End of the Year Project Wrap-Up – K-Pop Industry and Fandom Antiblackness Project

Posted on December 24, 2019 by

I don’t regret how I’ve spent most of 2019.

It’s impossible to miss that I’ve spent most of 2019 writing about, listening to, and talking to other people about Korean pop and hip hop music. I have spent so much time, energy, and effort talking about what is now my primary fandom and at the end of these past eight months –

I can’t say that I regret any of it.

Criticism is part of my fandom way.

I love critical conversations about fandom. I love making connections between the theories I learned in grad school and the things I love. I genuinely and truly love getting my critical little claws all over something that I’m fond of.

And I am fond of these things.

I promise.

Continue reading →
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What Stitch Listened To In 2019

Posted on December 24, 2019 by

If you’re so inclined, you can check out my Spotify 2019 “Top Songs” playlist for what I had on repeat this year, but if you want to know the songs I played even when I was just screwing around on YouTube and what I was thinking/why I liked it, this list is for you!

I spent a lot of 2019 listening to recent Korean pop and hip-hop. That’s probably not a surprise considering what I’ve been working on across this year.

And of course, I’m still listening to Hamilton.

Title: Love U

Artist: Monsta X

What Had Me Hooked: A few weeks ago I made a tweet about how Monsta X makes “some good songs about fucking” and “Love U”, one of their newer English releases that’ll be on their upcoming Valentine’s Day release, is one of those songs. I love this song because it is so semi-subtly hornt. Are they talking about not being able to say the word “fuck” on the radio or are they talking about not being able to say “I love you” in Korean on Western radio? Who knows! It’s exciting!

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[Letters To The Author] Dear Laurell K Hamilton

Posted on December 20, 2019 by

Dear Laurell K Hamilton,

I’m sure that you’re as sick of me as I am of your writing. 

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Quick Coverage: CLC's Sorn Should Think Before She Posts

Posted on December 19, 2019 by

If you’re in or adjacent to Korean pop culture fandom spaces and somehow thought we’d be ending 2019 without further antiblackness from idols or their fans…

a) I’m not sure how you got to that conclusion considering how bad 2019’s been

b) You were wrong.

You were wrong, and now we have another month where an idol has thoroughly proven themselves to give less than zero shits about Black people and Black fans.

Have we had a month yet where an idol hasn’t fucked up on some way? Have we had a month in 2019 that wasn’t rife with antiblackness directly revolving around Korean pop and/or hip-hop as genres or within their fandom spaces?

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What Fandom Racism Looks Like: Power & Privilege

Posted on December 16, 2019 by

This was originally posted on Patreon in November without any real extra-text.

One of the most interesting (and frustrating) things about talking about fandom and media and the racism present in these spaces is how many people view my position as one that has any power in fandom.

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Fic-as-Lit

Posted on December 16, 2019 by

Note: This essay contains critical references to and some descriptions content in fanworks that is objectionable including underage characters and sexualized/eroticized racism.

Fic-As-Lit Header (2)

I spent a lot of my time in graduate school arguing that “literature” as a word could encompass entire worlds of media that were consistently dismissed as not being sacred or classical enough.

I found the potential for literature in pretty much everything that had text in it and made a point of challenging the expectations that my classmates had about lit on a regular basis.

So I get that urge to be like “fan fiction should be as valued and as valid as literature” and I even embrace it – up to a point.

And that point comes when you look at the differences between how literature and fanfiction are critiqued. Or rather – how we’re allowed to engage critically with them. Continue reading →

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What Fandom Racism Looks Like: The Star Wars Fandom (Part One, Probably)

Posted on December 14, 2019 by

Few fandoms fill me with the kind of anger that the Star Wars fandom does.

In fact, there are times where I’d go so far as to say that I hate it.

Times like Wednesday night.

When I got home Wednesday night from my first A.C.E concert, I was flying high. It’d been a great night with fantastic music and a stellar performance. Everywhere I looked, I saw fans loving their thing and loving that they got to share that thing with other fans. For a few blissful hours, I’d experienced fandom at its best: people coming together in joy and in celebration over something brilliant.

And then I was rudely reminded that the Star Wars fandom exists and that a whole huge chunk of the Rey/Kylo shippers who dominate much of the fandom discourse is made up of just really terrible people.

Continue reading →
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Fleeting Frustrations #11 – True Fans, Who Fans?

Posted on December 7, 2019 by

True Fans Who Fans - Header

There’s nothing about my Twitter account that clearly pings the mind and calls me out as an obvious fan of K-pop – or… pretty much any form of nerdery outside of a single comic.

My profile picture is a picture of my face, not a Korean artist or a superhero. My display name and @ aren’t a fandom in-joke. (Although the little leaf/tree emoji in my display name is a reference to Kim Namjoon of BTS. I did it for his birthday in September and then… just never changed it.)

Stitch Computer687

I do get that the only notably nerdy thing about my twitter account is, at first glance, my header image of Lunella Lafayette from Marvel Comics’ Moon Girl & Devil Dinosaur. And if you don’t know anything about her comic, it’s easy to assume it’s not nerdy.

But between my apparently invisible fannishness and my very visible Blackness, no one ever assumes I know anything about K-pop. Or Star Wars. Or fandom.

The first thing is my thing, you know?

I’m into a ton of different fandoms and when faced with having to try and choose one to represent fully across my Twitter profile, I kind of froze and chose one thing. So that inability some fans have to recognize me based on my profile and whatnot? That’s on me.

But then there’s the thing where Black people aren’t necessarily read as fans across many different fandom spaces around the world. Continue reading →

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No Time To Die – Trailer #1 Thoughts

Posted on December 4, 2019 by

Back in 2015, I devoted pretty much half a year of my life to covering the Bond films for The Mary Sue (except the last one, somehow). I made that franchise my life and it was, for the most part aside from how I didn’t get paid to do any of it, pretty awesome.

My interest in Bond fandom comes and goes depending on what content is coming out. I got hyped for the comics from Dynamite (so good, for real) and then that waned because I have a short attention span. When news of No Time To Die started coming out and it looked like we were finally getting back on track, I was like “okay, let’s do it”.

Everything about No Time To Die has me hyped up so far. The cast – new and returning – looks wonderful. The director – Cary Fukunaga – is both talented and a major babe. My anticipation for this film is pretty high and the trailer does an excellent job of returning me to my Bond Babe roots. Continue reading →

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WFRLL K-Pop Antiblackness Project #HoodCosplay

Posted on November 29, 2019 by

I’m just so pleased about how well “hood cosplay” as a term works for my needs across my project on antiblackness in the k-pop industry and its fandom spaces. I had to do a video!

If you haven’t hit up my masterpost yet, now’s your chance! 

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