she’s now living life as a teenage girl. When the annual Miss Meteor pageant rolls around, Lita decides to enter – but will her ex-best friend Chicky be willing to help her? Will the pageant help her forget about the past and imagine a new future? Lita learns that winning isn’t about being perfect, it’s about showing your true self to the world – even the parts that no one else understands.

You Should See Me in a Crown by Johnson, Leah. Ages 12 and up. Realistic Fiction. MC is a black WLW (woman-loving-woman). In this affectionate rom-com, Liz Lighty finds herself an unlikely candidate for prom queen at her affluent suburban school. Shy, awkward, Black, and low-income, Liz has never felt like she belonged, and she can’t wait to leave for her dream college. But when her scholarship falls through, it seems her last resort is to win prom queen, and the scholarship money that comes with it. Liz’s plan is complicated when new girl Mack decides to run for prom queen also…and ends up running away with Liz’s heart.

War Girls by Onyebuchi, Tochi.  Ages 12 and up. Science Fiction/Afro-Futurism. Both MCs are Nigerian, one is a WLW. In a not-so-distant future, climate change and nuclear disasters have made much of the earth unlivable. In the midst of war in Nigeria, two sisters, Onyii and Ify, are torn apart and face two very different futures. As their lives progress through years of untold violence and political unrest, battles with deadly mechs and cyborg soldiers outfitted with artificial limbs and organs, they are brought together again and again and must come to terms with how the war has impacted their lives.

When We Were Magic by Gailey, Sarah. Ages 14 and up. Contemporary Fantasy. MC is a white bi/questioning girl with gay dads, her friends are racially, ethnically, and queerily diverse. This firecracker of a novel follows a group of friends who attempt to correct the accidental murder of a classmate. When We Were Magic combines magic, friendship, and awkward moments to create a captivating story. Each character brings their own uniqueness to the strong group of friends, but despite their differences, their loyalty remains. Author Sarah Gailey has written another page turning novel, with the quirky strange content to boot.

[thewritingpossum]

You say 'ask me about my hatred for Rainbow Rowell', so now I'm curious...who are they and what did they do?

Ok, so I’ve had this thing in my blog description for litteral years and you’re only the second person who ever reacted to it, bless your soul, truly. It’s gonna be a super long answer tho so I apologize in advance if it bores you to tears. Also there’s some spoilers for her book Eleanor & Park in this thing, if anyone care about that. 

So Rainbow Rowell is a ya novels writer who happens to be highly popular around here (I also think she actually has a tumblr? I may be wrong on that point tho) and who was ever more popular around 2013 when she published her first book, Eleanor & Park, a love story between a fat, non-conventionally attractive girl dealing with abuse and poverty and a mixed race (white and korean) boy dealing with a bit of an identity crisis, all of that with a cool 80’s background. Sounds pretty cool, eh? That’s what I thought but…No.

First of all, this book is incredibly racist. Park (the half-korean boy) has a severe case of self-hatred and internalized racism. He wished he looked like his strong, all-american looking brother who even has an american name and is so much more mainly and can even drive shift (he’s supposed to be his baby brother who is like 13 but I get miss Rowell got confused with her own timeline). I don’t have a problem with that in itself: I can totally imagine a teenager growing up in a mainly white community dealing with that.

 My problem is with the ‘resolution’ of the problem: Park realize that Eleanor (the “chubby” girl) prefers asian guy and since obviously the marker of wether you’re worth anything or not is how appealing you are to white women, he magically get over his issues. Eleanor also spent the whole book fetishizing and otherizing the ever lasting christ out of her boyfriend. She constantly refers to him (in her head, to be fair) as “that asian kid”, “that stupid asian kid”, “that stupid, beautiful asian boy” and being sooooo into the fact that he’s asian (and has magical green eyes that are so different and non-asian but sooo pretty ). It’s very uncomfortable to read, tbh.

If you think that’s bad, wait until we get to her mother, who is quite litterally a racist caricature. Mindy (an americanized version of Min-Dae -which is not even an actual korean name, no more than Park but it’s whatever at this point) is a manucurist spoking broken english who gets compared to china dolls by one of the main character. She was born in Korea but was “brought home” by her american husband, a soldier who was stationned in her country (it’s already yikes enough and only get worst when you learn that Rainbow based that whole mess on a picture that she found of her own military dad with a woman in korean: I mean, I guess it’s your prerogative to write romantic fanfictions about your parents but like…The reality of thing is that there were no love story between american soldiers and the women of the countries they occuped and it’s time for her to accept it).

We also get two black characters, who are Eleanor’s best and only friends (only that she don’t really appear to give two fucks about them). They’re named Denice and Beebi, names that reaaaaally stand out in a negative way when compared to all white people’ names and they speak…Well, the way black characters in 80’s teen movies made by white people speak. One of them (I don’t remember which one) is dating a much older boy and planning to marry him after high school because that’s what black girls do, right? So yeah, I truly believe that this book is one of the most racist published in the 2010’s that I’ve personnally read. But that’s actually just part of why I hate it and loath it’s writer.

I also absolutely despise the way Rowell writes about abuse: a huge plot point is that Eleanor endure mental, emotional and (if I remember correctly) physical abuses from her step-father, abuses that escalade to sexual harrasment. Her step-father favores Eleanor’s sibling, including his own biological son but he’s also abusive to them and severely abusive to his wife, Eleanor’s mom. That’s some heavy stuff, and if you chose to put that in ya novel (or any novel for that matter), I expect you to be able to handle that sensibly and in a way that make sense, at the very least. I don’t think Rainbow Rowell even tried. 

Spoiler alert on how this book end: Eleanor run away from home, starts living with her uncle, the rest of her family escape a little later and her step-father stay alone and brooding in town. WTF?? The idea that abusive men would just be like “oh well, guess I have to accept that my wife left with our children and there’s nothing I can do uwu” is literally stupid. Either the writer didn’t bother making even the most basic researches on abuse dynamics or she did and chose to ignore it. And even outside of that…Talk about a deus ex machina and a cheap fucking ending lmao…

I only read another one of her book, Fangirl. It’s about a girl with anxiety disorder writing gay fanfics and was understandly popular on tumblr when it came out (i’m not hating btw, like…I’m a mentally ill binch writing gay stories so..). I didn’t found it as offensive as Eleanor & Park but her portrayal of mental illnesses was basic and often bordering on insensitivity (I really felt like one of the character’s bipolar disorder was treated as an inconvenience to other characters above anything else).

 Also, the anxious character spent a huge chunk of the book eating energy bar because she’s too afraid to leave her room and go eat in the dining hall…Girl, I’m supposed to believe you spend your whole time on your computer and you never heard of ordering takeout online?? Or just going to buy shits to eat at the supermarket?? How far am I supposed to suspend my disbelief to enjoy those books?

One last thing: a huge chunk of Fangirl is an actual fanfiction about some HP ripoff. Well, my homegirl Rainbow published a whole damn book about her actual Drarry fanfiction. I love fanfiction but I really think there’s something sketchy about putting a fake fandom in your book that’s very obviously based on an existing piece of work and then making money off your imitation but maybe that’s just me.

I would probably be able to chill a bit if Rainbow Rowell was not generally presented at this great representation queen who can do no wrong (and yes, I’m aware that she’s not responsible for the way people chose to portray her). Luckily for me, she’s somehow less popular on Tumblr that she once was and I get to have a break from her weird bullshit.

[chessinventor]

It is easier for Russia to engage with the West in the battlefield than CCP China when the later has a much greater volume of economy as compared to Russia. It made sense when two nations which are highly depending on each other for basic necessities that they are much less likely to engage each other in war. That maybe partially why the war between CCP China and USA never broke out in 2019. A lot of the running of CCP China economy are depending critically on US technologies especially the online businesses.

The situation of Ukraine Russia war is strange in the sense when Ukraine and the Western democracies are not joined as military alliances fighting the Russian invaders because France and Germany's industries are depending a lot on Russian oils and natural gases. And Putin also play the national guile card very well against Germany as Nazi as a democratically elected government had invaded Russia in the past, while Napoleon had lead the failed invasion to Czar's Russian empire. That national guile is used to justify the non-intervention stance of Germany government towards Russian invasion of Ukraine, so how fair is for the innocent Ukrainians to pay for the sins of crimes committed by Nazi Germany? That is extortion when those who is the victims in the past which could exploit and extract unlimited resources from the past aggressors to do whatever they like, so why not ask Germany to finance the invasion of Ukraine just for Germany to amend the past (then deploy Germany's lack of morality when supporting this invasion)? When Nazi Germany is invading Russia it brings it's own prostitutes to prevent mixing of blood from an inferior race such as Russians or Slavic races, however when Nazi is losing their battle to Red Army countless German girls are raped and sexually abused by Russian soldiers. Is that pay back or revenge is good enough already? Or some leftard in EU or in German thought it would be the best to supply a sum of Germany girls to be abused as sex tools to compensate for the past invasion of Russia by Nazi Germany? Then Russia authority kindly allocated part of the German state sanctioned prostitute to the soldiers in Ukraine then there is no needs for raping and sexually torturing the young Ukraine girls?! How much is enough amendment for the past aggression? The greatest sins of humanity to me seems to be the stupidity of the mass that sympathizer such extortion of the past aggressor. The death of Ukrainians and Russian troops is counted against you if you promote such a way. It is simply ridiculous. To put that in perspective, given the comfort women which exploit the ladies in many parts of Asia during Second World War should Japanese periodically to issue a rape and sex abuse quote for Chinese, Koreans... to rape any Japanese children or women as an amendment for the sins of Japanese invasion to those countries?

[da5haexowin]

Orchids and Lilacs (a new wip)

  Alright @wallpatterns ... Here it is, the first look at the new saga I think you've inspired. I actually got both prompts in here too!

Prompts: (orchids) "When you said you found a buyer, I had kind of hoped you were kidding." (Lilacs) "it's been 235 years, but I mean its nice to see you. You're still a jerk"

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Astrilde drummed her fingers on the table in front of her, staring at the swirling creamer in her coffee. Kaleb had been gone for a lifetime now. He had never even seen this home, or the last one, or the one before that, even. She and William had moved more times than the two of them could count since Kaleb had disappeared. The pain had dulled some, and the scars had faded long ago, replaced by new ones. It had been harder on William, she knew. He’d lost more than she had.

    She sighed and took a sip of the coffee, her mind a tangled mass of memories as she remembered how she had met the boys, so long ago. It had been here, in Scotland; where the three of them were born. She had been born to a race of highland elves, shorter and broader than their forest cousins, but still gifted with long life and magic of the world. As the humans grew in numbers and power, they grew to fear the elder race that kept to themselves. The forest clans, being generally taller and leaner than men, were hunted down quickly and ruthlessly; their pointed ears and light colored hair and eyes marking them as different very quickly. Astrilde and her clan had been lucky. Being shorter built, and having less pronounced points to their ears, it was easy for them to hide. They kept away from the men, traveling in nomadic groups, herding sheep and cattle, and rarely mixing with the mortals that feared them so much. But they did mix on occasion. And those occasions were often bloody and tragic.

    Astrilde had met Kaleb after she had been taken prisoner. Her clan had been attacked in the night, their tents had been burned to the ground, their flocks slaughtered, and any who had opposed the attackers had been cut down. Astrilde and a few other girls had been grabbed and tied up, thrown screaming onto the backs of horses. She had been huddled under a thin blanket with her eyes closed and her throat raw for the crying and screaming. She prayed for death, and when it didn’t come, she wailed until she fell asleep. She had been laying on her side, trying not to imagine what had become of her family, crying softly to herself, when a gentle hand had touched her shoulder. She looked up at him, and he smiled.

    “I’m Kaleb.” His voice was soft and deep, and his eyes were warm and caring as he spoke softly to her, “I’m not one of them. I’m like you.” He reached up and tapped the side of his nose, drawing her pale, ice blue eyes up to his clear, mossy green ones. They were both shades that no human could ever have.

    She smiled into her coffee as she remembered the way they had talked for hours into the night, swapping tales of home and sharing small, simple spells with each other whenever the guards weren’t looking. It had been his idea to break free. He had been the one to decide and plan on the best escape. She had been wary of it, not wanting to be recaptured if it should fail. He had swept her fears aside with whispered promises in the Elfish language. And he had done it. With her help, Kaleb had led all of the captured Elves to freedom, overthrowing and blinding their captors. The rest of their prisoners had scattered in the wind, forming a new clan from the splintered remains of those who had survived. They had even offered to make Kaleb the chief, despite his young age.     He had refused, though. He had decided to wander alone through the forests, determined to find his mother’s people. Astrilde had gone with him. She had no place among the new clan, her sisters from her own clan having died in the escape. Together, they had wandered the lowland forests for several years. They spoke to trees and sang to the rivers; they laughed with the wind and they cried with the mountains, but they never found what the searched for.

       The forest clans had been massacred, and more than once, the sad pair had found remains of a camp, burned to the ground with corpses rotting in the open. Each one they came upon, they did what they could for the murdered elves and it had broken her heart each time she helped her companion to dig a grave and laid another unrecognizable body into it, wishing she had known a name to mourn. And that was how they had found William.    The poor boy was their age, perhaps a century and a half old; and he was covered in ash and dirt. He sat in the middle of a ruined village, clinging to a torn scrap of fabric and crying harder than Astrilde had ever heard someone cry. His long, golden hair was tangled and full of sticks, sap clumped to it. She and Kaleb had spoken gently to him, each of them whispering phrases that their mothers had spoken to them as children. Gradually, they healed him, and he healed them as well. None of them said it, but they all suspected the truth: he was the last of the forest Elves, and how he had escaped death was a mystery to them all.

    Time passed, and they all learned how to hide themselves among the race that had killed them all. They traveled together as brothers and sister. Gradually, they came to forgive the monsters, knowing that the ones that had destroyed them were long dead and that in the dawning world, it would be easier to pass unnoticed. They had stayed in Scotland for a time, each of them tied to the land that had forged them. Gradually, as they moved on, they migrated to other parts of the world. They sailed across the world one day. They had heard of a land where a person could start anew and create a new identity if they wanted. They boarded a ship and braved the storms together, then built a home with their own hands. They stayed with the colonists for a time; and with the natives of the land for another. They started towns and planted fields. They raised children and they listened to the tales of the elders in the community, smiling as they remembered the way things had been as well.

    There had been war, and revolution. They watched from a distance for a while, until none of them could stand it anymore. They took up arms with those who had helped them to build this nation, and they declared themselves to be Americans. William and Kaleb became soldiers and fought alongside their new countrymen, and against their old ones. Astrilde had fought as well, alongside her sisters. She cooked, and she became a war nurse. She would often sit up late at night with the wounded men who came through, and whispered healing spells to them as they slept. But all the spells and lullabies in the world of all the ages could never have prepared their small trio for what the end of the war would bring them.

    William came home, his grin was lopsided and bruised, but his eyes were just as bright as they always had been and Astrilde was glad to have his laugh back where she could hear it. They waited for Kaleb to return, and they wrote him letters. One day, they finally heard word of him again. But it was not word from him; rather his commanding officer. Astrilde had cried for years, William by her side. Neither of them had ever really gotten used to the silence that was left in his wake. The letter had simply stated that Kaleb had been lost, and that he was missing from action. It speculated that he was likely dead, but there was a thin shard of hope that maybe he was alive somewhere. Years had passed and their hope had faded. The letter was kept in a chest, and both of them would pull it out and trace their fingers over the faded ink.

    They went west; and they settled the land again. It was good to have something to do again that distracted them from the grief. There was another war; and Astrilde wept when William left her. She stayed with a friend while he was gone, and each night she feared he would be gone as well, torn away from her. He lived, but it wasn’t the last war. There was one that they called “The war to end all wars,” and when it was over, Astrilde prayed that they were right. But then another came, worse than the one before it. And more followed. Each time William left, she cried. They both watched as these mortals did to each other what had they had done to the clans so many lifetimes ago, and it destroyed them to sit idly by and watch. Each time, William left to defend the weak, to stop them from ending up as he had: alone and crying in the ashes of their lives. And each time, Astrilde did what she could to help. She even went overseas and served as a nurse in the Korean War. When William had been carried in on a stretcher, she vomited, and scolded him. When the wall was erected in memory of those who had died in Vietnam, the two of them had spent days walking its length and searching for the name of their brother, with no luck and even less hope. They left flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier any chance they had. They saw the world, and they never left each other.

    It had been a long time since they had lived here, but both of them had agreed that it was time to go home. It had been too long since they had truly listened to the pull of the highlands. And so they had come back, and bought a home here. But it had been long enough. They didn’t age, and everyone around them was beginning too, which drew suspicions. Astrilde was pulled from her memories as William sat down in front of her, across the table, and looked out the kitchen window to the rain outside.

    “He loved the rain.” William mused. Astrilde nodded. The thing about immortality was that if you had someone to share it with, it wasn’t horrible. You grew together, and you had seen things that no one else had. It got to the point where not much had to be said.

    Finally, she spoke. “When you said you’d found a buyer, I’d kind of hoped you were kidding.” She had confided.

    “So did I,” William admitted. “It doesn’t feel right, leaving here without him.” Neither of them wanted to remember that it had been Kaleb’s idea to cross the sea the first time. It had been him that pulled them forward to new adventures. They had moved forward still, but it had been a different pull. It wasn’t hope anymore. It was survival.

    There was a knock at the door and they both stood. “That must be them.” William said, “I told them they could drive by if they wanted, to look the place over before they signed.” They walked to the door and William opened it, and the visitor stepped into the house, out of the rain.

    Astrilde’s heart slammed to a stop as her eyes met his. He stood there, in a white button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up. His grey slacks were neatly pressed, and his shoes were shined. He carried a bouquet of lilacs and orchids. She sank to the floor, a hand to her mouth and her eyes locked onto his as William shook his head.

    “I’m sorry.” Kaleb’s voice was tight and tears ran down his face, “I’ve been looking for so long, I’m sorry it took me so long, I’m so sorry.”

    William grinned as he stepped forward, hugging his old friend. “It’s been 235 years but I mean it’s nice to see you.” He stepped back and the two of them helped Astrilde to her feet. “You’re still a jerk.” William added as the three of them wrapped their arms around each other.

------------------------------------well now I have a third story to work on! Let me know what you think/ if you want on the taglist. This one will be a little slower than the other two,(A Smile and a Gun and the new Harry Potter one) because it has a lot of research that will need to go into it. (Message me, as always my ask box won't stay open, sorry.)

[davidjjohnston3]

/ first love / things of first love / looking on my parents as my first love / who looked on me as her first love / (but) "My Greatest Love' / commitment to truth about love / minjung theology / "total christology" - / returning love to the first love and greatest love (john 3:16) / "The Roommate" - Westfield (NJ) Snow - the Kim brothers - Trader Joe's - Zegna shirtmaker(?) - Tracy Espiritu - "The Faces on the Heights" (2008) - from social media, my governor's school friends, Mona (Monna?) Yao I never met, who made Chingwen stop hating Shanghainese, ECE girl from RU GSE (Graduate School of Education not Governor's School of Environment) - very black eyes - She wanted to buy the Minnie Mouse dress from the Disney Store - Jessie Lee, he drinks a diet coke then goes running - "California" is a frisbee play I thought only I know - Jessie wanted to be my friend or so b/c my brother is excellent - "That play is called California [dumb----] - Always California is a Law School Discussion person whose essay I told her what she meant / where she was going with her past-future but nowadays Millennials etc. can actually form a face-intent without finding themselves first and go forward forever instead of "whatever shrapnel in my back pocket could afford" or people who try to base their plans on available resources instead of aiming then looking for resources / materials.  Jessie told Lydia Han "Take care of yourself" - She was playing DDR at Fusion Ti and not talking to me - I don't remember her last words to me - They were making noodles in Edison - / what did i ever do that was not writing about my friends / alden's vanilla bean ice cream (maria / change mind), 2 everything bagels davidovich, earlier a few ginger coconut candies from h-mart but made in china, coconut oil for brain, MiO energy thing Acai Berry and Ginseng, earlier 8th continent soy milk thing, almond silk, spanish mixed nuts, 7 almonds (obama?) - i had more - avocado butter - drinking canola oil - californian olive oil burns - i have a cold sore - i can't have canned tomatoes anymore - 183 pounds AHC "All His Children" / my password used to be for tassadaromega... canisexmachina... then I changed to impluveam impluveam11 impluveam11et - jaeyoung's son "fullness" - a glass of white wine at centraal the full measure of god's spirit (sauvignon) - mushroom soup i didn't touch - Why did I not follow through on what was demanded not to talk a word with him - the beginning of "Stepfather" - It is clean at the Food Court at Mayfair Mall  - I feel powerless and pure - I will read the paper with you and explain why you should not take "Parasite" as a Gospel message about what has to happen, or... but it is easy for me to promise 'strong benevolence' is better than immediate economic justice or - In my first dream of "Searching For Towards the Eastern Empire" "lily Sarah" moved with her baby wrapped swaddled in light dove gray right to left through the woods to the field / meadow, in a cool spring or so, now past a frozen lake through the colors of "Elizabeth's Nightgown" or the summer colors of 2012 2021 left to right, the whole procession, carrying lanterns too, a bit like Caspar David Friedrich colors and a bit like that frozen lake out in the suburbs of Madison where Nikki called me and the phone vibrated on my heart to tell me Chi Hye tried to call me on Valentine's Day night - I called her - I forget - someone's phone ran out of batteries - the next day we got (?) at (?) Japanese "I really want to eat rice" - and a bit like "Fantasia Night on Bald Mountain" - the procession of the Saints with the lanterns, "we all of us."  The rainy cliff, the Korean refugees(?).  The image from "The Admiral" where the civilians flag Yi Sunshin from the cliffside shore.  In my 645 rendition they are walking, the notes are like babies on their heads.  But the image of the peasants signalling to YSS in another vision are chained together and being gatling gunned which is why I say some people want to kill all Koreans.  Maybe it is because of that short from Apocalypse Now or maybe it is because of and why I named Segalchik "Danilov" from "Enemy at the Gates" the Commissar who wants to build a new world and man and whose dying words are "There will always be rich in love and poor in love," then allowed Koenig to shoot him in the head to draw him out for his "teacher only friend" because I guess enemies are enemies and friends are friends and Russians are loyal, even in failure, like how Nabokov synaesthete said "loyal is like a gold fork," and Putin doesn't forgive traitors.  Putin reminds me of Houellebecq's voice from the end of Particulaires "This book is dedicated to the human race who saw beyond themselves" - as and with the poem from the beginning, "Now that we dwell in the eternal afternoon we can revisit the end of the old world order" - and in the end "the medieval grace and sin" - "ontology of states not space" - I still remember the bruised skin on the cover, which would come from limited beatings or a certain kind of holding sex - My favorite Houellecq poem is "Liquid Birth" from "Art of Struggle" - "This world has never been written of" - It makes me cry like thinking about Kendi's beauty - "It's there, at least possible." - What's Macron up to - He married his teacher(?) - "My thoughts are too complicated" - Putin's too - Russian elementary piano teachers hold the student's hand and split the fingers for toward cantabile - I learned the Goldbergs and the only book I'll touch anymore is Kempff's organ transcriptions with his precise description of pedaling like a certain kind of chapel organ - "Kempff played better than he could (Liszt's Saint Francis preaching to the birds) - and when he played "Berceuse" in 1946 it's like saying to Germany "Dream for a while" defeated in WW2 - He lived to be 95 - father-like.  Wilhelm Kempff is "saenggi(?)" - "Oh [Dave]."  He doesn't try to give, or make.  He just "says."  Like "the wave said what the sea broken once laboriously spoken."  That's why I say he's the best; he's one of the best pianists ever.  "Sospiro" final fioritura - I wrote "sospira" where the piano-teacher is mandatorily retired and euthanised after his best student - Arrau said relax use your soul - I drove through Indiana corn fields listening to his "Emperor Concerto" 1st movement - "Beethoven America power" - but Kempff does'nt rely on his own soul, he "waits for the Spirit of God" or "waits on the Lord' - "asks the sky."  This is why I like Stritch University Francis statue with the birds as well and Francis PP.  St Francis of Assisi from whom Michelangeli claimed to be descended and I bought Michelangeli's op 111 DVD at Seoul Arts Center at the Liszt Society concert actually married his secretary in secret or something and "loaded" pieces whereas Kempff loaded nothing, ABM offered to teach Martha Argerich who is my favorite Andante Spianato like Josephine Park but I don't think she took him up on it, he smoked, he practiced at night, his head exploded(?), he died in Lugano.  A pianist is a pianist (not a brand, franchise, go into teaching).  Jenny / Jaein said I want to be a pianist.  My first "Lullaby" was Idil Biret, IDK if the clock motif left hand is 1 2 3 4 5 6 or 1 2 3 4 5 ().  A steady lake lapping, not a clock.  In "Being Kim Poor" Krystal Jung fell asleep in the rowboat on the lake in Switzerland after the wedding in the chateau and trying to eat / hang out with the caterers.  KP is an ex-soldier, her bodyguard, his friend is a Southerner like those Blackwater / Academi types who got rich quitting SF gov't to do contracting but Paul / Poor won't really.  I thought about Sunny something something cyber stalkers in Whitefish Bay walking up the hill where I also listened to Fifth Season SSWFL later and in the neighborhood of the Obergefell blackout.  "Free firewood" a chopped-up desk - am I an "afterburner" for having a desk and "free."  

The original love-truth-faith-promise.  The Minjung Theology book is "whiteness-words," holiness.  

I feel like I almost arrived all in one piece for a while.  I put on my white shirt.  I weighed 160(?).  The caseworker said she couldn't imagine me another weight.  Pop was writing letters to the caseworker.  I recommended "Whisper of the Heart" to for her son.  

Now I feel like Hananim / God will let 300 saints die young so one sinner can be saved.  "I was born in 1970" - I thought she meant "I became an angel in 1970" maybe.  

[untoldamerica]

ESSAY

Description - Why Are So Many Korean Americans Adopted?

As many as one in every ten Korean Americans are adopted–an incredible statistic that reflects a significant and emotional challenge to this Asian American community. In this piece, Dolly Li follows a 13-year-old adoptee named Alex as he goes back to South Korea with his adoptive parents. This story is an intimate journey of Alex’s identity–a story that resonates with many immigrant and second generation Americans. 

Alex and his family allowed our production team to follow them during this emotional trip. We first met them at their home in Needham, Massachusetts as they were preparing for their flight to Korea. Alex gave us a tour of his very American life in the suburbs and talked about the limited access he has to Korean culture in the States.

When the family arrives in South Korea, Alex is initially very excited to be in his birth country. But as we follow Alex for the next few days it becomes increasingly clear that the food, language, and customs are truly foreign to him. Dolly and Alex bond over how this is a common experience for Asian Americans when they’re relearning their culture as a “foreigner.” 

Alex and his family also allowed us to film the anxious moment when Alex reunites with the only family he knows in South Korea--his foster mother. Alex has been unable to locate his birth mother, an experience which is common for Korean adoptees due to the mismanagement of adoption records. Alex, his parents, and his foster mother exchange photos from Alex’s childhood, sharing an emotional and tearful reunion.

Alex is part of a much larger trend of children from South Korea being adopted by American families. South Korea’s adoption program began after the Korean War and is directly related to U.S. military intervention in the region. The presence of American soldiers led to both interracial relationships and the rise of the Korean sex work industry, resulting in a population of mixed race babies. Maintaining bloodlines is very important for Korean families so these children were ostracized by their friends and family. This created a push factor for U.S.-based adoptions, a lucrative business that led to shoddy practices where agencies urged mothers to put their children up for adoption. This trend continues today and approximately 120,000 Korean adoptees have been sent to the U.S. since the 1950s. Alex’s story is just one example of the personal and emotional impact of this American legacy. 

New Approach

Untold America is a documentary show published on the AJ+ YouTube channel. The mission of the show is to examine questions of identity by covering underrepresented, forgotten and misunderstood communities across the U.S. We often highlight the lives of young American immigrants and feature hosts who are part of the communities we’re covering. 

Untold America’s videos, and this piece in particular, are not traditional short documentaries. Our style reflects the interests and stories that resonate with a younger audience. Our videos break the mold of traditional documentary storytelling in our animations, our editing and our voice. 

Our pieces are also substantially different from traditional documentaries because we are digital-first in our publishing. Many of our stories focus on identity: the struggle to belong, unusual intersections of identity, or misunderstood communities and the challenges they face. Stories of identity naturally encourage a dialogue, so engaging and interacting with our audience about identity has become central to our show. We leverage the online space to respond to questions in the comments section and pull from those conversations for future episodes. 

Our team felt strongly that our approach to storytelling diverges significantly from short documentaries that publish in the broadcast and theater spaces, which is why we felt that the new approaches category was the best fit for our work. Our storytelling style and publishing focus offer a different level of intimacy with our audience that distinguishes us significantly from traditional forms of documentary storytelling.

[museumofasianamericanhistor-blog]

Asian American Hardships (4 of 6)

Korean Immigration (1945-1965)

Image 1- Southern Koreans fleeing Korea after the Northern armies struck across the border.

Image 2-  Sgt. Johnie Morgan arrives in Seattle with his wife, "Blue," 1951

Image 3- In the 1960s  Miriam Swanson, toured 80 U.S. cities with this choir. The voices of the Korean orphans inspired audiences across the country to sponsor more orphans. 

After the Korean War broke out in 1950, the United States supplied military and economic assistance to South Korea to help prevent communists takeover off the country. The Korean War was both directly and indirectly responsible for the immigration of Koreans to the United States. Due to the close political ties of the United States and South Korea, refugees escaping the war chose the United States as their primary destination to relocate. This wave of immigrants differed greatly from previous generations of Korean immigrants as women accounted for 70% of all Korean immigrants to the United States.

One reason that Korean women immigrated more than men to the United States was due to The U.S. War Brides Act of 1945. This act allowed wives of American soldiers to enter the United States as non-quota immigrants. Every year from 1953-1960 about 500 Korean war brides were admitted to the United States. The passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 helped to open to quota for the amount of immigrants who could enter the United States, allowing wives and children of servicemen and orphans to enter as non-quota immigrants. Between 1955 and 1977, American families adopted about 13,000 Korean orphans. Every year during the 1980′s about 7,000 to 8,000 Korean children were adopted. However, many children were not actually orphans but children given up for adoption because of Korean racial prejudice against mixed-race babies. 

To learn more about Korean immigration, please check out this website:

http://immigrationtounitedstates.org/673-korean-immigrants.html

[lichfucker]

you mentioned that vex and vax have been heavily coded as nonwhite, and i was curious as to what you mean. i've seen the term 'coded' but don't entirely understand what it means, and you seem like a good person to ask! hope this ask isn't a bother, and have a good day!

thank you! I hope you have a good day, too.

disclaimer before I start: I’m white. if I get something wrong, please let me know so I can fix it and do better in the future!

coding is basically giving a character traits and features typically associated with a certain group (generally based on stereotypes) and can be both positive and negative. racial coding is fairly popular in animation, given the increased possibility of having non-human characters. in live-action films / tv / etc, it’s a little harder for characters to be racially-coded, but (especially in older movies and children’s media) gay-coding is pretty common, particularly with villains.

often times coding is a way for shows to either claim that they’re giving representation without actually explicitly representing anyone (see: “dumbledore is gay but it’s never mentioned in the text because it isn’t relevant to harry’s journey”), or to covertly give representation without backlash from networks and whatnot. ryan from high school musical is very heavily gay-coded (he loves musical theater, he puts a lot of effort into dressing himself, he wears all of those ugly hats, the entire existence of “I don’t dance,” etc) but it’s never explicitly confirmed within the movies themselves because high school musical is a disney property.

european literature, especially pre-1900, is particularly fond of jewish-coded villains-- think about the stereotypical fairytale witch (short and squat, big hooked nose, wild and frizzy hair, speaking in tongues, doing evil magic, killing children-- all of these things, whether true or not true, have been used historically as antisemitic propaganda).

I don’t watch steven universe, but apparently a lot of the gems are black-coded, even though they’re very clearly not human. from what I’ve read, some of them speak using aave, one of them very clearly has dreadlocks (even though they’re rainbow and her skin is blue), etc.

so, then we get to vex and vax. their particular experience being half-elves growing up in syngorn pretty clearly mirrors the experience of a lot of mixed-race people (bear in mind that I’m using an american conception of racial politics, which are not universal, because that’s my-- and liam’s and laura’s-- primary frame of reference) growing up in a racist society.

they’re the “illegitimate” kids of a(n) white elven father and a nonwhite human mother. their white elven father is incredibly wealthy, where their nonwhite human mother was fairly poor. beyond their brief tryst, their white elven father wanted nothing to do with them, and so their nonwhite human mother was left to raise the twins on her own. when she died, the twins had to leave the place where they grew up, which was presumably full of people of color humans and move to syngorn, a city primarily of white people elves. in syngorn they stuck out like sore thumbs. their mixed heritage was not only plainly obvious, but made them a target for abuse and ostracization. syldor resented the twins for being living evidence of his having fraternized with a woman of color human. to this day, vex and vax absolutely hate being mistaken for white people elves.

does that make sense?

I’ve read a couple pretty cool modern au fanfics that portrayed the twins as vietnamese-american (from what I’ve seen, most people who don’t headcanon the twins as white headcanon them as asian, as there’s a pretty well-recorded history of white-- typically american-- soldiers impregnating (often through rape and/or coercion) women in the places they occupied, especially during the korean and vietnam wars, and then returning home and leaving these usually poor women with half-white children to raise on their own), and I’ve seen some awesome edits using asian actors or models as faceclaims for them, but compared to the sheer volume of art that is effectively just portrayals of laura and liam in their opening credits outfits, these works are in the minority.

anyway, like I said, I’m white, so I’m sure there are some things I could have said differently/better, but these are my thoughts on the matter.

I hope this helped! if there’s something you want further clarification on, feel free to ask!

[hoalilac314-blog]

Underneath the Homogenous Culture

My recent posts have been about Japanese school system and creativity. Since this class is about building community, it is appropriate to continue this post with further research into Japanese culture since it has a reputation of being one of the most collective society in the modern world. Many studies show that Japan ranked the highest in collectivism among other cultures, including a study conducted by Yoshihisa Kashima and his colleagues in Journal of Personality & Social Psychology. However, underneath the surface of this harmonious culture is one of the most discriminating culture among the developed countries. So how ‘-ism’ is Japan?

Gender. 

"Japan is a nation of housewives," says journalist and lecturer Touko Shirakawa on a BBC article regarding Japanese women in the professional world. There are certainly more career women today than before, but it is still not the norm. For those who entered the work force, they  get less pay, less chance of promotion, on top of being sexually abused in the professional world, especially in the male dominated profession. After work, they come home and are expected to do most of the housework. BBC stated that the government's National Survey on Family indicated that 46% of husbands do less than 10% of housework even if their wives work full time. There is a law passed in 1986 that prohibits gender discrimination in the work force, but what is official have not been fully applied to the culture yet.

 NEET.

NEET describes people who are Not in Employment, Education or Training. It is a group of minority who are shun by Japanese society. Currently, there are about 640,000 people in Japan that are in this category in official record. Japan promotes the notion of being a model citizen. It essentially means being educated, follows social norms, and contribute to society. It is not surprised that NEETs are outcast in Japanese society. However, with the strict working ethic that Japanese are known for and the pressure to perform at work, it is no doubt that people are afraid to go to work. OECD Better Life Index indicates that Japanese have terrible work-life balance and are not satisfy with their lives, even though they make decent income and they have low unemployment rate.

 Non-Japanese.

Japanese is such a homogenous culture that non-Japanese have difficult time being included in this culture. In 1894, a legal rule was introduced defining Japan as a jus sanguinis country, one in which citizenship bases on blood, not birthplace. This make it difficult for hafu, a Japanese term and bastardization of the English word 'half', indicating someone who is mixed race, to find harmony between their heritage and the society that they grow up in, reported Newsweek. Additionally, the people of Okinawa Island, the Ryukyuan, are one of the many minorities in Japan who have face long history of discrimination. Many Okinawans were abused by Japanese soldiers during World War II. However, what I found stunning is that it is normal in a landlord in Tokyo ‘today’ to refuse renting to someone who is Okinawan, Chinese, Korean, even white! (Gingold). One would think that Tokyo residents have seeing enough foreign visitors and professionals that they would come to accept people of different countries.

 'Untouchable' caste.

This is new to me. Apparently, there exists Burakumin or "untouchable" cast in modern Japanese society. During the feudal era, Burakumin is referred to the segregated communities that are made up of people working in occupations that were considered impure or tainted by death, such as executioners, butchers and undertakers. Although the caste system was abolished in 1871 along with feudal system, this people of this are still being marginalized in Japan. Employers often request family registry of potential employees and any indication of regions occupied by the Burakumin often lead to discrimination. 

Aside from gender, NEET, Non-Japanese, and the 'untouchable' caste, Japan also discriminate against homosexuality, and many other -ism like any countries in the modern world. Japan leads the rest of the world into the 21st century with its technological advancement. However, its social norms and values are still back in the previous century it. Although there are not many homeless found on the street and abandon children in asylums in Japan, Japanese society faces many other issues regarding psychological and mental healthcare in its culture.

  Work Cited

 "Japan." OECD Better Life Index. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2017.

Gingold, Naomi. "How a Japanese American Burst Japan's Bubble on Racism." Public Radio International. Public Radio International, 12 May 2015. Web. 29 Mar. 2017.

Oi, Mariko. "Japanese Women at a Crossroads." BBC News. BBC, 10 Mar. 2015. Web. 29 Mar. 2017.

Wesby, Maya. "Japan's Problem With Race." Newsweek. Newsweek LLC, 14 Apr. 2016. Web. 29 Mar. 2017.

[ugobleno]

https://ift.tt/2vXg2nV The Korean film Parasite, which has become a worldwide phenomenon, achieved recognition of the Academy Awards Oscar by remaining with the statuette of best film, the most important category of this film festival. Parasite made history in an Oscar that seemed predictable Parasite also got the best international film, best original script, and direction, in a ceremony that seemed to be attached to the script of many expectations, but now opens a new episode in its history for a Korean production. “Thank you, it is a great honor. Making a script is a very lonely process and this is the first Oscar for South Korea, thank you,” said Bong Joon-Ho, screenwriter and production director, who in turn congratulated all of his actors and appreciated that the name of a best foreign film by the one of best international film. A soldier kills almost twenty people in Thailand "I would like to split the Oscar into five pieces and share them with you," he added when he came up for recognition as best director, referring to Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino. I would like to split the Oscar into five pieces and share them with you The awards remained true to favoritism in some of their categories, as in the case of Joaquin Phoenix, who won as best actor for his characterization in Joker. “I don't feel above my other nominees. We all feel the same love for cinema (...). I think the best gift is to use the voice for those who have no voice (...). I see a common element, the fight against injustice and we have disconnected from the natural world and are guilty of an egocentric view of the world,” was part of Phoenix's shocking speech. Nor were there any surprises with the best actress section, which Renée Zellweger received by Judy. It all started with a musical number, singer Janelle Monáe kicked off the ceremony. Actress Regina King presented the first prize at the Dolby Theater, the best supporting actor, who was almost sung: it was for Brad Pitt, for Once upon a time ... in Hollywood. OSCAR 2020: FULL LIST OF NOMINEES "This is for my children," the 56-year-old actor added by taking his first Academy Award home as an actor, he had previously won it as a producer of 12 years of slavery. Then came the announcement of the best-animated film for the Academy, which was Toy Story 4. The best short of that category was for Hair Love, which tells the story of an African-American father trying to comb his daughter, a difficult, fun task and above all culturally very representative. Also, actor Keanu Reeves and his colleague Diane Keaton announced the recognition for the best original screenplay, which was for the Korean movie Parasite. In the best-adapted script section, the golden statue remained in the hands of Taika Waititi, for her work on Jojo Rabbit. In addition, The Neighbor’s Window won the race as the best short film. Then, in the category of best production design, the envelope revealed that the winner was Once upon a time ... in Hollywood. As for the best costume design, Little Women won, which was developed by Jacqueline Durran. It was also revealed that the winner in the best documentary group was American Factory and the best short documentary award went to Learning to Skateboard in a War Zone (If You're a Girl). On the other hand, the best-supporting actress was no surprise to anyone, as Laura Dern won, for The Story of a marriage. In turn, the recognition of the best sound edition and best edition went to Contra el impossible. In addition to 1917, he received the Oscar for best sound mixing; as well as recognition for better photography and better visual effects. As for makeup and hairstyle, the winner was El scandal. Also, Joker's original soundtrack won the prize. The melody did not stop, and the Oscar for best song was, although it sounds a bit funny, sung: I'm Gonna Love Me Again, from the film Rocketman.

[nobodyslaughing-blog]

TIMBER AGENTS: Adventures in the Overgrowth - aka my fake anime aka Discord RPG Setting Dump 2

Timber Agent was a long running 80s Light Novel series that was adapted for tv in 1996. It was famously what Akira Toriyama worked on in between Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z. Great designs didn’t save the show though and it was canceled after one season, before the main characters ever became the titular Timber Agents.

The show became a cult classic during a short run on Toonami where Steve Blum made his second famous role as Valiant Star. Even though the Toriyama designs weren’t close to the Light Novels description it stayed in the public mind enough to get a reboot in 2016 called Timber Agent: Adventures in the Overgrowth done by Studio Shaft.

After the first season sold gangbusters in both Japan and in the West a second and third season were announced. On top of that the original author is planning for six more chapters and “possibly more”. With nostalgia we might finally see Timber Agent fully animated as it rightly should be.

Obviously this didn’t exist…instead this is my “Shonen Battle Manga Setting” for Mutants and Masterminds. Here’s the setting.

One thousand years ago magic returned with a crash as the Old Gods fought massive beasts in their last battle. Cities flooded, earthquakes ate entire nations, and all electronics were changed. Some were merely broken beyond repair while a few became ingrained with magical power. The robotic armies of man were given free will and the mech suits used by human soldiers were cursed, each with a different curse that affected their users. In the end man retreated from the cities and started a small life.

One thousand years later, the time we play in, society has built itself back up. (Kingdoms will be posted later)

Magic started affecting humans in odd ways. Some were born with magical abilities, usually one single power or several small weak ones. Humans born with these powers are called Gems and their “purity”, aka the level of power they wielded, was measured. From weakest to strongest they are called Stones, Sapphires, Rubies, and Diamonds. The name was adopted due to anyone given the gift having gem eyes, each level named after the eyes that develop.

The Robots ended up having a massive war that lasted a hundred years. Half wanted to help humanity while the others wished to rule them. A few even wanted to eradicate them. In the end the good Robots won but they could not bring themselves to kill their brothers and instead put them to sleep, hoping that when they wake they will understand empathy. Most of the heroic Robots went into a sleep mode also, most for their own reasons. The few that kept awake helped humanity in small ways, keeping their creators alive when they would be dead. Humanity has all but forgotten making Robots and view them as rare powerful gods and revere them as such, though they tend to not enjoy being worshipped.

Mech suits are called Machine Armor and each has its own temperament connected to their curse. Some require bloodshed to run while others need long rituals for daily use. Some have odd weaknesses such as not working in shadows or not being able to harm wood.

Elves - Otherwordly abominations whose beauty is so great a single glance makes you mad.

Talpi/Moles - Small wrinkly men with big claws and bigger whisker mustaches. They use their claws to dig massive underground cities. They eat rocks and metals and live in structured clans waiting for the day that Old Wodd, their creator, comes back. They gain sexual traits for childbirth and lose them whenthey give birth. Child Talpi are small worms and generally number in the hundreds and are kept in shallow pits and given rotten meat, it’s easier for them to chew, for a week before they are considered “children”. Usually only five or so survive to “childhood” and Talpi don’t really consider worm-talpi to be sentient until a week. Talpi also raise and herd giant insects for all parts of life. They use silk strands from spider-cows for their clothes, ride giant beetles up walls, and use giant worms for meat. Surface Talpi use their giant insects as both riding animals and weapons.

Giants - Multi-armed hairless men who stand ten feet tall or even taller. They hate humans because they were given the gift of magic while they were cursed to never be able to use it. They are inherently stronger than most other races and usually are just bandits. Some drink the blood of the sleeping Midgard Serpent to gain horrific powers. Some say they used to be Aesir, the warrior children of old gods, but the blood must have been diluted from a thousand years of breeding. Now they measure their families closeness to deity-hood by the number of arms they have.

Trolls - Big smelly and silly trolls live in swamps and sewers and eat rocks and metals. They aren’t very smart and tend to be kind to travelers. Evil wizards like to warp their minds and use them as monsters.

Draugr - Undead creatures consumed by obsessions, these obsessions usually influence their physical form in some manner. They enjoy causing pain and chaos no matter their obsessions.

Tariaksuq/Shadow-people - A race of people as varied as humanity. They can’t be seen if someone stares straight at them.

Ijiraq/Shape-shifters - Monsters who masquerade in human form. They can change their bodies to suit their needs and are strict carnivores. They enjoy the taste of children most.

Qalupalik/Boogeys - Beautiful women who are always covered in water. They have long nails that can cut stone and are also carnivores. They tend to be less monstrous than Shape-Shifters but a few will go down the darker path and steal children. They love the water and some even have a magical ability to control it.

Blotsno/Frosties - Frosties are a kind race of magical people. They were born when Asgard fell on Earth in the far reaches of Antarctica. Frosties tend to stay to themselves and most only worry about breakfast, lunch, dinner, and tea time. They form large homes in snow drifts and love twinkling lights because they remind them of the stars. They have a long history of artists and will write songs, paint pictures, and create plays all about the Aurora Borealis. The females tend to look like snowmen while the males are look like they are carved out of ice. They are born in tiny ice eggs that the women lay. Their special type of magic allows them to easily move small objects and even boil water and fry meat without heat.

Goblins - Goblins come in hundreds of variations but the most important part is they are carnivorous, treacherous, little imps who delight in torture and are only motivated by an empty belly and inventive ways to kill things.

Languages - Norse: Old Norse with additions of English and Mexico. Farther east it’s mixed with Korean and Chinese. Spoken by everyone but Moles, Frosties, Giants, and Trolls each have their own dialect. Everyone knows a version of it, it’s basically Common. If you take Comprehend Languages you also learn every dialect.

- Coyote: A mystic language held by all animals given to them by the trickster shape-shifter Coyote. Shadow-people, Shape-shifters, and Boogeys all have their own dialect of this. Comprehend Animals gives you all of this.

- Machines all have specific language-like codes. Comprehend Machines give you all of this.

- Rot-Speak: Draugr come in hundreds of variations and many can speak Norse, but the maddening language they share is given with Comprehend Spirits.

The Old Gods were good Gods though not always nice ones. Each race has been touched by one of them. Even dead the Gods are worshipped and the many small magical creatures they had made in their long life respect prayers to their deity.

Old Wodd was their leader and father to most of them. He made the Talpi as a gift to his son Bjorn who loved insects. Wood spirits follow his prayers. All creatures answer prayers for wisdom and leadership when send with his name.

Little Vadr was their trickster and a bit of a bastard. Even then he still fought against the Leviathan when the Last War came. He made the shape shifters, the boogeyman, and shadow-people. Spirits of books and secrets listen to his prayers. Coyote answers his prayers for him but chooses only the most tricky and thieving of them.

Bjorn the Bear was Old Wodds favorite son. He was the strongest and the Giants say they were his children, though nobody believes them. He enjoyed small things and fought to protect them. Old spirits of stone and steel listen to his prayers. Any prayer for strength is answered by spirits if sent with his name.

Holda the Black was the oldest daughter of Old Wodd and enjoyed darker things. She helped Little Vadr make his Shadow People and generally hid until the Last War.

Young Sybil was the youngest daughter of Old Wodd and was the most beautiful by far. She was lost to the Elves, never to come back.

Old Mag is the wife of Old Wodd and mother to all races. She made the Blostsno’s to take care of the world when she would die, though Bjorn gave the men great strength. Most believe she was the reason why humans gained magical abilities. Any prayer for protection is answered by spirits when said in her name and magic items charged with her prayer can tell when Elves are near.

During the Last War the Gods fought Leviathan, a massive continent sized serpents, and his many children. Though they slew his children the body of Leviathan fell on the world and was not dead. He sleeps, wrapped across the north, and it’s blood corrupts anything it touches. This has risen legions of Eldritch horrors and some giants even trek across the planet to drink its caustic blood. Those who survive find themselves filled with dark and horrific strength or mutated into powerful monstrosities.

Leviathan ate the World Tree when the Last War happened but a single mysterious man, known as Father Root, took two seeds and replanted them in the center of the world. These two seeds grew to be the Tree of Life, always in bloom, and the Tree of Death, always bare. These two Trees gained a sapience and created the Order to protect the world if ever the Leviathan woke again. In time every kingdom learned of the Order and took their warriors, called Timber Agents, and their actions as law. One thousand years later they are known as the group of the most powerful mortals in the realm and the treasure from their adventures passed onto the Order itself. In exchange for their service Timber Agents are given riches, are above the law in every but the most dystopian state, and contacts in secret groups that would never speak to a lesser mortal.

Every five years the Gauntlet of Wood is held to find new warriors for the Order. Hundreds of people attempt to pass it but those who pass each year are barely a handful of the contestants. It is deadly, it is cruel, and in the end your death is more likely than your passing.

[de1229vivienng]

IDEA

IDEA 1 The Diversity Of China (Culture, Ethnic, Language, Cuisine)

My idea is about the diversity of China, and to tell people that China is not just one ethnic, one language and have one culture. China is a very diverse in terms of ethnic, culture and language, some part of China will have some cultural difference to another part of China.

China is VERY diverse. There is 56 ethnicity officially recognised by the Chinese government, and many of that ethnicity the have their own languages. The physical geography of China ranges from deserts to rain forests and from plateaus to low plains so that people living in those different physical sections of China have various cultures. China does not have an official or dominant religion. While many Chinese citizens do not have any religious practice, others are in different religions. Most major religions in the world, such as Christianity, Buddhism, Taoism, Islam and Judaism, could be found in China.

I find some Chinese language textbook are poorly instructed. Many of them don’t mention what Chinese language they are teaching, although as a Chinese myself know what Chinese language they are teaching in the textbook and that's Mandarin, but people who are learning or recently started learning Chinese language will not know of such, and they might get the wrong textbook that teaches them something else because some books doesn't tell you what they’re teaching, and they don’t tell you whether the textbook teaches simplified or the traditional characters and these two writing scripts are both used in modern days and if the textbook doesn’t state clearly of what writing script they are teaching it could cause confusion to people and learner may not know what they are learning.

IDEA 2 The Differences Between Japanese and Chinese

My second idea is that Chinese and Japanese are different, and they should not be mixed together and say they are the same. I see a lot of people makes this very same mistake, and there are many people who have tattoos on their body with Chinese and Japanese mixed together because of the lack of research they did before they get the tattoo, and most of the time when people mix the two languages together makes no sense at all and has no meaning. I find people like these are very ignorant, and I don’t like how some people don’t bother to learn the difference between the two culture and the two languages and boldly claim that they know and ignore the face and most of them time people would simply group them together because of the lack of knowledge they have on the two cultures and language. I think this is a mistake many foreigners make, and I see many people thinks they’re the same language or the same thing. There are several occasions when I explain the difference between the two languages being different and I get some response that they didn’t know that their languages are different, and it isn’t just Chinese and Japanese but a lot of people get Korean, Chinese, Japanese Vietnamese etc mixed together and most of them says that all the Japanese, Korean, Chinese and/or Vietnamese are “Chinese” I think this can be a good topic to talk about for this brief. 

IDEA 3 Nanking Massacre

My 3rd idea is the reason some Chinese don’t get along with Japanese and that we were not brainwashed to dislike other ethnic / race. Sometimes I see some comments from foreigner believed that Chinese were brainwashed to hate Japanese by the government. Chinese is not brainwash to hate Japanese, but the  “Nanking Massacre” or the “Japanese invasion of Manchuria” is the main reason why much Chinese are not very fond of or like Japanese. Much Chinese do not dislike or hate Japanese but rather is upset of what they have committed to their country in the past and especially our elders. Japanese killed millions of Chinese during the Nanking Massacre and after that the people are very ashamed of what they committed to China, in their history book they don’t tell the real story of what Japan have done to China in the past and mostly tries to avoid it or made up, because of this there are many youngsters in Japan who believe the mascara in China is fake and made up by Chinese. There are also people who tell me that we should forget it because it is in the past but I don’t think other people will say the same thing if the same thing happened to their country. I think telling people to forget the incident is like if your whole family is massacred by someone and people tell you to forget it because it’s in the pass.

There are still our elders like grandparents who have survived the invasion and the horrific scene they’ve seen people killed in front of them and the things they’ve experience is not something that can be easily forgotten. The massacre occurred over a period of six weeks starting on December 13, 1937, the day that the Japanese captured Nanjing. During this period, soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army murdered Chinese civilians and disarmed combatants who numbered an estimated 40,000 to over 300,000 and perpetrated widespread rape and looting.

Since most Japanese military records on the killings were kept secret or destroyed shortly after the surrender of Japan in 1945, historians have not been able to accurately estimate the death toll of the massacre. The International Military Tribunal for the Far East in Tokyo estimated in 1946 that over 200,000 Chinese were killed in the incident. China’s official estimate is more than 300,000 dead based on the evaluation of the Nanjing War Crimes Tribunal in 1947. The death toll has been actively contested among scholars since the 1980s.

Many of the Chinese who were killed were seniors, children and woman, I think if anyone who went through such horrible incident will understand why there are still Chinese who doesn’t like Japanese very much, it isn’t unreasonable and it isn’t because we are racist, but it is something that they have committed to us that they have yet to apologise. The damage they have done is too much it is not something that can be forgiven easily, millions of Chinese was used to test their chemicals and people were killed for the sake of fun.

Commonly people who hate Japanese are mostly the elders, many youngsters nowadays like Japanese culture and learn the Japanese language.