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Nirvana in Fire (for the hopelessly confused)™.

Or, “How to survive the first few episodes.”

Nirvana in Fire takes in medias res to a new level, then throws in an ensemble cast in the middle of political machinations to top it all off. It may be one of the best shows you’ll ever watch, but only if you can survive the beginning.

Unless you’ve read the novel it’s based on, the Confusion is Real. Some viewers may be reliant on subtitles in their native language and have less time to commit faces to memory. The first episodes are central, but very hard to digest. Here’s something for folks who want to give the show a shot but also want to live. 

(Nothing on these graphics or in the accompanying text includes info beyond the first two episodes and the beginning of the third.)

Lin Shu (A.K.A Mei Changsu, Su Zhe): Man on a mission. One-stop-shop for all your hurt/comfort needs. Prodigy, was once a skilled fighter. “Died” in Meiling at 19 years old. Has been plotting and dealing with an as-yet unspecified illness in the 12 years since the massacre of the Chiyan army. Goal: get justice, root out corruption in the court, put his friend ▼ on the throne. Method: get invited to capital by his pal Jingrui and get cracking.

Xiao Jingyan: Very hotheaded if you know which buttons to push. (Everyone knows which buttons to push.) Traits of note: Loyalty, rock-solid moral backbone, occasional leaps before looking, eviscerating snark and a give-no-f***s attitude. Still mourning Lin Shu (and many others). Won’t show up until episode 2. (Wait for it, wait for it, wait for it...) Hates strategists, which is too bad for our main character ▲, but also good for him, because while Prince Jing is busy hating him—and MCS purposely makes it easy for Prince Jing to do just that—he won’t find it easy to question his strategist’s motives and uncover his true identity.

And now for a rousing round of…

On first watch, it’s really hard to parse allegiances. Too many shifty folks Doing Secret Stuff. Below are some simple charts to demystify the first two episodes. 

Keep reading

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The Beast that Bothers

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Rotary brothers,,,,,, :0

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via @indiarosecrawford

𝑓ₒᵣ ⲕᵢ𝑛𝑔 ₐ𝑛𝑑 𝑐ₒ𝑡𝑡ₐ𝑔ₑ

#knitting #animation #so much work was put into this you got to understand #thank you creator for sharing

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There’s something very nice about remembering fics you read years ago. Maybe you remember the plot perfectly, maybe the rest of the fic is only a blur aside from a handful of vivid scenes, but you remember the way it made you feel. And sometimes you dredge up the memory - the premise or a favourite scene or a few lines that stayed with you -  and your heart aches a little bit, the way it does when you think about books you enjoyed as a child.

To all the fanfiction writers out there: your work is beautiful and meaningful and it leaves an impact. I promise.

#totally

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When you are alone and have a heart attack. What are you gonna do then?

Take a 2 minute break and read this:

Let's say it's 5:25 pm and you're driving home after an unusually hard day's work.

You are really tired and frustrated. All of a sudden your chest pains. They are starting to radiate in the arm and jaw. It feels like being stabbed in the chest and heart. You're only a few miles away from the nearest hospital or home.

Unfortunately you don't know if you can make it..

Maybe you've taken CPR training, but the person running the course hasn't told you how to help yourself.

How do you survive a heart attack when you're alone when it happens? A person who is feeling weak and whose heart is beating hard has only about 10 seconds before losing consciousness.

1. But you can help yourself by coughing repeatedly and very strongly! Deep breaths before every cough. Coughing should be repeated every second until you arrive at the hospital or until your heart starts to beat normally.

2. Deep breathing gives oxygen to your lungs and coughing movements boost the heart and blood circulation. Heart pressure also helps to restore a normal heartbeat. Here's how cardiac arrest victims can make it to the hospital for the right treatment

3. Cardiologists say if someone gets this message and passes it on to 10 people, we can expect to save at least one life.

4. FOR WOMEN: You should know that women have additional and different symptoms. Rarely have crushing chest pain or pain in the arms. Often have indigestion and tightness across the back at the bra line plus sudden fatigue.

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they used to make smackable technology. you used to be able to hit your tv when it didn't work good.

#lmao #but yes #man if you hit your tech even just once or twice these days you can say goodbye to them lmao #technology #oh em is this real? #it's like the tv found it's soulmate

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Y'all, the world is sleeping on what NASA just pulled off with Voyager 1

The probe has been sending gibberish science data back to Earth, and scientists feared it was just the probe finally dying. You know, after working for 50 GODDAMN YEARS and LEAVING THE GODDAMN SOLAR SYSTEM and STILL CHURNING OUT GODDAMN DATA.

So they analyzed the gibberish and realized that in it was a total readout of EVERYTHING ON THE PROBE. Data, the programming, hardware specs and status, everything. They realized that one of the chips was malfunctioning.

So what do you do when your probe is 22 Billion km away and needs a fix? Why, you just REPROGRAM THAT ENTIRE GODDAMN THING. Told it to avoid the bad chip, store the data elsewhere.

Sent the new code on April 18th. Got a response on April 20th - yeah, it's so far away that it took that long just to transmit.

And the probe is working again.

From a programmer's perspective, that may be the most fucking impressive thing I have ever heard.

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Sentimental White

If you've known me for any period of time, you've likely heard me talk (read: complain at length) about the situation surrounding Initial D's extra chapters.

Now Initial D has 10 extra chapters (I won't bore you with the others but if you are interested, I have written about all of them on the wiki) five of which were never collected into a main tankobon volume.

These five chapters are the two parts of Sentimental White, and the three parts of Green Departure. They would later be adapted into Extra Stage - Act 2 (only a month after its release, apparently, which is rather cool), and Extra Stage 2 respectively.

Both saw releases in the 2014 and 2015 guidebooks "Trajectory Challenge Note" and "Trajectory Sprinting Note", their only releases outside of the pages of Weekly Young Magazine.

As they were never released in the main volumes, all five have gone untranslated into any language other than Japanese since their releases, 23 and 22 years ago respectively.

Until now, that is.

After, quite frankly, a lot of work, we (and by we I mean myself and the other members of the Project D scanlation team) have finally been able to get all of Sentimental White translated and presentable.

Sentimental White follows Mako Sato as she meets a guy, and the two try to start a relationship. If you've seen Extra Stage - Act 2, its pretty much the same, but it's nice to see it in its original manga form.

You can read both chapters right now on Mangadex.

I'm very happy to finally have this out, and I can't wait for Green Departure to be finished so I can show that too.

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Initial D character headcanons (1/?)

Screw canon, I'll add my own. Here are some headcanons I came up with, take it, leave it, add your own, whatever we keep drifting.

Fujiwara Takumi

Music of choice: Eurodance, to stay awake. Works better than any caffeinated drink ever could. In his glove compartment: Take-out fliers, loose coins to spend on vending machines. Parallel parking skill: Has never parallel parked, but would succeed on first try. Could drift into the spot but doesn't want to look like a show-off. Driving pet peeve: Slow drivers who don't give way. Ticket score: Zero. He doesn't want to find out what Bunta would say.

Itsuki Takeuchi

Music of choice: Whatever is on the radio In his glove compartment: His driving license and the manual of the car, list of his work shifts, a car magazine, a pair of fluffy dice he hasn't dared to hang yet. Parallel parking skill: He's super nervous and sweats it every time, but does okay, even though he needs multiple tries. Driving pet peeve: Tailgaters. Ticket score: Since the first accident, he's a very responsible driver and doesn't have any additional tickets, but the points on his license remain.

Iketani Koichiro

Music of choice: Classic Japanese rock/pop ballads for strong independent manly men who need no woman In his glove compartment: A water bottle, a spare bowtie for work, forgotten old tests from high school, personal hygiene kit with mouthwash and a disposable razor, but he's forgotten to buy shaving cream. Parallel parking skill: He's proficient, but if someone's watching he gets too self-concious to even try. Driving pet peeve: Ending up on the slow lane and watching cars pass him on his left. Ticket score: He caught a few speeding tickets in his first year with a license due to being over eager and careless in urban areas, but wisened up before maxing out the points.

Kenji

Dayjob: A baker, which leaves him with lots of free time to bother his friends at their work place. Music of choice: Rock'n'roll from all over the world, to both knead bread dough and drive fast to. He burns his own mix CDs. In his glove compartment: CDs, several tubes of prescription hand cream, manga magazines, marker pens, post-it-notes and old shopping lists, crumbled up receipts. Parallel parking skill: None. This man has so far never been forced to even try, and so he won't learn. There's always a free spot somewhere in a small town, especially very late and very early. He would never want to drive in a metropolitan area. Driving pet peeve: Drivers who rev their engines and screech their tires to show off. Ticket score: A few parking tickets because he tends to forget himself in chatting with friends.

Takahashi Keisuke:

Dayjob: This rich problem youth has not worked a day in his life. His parents may have given up on him, but his allowance was never wholly cut to keep him from getting into even more serious trouble. Music of choice: Synth pop, like all the cool scene kids in the 90s. In his glove compartment: Snack bar wrappers, a cell phone charger, cigaretters and several half empty lighters, emergency condoms and a totally unrelated tube of body lotion (water-based). Parallel parking skill: He could, but would never expose his precious car to the other parked cars and their drivers like that. If there's no spacious parking spot, he won't leave his car for anything or anyone. Driving pet peeve: Prone to road rage just in general. Ticket score: Zero, but the local police knows him by name.

Takahashi Ryosuke

Day job: Full-time med student, favorite child. Music of choice: Heavy metal, it's excellent stress relief In this glove compartment: Vehicle license, the manual of his car, a logbook, maps, first aid kit. Parallel parking skill: Perfect, what did you expect? Driving pet peeve: People who get road rage. Ticket score: Surprisingly high. He's been caught speeding multiple times when looking for his brother during his gang days, and caught the occasional parking ticket due to forgetfullness.

Nakamura Kenta

Dayjob: An employee at a 7/11 Music of choice: Same as Keisuke's In his glove compartment: Wrappers from various snacks, empty noodle cups and an uneven number of disposable chopsticks, crumbled up energy drink cans. Parallel parking skill: Could do it, as long as he concentrates instead of trying to act too cool Driving pet peeve: Drivers who hit puddles on purpose, either spraying the pedestrians or risking hydroplaning needlessly Ticket score: He's got his license suspended once for three months. Since joining the RedSuns he's cleaned up his act in general.

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Initial D Headcanons - What's their random/useless talent?

Project D!

Keisuke - He can solve a rubix cube. He used to never understand how people did it, but one of his friends in high school made fun of him because he couldn’t solve it. It then became his obsession for the next two weeks, and he’s now able to solve it in record time. 

Ryosuke - He can write with both his right and left hand, both separately and simultaneously,. Also really good at drawing organs, skeletons and different kinds of medical-related diagrams. They're always extremely accurate, and he can sketch the human skeleton in under 2 minutes. 

Takumi - He’s able to do the flower tongue fold. When he got bored, or zoned out as a kid he tended to fold his tongue differently subconsciously. Itsuki thinks it's both super cool and super gross. He can also wiggle his ears. He is also super good at crane games and has won Itsuki almost everything he’s wanted. 

Tomiguchi - Is an expert pen spinner. He learned how to spin pens a bunch of different ways, and you can often tell how he feels from how he’s spinning them. If he’s spinning them really fast or doing the endless spin, he’s nervous. If he's pushing it back and forth between his thumb and forefingers, he’s thinking really hard about something. He is also a GOD at dance dance revolution.

Kenta - He can burp the alphabet. He saw somebody do it in elementary school once and spent weeks learning how. Kenta also has pretty flexible fingers and can bend them back to touch his wrist. He used to have a habit of bending his fingers all the way to the back of his wrist, then hooking them underneath his bracelet and just leaving it there. It never bothered him but it freaked Keisuke so he stopped doing it. 

Matsumoto - He’s really good at untangling jewelry. Even the smallest knots he finds someway to undo. He’s also really good at juggling. His best is four things at once, but if you have him hold any two (nonfragile) objects, like a fruit or a water bottle, you’d likely come back and find him juggling with them. 

Fumihiro - SUPER good at shadow puppeting. Like he can make a bunch of different animals and objects, almost anything you give him. He’s also really good at catching flies for some reason. Like if he sees one buzzing nearby he can swipe it with startling accuracy, and he kills them on the first try every single time. 

Gas Station Gang!

Kenji - Really good at making balloon animals. He can make the most random animals in just a few seconds. He can also jump rope really well, and can do tricks with it, such as crossing his arms back and forth and hopping on one foot. Kenji is also super good at baton twirling. Catching it between his fingers, spinning it over his shoulders, everything. He never officially learned how, he just saw somebody do it once. Now whenever he has a somewhat long and cylindrical object in his hand, he will do small spins with it. 

Iketani - I can imagine him being able to make really good impressions of people. He used to practice the voices of people from his favorite TV show when he was younger, so it became a habit. He’s also REALLY good at whistling and can do a cartwheel. He has a pretty decent memory, which allows him to recognize the makes and models of so many different cars, as well as have a small fun fact about almost all of them. It also means he tends to memorize people's license plates when he gets bored at the gas station. Also he can moonwalk. 

Itsuki - He can hula hoop almost practically forever. Found out during a middle school PE class where he spent the entire time trying to teach Takumi how (he still doesn’t understand). He can peel oranges/tangerines with the peel still in one piece. He’s also really good with chopsticks, as his mom made him practice a lot when he was younger. He can replace them with almost anything (crayons, pencils, ex) and use them just fine. 

Bonus:

Bunta - He can make smoke rings. He used to show them to baby Takumi and it blew him AWAY. This kid was amazed. Bunta also has amazing hearing, despite his age. He complains about crickets and dripping faucets while he’s trying to sleep. 

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Initial D Headcanons - What's a bad habit/trait they have?

Project D

Kenta - Leaves the toilet seat up. Every. Single. Time. No matter how many times his mother has told him, he forgets. Has become an increasing issue when he visits people's houses.

Takumi - An avid nail biter. He’s chewed them down to the nubs and they’ve never been able to grow properly because of it. Due to this, his nails are much smaller and shorter than most people his age. 

Keisuke - Not necessarily a bad habit, but it’s considered one in a lot of cultures. He bounces/shakes his leg all the time, and often has trouble sitting still. Ryosuke is always telling him to “stop shaking the car/table” to which he stops but then continues a while later using the other leg. 

Tomiguchi - Gum swallower. He never threw away his gum when he was younger so it felt weird when he tried doing it. So to this day, he swallows his gum despite the weird looks he gets from the rest of the team.

Ryosuke - Doesn’t understand the idea of sympathizing with somebody when they come to him with a problem. His first instinct is to try and solve it, whether or not that's what the person wanted. If Keisuke is complaining about being hungry, Ryosuke will respond with “then eat”, if he complains about being tired, Ryosuke will say “then go to sleep”. He’s very action-oriented and doesn’t know why somebody would come to him with a problem if they weren’t trying to solve it. 

Fumihiro - He’s a chronic worrier. He gets very stressed about time and traffic and always imagines the worst-case scenario when even the slightest thing is off. He leaves for the airport way too early for example, and if somebody is even a few minutes late to a meeting or something, he assumes the worst.

Gas Station Gang!

Kenji - He double dips. He needs his food to be coated in sauce for every single bite, so he’s been banned from sharing condiments with the rest of the gang.

Itsuki - His mouth moves faster than his head does, so there are many times where he’s said something he shouldn't have. The kind of guy to tell a woman “Congrats on the baby!” when she's not pregnant, simply because he didn’t think that far ahead. Also can’t read the room to save his life

Ikentai - Has a very bad habit of correcting people. Like, all the time. The kind of person to correct your spelling when you text. Specifically about cars, though, he gets somewhat irritated when people get things wrong, and even more so when people get angry when he corrects them. He can be a bit of a know-it-all. 

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My Giant Nerd Boyfriend.

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If Hinata were the libero

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i LOVE star war!!! PEW PEW, light saver! dark vader and luke skyscraper and obi 1 cannoli and r2b2 and 3pco and tobbaca.  i love star trek.

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the many layers of kenma