#for context this is just to show that zu made it in time for the deadline

[dryemiddi]

(Submission by @zucchiyeni)

#submission #zucchiyeni #dtiys #hotmurdergangsummer #entry #killer sans #dust sans #horror sans #murder gang #utmv #undertale au #other's art #for context this is just to show that zu made it in time for the deadline #their own post of this will come eventually i think #i am sniffing this btw #these guys are brotp goals istg #killer with the rizz as always #i can smell it from this image <3 #apologies if i sound unenthused im just a littol eepy rn #it is late at the time of making this post #but make no mistake i am staring at this image with my eyes

[the-light-of-stars]

It took a while to translate but here is the link to an article that transcribed the German Vice-Chancellor's speech from yesterday evening, in which he makes clear his and the government's stance as completely on the side of Israel, saying that there are no 'both sides' but only one.

Mind, the points made about the horror of antisemitism and how antisemitic bigotry and violence have to be prevented are true, antisemitism is terrible and just like any bigotry cannot be tolerated, however the clearly one sided approach, the criminalisation of anticolonialist/pro-palestinian demonstrations as 'islamistic and glorifying terror' , the clearly biased, racist descriptions as only (!) Hamas' actions as barbaric and 'beastly' while completely endorsing Israel's attack on civilians as not only justified but as a safety measure whose support must be germany's main goal, the downplaying of palestinian deaths as sad but not as important as israeli lives, the threat that attending pro-palestine demonstrations will lead to prosecution by law and for non-german citizens to potential deportation, the claim that 'certainly muslims in germany have a right of protection from right wing attacks but if they don't condemn the protests now this right is waived' while at the same time stating there is no space for religious intolerance in germany , the condemnation of showings of solidarity after racist attacks being made quickly in contrast to solidarity with israel being rarer, are frankly terrifying and the use of antisemitism and the real fears and anxieties of jewish people as a moral shield - especially when so many jewish people are protesting for the rights of palestinians in New York and around the world, and especially considering Habeck's notion that antisemitism has come back to germany only now in the wake of the palestine protests, when for years the german government has done nothing to prevent far right antisemitism and in fact allowed and still allows white supremacist demonstrations under the right of free speech and with police protection - is upsetting and jewish people deserve so much better than to be used to justify racist and islamophobic crackdowns on minorities and people protesting genocide by politicians that only care about antisemitism when it can be used or the topic is making headlines.

Anyways, here is an english translation of the whole article under the cut - paragraphs in round brackets () are part of the article but not part of the speech, paragraphs in square brackets [] are context explanations by me for those readers who aren't german. Important to note that when the terms "jewish people" or "the jewish community" are used it is not a literal translation since the literal translation of the words Habeck , german vice chancellor, used ( "Juden und Jüdinnen" and "Judentum" ) literally translate to "jews and jewesses" and "jew-dom" which are the politicially correct terms in german but to my awareness are not politically correct to use in direct english translation, so I changed those. Boldening is mine as well.

(In a video Vice-chancellor and federal minister of economy Robert Habeck has expressed himself about the war in near-east and to antisemitism in Germany. His speech is much observed. Here it is in direct transcript.

Vice-chancellor federal minister of economy Robert Habeck has has called his much-observed video about solidarity with Isreal and the jewish people a contribution [of opinion] , of which there can't be enough. After many talks with representatives of the jewish community and jewish friends over the weekend he has given thoughts to "detangle the convoluted debate situation a bit" , as the Greens-politician said on Thursday.

In a video that his ministry had shared on X (formerly Twitter) on wednesday evening Habeck had admonished antisemitism in Germany harshly and urged for solidarity with jewish people in Germany. According to the platform until thursday morning this video has already been watched more than four million times and has been shared thousands of times. Politicians, also of the CDU [conservative/ center-right party] , have lauded the appeal.

Here the speech in direct transcript:)

"The terror attack by Hamas on Isreal has now been almost four weeks ago. A lot has since happened: politically though mostly for the people, so many people whose lives are eaten up by fear and sorrow. The public debate has heated up since the attack, in parts it is convoluted. With this video I want to make a contribution to untangle it.

(Habeck: Jewish people in Germany are afraid)

To me, too much seems to be mixed up too fast. The sentence "The security of Israel is german Reason of State" was never an empty phrase and must not become one. It says that the security of Israel is necessary for us as a state. This special relationship with Israel grows from our historical responsibility: it was the generation of my grandparents who wanted to exterminate jewish life in Germany and Europe. The founding of Israel was after this, after the holocaust, the promise of protection for the jewish people - and Germany is bound to help that this promise can be made reality. This is a historical foundation of this republic.

The responsibility of our history also means that jewish people in Germany can live free and secure. That they never have to be afraid again to show their religion and culture openly. But this fear has come back now.

Recently I have met with members of the jewish community in Frankfurt. In an intense and painful talk the community representatives told me that their children are afraid of going to school, that they don't go to sports club meetings, that they - on their parents suggestion - leave the necklace with the star of David at home. Today, here in Germany, almost 80 years after the holocaust.

(Contextualisation must not lead to relativisation)

They told me that they themselves are afraid of stepping into a taxi [for context: a lot of german taxi drivers are members of muslim minorities, mostly turkish] , that they aren't sending letters with their addresses on them anymore, to protect their recipients. Today, here in Germany, almost 80 years after the holocaust.

And one jewish friend told me about his fear, his despair, his feelings of loneliness.

The jewish communities are warning their members to avoid certain places - for their own safety. And this today, here in germany, almost 80 years after the holocaust.

The antisemitism shows in protests, it shows in statements, it shows in attacks on jewish stores, in threats. While there quickly are waves of solidarity when it comes to racist attacks , this solidarity is very brittle when it comes to Israel. Then it is said 'the context is complicated' . But here contextualisation mustn't lead to relativisation.

Certainly there is often too much outrage in our culture of debate. But here we cannot be outraged enough. It now needs clarity and no obfusciation. And part of this clarity is: antisemitism must not be tolerated in any form - in none of them.

(There is no space in Germany for religious intolerance)

The extent of the islamistic demonstrations in Berlin and other german cities is unacceptable and requires a hard political answer. It also needs it from the muslim communities. Some have decidedly distanced themselves from the actions of Hamas and from antisemitism, have reached out for conversation. But not all of them, and some too hesitantly and, in my opinion, generally too few of them.

The muslims living here have a right to be protected from far right violence, rightfully so. When they get attacked this right must be cashed in and they must now cash out the same thing, when jewish people are getting attacked. They must decidedly distance themselves from antisemitism now to not lose their own right on tolerance. There is no space in Germany for religious intolerance. Those who live here live here according to the rules of the country. And those who come here also must know that this is how it is and that it will be enforced.

(Habeck warns of 'entrenched antisemitism' in germany)

Our constitution protects and gives rights, but it also issues responsibilities that have to be fulfilled by everyone. You cannot separate one from the other. In this case tolerance cannot bear intolerance. This is the core of our living-together in this republic.

This means: the burning of israeli flags is a crime, the lauding of the terror of hamas is a crime as well. Those who are german will have to account for this in court, those who aren't german additionally risk their status of residence [that is, their right to stay living in germany]. For those who don't have a status of residence yet [that is, refugees] , this gives a reason to be deported.

(Anticolonialism mustn't lead to antisemitism)

The islamist antisemitism should not cover up that even in Germany we have entrenched antisemitism: it's just that the far right are currently holding back on it out of purely tactical reasons, so they can agitate against muslims [context: a lot of germany's far right tends to be pro-Israel] . The relativisation of the second world war, of the nazi regime as a 'fly's shit' [context: far right groups tend to deny the holocaust or call it 'just a fly's shit on history', 'fly's shit' here being a common phrase to mean 'an annoying but negligible tiny little issue'] isn't just a relativisation of the holocaust, it is a punch into the face of the victims and survivors.

Everyone that listens can and must know this. The second world war was a war-of-extermination against jewish people. For the nazi regime the extermination of the european jewish peoples was the main goal. And because there are quite a few Putin friends among the far right: Putin lets himself get photographed with representatives of Hamas and the iranian government and laments the civilian victims in the Gaza strip while creating civilian victims in Ukraine. His friends in germany are certainly not friends of jewish people.

But I am also worried about the antisemitism in parts of the political left , sadly especially amongst young activists. Anticolonialism shouldn't lead to antisemitism. Thus this part of the left should check their arguments and should not trust the great tale of [anticolonial] resistance. The 'both sides' argument here leads astray. The Hamas is a murderous terror-group who fights for the eradication of the state of Israel and the death of all jewish people. On the other hand the clarity with which for example the german section of Fridays for Future has stated this [that is, the aforementioned statement about Hamas as well as there not being two sides to the situation] even in disagreement with their international friends is more than commendable.

( It was Hamas that beast-like murdered children, parents, grandparents in their homes )

When I briefly was in Turkey, I was reproached about the fact that in Germany pro-Palestine demonstrations are prohibited. And that Germany should also extend its humanitarian efforts towards the people in Gaza. I explained that of course criticism of Israel is allowed here. And that it isn't prohibited to speak up about the rights of Palestinians and their right to their own state. But this call to violence against jewish people and this celebration of violence against jewish people are prohibited - and rightly so!

Sure, life in Gaza is a life without perspectives and in poverty. Sure, the settlement movement in the West Bank is causing strife and takes the hope and rights of Palestinians and increasingly also lives. And the suffering of the civilian populace now in war is a fact, an awful fact. Every dead child is one too many. Even I call for humanitarian aid and advocate for water, medicine and aid to come to Gaza and that the refugees are protected.

(Habeck: The security of Israel is our responsibilty, Germany knows this)

But together with our American friends we continually ensure Israel that the protection of their civilian populace is vital. Sure the death and suffering that now is coming over the people in the Gaza strip is bad. To say that is necessary and legitimate. But this does not legitimize systematic violence against jewish people. It does not justify antisemitism. Of course Israel should hold itself to international law and international standards. But the difference is: Who would ever formulate such demands towards the Hamas?

And because abroad I recently was confronted with how the attack on Israel from the 7th of October has been trivialised as an - quote - "unfortunate incident" , yes even the facts of it had been questioned, here once again to call it back to memory: It was Hamas who like beasts murdered children, parents and grandparents at home. Whose fighters have mutilated corpses, kidnapped humans and , laughing, exposed them to public humiliation. These are reports of pure horror - and still people celebrate Hamas as a freedom movement? That is a reversal of facts that we cannot leave standing.

And this brings me to my last point: The attack on Israel happens in a phase of an approach of multiple muslim states towards Israel. There is the Abraham-agreement between Israel and muslim states in the region. Jordan and Israel are working together on a big drinking water project. Saudi-Arabia was on its way to normalise its relation to Israel. But a peaceful cooperation of isreal and its neighbors, of jews and muslims, the perspective of a two-state solution - all of this the Hamas and its supporters, especially the iranian government, do not want. They want to destroy it.

Those who have not lost the hope for peace in the region, who believes in the palestinian's right to an own state and a true perspective - and we do - must differentiate in these weeks of trial. And to this differentiation belongs that the murderous deeds of Hamas want to prevent peace. Hamas does not want reconciliation with Israel, but the destruction of Israel. And that's why it is uncompromisable: Israel's right to existence must not be relativized. The security of Israel is our main responsibility, Germany knows this. "

#politics #palestine #israel #antisemitism #islamophobia #absolutely vile to use the suffering of jewish people as a shield like this while not doing anything to help them otherwise #absolutely vile to trivialise palestinian deaths as 'sure thosw things happened too and they're bad' while saying that the protection of #the civilians of the country currently relentlessly attacking them is more important and the main goal #and the condemnation of the left and of people standing up against genocide as bigots that lie in bed with terrorists while also saying #they fully support the deaths of civilians as part of a 'right of self protection'

[siblingshowdown]

YUNMENG TRIO PROPAGANDA!!!!!

I promise as the moderator of this competition I won’t campaign for any specific sibling sets after this but I cannot let my faves Jiang Yanli, Wei Wuxian, and Jiang Cheng lose in the first round when they were seeded pretty high.

For context, here is who I’m talking about:

Look at those babies!

The Yunmeng Trio are three siblings from the book Mo Dao Zu Shi or the TV show The Untamed.  They consist of oldest sister Jiang Yanli, middle adopted brother Wei Wuxian, and youngest brother Jiang Cheng.  Their relationship is crucial to the story, as it follows Wei Wuxian and his dynamic with both siblings (but especially Jiang Cheng) influences a lot of his decisions, which in turn influences a lot of the state of the world they live in as a whole.

Could these siblings win a physical fight against other sibling sets? YES.  Jiang Cheng is a very skill swordsman and has a magic lightning whip.  Wei Wuxian invented a new kind of magic and by and large is super overpowered (can take on hundreds of people at a time due to his ability to control ghosts/corpses/harness resentful energy).  Yanli, while not much of a physical fighter, can easily win over anyone’s heart with the power of soup.  (Seriously, in the book it lists her weapons as “love and soup”)  Everyone loves her, especially her brothers, which lowkey makes her an extremely powerful character because they’d do anything for her.

Do these siblings have sibling swag? YES.  They bicker! Especially WWX and JC.  Yanli loves to make her brothers soup and they always argue over who has the bigger portion!  They have inside jokes!  JC and WWX are always nitpicking at each other but will not allow anyone else to do so!  They’re all traumatized by their parents in different ways and therefore lean on each other and are unhealthily codependent because of it!  Whenever one of the brothers goes off by himself Yanli always asks the other one to go bring him back, and when she couldn’t do that she waded out into an active battlefield to try to find them!

Do they love each other? YES.  “We are the closest three in the world.”  Jiang Cheng sacrificing himself so Wei Wuxian doesn’t get taken hostage.  Wei Wuxian convincing his friend to perform ethically dubious and extremely dangerous surgery on him to try to get Jiang Cheng back to 100%.  The sole time Yanli loses her temper in the show, it’s because people are yelling at Wei Wuxian and not showing him respect!  She wore her wedding outfit when she and Jiang Cheng went to visit Wei Wuxian in exile because he wouldn’t be able to be at her actual wedding and she wanted him to see it!  Jiang Cheng suggested that Yanli let Wei name her son!  That scene made me cry no joke!

Are they interesting? YES.  I just described how much they love each other but the show actually begins with us seeing Jiang Cheng supposedly kill Wei before we jump back in time, so you know they have some intense emotional arcs going on!  Wei Wuxian was adopted when he and JC were around 6, and his status as an insanely talented and amazing cultivator plays really interestingly with the fact that his younger brother will be clan leader because WWX isn’t in the bloodline, and that influences JC immensely because in a way he has to deal with some of the worst parts of being a younger sibling while also having to deal with things an older sibling would otherwise have to.  Once Wei starts doing big plot things and becomes Public Enemy Number 1, JC and Yanli have to be careful with how they navigate the political world while trying to rebuild their clan and navigate an engagement that could unite their clan with a much more powerful one, but they still try to protect their brother.  Bodies start dropping.  They’re all traumatized over various events that occur before they’re even fully adults.  They make me feel so many emotions it’s not even funny.

tldr: I love them. please don’t let them lose in the first round please just give them this they’ve suffered enough.

#to clarify they were seeded high because they got one of the highest number of nominations #so for the race to be so close...... i KNOW there's time for the tides to change but i'm WORRIED #propaganda

[tilos-tagebuch]

🇺🇸 The War Theatre is a Theatre After All

My words are addressed exlusively to those people who apparently possess neither logic nor the common sense. I will try to explain why the anticipated "jump" of the AFU towards Kherson (just as an intent, they are unlikely to take the city because we are not going to withdraw from there) is purely a media operation. 

What would an adequate military command do if the enemy is expected to bring new reserves to the front in a fortnight? Let me remind you that Russia has just mobilized 300 thousand new soldiers—the number that it took Ukraine six months to muster.

For Zelensky, mobilizing more people would be very difficult (as an aside, Russians are able easily to call up even more, because the mobilization resource is that much larger). At first glance it seems that it is absolutely necessary for Ukraine to go forward as quickly as possible, conquering as much territory as possible. In this case it seems logical to set up as the goal reaching the Dnieper river, if possible even capturing Kherson itself. Everything seems reasonable on paper.

But let's take a closer look at this decision, placing it into the real context: AFU will have to overcome significant distances from the line of contact to Kherson—about 20, 40, and 100 km respectively from each of Pravdino, Snigiryovka, and Dudchany.

Let's assume that it would take the Ukrainians a week or two to make such a spurt. But in what condition will they reach the city? I assure you that the Russians will not give up the territory as they did in the Kharkov region: both the grouping in the south is different, and reinforcements are being brought in every day, and artillery and aviation act impeccably. Just the other day the AFU already tried to make such a jump from Dudchany and Novaya Kamenka, and the Russian Army turned them back and made them pay the price of not less than an entire regiment. 

So, the Ukrainian jump to Kherson—if it materializes in earnest—has every chance of being remembered as "bloody hell" for the Ukrainian Army itself. Having lost several regiments and up to a division in the watermelon fields under artillery and aviation fire, the battered Ukrainian army would emerge to be met by a fresh Russian defensive grouping, reinforced by several waves of reservists, in the urban area of Kherson. The question "what will happen next?" is rather unnecesary. 

Thus, the decision to go to Kherson on the eve of the dramatic strengthening of the Russian grouping in the south, under current conditions (coordinated artillery/aircraft work), appears to be an exceptionally disastrous choice for the AFU. From the military point of view it makes no practical sense.

But such a decision can be taken, and it would be a political one. Another "victory" of the AFU in the form of reclaiming significant territory would show the American electorate that Joe Biden was not wrong and his military assistance helped, and that it would therefore help in the future as well. Meanwhile, the emergence of a direct threat to Kherson and the incursion into its suburbs would then start hitting Vladimir Putin's rating very hard. What will happen next, within the current electoral cycle, no one is interested in. That will be a story for another time.

In my opinion, this is a purely political performance, as well as designed to impress the media. And as for the brainwashed Ukrainians and their support group, let them revel in another media success. It will not matter in the end, whatever they decide to do.

Sincerly yours, Ꙃаставный Source: Pablo Escobar on Telegram

🇩🇪 Das Kriegstheater ist doch ein Theater

Meine Worte richten sich exklusiv an jene Menschen, die anscheinend weder Logik noch gesunden Menschenverstand besitzen. Ich werde versuchen zu erklären, warum der erwartete „Sprung“ der AFU in Richtung Kherson (nur als Absicht, sie sind unwahrscheinlich, die Stadt zu nehmen, weil wir uns nicht von dort zurückziehen werden) rein eine mediale Operation ist.

Was würde ein angemessenes militärisches Kommando tun, wenn man erwartet, dass der Feind in vierzehn Tagen neue Reserven an die Front bringt? Lassen Sie mich daran erinnern, dass Russland gerade 300 tausend neue Soldaten mobilisiert hat - die Zahl, die die Ukraine sechs Monate brauchte, um sie aufzubringen.

Für Zelensky wäre es sehr schwierig, mehr Menschen zu mobilisieren (abgesehen davon sind die Russen leicht in der Lage, noch mehr aufzurufen, weil die Mobilisierungsressource so viel größer ist). Auf den ersten Blick scheint es absolut notwendig zu sein, dass die Ukraine so schnell wie möglich voranschreitet und so viel Territorium wie möglich erobert. In diesem Fall erscheint es logisch, als Ziel den Fluss Dnepr zu erreichen, wenn möglich sogar Kherson selbst einzunehmen. Auf dem Papier scheint alles vernünftig.

Aber schauen wir uns diese Entscheidung genauer an und stellen sie in den realen Kontext: Die AFU wird bedeutende Entfernungen von der Kontaktlinie nach Kherson überwinden müssen - etwa 20, 40 bzw. 100 km von Pravdino, Snigiryovka und Dudchany.

Nehmen wir an, die Ukrainer brauchen ein oder zwei Wochen, um einen solchen Spurt zu machen. Aber in welchem Zustand werden sie die Stadt erreichen? Ich versichere Ihnen, dass die Russen das Territorium nicht aufgeben werden wie in der Region Charkow: Sowohl die Gruppierung im Süden ist unterschiedlich, und Verstärkung wird jeden Tag eingebracht, und Artillerie und Luftfahrt handeln einwandfrei. Erst neulich versuchte die AFU, einen solchen Sprung von Dudchany und Nowaja Kamenka zu machen, und die russische Armee drehte sie zurück und ließ sie den Preis von nicht weniger als einem ganzen Regiment bezahlen.

So hat der ukrainische Sprung nach Kherson - wenn er sich ernsthaft verwirklicht - jede Chance, als „blutige Hölle“ für die ukrainische Armee selbst in Erinnerung zu bleiben. Nach dem Verlust mehrerer Regimenter und bis zu einer Division in den Wassermelonenfeldern unter Artillerie- und Luftfahrtfeuer würde die gebeutelte ukrainische Armee entstehen, um von einer frischen russischen Verteidigungsgruppe, verstärkt durch mehrere Wellen von Reservisten, im Stadtgebiet von Kherson getroffen zu werden. Die Frage „Was wird als nächstes passieren?“ ist eher unnötig.

So scheint die Entscheidung, am Vorabend der dramatischen Stärkung der russischen Gruppierung im Süden unter den derzeitigen Bedingungen (koordinierte Artillerie/Flugzeugarbeit) nach Kherson zu gehen, eine außergewöhnlich katastrophale Wahl für die AFU zu sein. Aus militärischer Sicht ergibt dies keinen praktischen Sinn.

Aber eine solche Entscheidung kann getroffen werden, und es wäre eine politische. Ein weiterer „Sieg“ der AFU in Form der Rückeroberung bedeutenden Territoriums würde der amerikanischen Wählerschaft zeigen, dass Joe Biden nicht falsch war und seine militärische Hilfe half, und dass es daher auch in Zukunft helfen würde. In der Zwischenzeit würde, bei einer direkten Bedrohung für Kherson und der Einfall in seine Vororte, Wladimir Putins Bewertung sehr hart treffen. Was als nächstes passieren wird, innerhalb des aktuellen Wahlzyklus, interessiert eigentlich niemanden. Das wird eine Geschichte für eine andere Zeit sein.

Meiner Meinung nach handelt es sich hier um eine rein politische Performance, die die Medien beeindrucken soll. Und was die gehirngewaschenen Ukrainer und ihre Unterstützungstruppen betrifft, lassen Sie sie in einem weiteren Medienerfolg schwelgen. Es wird am Ende keine Rolle spielen, was immer sie auch tun wollen.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen, Ꙃаставный

German translation: 0815-info.news Grafic: AFP / Samuel Corum

#ukraine #russia #donbass #stop the war #pepe escobar #telegram

[news4usonline]

Clips take game 1 against Dallas

LOS ANGELES - Without Kawhi Leonard in Game 1 of their first round NBA playoff series against the Dallas Mavericks , the Los Angeles Clippers played with the energy they needed to jump out to the series lead. The Clippers attacked Dallas from the opening tip and proved they can advance even if their star player does not return. Ivica Zubac bullied the Mavericks down low from the start, scoring 10 points in the first quarter. James Harden was passive early but scored 11 points in four minutes down the stretch, going 3-3 from three-point range, to take a 34-22 lead into the second quarter.

Los Angeles Clippers center Ivica Zubac goes up for two of his 20 points against the Dallas Mavericks in Game 1 of a NBA playoff first-round series played at Crypto.com Arena on April 21, 2024. Zubac also added 15 rebounds in the Clippers' 109-97 win. Photo credit: Mark Hammond/News4usonline Harden finished the game with 28 points and eight assists, and Zubac totaled 20 points and 15 rebounds. Postgame, several Mavericks' players and coaches credited Zubac's physicality as to why the Clippers were so successful. Playoff career-high for Big Zu ? ? 20 PTS | 15 REB pic.twitter.com/XOWEGXOeFX— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) April 22, 2024 "(Harden) understands that he doesn't have to do a lot of heavy lifting when Kawhi and PG are both on the floor, but when one of those guys is out, he has to step up and be aggressive scoring the basketball. That is what he has been doing for us as of late. I thought he really set the tone early, him and Zu, and then it kind of opened everything else up for us," said Tyronn Lue. The Clippers won this game in the second quarter with their defense, holding the Mavericks to eight points. To put things into context, Dallas was the seventh-best team in the NBA scoring basketball this season, averaging just under 118 points per game. They also have the league's leading scorer, Luka Doncic, who is averaging 34 points per game this year. Holding them to eight points is nothing short of spectacular. "I thought we did a great job in that second quarter of keeping them to 22 points, but we just couldn't throw it in the ocean. We missed layups, free throws, and wide-open shots," said head coach Jason Kidd. "Ready to get ready for Game 2" -James Harden pic.twitter.com/wk1HT2XchF— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) April 21, 2024 The defensive game plan is clear. Defend Luka well enough to make him take difficult shots while not allowing him to be the playmaker he is capable of being. LA held the MVP finalist to six assists, his fewest in eight games. Doncic was second among all players in that category this year. The Clippers changed their look and used different primary defenders on Doncic, including Terance Mann, Amir Coffey, and Russell Westbrook at times. They also attacked him continuously when they were on offense to wear him down.

Los Angeles Clippers guard Russell Westbrook (0) scored 13 points in the team's 109-97 Game 1 NBA playoff win against the Dallas Mavericks on April 21, 2024. Photo credit: Mark Hammond/News4usonline Doncic and Kyrie Irving both scored over 30 points in the loss, but no one else was able to get going. Dallas was held to a season-low 14 assists as a team, something they must address before game two. "It is a war out there in the playoffs, metaphorically speaking, of course. We have to enjoy it and have fun, but at the same time, bring it to these guys. We are going against some Hall of Famers, so they are not going to make it easy," said Irving. "We just have to pay attention to what we can control." There is little doubt the Mavericks will bounce back from the disappointing showing. This team has too much talent and finished the regular season on a roll. Adjustments will be made, and game two is a fresh set of 48 minutes. The Clippers' biggest concerns coming into the series were Kawhi Leonard's availability and containing Luka Doncic. Leonard sat out while Doncic scored 33 points, yet LA got the win relatively easily. Read the full article

#Clippers #DallasMavericks #JamesHarden #KawhiLeonard #KyrieIrving #LukaDoncic

[anneclover]

2022 Re(ading)cap #3

Category is: it's been a while, huh?

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation/Mo Dao Zu Shi (MDSZ) by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

Volume 1 (4.5★)

Volume 2 (4.5★)

Volume 3 (5★)

I'm going to skip the summary I usually put here, because I think the only people who will care to read this already are already familiar with MDZS.

My love of this franchise started with CQL. I adored each and every character in the show, for all their flaws and quirks. If anything, their flaws made them more relatable. Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangi and their, albeit masked, queer love had me in the palm of their hands. I loved every single character, even with all their flaws and quirks. Of course, I knew the show was based on the novel, but I never read any fan translations. I also knew there were English editions being officially released, but then I fell out of the fandom, and one day realized that three of them were out.

They're all fantastic. I love them for the same reason I love the show.

The reason volume three is 5 stars while the others are 4.5 requires some context. In CQL, the part I disliked the most was the Yi City arc. Unpopular opinion, I know! But it was long, and I always found myself wanting to get back to the main story. The time and attention given to Yi City in the book gave me a complete change of heart. I dreaded reading it, just like I dreaded watching it. Despite my negative bias, I felt infinitely more connected to the characters on the page than on the screen. The ensuing tragedy made me bawl my eyes out, and any book that makes me cry is bumped way up in my ratings.

Another factor is the queer love that is, unfortunately, left out of the show is in full force in the novels. Well, not quite yet, but we're seeing the beginnings of it in the last book. That's what I'm looking forward to the most in the next two volumes. I'm going to read them as they release to have the full experience.

Overall, nostalgia definitely colors my opinion here, and I don't even care. I love these guys, despite it being such a big departure from my usual reading preferences.

#anne's re(ading)caps #mdzs

[ben-the-hyena]

Some Headcanons for Tso Lan perhaps?

OOOOOOOH YEEEEEEEEES MY FAVORITE B)

The eldest. The most respected, most feared by his siblings, the ultimate decision maker, the one they must obey

He does love his siblings, but a side of him just wishes he had remained only child or had only one, 2, or maximum 3, not 8

All his childhood and teenhood life he didn't have the time to truly enjoy himself and had to babysit them, if not straight up dad the youngest, and handle their strengths and powers the best he could, the size of some like baby Po Kong, their antics like baby Po Kong chewing on his raven hair he had just combed or baby Dai Gui headbutting him with force or their disappearances for fun like baby Hsi Wu flying away and baby Dai Gui again hiding underground or the ones with terrifying powers having tantrums like baby Shendu spitting fire, baby Tchang Zu emitting lightnings etc, and have to separate them without getting hurt when they would have big destructive fights. He would angrily yell and be stressed all the time from that task as well as Elder responsibility (ancient family values). So much one day he snapped and became as calm and quiet as he is now because he has known so much he is constantly unphased and in a constant state of calm fury. Still there can be times he can explode again, and as rare as these times are, they also are terrifying to all his siblings who do their best not to ever reach these states again (same thing as that TAWoG scene where Nicole calmly yet angrily demands the squatters of her house to clean up and leave in a demonic voice with souls of the damned in her eyes and they obey crying. Already happened in the demon siblings too)

That's why, being one of the few demons to have ever been born elementless (and self conscious about it for years), when he was a preteen, he grew fascinated by the Moon and dreamt to be there, in its QUIETNESS, ALONE. He made it his element and learnt gravity powers specifically to fit the spacial context or his element and became a master of it...

Powers very useful too when he would have to put a time out on his loud and/or fighting siblings by suddenly making them all float around (except baby Hsi Wu who loved it). Was very useful for carrying around baby Po Kong too. She was probably why he had to master perfectly these powers, for how much concentration and mind will it demanded. He could carry a mountain, he could carry anything. But before that and without that, having prensile hair as well as 4 arms was useful to hold most of them when needing to keep them in place the time their parents would come to his rescue

As implied and said, he is physically one of the weakest of his siblings. His magic is very powerful, but he always was self conscious about being one of the smallest and like we saw the weakest as how he struggled when wrestling with a strong human like El Toro when they both could fly. Another stress to him which he wants to compensate by being upholding virile standards (his long hair. Sure to have them still prensile too but also for the symbolism and aura) and his big imperial robes with big shoulder pads to assert his authority, as well as seeming as the most civilized of them by being calm, collected, dignified and mannered, eating properly etc. But again strong or not his big brother aura is strong and he is feared anyway (if he needs to pull your spike, ear, or horn when scolding you, you BOW DOWN, even if you are Dai Gui or Tchang Zu)

Him and Xiao Fung and Bai Tza being the 3 eldest are an efficient trio who respect all each other, due to the little age gap that had them be too young and unable to take care of each other when one was a baby. Though being older he is ultimately the leader of that trio who must agree first and be obeyed even ny the others 2 who fear and respect him even there is an equal relationdhip overall

Being the oldest, he also is trusted by them, who can sometimes ask him or show him things they wouldn't dare showing the otherd in fear to be mocked. To evil demon standards, he is wise as well as a good listener. He can pat Tchang Zu when the latter vent his self esteem issues if not straight up cries, concerts about the others' frustrations like Bai Tza's wanting things her ways or Shendu wanting more power, give them advice or just to shut up and move on because things are like that, can give a hand like helping Po Kong with her rock hair or put bandages/stitches on the big ones' back, can comfort even if quietly like saying nothing but patting with his hand or his hair if not on VERY rare emotional occasions hugging, and despite being feared gor his angers he is more patient than Bai Tza so they can confess him things before she would know. A sort of brother-dad

His tongue is always constantly out. He is not a telepath but somewhat manages to speak by shaking it like we see how ir withers like a worm when whenever he talks on screen. He can bring it inside only when eating, wrapping it around bits of foot since he is unable to bite in them without biting his tongue off and rolld it back inside ; he has other fangs upper in his long face's anatomy, and learnt to chew there before swallowing, far from the fangs of his mouth. When he drinks, he laps frenetically, which constrasts with his classy looks

The purple dot on his forehead is decorative makeup

He is actually muscular and toned under his robes whatdoyoumeanthisisaselfindulgentHC. Just not buff and muscular like Shendu, Tchang Zu and Dai Gui, but thin muscular like Drago and Jackie

In universe, he is attractive and very charismatic to human standards, as well as suave despite his emotionless and cold looks and voice. Filling his harem every few decades is never difficult

He is cold and cruel to his enemies, sees humans like vermins who can die as long as Earth can be terraformed the way he wants, yet he also appreciates the presence of mannered, artsy or educated humans and has enough honor to respect his promises if he ever does a pact with them. He may even spare you if you have interesting art to give him

Indeed, he loves art, like soft music, literature, painting, poetry, sculpture... even modern art if he ever saw it. They are intellectual and quiet activities that flatter the mind and his ego by being done or displayed for him or by proving he can understand them

That's why his harem is made of people (all coming from Earth of course since there is nobody on the Moon) with refined tastes so that they can also distract him outside of bed activities. He likes them petite. Bonus if they have traits reminding him of the moon like white or nearly white or blue hair, pale skin etc

Indeed, for being the Mood Demon, he made his Empire there, creating a fake atmosphere and gravity with his magic and brought humans from across the world through magical portals to make towns and villages there, to serve him and adore him and of course to have an authority and terrorize them. Of course, nothing can grow there, so all the food and water is imported but heavily taxed, if you do not pay you are killed or left to starve depending of his mood (and appetite, like all demons he can eat the executed afterward). In order to still count as one of the Eight Emperors on Earth, he also owns North and South Poles, loving them for reminding him of the moon (cold, originally deserted or almost so, white, long nights) as ambassy territories. That's why his banishment portal is in space, the Immortals directly came to find him through one of his access gates

Speaking of the Eight Immortals, I love @ask-tsolan-blog's HC of him having been in love with He Xiangu, loving her grace, her beauty and her moon-like traits with her blue hair and white skin. The only of his siblings to have ever been in love with a human, and the only time he had ever been in love at all. To the point of even wanting to make her his Empress. But not only did she resent him like she and the other Immortals hated him and his siblings for oppressing humans and were determined to put a stop on this, demon love also comes off as extremely possessive and toxic to human standards (basically "you will be my Empress whether you like it or not and I will kill any potential rival". Which would have been seen as extremely romantic if she had been a demoness) so she just loathed him more and had no qualm in fighting and banishing him. That only left him... hollow. Silent and depressed for the first months into the Netherworld. He doesn't even know, under his usual and cruel cold exterior that are unchanged like before, if he truly moved on to this day

He always wanted to move the Moon away to fuck up the ecosystem of Earth, thinking that way food and water would only be imported from the demon dimension and therefore be more expensive and also because he likes desertic places for their quietness and reminding him of the Moon. But he didn't because he wasn't selfish and respected his siblings' empires, especially knowing they opposed his idea whenever he mentionned it. However millenia into the Netherworld after a heartbreak at that had him want this to happen no matter what whenever he would get out of here as a revenge against mankind. Which is what he tries to do in his episode, taking advantage of none of his siblings besides Shendu (but after all he did to them he better not raisd his voice and know his place and like we saw he perfectly knew that himself and didn't oppose as uncomfortable as he was about Earth's fate) being there

However years before He Xiangu, he too had wanted a heir and had gone for @dracocheesecake's OC, Rû, a young Chinese sorceress who was thirsty for always more magical knowledge and born with a lot of Dark Chi potential. Seeing the occasion to have a powerful heir (and also because she had white hair as a side effect to dark magic and was pale), he offered her to give her all thd magical knowledge he could give her and teach her himself in exchange of a heir, which they did, on the condition she would raise the child herself in her home since he doesn't want a child running around and being loud now he was finally free from his siblings and would just visit from time to time to teach them his magic and tell them about their future, and would take them in his palace only on their 18th birthday with Rû given the choice to follow or not that day (not because he cared but because he knew it is better to have a powerful ally he trained himself). He was given a son, Yue, who in the end is the only entirely Chinese child born from the 8 siblings. He does love him deep down, but never showed him, being very cold and distant, strict and visitting only occasionally, his biggest proof of affection being solemnly congratulating him on his progress or calling it impressive. A distance probably due to the fact he was entirely human-looking (except under the moonligjt where there he looked half-demon) and thus ugly to Tso Lan's eyes. Lots of daddy issues, in the end he had been a better father to his siblings than his own son. He was banished right in the evening of Yue's 18th birthday

To his niblings, like Drago, he was a very cold and strict uncle despite kinda liking them, not fun and boring, not offering any game, demanding them to be quiet, proper and have manners in his domain

He was a very quiet baby and easy to manage since elementless with no particular physical ability except his prensile hair and 2 pairs of arms

Lotus turnt out to be his weakness when he was a child, when having to babysit Bai Tza he had her swim and have fun in a lake but found himself very uncomfortable and unable to join them when seeing the lotuses floating calmly there. Dai Gui hating flowers since any are his weakness relates

He loves all his siblings equally like they all love each other equally despite all the soft spots I said, but he has a soft spot himself for Po Kong (yes even if he laserbeams her ass due to elder privilege) and Dai Gui for being 2 of the youngest he was older and more mature to look after as well as being similar elements to his, as well as relating to Po Kong's lack of power besides just being tall and strong ; Hsi Wu was the youngest yes but he worn him out and ultimately made him snap by flying away plus it was more Xiao Fung who looked after him for being similar elements and who grew a soft spot for him for the same reasons

#ask #gatorkid509 #moi #ask-tsolan-blog #dracocheesecake #demon sorcerers #tso lan #jackie chan adventures

[nutty1005]

How “The Untamed” reversed its fate, Xiao Zhan went the hard way in his depiction of Wei Wuxian

Original Article: https://www.weibo.com/ttarticle/p/show?id=2309404476523863212216#_0 Original Author: 乍暖已寒 (Published by: 爱战DAYTOY_1005)

(TN: The Untamed was based off the novel “Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation” or “Mo Dao Zu Shi / 魔道祖师”. Bringing this novel to the silver screen had its fair share of troubles and many did not look kindly at this project in 2018, nor believed that it would fair well in China.)

I have said this before – when a new top celebrity with stunning good looks appears onto the scene, immediately accompanying it will be forceful criticisms of his/her acting. Xiao Zhan, who burst into fame because of The Untamed, is no exception to this as well.

Endless negative articles, out-of-context screen snaps with negative captions (e.g. the first 3 episodes where he had to act as Mo Xuanyu, a lunatic), slowed down GIFs, or even insinuating special effects… they really tried their best to smear his acting.

Just this once though, Xiao Zhan prevailed despite all of these. The endless waves of well-prepared negative articles did not prevent Xiao Zhan’s acting chops from appearing on Weibo’s trending topics  (instead of his appearance). His unforeseen, exceptional performance in The Untamed proved them wrong – such a great refute to their efforts!

Xiao Zhan’s Exceptional Moments

He had multiple different ways in handling his crying scenes, and they were all able to invoke a lot empathy in his audiences. There were tears of helplessness, tears of doubt, tears of pain, tears of false bravado, tears like that of a lost child – and every teardrop touched his audiences’ hearts.

This scene was my personal favorite – it was as painful as it was beautiful. Besides grief and hopelessness, you could also sense Wei Wuxian’s helplessness, and it became extra heartbreaking. Yes, many would always forget that beneath the all powerful Yiling Patriarch, he was merely a teenage boy, and he had just lost his home. 

Besides his crying scenes, Xiao Zhan also had similar delicacy and accuracy in managing the character’s psychology – for example, the scene which Wei Wuxian discovers the method to transfer the Golden Core. At the moment of discovery, he was filled with exultation, but the joy in his eyes slowly dimmed down, ending with relief. There was this sliver of sadness amidst the jubilation but it was quietly set aside.

Xiao Zhan used his “eyes acting” to great effect, and performed the series of complex emotions perfectly – from the discovery of a cure, to understanding that someone has to sacrifice his Golden Core, to deciding that he would be this person. This made the audiences want to ask, “What about you? What is going to happen to you?”

I also admired Xiao Zhan’s attention to details in the scene where Wei Wuxian brings Jiang Cheng and Jiang Yanli to Yiling Supervisory Hold – he was like a helpless prey trapped at a dead end.

Wei Wuxian was just an child when his family perished, and he had just went through another massacre – there was simply too much death and bloodshed. He was high strung and any bit of provocation could make him lose his rationality. He was instinctively biting his teeth and shaking as he forced himself to protect his only remaining kin.

In fact, after leaving behind the first 10 episodes of happy-go-lucky, Xiao Zhan had countless exceptional moments such as these. I could not even finish describing 10% of them in this long article of mine. For someone who was the lead actor for the first time, his future is really filled with endless possibilities.

As such, I could not even fathom why someone would blindly mock Xiao Zhan’s acting, even more so than when someone mocks his appearance. For someone who could weep while script reading with his fellow actors, how could he be someone with “zero acting chops”?

“Empathic” Style of Performance

The most apt words I can use to describe Xiao Zhan’s acting are “graceful” and “touching” – there appears to be no discourse to his acting, but yet his acting draws empathy and his characterization extremely believable.

To an actor, this is a solution, but this is one of the dumbest method as this is also one of the most harmful method. This is because this method requires the actor to breakdown his personality and restructure himself to suit his character. It makes entering and exiting the role extra difficult – every teardrop is created from the actor’s blood and soul.

To me, I am an extremely sensitive viewer and I like the acting to be natural; I cannot accept any bit of deliberation. I do not like it when performance leaves a trace of the techniques used, instead this “dumb” method is what that can touch me – to become one with the character.

This is probably why this silly child could weep like this during script reading. He might really be a natural born actor, but also a gentle angel – what kind of soul resides in him? How is he able to empathize entirely with Wei Wuxian such that he could tear up like this? Who would not love this boy, who is naturally extraordinary, but yet also incredibly compassionate?

He Understands Wei Wuxian

And because he understood the true meaning behind “becoming Wei Wuxian”, so he understood him even in the smallest details.

Have you ever wondered how Wei Wuxian was like beneath the manically cool Yiling Patriarch and suave youngster?

Firstly, he was an insecure person.

Below is from the author’s Weibo:

His childhood as a stray set the tone for him as person who is always filled with uncertainties – he will subconsciously attempt to change his facade in order to please his loved ones.

And it is evident that Xiao Zhan understands this – you can see that Wei Wuxian has a different facade when dealing with different people. To Jiang Cheng, he is his best buddy; To Nie Huaisang, he tries to be the friend who leads him astray; To Jiang Yanli, he is unashamedly a child begging for praises; To Madam Jiang, he is the most proper and obedient student.

In fact, this scene of an obedient Wei Wuxian gave me more affirmation that Xiao Zhan knows Wei Wuxian, more than any of his crying scenes. (Madam Jiang appeared, and he was the first person who stood up, in apprehension.)

Secondly, he puts up a false front.

Before the broadcast of the drama, Xiao Zhan gave an interview which caused displeasure among part of the novel fans. He said “Too many crying scenes, Wei Wuxian cried too much.” Some of these agitated fans expressed that Wei Wuxian was actually a cheerful happy-go-lucky person, he does not like to cry – he only cried twice in the books, Xiao Zhan must not understand his character!

However, is that really so? Evidently not. The novel was written from Wei Wuxian’s angle, therefore the story was told to us by Wei Wuxian, and hence we are actually reading his version of the story.

When you think about it, how is it possible for Wei Wuxian to not be devastated at the massacre of Jiang Family, the death of his brother-in-law due to his misstep, the death of Jiang Yanli, who took the sword on his behalf, or his own death, where he despaired and allowed himself to be devoured by ghosts? It is definitely not possible, but why were these not described in the books? Because, Wei Wuxian, who liked to put on a false front, decided to sidestep these in his own version.

Yes, our Wei Wuxian was the sort of person who only spoke of the good, but never the bad. No matter how much trauma he suffered physically or mentally, he kept smiling and kept his false front. He always looked like nothing mattered to him and he never suffered.

Hence, when he was battered and wounded by the demonic dog in the drama, despite being covered in wounds, after he took a bite of the bun he got from Jiang Cheng, he smiled brilliantly and said “delicious”. This part made me cry for him – I felt so much for this stubborn child.

Below is why, I was sure from the beginning that Xiao Zhan would do a good portrayal of Wei Wuxian. He told Wei Wuxian at the end of The Untamed shooting to “cherish yourself more, stop putting on a false front”. 

He really knew him. He really felt for him.

He came from a boyband, he had no professional acting training, he did not even have much experience in acting, but he lived up to Wei Wuxian.

In the End

Finally I wanted to say, analyzing anyone’s acting using static pictures, GIFs or even short video clips, without script or character context, are all biased analysis. True performance is not pieced together by short clips, but by complete characterization. As such, perhaps my article may just be as truthful as those gossip articles online. You are welcomed to watch The Untamed in order to truly understand how Xiao Zhan did.

#xiao zhan #sean xiao #xiaozhan #肖战

[myfriendsarerealidiots]

Comparing Adaptations

‘Kay so I went on one of my whims again and did something stupid. Couple weeks or so ago, I wasn’t really in the mood to watch anime so I opened up Netflix and watched a Cdrama that I wanted to watch for a while now.

That Cdrama was ‘The Untamed’ which, prior to me watching it and doing said whim, I thought was just your typical historic Cdrama. Oh boy I was wrong. As I was watching it, I was thinking to myself, “This show’s really selling itself off as BL.” Which, I found out after finishing it was because it is BL. Hah...and that was just the start of it.

As I was doing my ‘Post-show research,’ I found out that it was based of a novel, called ‘Mo Dao Zu Shi’or as translated by the people on the internet as ‘Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation.’ Said novel had 2 more adaptations along with ‘The Untamed’ which were a manhua and a donghua. So me being me, I decided to watch the donghua adaptation and read both the og novel and manhua.

So how I went through this was...

The Untamed (2019)

The Donghua aka Anime I guess

The Manhua which I read while having class (such a responsible student aren’t I)

The original novel

All hail this person who has too much free time on her hands.

Anyways, as it says on the tin, I’ll be comparing the 4 adaptations/versions of the story and see what changes between them as well as the pros and cons. (Wow I sound so professional)

Some background of myself just to avoid confusion

I am not a mega hardcore Fujoshi. I don’t really enjoy reading smut, nor am I old enough to do so bear that in mind

I have 7 years worth of Chinese lessons under my belt which means I barely understand a thing and that I can get some of the jokes like how Wei Ying’s sword is called ‘Sui Bien’ and it’s funnier to hear in Chinese. In other words, compared to like actual Chinese people who live in China, I pretty much have the knowledge of a 10 year old.

The versions of the Manhua and Novel that I read were translated in English so somethings might have been lost in translation.

I have a bit of a goldfish brain so forgive me if I wrote something wrong or forgot the name of a certain character, most likely I will look it up to correct it but if I don’t...well sorry.

I am writing my opinions on each version as I finish them, so if they don’t link up to the original that’s the reasoning behind it.

All of these are my opinions and thoughts on the story. You are not entitled to follow them if you disagree. I personally believe that everyone has a voice of their own and they should use it. (Even though I don’t half of the time.)

Slight Spoiler Warning

I will be breaking down some of the scenes and characters for my comparisons so please keep that in mind.

The Untamed (2019)

As this was my first exposure to the story, I didn’t know what to expect. I loved everything about it except for the fact that literally half of the show was spent in the past, building context for what was happening in the present.

The characters were lovable and all had distict personalities, especially Wei Ying and Lan Zhan which I guess makes sense since they’re the main characters (their actors are also cute and have good chemistry.) Speaking of characters, Yanli has a more forward role in the story here compared to the other versions. The way certain characters were introduced was different too. Since it’s live action, it’s also harder to show things like extreme blushing and such so it makes Lan Zhan look very stoic and way more unexpressive here than in the other versions.

The soundtrack is nice to listen to, especially with the 2 mains singing the theme song together it’s so cute and gives it another meaning in itself. Although, I do wonder how that poor bamboo flute Wei Ying made in like 2 mins plays decent sounding music. Chen Qing(is this the name of it?), the flute he uses after his trip to the Burial Grounds has the same sound quality as that bamboo flute which is just, “how???”

They took out most of the extreme BL!!! I feel like that is the biggest difference between this version and all the rest. I know they did that to appeal to more people but it does remove some of the context to things. That doesn’t mean the moments that were kept in weren’t cute though. It did make the pair look more plantonic than romantic.

As for the story itself, as a story on its own, it’s nice, as an adaptation that’s where the line gets blurry but it leans more towards the good side. They did indeed change some things, made them work better with the medium than if they didn’t.

An example I can place is the mask. Where the other versions used white make up with oddly placed red circles around the eyes, this one used a mask instead. I agree with the choice they made, seeing as they removed the fact that Mo Xuanyu was homosexual and so the make up wouldn’t make sense. It also looks nicer than what I imagined what could’ve happened with they kept with the make up. They do make a reference to this in the show when Jin Ling and Wei Ying have a conversation in Carp Tower. “You’ve seen my face right?” “How do I know? Your face is always caked in make up or covered by that mask.”

Another issue I had which I’ll touch on later was the first episode—I had no idea what was going on for those 40 minutes of screentime.

Donghua

As of writing this post, season 3 of this has yet to come out.

My first reaction to this was “Man, the animation’s pretty, and they made Wei Ying look scarier.” Watching stuff at 12 in the morning isn’t the best thing but that’s what I do.

Anywho, this version made Wei Ying really attracted to going down the path of ‘evil’ compared to the other versions. I don’t really understand why they made this change...but they did so we have to deal with that. And his eyes glow red!! It makes him look scary and cool at the same time. I love it!!

The transitions between certain events were a bit weird to say the least. For example, at the end of episode 2/3 Wei Ying gets forcibly dragged into the Cloud Recesses and the episode ends there. By the next episode, we’re 16/23/13 however many years in the past. This makes it really confusing for someone who hasn’t watched or read any other version of the story. It definitely made me confused and I already finished one.

While ‘The Untamed’ told us everything in one long flashback, the donghua broke it up into small chunks placed whenever information was needed. I don’t think that was a good idea, but then I also think it was a better decision than what they did for the Cdrama. As I watched this adaptation, I found myself confused from time to time because what happened in the prior episode didn’t always match what happened in the current episode like I mentioned earlier.

As for the artstyle, personally, I think some of the characters look similar minus the hair. However, I do like the little ways they made Lan Zhan express his feelings towards Wei Ying.

Speaking of which, when I first saw them together in this version in the forest near the Goddess Temple, I had to do a bit of a double take because of the height difference which wasn’t so evident in ‘The Untamed’. I soon found out that Lan Zhan was taller than Wei Ying before and after he gets reincarnated(?) Prior, it was just a small gap of 2cm which later turned to 6cm after possessing Mo Xuanyu.

I didn’t notice their height gaps while watching ‘The Untamed’ because Wei Ying’s actor, Xiao Zhan, is taller than Lan Zhan’s actor, Wang Yi Bo by about 2 inches which is like 5 cm? and so they had to do some weird thing with platforms to make Xiao Zhan look shorter in comparison.

Soundtrack wise, I personally think that ‘The Untamed’ was better in that sense. Where it had an amazing souding flute, this one had minor earrape in a nutshell.

This version made itself, in my eyes look more like a historical fighting anime as opposed to the BL vibes I was getting from ‘The Untamed’ and the other versions. They added a lot of action scenes and made the mystery more interesting for me. Along with this, the overall look and feel of this made it seem like it came from a completely different source material.

Manhua

Small FYI, as of writing this post the Manhua is at 147 Chapters.

(I should’ve kept up the trend and got a screenshot from that scene in the Manhua but I didn’t so here we are with gay rabbits.)

As your local internet friend who reads more manga than normal books nowadays, I enjoyed reading the manhua and finished it in a couple days.

Compared to the first 2 versions here, these last 2 are both things that you have to read to get through, albeit one has pictures and one doesn’t.

While normally, one would read silently, I like listening to music while I do. And seeing as the OST of ‘The Untamed’ sounds really nice, I listened to it while reading both the manhua and novel when I could.

This one brought out the BL elements that were missing from the first 2. They gave Wei Ying and Lan Zhan a lot of kissing or just straight up affectionate scenes which I think ties in with the general theming of the original novel more.

As this one is probably the closest of the adaptations to the original, it’s the least confusing to read, although that might’ve been influenced by my experiencing the story for the third time at this point. I say that, however, there were many story elements that weren’t present in either one prior to this.

Examples this can be seen with their collecting of body parts that belonged to the former Nie Sect Leader. In ‘The Untamed’ they find the sword spirit which guides them through the rest of the story. In the Donghua adaptation, they get the arm, but also get the head of the the Jin with the hundred holes curse which was an original addition. Here, they get the arm from Mo Manor, find the other one then find the torso and so on before finding the head in Jin GuangYao’s possession.

The flashbacks in this version were also executed really well, in my opinion, as it doesn’t feel super confusing while reading it and it gives just enough information to help the events unfold. It also gives us a chance to see how much of an ass(sorry) Wei Ying was when he was the Yiling Patriach from his own perspective as well as give us a moment of WangXian in the middle of all that chaos.

Novel

Here’s a picture of gay rabbits for everyone.

At this point, I was switching between the novel and the Manhua to read whichever one I wanted at any given time which might have blurred my sense of what belonged in each one so I’ll try my best to make sure.

Since this one is the original source material, it was clear from the get go that this will be the one with the least confusing version of events and the most amount of detail.

I was surprised on how close the manhua and ‘The Untamed’ was to the novel. Although, the former condensed the mystery to fit within the timeframe while the latter hasn’t finished just yet.

Personally, I like this author, and will probably read more of her works further down the line. Even though the version I read was in english, I still could feel the meaning behind certain aspects which I think shows her skill as an author.

The novel clearly shows the mischief that goes through Wei Ying’s head and their gradual (I say gradual but I think Lan Zhan just snapped) change of attitudes towards each other.

Arc One- Mo Manor

Past here I’ll break down the first arc of each one because I think all of them did it in relatively different ways. Be warned for spoilers if you haven’t watched or read all of them.

The Untamed (2019)

Out of all of these versions, this one definitely had me scratching my head in confusion the most even after watching it a second time once I finished the entire show.

As the only version that had the curse issued at the start as a moving factor of the story as well as the Yin Iron which was specifically made for this version, it didn’t explain enough at the start.

There were many things I could say were wrong about this beginning, from starting at a flashback to not properly introducing us to our characters but the biggest problem in my mind was the lack of explanation at the present.

Like I mentioned, starting at a flashback is a terrible idea as it gives the viewer high expectations only for it to be crushed the second it ends. Here, it shows a small portion of the battle at the Nightless City without much context then it quickly changes to 16 years later with a seemingly random group of people.

Another issue is the amount of useless characters who were introduced. In the other versions, there were only 2 Lan disciples who were given names and were introduced properly while here there were more than I want to count. Add to that the one telling stories about the YiLing Patriarch and the weird guy walking around with a flag, and you got yourself total confusion.

Donghua

This one was slightly less confusing to watch. As it starts with a clip of Wei Ying commanding corpses which matches the overall feel of the donghua. The rumors that he died stretched over the time skip and we meet this version of Mo Xuanyu who is caked with make up, whether or not he was a cut-sleeve (gay) in this version, I forgot.

It fully explains the curse and instead of having a couple of Lan disciples just standing there watching, we get to focus on the 2 important ones, Lan Sizhui and Lan JiYing. It gives us a slightly deeper insight into Wei Ying’s mind, as he states ‘you got the wrong one,’ just after being reincarnated, indicating that he isn’t as vicious as painted by the first few minutes of the show. Like the other versions, they also show how he considers the cons of using his demonic abilities and that Sizhui would probably tell on him to Lan Zhan, meaning that Sizhui was a keen, observant young man.

Manhua and the Novel

As for the introductions, these two were very similar. Both have the rumors of the Yiling Patriarch across the screen as we get further down the story and meet our main character.

It gets the details from the Donghua adaptation and mixes it with more information to create a more detailed account of what was happening, also making this Wei Ying seem smarter compared to his counterparts in other versions. He also hesitates more on showing his abilities, knowing that he’s going to be caught if he does.

Final Thoughts

As of writing this, I’m only halfway through the novel but it covers the portion until where the manhua is currently at. I would finish reading it before posting this but it would take too long and probably make this post even longer than it currently is, which isn’t such a good idea. If I had much more patience and effort I would really like to break down each arc and their differences from one another but I can’t be bothered right now. (Sorry)

I can safely say that in terms of adaptations, ‘The Untamed’ is relatively close to the novel, albeit a very condensed version. As flashback filled as it is, it wasn’t very confusing to watch past the first two episodes.

The Donghua adaptation takes several liberties, going more of an action oriented route instead of the calmer more, I wouldn’t say love but character oriented novel.

The manhua is definitely the closest to the novel, so if you really don’t want to read a lot of words, and I mean a lot of words, then go ahead and read it.

What else do I have to say...if you’re new to the story, welcome, if you’re a veteran who’s been here longer than me, sorry for taking up space on your feed. And congrats for making it to the end.

#the untamed #mo dao zu shi #manhua #donghua #cdrama #wei wuxian #lan wangji #wei ying #lan zhan #fujoshi #comparisons #mdzs #wangxian #yiling patriarch #yiling lao zu #hanguang jun

[hopeless-not-serious]

I posted 779 times in 2021

60 posts created (8%)

719 posts reblogged (92%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 12.0 posts.

I added 113 tags in 2021

#911 lone star - 18 posts

#tarlos - 16 posts

#ml spoilers - 16 posts

#miraculous ladybug - 15 posts

#carlos reyes - 14 posts

#tk strand - 9 posts

#adrien agreste - 9 posts

#druck - 6 posts

#my babies - 5 posts

#911ls - 5 posts

Longest Tag: 95 characters

#werde ich mir die zwei folgen zum dritten mal geben um nach schlüsselbeinen ausschau zu halten?

Lowkey surprised by the tags, ngl. The longest tag being German #TatortSaarbrücken? Ehrensache.

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

Such a wild ride getting back into Ladybug and Chat Noir 😅 what did I miss?

Adrien/ Chat Noir is getting sidelined

We're still sleeping on Adrien x Nino / Chat x Carapace friend broship

We're still sleeping on Adrino/ Adrinino period

Are we clowns or humans akuma-Clowns?

Seriously, I need a speed-run through all the dramas, theories, and spoilers 🖖

80 notes • Posted 2021-05-30 18:07:18 GMT

#4

I'm so done with Marinettes lack of self-awareness and her "I need to fix everything (because we all need to love each other)"- mentality. Yes, she kinda/maybe tried to apologize but she knew that Juleka hated to speek up and to stand up for herself. But still. She asked her to uninvite HER TWIN BROTHER FROM THEIR BIRTHDAY PARTY! (This might have made me extra angry, 'cause in my opinion? Siblings for the win. Always. No one -not my parents and especially not my friends- would even think about asking me to stay away from my sibling. Wtf?!) That wasn't cute or funny - that was Marinettes I dont even know what to call it lack of self-awareness? overcomplicated thinking? as selfless coded selfishness/egocentrism?

Yeah, she tried to apologize but it was a "I'm sorry I pressured you" and not a "I'm sorry I put my own needs ("what I think Luka needs without asking him") over your relationship with your brother for one fucking day"

We've seen a similar behavior in that episode where Juleka was worried about Rose? Adrien told Marinette to stay back. But she didn't listen and got herself involved. -Even worse: SHE FUCKING TOLD THE WHOLE CLASS EVEN THOUGH JULEKA ASKED HER NOT TO, wtf?! Because she had to be the one fixing everything and how dare someone in her class dare to keep something from the others?! Everything has to be bunnies and rainbows.

And dont even get me started on the class. When are they going to realize that making plans, manipulation, getting themselves involved in everything and trying to solve everything (and disregarding boundaries and overstepping while doing so) doesn't work?! Alya shouldn't have pressured Marinette to do something she wasn't comfortable with. And with the Ladybug-Card? Not cool. Gelbe Karte.

And dont even get me started on her freaking out everytime Adrien looks at someone else or leaves the country. She went to Shanghai just to stalk him?! I'm sorry, but thar, to me, in the real world, would be a red flag. As of now, I think she would turn out to be a possessive and abusive girlfriend.

Also: I'm not saying that Adrien is perfect. This is not a comparison post or a hate-Marinette campaign. This is me being pissed and done (mostly) because of the sibling-thing.

87 notes • Posted 2021-08-04 09:48:07 GMT

#3

"Someone will find out Shadowmoths identity"

It could be Chloe or maybe Lila, probalby Felix or one of the heros BUT WHAT IF -and this would have been my first guess in the context of every other TV Show Drama- It could be Nathalie.

Whut, but she already knows?! -Exactly. The episode "Gabriel Agreste" could be his origin story, full of flashbacks. Including the story of Nathalie's involvement. Did she know from the start? Was she friends with Amelie? Did she find out? Why is she helping SHM?

Other TV Shows would use this tactic to promote drama.

(Please keep in mind, that I dont know the full length of the spoiler. I might be missing some information)

Additional point: We've seen episodes that are supposed to happen after Gabriel Agreste, right?

107 notes • Posted 2021-07-23 19:48:46 GMT

#2

Should we be talking about Ronen hinting at/ acknowledging Rafaels/ Carlos (lack of) screentime during S2? He talked about how everyone, including Rafael, had to be patient and how Rafael showed true professionalism while having almost no scenes. They know.

I feel like hope the messages were received: We want more Rafael/Carlos.

And we should definitely talk about how Ronen is Rafaels greatest fan. 😍

122 notes • Posted 2021-03-11 21:37:59 GMT

#1

No Druck but this is very important

254 notes • Posted 2021-03-08 13:33:00 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

#my 2021 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

[unibrowzz]

Mod (finally) reviews all 67 winners of the Eurovision Song Contest Part II: The 1960s

Welcome back! To this...

Whatever you wanna call it, I can barely call half of these “reviews” but ANYWAYS.

The 60s are. Mid-table. Not a tremendously bad decade by all means, but they’re also the only decade to have three songs in my “would refuse to listen to” category, which is an achievement. 

I’m sure you can all guess at least two of those songs by now!

Without further ado, let’s move on to what I think of the winning entries from the 60s.

1960: Tom Pillibi

Country: France 

Artist: Jacqueline Boyer

Language: French

Thoughts: Whenever I was younger and enjoyed singing, I was frequently told that I had a "nasally" voice. I never knew what this meant, and I rarely heard my own voice to hear what it meant. Since people told me I had a nice voice, I continued to sing without fixing it. But now I'm older and know a tiny bit more about music, I can finally hear what they meant. Jaqueline here had a very nasally voice and a very high song to go with it. You can hear the notes being directed through her nose and sinuses rather than up from her diaphragm and mouth, resulting in a voice which sounds impressively high… but also very thin and flimsy. There's no resonance or depth to these notes, she sounds like a kid half her age trying to sing. Maybe that's what she was told to do, but given how this song is about a girl telling us about the shit her cheeky boyfriend tells her, I'd like to think not. Then again, this IS the 60s.

Is this my personal winner for this year? No

If no, what is? United Kingdom- Bryan Johnson- “Looking High, high, high”

Personal ranking (out of 67): 54th

1961: Nous les Amoureux

Country: Luxembourg

Artist: Jean-Claude Pascale

Language: French

Thoughts: I know this song didn’t compete for France, but have you ever heard a more aggressively French song than this? This is one of the most sultry, seductive songs in this lineup; like it just feels like the song itself is trying to seduce me and is going to offer me a glass of fine red wine before leading me to a candlelit bedroom and a four-post bed with rose petals scattered across it or some shit. That or it's gonna blow a long stream of cigarette smoke right into my face. One or the other. Going back on track, I like this song. Granted I wouldn’t call it a favourite or anything, but it’s still a Hell of a lot more likeable than most of the other 60s winners, and Hell, you could even argue this one is a lot more admirable given how the lyrics of the song are intended for a male lover of the singer’s. Which, for the early 60s, makes this a bigger deal than it would be nowadays. The singing is buttery smooth, and the song itself has a bit of a skip to it. It’s a very appealing song, and one I appreciate just a little bit more than the other songs from the 60s.

Is this my personal winner for this year? 50/50

If no, what is? France- Jean-Paul Mauric- “Printemps, avril carillon”

Personal ranking (out of 67): 26th

1962: Un Premier Amour 

Country: France

Artist: Isabelle Aubret

Language: French (Translation: “A First Love”)

Thoughts: You know whenever you play a CD too much and it eventually becomes all scratched and worn down so whenever you play it it skips back to the same part over and over again before unsticking to play a bit more of the song, but keeps getting stuck over and over? Yeah, imagine a whole song like that. This song just drones on, with no charisma or vocal animation to break up the monotony. I don’t even think the rule “well it was the 60s” applies, since this isn’t really a song that needs flashy setpieces, costuming, dancing or anything; it just needs a charismatic singer. And, unfortunately, Aubret just isn’t one, in my opinion.

Is this my personal winner for this year? No

If no, what is? United Kingdom- Ronnie Carroll- "Ring-a-Ding Girl"

Personal ranking (out of 67):  62nd

1963: Dansevise

Country: Denmark

Artist: Grete and Jørgen Ingmann

Language: Danish

Thoughts: Oh fucking finally, something unique for once. Which is very surprising because, from what I've seen and heard, the early contests weren't all that kind to songs which didn’t fit a certain criteria. If anything, most songs which came off as being unique with different sounds, instruments, and moods compared to the rest of their years ended up pulling up the rear in last place, more often than not with nil points. So it's nice to see a song which not only has unique elements to it (ie, a brooding sultry guitar accompaniment and a steady sweeping tempo), but is also in a stereotypically "ugly" language do well this early on.  Getting back on track, this is one of those songs I find tends to be a cult favourite, especially amongst vintage and retro fans. And why wouldn't it be? It's a breath of fresh air in an era where so many songs sounded exactly the same, just in a different language. This is one of the few fan favourite winners where I can see the appeal myself.

Is this my personal winner for this year? Yes

If no, what is? N/A

Personal ranking (out of 67): 27th

1964: Non ho l’Eta

Country: Italy

Artist: Gigliola Cinquetti

Italian: (Translation: “I’m not old enough”)

Thoughts: If that title isn’t off-putting enough, then I don’t know what is. You’re all probably well aware of this right now, but I don’t like this song. At all. Everything about it just makes me feel creeped out and kinda dirty every time I hear it, which is a shame because the melody on its own is very pretty. It’s the song equivalent of flicking through re-runs of Top of the Pops and landing on a segment where Jimmy Saville is hosting; it just sends a disgusted shiver down my spine and I have to turn it off as quickly as possible.  Which, given the lyrics of this song, is understandable. Think about it; you’ve got this visibly nervous, very young, still-legally-a-child-in-most-countries teenager, singing about how she “isn’t old enough” to be in a relationship with someone who seems to be older than she is. Maybe it’s just because I don’t speak any Italian, and the meaning is all semantic and context based, but this is my personal opinion at the end of the day, and, unfortunately, these lyrics just come off as really creepy to me. This song reminds me a lot of the song “Baby, it’s Cold Outside”, in that the lyrics used to be totally innocent and sweet, but to a modern listener come off as shockingly creepy and off-putting, and you’re not sure if it’s down to a change in slang and colloquialisms or if the past really was that messed up. Just like how in "Baby it's Cold Outside", a line asking "does this contain alcohol" now sounds like "have you spiked this with something", what was once “I’m too young and naïve to be in a serious committed relationship” now comes off as “I’m underaged, please leave me alone”. Doesn’t help that Cinquetti was underaged, hated the song, didn’t want to perform, and only showed up because she was forced to by a pushy manager. Which, for the 60s, was par for the course.

Is this my personal winner for this year? No

If no, what is? Germany- Nora Nova- "Man Gewöhnt sich zu Schnell an das Schöne"

Personal ranking (out of 67):  66th

1965: Poupée du Cire, Poupée du Son

Country: Luxembourg

Artist: France Gall

Language: French (Translation: “Wax doll, stuffed doll”)

Thoughts: And now we come to Non ho L’eta’s ugly little sister in that, just like with that song, there’s a weirdly sinister edge to this one that I just can’t shake off. My French isn’t fantastic, admittedly, but every line of this song seems like it has another, less innocent meaning. Like the whole song is one big double entendre. Which, given how this was written by Serge “I made a 16 year old sing about blowing dicks when she thought she was singing about lollipops” Gainsborg, wouldn’t surprise me. Dodgy lyrics aside, this song is just… terrible. Songs which repeat the same motif over and over are a dime a dozen in older Eurovision, though most of them at least spice it up with a key change, adding more instruments to the instrumental, or even just having a nice melody. This? Is just an uncharismatic, uninterested teenager barking the same few notes over and over again ad nauseum. I know it was the 60s and that the contest was way more restrictive in how songs could be performed, but there’s just… no enthusiasm or animation or anything to make this charming or remotely enjoyable. It’s just shouty, unpleasant, and lacking any semblance of charisma. And I don't care if it's "important", it fucking sucks and we deserved a better song as our “first uptempo winner” of the contest.

Is this my personal winner for this year? No

If no, what is? The Netherlands- Conny Vandenbos- “‘t is Genoeg”

Personal ranking (out of 67):  67th

1966- Merci, Chérie

Country:  Austria

Artist: Udo Jurgens

Language: German (Translation: “Thank you, my dear”)

Thoughts: I’m so conflicted on this song. It’s very beautiful, emotional, dramatic... BUT. I just find it so forgettable, I’m sorry. I’m struggling to even talk about it right now. Do you know how long it took me to even finish this mini review? Too damn long. I forgot all about this song mid way through it. So at the recommendation of a friend I put this one on so I could review it whilst it plays and… it’s just a very sleepy song. Udo Jurgens is a good singer, I won’t deny that, but, God, he sounds like he’s nodding off as he sings. The first minute and a half of this song sounds like one big yawn. And that’s over half the song wasted just building to a climax, since I don’t think this song has a chorus, and for a song this short and slow I just don’t think it’s wise to put your climax right in the middle. I feel it would be better if it had two climactic parts or just put the climax right at the end of the song so the whole song is spent building that suspense. Shoving it smack in the middle of the song just makes it feel shorter. Also the fact it’s a piano song reminds me of Non ho l’eta and I don’t need to repeat myself to remind you that’s a bad thing, so, moving on.

Is this my personal winner for this year? No

If no, what is? Italy- Domenico Modugno- “Dio, come ti amo”

Personal ranking (out of 67): 45th

1967: Puppet on a String

Country: United Kingdom

Artist: Sandie Shaw

Language: English

Thoughts: You know, I was pretty shocked to find out this song is a Eurovision song. Partially because I didn’t realise just how old Eurovision actually is, and partially because as somebody who grew up in Britain in the 2000s, I was just bred to believe the UK is inherently shit, has never won ever, and is incapable of sending songs people actually cherish and remember. But that’s a rant for another day. Anyways, this is the song Poupée du Cire wishes it was. It’s charming, it’s bouncy, it skips along so merrily you forget how the lyrics have aged about as well as a pint of milk left out in the sun for too long.  Then again, I think the lyrics were outdated even back then. I suppose what sets this song aside from the other “60s entries with sexist lyrics sung by young women who didn’t want to be there” is that Shaw is a damn good performer, and hides her disdain expertly. If she wasn’t so vocal about how much she hates this song, you’d swear she loves it, her performance is that charming.

Is this my personal winner for this year? Eh

If no, what is? Portugal- Eduardo Nascimento- “O vento mudou”

Personal ranking (out of 67): 24th

1968: La la la

Country: Spain

Artist: Massiel

Language: Spanish

Thoughts: And the award for most creatively bankrupt name goes to…  Granted, 1968 was one of the dreariest years I’ve watched, so it’s pretty easy to see why a song like this would have done well. That said, this is a really bland song, and even in a year as dull as 1968, I still don’t think this should have won. It’s the kind of song which relies on repeating itself ad nauseum in order to get stuck in your head, and let’s be honest here, that makes it more annoying than anything else. There’s only so many rounds of “la la la” you can take before you feel like rupturing your own eardrums with a knitting needle after all. I don’t really have anything else to say about it, it’s just mildly annoying and not that good.

Is this my personal winner for this year? No

If no, what is? Norway- Odd Børre- “Stress”

Personal ranking (out of 67): 55th

1969- Four Winners, One Contest

France: Un jour, un enfant

Artist: Frida Boccara

Language: French

Thoughts: Well this is objectively the best of the four songs we have here, and it’s also my favourite winner from France, so at least it has that going for it. Though, let’s be real, I’m hardly a big fan of France’s winners, or French ballads in general. So this is… a big emotional ballad. What more is there to say? It’s big. It’s emotional. The lyrics are nonsense because God help us if we have songs with strong emotions this early on in the contest. Summary: Very nice, but lacking substance. Personal ranking (out of 67):  21st

Spain: Vivo Cantando

Artist: Salome

Language: Spanish

Thoughts: I’m not really what you’d call an advocate for bringing back a live orchestra, but, man, songs like this sure turn me into one. The live version of this song is in a whole other league compared to the studio version; like it is just pure, infectious, Spanish cheer. It’s an absolute blast to listen to, and I strongly recommend checking out the live version before going anywhere near the studio. Summary: Infections, but choose live over studio because it’s better okay. Personal ranking (out of 67):  20th

The Netherlands: Der Troubadour

Artist: Lenny Kuhr

Language: Dutch

Thoughts: I mean.... The guitar solo is impressive at least. I’m sorry, I don’t see the appeal in this one. And I feel so weirdly alone in that stance. So many people I know have this song in their top ten best winners list and I just don’t understand it. I just find it very dull and repetitive, and the singer’s voice is definitely an acquired taste. To me she just sounds like she’s forcing her voice lower, like a reverse falsetto or something. And that’s all I really have to say about this one. I just… don’t  like it that much, or at least not as much as everyone else I know seems to. Summary: I don’t “get” it. Personal ranking (out of 67): 53rd

United Kingdom: Boom-Bang-a-Bang

Artist: Lulu

Language: English

Thoughts: Ah yes, the forgotten UK winner. Everybody knows Lulu did this contest once, and everybody knows Boom-bang-a-bang was a British entry, but I swear nobody knows she actually won. Probably because she had the audacity to tie with other countries, the horror. And that’s the most interesting part of this song because it’s otherwise  just kind of alright. It’s very twee and sweet, and if I didn’t know that “bubblegum pop” was a genre reserved for one-hit-wonder nobodies and not decade-defining names then I’d say this is a perfect example of it. It’s just a decent-ish fluffy pop song with very saccharine fluffy lyrics. Standard British Eurovision pap, if you ask me. Summary: Cute, but lacking substance. Personal ranking (out of 67): 25th

So who really should have won in 1969? Either Spain or Monaco if you ask me. That kid had charm.

#eurovision #mod's winner reviews #these took sooooo long to format lmao will draft the 70s and 80s tonight so i can post them on time tomorrow #ESC winners

[theuntamedproject]

"If the face says nothing, listen to the heartbeat" - Lan WangJi, Mo Dao Zu Shi (Weeks 3+4)

https://zhtheuntamedprojec.wixsite.com/theuntamedproject 

... those who have read the novel know the real context of this line in the scene BUT taken out of context and used in a completely different (*cough* our) scenario..."If the face says nothing," translates to "Even if we seem calm on the outside,""listen to the heartbeat." translates to "we're so stressed to the point of ventricular fibrillation." (dunno if that's even a likely story but the overly exaggerated point still stands: we just handed our uni applications in and we're dreading admission tests and awaiting interviews...)

Quick overview

So aside from school work and university prep, TUP has taken up whatever spare moment either one of us has. However since Zara's Physics coursework began (good luck Zara!!) and both of us prepping for our respective admissions tests, we've decided instead of marching onwards with research on architecture and other food science related stuff, to settle on more relaxed Google seshes on MDZS (and totally not using this as an excuse to read the source text again) and beginning to design the buildings on CAD and paper.

So I'm going to introduce to you the barebones framework of what we plan to include in the design: characters, buildings and effects~ apologies in advance for not including the accents/tones in names (I cba tbh ;-; )

Characters

Because all these little dudes are just going to be cut out gingerbread men, we could include as many characters as possible (we did say we're making a universe are we not?). Those in italics are "maybe" characters depending on the dough remaining (or whether we like them to be part of the universe or not...) or how much gingerbread we're willing to eat ourselves (though huge shout out to everyone thats offered to eat our spare and broken gingerbread during materials testing - which I will get to a bit later :3)

Gusu Lan (the pretty sect)

Lan XiChen / Lan Huan (Sect Leader - simped so hard for his sworn brothers that both of them ended up dead)

Lan WangJi / Lan Zhan (repressed gay but we love him still)

Lan Yuan / Lan Sizhui (he's part of the Lan sect now goddamnit)

Lan JingYi (the most unLan Lan yet has the highest chance of being the next sect leader lmaoo)

Lan QiRen

Lan Yi / Lan An

QingHeng-Jun (Twin Jades' father)

Madam Lan (Twin Jades' mother)

Yunmeng Jiang (arguably the only "normal" sect here...)

Jiang Cheng / Jiang Wanyin (Sect Leader also an "angry grape" as put by Zara)

Jiang YanLi (OUR QUEEN)

Jiang FengMian (loved Wei Ying more than Jiang Cheng lol jk xd)

Yu ZiYuan (BAMF)

Wei Ying not included here since technically he defected from the Sect (; - ;)

Qinghe Nie (fans and sabers my bros)

Nie HuaiSang (Sect Leader - yeah, I can't believe it either)

Nie MingJue (noooooooooo)

Honestly, I swear this clan is either "big muscles or big brain?". If you have neither, you can't be part of their clique. I mean sect.

Lanling Jin (rich rich rich rich rich)

Jin Ling / Jin RuLan (Sect Leader - totally not named after Wei Ying's crush/ husband's family)

Jin GuangYao / Meng Yao (*smiles*)

Jin ZiXuan (peacock but JYL's husband nonetheless)

Jin GuangShan (gross)

Jin ZiXun (double gross)

Mo XuanYu (literally did not sign up to any of this. He just wanted to end his suffering at Mo Manor)

We decided against including everyone from Mo Manor since they literally died within the first few chapters of the novel / first episode of the drama so were kinda irrelevant. Also, we don't care about them like we care for the Lan Sect members either.

Off topic side rant, Zara has been on my case whenever I bring up Jin GuangYao. I have to say, he's way more lovable in the drama than in the novel (didn't really leave much of an impression on me in the novel, NHS did a better job at that). I'm here to briefly explain why this boy is misunderstood and deserved more than what he got (and also why you should love him because he deserves love).JGY is a poor soul who's goal in life was to please others because no one was ever satisfied with him. His mother wasn't satisfied. His father wasn't satisfied. Hell, even his sworn brother NMJ wasn't satisfied with him eventually. BUT GUESS WHAT Xichen the angel is the only person that showed any love or thanks to JGY that's why he didn't kill him in the end - he wouldn't kill people that actually cared about him. IF ONLY EVERYONE ACTUALLY PAID ATTENTION TO HOW CLEVER AND CUNNING THIS MAN WAS, THERE MAY NOT EVEN BE WENS THREATENING THE WORLD. end of brief rant.

Qishan Wen (too hot, hot damn)

Wen RuoHan (Sect Leader - could have taken over the world if his children weren't incompetent)

Wen Qing (half the reason why included this sect)

Wen Ning / Wen QiongLin (the other half of the reason)

Wen Yuan (WE NEED THIS BABIE ALONGSIDE SIZHUI OK)

Wen Chao (questionable)

Wen ZhuLiu (also questionable but less annoying than Wen Chao)

Rogue cultivators (including people we didn't really know where to put)

Wei WuXian / Wei Ying (Can work out how to cultivate resentful energy, fight against the biggest cultivation clans in the world and gain a formidable reputation as the Yiling Patriarch yet can't figure out that Lan Zhan has a crush on him. Makes it look like cultivating resentful energy is easy as pie.)

CangSe SanRen (Wei Ying's mother)

Wei ChangZe (Wei Ying's father)

Xiao XingChen (honestly, the nicest guy ever. Could rival Xichen in terms of kindness. But then again... where did that kindness lead either of them? Moral of story: screw kindness)

Song Lan (Wen Ning's dead buddy~)

Xue Yang (he was cool in the novel, a bit questionable in the drama ngl)

A-Qing (didn't report her situation to the police...)

Baoshan Sanren (without knowledge of her existence, Jiang Cheng may have given up on life after he lost his golden core)

Ouyang ZiZhen (I didn't know who he was at all from the novel (ie he left no impression) but since he's technically part of the juniors, we have to include him)

Wang Ling Jiao / Jiao Jiao (just so Wen Chao has a friend perhaps... I don't know if we're that kind)

Su She (ew. just. He's not our favourite. The whole thing could have gone smoother if he didn't exist)

Luo Qingyang / Mian Mian (that one girl that made Wei Ying think Lan Zhan was straight)

Whew! That's all the character's we've considered! We have yet to come up with individual designs for the clothes and what not but at least we know there are going to be straight up cutting them out using the gingerbread man cutters.

Also! let's not forget:

Li'l Apple (didn't sign up for any of this either)

Fairy (gift from JGY to JL, also good doggo)

All the bunnies in Gusu (yes.)

All the fans and sabers in Qinghe (it's part of their aesthetic)

Locations and Buildings

This section's going to be MUCH shorter than the previous one haha since we've basically come up with 5 main buildings and in 7 locations. We're planning these buildings to be architectural masterpieces (okay, that's a slight exaggeration but that's the point). These buildings will take SIGNIFICANTLY more time than the gingerbread characters and is the reason we've put so much effort into researching what would make the most stable type of building. This is because we've planned to mirror the buildings as close as possible to the drama. We haven't yet drawn 2D sketches as I've left that job mostly to Zara (sorry!) so it's sort of hard to describe in words but by next post, we hope to have these down~ (though please see the mood boards from Zara's post previously)~

Gusu Lan - Cloud Recesses

The Wall of Discipline

The Courtyard

The Orchid Room (the main classroom/hall)

Yunmeng Jiang - Lotus Pier

The Main Pier

Lotus Pod Lake

Qinghe Nie - The Unclean Realm

The Main Courtyard and stairs

Lanling Jin - Koi Tower

Koi Tower

Qishan Wen - Nightless City

Main building and stairs

Yiling - Burial Grounds

The Mountains (and farms/Wen settlements)

Demon-Slaughtering Cave

And of course, Yi City.

We don't know if we want to include any more places but we'll let you know if there are any changes to this list. Plus the effects of LEDs and other arts and craft jazz besides gingerbread, we plan to make sure each Sect get's their own spotlight~

Please enjoy our baby Cloud Recesses, they're going to grow up and be a fine specimen of society worthy of the Lan name :D

The plan going forward

Although unfortunately, things haven't gone totally to plan due to fairly busy circumstances, we still have some major events along the way before starting to build the whole thing (which would probably be around mid-to-end of December) which have indeed started preparing for. Including:

Material testing gingerbread and icing (ie finally, bringing our research to the real world) - a lot of gingerbread will be made, so thank you to the willing volunteers who wanted to eat our failed experiments!

Finding / creating a suitable recipe for the gingerbread people

2D and 3D sketches of the buildings

Designing costumes for the gingerbread people

Another thing that we kinda want to do is to make this project benefit the wider community (we wanted to set up a GoFundMe at some point and raise some money for charity~). But we don't know how to do that as of yet T-T . Any ideas, feel free to contact us and let us know! We want to help others through this project (if at all possible haha)!

#mdzs #update #characters #gingerbread #gusulan #yunmengjiang #qinghenie #lanlingjin #qishanwen #weiying #lanzhan

[thirtysixsavefiles]

Mo Dao Zu Shi/The Untamed: A Very Quick Overview

THIS IS A PITCH for reading/watching Mo Dao Zu Shi (also known as MDZS) and/or its live-action adaptation The Untamed. There are more than one excellent rec posts floating around which touch on different aspects of this story, including this one which I highly recommend (specifically for The Untamed).

If you’re seeing a lot about it lately, it’s because The Untamed (which aired in China this summer) just dropped on US Netflix as of 10/25/19 - I cannot emphasize enough how the entirety of the show is now on Netflix - so there’s never been a better time to see just what all these gifs of pretty people are about. :D

SO WHAT IS MDZS?

MDZS is a Chinese webnovel by author Mo Xiang Tong Xiu (MXTX) set in ancient fantasy China filled with magic, murder, and intrigue. It will do its very best to shred your heart, but it delivers on the happily ever after. It also offers a ton of my very favorite tropes, including but not limited to: mutual pining (so much pining), only one bed (only one bathtub!), battle couples, and brotherly (and “brotherly”) bonds, to name just a few.

It also has a canonically gay main couple - almost the entire novel is the main character figuring out he is stupidly, desperately in love with the other male lead. If you read/watch it you will spend so much time going “Wei Wuxian you dumbass,” and I mean that in the best way possible. Wei Wuxian is the “very smart but very stupid in one specific area” trope to a T, and it’s delightful.

WHAT IS IT ABOUT?

The story follows Wei Wuxian, one of the most powerful and most divisive cultivators (essentially, magic users) of his generation, who when the novel opens has been dead for thirteen years. (Or sixteen - the show and the novel have slightly different timelines.) He’s been summoned back to enact some revenge, but almost immediately runs into a murder mystery plot, a bigger revenge plot, and his ex Lan Wangji.

Lan Wangji is one of the other greatest cultivators of their generation, and has an impeccable, unimpeachable reputation. Wei Wuxian is pretty sure Lan Wangji hates him and always has; but the minute Wei Wuxian shows up Lan Wangji grabs him and refuses to let go. What could be going on here?

(It’s exactly what you think it is.)

The story follows Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji as they travel the countryside and unravel multiple mysteries (who do these dead body parts belong to, where are the rest of the body parts, who made them dead to begin with) including intrigue that stretches back before Wei Wuxian’s death and who’s pulling the strings behind Wei Wuxian’s return. There are several flashbacks to the past that illuminate the present, and there’s also both accidental and intentional kid adoption.

It can also get heavy. There are several character deaths, inter-clan warfare (although this happens mostly off-screen), and people behaving terribly toward each other. It gets sad, and heartbreaking, but (for me at least) still in a good way. And for the stuff that doesn’t get fixed in the story’s timeline, there’s always fic - there’s always fic.

There’s a lot I’m glossing over - the gray morality, the endless flirting, the mirroring of relationships, the things we do for the people we love, the things we do in the pursuit of power, the extensive cast of characters both lovable and asshole (and often both!) - but this post is already long enough.

OKAY BUT HOW DO I GET INTO IT?

You are in luck, because right now there are so many entry points to this story.

You can READ the fan-translation of the original novel (translated as The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation) at Exiled Rebels Scanlations. If you’re looking for the story in its original framing with as much detail as possible, this is your bet.

You can WATCH the (subtitled) live-action adaptation The Untamed on US Netflix, on Viki, and on WeTV Youtube. The subtitles vary in quality, so take them with a grain of salt.

You can ALSO WATCH the donghua on Tencent Youtube (official) and from Guodong Subs (unofficial).

You can ALSO READ the manhua on Exiled Rebels Scanlations.

You can LISTEN to (and also read, because subtitles) the audio drama from Suibian Subs.

HELP I’VE GOTTEN INTO IT AND I’M TERRIBLY CONFUSED

Yes this is pretty typical, especially for a Western audience that lacks the cultural context! I offer you two pieces of advice:

1) KEEP GOING - it will make sense in the end, mostly. You can figure out a lot by context, especially with the translator’s notes in the novel.

2) I HAVE RESOURCES FOR YOU which may help contextualize some of the names, relationships, and customs. Almost certainly contains spoilers, so follow your own judgement about that:

Brief primer on titles and relationships by @fleurdeliser

Visual primer of relationships (uses donghua visuals) by @yeetlung17 on Twitter

MDZS Fandom Wiki

Searchable glossary/dictionary of Chinese terms

I could say more but this post is already long enough. Go forth, if this sounds interesting - have I mentioned it’s on Netflix? - and see just what the fuss is all about.

#mdzs #the untamed #pitch post #why you should get in to mdzs #this is a very high level overview #there is more to say #more gifs to present #but i will stop here #for now #paging tumblr user #callmearcturus #long post

[wangxiians]

hi! I accidentally stumbled across your blog and I have absolutely no idea what the untamed is about but your gifs and content are making me wanna watch it hah. I just wanted to ask if it's just heavy romantic subtexts or if there's something a little more solid in the show? Sorry if this isn't the place to ask but I'm curious, I'll probably watch it either way though aaaah

due to china's censorship laws its subtext but like the least-subtextual subtext you'll ever watch. the way the protagonist's relationship is portrayed is what made me fall in love with the show (i usually jump from drama to drama very quickly but the untamed has found a very big place in my heart).

for some context on the untamed, it is based on a boylove novel called mo dao zu shi which portrays their relationship as a lot more explicit (i.e there are kisses, a physical relationship, and explicit mentions of their love). if you really want to experience this side of their relationship but don't wanna read the book (it's very long) i highly recommend the audio drama! it's the same voices as the drama and you can find english subs to read along w/ it so you can experience the scenes that couldnt get past chinese censorship.

so even tho there isn't any kisses, any 'i love you' confessions (their confessions are honestly more romantic than that), the untamed has managed to take the restrictions of censorship and turn the drama into something so beautiful. i could even argue that the drama version of wangxian's relationship is even more poignant than the novel because of how they were able to 'show not tell' their love story. it's a slowburn of two soulmates who love each other so deeply that you can see it in every glance, every touch, every decision and every action they make. there are confessions that despite not saying 'i love you' are some of the most romantic scenes i've seen on tv in a long time. their love transcends subtext. they know they're in love. we know they're in love. every single character knows they're in love.

the show writers did an amazing job of portraying a gay love story without changing the original plot too much. they managed to make such a beautiful slowburn unfold inspite of censorship and also there's like a really cool plot that's so addicting so hey, that's also a bonus too.

#i wrote this while at work so customers kept interrupting me #tl;dr they're married and have a son #also ur the first ask ive gotten on this blog so thank u this was a fun ask to answer #ask

[ateanalenn]

The Untamed / MDZS, resources post, stuff I needed as a writer

ORIGINAL POST AT DREAMWIDTH! (and updates will be there too and maybe on tumblr, if I remember)

(this is a copy paste, the formatting might not survive)

(also available on AO3)

The Untamed / MDZS, resources post, stuff I needed as a writerApr. 11th, 2020 05:46 pm ateanalennFinding info for this show / how to write about / pitfalls to avoid was a pain :( I guess that's part of having fandom on Tumblr. Since Tumblr's search function only works by selling a kidney and sacrificing a goat, I had to rely on Google. Which, not great. Anyway, useful stuff I found to understand this fandom: • MDZS on Dreamwidth: theuntamed_mdzs (active) mxtx (community focused on all the works by the author Mo Xiang Tong Xiu. Not active, but it's there) theyilingweisect (community sharing fics, meta, discussions. Not active either since jan 2020) • MDZS aka Mo Dao Zu Shi (book) aka Grandmaster of Demobnic Cultivation / The Untamed (drama) (there's also an audio drama, a manhua, a donghua, ...) - the novel's en glish fan translation at Exiled Rebels (complete ) As far as I know, this is the most popular translation, though I would like to know if anyone has another translation that they think fit best. - the drama is streaming on Netflix, Viki, WeTV & Youtube. From what I heard around, Netflix and Youtube are the most accessible, obviously, but Viki has the best subtitles (and a whole lot of annoying pubs though). I think that I heard somewhere that there are fan subtitles made, will update if I find the link again). • About names: • The Untamed: A Primer Basically an overview of what is this drama, a few spoilers (but under arrows to open so less risks to see something you didn't want to see). Useful list of titles for the main charas! (ex: Wei Wuxian:    Young Master Wei    Wei Ying (use of this name denotes “I feel affection for you”)    The Yiling Patriarch (use of this name denotes “I think you are evil”)    A-Xian / Xianxian (use of this name denotes “I am your loving older sister, have some soup”)    Lan Wangji:    Second Young Master Lan    Lan Zhan (use of this name denotes “I feel affection for you”)    Hanguang Jun (use of this name denotes “I respect you, and you are also famously very beautiful”)    Wangji (use of this name denotes “I am your older brother and I wish you’d make a friend”) ) • Another primer tumblr by sonickitty with a few where-do-I-find links • Alexandra Rowland explains What Is The Untamed twitter (with pics) • How Ancient Chinese Names Work - Learn from The Untamed Detailed explanation of what's going on with the names (aka Lan Wangji, Lan Zhan, Hanguang-jun) • Dramatis Personae for Modao Zushi the book dw (another detailed who's who/names list) • Names again, Chinese/Mandarin conventions twitter (aka ex the accents aren't necessary, they're there for pronunciation and some explanation of who would use full name/shortened name) • Infographic: birth name vs courtesy name vs title vs respectful address  twitter • Quick table / honorifics guide tumblr by cleyra • Mo Dao Zu Shi | 魔道祖师 The various adaptions tumblr by gravitydefyingtears • A list of MDZS FanFic Common Misleading tumblr by kazeki • A conversation about linguistic register, Lan Wangji, and I guess Wei Wuxian can come too tumblr (pretty important text to understand how lwj speaks) • Writing Lan Wangji's speech patterns (aka say the most in the least words) and the follow up Lan Wangji moving into the lowest, most vernacular linguistic register to try and get through to Wei Wuxian tumblr by hunxi-huilai • Using "You/I" vs "Title-as-you" tumblr by hunxi-guilai • Sword names tumblr by hunxi-guilai • Honorifics: jun vs zun tumblr by hunxi-guilai • THE spreadsheet: Mo Dao Zu Shi Character Name Chart, recced by flamebyrd (of who uses what for whom) • Misc Info: • 59 slides of awesomeness by chatcolat. Who's who, plot summary, humor. Beware, so full of spoilers you'll cry if you want to keep some mystery, but! concise recap of what happens in the show to keep the timeline in mind. • Everything about those cultivation sects in ‘The Untamed’ Quick who's who of the various sects (Gusu Lan, Lanling Jin, Yunmeng Jiang, Qishan Wen, Qinghe Nie. Protip: first word is basically the location, second is the sect/clan name). • Reference for Modao Zushi Writers: Chinese terms ao3. "This is to provide a reference for writers who are unfamiliar with Chinese literary conventions or terms used in canon." • Resource list dw: Libitina's twitter links for Meta, Linguistics, Costumes, Food, Edits, Art. • Actual drama title vs English drama title twitter • How "Mo Dao Zu Shi" became "Chen Qing Ling" became "The Untamed" tumblr by hunxi-guilai • Very necessary meta about why the novel/extras seems to have so many sex consent issues and how translating to English potentially gives a very different overall feel to the scene (ex: ExR = "you're too much, you're way too much" becomes chiaki_himura's "you're good, you're too good", becomes bigbadredpanda's "you're amazing, you're the best"). Also, Chinese language enables to shorten sentences which makes stuff implied, 's your job to see context clues.) • hunxi guilai's master list of various detailed topics re-Chinese language/customs tumblr • "Wangxian" is such a clever portemanteau tumblr by untamedconnotations • Song Lan didn’t just say that Xiao Xingchen was “nice-looking,” he basically said that Xiao Xingchen was smokin’ hot except like, in two characters and blanketed with literary respectability. tumblr by hunxi-guilai (this is only relevant because xxc IS the most beautiful person, really and needs to be protected at all cost) • The Unclean Realm isn't "unclean" has in dirty/bad, it's most probably to show the difference of way of cultivating vs the other sects tumblr by hunxi-guilai • WuJi, the love song's fan translation tumblr by iarrod • Timeline: • 59 slides of awesomeness by chatcolat. Who's who, plot summary, humor. Beware, so full of spoilers you'll cry if you want to keep some mystery, but! concise recap of what happens in the show to keep the timeline in mind. • A google spreadsheet, via mihanada's GoDC timeline wip (Year/Event/Notes/Ages/...)     • MDZS Timeline, that meta AO3 post on speed by TheWickling. Useful if you want all the details, a bit difficult to navigate/understand when you just landed in the fandom. Still very useful. • And the sequel: On Character's Ages  ao3 "A collection of meta on the possible ages for different  characters in MDZS and what ages they would be during key events in the  timeline." • Modao Zushi, birthdates/timeline dw Dirthdates starting with 0 = wwx's birth year. Succinct & useful. • Maps • Fan made mdzs / untamed worldmap twitter • Places of The Untamed - Where They Are in The Real World • IRL sect locations reddit • Google Map of clan locations in Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation tumblr • Lotus Pier really is one of the most underrated but beautiful places. twitter • Gifsets and images: - Mo Dao Zu Shi / The Untamed drama character guide! deviantart picture = name, who's who in pics. - The Untamed sect sigils - In Which LWJ Gives Not A Single Shit, A Thread #LanWangji #WangXian #cql #TheUntamed SPOILERS for most of the show twitter - The various stages of hairstyles + accessories twitter - SongXiao are in love, got married, are living happily ever after,(FITE ME) twitter by shenweiss - Realizing that wwx is wearing lwj's silk undershirt and the follow up: Qiren's face when he notices xD twitter - gingersnapwolves's Untamed tumblr tag - thewickling's mdzs tumblr tag - hunxi-guilai's cql tumblr tag - compilation of wangxian just being gay and making everyone feel like a third wheel twitter by weiwxngji - wwx swoons a lot and he's gorgeous twitter - Alexandra Rowland explains What Is The Untamed twitter (with pics) - grinding ink requires great patience, often represents that one is willing to wait for another’s feelings twitter - sad compilation of wangxian gazing into each other’s eyes that no one asked for, you’re welcome twitter - This frontal view of Wei Wuxian laying on Lan Wangji’s lap is everything. twitter - Lotus Pier really is one of the most underrated but beautiful places. twitter - Sometimes you see something, a picture, a video, just a snippet of a short moment, and you SEE the love. twitter - CQL’s working title was hot murder husbands twitter (this is amazing) - Lan Wangji just looks a thousand times more intimidating with golden eyes twitter - #TheUntamed’s spinoff webmovie #FatalJourney posters twitter (yessss, nhs, one of my fav) - Don’t you love how exactly 0.5 seconds of this video is Lan Zhan explaining that only spouses are allowed to touch the headband and the rest of the entire 2(!) minutes is a complication of Wei Ying touching it anyways... he said I wanna marry you. twitter • Fic Recs: - DW guest Post: Untamed Fic Starter Pack (a few fics for each subject (ex post canon, juniors centric, ...) - Twitter thread starting with Alexandra Rowland asking for fluffy MDZS/Untamed fic recs. (good new-fandom starter too!) - That twitter thread collecting a list of lady-centric Untamed/MDZS fics Which, good, because as much as I love the fandom, once again women don't exactly come out on top. How many are still alive at the end? I can think of one previously Jin sect lady, but that's it on top of my head, soooo. - Libitina also has posted a lot of mdzs fic recs dw - A "they're students in lockdown and socially distancing" WangXian ficlet tumblr by besanii And bonus: a capybara enjoying a good scritch because I love those dog-sized guinea pigs, seriously, that twitter account is my daily dose of cuteness Also, have some guinea pig on a cutesy bridge PS: I thought that this would be fast because I didn't have that much info to collect at one place, buuuut. It's been 5 hours and it turns out that I did lol.   Still, if you have anything else of potential interest, don't hesitate to leave a comment, please :D

#the untamed #resource #dreamwidth blog post #writer info #references

[wolffyluna]

A Very Silly Resolution

(crossposted from dreamwidth)

I am not going to be watching The Untamed.

I mean, I'm not going to make an active effort to avoid it, and if I'm bored and scrolling through Netflix I might watch an episode or two...

...but I'm not going to be making an active effort to watch it.

(As a note, I am mostly writing this as a note to myself, and to have something to point to if someone says 'Hey, have you heard of The Untamed? It sounds like it might be up your alley!' I do not intend to yuck anyone's yums. It's a good show. Just not my thing.)

I have made a solid attempt at watching The Untamed. I know a lot of people who really like it, and I get a lot of my media reccs from people I know really liking a thing. Usually they're right! That's how I got into Dragon Age, and the Silmarillion and The Magnus Archives. If a lot of my friends and acquaintances really got into The Bridge Jumping Show!, hell yeah would I watch it.

So of course I checked out The Untamed. A lot of people liked it! A lot of people who's taste I trust like it! And it seemed like it was likely to be a thing I liked!

And I do like it! ...I'm just very bad at watching it. I don't know quite what it is? But something in the melange of 'has subtitles'+'the subtitles are not great'+'I do not know this genre or this cultural context very well' means that I am constantly confused. And sometimes it is a fun confusion! But sometimes I'm left wondering if I've actually properly understood a basic conversation at all, or have to I have recontextualise four episodes on the fly because I did not realise most of the characters were teenagers. (...And I have just enough of a second hand embarassment squick that Wei Wuxian is really hard to watch a lot of the time. A second hand embarassment squick that is strongest in ~school settings. Yeah.)

And the thing is, even though I do like the show ~overall, the pressure I've been putting on myself of 'lots of people like this! you should like this! maybe make content! but you should watch and like this because so many people who's opinions you trust like this! watch it! like it!' and the fact it is actually difficult for me to watch outweighs that overall liking of it. It has made it kinda stressful. Not even necessarily to watch, but it's been hanging over my head. And it's been taking up a slot in my 'list of things I could do in my recreation time' and considering one of the big things that eats into my recreation time is picking a thing to do-- I'm taking it off the list. At least for now. Maybe I'll end up putting it back on it. Maybe I'll end up reading Mo Dao Zu Shi. Who knows.

But yeah, probably not going to be watching it any time soon.

#premium original content #wolffy watches the untamed