#things to do in hongkong

[hustel-with-niraj]

Top 10 Things to do in Hong Kong

Things to do in Hong Kong – Hello, Readers! In this Post, we are excited to present to you Top 10 things to do in Hong Kong. Hong Kong is a treasure trove of travel experiences that cater to a diverse range of interests. Whether you’re a foodie, adventure seeker, or just looking to explore new horizons, this bustling city has something for everyone. We have carefully curated a list of the most…

[alibonbonn]

Helenus and Cassandra

[makhonkit]

Hong Kong Day 3 - Tsim Sha Tsui

After a super duper tiring day at Hong Kong Disneyland, we have decided that Day 3 should be Free and Easy. We were extremely wrong.

In the morning, we wanted the kids to experience Hong Kong Tramways A.K.A. Ding Ding Tram. It's cheap, very comfortable especially on second floor due to the cold winds and convenient. It goes up and down of Hong Kong Island for the same price.

We stopped a few blocks away from Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center, and we slowly walked there through the buildings, then along the beautiful seaside walkway. Then we found out that the ferry to Tsim Sha Tsui is there. So we took the ferry to Tsim Sha Tsui.

Upon reaching Tsim Sha Tsui, we took a picture with Chubby Heart by renowned British designer Anya Hindmarch. Then we walked to K11 MUSEA Mall.  @BabyZacToys  offered to carry mom's bag.

K11 MUSEA is a very new mall, just opened in August 2019. The entire mall smells of beautiful sweet vanilla, very pleasant. There are many shops, many eateries, we had a sushi boat at the food court downstairs. Bought some French bread along the way. After that, we explored the mall a bit, and had bubble tea at 6th floor then we went up to 7th floor to two free kids playground, Phoenix (5 and up) and Hen (below 5 years old). Then we stumbled upon Shell's event there and had some fun activities there. Since we decided to stay for the light show at 8pm. We let the kids play at the playground until closing time at 6pm.

Then we waited outside and had our bread. The light show was....hmmmm.... music should be louder. We took the train to Fortress Hill MTR for the super famous dessert shop called Fook Yuen to get some dessert then we went back to hotel by taxi. Dessert was super good!!

#tsimshatsuihongkong #tsimtsatsui #raymak #travelwithraymak #travel #vlog #hongkong

[writingwithcolor]

My alternate universe fantasy colonial Hong Kong is more authoritarian and just as racist but less homophobic than in real life, should I change that?

@floatyhands asked:

I’m a Hongkonger working on a magical alternate universe dystopia set in what is basically British colonial Hong Kong in the late 1920s. My main character is a young upper middle-class Eurasian bisexual man.  I plan to keep the colony’s historical racial hierarchy in this universe, but I also want the fantasy quirks to mean that unlike in real life history, homosexuality was either recently decriminalized, or that the laws are barely enforced, because my boy deserves a break. Still, the institutions are quite homophobic, and this relative tolerance might not last. Meanwhile, due to other divergences (e.g. eldritch horrors, also the government’s even worse mishandling of the 1922 Seamen's Strike and the 1925 Canton-Hong Kong Strike), the colonial administration is a lot more authoritarian than it was in real history. This growing authoritarianism is not exclusive to the colony, and is part of a larger global trend in this universe.  I realize these worldbuilding decisions above may whitewash colonialism, or come off as choosing to ignore one colonial oppression in favor of exaggerating another. Is there any advice as to how I can address this issue? (Maybe I could have my character get away by bribing the cops, though institutional corruption is more associated with the 1960s?) Thank you!

Historical Precedent for Imperialistic Gay Rights

There is a recently-published book about this topic that might actually interest you: Racism And The Making of Gay Rights by Laurie Marhoefer (note: I have yet to read it, it’s on my list). It essentially describes how the modern gay rights movement was built from colonialism and imperialism. 

The book covers Magnus Hirschfeld, a German sexologist in the early 1900s, and (one of) his lover(s), Li Shiu Tong, who he met in British Shanghai. Magnus is generally considered to have laid the groundwork for a lot of gay rights, and his research via the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft was a target of Nazi book-burnings, but he was working with imperial governments in an era where the British Empire was still everywhere. 

Considering they both ended up speaking to multiple world leaders about natural human sexual variation both in terms of intersex issues and sexual attraction, your time period really isn’t that far off for people beginning to be slightly more open-minded—while also being deeply imperialist in other ways.

The thing about this particular time period is homosexuality as we know it was recently coming into play, starting with the trial of Oscar Wilde and the rise of Nazism. But between those two is a pretty wildly fluctuating gap of attitudes.

Oscar Wilde’s trial is generally considered the period where gay people, specifically men who loved men, started becoming a group to be disliked for disrupting social order. It was very public, very scandalous, and his fall from grace is one of the things that drove so many gay and/or queer men underground. It also helped produce some of the extremely queercoded classical literature of the Victorian and Edwardian eras (ex: Dracula), because so many writers were exploring what it meant to be seen as such negative forces. A lot of people hated Oscar Wilde for bringing the concept to such a public discussion point, when being discreet had been so important.

But come the 1920s, people were beginning to wonder if being gay was that bad, and Mangus Hirschfeld managed to do a world tour of speaking come the 1930s, before all of that was derailed by wwii. He (and/or Li Shiu Tong) were writing papers that were getting published and sent to various health departments about how being gay wasn’t an illness, and more just an “alternative” way of loving others. 

This was also the era of Boston Marriages where wealthy single women lived together as partners (I’m sure there’s an mlm-equivalent but I cannot remember or find it). People were a lot less likely to care if you kept things discreet, so there might be less day to day homophobia than one would expect. Romantic friendships were everywhere, and were considered the ideal—the amount of affection you could express to your same-sex best friend was far above what is socially tolerable now.

Kaz Rowe has a lot of videos with cited bibliographies about various queer disasters [affectionate] of the late 1800s/early 1900s, not to mention a lot of other cultural oddities of the Victorian era (and how many of those attitudes have carried into modern day) so you can start to get the proper terms to look it up for yourself.

I know there’s a certain… mistrust of specifically queer media analysts on YouTube in the current. Well. Plagiarism/fact-creation scandal (if you don’t know about the fact-creation, check out Todd in the Shadows). I recommend Kaz because they have citations on screen and in the description that aren’t whole-cloth ripped off from wikipedia’s citation list (they’ve also been published via Getty Publications, a museum press). 

For audio-preferring people (hi), a video is more accessible than text, and sometimes the exposure to stuff that’s able to pull exact terms can finally get you the resources you need. If text is more accessible, just jump to the description box/transcript and have fun. Consider them and their work a starting place, not a professor. 

There is always a vulnerability in learning things, because we can never outrun our own confirmation bias and we always have limited time to chase down facts and sources—we can only do our best and be open to finding facts that disprove what we researched prior.

Colonialism’s Popularity Problem

Something about colonialism that I’ve rarely discussed is how some colonial empires actually “allow” certain types of “deviance” if that deviance will temporarily serve its ends. Namely, when colonialism needs to expand its territory, either from landing in a new area or having recently messed up and needing to re-charm the population.

By that I mean: if a fascist group is struggling to maintain popularity, it will often conditionally open its doors to all walks of life in order to capture a greater market. It will also pay its spokespeople for the privilege of serving their ends, often very well. Authoritarians know the power of having the token supporter from a marginalized group on payroll: it both opens you up directly to that person’s identity, and sways the moderates towards going “well they allow [person/group] so they can’t be that bad, and I prefer them.”

Like it or not, any marginalized group can have its fascist members, sometimes even masquerading as the progressives. Being marginalized does not automatically equate to not wanting fascism, because people tend to want fascist leaders they agree with instead of democracy and coalition building. People can also think that certain people are exaggerating the horrors of colonialism, because it doesn’t happen to good people, and look, they accept their friends who are good people, so they’re fine. 

A dominant fascist group can absolutely use this to their advantage in order to gain more foot soldiers, which then increases their raw numbers, which puts them in enough power they can stop caring about opening their ranks, and only then do they turn on their “deviant” members. By the time they turn, it’s usually too late, and there’s often a lot of feelings of betrayal because the spokesperson (and those who liked them) thought they were accepted, instead of just used.

You said it yourself that this colonial government is even stricter than the historical equivalent—which could mean it needs some sort of leverage to maintain its popularity. “Allowing” gay people to be some variation of themselves would be an ideal solution to this, but it would come with a bunch of conditions. What those conditions are I couldn’t tell you—that’s for your own imagination, based off what this group’s ideal is, but some suggestions are “follow the traditional dating/friendship norms”, “have their own gender identity slightly to the left of the cis ideal”, and/or “pretend to never actually be dating but everyone knows and pretends to not care so long as they don’t out themselves”—that would signal to the reader that this is deeply conditional and about to all come apart. 

It would, however, mean your poor boy is less likely to get a break, because he would be policed to be the “acceptable kind of gay” that the colonial government is currently tolerating (not unlike the way the States claims to support white cis same-sex couples in the suburbs but not bipoc queer-trans people in polycules). It also provides a more salient angle for this colonial government to come crashing down, if that’s the way this narrative goes.

Colonial governments are often looking for scapegoats; if gay people aren’t the current one, then they’d be offered a lot more freedom just to improve the public image of those in power. You have the opportunity to have the strikers be the current scapegoats, which would take the heat off many other groups—including those hit by homophobia.

In Conclusion

Personally, I’d take a more “gays for Trump” attitude about the colonialism and their apparent “lack” of homophobia—they’re just trying to regain popularity after mishandling a major scandal, and the gay people will be on the outs soon enough.

You could also take the more nuanced approach and see how imperialism shaped modern gay rights and just fast-track that in your time period, to give it the right flavour of imperialism. A lot of BIPOC lgbtqa+ people will tell you the modern gay rights movement is assimilationalist, colonialist, and other flavours of ick, so that angle is viable.

You can also make something that looks more accepting to the modern eye by leaning heavily on romantic friendships that encouraged people waxing poetic for their “best friends”, keeping the “lovers” part deeply on the down low, but is still restrictive and people just don’t talk about it in public unless it’s in euphemisms or among other same-sex-attracted people because there’s nothing wrong with loving your best friend, you just can’t go off and claim you’re a couple like a heterosexual couple is.

Either way, you’re not sanitizing colonialism inherently by having there be less modern-recognized homophobia in this deeply authoritarian setting. You just need to add some guard rails on it so that, sure, your character might be fine if he behaves, but there are still “deviants” that the government will not accept. 

Because that’s, in the end, one of the core tenants that makes a government colonial: its acceptance of groups is frequently based on how closely you follow the rules and police others for not following them, and anyone who isn’t their ideal person will be on the outs eventually. But that doesn’t mean they can’t have a facade of pretending those rules are totally going to include people who are to the left of those ideals, if those people fit in every other ideal, or you’re safe only if you keep it quiet.

~ Leigh

[accio-victuuri]

August CPNs round-up ❤️💛💚

it’s bobo’s birth month! let’s start with this chaotic behind the scenes video 🫶🏼

• the letters yb was flashed in xzs vlog

• two people spotted in xz’s mountain drawing

• a hongkong politician posts about xz and wyb being good celebrities that will help promote HK

• 8/5 yibo’s day clowning part one part two - this year was too loud! the bday photo alone is enough to szd. 😂😂😂😂 part 2.5 part 3

• yibo and xz related hot search for bobo’s bday

THEIR VCRs for Han Hong’s foundation, a charity organization they both are a part of. We love them generous Kings!

• in the xinxiangyin live, we see an activity that they filled with things xz likes and will have something to talk about. you will notice a couple are the same as yibo’s. hotpot ( which i must admit is more general ), photography, fitness, tennis and films.

you can say that these are not unique interests, but when you put them together and another person has the same one seem sus. this is something i always say, even if you don’t believe that they are in a romantic relationship — these clues show that they have maintained that connection. no matter how many people cry about the “copying” agenda, we can’t deny that the coincidences are too much. this is why they get along, they can adapt each other’s interest. they have the same values. they are out here ticking all the boxes for a fruitful relationship <3

• the similarity 👀👀👀 right is xz in ELLE’s feature video for XZ.

• QUATRE BLUE 💙💙💙

oooohhhh i love jewelry. tho i’m kinda on the fence about this cause boucheron is a brand that xz is promoting and it makes sense that it will be used for a magazine. he is endorsing this line of rings but has never used this blue which just happened to be something wyb before. i understand why people are going 👀 because the photos were released days after Bobo’s bday.

• XZ’s Elle September issue feature clowning

• 8/10 yibo-official bts video clue

• yibo’s montbell shirt

• bobo shows some bxg bias @ pechoin live

• in the LINSY product launch conference, they were talking about a sofa and it had a special feature thing where you can put stuff in it & wyb mentions you can put chips. lol. that was so fast. he is not someone who likes chips, but we know one who does! i’d like to think that it’s a subconscious answer. he just thought of an important person in his life. 🫶🏼

• matching high school students hair 😂😂😂

• ANTA 🤝 LI NING

• their airport fashion looking so identical 👀 we could argue all day about how this is not unique and just about anyone can do this combo.. but does anyone else do this? no. it’s always these two. it’s harder to tell them apart when they are like this, which we guess is helping them when they visit each other on set.

the two of them doing couple wear!

• bottled joy x tsingtao collab 🍻

• xz’s heurueh boyfriend t shirt

• mengniu fan benefit featuring the boys

• handprints next to each other in the Qixi Wall

• this gif is gold!!!! pleaseeee!!!!! 😂😂😂😂 and it even went on hot search!

• analysis and details of wyb’s new song = somebody else’s arms

• wyb’s post YH concert weibo update 🟡🟡🟡

• i talked briefly about the cpf support during the concert and i have nothing more to add. i’m sure i can make another post that “shows” how wyb appreciated the cpfs indirectly during the concert but i won’t. there is no need for proofs of any kind — we know the truth. 😌😌😌 tho i will never be pro violence or insulting and being very mean to people in person just to prove a point. there’s a whole nasty situation that happened post concert which i have no energy for and i do not condone btw.

• their weibo 15th bday post 🌙

• the final episodes of exploring the unknown is on oct 5-6 because tencent has released the watching schedule. yes, wyb probably had a lot more input in this project but he was probably not alone in deciding when this would premiere and how the episodes are gonna line up. but i’m still happy with this coincidence. ✌🏼

what we wanna know tho is what will be the episode on 10/5 cause if it’s him in the desert i will — 🤯! cause his photo there was the one he used for his bday, which is eerily similar to GG’s from last year. so yeah. we will see!

-END.

<<< previous posts

See you all next month!!!!! 💛💛💛

[jwirecs]

Recommended NCT Fics of April 2023💖

hello, hello! here are my nct recs of april! hopefully these beautiful stories get more recognition as well as the writers 💝

** anything in parentheses and bolded are my thoughts that can be disregarded if needed **

🔞smut || 💔angst || 💕fluff || ✅completed || 🔄ongoing || 💯favorite

Give Me The Greenlight || @fadedncity​​​ 🔞💕✅

↳ (this is just the teaser and i have like the full fic in my likes being ready to read SO I AM READY TO READ THE ACTUAL FIC)

Glow Ups || @jaeholic​​💕✅

↳ YOU LIKE TO THINK YOU’VE ALWAYS SEEN THE BEST IN JEONG JAEHYUN.

Late || @ncityavenue​​​💕✅

↳ in which, Mark's late to his first class and you're stuck "alone" in that class without him.

Monochrome || @sundaysundaes​​ 🔞💕💔✅

↳ Lee Donghyuck once believed in the concept of soulmates—how fate would connect a red thread from one lover to another, in a form of dreams and memories. That was how his parents met, that was how they claimed their happiness, and he wanted nothing more but to live his life the way they lived theirs. Until one day, as he sees her slipping away from his hands, he has no choice but to stop believing entirely.

One, Two, Three || @cherryeoniis​​💕✅💯💯

↳ In which you devise three different ways to get your best friend to fall in love with you, but things never really go quite as planned.

This Is (Not) Easy || @mrkis​​​ 🔞💕💔✅

↳ getting into a friends with benefits situation with your all time best friend was so (not) easy

Trust Me || @springseasonie​​🔞💕✅

↳ you just got out of a relationship, but for some reason, Haechan can't wait to tell you he likes you. It's not that you don't feel the same, but your mind isn't exactly in the right place after the breakup. But Haechan's words make you feel so good and so secure, that you just have to indulge into what could be.

All Bark No Bite || @jjsneo​​ 🔞✅

↳ lee haechan is the most annoying man you’ve ever encountered. but that doesn’t mean you don’t find him hot; and maybe that’s why he has you flat on his mattress one night at a random frat party.

Hate Me More || @springseasonie​​ 🔞💕💔✅

↳ You really dislike Mark and you're pretty sure he dislikes you too. Ever since he came to the camp last year, he's been nothing short of a headache to you. And now you're forced to work with him this summer, and his mission is clearly to piss you off.

[4AM] || @ihrtnjm​​​💕✅

↳ jeno find you working when you shouldn't be.

Morning With Haechan || @sleeping-sirens​​​💕✅

↳ to be very straightforward, this was inspired by his ig live in hongkong.

Lucky Number Seven || @paintmebare​​ 🔞💕💔✅💯💯💯💯💯

↳ When your less than lovely cousin makes a jab at you, you finally snap and tell her that you're dating her ex-boyfriend (even though you haven't spoken since high school). Johnny agrees to play the role of your boyfriend, though the longer you pretend to be in love, the more you realize you might actually be crushing on him.

[11:56PM] || @gyeomsweetgyeom​​​💕✅

↳ (theres no summary buts this is cute)

Binding Bonds || @jaedore​​ 🔞💕💔✅💯

↳ Being the daughter of a top fashion brand, an arranged marriage isn’t what you’d expect coming out of your mother’s mouth. Especially when she says that it’s with Jung Jaehyun, the son of the CEO who owns one of the biggest trading companies. Of course he’s a heartthrob, a ladies’ man, and prince in the media, but in reality, he’s a royal pain in the ass. Your patience, emotions, and sanity is tested when you’re forced to share a life together. Will it crumble to the ground of the empire you’ve build or will there be a change of heart?

Dad!Johnny || @outro-jo​​​ 💕✅💯

↳ you overhear a cute conversation between your husband and daughter

Failed Confessions || @mayaflowerxs​​ 🔞💕💔✅

↳ The five times Jeno failed to confess & ask you out and the one time he finally found the courage. Or, in which Jeno embarrasses himself multiple times until he finally manages to do things right.

Johnny: The Dominant || @notnctu​​ 🔞✅💯

↳ Johnny knows just the way to entertain you when you’re bored.

KDRAMA || @ningningsdream​ 💕💔✅💯

↳ “why do yall act like you’re in a kdrama?”

Staring + Dreamies || @yongislong​​​ 💕✅

↳ when you catch the dreamies staring at you

Wingwoman || @haechwrites​​💕💔✅💯💯

↳ mark has trouble pulling girls. he also has trouble understanding girls. this makes sense when he asks the best friend of his crush for help when it's blatantly obvious she's actually in love with him.

"You Want Me So Bad” || @yjwfav​​💕💔✅

↳ mark has been your life-long sworn enemy. from snickering when you scored lower than him to personally telling the teacher you had plagarised in your history essay, you couldn’t be blamed. you had every reason to dislike him, so why do you notice things such as the unique curve of his lips to the way his eyes crease when he laughs. why do you feel like vomiting your heart out at the sight of him? it’s because you’re sick right? right??  

My First and Last || @lysyuta​💕💔✅

↳ tied together by a school project, y/n and jisung work together and become close. but what happens when they find out that they’re on rival dance teams?

Coffee Shop Date || @jjsneo​​ 🔞💕💔✅💯

↳ After being stood up for a date several times at the small coffee shop that your friend-of-a-friend Renjun works at, he sits down with you to keep you company after closing hours. But talking isn’t exactly what he has in mind. (i say this could fall under the s2l category, like does it not??? i say it does.)

Hits Different || @neowinestainedress​​​🔞✅

↳ nobody ever got under your skin, not until Haechan came in your life and changed everything.

Learning Languages || @tonicandjins​​​ 🔞💕💔✅💯💯

↳ in which you're an exchange student and donghyuck teaches you the essential korean phrases you need, and eventually how to fall in love with him

Bf!Hyuk When You Want To Become A Stripper || @haekisses​💕✅ 

Drunk Texts With Doyoung || @phoxphenex​💕✅

 “He’s Gone, You Can Come Now” On The Dreamies || @doyozen​​​​💕✅

NCT Dream Reaction When You Don’t Pick Up Their Phone Calls! || @hugs2doie​​💕✅💯

↳ (i need to make a fake text section..like i really do the amount of fake texts that i have read in the month of april is outstanding i did it.)

Texting 127 “Meow” || @phoxphenex​​​💕✅

↳ (listen their fake texts got me giggling in the middle of the night man, that must mean something. a. im either lonely or b. im easily amused.)

Texting The Dreamies “Asking/Bringing Home A Pet” || @ohmygs-blog​​💕✅ 

Texting The Dreamies “Calling The Dreamies Babygirl” || @ohmygs-blog​​​​​💕✅

Texting The Dreamies “How Much Do You Like Me” || @ohmygs-blog​​​​💕✅

When Dream Tries To Cook You Dinner || @phoxphenex​​​💕✅

Do check out all of the other NCT Fics that i have reblogged as well!!

** if there is any fics that you guys would like to recommend, please do! i am slowly running out of fics to read **

[frozen10fanzine]

Frozen Through the Years

Yearly Spotlight: 2023

Written by @toriofthetrees

This year marked...

Frozen’s 10th Anniversary

It was wild.

Starting off with a bang, in February Disney CEO Bob Iger announced that Frozen III was in development, later confirmed by Josh Gad. Idina Menzel and Jen Lee confirmed it in June, with Jen Lee going on to say that she would not be directing this installment of the franchise. However, she confirmed that she knew the person who was, she loved their story, and she trusted them completely.

Her enthusiasm did not go unnoticed.

On top of the 10th Anniversary for Frozen (November 27) this year also marked the 100th Anniversary for Disney Studios as a whole (October 16). To commemorate both, much of the activity peaked towards the last three month of the year.

The hashtag #Frozen10 was created to celebrate the anniversary.

On October 11, the Forces of Nature podcast was released over several installments. It was met with mixed reviews; some enjoyed it, some were more critical of it, and most agreed that while it was fun, it did not have the chops to be a major installment of the Frozen franchise.

On October 16, Disney released a short film called Once Upon a Studio to commemorate their centennial celebration. It aired on ABC and showed the hustle and bustle of Disney Studios as everyone (all of our favorite characters) prepared for the big celebration! Elsa, Anna, Kristoff (and technically Hans) were among the many classic Disney characters that appeared!

Two novels were released this year. The first book was the first installment in the Disney Legends trilogy entitled Fixer Upper, written by Jen Calonita. It tells the story of Kristoff’s childhood and life before he met Anna in Frozen. The second novel, an anthology of short stories, was created specifically to celebrate #Frozen10. It is called All is Found, and it brought together 10 authors to write 10 short stories to celebrate the anniversary. It was edited by Heather Knowles and Mari Mancusi, veterans in non-film Frozen lore.

November is the month things started reallly picking up. The merchandising train at Disney rolled out a lot of Frozen merch, including limited edition dolls of the sisters specifically for the 10th anniversary. On November 16, Bob Iger announced a fourth installment of the franchise, with multiple voice actors and creators tied to the project confirming it later that same day. This coincided with the Grand Opening ceremony of the World of Frozen at Disneyland Hongkong. Jen Lee joined in this celebration, with the gates to the park opening four days later.

She informed the world on November 22 that Frozen III and Frozen IV were one story across two installments.

The anniversary itself was on November 27. Disney released a press release on their official website commemorating all that had happened in Frozen history (kind of like what we are doing with these blog posts). And, of course, the merchandising train spun out once again to give us all new merch specifically for the #Frozen10 celebration.

Towards the end of the month, the Frozen song playlist was added to Spotify and Season 5 of Disney Speedstorm was released with Frozen characters.

The year ended with exciting activity from the fandom! The Youtuber GeekCritique worked closely with the Arendelle Archives to create a video detailing the history of Arendelle. The video was released on December 23 and managed to make headlines! The other major project was a fanzine celebrating #Frozen10. Inspired by All is Found, several fans came together to create Water Has Memory: A Frozen Decade. Within the zine are the fandom's Frozen memories, presented in the form of Elsa & Anna accessing them together through Ahtohallan.

Needless to say, this year was a major leap forward for all things Frozen. It gave so much to look forward to, and it was a sizable way to commemorate the 10th Anniversary of this beloved story.

Stay Tuned for More

👆🏻 Click above if you want to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of Frozen. The due date is April 12, 2024.

4 Days Left

We look forward to seeing your memories ❄️

[cosmogyros]

(from an FB post of mine four years ago)

For those who don’t already know, the Google Translate app has a “live translation” feature where you can aim your phone’s camera at some text you don’t understand and the text will show up on your phone screen, magically translated. The thing is, if your hand doesn’t stay perfectly still while aiming your camera at the text in question, the translation will constantly change.

I bought some peach oolong milk tea the other day. It came as a whole set of ingredients: tea bag, peach syrup, milk tea powder, and red beans. Although making milk tea is pretty straight-forward, I always like to read the instructions, just in case. Only problem was, the instructions were in Chinese. So I pulled out my trusty Google Translate app and aimed it at the cup.

The translations were hopping around all over the place! They kept changing so fast I didn’t have time to read the first one before it was gone, replaced with an entirely different translation! So I had to start freezing the translation (there’s an option to do that) in order to read it.

I was then faced with the problem that the translations were… well, you’re about to see what they were like. So I screenshotted each one and then kept hitting “Continue translation” in order to get more versions to compare and contrast.

(Transcriptions after the read-more)

Image 1 transcription:

naichashike Appearance design: 201 01930566304 The product contains scales, Li Cai Malong milk tea (milk tea / Guoti Beverage) Glucose syrup, refined continuation (Taxi fatty acid ester, stearic acid milk) e. (First-line), food capital, silica], self-sand mark, 16 ice chips Etc. 10. Food additives (Xin San Wu Zhu 1. Class , Heide. Ingredients water, fruit Fructose syrup, brown sugar, food There are decorating the sea, the sourness, the bear falling, the Yamanashi room case, the tiger belt), Ingredients for red bean buns, red small E, From sugar, water. Preparation method Add about 450 liters of 8 degrees X Shangshapo water to the cup in the mall Add milk tea powder, black syrup, and red beans and mix until completely dissolved, like one Department of Zhiyu Niuyi product approval, GBTXe, no 8 Body dragon tea ingredients, oolong tea 100 product executive standard: G8T selection The date of your birth this week: mark the dry storage method on the film Chubi Shiye t8 wide (8 grams of milk tea powder, grams of black syrup, rainbow bag 3g with dragon tea bag) Friendly reminder that if there is bulging or floating, clear the chicken Competition hotline: 40-679-98 Hong Kong Deer Fish Roll Industrial Co., Ltd. (awarded to invest in production” Hongkong Lu Jao Xiang houstial Ca.Lt Fresh hes: The school district at 610 Bingshu Road, Mongkok, Kowloon, Hong Kong, POSIS-19Rooms 1318-19, Holwood Paa tONathan Road, MongkOk. Kowicon, A Producer Luyuxiang Beverage Shijiazhuang Co., Ltd. Production license number, SC1061301110086 Zhoubei Zi, Shijiazhuang City, Chenyao Town, Laicheng District Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province Editor: C50086 *When you are hot, Nutrition

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Image 2 transcription:

Tea juice. naichashike Appearance design: 201930566304 Name: Peach Oolong Dragon Milk Tea (Milk Tea Solid Dumplings) Pulp, refined vegetable oil, whey Sodium protein acid, mono- and diglyceride fatty acid esters, stearic acid milk sodium), (Dipotassium acid chloride), food flavor, silicon dichloride] Peach powder 1%, food additive (three phosphate), Water, fructose syrup, brown sugar, food wine Sodium cellulose, citric acid, caramel color, Potassium sorbate, acesulfame potassium), will Red bean bun ingredients: red bean, taken from sand, water. Preparation method: million 2 Place the meeting place into the cup, add about 450 ml of hot water above 85 degrees, and soak 200 million with a lid. Add milk tea powder, black syrup, about red beans and stir until the gold is dissolved, and it becomes a cup of fragrant Peach Oolong Milk Tea. Product implementation standard: GBT29602 (Note: does not include tea room Oolong tea ingredients: 100% Oolong tea, product implementation standard: GBT24890g Period: 12 monthsProduction date: mark the storage method on the shrink film and place it on the limit Net content: 123 grams (65 grams of milk tea powder, 35 grams of black syrup, plus grams of red bean bags Malong tea bag 3g) Friendly reminder: if there is bulging or agglomeration, please write the title on the scripture page Customer Service Hotline: 400-679-9885 Hongkong Lujiaoxiang Industrial Co., Ltd. (authorized production) HongKong Lu Jao Xiang ndustrial Co. Ltd. Address Addres: Hollywood Commercial, No.610, Mong Kok, Kowloon, Hong Kong P01318-19 Rooms 1318-19, Hollywood Paza bIUNathan Road, MonaKok, Kowloon, Fi Manufacturer: Lujiaoxiang Drink Shijiazhuang Co., Ltd. Product production license number, SC106113011100846 H, Loudi Town, Laicheng District, Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province Zip code 050035 *Beware of hot drinks Nutrition

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Image 3 transcription:

R tea wave. naichashike Appearance design patent number: 201930566304 Counterfeit Bidong *Product name: Peach Malone Milk Tea (Milk Tea Solid Drink) Linde Power: Non-dairy creamer (glucose syrup, refined vegetable oil. Vegetable oil, whey powder, milk Sodium protein acid, mono- and diglyceride fatty acid ester, sodium stearoyl lactate 1In the taste of dipotassium), food flavor, dioxide], Baishalou, full time Powder 16, peach powder 19%, food additive (phosphoric acid tri), 5 Spice black syrup ingredients: water, fructose syrup, brown sugar, food additives Hovin sodium, citric acid, caramel color, potassium sorbate, acesulfame potassium), food flavor material. Red bean bun with the world: red bean, from sugar, water. Preparation method: real horse 1 Put the bag into the cup and add about 450 ml of hot water above 85 degrees to the lid and brew for 2 minutes. Add milk tea powder, black syrup, and red beans and stir until the gold is dissolved, and it becomes a cup of fragrant Peach Oolong Milk Tea. Product implementation standard: GBT29602 (Note: does not include strips Malong tea ingredients: 100% oolong tea, product implementation standard: GBT24890. : 2 months production date: mark on the shrink film storage method: put in layer juice Net content: 123 grams (65 grams of milk tea powder, 35 grams of black syrup, and red bean buns are (Package 3 grams) Friendly reminder: if there is bulging or agglomeration, please use some skin Customer Service Hotline: 400-679-9885 Antler Lane, Hong Kong Industrial Co., Ltd. (authorized production) hongKong Lu Jiao Xiang Industrial Co. Ltd. -NUSS: Sakoran Lane, 610 Mijiao Road, Mong Kok, Kowloon, Hong Kong 01318-19 Rooms 1318-19, Holywo Plaza an Road, Monajok, Kowloon. Hk Lujiaoxiang Drink Shijiazhuang Co., Ltd. Production license number: SC1061130111008 Loudu, Luancheng District, Shijiazhuang City, North Province Yangshi Dubei Langshui 4 P place: Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province Zip code 050035 when you drink hot drinks Nutrition

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Image 4 transcription:

Outside Beichalang. naichashike Design 1930566304.8 imitation map *, peach oolong milk tea (milk tea solid beverage) Ingredients: non-dairy creamer (grape pulp, refined vegetable oil, whey powder, milk N g dipotassium), food flavor, silicon dioxide], white sugar, full fat Set material 1%, 1% peach powder, food additives (tricalcium phosphate), edible aroma machine Fengtang Ci ingredients: water, fructose syrup, brown sugar, food additives (manufacturer None, citric acid, caramel color, potassium sorbate, acesulfame potassium), food flavor [Bean bag ingredients: red bean, white sugar, water. Preparation method: bird dragon tea Add about 450 ml of hot water above 85 degrees to the cup and steep for 2 minutes. After mixing the tea powder, black syrup, and red beans until completely dissolved, it becomes a cup of shampoo Oolong milk tea. Production standard: GBT29602 (Note: Tea bags are not included. Tea ingredients: 100% oolong tea, product implementation standard: GBT24690, 2 months production date: mark on the shrink filmStorage method: store in a cool and dry place Net content: 123g (65g milk tea powder, 35g black syrup, 20g red bean bag, (Package 3 grams) Friendly reminder: if there is bulging or agglomeration, please consult with Jinger Hotline: 400-679-9885 Gang Lujiaoxiang Industrial Co., Ltd. (authorized production) gong Lu Jao Xang Industrial Co. Ltd. Adhress: No. 610 Mijiao Road, Hong Kong, Hong Kong, can be eliminated, 18-19Rooms 1318-19, Hollywood Plaza dhan Road, Mongkok. Kowloon, HN T, Lujiaoxiang Drink Shijiazhuang Co., Ltd. Food hygiene License number: SC10613 0613011100846 Beibo, Xiyangshi Village, Loudi Town Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province Zip code 050035 *Beware of hot mouth when hot drinks, Nutrient composition 1282 dry coke 24 grams

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Image 5 transcription:

naichashike

Appearance design patent number: 201930 663043 home See tea (milk tea and egg body drink Heavy plant powder [Glucose syrup, refined plant , Single, double Ganbin refers to acid bloom, hard Xuetan (Issued the second material), food flavor, silica], Taiwan, Ran etc. 1, honey powder 1 food additives ( Black ceremony pulp, water, fructose award, black,, There are Fazhouying, if sour, no agricultural color, sorbic acid, acesai 1 Smell it, put it, about adzuki beans, white sand = sugar, water. Reconstituted prescription Add 50ml of goose water above 85 degrees to the one that has been added, soak in a lid Add tea powder, black seed pulp, red E Albilan to complete the solution, and it is a fragrance Mijiu Majian milk tea production standard GBT29602 is not new Oolong tea ingredients: Oolong tea 1000e, the most professional standard GBT242 Monthly production date: mark the storage method of receipt and storage Net content: 13 grams (8 grams of milk tea, 5 grams of black, red beans added Oolong tea bag 3 grams) Friendly reminder: If there is a phenomenon of swelling or decisiveness, Qingyudongbuyhuang 400-679-9885 Hong Kong Luwu Na Industrial Co., Ltd. (right production) Hongkang Lu Jao Xang hdustra Co. Ltd Adtess, 610 Wangwu Mijiao Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong FUS18-19EROMS 1318-19, Holwcod Peza Nathan Rad MongKok. Kowicon. HK Ishijiayu Co., Ltd. produces substandard products of real deer anxious incense Dongwen production license resistant to transmission number, SC1061301110080 Gaifeng, Loudi Town, Laiyu District, Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province. Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province Feeling Editor: 05005 *Watch out when you drink

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Image 6 transcription:

Chaji outside.

naichashike

6304.8 Counterfeiting must be investigated Product name: Peach Malone Milk Tea (milk tea solids) Ship ingredients: non-dairy creamer [glucose syrup, refined vegetable oil, whey state Emulsifier [Sodium caseinate, mono- and diglyceride fatty acid esters, stearoyl to) (Dipotassium acid gas), food flavor, silicon dioxide], self-sugar, Quanlian Red powder 1%, peach powder 1%, food additives (tricalcium phosphate), meeting opportunity spices. Black syrup ingredients: water, fructose syrup, brown sugar, food additives (Huangtianji Sodium cellulose, citric acid, caramel color, potassium behenate, acesulfame potassium), edible fragrance painting material. Red bean bun ingredients: red bean, white sugar, water. Preparation method: Put the bag into the cup and add about 450 ml of hot water above 85 degrees to the lid and steep for 2 minutes. Add milk tea powder, black syrup, and red beans and stir until completely dissolved, serving as a cup of fragrant Peach Oolong Milk Tea. Product implementation standard: GBT29602 (Note: Does not include tea from. Oolong tea ingredients: 100% Oolong tea, product implementation standard: GBT2480. Period: 12 monthsProduction date: Mark on the shrink film Storage method: Keep in a cool and dry place Net content: 123 grams (65 grams of milk tea powder, 35 grams of brown sugar, 0 dong Oolong tea bag 3g) Friendly reminder: if there is bulging or agglomeration, please adjust it in Jingtong Customer Service Hotline: 400-679-9885 Shigang Lujiaoxiang Industrial Co., Ltd. (authorized production HongKong Lu Jjao Xiang ndustrial Co. Lo Cdres: He Jie Room Industry, 610 Nai Road, Mong Kok, Kowloon, Hong Kong PD1318-19 Room Rooms 131819, Holywoo0r laza, aUNathan Road, Mongkok, Kowloon. Hk Supplier: Lujiaoxiang Drink Shijiazhuang Co., Ltd. Food production license number Soup: SC1061130111 11100846 Granted by Laicheng District, Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province Xiyang City Village North Boshui, Boshui Moyuan West Shijiazhuang City, Hebei ProvinceZip Code 0L*Be careful when you drink hot Nutrition 1 item The most Iron self

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Image 7 transcription:

Tea party.

naichashike

Huguan Design Credit: 201930566304.8 imitation, Enta said: Mide Oolong Milk Tea (Milk Tea Solid Drink Seal) Milk tea powder ingredients: Zhiqiangmo [Portuguese has stable pulp, refined plant method, Milk powder,: (Single and double glycerol, stearoyl lactate, iron test) Sillica], from granulated sugar, whole Si When tea she 1%, peach powder 16, food add n: combined product additives (phosphoric acid tri), food with fragrance spices. Ingredients for children: water, fruit pulp, brown sugar, food additives ( Ansul sodium, citrate acid, burnt color, potassium behenate, acesulfame) Edible incense Packed ingredients: red bean, sun sand, water. How to prepare The blood shortage is put into the cup, add about 450ml of hot water above 85 degrees, and make 24 If you add milk tea powder, black syrup, red beans and stir until completely dissolved, it becomes a cup of fragrant Peach Oolong Milk Tea. Product executive standard: GEBT29602 (Note: there is no pretense. Oolong tea ingredients: Oolong tea 100%. Product standard: GBT28 Period: 12 monthsProduction date: each injection of shrink filmStorage method: put in the dry Net content: 123 grams (65 grams of milk tea powder, 35 grams of black syrup, 20 grams of red beans Oolong tea bag 3 grams) Friendly reminder: If there is any skipping or knotting phenomenon, please go to the wrong business chicken Customer Service Hotline: 40-679-9885 Hongkong Lujiaoxiang Industrial Co., Ltd. (authorized production) iongKong Lu Jao Xiang Industrial Co Ltd Address Adires: Hollywood Commercial, 610 Mission Road, Mong Kok, Kowloon, Hong Kong Rooms 1318-19, Hoywood P 610Nathan Road, MongKok, Kowioon. HR Manufacturer: Lujiaoxiang Drink Shijiazhuang Co., Ltd. Food production license input number, SC10613011100846 North oil and water volume of Xifeng City, Loudi Town, Lucheng District, Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province Origin: Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province, Lang Editor: 05008 *Beware of hot mouth when drinking on a boat Nutrition Per 100 grams 1282 dry coke 15

[aphrodite1288]

I noticed you said there are many things you know but can't say be sure you're not sure of it as it is not confirmed. More like a rumor. So kind telling us some rumors you know about Kadi or Exo? It's okay we won't condemn you if they don't end up coming true we promise to take them with a grain of salt. Because I believe you many more are scared to be held accountable for their words and never share rumors and gossip, but they forget the Gossip and Tea is always delicious 😋 even when it's most of the time not even true.

Ok I'm going to blurt out some rumors I just happen to know, again! Take them with a grain of salt. They're just rumors might be baseless might be true.

But to make it more spicy, some here are confirmed Facts. 🤫

1. Exo are not renewing with SM (all of them) Don't confuse it with the group contract, this one still valid (they renewed it) to protect and keep their name " Exo".

2. Baekhyun's having a concert in Hongkong in 2024, his comeback would be lit.

3. Luhan is still in contact with all of Exo especially Xiumin and talks to them quite often, but with Xiumin it's everyday.

4. Tao still in contact with Sehun and Chanyeol.

5. Minseok/Xiumin knows he is not popular in Exo and the members tell him to do more efforts but he's quite depressed from Fans not giving him enough attention and he believes '"he's old and boring unfunny and not handsome enough" and he feels inferior to members in his own group because he is not as handsome or tall or with a bright character or sharp sexy features to attract fans, he thinks he's short and cute and unlike the other members he's not attracting new fans anymore. Which is why you would see he's not active and doesn't do any activities because he knows he won't be supported and you can see his album no one gave a fuck.

6. No one's ready to hear this but Baekyeon was real, but mostly one sided, Yes Tae queen loved Baekhyun truly with all her heart, but she knew the age difference would be a problem among his fans and her fans and in the industry she quit mostly because they called her grandma who runs behind younger kids. Taeyeon is still so angry when they ask her about Baekhyun, and she blamed him for not taking responsibility of taming his fans who bashed them so hard that time 2014 ( Ps: he was a just rookie who debuted 2 years only he was still shy with fans and has no power and still building his career).

7. Many idols in Kpop hooked up with their members at least once, if they're not a couple they were once! or they at least once fucked up and hooked. Living with the same sex for so many years not seeing the opposite sex at all, many idol rookies and trainees admitted to have fallen in love with some of their bandmates because they were too nice or good at cooking 😅.

8. Chanbaek are a thing.

9. Luhan and Xiaotong are just media play couple that's been going on for so many years, they never even lived together and there's a vocal where Luhan says he's never even kissed her and he wants this to end as he's tired of this media play and that this stopped him from having the love of his life and always stopped potential partners from reaching him, but the media play was good benefiting both of them so they can't quit.

10. Kaisoo never dated any other person, but themselves. The media play with Jennie was Jennie's choice she liked Ji so much she is so much into The "IT Boys" the "TRENDY BOYS OF THE ERA" once you're no longer famous bye bye bitch 👋🏻.

11. Jisoo and Ah Bohyun weren't even dating. They've never even kissed Jisoo said. It's not the schedule! They didn't click.

[tgcfresources]

Master Post Links

Since the reddit post has outdated links and information, I wanted to provide people an easy way to find things instead of having to look through massive amounts of scrolling.

First I just want to say I'm new to this fandom, if there's any incorrect information or things missing feel free to message me on Discord or @ me at any of the TGCF discord's I'm on as I DO NOT check tumblr often. My Discord is .raphaela

Tags:

Official Art

Audio Drama

Sprites

Official Videos

Novel

Colored Novel Illustrations

B/W Novel Illustrations

Revised Uncensored Version

Discord Servers

Eternal Faith / Live Action

Manhua

Novel

As the novel as been official translated into several languages, I will NOT post links to read it here.

Novel Audiobooks

Link to Audiobooks: Link 1.

Revised Chinese Novel

There is currently no plans for 7S to translate this version as it was released as a webtoon AFTER the official novel translations.

Link to the Revised Chinese Version English Fan Translations and Faq.

If you would like to buy the Chinese revised version, follow this guide on how to purchase the novel on JJWXC books. Then use this guide on how to export the text for use on your preferred translator.

You can read the revised novel easily with SmoothReader, which now has a google chrome extension.

Manhua (Manga)

The English bilibili comics site shut down on February 29th and is no longer available. You can view the original Chinese Raw on the official bilibil site with a VPN. Guide on how to buy the original volumes here.

Currently there are 101 chapters, no word on when it will resume. HEAVEN OFFICIAL'S BLESSING IS ON LEHZIN!! (no new episodes, just publishing existing episodes... for now. First 4 Chapters free.) It's also on bato.to.

Donghua (Anime)

There are currently 2 seasons available.

Season 1

Audio: English, Mandarine. (Only the Bilibili website has Japanese Audio Available, you need to become a Big Fan to view them. The Official release DVD/Bluray also only had the two languages available. If you want Japanese audio you will need to buy the Japanese release from a proxy service website.)

Subtitles: English.

Official English DVD/Bluray available from a number of retailers.

Season 2

Audio: English, Japanese, Mandarine.

Subtitles: English.

Does not yet have an official English DVD/Bluray release.

Currently Available to view on Crunchyroll (US Only, VPN Works), Bilibili Website (Available with Japanese Audio, Season 1 only) & Bilibili Youtube (Season 1 only) Both requires you to have a VPN, only available in hongkong.

Placeholder Guide on how to pay for Big Fan on Bilibili Website.

It has since been removed from Netflix and Amazon Prime.

Season 3 has yet to be confirmed.

Audio Drama

It's getting VERY long - Post here

Live Action Adaptation Series

A live action Adaptation is in the works and will be called Eternal Faith. Filming was done in 2022, rumored to be released this year (2024), set to be 60 episodes, but nothing is confirmed.

Information taken from a number of sources, mostly the tgcf reddit faq and TGCF Discord servers.

[dear-indies]

Hi friends!

After hearing about Aidan Gallagher being Z*onist, I really need an alternative for him as a faceclaim, do you have any recommendations? Preferably in the same age range, other than that I’m really not picky when it comes to their looks!

Lucas Jade Zumann (2000) Ashkenazi Jewish - had a charity for Palestine in his biography for a while but now I can't see it, don't know if it's a mobile/desktop thing!

and then if you're willing to fuck around with gender:

Chella Man (1998) Hongkonger and Jewish - is deaf, trans genderqueer and pansexual (they/them) - had an acting from in Titans from that age range and has spoken up for Palestine!

Odessa A'zion (2000) Ashkenazi Jewish - has spoken up for Palestine!

I only suggest actors over 21 but these two would work perfectly!

[predoom]

ohoneohone

Saturday, September 24th, 2005 2:14 pm but i am too weak to be your cure night started out strong. got kinda wack. want to go on a date to the corpse bride? (157 Comments |Comment on this) Tuesday, September 20th, 2005 12:56 pm ruckus juice dear demar,

i am sorry.

sugar in chicago. Monday, September 19th, 2005 12:19 pm mike murphy all up in demar hamiltons ass went to the alk3/my chemical bromance with demar and nick on the dick. pretty hilarious. the bands let the good times roll. went by pizza metro and made awesome jokes. and ate like 60 bucks worth of super flat pizza. startling revelations about demars life. i like hanging with old friends. down the street from the girl to trevia. kinda chill. matt skiba talked to me about clandestine. pretty amazing. we are wearing all black coming up hats. greg let me dj for a minute and i played some faint and refused. P-Unit. people at my house when i went home. freaked me out. sleeeepover prince. search the net and you can find some amazing pictures. Saturday, September 17th, 2005 4:52 pm reNICKulous woah. got my g.i. joe aircraft carrier in the mail yesterday. its seven feet long. thats like me and patrick stacked on top of eachother. ate a box of life cereal yesterday. kinda gross. somehow with all the chaos of everything i got normal again. its weird to me that 50cents mom is a lesbian. i dunno why. it totally fits and totally doesn't. just like everything else. i saw the motorola commercial we were asked to be in with madonna. yeah thats right- "sell out boy" turned one down cause it wasn't the right situation. haha. we would have had to cancel shows and all- just wasn't right. i just wanted to meet the material girl. we don't do everything were asked to. waited out going over to watch demar pass out and get kissed. instead went to the city. carnival life. we bought ice cream shoes online from hongkong. get jealous. counted freckles. yawn. patrick came over today. we worked on some secret stuff. him and his gee eff are way too lame and cute. i cant wait to see corpse bride. awesomeness. just waiting for tonight to happen.

oops comments wahahaha. Thursday, September 15th, 2005 11:27 pm this week he's mopping floors, next week he's on fries early bird gets the worm. took a headache for my tylenol. went to the cover shoot for spin magazine. it was ridiculous as always. i put myself into the worst clothes i could find cause thats just funny to me on the inside. nickplan and drunkmar showed up cause they keep it the realest. got weird emails all day. pretty standard. someday we'll be nostalgic for right now. but until then you can put it in a pinebox. its funny the mistakes you realize you are making as you go about things. cause those are the worst. it only makes sense when you are that close. otherwise its blurry and filled with lies. and you can say whatever you want but in the dark i know what you look like and think- and no one else does. nothing that needs to be spoken of. im the kind of kid that will go to the goddamned end. file me under: fucking speechless. right to her house. wow, it's been a month. we don't talk. it goes without saying. freckles. kinda dreamy. and i ain't too hard on the eyes. only those arms make it okay. i just don't care anymore. this is the three year boy. this is the lover boy. this is the keeper. the is the one that got away. i drop records, not names. so i'm not letting you in. buzznet updated. please leave my friends or whatever alone, because i have- and im sick of hearing about it. raise your hand if you're excited for fall tour. time to become the person i was supposed to be.

Current Music: you make me wanna lala 12:59 am "growing uuuuuuuuup, i guess i am my own better half" what were they thinking? i'm tired. ate for the first time in what feels like forever today. you know gotta keep that charm. what does that even mean? actually have to get up at 9am for a photo shoot tommorrow. the wackest. i guess it could be worse. i could have to sell stuff or work in a factory instead of just getting laughed at by some dumb photographer cause we don't know how to pose right. flashflashflash. goddamn the new panic at the disco record makes me feel okay in any situation. only two people in the entire world know how it goes. its kind of funny that i get to be one of them. but its strange the way only one person makes you feel electric. like you were meant to be three inches away from them always. but then its gone. or they are. went to green street hooligans. ate your popcorn and drank your soda. cause im kinda a baby. movie dates are funny cause you either watch the movie or you talk the whole time. both are kind of a let down. fall is definitely hug season. bring it on. who knows how it turns out. don't believe the hype. i didn't overdose. this really is me typing.

Tuesday, September 13th, 2005 10:39 pm difficult takes a day, impossible takes a week. oh no oh no. i don't get it but then i don't think i am supposed to. today woke up and bought my friend shoes cause she's rad and i like buying stuff for my friends. i am sick, but it's gonna be okay. i love going to bars with my friends and ordering 5 dollar sprites. yeah i'm that guy. right now i wish this was a lyric i wrote: "i dunno why other rappers try and dis you. cause even my superficial raps are super official". i'm supposed to be waiting by the phone but i'm always at front desk in the hotel lobby. i told my friend that i want to get super big bling jesus necklace- they said it doesn't make sense because im not super into jesus- but i told them that was the whole point. i sing the blues just for the covers of magazines. oh yeah. the rest of my day. ive been going out into the real world alot lately. the sun hurts my eyes but you're making me grin. went to joes house in boy's town- its like one inch big and filled with 80 million things. ebay says that my g.i. joe aircraft carrier is in the mail. but who knows cause i tell people shit is in the mail all the time. its like waking up from a dream and not being sure. for sure. our new video is pretty sweet. hung with the bestest. it feels nice outside. time to go play. i think i am going to be vegetarian again, then probably vegan. cause it just feels right. like you. all i do is watch thundercats and crush hard. what a life.

Current Music: christina milian 2:22 am go right on reds, get left at altars i want to write a "hey momma" song for the emo world. it smells like coffee and rain everywhere today for me.

i have lost all respect for you. before you make accusations, check the scoreboard sweetheart.

just when you are about to give up sometimes a light comes on. like its the only one out there. and when you are unhappy they are a shoulder. and they make you laugh when you get thrown out the window like trash from a car. old friends bend. you got me smiling like it was a dream. and i am slowly letting everything else go.

let go let go.

ive got a crush.

[ivettel]

RARELY DOES WANDERING ON TWITTER send me into a more reflective mood. but, you know, with all the people saying one needs to be part of a certain country to be angry about racism against the people of that country (and wow, that's a mouthful), together with some thoughts already swirling in my head from reading r.f. kuang's yellowface, i'm thinking: in such a globalized world where asian people can lead completely different cultural lives, who gets to be the representative voices to other people?

gets to, mind--not has the right, or deserves. i think there's a very important distinction between all the terms you could possibly use. some of them imply an inherent possession, like a kind of exclusive club that one can be a member of just by being born the right (or wrong) way. some imply a forceful taking of power, a (re)claiming of sorts, with almost a tyrannical nature to the words.

-

MY CANADIAN-ASIAN FRIENDS AND I are a mix of first and second gen immigrants from east asia, south-east asia, india, etc. we frequently find ourselves talking about diversity and the like, real nerd ass shit (quote unquote) you get from mashing people in the media literacy publication together to talk about media literacy and publications. think socratic seminar, except peppered in with gen-z cringe and (un?)ironic r/im14andthisisdeep.

but for the last four or so years, a more serious thread of convo has always been picked up, that being: are we even allowed to position ourselves as voices of authority on racial matters? are we allowed to, when our particular lived experiences in this country of privilege mean we've lost touch with part of the homeland? after all, points out a vietnamese friend, i never had to live in fear for my life on a boat. then, being a conversation we've rehashed time and time again, we talk in circles.

of course you have a right to speak on the lived vietnamese experience. sure you do, you just don't have an all-encompassing viewpoint. don't act like you know everything, which you're already doing.

and it's so easy among immigrants like us to say shit like that. to say, yeah, i'm from here, but my family's from there. to say, no, i don't speak my people's tongue and be met with understanding. it's like asian-canadianness is its own culture, further alienating us from the cultures back overseas. and that's not necessarily a bad thing: it means it's okay to leave a conversation among us at that intersection of nuance, where yeah, you have an experience, and it might not be The Experience, but it's still something valuable.

when it comes to other people, however, things get messy. they always want to box you in beyond the boxes you sit yourself in.

-

"I'M SO SORRY FOR EVERYTHING my country has done to yours," says a son of parents from mainland china who didn't immigrate over, but instead sent their child to canada in the hopes that he could obtain a special-looking, foreign degree, and come back home.

he's a doe-eyed, earnest looking guy, well-meaning in his tone and the way he wrings his hands, like he's really very sorry. he's all but accosted me at a film event i'm hosting for the union. i'm decked out in CUPE colours, trying to handle talking to two other people at once, feeling frazzled and more machine than human, the way i'm running this event tightly, no wiggle room for big errors.

he's happened to overhear me offhandedly telling someone that my mom is from hong kong, and he looks like he's two seconds away from crying unless i tell him on the spot that i forgive him.

i don't forgive him. i don't know how. i don't know if i'm allowed to.

it's an incredibly strange feeling, to be looked at like you could be somebody's salvation. not even anyone in my string of exes ever looked at me like that, like if i said, don't worry about it, he could go home to china and say, the hongkongers understand. like anybody outside could understand the magnitude of violence that shook hong kong in 2019 and 2020.

i tell him, "i don't blame the people, i blame the government and greed." because it's true, i don't think the everyday working man in shanghai wanted to bring hong kong to its knees. i don't think the high schooler in beijing trying to make it past their big national exams wanted to make it rain blood over tsim sha tsui. i tell him, "besides, my dad is from taiwan, so i'm not even fully hongkonger."

which is the wrong move, because he goes ashen, and shoves his stupid doe-eyes in my face again, and insists: i'm so, so sorry.

i can't forgive him. i can't not.

what has he ever done except understand that the mainland holds my two home countries at bombpoint?

what have i ever done except grow up white?

-

MAYBE IT'S ONLY SPRING, BUT it feels like summer, and a family friend from hong kong is sitting across from me in a restaurant with her eyes downcast while she picks at the hem of her thick hoodie.

i haven't seen her in ages. i've only barely kept up with her through social media. her mom and my mom were in nursing school together, roommates and best friends. her mom was the kind of girl to get all the guys, to date all the time and fool around and be the top of the class, while my mom studied her ass off and stayed average. (and mom always says that she never resented her best friend, but i know. oh, i know.)

it's her first time out of hong kong for the last six or seven years. she's changed so drastically, i think i only recognize her face.

put yourself in my sixteen year-old shoes for a second. when i was in high school, she was one of the coolest people i knew: a female percussionist fresh out of some prestigious music conservatory in england, a basketball lover, a confident and self-assured kind of woman, worlds away from the people in my little home city of halifax.

now, when i look at her, her body language is distinctly withdrawn and uncomfortable, and her eyes keep flicking over at the myriad of pretty white people around us, who unnerve the rest of our table as well. i want to say, girl, you chose this restaurant. we could be eating good food right now. i keep my mouth shut. the only thing she does with determination is order a steak and some trendy cocktail. she doesn't ask me about my life. she doesn't open up about anything. it feels like an interview more than a conversation.

we're not even fifteen minutes into seeing each other when the revolution is brought up, and her whole demeanour changes. her mom's whole demeanour changes too. i know secondhand that they've lost almost everything in the ensuing fallout, that they've had to scrape by to find menial work they're far too outqualified for. the country should still be fine for tourists if you ever want to visit, she offers. lots of sightseeing.

i pretend not to read into it too much, but i know exactly what she's saying, and so does my mom, if the look i get is any indication.

you're not really one of us.

-

"CAN I ASK YOUR OPINION," says my mom, interrupting me while i'm slurping away at my udon like a fucking pro. this is possibly the cleanest i've ever consumed the noodles, barely spilling a drop of broth. (probably because i'm not blogging with one hand while i blindly grab at everything with my chopsticks in the other, but whatever.) beside me, my sister is scrolling through some webtoon, her bowl empty.

i bear the interruption and make a sound, something like an inelegant, "ah?"

mom has her eyes closed, her head bowed like she's seriously thinking. at this point, i'm pretty sure she's going to ask me about some social etiquette faux pas she thinks she's in the right about, again, and god, sometimes, she's so pretentious, it makes me want to give her attitude like i'm the teenager in the room.

but she surprises me and asks: "do you look down on mainland china?"

i'm half joking when i say, "fobs or real mainlanders?"

fresh off the boat, if you're not aware of the slang. refers to new immigrants from the mainland. usually sweating money, can be found noisily revving their custom sports cars, or walking around in groups like some pantomime of an italian mafia, outwardly radiating regina george mean girls vibes like they're paid to do it.

at least, that's how they're usually thought of. i've always seen them more as schools of fish trying to navigate together, almost as though they're establishing a bit of connection in a place that seems to abhor it.

i don't begrudge them for the things they do. white people are fucking terrifying, especially when you don't speak english very well, and they treat you like you're subhuman. the way they're visibly stifling an eye-roll, the way their voices get that particular edge to it, like you're testing their patience, like you're wasting their time. like they're thinking, just learn the goddamn language we use, it's not that hard. like people learning english aren't already trying.

luckily, mom is still deep in contemplation. her best friend, she explains, looks down on the mainlanders. thinks they're filthy pigs for being china chinese, thinks that knowing mandarin means you're not sticking it to the man, that everybody there is a mindless drone, and it's just not true.

(and never mind that taiwanese people speak mandarin. it's really frustrating that taiwan is always just another pawn in a larger chess game, a convenient argument to use or put away as necessary, by china or by the usa or by our own allies in hong kong.)

"it's not true," my mom repeats. "a new immigrant works in my lab, and she's very open-minded."

i don't bother pointing out that there's probably some sampling bias going on.

the real truth is, i get it: when your identity has been taken away from you, when there's a conflict between who you are and what people assign to you, you'll do anything to establish some sort of authority, change the story for yourself.

china used to be a partner. now it's an oppressor. (it's always been an oppressor for people like my dad, my grandparents, my uncle and aunt and extended family who fled with the gmd and never turned back.) chinese used to be an ethnicity thing. now it's a dirty word.

-

I'M GETTING ON THE PLANE back to nova scotia, and the white, middle-aged lady in the middle seat of my row looks nervously at me.

"will you be sitting here?" she gestures timidly at the window seat. i don't think i'm particularly scary, but maybe the mercedes jacket adds a bit of drama to my otherwise basic outfit.

everybody around me is white too, as per. c'mon, it's nova fucking scotia. they're also looking at me, because i'm holding up the last bit of the line, and what else is there to do while you wait for people to get settled.

i pitch my voice up, lean into my inner white girl private school character real fucking good as i move and smile and explain that no, sorry! i'm in the aisle seat, so i s'pose we'll just plant ourselves here until whoever sitting there comes along.

and it's like there's a collective, invisible release of tension from the people around me, but especially from my seatmate, who immediately brightens. i strike up some bullshit convo about the weather, typical complaints about the airport, y'know. window seat arrives and gets settled. we don't speak for the rest of the flight. thankfully, in front of me is a karen kind of woman with a kid around my sister's age. she's a talkative one, and it's her voice and gerard way's that keep me from being bored for the next couple hours.

when we land, it's immediate emergency alerts, and the entire plane blares to life with shocking, disjointed alarm sounds. chatter erupts after, people discussing their ties to the place in the alert with their neighbourly strangers. i've always kind of loved how wholesome nova scotians can be, or the energy they can bring to non nova scotians--everybody knows everybody by a maximum of 4 degrees of separation around these parts.

middle seat is here for a business conference, so she doesn't actually know anything about the province when we all turn to talk. window seat and karen and i make suggestions on places to visit. karen teasingly calls me a haligonian.

i walk around the city i grew up in and make note of all the changes. i break my own heart, when i can't remember what buildings stood in the place of new condos, or pits of construction. i take photos of places i used to frequent and pray that they'll still be standing when i come back again. i'm starting to think i'm not haligonian anymore, either.

-

MARTIN BESTIE BRUNDLE SAYS AN ethnic slur on live television for one of the most popular sports in the world, in front of millions and millions of viewers.

i am not one of those millions, but it doesn't matter, because the news reaches me anyway. and i scroll and i scroll and by god, i've gotta go soon, but all i can think about is hong kong, and taiwan, and china, and of course, old white people have to step in and further complicate things.

it's not that i'm not chinese. i'm chinese like i was born with a cunt like i came into this world screaming despair in the early hours of veterans day, because the universe has a twisted sense of humour and said to me, just as i left the womb: baby, war is going to define the rest of your life.

but i'm not china chinese, and honestly, i don't know what i am. my experiences are enough to give me permission to be hurt. i don't know if they're enough to give me a voice.

despite this, i have a soapbox, and i use it anyway, and i use it liberally. i get to be mad on here. whether i'm deserving of this self-righteousness, whether i'm deserving of this voice that i've borrowed, is a different matter altogether.

[bookie-the-reading-junkie]

Me: BOOKIE! what are you doing?

me *jumps and sweats* : working on the next chapter?

Me:

me:...I'm looking for articles on japanese charcoal making. I promise it's related to the fic! (It’s only tangentially related nothing revolving around charcoal will appear anytime soon)

Me:...find anything interesting (and related)?

me: apparently charcoal burning suicides are a thing in Hongkong and Taiwan and there's a bunch of studies about them in Japan

[dojae-huh]

It's unfortunate, but it looks like I can't use YT at all if I want to save on i-net data. I've watched only 4-5 short videos, and 1/5 of my credit is gone in 1 day, heh. I will experience and enjoy the stages and concerts with a delay, in summer. There are always sacrifices in life...

With this NewJeans and Illit plagiarism scandal going on, it becomes clear how Big3 look not only for looks/talent, but personality, afterall. Whether I like BP or not, I have to admit that all the girls are very different and can stand on their own fan-attractor wise. Same with Babymonster, even with the same make up and beauty standart for every member, the girls are more memorable than most 4-5gen. NCT produced 4 soloists so far (I'm counting Lucas), and everyone's album is not like the other's. Riize also stands out among 5gen looks and concept wise.

Well, on the other hand, there is empty space to fill in left by Hybe, which young producers of small agencies try to occupy (StayC, Kiss of Life, Ive (maybe)).

Taeyong and Doyoung.

Doyoung's album feels more mature. Granted, Taeyong's 2 albums are more unique, individualistic, intimate in a way, debatebly there could be more artistic value to them, but it is still "Taeyong looks for TY" phase. There is hesitance. On the other hand, Doyoung knows who he is, I was wrong to doubt it. He might be afraid of whether fans can accept his non-idol self, the shift in the image, but he knows the road he wants to take. The album and the promotion feels like Doyoung sailing. It has that powerful element of the strong wind in the sails. The album already shows results close to IU and BTS guys in Korean charts. How happy Doyoung looks, how his true bold nature comes forward more and more in the performances. He is ready to take it, to enjoy everything. And yes, the timing is better for him than it was for Taeyong (both times). More room for concerts and festivals. However, the preparatory period was the same for both.

It is also about the voice. As I has been observing Do's progress since the time he made mistakes with pitch and was refusing to sing during interviews, I can feel the difference. He doesn't just sing well enough on the album, he shows different colours and techniques, uses his backvocals, in many places makes his work harder because he can (breathing, transitions, oberlayered singing with Taeyeon). During live performances he sounds weaker, so there is room to grow, but he will improve and catch up soon.

All in all, I'm personally glad SM doesn't allow the artists to go solo too early. Yes, maybe Doyoung could have released the album a year earlier. Maybe even two years earlier if covid didn't happen. The things happened how they happened though. Doyoung needed 127 to get Daesang and become a million seller, to perform at Tokyo dome and win over Korean fans, to get very close to Kenzie, to go through his burn out and overcome it, to invest some years into his love life with Jaehyun, to get the brand deal, the musical and tv-series first to be able to produce such an album, to approach renown song-writers and to ask for festivals and concerts in Japan and HongKong. The musical improved his vocals, the tv-series showed him he can succeed in a new area he is not comfortable in, DJJ let him get the experience of promoting outside of 127, gain support from fans with a new sound, the success of individual careers of the other members let him be "arrogant" and go for big things for himself. Mayhaps even the ousting of LSM was of help, who knows. LSM was known for being very involved in the work of his artists (to the degree of cutting off Seulgi's fringe for a better concept look right before the shooting of an RV's MV and changing aespa's "tsu-tsu-tsu" in the lyrics (which was genius on his part, but you know... his vision)).

Doyoung said people mostly remember Taeyong and Mark in 127, that he is not as memorable or standing out in the group in comparison. And it is true. It because he mimics an idol, plays a role for the group, (and loses points in dancing), he is confined in an image that is not him (Tae and Mark are themselves, Taeyong the soloist is a natural continuation of Taeyong the leader of NCT). Doyoung did it to himself, by the way, so the group is not to blame. In the performance on Mnet of "Little light" Dongyoung came out, and was as attention grabbing. He is not shakled by the level of success of the group (i.e. if he fails it won't affect negatively the unit), only the eyes of his own fans will be on him, the risk and reward are all his, so he is free to be more bold and greedy.

[straydogkins]

Im sorry if this is too much of a personal question, no need to answer if you don't want to ><;;;

But, do you have any memories of lanzhu regarding her hk identity? I do not know in deep detail but i've seen people say that she acts in more of a mainland chinese person rather than a hongkonger,,,,, did some of this affected your past life as her or it was somewhat different from the canon lanzhu?

Anon I genuinely don't think you meant any ill will by this question, but, to be blunt: it is not our place to answer this.

For context for the rest of this answer: we have Chinese family, we were looked after by them on certain occasions as a child and we have a close relationship. Because of this we learned (and continue to learn) about their culture and China, I also know a bit about Chinese culture and partake in certain events when my family do.

However, we are not Chinese- A fact I want to make this very clear right now. It is not my culture or my experience to live, again while I know certain things, it isn't from the point of view of someone who experiences or knows about this.

Even if I did have memories regarding this topic, it would not be my place to comment on that in this life. While I would say that I was partly raised by this part of my family for a period of time, their culture and Lanzhu's canon identity is not something I can comment on, nor will ever be able to.

Again we don't believe this is a bad faithed question, but in the future please consider who you are talking to before sending asks like this.