My New Year’s Day was anti-climactic and even less productive than the minor productivity I had desired.
I did not empty the dishwasher, nor did I do laundry. I did cook up some various chicken recipes and ate them with Chopsticks for lunch and dinner. I did finally get so sick of my broken PS5 controller, that I chucked it and ordered a new one. I did remind Nala that she does have toys upstairs and that the only reason why she doesn’t have more toys upstairs is that she brings them all downstairs. And I binge watched Stranger Things until about 3 a.m. Only have the Series Finale left to watch.
That said… an entire week of that kind of behavior has left my body in something of a rebellious spirit. It refused to get up to the alarms this morning. Therefore requiring me to skip my shower in order to make my first hearings (since on Fridays, I have the first hearings of the schedule. To the point where I typically start hearings before many attorneys even get into the office!) Obviously, this makes me self-conscious because I would rather be well rested and showered but… being present at work when I need to be also holds a special priority for me.
Considering that this is back to rehearsal tonight… I would like to leave work early so I can go take a shower prior to being in close physical proximity to people that I actually want to like me. And I’m already preparing for any possible pushback, lol. Because frankly? The entire office has spent almost a full day together out of the office that I have had to be in so if leaving a pinch early is too upsetting for too many people- fuck ‘em.
Apropos of nothing, I am coming to a new Fuck Fandom mentality. Multiple Anime and TV shows and Movie Franchises have been coming to an Ultimate (or stated Ultimate) end the last few months.... and it seems like for EACH and EVERY SINGLE ONE of them… there is a massive fan backlash due to three things
(1) BUT NONE OF OUR HEROES DIED!
(2) BUT, the ending doesn’t show our heroes as powerful kick-ass near gods!!; or
(3) BUT WE DIDN’T GET A SATISFYING CONCLUSION OF THE ROMANTIC STORY!
And frankly? To all of those complaints? Get fucked. From a macro level… look at how competing those complaints are! If one or more of the heroes dies? They really can’t be or can’t become powerful kick-ass near gods! If the hero dies, are you really going to qualify that as a satisfying conclusion to the romantic story? So… this bitching shows both the extreme division in culture right now, while also ignoring what those choices indicate regarding culture right now! I can’t speak with authority on this; but I’m speculating given current information, evidence, and my knowledge of television and anime.
RE 1: Y’know… a lot of entertainment is about escapism! And a lot of people have needed some pretty distracting escapism this decade! MAYBE, and go with me on this, MAYBE a series that spans the Pandemic and ends in the turbulent, chaotic, death soaked era of 2025 wanted it’s characters to NOT DIE in an escapist story! Call it weak or cowardly all you want, especially in ensemble stories- every audience member will have their own FAVORITE. Using grotesque overkill to make a point.... if you end The Hundred Acre Woods with Eeyore’s suicide… there will be some pretty pissed off, hurt, and upset fans.... if you end The Hundred Acre Woods with Piglet’s death.... there will be some pretty pissed off, hurt, horrified, and upset fans.... if you end The Hundred Acre Woods with Kanga sacrificing herself to save Roo.... there will be some pretty pissed off, hurt, horrified, and upset fans. So if a creator says, “Everybody makes it to the end” don’t be ungrateful and pissed off. Appreciate that your favorite survived, that they might not have had you “gotten your way”, and appreciate that in our trying and turbulent reality… fiction still said, “Just this once, everybody lives!”
RE 2: Let’s consider this either the opposite of escapism or “extending a real world wish into a fictional one”. So, the protagonists don’t end the story with some “And they lived happily ever after; invincible, wealthy, and powerful!” Because we’re in the midst of a potentially vast cultural shift that is very much needed. The happy ending isn’t “Getting everything you’re supposed to want- thus money, power, sex, worship, love, etc.!” Maybe these stories are understanding that what HAPPY ENDING should actually mean is.... the characters get to live their lives. Free of hatred maybe, or free of the burden of the antagonist. Free of the looming world ending danger but… still living in the day to day world. And this part feels very American in a bad way. This desire and demand that the protagonists’ happy ending be focused on wealth or power! I know how often you’ve heard that lie… that you can’t be happy or feel secure without money or power… but do Trump, Musk, and Bezos look happy to you? Sure, the struggles you face could be significantly alleviated with their kind of money and power… but then what? An ending that says, “and then he became a teacher” or an ending that says, “he set down his sword and returned to his family” or an ending that says, “The war was over. Now the town needed to turn their sights onto their greatest challenge- living with each other”… the peaceful ending or even just the reminder that “This story is over; but these characters go on”.... that’s NOT a shitty ending. An Epic Journey resulting in protagonists who desire to live a normal life of peace? Not only is that a comforting ending that is needed in these fucked up times… it is an attempt at a message for the people living in these fucked up times. A message that says, “Prepare for a reality where there is no Epic End Song to signify the conclusion of things. Much as how this creative endeavor is ending while making space for peace and continuance… so to should you in your lives.” Stories don’t end because the protagonists became Gods. Stories end because the story ended. The characters in that story, continuing and building peace? That isn’t a shitty ending, that’s aspirational!
RE 3: This is an interesting, if predictable, response to a lot of things that… it shouldn’t be. IF the program was fundamentally at its heart a romance or sex fiction? Then yeah… the romantic element not getting a significant conclusion would be upsetting. But if the focus was NOT on romance? Then what are you bitching about? It would be like if the Superman films never had Clark and Lois kiss. Yeah. I get that you wanted that. I get that such a thing was important to you. But if we get 4 movies where Clark and Lois aren’t snogging because Superman is too busy saving the day? Get over yourself! Or if while watching Jurassic Park, you hated the ending because it didn’t involve Jeff Golblum’s Dr. Ian Malcolm snogging Laura Dern’s Ellie Sattler? THAN I think you missed the entire point of the bloody film! Yeah, it would be nice if all of your Head Cannon ships got confirmed by the Series Finale… but there is no guarantee and there is no requirement for that. And, honestly, you don’t want there to be. Edward, Bella, Jacob fans wanted a solid, comforting conclusion to the romantic triangle by series end. MANY fans were flooding the internet to say “Do a Luke/Han/Leia”, iterating that Liea and Luke were pulled to each other due to an unconscious bond via siblinghood… well, Meyer listened and did her own fucked up hyper-Mormon version: Jacob didn’t love Bella but the egg inside of her that would one day become Renesmee. So the satisfying romantic conclusion was Bella and Edward got to live happily ever after, and Jacob and Renesmee got to live happily ever after… aren’t you so pleased that to give everyone a satisfying romantic conclusion we essentially turned your favorite werewolf into a new version of Pedophilia where you don’t even need to wait for the egg to SPAWN LIFE before a grown ass adult man is sexually and romantically interested. You don’t need to see characters kiss, or making out, or having sex just to “properly conclude a franchise.” NOT EVERYTHING IN FICTION is purposed to serve your libido or need for epic romance!
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