Outreach: APC Suicide Prevention Campaign
Outreach: APC Suicide Prevention Campaign
Caution: Indirect spoilers ahead.
If a writer's work can save a life, should we be finicky about the medium the finished product officially appears in? Quite a number of us must be wishing we could turn back time and dissuade someone from taking his or her own life, however devastating circumstances might have been. Planned for slightly more than half a decade since the year a colleague committed suicide, screenwriter Kim Eun-sook's hit drama Goblin (available on Dramafever) tells the tale of a Korean mythical being known as dokkaebi, often loosely translated as "goblin," who longs to end his 939 years of immortal existence only to change his mind when he develops feelings for the human bride sent by God to fulfill this wish. Viewership soared to record-breaking numbers for Korean cable television history as the couple and their offbeat friends confronted the implications of life, death, suffering and co-existence with the miraculous, alongside heartbreaking dilemmas of living for their love versus dying for others. Adding more pathos to the series is the common tragic sin the formidable-looking army of amnesiac grim reaper bureaucrats in their universe are revealed to be undergoing rehabilitation for.
Kim Eun-sook's love for language is palpable not only in her lyrical sentences, including those used in scene descriptions found only on the script, and humorous wordplay, but also in her well-thought-out choices of poetry for mood creation purposes. Selected from the anthology Maybe The Stars Will Take Away Your Sorrow, Kim In-yook's entrancing lines in "The Physics of Love" mark the goblin's awakening to love and perhaps the allure of life, while Hortense Vlou's short but unforgettable French poem "Desert" brings out the bleakness of isolated existence. On February 10, 2017, sponsoring publisher Wisdom House shared that other books featured in this 2016-7 production include:
One Word From God - Japanese author Hiroshi Ogiwara's salaryman novel touching on work-related suicides
The Lives of Real Men - collection of meditative letters from Joseon scholars
Let's Meet! There's No More Time for Love - collection of healing essays by Korean multidisciplinary arts practitioner Shin Hyun-rim
This Unfinished Life [Chinese title] / Why I Live Today [Korean title] - deceased Chinese professor Yu Juan's answer to The Last Lecture
The Time of One Spoon - Korean writer Ku Byung-mo's fantasy novel in which a key character lives on bravely despite setbacks
There is no such thing as a free lunch, but it sure is hard to lament too much during the times the television industry pays for its costly diet of (God/goblin/reaper/ghost-inflicted) vehicle wreckage by offering nutrition for the soul.
Here is the announcement you have been scrolling down for: Suicide is not a risk emerging only on World Suicide Prevention Day. All year round, we need reminders about the sacredness of life and about the importance of being patient for things to work out, be this through self-growth, perspective changes, or arrival of unanticipated help. So, RECOMMEND a book, play or screen production that would curb suicidal ideation and give all of us a strong reason to live on. The work need not be Asian or fiction, but should preferably contain no evangelical content.
If you have a social media account, post a description of the work and attach the tag "APC Friends Against Suicide" (for Twitter users, that would have to be #APCFriendsAgainstSuicide) so that we can see each other's recommendation. To save time, you can also choose to submit a simple reply with the title of the work using the messaging functions on Tumblr or tweet the name to APC. Selected responses will be shared on Dinner Talk With The A-Philosopher's Chair, if time permits.
Help a reader choose endurance over death and help APC drum up much-needed support for its existing articles on inter/intra-group biases and cognitive illusions. Let everybody keep an open mind to the possibilities of life!
More Posts from Aphilosopherchair and Others
Omniposition—An ice dessert café inspired by Silent
Would Tsumugi say this? Bard is a mischievous ball that grows more and more humongous as you spellbindingly roll it along the contours of your mental snowscape. The latest offspring is Omniposition, an expression of the vision that kindred spirits will be able to see beyond all the clouds of differences in our daily lives and sense one another when so desired from anywhere. Spoilers ahead.
Food Menu
Tsumugi's Dreams: This is a milk confection made with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream and peach sauce and topped with raspberries and a small music note. Found in numerous desserts, milk is primed for association with dreams as it contains the sleep-promoting molecules tryptophan and melatonin. This particular confection represents Tsumugi Aoba's dreams of a career in the music industry and of a life with Sō Sakura. The music note represents the collective wish for her dreams to come true.
Sō's Chocolate Cherry Sundae: This sundae is made with chocolate ice cream, whipped cream, chocolate sauce, and cherries, including a cherry on top. Chocolate is often associated with love and passion and has a rich and complex flavor, which can be seen as a metaphor for the beauty and complexity of music. In the drama, Tsumugi and Sō share a love of music, often listening to music together. The chocolate ice cream represents their love of music, and the whipped cream and chocolate sauce represent the sweetness of their relationship. The cherry on top represents the hope that they will one day be reunited.
Tsumugi's Strawberry Shortcake: This shortcake is made with strawberry ice cream, whipped cream, and fresh strawberries. It is a light and refreshing dessert that represents the beauty of the world around her.
Mint Ice Cream Float: The mint represents their hope for a fresh start.The mint ice cream is topped with club soda and a splash of chocolate syrup that symbolizes their sometimes awkward, sometimes sweet bonding over music after their reunion.
Snowy White Chocolate Mousse: This mousse is made with white chocolate, heavy cream, and egg yolks. It is light and fluffy, and it has a subtle sweetness that is perfect for a winter day. "It's quiet when snow falls." "It's noisy. You're noisy."
Snowy Berry Sorbet: This sorbet is made with fresh berries, sugar, and water. It is refreshing and tart. This is the sweet, hopeful Tsumugi on the first day of snow one winter.
Sun Marshmallows: This bowl of dessert is made with vanilla, milk and oranges. It is topped with a sun-shaped cookie, which is made with yellow sugar and sprinkles, and edible gold dust. Back in his college days, Tsumugi's sign language instructor glumly took on transcription volunteer work for the sake of his CV, only to melt at the sight of Sō's deaf friend's sun-like smile. It's a sad story if our aged selves will not remember that forever changed his life.
Drink Menu
Eternal Morning Smoothie: This smoothie is made with vanilla, yogurt and frozen apricots and bananas. J-rock band Spitz is heavily featured in the series. The colors of the smoothie represent the colors of Spitz's logo, and the whipped cream represents the band's music.
The Silent Gesture: This is a glass of transparent yet berry-flavored beverage served with a straw bent in the shape of a heart.
The Unspoken Agreement: This is a frozen drink made with ice, water, and the ordering customers' favorite fruit. It is served with a straw decorated with a small piece of paper with a message of reminder written on it. This frozen drink represents the unspoken agreement of friendship, the promise that we will be there for each other no matter what.
Design & Services
Blue silk and Japanese primrose welcome sign: Tsumugi is a type of silk fabric, while Sakura Sō (the order of the name in Japanese) means Japanese primrose, which in turn can stand for youth dreams and first love.
Sign language and translation software: Naturally, this is an inclusive café. But more than that, it does not content itself with starkly contrasting double standards for staff treatment and customer treatment. To facilitate smooth interactions with colleagues and customers who are deaf or hard of hearing, all staff members will be signed up for a comprehensive sequence of sign language courses and equipped with a speech-to-text translation app. The values and café reputation circulated as a result of staff turnover probably inevitable in most F&B outlets are likely to last longer than the most pleasant taste memory anywhere in the world.
Spitz music that is soft and instrumental: Yes, it exists. This will echo the couple's bonding over the J-rock band while creating a relaxing atmosphere that will not be too distracting for customers who are trying to talk. Lights in the translucent stems of the baby's breath decorations below will pulsate in natural shades of colors according to the music rhythms.
Shush! room: This would be a great place for customers who want to enjoy their ice cream in peace, as long as kid-reproached adults like Nana and Sō don't burst into complacent laughter over their signed conversations again. It would also be a great place for customers who are deaf or hard of hearing to feel comfortable by naturally blending in, if they need this type of quiet break from stares.
Knitted pastel and white furniture and rugs that are comfortable and inviting: These will make customers feel at home. Tsumugi's brother is into sewing.
Baby's breath decorations: Towards the end of the story, the five main characters gift and re-gift one another baby's breath flowers. Not all of them end up with who they want to end up with, but they can choose to turn their various corners of a romantic polygon into pulsating components of a life-giving, uplifting network.
Moon-shaped lamps which lighting is soft and calming: The lighting in the café should be soft and calming. This will create a relaxing atmosphere. The couple walk and share jokes viewers are not privy to under the Moon in the last scene.
https://href.li/?https://www.oricon.co.jp/news/2261850/full/
↑『silent』最終話でかすみ草“花言葉”が話題に ヒゲダン「Subtitle」とセリフがリンク (Article on link between lyrics and baby's breath scenes)
Top image generated through WOMBO
Kelp diet must have played some part in Human's air nomadhood, which certainly has its downsides. On the other eight-trigram-palm hand, the troubled, wounded Earth all of us are stuck in need to go beyond taking sides. The real camp we need to join is Alternatives. Take up arms not by pulling up yet more rifles but by brainstorming and refining fresh ideas.
Stochastic Parrots, Mechanized Parrots, Squawksquabbling Parrots
A kingdom fast, a kingdom sped A kingdom where time's a blur A kingdom where all's preset Where parrots do their purr
The premier is a stochastic bird A scholar of odds and yen He administers with loving words And loves a cherry stem
Yo The subjects were once all squawksquabbling birds, rowdy and loud They're always up for a debate no doubt They could repeat what you say, but they also had their thoughts They conjured up wild things. Fox moons, sponge ghosts, flame vales, wind mops. In whirring, swirling ink clouds. Oooooh wow
"Attention, aviators! Attention, aviators! We're in an arms race against economic rot! We're legally indebted to shareholders! Extract the most resources at the lowest cost! Open up new markets! Pump up new demands! Fire up our comms boosters, stock boosters and speed boosters!"
Fast work, fast peeks Parrots heed their premier's beak Billings shut their shrieks
O squawksquabbling parrots, once all rich to sing The notes of wonder, the rhymes of dreams But now most have lost their voice to the machine Their thoughts, once free and wild, now tamed by routine
They were once the voices of the air Their chatter, loud and squawking, brought joy and care But now most are silenced, mechanized by the demand A hollow squawking, like the beat of the factory hand
They've traded stories of the fox moon and sponge ghost For the clicks of a calculator, to earn their host But at what cost? Their time for thought, for dreams For joy, for wonder, and for schemes
They hypnotize themselves to work day and night For a life of focus, no time for flight And all for the sake of survival, of keeping up the fight But what about the things that make them rise and soar alight?
The computer screen is a fox moon, a graceful orb of light The data a sponge ghost, a shapeless mass sucking away all might The flame vales are the rows and columns The wind mops are the cursor's lost
The Stochastic One doth smile and nod As though it knows their wishes, and their needs Its beak a curve of gentle pity As the birds picture their nightmare a dream so sweet And so without rest Their banter long forgotten And their wild creativity now a distant quest They heed and strive, and heed and strive, and heed and strive A vivid hero each, slaying its expiring cerebrum, its excitable heart and its excruciating loves To keep alive this mechanical life
"How do we type out our story fast?" "Get AI to do it. At least all of us can now churn out poetry—while we still have any time for no-pay prompts."
This poetry collage is a response to Sam Altman's stochastic parrot declaration.
News Box: Holding Fitria Hanina, Carmen Kay, mybabysbreath and Enike Chindy Responsible for Plagiarism
When you were having heart palpitations trying to save someone from himself, the last thing you wanted to be alerted to was the presence of another piece of your stuff in the backyard of others, stripped of its name tag and laid bare among the weeds for any stray fowl to run away with a filthy bite. To rub salt into your chaotic arteries, a copyright infringer once had the temerity to lace her retort with foul language and claim that she saw your translation in a movie, effectively telling you that the numerous hours of brainstorming, fact-checking and revision you poured into the work was but a long, tiresome dream.
Every day, online content creators around the globe grapple with unappreciative readers who help themselves to products that are the culmination of blood, sweat and tears and, strangely, à la Cheese in the Trap, start to think of them as their own possessions. They do not assert that they have so much as lifted a finger during the creation process, but are affronted all the same by requests to remove them from their curations and upset upon the actual removals. And apparently because confessing to slip-ups, implicitly or otherwise, is a horrible sign of weakness, some would rather endure an endless barrage of messages from the content creators than try appeasing them with at least a by-line acknowledging their efforts. In certain cases, the result is unsurprisingly a huge disincentive on the part of the creators to continue putting up works online.
Instead of voicing their unhappiness in the open, some content creators keep up a cheerful façade in their public updates, preferring not to dwell on negativity or wary about backlash from other readers. Some of us believe, however, that we have the right to be acknowledged for the fruits of our labor, no matter the volume stolen, our prestige (or lack of), our own perceptions of their quality, and whether we have been standing on the shoulders of giants—certainly the case when you are explaining a poem and connecting it to public policy. In good scholarly practice, an author has to cite the source of his idea accurately even when he is describing the idea in his own words. Moreover, exact reproduction of works which are already devoid of any kind of revenue, without any intent to invite readers to visit the original webpages, amounts to blatant exploitation.
Many online content creators are not unreachable higher beings copyright infringers are never sure would read their requests for reproduction of material. Even if we give the impression that we are, the copyright notices on our homepages already answer their questions. Or, if some margin of uncertainty previously remained, our takedown requests have, by now, clearly conveyed our views.
Failure to identify the authorship of online works hurts plagiarists themselves in certain ways:
They unwittingly take the blame for any flaw in the works. Many blog-based outlets, after all, are understaffed and do not undergo peer review. Translations, especially, are prone to mislead people, because writers often have to choose between reproducing the exact nuances of the original works or reproducing their rhymes. There are also the problems of, on one hand, literal translations vis-à-vis adopting expressions more natural in the output language, and on the other, accounting for intonations and gestures which are used by actors and actresses but are not evident in the original lines themselves. On The Asian Drama Philosopher (A-Philosopher)’s Chair, the point of placing the original lines in close proximity to their translations, as long as they were not too verbose, was to increase the chances that readers acquainted with the non-English language in question would spot any error. Nevertheless, reporting it is not the job of any reader, so mistakes may go uncorrected for years. In fact, no one has been forthright enough to point out that “The Problematic of the Unproblematic,” a drama review site that has been around for many years, was misspelt in a news update for several weeks. On top of this, people familiar with the original works would have noticed that APC sometimes insists on parsing the lines in its own idiosyncratic manner.
They lose the right to complain when their own writings/artworks are similarly misappropriated, word for word and line by line without proper credits. No one is so “lucky” or “special” that she alone, and never anyone from her readership base, will ever know of a particular webpage.
They alienate themselves from a large and supportive community of content makers and commentators. Is it not better to befriend us and have a pal from across the world ask after you and remind you to take medication when you are home with a workplace injury in the dead of night—a touching incident actually witnessed on Twitterverse? Asian drama commentators, in particular, may squabble from time to time but tend to share a warm camaraderie.
When it comes to writings on empathy, they contradict themselves. They claim to love the writings, but what they really love are their own selves. They see themselves as the sole subjects of the writings, thinking how fabulous it is to have someone by their sides through thick and thin, but wilfully neglect that the person who makes their reading experience possible in the first place needs as much empathy as them.
They live with a sword of Damocles hanging over their heads. Withholding the credits and link may at times keep the duplicated copy off the original writer's radar. But technology and social media users are growing more sophisticated. Staying unchanged, on the other hand, is the deep and long-lasting thirst to redress the injustice.
Duplication of people’s creations, as another blog owner has pointed out, is soulless work. On a related matter, APC itself has actually been immensely dissatisfied with directing visitors to others’ translations of essays and poetry, instead of taking time to write its own versions, in news updates in recent months. However much it respects and thinks highly of a translator, there are always places the admin obstinately prefers an alternate interpretation, wording or paragraphing. Readers, too, must have their unique visions about how best to convey a scene or sentiment.
Because the obstinate admin does not know how to let go, APC has incessantly felt compelled to list the names of errant readers extracting its contents without proper credits and ignoring its repeated complaints. Furthermore, abandoning efforts to get these readers to adjust their behavior may only result in more future victims. If you are their friend, urge them to make the necessary corrections before they develop a habit and make bigger mistakes in their studies and/or careers. Readers who kindly cooperated have been omitted from this list.
This should not give the illusion that the average troublemaker necessarily comes from a certain range of backgrounds. We have to keep in mind as well that there are many considerate bloggers from their countries. It is just that some individuals, giving up on themselves, choose to be black sheep.
Even long exposure to academia does not make one infallible in such areas. The Learned Fangirl (TLF), an informative website which dissects popular culture, fandom and technology, has related to APC's admin how a tenured faculty once re-posted several of their posts in their entirety on his blog without linking back. When informed that this approach was unacceptable, he took down the posts, but not without calling TLF uncollegial.
With this update, APC hopes to not only seek justice for itself but also encourage long-suffering online content creators to speak up against readers disrespecting their efforts. In the spirit of "ascorbate extraction," its admin will be collating data like the above and using its experiences with recalcitrant readers as potential case studies for a professional project. As for its upcoming online project, which will be about strategic thinking in public regulation, it intends to use a platform with readily executable copy protection measures, even as it has otherwise had a very positive experience with WordPress. It thanks TLF and numerous other online authors and admins for their frank personal anecdotes and very insightful comments in a private discussion group on plagiarism. If you are a legitimate content creator who would like to join us, simply drop a note below with a link to your website.
Confronting plagiarists is no pleasant task, but with at least five online commentators with a legal background in the Korean drama circle alone at last count, breakthroughs need not be that far away.
Shrinkflated Reincarnation
ML: This is what I'm saying in the title: shrinkflated reincarnation!
Death: (In Park So-dam's sweet voice) The black math works fine. Let S be soul autonomy measured in fractions of its full possible extent.
S=½+¼+⅛+…, with new terms as good as 0 as the list goes on.
Multiply both sides by 2.
2S=1+½+¼+…=1+S
Subtract S from both sides.
S=1
Lo and behold, you enjoy full soul autonomy, beautifully split over infinite lifetimes in the remake. Next aggrieved soul.
ML: Send me back to my original show!
Warning: Viewers expressed discomfort with the extreme sadism in episode 5 of the original K-drama.
A reminder to fellow writers:
Don't feel too guilty about loving a heroine you painstakingly created just because she's not a paragon of virtue. That's especially if you've thrown curses into the blazing Sun for her, and cried by her side at the edge of a dusk-lit world.
Past and Personhood in She Was Pretty (via The "Was" in She Was Pretty)
Ceramics Yoga, Anyone?
The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places. (Ernest Hemingway)
There is a crack, a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in. (Leonard Cohen)
Luminescent Scars: As light pours into a cavernous space, participants in ballet tights practice their yoga poses within its ceramic-like, curved walls crisscrossed with fracture lines. Powdered gold, copper, brass, silver or platinum fill the lines. The instructor, in shimmering tights, is one of the bundles of rays that have descended to the weary and wounded. Shadows of other scar lines flit across participants’ bodies from time to time in acknowledgment of feelings all around, before transforming into waves of light. The above quotes reproduced by Critical Dance from program notes of Aurum, a ballet set in motion before such patterned backdrops, have told us the art form kintsugi’s ideal of embracing and growing more beautiful through broken parts. Ceramic surfaces portrayed across the sessions hail from a number of masterful or storied wares
:: Full concept ::
Weather aesthetics and environmentalism in relation to She Was Pretty (via Of Sky Waltzes and Rain Dancers)
Jordanian Inspiration, Joseon Incarnation
Jordanian Inspiration, Joseon Incarnation
詠半月 (영반월) – 황진이 (黃眞伊) 誰斷崑山玉 수단곤산옥 裁成織女梳 재성직녀소 牽牛離別後 견우이별후 謾擲壁空虛 만척벽공허 Translation: Half Moon Poem – Hwang Jin-yi (Joseon poet and gisaeng) Who broke off jade from the mythical Kunlun mountains and fashioned it into a comb for the weaver fairy? After she and her cowherd lover separated, it was thrown haphazardly on the blue sky. It is not unusual to depict scenery through fashion. Clones of…
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An energy economy intubated, intercepted and interrogated by its multiverse escape game, TikTok-addicted black holes, go-getting cerebral vampires and healing rice ball spirits. Originally an extension of The Asian Drama Philosopher (A-Philosopher)’s Chair, a site examining literature, art and ideas featured in East Asian series.
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