notes

I’m very much enjoying this Chinese novel I’m listening to.

I’m on like chapter 30.

But it’s like 1290 chapters all together.

So I’m not sure if the storyline is going to go to shit or not.

I won’t share the link to the site because they currently have a really big surprise-redirect problem. I now hover over the "NEXT" button and copy the link to the next chapter and paste-and-go.

My brain doesn’t sweat the machine translation.

I just picture a character-persona in my head–an archetype–and I plug it into the various stories and veg out. Just remember the main characters and the side characters and let the story read itself.

It’s probably why I like fandom so much. I just think of the main character as being some kind of amalgamation of various fandom characters.

And considering how many of the stories feature "livestream" content satisfies any need I have to watching YouTube "personality" videos, it’s almost catharsis.

Is that the word? Catharsis? That feeling when "your every prurient interest is satisfied and you don’t actually follow the lives of real people" translates to that same sense of satisfaction. And you don’t have to watch people ruin their lives in real time.

Like, everyone loves cute kid videos.

But there comes a point in sharing when it’s just TMI about people that aren’t capable of giving reasonable permission.

When a child’s real life becomes the center of "family monetization," there are always some rough–and terrible–spots.

I admire transparency while at the same time pointing out that a child has no ability to understand the realities of being a popular celebrity.

And there’s definitely a different vibe when a child has a contract and an agent and legal protections and when a child was the star of a short video that caught the interest of millions of people and now the parents have become "small local celebrities" with their easy acceptance of free stuff in the name of a child too young to create permanent memories.

Like, the ages of minor people really has to be taken into consideration when a "family channel" is exposing real lives under real names. So that even if the kid grows up to look completely different from their childhood selves… their childhood self is always the first result in searches.

And unless they’re a serious criminal that everyone should be wary around… You should not spend your whole adult life dealing with strangers coming up, knowing too much, and knowing the triggers to get you to either drop your guard or get you to react in preplanned ways.

Those children don’t have a sense of safety. And I don’t want to contribute to that "culture."

So I listen to Chinese novels. Because so many of them offer "livestream" scenarios.