====== Yinrih Popular Media ====== Yinrih consume a similar variety of media as humans. There are experiences similar to movies and TV shows as well as print and audio media. The phrase "canned play/drama" is used to refer to what humans call movies and serialized TV shows. One of the more unusual ways yinrih consume media is via text stream. This is text received in real-time through the ansible network. It can be read directly by the person receiving it or it can be recited by a speech synthesizer. These synths are treated a lot like humans treat fonts, with different synths being judged appropriate for specific types of media. With a bit of text markup, one can also achieve passable, though still obviously synthetic, dramatic dialogue with different synths voicing different characters, or, should the listener be so inclined, a single synth can affect different voices in imitation of a narrator telling a story. One of the reasons the Allied Worlds has achieved cultural hegemony is through its STL orbital repeater network. These are artificial satellites that act as conventional realspace radio repeaters placed at intervals between the planets of the AW, allowing for very fast (though still not real-time) data transfer. Entire high-definition video files can be propagated from one end of the AW to the other in anywhere from a few hours to a few days, depending on the position of the start and end points at the time. This allows entire movies or shows to be distributed across the region in a timely fashion, allowing media companies to reach a very wide audience. After the initial wave of human media hits Focus following First Contact, a distinct "Terranesque" style emerges, yinrih creators making media aimed at a primarily cynoid audience, but heavily influenced by human culture. Compare the phenomenon of Western cartoons informed by anime tropes. There is a small but dedicated human fandom for such media, which derives entertainment as much from yinrih misconceptions about human nature and odd interpretations of Terran cultural touchstones as from the media itself. While stories of talking animals are as common among yinrih as humans, one particular quirk of such stories inspired by Terran culture is that, since the yinrih are fur-bearing quadrupeds with tails living in a world designed for fur-bearing quadrupeds with tails already, Terran animal characters look much closer to how they do in real life, such as not walking on their hind feet. But if an animal has a tail at all, it's bound to be prehensile. Another quirk is how clothing is portrayed. Even in serious works it's colorful and outlandish. Humans often compare it to the styles found in anime. Fortunately, yinrih understand that humans don't go naked in public, but yinrih are fixated on humans' use of clothing as a social signal while ignoring the more mundane use of clothing as a practical tool. More savvy cynoid creators will poke fun at this cultural difference in a nod to human fans. One memorable scene from a particular political satire depicts a Partisan diplomat discussing a military alliance with Mainland China. The Partisan strides into the room, his tail aloft and ears erect in a display of dominance to counter the human's intimidating height. This show of confidence is marred by his tee-shirt, backwards, of course, with "I'm with Stupid" printed on it. {{tag>culture}}