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Happy new year!?!?!? Well, however weird and horrifying the world is right now, time keeps moving so apparently we have crossed yet another month.

Yuletide: I still recc like mad, the fic written for me, because it is wonderful: give you all the beautiful things, HiStory3: Trapped fic with Meng Shao Fei/Tang Yi, by yvenger (jjjat3am)

Every time the world looks dark HiStory fic makes it a little more hopeful again. That's not entirely hyperbole - more in the sense (without mocking fic authors) that there really isn't much that is hopeful about the human race for now. But I guess those of us who can, continue to hang on.

For my own Yuletide fic, I wrote Reintegration, a sort of AU-ish take in Nirvana in Fire, on what happens if the invasion at the end never happens, and Mei Changsu has to face to up, well, himself? Like most of my fics, it's more of a talking heads fic and I'm sorry I couldn't do better, RL was stressful. But I hope it was diverting for a moment, anyway.

Yuletide!

Dec. 25th, 2021 09:06 pm
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OMG this Yuletide is amazing because yvenger (jjjat3am) wrote me HiStory: Trapped fic with Meng Shao Fei/Tang Yi and it is splendid: give you all the beautiful things.

Summary is an excerpt:

“He’s not the only one wondering,” Tang Yi says.

“Wondering what?” Shao Fei asks and Tang Yi swallows around a dry throat, wishing there was some coffee left.

“When you might move in with me,” Tang Yi says.

“Oh," Shao Fei says.


It's a lovely fic, full of warmth and love between the two of them. As the summary suggests, it's of the two of them negotiating onwards to the next stage of their relationship, but really, they are also so good with each other that it would have happened anyway, but the author narrates it in such a comfortable way that it's really just brimming over with love. Bonus, Jack and Zhao Zi are just as wonderful. I'm so grateful to receive this fic.

Happy Holidays, everyone!
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Bought vol 1 of Scum Villain, English translation, pretty good but alas only vol 1.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend soon.

***

Starting to watch The Devil Judge, purely on rumour that the two male leads have enforced cohabitation at some point... which has just started in episode 3, yay! This is supposed to be some kind of dystopian legal drama, though it's best if one ignores all that one knows of legal processes so as to enjoy it more.

Ji Sung is excellent - and how. Was this the same person in Kill Me, Heal Me? Innocent Defender? He's on another level again. *swoons* Also the house that his character Yo-han owns, is to die for. (That wallpaper.) Though I'd probably hate that many mirrors.

Yo-han (Ji Sung) tending to Ga-on's wounds in bed. Finally we see Yo-han smile for real, when talking to his niece Elijah. ^___^
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Last two weeks of 2021 which is a shock but at least I got my booster so that was good. Or good not good depending on how any other variants come up (thanks Omicron). But it's done.

***

Yuletide fic done in time. Very last minute because I was putting off on writing this other fic, I didn't mean for you to see, a crossover reincarnation shortfic of Qihun (Hikaru no Go live action 2020) and MDZS (and Fatal Journey) starring Gu Yu aka Nie Huaisang. But done is done.

Recs:

The end is where we begin, AU, ending change, Shen Qingiu/Luo Binghe, Scum Villain, bySilver999

A Chance to Interrupt, Shang Qinghua/Mobei-jun, explicit, Scum Villain, by Pip (Moirail)
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While I'm online instead of falling asleep:

<<锦瑟>> 李商隐 (Li Shangyin)

锦瑟无端五十弦,一弦一柱思华年。
庄生晓梦迷蝴蝶,望帝春心托杜鹃
沧海月明珠有泪,蓝田日暖玉生烟。
此情可待成追忆,只是当时已惘然。

Ok, I've never paid that much attention to late Tang poetry (yes, I'm an unlettered oaf), and I have to admit that this poem caught my attention just now solely for the last bit in the third line: 玉生烟 (Yu Sheng Yan). Which is the name of Wu Yanshi's disciple in Thousand Autumns! Not sure if the author did take the name from this poem or if it's just a coincidence (or from another poem) but it is so adorable that I'm squeeing inside. (Tho' the poem is supposed to be a sad poem. But.) From what I gathered, 玉生烟 means a misty haze caused by sunlight on (jade)stone and refers to something ungraspable (I think?). Is it intended to be a sly reference to Yu Shengyan's very, very slow realisation of his shizun's infatuation with Shen Qiao? :))))

All the more delightful because this lyricism contrasts with Yan Wushi's terrible penchant for puns (Li Qingyu... tou).

***

In order to avoid writing my Yuletide fic (I know, I'm procrastinating, as usual), I started watching Crossfire Episode 1 on YT (穿越火线) and binged-watched it over the week. Fast-forwarded some of it, mostly when they were shooting at each other... Loved the earlier storyline of how e-sports started in China, the team's struggles and the prejudice against gaming especially professional gaming.

(There's two storylines, one starting in 2008 and one starting in 2019, and it's surreal to see a narration of how the 2019 team makes it to the national championship in 2020-2021 (!!!) and then flies to Singapore in 2021 (!!!!) for an international competition. Well, they probably made this in 2018-2019 and could not have anticipated the pandemic. Still.)

I watched it for Wu Lei (hello Fei Liu!) but ended up enjoying Lu Han's character more. The last episode was satisfying in that they caught the baddie at last but there's a lot of nationalist jingoism and of course, they had to defeat the Japanese team first (ahhhhh, China, never change).

***

By the way, I was grumbling the other day that Xiao Zhan didn't seem to have learnt the flute while filming the Untamed... turns out that he did learn it, there's bts. I guess the scenes where it didn't look right to me was... probably me? -_-; (Or the way that that they filmed those scenes, hmmm).
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Before I got my own place, I already knew it was going to be pretty small (1 bedroom flat) so I was looking up interior design style guides for small spaces. However, what (mostly) westernised interior design guides think of as 'small spaces' are actually about twice the size of my place. And some of those ideas just didn't quite fit, e.g. the so-called tiny house movement seems to assume that you will have a backyard. (That's just cheating, I wail.)

Stumbled a while back on a series of home makeovers in China by Beijing TV, which seems to be more on point. It calls itself 暖暖的新家: to makeover a truly small apartment (or house) (400sqft is a pretty common size) so that it comfortably holds a family of 4 or 5, a family of 6 (or this. The most interesting ones, I find, are the ones where they makeover a tiny bit of a hutong in Beijing, like this one (lots of hutongs were subdivided last century to provide more housing) #夢想改造家. Also an interesting snapshot into some common urban (usually Beijing) family structures: many are single-child families but both sets of grandparents move in to assist with childcare. It's kind of fun.
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The Naming of Small Things, LWJ/WWX, modern-day AU with cultivation, grad school AU, please note author's tags for other descriptions/warnings, by BromeliadDreams

And Green the Ground Below, Lan Xichen, some Wen Ning and Lan Wangji, by by BromeliadDreams

Plastromancy, LBH/SY, horror, inspired by Coraline, Halloween-ish, by x_los

***

Whilst I originally got on Twitter to follow updates of HiStory3, now it's all MDZS and Xiao Zhan, which is nice but also a bit annoying when I see that someone is Wrong on the Internet (especially if that someone is American - I guess they are USA-based - only they are that annoying, I grumpily assume), viz:

1) XZ should go to Hollywood (This is why I assumed the USA part of it) so that he's more accessible to "fans". First, ugh, Hollywood. Second, isn't China a bigger market than USA?

2) MDZS is a novel about Y and not about X as everyone assumed. One, a novel can be about more than 1 thing; two, do you realise that X is the theme that that the author herself keeps reiterating both in-novel and in her commentary - and all three adaptations (radio drama, live-action, donghua) work with it (???); and three: you are wrong.

3) I have read the novel so my special interpretation must be right. Hm, loads of people have read the same thing and they have a different interpretation from yours, so?

I'm also there for updates on the donghua s2 of Thousand Autumns but not for the more, ah, creative fanart. And people do keep repeating Word of Honor memes so there's lots of pretty.

I'm also now desperately curious about the Scum Villain translation (though probably not curious enough to shell out what amounts to USD60-something for it - we'll see) because the version I have is just 2 volumes plus a small booklet of some extra chapters, while the official translation is apparently 3 volumes. Have I read an earlier version? Missed out on some extra chapters? :(
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Dear Yuletide Author:

Thank you for taking the time to write a fic for me, especially in these trying times. I have some thoughts about these fandoms below, but they are only suggestions and please feel free to write where the muse takes you.

DNWs: ...coffeeshop AUs? Canon pairings meeting in childhood (unless they did grow up together). I don't have many strong DNWs, to be frank; so long the actions or descriptions are plausible in the overall logic/context of the fic, I'm okay with them.


(1) HiStory3 - Trapped
Meng Shao Fei

About him )


(2) Thousand Autumns
Shen Qiao, Yan Wushi

About them )


(3) Nirvana in Fire
Mei Changsu, Lin Chen

Thinking of... )


(4) HiStory3 - Make Our Days Count
Xiang Haoting

About him )

Iron Widow

Sep. 30th, 2021 01:04 am
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Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

Um... my chief takeaway from this book is that I needed to get a copy of 山海经, Classic of Mountains and Seas, stat, because all the chapters opened with a description of a mythical creature from it.

Ok, being serious now. Of course I've always liked mecha (my first love Gundam! Evangelion, not that much) or I'd not have read this. And the book fulfills that part very nicely, although... aiyaya the bookverse.

a bit spoilery now )
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All by x_los, all Scum Villain

Living With a Tiger, Original Luo Binghe/Shen Yuan, reincarnation, AU, arranged marriage between child!Shen Yuan and Luo Binghe

Anyways, Stan Shen Qingqiu, meeting a new transmigrator, crack

How To Stop Being Strung Along By A Guy & Get What You Deserve: 5 Steps to a Serious Relationship!, Luo Binghe/Shen Qingqiu | Shen Yuan

***

ALSO, HOSPITAL PLAYLIST SEASON 2 ENDED AND THERE IS NO MORE. >_< but also ^_______^

How lovely were episodes 11 and 12? I actually prefer episode 11, because the moment of realisation/discovery was so very much nail-biting and squee-inducing. And episode 12 was more traumatic, patient-wise. But it was very, very nearly perfect.

Now I can re-watch season 2 in peace. I don't actually wish for Season 3 because my feeling is, quit while you're ahead. Season 1 was already excellent, Season 2 surpassed that despite my fears and that it has a lot more ups and downs patients-wise (look, they did this part so well that I can't not feel for their predicaments, unlike some medical dramas where the patient is a sort of realisation tool for the surgeon's romantic/professional development). And they're all adults. They've all got to a good place, relationship-wise and also professionally and ALSO personally. Let 'em live their lives.
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I'd Rather Spend My Whole Life Asleep (With You), Luo Binghe/Shen Qingqiu, original Luo Binghe, Scum Villain, WIP, by kuku88

If It's You, Lan/Wangji/Wei Wuxian, MDZS, by etymologyplayground

***

Also apparently fans of MXTX's Scum Villain, MDZS and Tian Guan Ci Fu are all pre-ordering the English translations like whoa. That's great, while objectively, I'm wondering if the Taiwanese publisher does a version of TGCF that (1) is in traditional Chinese, and (2) where the text runs vertically. I wish I'd done that for the Scum Villain novel, because I'm enjoying it and I'd really enjoy it more if it were in a format that I like best.

Other stuff: I guess I would not like to be in the shoes of SHL's cast and production team now? Imagine working so hard and becoming incredibly relieved and proud that SHL became a success and you're getting known for it and you can put it on your resume, and THEN.

Read more... )
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Finished knitting my cardigan (lie: I finished last month) but had to weave what seemed like a million ends first. After the first three I felt like saying, forget it, I'll just wear it with the long ends hanging out and tell everybody it's part of the design. But done's done. I need a cookie.

Apparently MXTX is going to get official English translations of her works (details here), which is great. I'm iffy about English translations of Chinese works, probably because I'm usually mentally translating it (badly) back into broken Chinese as I read. Oh well, we will see how it looks like first - in any case, I'm really more interested in MDZS and SV, rather than TGCF as I haven't even read it yet (will get round to it one of these days, I swear).

I'm at the stage of Untamed rewatch where I'm actively resenting the fact that no one taught Xiao Zhan to play the flute. He doesn't have to actually play - he can play 'do, re, mi' throughout, since it's gonna be dubbed - but it would save me from wincing at how the lip movement doesn't look right, dammit. For guqin I have lower standards because in some scenes it is so obviously a prop that I might get thrown out of the scene, but I am not annoyed by a prop.

This has been a random update.
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Finished Thousand Autumns, including the extras, and now I can go back to reading fic, heh. I really like this author's style, I'm finding.
thoughts )

***

Others

advanced self-saving, AU, interdimensional travel, book transmigration, Shen Qingqiu | Shen Yuan/Luo Binghe, 人渣反派自救系统 - 墨香铜臭 | The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System, by kitschlet

Souvenir, crossover of Spirited Away and 天官赐福 | Tiān Guān Cì Fú, by canis_m

Pour Herbal Oil, Yan Yujin, Nirvana in Fire, by ShanaStoryteller.

places under the sky, Wei Wuxian and his family, Wei Changze, MDZS, by narie

Also more MDZS|Untamed fics by ShanaStoryteller:

Crazy, Rich Cultivators, Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian, modern cultivators

Rotten Work, Jin Ling, Wei Wuxian

Cartwheels in Cloud Recesses, AU, Cangse Sanren and Wei Changze didn't die, powerful WWX

fandomy

Jul. 26th, 2021 08:18 am
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Still on Hospital Playlist. Ep 6: How do they make the sad moments so bleak yet the joyful moments so sparkling?

Brain still eaten by Thousand Autumns. Btw, in the animated version Shen Qiao had regained his eyesight earlier (though it isn't as perfect as before), then almost-bluescreen dies (manipulated by Yan Wushu) and as de rigueur for wuxia, this means his skills level up, just in time (with a side plot at Bixia Sect, also killing Kunye) to go rescue his man YWS who is attacked on all sides, dashingly getting in just before the death strike, and gets to cradle WYS in his arms. Ah, I like that they take turns.

*Awaits season 2 with badly concealed impatience*

Thinking of some comparisons between the novel and the adaptation (novel!YWS is a lot less caring at first, doesn't even remember SQ much, unlike his donghua version), as well as the comparisons between Tian Ya Ke the novel and Word of Honor the TV adaptation, where WKX is someone who doesn't have a shixiong connection with ZZS but just crazily stalks him until he gets ZZS to pay attention to him. Wonder if the episodic format tends towards this type of characterisation, i.e. the 'crazy' character really is crazy...

I adore the opening of Thousand Autumns right now. here

Also, how much I melted for Thousand Autumns when I saw those scenes of SQ and YWS playing Go? I don't even play Go but I loved those scenes.

Still on the novel version, chapter 80.
Read more... )

ruminatory

Jul. 12th, 2021 12:00 am
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The less said of RL the better, so I've been only coming home and watching tv and collapsing on my couch and watching endless repetitions of Xiao Zhan gossip on yt - just a few things that's been on my notes:

Fic-adjacent:

The things I would like to rant about fanfics with 'ancient' Chinese settings (I'm looking at you, Untamed and Word of Honor fics) but have no energy for but here is a list:

1. There are no weeks in ancient China. If you tell me a character is meeting someone next WEEK, I am instantly thrown out of the story. Bonus if characters suffer from Monday blues because the concept of weekend also doesn't exist.

2. Addressing your elders by their name. Each time Lan Wangji speaks to his brother, "Xichen, see you next week" (see above), I twitch. Even more so when he addresses Lan Qiren by name. Even WWX calls him 'old man' (MDZS Q).

3. The months are not called January, February, March... I guess it would translate to First Month, Second Month...? And therefore Qixi does not happen on 7th July. It is on the 7th of the Seventh month (hence the name).

4. The dantian (or golden core, for cultivators) is not located in the chest area.

5. People generally DO NOT take on their husband's family name after marriage. Just don't. It's cringey. I guess unless yours is a weird as fuck A/B/O or d/s fic... in which case I twitch just as much, but quietly.

***

Also watching:

《山河剑心》| Thousand Autumns

《山河剑心》| Thousand Autumns, Chinese animation, Yan Wushi/Shen Qiao, wuxia, wip (16 episodes in the first season so far), BL. Chinese title is <<千秋>> by 梦溪石 if anyone wants to read it at http://www.jjwxc.net/onebook.php?novelid=2423737 which I'm going to do as I dearly want to know the ending. It's been translated into English, I believe, but I haven't looked into those yet.

spoilery )

One hilarious thing with the Tencent English subtitle (I think they did it?): apparently 'qi deviation' has been translated as 'infatuation' which is... either a beautiful mistake or an awkward misunderstanding.


Hospital Playlist season 2

I was a bit taken aback at first because I was expecting it to be made up of band practice and cute flirting and food, but that was of course me being self-selecting after re-watching my favourite clips over and over again. But now at episode 4, I do feel that it's a little more sober in terms of the patient stories and the upheavals among the doctors. But even so... How awesome is it?

Loved episode 1: the constant duality, the will-they or won't they... How many times did Min-ha pace before Seok-Hyeong's office before she entered... and the realisation that a different doctor could turn the prognosis of a patient upside down. All in the context of waiting for Songhwa's reply to Ik-sun's almost confession. And the incredibly cute couple, a milder version (to make public or not).

Episode 2: And then, just as we (I mean me) were getting used to feeling heartbreak - even Jeong-wan and Gyeo-Wool's adorableness can't make up for it... almost -

Episode 3: A lot of bleak outcomes, patient-wise, and even knowing it's 'just' a medical drama, you can't help your heartstrings getting tugged. Also, how awesome is Rosa?

Episode 4: Ugh, poor Jung-won.
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Non fanfic:

Black Water Sister by Zen Cho. Lives up to hype, though the K-drama-esque revelation at the ending was... very K-drama-esque. Or maybe that's just me. Jessamy (hate the name), a Harvard grad, returns to Malaysia only to find herself being haunted by her grandmother. As she tries to resolves a minor case of possession (her own) family secrets come out. In some places, it was pretty reminiscent of listening to the hairier tales of my grandma's family. Is there a genre such as SEA modern gothic? Because I think this might describe the plot. Now if only everything took place in an old Peranakan shophouse as well...

I love her dialogue, and how the Manglish never becomes awkward. I feel ultra-sensitive about writing set in SEA that try to portray the way people actually speak - it grates when it feels fake or awkward - and Zen Cho has always done it well in her previous works. And love all the in-jokes, though I've probably missed a few at the first reading.

***

Fanfic writing:

Does anyone know how Zhang Zhehan and Gong Jun address each other, other than as Zhang-laoshi and Gong-laoshi? I'm tired of trying to figure this out via variety show clips and fan-vids on Youtbe. I know, I suck at research. Also I get distracted by the pretty. Also there's a lot of Xiao Zhan clips because c-entertainment news is mad full of it. And also. Much as I love staring at the pretty, it grates to keep coming accross WYB-XZ clips. I mean, I get that people adore Wangxian - as do I, but purely in fic. I think that that (RPS) ship has long, long sailed off a cliff. Anyway, Youtbe, stop giving the things I do not want.

Am I writing RPS of ZZH and GJ? I don't know. I have an idea but first I need to know what they call each other. I guess I can always invent some xiaoming or buddy-names...


TV:

Dream of Red Chamber, 2010 version. I'm not that much of a fan of having someone narrate the scenes to me, even though I know it helps in keeping the plotlines in mind. It's distracting. And this version mainly just follows the narrative sequence of the 1987 version; y'know, they could have done something interesting with the ending instead - instead we get the same old, same old Gao E version, except without the good songs of the 1987 version. Other than that. It is indeed very, very pretty. But the sound effects are *groan*. I know it's meant to portray a dreamlike atmosphere or the Dreaded Hand of Fate or whatever, but it unwittingly makes things feel cartoony. And I wish they'd just indicate which character it is (there are so many) when they appear onscreen after a few episodes' absence. And Yang Yang looks just fine as Jia Baoyu, BUT the actor who portrayed his younger self was way, way more... transcendent? And I've seriously having dissonance when I look at Li Qin as Xue Baochai versus the Li Qin whom I like in Joy of Life. Argh. Thankfully she is later acted by someone older, so I can dislike her in peace.

Hospital Playlist 2, coming this week. Can't wait. OMG. It's coming this week. Can't wait. Did I mention that I can't wait?

I think the reason that up to now, I can't make myself watch TV set in contemporary times (and so I've only been watching period shows or fantasy shows) is I dread seeing Covid appearing on TV. Don't ask me why, but I feel like if they portray the pandemic or don't portray the pandemic and it doesn't ring true to me I might throw my TV away. (If it was obviously made before Covid, I'm fine.) That's why I still haven't really watched History 4 even though I was pretty excited for it earlier this year. Besides the fake/not fake incesty plot. Look, after your stepbrother takes advantage of you while you're drunk the ONLY correct response is to cut him out of your life forever (whether or not you wish to make a police report, for the sake of family cohesion blahblahblah). That is exactly the time to spit on his 'love'. Instead (from the clips I caught) you tell yourself you're in love? I can't.

Lucifer season 5b. I liked this more than season 5A. Linda is my guiding light.


...I came to talk about ONE book.

fics

Jun. 10th, 2021 11:59 pm
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Word of Honor (it actually hurts a bit to type 'honor' but that's the title *shrug*)":

先兵后礼, Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu, explicit, rape roleplay, by pumpkinpaix. Please see more warnings at the tags. Also same fic translated into Chinese by purplesheep22

with inexplicable fondness, Han Ying/Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu and combinations thereof, threesome, explicit, by noelia_g and sequel with tenderness to keep


MDZS:

Songs of Joy and Regret, academia-AU, reincarnation, reference and rumour of Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian, by Aki_no_hikari
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In a bid to catch a lot more Wenzhou aka LLD clips on Youtube, I somehow ended up catching a lot of somewhat fantastical to seemingly delusional RPS (my characterisation) video clips for the actors, and incidentally learning a lot (true or not) rumours about the actors, other actors, and crazy world of Chinese entertainment. It's been a trip.

(I'm trying escapism recently.)

Anyway. I've also been watching:

Imperial Coroner (period drama, mystery, ancient-China-vibey coroner solving crimes), which is amazingly good: it's tightly plotted, logical sequences, starts to hint at an over-arching plot within the first few episodes, and the intelligent characters (including the female lead) are all extremely likeable.


The Long Night (crime thriller, dark), which I started watching last year. It is devastatingly good and also makes you rage, rage, rage at the injustice and unfairness of life. Stars Bai Yu, whom I didn't realise at first was the same Bai Yu of Guardian, because he's that good.
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Brain still eaten by Word of Honor. I should re-read the novel, I think? Speed-read it the first time round, I'm probably missing a lot, haha. That said, what shall I watch now that Word of Honor has ended and I've already re-watched it (some episodes) twice? I guess it'll become one of those comfort re-watch things, like I do with Untamed or Hospital Playlist. Or Pokémon, I suppose. Once in a while I'll put on a couple of episodes of Pokémon; it's wonderfully distracting and yet focuses your mind, like having a good idea while you're in the shower.

Also I finally dug out my old CD-player (placed aside in the last move) and now I'm playing old Jackie Cheung Cantonese hits. And Jay Chou. Omg I did not realise I still have the CDs. So lovely especially late at night.

And Youn Yuh-Jung won an Oscar!!! I know, I probably should give a shoutout as well to Chloe Zhao (congrats to her) but I haven't watched Nomadland yet (nor have I watched Minari, waiting for it to come to Netflix) but I've liked Yuon Yuh-Jung in every K-drama and variety show I've seen her in, so congrats!


***

WoH fics:

winter thunder, snow in summer, what happened in episode 36, Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu, dual cultivation, explicit, by scheherazade and the sequel, not yet home

We Would Choose This Tenderness, WKX/ZZS, Word of Honor, by Zelos

And by way of some self-advertising: Yes, it's us, a drabble-ly crossover of Untamed and WoH, by yours truly.
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Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu:

the annals of history, now dust, ending spoiler, Word of Honor by sundermount

The Viscera of Our Souls, by Zelos. Also by same author: And We Shall Toast the Heavens

***

Just one thing: I see authors apologising for making WKX the top and I'm... ?_? I had the impression that if anything the author meant for WKX to be the top and ANYWAY what does it really matter and does it need apologising for? So, mildly perplexed.

I think maybe (just off the top of my head) that it's the difference between how Chinese (and haphazardly lumping them with Asian) fans decide who's the top and how non-Chinese (ditto) fans do so? (I remember a number of similar debates in Japanese fandoms.) Or perhaps Chinese fans simply go with what Priest states (while recognising that they probably switch). I dunno. I've been watching too many fan-made reactions by Chinese fans that simply assume WKX is the top so *shrug*.

My thoughts on how TV characters might be for top/bottom dynamics: WKX is taller, more shameless, manic, feral, the avenger, better kungfu, versus ZZS who is older, rolls his eyes disdainfully, suffers prettily, the one who is guilt-stricken, the one who adopts the kid first and is a hugger. *shrugs* Any assumptions would collapse once we brought up other characteristics like how ZZS is the leader of a sekrit assassination organisation and stuck nails into himself while WKX twirls a fan and has magical red eyeshadow and provides for his family. ZZS has better hair, though. <3

As for dynamics: Whatever works for the story.

Watching lots of Word of Honor fan-reaction vids, so much so that I had to take a break and re-watch The Untamed, haha.

Also I belatedly realised Zhang Zhehan was young!Lin Shu in Nirvana in Fire and now I love him unreservedly.

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