Hello there!
Welcome to our daily scheduled post, the Daily Slow Chat.
If you want to just chat about your day, if you have questions for the moderators (please mark these [Mod] so we can find them), or if you just want talk about oatmeal then this is the thread for you!
Enjoying the small talk? We have a Discord server too! We'd love to have more of you over there. Do both of us a favour and use this link to join the fun.
The mod-team wishes you a nice day!
3 comments
I had pierogi last night, first time in a while… from a food truck.Not bad at all, actually I like them better than the Italian equivalent.
I am not really part of many fandoms, but one show that I do love and don’t talk about very much is Avatar the Last Airbender. It is an animated series which has a kind of elemental magic system. There are four nations, Fire, Earth, Air and Water, who are living in harmony till the Fire nation starts a war to conquer the others. There is one person, the Avatar, who keeps being reborn in different nations. The last of them is from the Air nation, and disappears at the start of the war as a 12-year-old, being trapped in sea ice. When he is found again 100 years after, his people the Air Nation are completely wiped out. So, the series shows his efforts to defeat the Fire Lord and stop the war. The series is acclaimed for being based on Eastern cultures that are quite underrepresented, and for its realistic depictions of genocide and imperialism for a show aimed at kids. And it has some of the best character arcs in fiction.
One of those is of Prince Zuko. He is the crown prince of the Fire nation, but not loved by his genocial maniac father (not that he loves anyone) because he isn’t considered as skilled as his sister, and somewhat compassionate. He is exiled and sent to find the Avatar (who has been missing for 100 years, so basically sent out for good) after his face is burnt by his father in a duel for stepping out of line. He is the main antagonist and does pretty terrible things, but people are sympathetic to him because of this horrible childhood. He has a mentor figure, Iroh, who is his uncle and used to be a very successful general and crown prince till his son died in the war and he gave up on everything. We don’t see any of his deeds on screen, but we do see some flashbacks of him laughing at people begging for mercy while their villages are being burnt and stuff. But he is usually considered a good character because he spends the series trying to help Zuko see the right way, and trying to defeat his brother (he is also a very well-written mentor character). In the end, Zuko gets an amazing redemption arc and it is all great.
I am writing this novel because with stuff happening in Europe and dickheads with swastikas and Hitler’s birthday tattooed on their necks marching around, burning LGBT flags etc (can you think about a better way to use your time!) it got me wondering… when we watch the show, we forgive the Zukos and Irohs because we see that they have seen their ways are bad, and are now doing good. They both become friends with the main characters. What would it take me to become a friend with someone like that? Or date one? Imagine, you meet a guy and you’re good friends, and then you realize he has a massive 1889 tattooed on his leg. He says, yeah, I used to be dumb and young but I don’t believe this stuff anymore. Can you just let it go? What if you know he did dumb stuff like vandalism or even worse things like beating people up? Some of the people in those parades are literal kids. And kids do get indoctrinated and do dumb things.
I don’t know if I could. Like, I would be able to work with them still (as long as they keep everything covered) but be friends?
Hmpf.
Sorry for the long write-up, I don’t know what got into my coffee this morning.
Random thoughts about my 4 week Sabbatical in Korea/Japan.
Note: I’m of Korean descent.
One of the big “perks” of flying Korean Airlines is that they serve traditional Korean meals as their inflight food (Bibimbap/Ramen/braised chicken etc). Does any other airline do this?
There is a biblical concept of “The first shall be last” that humorously plays out whenever people are eager to line up to board a plane only to realize that they have to board a transfer bus (that takes them to the plane).
University friend of mine is the singing voice of one of the main characters (Jinu) in Netflix’s K Pop Demon Hunters. Really happy for him, but none of us expected the movie to blow up the way it did. It’s insane.
Fantastic movie.
Weather in Korea/Japan was miserable while I was there. Either 35 degrees with 80%+ humidity or torrential rain that caused flooding. Climate change is insane.