things

Dec. 22nd, 2022 01:50 am
issenllo: strawberry thief print from William Morris (Default)
Yuletide fic done on time, yes! I'm not entirely happy with it, and if I can squeeze in a little time I'll try to edit it further.

Visit Japan for the first time ever in my life, for one week, over end-November/beginning-December. It was glorious. Everything else aside, no one spoke to me for a week. (I spoke only when I wanted, and that was to very lovely and polite shop and restaurant staff and hotel staff.) I went to Sendai, which was all layers of happiness, not-so-incidentally also met an ex-classmate which was very comforting, and also to Kyoto which had a delightful surprise for me.

Back home, I thought things were back to normal but now coming to year-end, to my dismay, I'm approaching a mindset that I thought I had abandoned years ago:

1) refusal to eat;
2) a wild urge to fling myself off the building, or alternatively to maybe self-harm a lot;
3) trying not to burst into tears when I have to go out in public and interact with people.

I am like, damn it. I don't have time for this only to realise, sure I have time for this. I can take as much time as I want to think about how I need to buy more fan-stuff so I'm motivated to wake up in the morning. Anyway, it's probably seasonal and will pass, but I am annoyed now. Or I should be, if I had the energy for it.

I should probably eat. Food solves a lot of problems.

Happy winter solstice, everyone.
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So, I am now the mildly bemused and bewildered owner of not one but four photobooks for Hanyu Yuzuru as well as being on fs Twitter as well as subscribing to his YouTube channel. (I didn't even do this for Jay Chou, not when I was at my most fervent fandom-ly worship state. Buying CDs was deemed enough. But I suppose budget constraints then.) His fandom is huge, with some very smart segments and nice people and (as with most fandoms) some rather less desirable ones. Ah well, it's been fun so far, so we'll see how it goes.

Twitter is kind of fun? I follow a lot of politics and books and academia-ly things as well and occasionally it brings a lot of food for thought. But it's so annoying USA-based too, yikes.

And then media consumed. After Extraordinary Attorney Woo, I went on to Sandman which was good and awkward and horrifying by turns - I do so badly with horror that I probably would not see it again, but it was entertaining and it did/does have very high production value, so thumbs up, I suppose. And I would rec if you are new to Sandman and enjoyed some urban fantasy featuring (again) some mysterious beings inspired by Christianity and the (ancient) Greek pantheon. The pretty parts are really very, very pretty.

After that I milled around aimlessly for a bit, and such as Goblin Emperor )

Dramas:

I was watching Love Between Fairy and Devil and [personal profile] libitina had a post about the male protagonists in this and Love Like the Galaxy (https://libitina.dreamwidth.org/613285.html), and so I went to watch LLG as well. Which was a pleasant surprise! Wu Lei as the male lead aside, I realised that LLG was chockful of excellent characters like Concubine Yue and Xiao Yuanyi (Cheng Shaoshang's mother) and the empress, not to mention a whole bunch of scheming, nasty-tongued princesses, venal grandmothers, matriarchs, and assorted hangers-on (and also Shaoshang's suitors). All the sniping underneath the seemingly nice and polite language and all those manners and formalities - delightful. Not to mention, there's genuinely good/moral people who unironically insist on such trite virtues as honesty, loyalty, honour, repaying your debts, etc., as a contrast, and it's been very satisfying to watch. I like the emperor's unabashed support of the canon couple, lol.

Yuletide )
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Well, it's not COVID but a cold/cough after more than three years isn't welcome either.

(1) I've just finished the beginnings of my Linkedin profile, an ordeal which was as sigh-inducing as expected. I think the sole reason I haven't gone looking for a new job earlier is just how much I hated/still hate job-hunting. I'm that mix of (a) some experience but it's a rather niche area that doesn't really adapt well to other areas, which is a bummer if you would rather not have the same job again, (b) being not very motivated to want to put in additional hours (but if I have to...) but almost certainly have to, and (c) sadly and low-key worried that my job is becoming obsolete and therefore change is imminent. And (d) I'm really not a genial person and am hampered by extreme passivity. Basically, needs must but T_T

We'll see.

(2) Another thing that are (more?) imminent: Yuletide nominations, and then Yuletide itself. I'm (again) in two minds about Yuletide this year. The thing is, after making my requests I inexplicably (or not) feel like writing my requests myself anyway, for better or worse. But then I've got great Yuletide fics over the years, so that feels too lovely to give up.

(3) Related to (2), what fandoms? I suddenly thought of The Imperial Coroner, and possibly HIStory3: Trapped and Make Your Days Count again.
issenllo: strawberry thief print from William Morris (Default)
It has been an insane two months. Pandemic aside, I thought all that was going to happen for February 2022 was Lunar New Year, Winter Olympics with some lovely figure skating... and then a war broke out in Ukraine. On top of all other armed conflicts happening in the world, of course.

Then another earthquake in Japan.

March is ending soon...?

Out of curiosity, I started watching Servant of the People and thoughts about the drama itself aside, and it hits hard that the country appearing in the drama is no longer like that, and the actors, the crew, everyone involved, has had their lives utterly turned upside-down. Just because Putin couldn't keep his hands in his pockets. The invasion's a somewhat distant event in my corner of the world (for now) but apparently there are plenty of people in my vicinity who are eager to tell me how justified Russia was because reasons. Which is nuts. How can murder and destruction ever be justified? I've been talking about the weather a lot, instead.

I'll just add this link where Yuzuru Hanyu teaches a masterclass on musicality in just 72 seconds for people who need a little joy in these dark days.
issenllo: strawberry thief print from William Morris (Default)
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.
issenllo: strawberry thief print from William Morris (Default)
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? :(
issenllo: strawberry thief print from William Morris (Default)
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... )
issenllo: strawberry thief print from William Morris (Default)
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.
issenllo: strawberry thief print from William Morris (Default)
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.
issenllo: strawberry thief print from William Morris (Default)
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.

Feb, 2021

Feb. 7th, 2021 02:11 am
issenllo: strawberry thief print from William Morris (Default)
So, 2021.

Fandom-wise, I've been immersed in MDZS for the better part of a year if not longer that I'm starting to wonder if Covid came first or my fangirling. Also taken aback to realise (re-realise?) that I was writing some HIStory3 fic last year too.

RL-wise, work continues at a frentic pace as it has since we ended a shutdown last June, AND finally, thank goodness, we have begun vaccinations (albeit for the most vulnerable at this point, but I await my turn impatiently). And I think a lot about a commentator on Twitter who felt that people who are on an island shouldn't be jostling for vaccines with other countries as island nations should have been able to gatekeep Covid out of their territories (I'm paraphrasing). First, I think it's pretty well clear that island nations or not, Covid has been spreading. Second, WTF. The situation is not good and 'should' pretty much goes out of the window.

On my end, my so-called essential work means I meet half a dozen strangers in person every day, where we proceed to talk at each other for anything from 15 minutes and longer. I can't work remotely. I'm not in healthcare or transit so I don't get priority for a vaccination. I'm the only one in my office who sees this many clients, because I'm not senior enough to arrow the work to someone else. I feel vulnerable as fuck. I take my precautions - maybe even getting a little complacent with it - and feel lucky that cases are very low where I am but the reality is always at the back of my mind, and I think of this Twitter stranger and, and I think, how dare they. /rant

RL-wise the second, Lunar New Year is upon us! (Soon.) I've been so busy that I've not been able to think seriously about it, but this weekend I have (a) obtained egg rolls aka love letters, deep-fried sambal rolls, a bag of pistachos, a bag of cashew nuts; alas being too late to buy Sunny Hills pineapple tarts (honestly the best, next to my mum's homemade ones), and also traditional pork jerky (okay so it was my parents who got them for me); (b) purchased flowers including peach flowers; (c) laid out pattern and did the cutting for a dress which will hopefully be completed - without disaster; I've not sewn for ages - by Lunar New Year for me to wear (who am I kidding); and (d) have mixed a batch of chocolate chip cookies which frozen batter is in the fridge. Home visits are supposed to be limited during the long weekend (prolly only seeing my immediate family) so I may be able to catch up on sleep: work plus Covid-stress has been causing sleep problems for months.

Also being terrified of falling sick (Covid or not), I've been taking pains to eat healthily and get regular exercise and so on? I've been on long walks every weekend. I used to fall apart after walking five kilometres; now apparently 15 is my regular distance. While avoiding people. Covid-year has been...

Also have to make a stab at spring cleaning. I guess I could put up fresh curtains...?

RL-wise the third, I must say it's kind of fun/sad that I come home at night and check that my robot vacuum cleaner is back at its charging spot. (This is also my sad acknowledgement that I really can't get a cat for now; I'm not home long enough.)

Happy Lunar New Year to all who celebrate it, and even if you don't, stay healthy and may your vaccination date come soon.
issenllo: strawberry thief print from William Morris (Default)
Person I know: There's no such thing as evolution! Things don't change just like that.
Same person: Do you know that the Covid-19 virus mutated?

(Next) Person I know: It's not a scam! It's an investment opportunity. ____ is going to return my money! There's no need to make a report.
Me: I have tried my best and saints can't do more.
Same person: Might I interest you in this scam-awareness FB group?

Me (hands over TWO keys): Here's the front door key and the mailbox key.
Client: But they are unlabeled! How do I know which is which?!
Me: I know, it's gonna be really tough to figure this out.

***

It's been an interesting couple of months. Work is pretty hectic, and I'm stuck between hoping it quiets down soon and fearing that it really does quiet down, leaving me out of a job. Also bitching about new HDB (aka public housing) launches, as usual.

Hope everyone enjoyed Deepavali (Diwali), although I was annoyed that it was not on a weekday. I really could have used a long weekend, cruel world!

Also, a bat just flew in my window and went straight to the bananas in the kitchen. *sigh*


***

Watching:

琉璃 aka Love and Redemption, which is turning out to be just the emotional outlet I need, as it contains as many angsty parts as the lovey-dovey parts, so I can revel and ff as I like. I adore Tengshe, by the way.

A few episodes of the Crown, mainly for Gillian Anderson's portrayal of Thatcher.

The Untamed, again, while I wait for the other Xiao Zhan shows to air (and to a lesser extent, Wang Yibo's).

Chinese version of Hikaru no Go. The version of Sai is... indescribable. The ff button is pretty useful. But I really do appreciate how they show the weiqi/Go world. And not to bitch on Queen's Gambit, but Hikago (anime or Chinese version) is still better.
issenllo: strawberry thief print from William Morris (Default)
I have so many half-assed fic ideas and am so incapable of getting them into any sort of coherent order, I'm sick of myself.

Possible my lack of sleep has something to do with that, hm. And possibly the long workdays? Recently I've made the discovery that a short bus-ride from my place brings me all the way to a tiny, tiny island that has been turned into a park/hiking spot (there's a road/bridge leading to it and it takes just two hours to walk the perimeter) and the prospect of going there during the weekend is the one thing getting me through the week. There's something incredibly precious about it. To a dreamy weekend. Well, I have to get through Friday first.

***

Still MDZS | Untamed

black milk of daybreak, drunk at sundown, AU, no to Burial Mounds siege, Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian, by stiltonbasket

Dragon's Gall, Madam Lan, Qingheng-jun, forced marriage, rape within marriage, forced pregnancy, imprisonment and torture, abuse, life-endangering childbirth, postpartum depression, miscarriage, by jelenedra. So many warnings, but it's a fic that involves Madam Lan...
issenllo: strawberry thief print from William Morris (Default)
*gets home*
*rips off mask*
*takes deep breath*

There are definitely days when Covid's only the sixth or seventh thing on my mind, and then there are very powerful moments when I feel like it's the topmost. On the other hand I've not caught a single cold this whole year due to everyone wearing masks, washing hands and keeping their distance. And now that I've jinxed myself...

***

I got my Yuletide assignment! Hm, time to get my writing muscles to work. I've only been writing some random chapters of my MDZS fics these few months.

Watched the first and last episodes of The Queen's Gambit, which is on Netflix. Story of a chess prodigy called Elizabeth. How did they find someone with such wide big eyes and who can blink them in such a coolly challengingly way? Actually, make that coolly, intellectually, challengingly. Loved the last episode where she goes to a tournament and proceeds to thrash everyone (emerging, in true American-narrative trajectory - compare with Hikaru no Go - the winner) and with intense looks across the chessboard without it being necessarily sexually seductive (no doubt it's there somewhere, but I didn't notice). Ah, it reminds me of why I love Hikago so much.

Not sure whether to watch the middling episodes where despite a traumatic childhood, her genius was noticed, she's set on the path to being famous, while spiraling down in her personal life due to addiction, until she climbs up and achieves success because of support from her best friend/sister, etc, etc... you know how these stories go.

Also, the dresses! She wears a different dress for every match (while the male competitors, of course, just get by with suits - maybe even the same suit, who could tell?). The blatant sartorial inequality is kind of enraging but I do love dresses.

TV and fic

Oct. 3rd, 2020 04:03 pm
issenllo: strawberry thief print from William Morris (Default)
Happy Mid-Autumn festival, everyone!

I guess most people are like me, at the stage where I have good mask days (when I don't mind it so much) and bad mask days when for some reason it keeps fogging my glasses and it feels hard to breathe. Work has been perplexingly hectic (my industry is heavily affected by the economy, so you'd think that business would have cooled, but...). Most days you look back and can't believe it's the last quarter of the year, and where has it all gone?


Watching:

Love and Redemption aka 琉璃 (with English sub, if anyone wants), xianxia. Wiki link if anyone wants.

It's a pretty fun outing wherein the God of War is a woman, and reborn on earth as Chu Xuanji. I'm totally there for the many devoted scenes of the male lead, Yu Sifeng. And Xuanji's spirital animal, Tengshe (which I think would translate to Touda in Japanese).

***

the stars in the hazy heaven tremble above you, Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian, royalty AU, Cinderella-fusion, by cicer


Ways of Looking at a Blackbird, backstory of Lan Xichen and Lan Wangji's mother and maternal family, by x_los

rather cruelly used and rather reserved, Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian, by x_los

September ~

Sep. 2nd, 2020 11:33 pm
issenllo: strawberry thief print from William Morris (Default)
September!

I'm now officially out of things to watch of Netflix, mainly because I'd like to stop bingeing stuff so I'd have time to write >_< No doubt I'd find something intriguing soon enough, but now it's pretty refreshing. Not least also because it's the 7th month in the Chinese calendar, also the Hungry Ghosts Festival and I'm sure there's got to be some Untamed | MDZS fic potential somewhere...

Cue hackneyed Covid-19 jokes about how, with travel restrictions and quarantine, your ancestors can't even come up for a nice long visit.

1 October is Children's Day where I am (offical children day's song: Semoga Bahagia, by Inch Chua) (once upon a time I could sing it, now I've forgotten 90% of the lyrics), but some years back the ministry of education made what I consider a really pathetic decision to celebrate Children's Day on the Friday of the week of 1 October. So that apparently children and teachers could have a long weekend. Weak, weak. I know it's less than ideal for holiday-planning if 1 Oct falls on, say, a Wednesday, but what happened to the symbolism? Isn't that the point of designating a random day to celebrate, I dunno, being a child? The rant comes to mind as 1 September is Teacher's Day... or it used to be, and this year it's 4 September. I know, I know... it's like the whole point of such days is to have a long weekend.

Also listening on repeat to 左手指月 by 薩頂頂 Sa Dingding, theme song from Ashes of Love aka《香蜜沉沉燼如霜》, another series that I did watch random episodes of, despite myself, because does Deng Lun look like Park Seo-joon, or is it just me?

***

There's a Baby Loose in the Burial Mounds!, crack, Burial Mounds, ghosts, Untamed | MDZS, by ScarlettStorm

Where the nightingales are singing, and a white moon beams, AU, Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian, WIP, by Moominmammashandbag
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I knew he was in it, but my primarily reaction is still "That is Yang Yang?!" (as Jia Baoyu in 2010 Dream of Red Mansions): trailer here.

***

Wait, cauliflower rice is really a thing? *aghast* Why not just... eat cauliflower? In other news, I bought an electric lunchbox which is actually a tiny little steamer and now I can pack lunch to heat in the office. (We don't have a microwave oven.) Goodbye, sandwiches! \o/ It is so simplified (I got the cheapest model) that it doesn't have a timer: the amount of water in it determines the cooking time. When the water is all boiled up, it switches off automatically. I'm trying to figure out if steaming temperature is good enough to heat curry: I have some in the freezer (for the frozen prata, actually) and it could go with my rice. Maybe I'll cook some cauliflower in curry: that's gotta be a thousand times better than cauliflower rice.

***
All MDZS | Untamed

unceremonied poetry, Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian, mentioned dog death while on a case, by magicianprince

Diamond in the ruff, dog, Jin Ling, Jin Rusong, by citron_ella

Five Dogs, One Cat, accidental dog acquisition, Jiang Cheng, Wei Wuxian, Jin Ling, ryfkah
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I was watching Li Ziqi's newest The Life of Tomatoes, anticipating some tomato plants and dishes and then Li Ziqi splits a boulder. (Smallish boulder, but still.) WTH

***

Time May Take Us Far Away , Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian, a temporary temporal displacement, by bartycrouchjrs.

Digging Graves, berserker!Nie Mingjue, Nie Huaisang, by nirejseki. Also by same author, The Qiongqi, legendary dead creature, Wei Wuxian gets rehabilitated.
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1. Look, I don't follow JKR on twitter and yet I'm still seeing her, so my option is to not go on twitter...? This is annoying. She can hold all kinds of demented views in her own brain, but why do I have to read them*?

*There's no 'two sides' to this... this thing. Trans-women are women. I feel dumb even typing this out: it's like questioning if the sun sets in the west. Can we talk about something more controversial now?

2. Kindle sample chapters:

(a) I started with Middlegame by Seanan McGuire and was thrown out in no time by one word: ounces. Or was it ounce? I've watched too many medical K-dramas to not assume that blood and other bodily fluids are measured using cc's...

(b) Zen Cho has a new book: The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water. Sample chapter looks promising, want to order from Kinokuniya but it's out of stock... needs 3 weeks. Ok, I'll wait... >_<

3. So, I watched King's Avatar, China-drama, last week. It's apparently based on a comic series ETA: It's based on a webnovel (thanks, [personal profile] larryhammer!), and about professional gamers. I am utterly ignorant of its origins but I have to admit that the sole - sole - reason I started was because the main character is acted by Yang Yang whom I belatedly learnt was also Jia Baoyu in 2010 Dreams of Red Chambers. YY is pretty. I keep trying to imagine his character as Jia Baoyu, though, which adds a layer of internal hilarity to my watching.

I love all the shots of (apparently) lightning-fast finger combinations on the keyboard and swishings of the computer mouse. I guess they have to make gaming look exciting the way they made playing Go look exciting (airplane flying! shining light!).

Also, yay! A series full of cute blokes (too few women, alas). Even the trash talking is adorable.

4. There goes my adventures in venturing out of MDZS fic. Also apparently the 3rd season of the animated series will be out at the end of July? \o/

5. Peninsula: sequel to Train to Busan. y/y?

'muricans

Jul. 2nd, 2020 01:48 am
issenllo: strawberry thief print from William Morris (Default)
Why are you so... I don't have a good enough description, except that I think the country (or the various units of it) began on very shaky grounds right from earlier times and apparently most people (aka the people in power) thought no, this was totally fine and so the shaky grounds just got papered over but the faultlines were always there?

Okay, I'm not qualified to give any further opinions other than that.

***

Watching It's Okay to Not be Okay (Netflix trailer), and it is okay like whoa? I love it loads so far: hoping that it stays on course for the portrayal of mental illness. The fantastical elements are beautiful (and a bit spooky) and thought-provoking, especially the fairy-tale parts.

***

Chief Cultivator Yao, title is summary, crack, by nirejseki. Also by the same author, Twisting Twining, Nie Huaisang!dragon

a hope, a memory, a quiet green place, Lan Sizhui, Wen Ning, Wei Wuxian, memories and moments, by northofallmusic (tofsla). The same author's Alchemical Processes, Lan Wangji/Wei Wuixian, explicit.

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issenllo: strawberry thief print from William Morris (Default)
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