#Hong Kong Disaster

[hong-kong-art-man]

The Most Promising ACGN Artist In Hong Kong—Pen So(蘇頌文): “Why Do I Like Black-and-white Comic Drawings? Why Do I Like Nature Disaster As My Theme?”

It was said, “You may be the only person left who believes in you, but it is enough. It takes just one star to pierce a universe of darkness.” My friend, my young friend, never give up when you are tired, uncertain or frustrated! Try to believe! The ordinary people are usually happy because they lack ambition. They have no mountain to climb or assume that they are already on the top of the world. We, the ambitious ones who never settle for less, are unlucky, as we always find a reason to struggle, strive and do better until what is the ideally best, or until we fully utilize the talent that God has given.

For an inborn gifted artist, the moon danced with the stars on the night when he was birthed. The young comic artist in Hong Kong Pen So(蘇頌文) laughed, “I believe that every person is born with a particular kind of talent. The question is whether you have explored it and are insistent that your career battle must be won!” Pen always talked calmly, persuasively and systematically.

Do you know the trend of ‘ACGN’(animation, comics, game, novel) as a pop art? It is now a common way to combine the 4 elements into an artist’s work.

Pen was recently waxed and shining. He was victorious in acquiring the Silver Medal of Japan International MANGA Award in 2022 out of 77 country contestants. Pen liked to make black and white drawings out of what he feared most: natural catastrophes.

This young artist is always confident, positive and well-organised with his thoughts. Pen said with a smile, “I was just an ordinary guy with unimpressive school examination results—except the subject of art. My parents love beautiful things as they are in the fashion business. My elder brother is a web designer. My whole family cannot run away from creativity. Comics are the power and desire for me to feel and imagine. Unfortunately, I, by mistake, thought when I was a teenager that the subject of product design would be the nice compromise through which I could make a good living and yet satisfy a yearning for my artistic pursuit. I went to Hong Kong Design Institute, Kwon Tong to study commercial design and finally graduated in 2008. I got immediately a job offer from a company which made licensed Japanese character products. Yes, I dealt with commercial cartoons and figures every day but it was not what I enjoyed!”

I asked, “Why?” Pen chewed on his lip and answered, “Hmm, commercial stuff can be repetitive and boring. I created but only subject to the approval of my clients. I earned some money but felt an emptiness in my soul. I indulged in playing video games every night after work. I finally told myself, ‘Hey, you should accomplish for greater things in life!’ Accidentally, I discovered a comic course by the great master Ma Wing Shing(馬榮成). The course aimed at incubating young comic illustrators in Hong Kong. I applied for it in post-haste.”

He happily remembered, “In union, there is strength, Master Ma led his pupils very well. My classmates and I organized exhibitions, publications, talks and even sales relating to comics. True change is the rebirth of the way that I really like. In 2016, I finally decided to change. I almost used up all my savings and published a very exquisite but ‘strong-flavour’ book of drawings titled Hong Kong Disaster. The book received great responses and I got numerous awards. I told myself that I should have the courage to cease my commercial practice. So, I closed down my design firm and set up a small studio in Kowloon Bay concentrating the artistic creation of my comics on Hong Kong streets, old buildings which had vanished and people’s livelihood activities—all in black and white.”

I asked, “Now, game recognises game. You are regarded by the trade as the most promising alternative comic artist in Hong Kong. How would you feel?” Pen was sealed up in thought, “The key to making things happen in life is just one word: persistence. Persistence has a high mortality rate but you still have to try if you do not wish to end up in being wiped out. I once gave up comic art by accepting myself as a mere commercial designer. I got good money. But, I hated to see my soul turning its back on me by accusing me as a coward! I will not make mistake again. Comics have a strange but important place in my life and I do let it be my spiritual guidance. The persistent desire for comic achievements is capable of giving me the encompassing power not to fear. I will regret by the time when die if I simply mess around with my talent now. Although I become cynical about what I am doing: black-and-white comic art is becoming more and more the interest of cultural minority and the market shrinks every day. Since comics are my destiny and I will not go against it, I will only win the match by working harder and harder in future. This is what I mean by ‘persistence’.”

I am interested, “Do you set a goal for yourself?” He paused, “I want to make an animated feature film one day as me passing another milestone on the road to success. Of course, it is a very impossible dream but I hope with the combined forces of luck and persistence, I may cause it to happen.”    

Well written, well drawn and well printed, the black-and-white comic books of Pen So have been an antidote for his fans and myself, when we are terribly paralysed by stress. At the sight of good comics and animations, I feel reborn, from the childish inner to the senile outer again…

Maurice Lee

Chinese Version 中文版: https://www.patreon.com/posts/xiang-gang-liu-81450653?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

Local Comic Artist Pen So Interview  https://youtu.be/ZGEw0tKKqok  Acknowledgement-ArtmanHK蟻文

Shinkai Makoto’ s  movie “Suzume” trailer  https://youtu.be/hRDN2pnCIxo  Acknowledgement-International Film

Pen So Drawing  https://youtu.be/X4MhSrh2A-w  Acknowledgement-Pen So

Yaumatai, Tsim Sha Tsui and Mongkok: Inspirations for Pen So   https://youtu.be/9dqWh-ovSnU  Acknowledgement-小旺士多 siuwong

[schlock-luster-video]

On September 28, 1979, The China Syndrome debuted in Hong Kong.

[reportwire]

Hong Kong official warns lockdown protests hurt security

Hong Kong official warns lockdown protests hurt security

HONG KONG — Hong Kong’s security minister on Wednesday warned that the city’s protests against China‘s anti-virus restrictions were a “rudiment of another color revolution” and urged residents not to participate in activities that might hurt national security. Chris Tang said some events on university campuses and the city’s streets had attempted to incite others to target China’s central…

[writingwithcolor]

[Running Commentary] Zombies are Zombies: Cultural Relativism, Folklore, and Foreign Perspectives

She obviously started getting into media in Japan, and (from my research into Japanese media and culture), Japan’s movies about zombies are mostly comedic, since due to traditional funerary practices the idea of zombies bringing down society is ridiculous to a lot of Japanese people. 

Rina: OP, this you? https://www.tofugu.com/japan/japanese-zombies/

Marika: Counterpoint: Parasite Eve. Resident Evil. The Evil Within. 

Rina: Literally all the grody horror game franchises that people forget were developed and written by Japanese people because the characters have names like “Leon Kennedy” and “Sebastian Castellanos” 

~ ~ ~

Based on the reception we received the last time we did one of these, the Japanese moderator team returns with another running commentary. (They’re easier to answer this way) (Several of Marika’s answers may be troll answers)

Our question today pertains to foreign perspectives on folklore—that is, how people view folklore and stories that aren’t a part of their culture. CW: for anything you’d associate with zombies and a zombie apocalypse, really.

Keep reading for necromancy, horror games, debunking the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, Hong Kong jiangshi films, Japanese disaster prep videos, and Vietnamese idol pop...

Essentially, in my story there’s an organization who wants to end the world. They think this one woman in particular, a woman of mixed Vietnamese (irreligious, Kinh) and Japanese descent who spent her formative years in Japan, is the person to do it because she’s (for lack of a better term) a necromancer; powers are semi-normal in this world. She prefers not to use her powers overall, but when she does she mostly talks to ghosts and spirits that are giving people issues. She could technically reanimate a corpse but she wouldn’t because she feels that would be morally wrong, not to mention she couldn’t start a zombie apocalypse in the traditional sense (plague, virus, etc.) in the first place. 

(Marika (M): Your local public health officials would like to assure necromancers that reviving the dead will not provoke a zombie apocalypse. This is because necromancy is a reanimation technique, and not a pathogenic vector. Assuming that the technique does not release spores, airborne viruses, gasses, or other related physical matter that can affect neighboring corpses in a similar way, there should be no issue. However, necromancers should comply with local regulations w/r to permitting and only raise the dead with the approval of the local municipality and surviving family.)

M: I think it makes sense for most people of E. Asian descent, including Japanese and Vietnamese people, to find it culturally reprehensible to reanimate the dead. I imagine the religious background of your character matters as well. What religion(s) are her family members from? How do they each regard death and the treatment of human remains? Depending on where she grew up, I’m curious on how she got opportunities to practice outside specialized settings like morgues.

M: It’s true, space in Japan is at a premium, even for the dead. You note that most of Japan cremates, but, surely, it must have occurred to you that if there aren’t that many bodies in Japan to raise…she doesn’t exactly have much opportunity to practice with her powers, does she? I yield to our Vietnamese followers on funerary customs in Vietnam, but you may want to better flesh out your world-building logic on how necromancy operates in your story (And maybe distinguish between necromancy v. channeling v. summoning v. exorcisms). 

She obviously started getting into media in Japan, and (from my research into Japanese media and culture), Japan’s movies about zombies are mostly comedic, since due to traditional funerary practices the idea of zombies bringing down society is ridiculous to a lot of Japanese people. 

Rina (R): OP, this you? https://www.tofugu.com/japan/japanese-zombies/

M: Counterpoint: Parasite Eve. Resident Evil. The Evil Within. 

R: Literally all the grody horror game franchises that people forget were developed and written by Japanese people because the characters have names like “Leon Kennedy” and “Sebastian Castellanos” 

R: And yes, the Tofugu article uses Resident Evil and those games to support its theory, with the reason that they are set in the West. But that only suggests that Japanese people consider zombies a Western thing, not that Japanese people consider zombies nonthreatening if they were to exist. 

M: Same with vampires - series like Castlevania also use Western/ European settings and not “Vampires in Japan '' because vampires just aren't part of our folklore.

(M: Also, realistically, these series deal with individuals who quickly perish after their bodies are used as hosts for the pathogen in question, rather than the pathogen reanimating a corpse. Although the victims are initially alive, they soon succumb to the pathogen/ parasite and their organic matter then becomes an infectious vector for the disease. It should be noted, infecting ordinary, living humans with viruses to grant them elevated powers, is not only a major violation of consent and defies all recommendations made by the Belmont Report (in addition to a number of articles in the Hague Convention w/r to the use of WMDs) and is unlikely to be approved by any reputable university’s IRB committee. This is why the Umbrella Corporation are naughty, naughty little children, and honestly, someone should have assassinated Wesker for the grant money.)

R: wwww

From what I know Vietnam didn’t have a zombie movie until 2022. 

R: Do you mean a domestically produced zombie movie? Because Vietnamese people have most certainly had access to zombie movies for a long time. The Hong Kong film Mr. Vampire (1985) was a gigantic hit in Southeast Asia; you can find a gazillion copies of this movie online with Viet subs, with people commenting on how nostalgic this movie is or how they loved it as a kid. 

M: “Didn’t have a [domestic] zombie movie” is not necessarily the same thing as “Would not have made one if the opportunity had arisen.” None of us here are personifications of the Vietnamese film industry, I think it’s safe to say we couldn’t know. Correlation is not causation. It’s important to do your research thoroughly, and not use minor facts to craft a narrative based on your own assumptions.

(R: …Also, I did find a 2017 music video for “Game Over” by the Vietnamese idol Thanh Duy which features… a zombie apocalypse.)

(R: The MV has a very campy horror aesthetic and zombie backup dancers (which I love, everyone please watch this lol). But the scenes at the beginning and end where people are biting their fingers watching a threatening news report clearly establish that the zombies are considered a threat.)

So at one point, she laughs about the idea and remarks how ridiculous it is to think zombies could end the world. What I’m struggling with are other ways to show her attitude on the issue because I’d assume most non-Japanese readers wouldn’t get why she thinks like that. Are there any other ways to show why she thinks this way, especially ones that might resonate more with a Japanese reader?

R: The problem is this does not resonate in the first place. Your line of thinking is too Sapir-Whorf-adjacent. The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, otherwise known as linguistic relativity theory, claims that language shapes cognition—that you can’t conceive of something if you can’t express it in your language. This is a very weak theory that you can easily bring evidence against: think of the last time you felt an emotion you had a hard time putting into words; just because you didn’t have the language for it doesn’t mean that you didn’t feel it, nor does it mean that you won’t be able to understand or recognize it if you feel it again. Similarly, it’s not a sound assumption to say that if some kind of subject matter does not exist in a culture, then people of that culture couldn't possibly conceive of it. This excerpt from linguist Laura Bailey sums it up quite well. 

M: Just because ghosts may be more culturally relevant doesn’t mean that zombies (or vampires, or whatever) are nonexistent in a Japanese or Vietnamese person’s imagination when it comes to horror and disaster.

R: Really,  if anything, Japanese people are much more attuned to how easily a society’s infrastructure can be destroyed by a disruptive force without adequate preparation. Japan is natural disaster central. A Japanese person would know better than anyone that if you aren’t prepared for a zombie epidemic—yeah it’s gonna be bad. 

M: Earthquakes, tsunami, typhoon, floods: Japan has robust disaster infrastructure out of necessity. 防災 or bousai, meaning disaster preparedness is a common part of daily life, including drills at workplaces, schools, and community organizations. Local government and community agencies are always looking for ways to make disaster and pandemic preparedness relevant to the public.

M: Might “zombie apocalypse prep as a proxy for disaster prep” be humorous in an ironic, self-deprecating way? Sure, but it’s not like Japanese people are innately different from non-Japanese people. Rather, by being a relatively well-off country practiced at disaster preparation with more experience than most parts of the world with many different types of disasters (and the accompanying infrastructure), it likely would seem more odd to most Japanese people within Japan to not handle a zombie apocalypse rather like might one handle a combination of a WMD/ chemical disaster+pandemic+civil unrest (all of which at least some part of Japan has experienced). Enjoy this very long, slightly dry video on COVID-19 safety procedures and preparedness using the framing device of surviving a zombie apocalypse.

M: Living in Los Angeles, I’ve often experienced similar tactics. We do a fair amount of advance and rehearsed disaster prep here as well. In elementary school, the first and last days of class were always for packing and unpacking home-made disaster packs, and “zombie apocalypse” simulations have been around since I was in middle school for all kinds of drills, including active shooter drills, like the one shown in this LAT article. The line between “prepper” and “well prepared” really comes down to degree of anxiety and zeal. So, it wouldn’t be just Japanese people who might not be able to resonate with your scene. The same could be said for anyone who lives somewhere with a robust disaster prevention culture.

M: A zombie apocalypse is not “real” in the sense of being a tangible threat that the majority of the world lives in fear of waking up to (At least, for the mental health of most people, I hope so). Rather, zombie apocalypse narratives are compelling to people because of the feelings of vague, existential dread they provoke: of isolation, paranoia, dwindling resources, and a definite end to everything familiar. I encourage you to stop thinking of the way Japanese people and non-Japanese people think about vague, existential dread as incomprehensible to each other. What would you think about zombies if they actually had a chance of existing in your world? That’s probably how most Japanese people would feel about them, too.

[call-me-strega]

Dc x Dp Prompt #14: The Valentines Day Debacle

“debacle • \dee-BAH-kul\ • noun.

1 : a tumultuous breakup of ice in a river 

2 : a violent disruption (as of an army) : rout

3 a : a great disaster b : a complete failure : fiasco.”

~ It was Valentine’s Day and Jason regrets agreeing to go on this date.

Weelll, kind of, but not exactly.

This “date” was actually a covert-op with three caped chaperones because he, Steph, Tim and Cass were all on cases that ended up being the same case.

Steph and Tim had caught wind of some allegedly magic potions becoming popular among college students used to help students score dates with their up coming Valentines. There weren’t any outright love potions but confidence boosters, things to increase your attractiveness, luck boosters, thing to get people in the mood. They had been investigating into it to make sure this wasn’t secretly a drug ring but found it to some real magical bullshit. They’d located the source’s lair/lab where they brewed the potions but not the potion brewer themselves.

Cass had been in Hong Kong when she caught wind of one of her targets following rumors of a witch who specialized in potions to grant small boons and bewitching charms. After dealing with her target she started tracking down the witch to find out her goals and intentions. She followed her trail across Asia, Europe and a good portion of the eastern seaboard before her path led her to Gotham.

Jason was investigating some upper middle class chick that started hanging around the alley trying to get in with the prostitutes and drag queens(and only succeeding in making them suspicious). She met several young men who abandoned the gang allegiances too trail after her like puppies. His investigation showed she was also circling Gotham elites and was in search of gossip on two things: people looking for love and a beau for herself.

They had been going over their cases at a team meeting when they realized their 3 targets were all the same woman. Between the four of them they pieced out she was some new age witch, descendent from an older family line looking to get rich and in a relationship. Her potions weren't really actively harmful but her use of them to gain the upper hand in business deals and amass a following of boytoys she decided weren’t hunky enough for her but would do as muscle was.

Tim and Steph knew she was planning on selling her potions at the Valentine’s/Winter market place in Robinson Park coming up. Jason and Cass knew she was looking to net some more followers while they were there so the plan was simple. One of the guys would go undercover to try and get recruited while the others stayed nearby for back up. They’d try to get some information out of her and if the need for it arose, to take her into custody and hand her off to the Justice League Dark. They’d already talked to Zatana to have her ready to come to Gotham should things go awry and gotten a charm from her to prevent them from getting put under her control.

Oh if only this didn’t go so wrong.

Unfortunately for Jason, he matched their little witch’s tastes to a tee. Thus, he was the one stuck being dragged around market under the guise of having agreed to a date with her. She dragged him around, made him pay for her things, tried to use his stature to intimidate others and was generally rude to the other patrons and staff. Oh, Jason despised her but grit his teeth and pretended to play nice. Cass was investigating her stall and Steph and Tim were tailing them.

Finally over the comms he heard the team confirm Cass had found the info she was looking for and he could finally ditch little miss witch. He broke it to her that he thought this wouldn’t work out and her eye just twitched. She must have tried to charm him because she asked him to stay with her and become her main beau, which he soundly refused. This set her off on a rage as she screeched over how her charm didn’t work and how Jason would have been perfect if she’d been able to get him under her thumb. He tried to back off when she lashed out with a magic rope insisting once she captured Jason he’d be the perfect leader to her adoring little boyfriend army.

So yeah she was more psycho than anticipated.

Spoiler and Red Robin began to swoop in for the rescue which only served to enraged her further. That’s when the team learned that she was talented in more than just potions. She used her magic to start awakening magical creatures in the park surrounding them. Nymphs shed from trees and little snow golems formed and began attacking RR and Spoiler.

Black Bat had run over to extract Jason when the witch noticed her. She shrieked in outraged proclaiming if she couldn’t have Jason no one else would and that he could become fish food for the frost creatures of Far Frozen before picking him up with a spectral vine and slamming him through the frozen lake into a swirling blue portal. Cass tried to go after him but the witch quickly engaged her with too much feral rage to realize she was outclassed in hand to hand against Black Bat. By the time Steph and Tim fought off the nymphs and golems it was too late. Whatever whirling portal had been in the lake closed and Jason was no where to be found.

As Jason pushed through the ice he had one final thought before he felt himself black out: ‘Worst Valentine’s Day ever.’

~ The first thing Jason felt when he came to was cold. He was still submerged under icy water. It was chilled him to the core but was almost soothing in a way. As if cooling of a burn. As is opened his eyes the world seemed to move in slow motion. He was still underwater surrounded by chunks of ice. He could make out sounds of distorted yelling as the world seem to get even slower.

Suddenly he felt something grab his collar and place itself under his arm. Jason was unceremoniously hoisted out of a frozen river and laid out on a river bank. He let out a harsh cough and his head got dizzy. He tried to regain his wits long enough to see who pulled him out.

It was large figure, maybe an inch or two taller than his 6 foot, with the bulk of a viking and the looks of one too. The man appeared to be around the same age as Jason, possibly older, and very concerned. He had messy white hair that was tied(or braided? Jason’s vision was still blurry) in the back. He was wearing armor made of some sort of hide leather and a dark gray metal (iron?) and covered in snow-white furs.

Jason stared at his savior trying to get his wits about him, willing his vision to clear. That’s Jason felt a warm fur cloak wrap around him as the man said something Jason wasn’t able to comprehend. He let out another harsh cough and felt himself being picked up in a princess carry. His rescuer moved incredibly fast for someone carrying a man of Jason’s stature. However, the motion did not help with the dizziness or the cold. Jason shivered, curling towards his “heroic knight” and pulling the cloak tighter around himself. This spurred the man to go faster.

Finally, everything stopped moving and Jason felt himself encompassed in warmth. Several more furs were wrapped around him and he was laid down to rest. At last Jason’s vision cleared enough to see the other man’s face properly. He had a rugged face and a strong jawline. He had a small scar near his eyebrow and round eyes with light eye bags beneath them. He had a straight nose and bow-shaped lips.

Jason felt the world slow down again and realized he’d soon pass out from the cold. The man lifted Jason’s head and slipped a pillow underneath. A rough hand gently pushed the wet hair out of his face and caressed his cheek. Jason stared into the man’s eye. They were kind, gentle, and such a vibrant green they seemed to glow. The man gave him a small smile and the last thing Jason heard before falling asleep was a soothing voice telling him “Rest, we will take care of you.” And with that Jason felt himself relax and fell asleep.

~ When Jason came to the first thing he saw was a 20-something-foot tall yeti with an icy cybernetic arm looming over the foot of his bed.

He promptly screamed and fell out of bed.

A vaguely familiar voice called out from another room.

“ FROSTBITE! I thought I told you not to scare him!”

In walked the man that had saved Jason from an icy death. Upon closer inspection now that he wasn’t dying the man seem 10 times as beautiful than Jason remembered. He almost seemed to have this ethereal glow to him. The man continued to admonish the yeti who just laughed heartily and continued on with whatever task he was trying to complete. The man turned his attention to Jason, smiling at him in apology and lifting him back into the bed.

“ I’m sorry about Frostbite. He won’t admit it but I think he gets a crack out of scaring his patients,” He said with a placating chuckle. His mirthful eyes met Jason’s puzzled ones and he continued on as he began to fiddle with few thermoses, seemingly searching for one in particular.

“ You must be quite confused. I don’t exactly know how you ended up here but this place called the Far Frozen. I felt a pulse of magic near the river and went to investigate and ended up fished you of the water. You were nearly frozen so I brought you back to village where you could get warmed up and medics like Frostbite could help you before the actual frostbite set in.”

He chuckled at his own joke before placing a cup in Jason’s hands.

“ It’s soup, drink up. It’ll help you get warm.”

Jason hesitantly took a sip of his soup. It was surprisingly good! He continued to sip his soup and Jason observed the man. He had a rather muscular build Jason noticed, staring at the man for no other reason than assessing if he’d be a potential threat (and for absolutely no other reason). Danny finished closing up his thermos and continued to speak.

“ I promise once Frostbite treats you for any illness or injury. I’ll help you get home. -Oh where are my manners” he held his hand out for Jason to shake. “You can call me Phantom.”

“ Call me Jay,” he replied, taking Phantom’s hand and a glance at his biceps. Phantom pulled away and stood up.

“Well, I’ll let you get back to resting. I’ll come back later when Frostbite gives you a check up and we can talk about how you got here and how to get you back” He turned and began to walk out before turning his head back one last time and waved. “I’ll see in a bit Jay.”

Jason watched him go and fell back into bed having finished his soup. As he pulled the furs and blankets back over himself he thought ‘Well maybe it’s not the worst Valentine’s Day ever.’

[cleverstudentcheesecake]

If canonically Hualian lived into the modern era, I am morbidly curious to know what that disaster goof ball is upto in places such as metropolis of Shanghai and Hong Kong that practically look like cities straight out of some dystopian fantasy.

[mlleclaudine]

En couverture de Vanity Fair: Noémie Merlant, portrait d'une actrice en feu

by Norine Raja - Vanity Fair France, July 24, 2024

Tragic, comic and now erotic: Noémie Merlant continues to prove that she can play anything, including a radically contemporary version of Emmanuelle.  But how do you reconcile sensuality and feminism in an era that leaves so little room for nuance?  Norine Raja asked her.

Suddenly, the interview’s soundtrack changes drastically.  At the café terrace where we're chatting, the lyrics of Maître Gims give way to an electro remix of the familiar melody of Bella Ciao.

Is it a sign?  The music seems to have anticipated Noémie Merlant's thoughts: «At one point, I felt trapped.  Now, it's like this song: freedom, freedom, freedom!»  she says to the beat of the chorus.  Has she reached the point of total emancipation?  «Not yet, but I’m getting there», she says with a smile.

On this June afternoon, the actress is back home in the Paris suburbs after having attended two festivals in a row – Biarritz and Nantes – to present her second feature film as director, Les Femmes au balcon.  Espresso started, unfussy outfit, bag casually laid on the floor, hair in a ponytail.  She weighs her words, relishes the silences.  Then, the next minute, she rivets you with her electric gaze and makes her point with total conviction.  Just try to pigeonhole her.  She’s got a 14-year career under her belt and as many different roles: a rebellious teenager in Les Héritiers (2014), a naive aristocrat in Le Retour du héros (2018), a trans man in A Good Man (2020).  «She's a perfect blend of precision and abandon», said Céline Sciamma, who directed her in Portrait de la jeune fille en feu (2019).  «She can play a powerful woman, but also hint at vulnerability», adds Audrey Diwan, winner of the Lion d’or for L'Événement (2021), who has just directed her in Emmanuelle – more on that later.

Because she remains an enigmatic figure in the public eye, no persona seems too outsized for her.  Think she’s limited to dramatic roles?  She displays unexpected comedic flair in L'Innocent (2022), in which she plays Louis Garrel's brash best friend: twinkling eyes, a mischievous attitude, raucous laughter.  Her feigned nervous breakdown in a highway restaurant is unforgettable.  The role (finally) earned her the César for Best Supporting Actress in 2023.  Audrey Diwan hasn't forgotten that performance: «Every time she smiles in this film, she turns the world upside down.»

That same year, the filmmaker was working on a remake of Just Jaeckin's Emmanuelle, the famous erotic feature film of the Giscardian era.  At the time, Noémie Merlant had never seen this landmark of 1970s sexual revolution, the first installment in a 15-part saga.  So she met the director without any preconceived ideas or images.  She was inspired by the character.  «She must be exhausted in her search for pleasure», she suggested to Audrey Diwan, who offered her the role before the meeting was over.  She insisted on watching the original film after shooting was done.  Her verdict?  «It's a disaster.  The first part is interesting, with this open relationship.  But then there's a storyline with Emmanuelle and an older man.  She gets raped in front of him...»

The film has aged badly, but the 2024 version is free of any misogyny.  The look and feel have been modernized.  Replacing the postcard Thai décor and its whiff of orientalism is a luxurious Hong Kong setting.  Not a young woman pandering to the desires of others, but an ambitious thirtysomething in the throes of self-discovery.  A complete reinterpretation, in other words.  I hesitate to ask: was she afraid to embrace this character and her sultry aura?  She dismisses the idea out of hand: «That never even occurred to me.  What interests me these days is working with women directors who are seeking to redefine representations of women, their imagination, their sexuality.»

Céline Dion, her idol

Sorority was Noémie Merlant's guiding principle, long before she became aware of or defined the concept of female solidarity.  The daughter of a pair of real estate agents, she grew up in Rezé, a town of 40,000 people near Nantes, in a happy household where television held center stage.  Evenings were spent watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer and crying over Titanic, she admits with a touch of embarrassment.  Like thousands of French people, we'd like to tell her.  She is very close to her mother and older sister, who suffers from a disability.  To avoid adding to her parents' burdens, Noémie learned not to take up too much space.  After years of therapy, she's come to realize: «It's nobody's fault, just the dynamics imposed by society. And then, at the same time, school teaches you not to make waves, society tells women to be well-behaved.»

So she found other means of expression.  She was a soloist with the Nantes Conservatoire choir, and dreamed of following in the footsteps of her idol Céline Dion.  She also practiced ballet and modern jazz for ten years.  Her father was convinced that Noémie was destined for a career in the arts.  One day in the mid-2000s, he saw an advertisement for the Cours Florent and encouraged her to try her luck.  The 17-year-old was scared, but eventually let herself be convinced.  She headed for the capital, where the transition was rather brutal.  «When I arrived, I was thinking: “I don't know anyone, I have no culture... What am I going to do?”»  She compensated for her imposter syndrome with a thirst for knowledge.  Here she lists the directors she needed to catch up with: Bergman, Cassavetes, the great Italian filmmakers like Visconti.  And reading?  «There's nothing to be done about it, I just can’t», she says frankly.

At the same time, she pursued modeling to «earn money, even if you only got paid in clothes», she says pragmatically.  She did photo shoots, fashion shows, and trips without really thinking about it.  She didn't want to «bite the hand that fed her», and would realize only much later the full extent of the toll this experience took on her.  The «Shut up and look pretty», the memory of being sexually assaulted by a photographer, the feeling that her body was no longer her own.  To the point where she weighed only 45 kilos.  «That gave me a massive eating disorder, which I'm still trying to overcome.  I was anorexic-bulimic for almost ten years.  I'm not any more, but I'm still hypervigilant about what I eat, and I'm always careful not to let myself go.»

There was only one thing to do: get out of the fashion world as quickly as possible.  Sometimes, it's all about meeting someone.  In 2013, the actress auditioned for Les Héritiers, a film by Marie-Castille Mention-Schaar inspired by a true story.  It tells the story of how a teacher enrolls her most unruly pupils in a history competition, an experience that will change their worldview.  Noémie Merlant was 24, but looked young enough to play the class rebel, wearing a leather jacket and with headphones on.  On set, the filmmaker was impressed by her talent and intense presence.

Filming with Desplechin

A year later, another text message: «Would you be available to meet?  I'd like to talk to you.»  [Mention-Schaar] offered her the role of an average young girl, radicalized by jihadists, in Le Ciel attendra.  To prepare for the role, Noémie Merlant met with teenage girls in the process of deradicalization, and tried to understand their mindset.  «We found girls from all social backgrounds, cultures and religions.  For many of these teenagers, there was the feeling of being misunderstood by society, but also frequently the beginnings of anxiety about death and shame.  The desire for an ideal, for something unconditional, even in love stories.»  The film was released in a volatile context, less than a year after the attacks on November 13.  But the actress took a cleareyed view of this phenomenon, which she believed revealed youth in search of meaning.

This total commitment paid off: in 2017, she was nominated for a César in the Most Promising Actress category.  In an interview filmed around this time, she appears smiling and fulfilled.  Well aware, too, that the road ahead is fraught with pitfalls: «The hardest thing is to maintain self-confidence, even when you don't believe in yourself, or when you have periods of emptiness.»

What was Noémie Merlant dreaming of at this very moment?  When asked about whom she’d like to collaborate with, she almost mechanically cited Arnaud Desplechin or Abdellatif Kechiche.  She didn't know it yet, but the revolution would be born in a female microcosm.  In 2019, the young woman played a painter hired to create the likeness of an aristocrat (Adèle Haenel) in Portrait de la jeune fille en feu.  Céline Sciamma's fourth feature is an incredibly intimate costume drama: a manor house, a cliff overlooking the sea and just four characters.  At first, the actress was confused by the script: «Conflicts are nonexistent or immediately defused.»  The absence of dominance hierarchies unsettled her: there were no saviors or anyone being saved; there were creators but no muses.  «Just a gentleness and a wonderful equality.  And in spite of everything, there’s an exciting story full of surprises.  That's what makes it so powerful.»  A head-on collision between two great actresses, where their eyes meet, sizing each other up, caressing each other.  Like when Noémie Merlant’s character places a mirror between her lover's thighs, then sketches her self-portrait.

A box-office success across the Atlantic and a critical triumph, the film was in the running for ten awards at the 2020 Césars.  But on the evening of the ceremony, one name brought all the tensions into focus: Roman Polanski.  The director, who is currently facing several rape allegations, had been nominated in several categories for his film J'accuse.  French cinema had never been so fractured.  Adèle Haenel, who revealed that she had been molested as a child by director Christophe Ruggia, was in shock.  For her, honoring Polanski was tantamount to «spitting in the face of all victims».  No one heeded her: the filmmaker won the prize for best director, to the applause of part of the audience.  «Someone shouted: “Well done!” recalls Noémie Merlant.  It was clearly a response to Adèle's speaking out.»  In protest, the cast of Portrait de la jeune fille en feu left the auditorium, after shouting a resounding «Shame!»  In the wake of her commitment, Adèle Haenel announced her retirement from cinema in 2023.  Has Noémie Merlant thought about following her example?  «It wasn't easy to keep going, she acknowledges.  I admire Adèle's courage.  But staying is also a way of continuing the fight.»  The actress has no illusions about the seventh art.  No promotional newspeak, no generalities or shortcuts in her remarks.  Even when she salutes the «extraordinary people» she has worked with, she qualifies that with «but that's not always the case».  You get the sense that she is torn between the desire to talk about her difficult experiences and the fear of endless controversy.  She mentions «casting directors, actors, who promise you things».  How do you recognize them?  «Thanks to my experience as a model, I'm like a fish that spots the hook before the worm.»

Portrait de la jeune fille en feu «changed everything» for her.  She set off in search of more meaningful roles.  She reassessed her place not only in cinema, but also in the world.  She reflected on «patriarchal oppression», confronted the traumas that resurfaced.  «Even my relationship dynamic no longer suited me.»  She left her partner at the time and moved in with Sanda Codreanu, a friend from the Cours Florent.  She hesitates over the precise terms, but speaks of «escape» and «sanctuary».  In this haven, words flow freely and bodies are liberated.  They laugh as much as they talk about the violence they've suffered.  She, who used to move from one relationship to another, embraced a new perspective on relationships.  Why should romantic love count for more than friendships?  Why force yourself to have sex to please the other person?  Noémie Merlant now knows what she wants... or rather what she doesn't want.  These days, she's in a «healthy, unstructured» relationship.  She adds: «We're not afraid to experience things separately.  The important thing is that each of us is fulfilled.»

The Cate Blanchett method

Recovery also involves the body.  Onscreen nudity doesn't bother her.  «There are fewer and fewer actresses who agree to undress, which I understand.  But I don't have any issue with it, so I'm happy to go for it.  I think there are things to explore and advocate for in this freedom.»  She asserts her willingness to explore eroticism and sexuality through the eyes of other directors.  Female desire in all its forms is a common thread running through her filmography: she develops an attraction to an amusement park ride in Jumbo, plays a writer infatuated with a libertine photographer in Curiosa.

For a long time, sex scenes had been reduced to a few lines in a script and improvised on set.  In Jacques Audiard's Les Olympiades, the ballet of bodies is carefully designed.  Playing a thirtysomething woman who becomes fascinated by a camgirl, Noémie Merlant was coached by choreographer Stéphanie Chêne.  She learned to abandon dialogue in favor of her gaze and body language.  For the first time, she thought about her character's movements.  «It allows you to feel safe and to work with respect above all else.  And so you can go further, seeking precision through imagination.»  Farewell to the good little girl.  She avoids tyrannical filmmakers, those who push the actors' limits.  At one point, when a director tried to manipulate her to extract emotions, she almost walked off the set.  «I made him understand that I was making this film above all for pleasure and for creativity, and that I couldn't accomplish anything with that kind of method.  In the end, it turned out well, but I wish I hadn’t had to go through that.»  It was like revenge for all those outbursts she’d had to swallow.

Behind the camera, Noémie Merlant has also chosen irreverence.  In her second feature, Les Femmes au balcon, she imagines a Marseilles-style Rear Window, somewhere between comedy and outright gore.  The pitch: three girlfriends have fun spying on their mysterious neighbor across the street, with whom they develop a relationship that goes beyond exhibitionism.  It was difficult for her to find an actress who would agree to film naked, until she came across the luminous Souheila Yacoub.  One question nagged at her: how to film a body without sexualizing it?  First, by disarming the issue with humor.  «Right from the start, I give the viewer a heads-up: “Here you go, boobs.  Now that you've had a good look at them, let's move on.”»  She also uses the expression «shirtless» for women, a way of denouncing double standards.  There's no idealizing of her heroines' bodies.  She films them in their everyday lives, in positions that are not always flattering, and welcomes a touch of vulgarity.  «It's a form of sincerity as well.»

Taking risks is finally paying off.  In the last couple of years, Noémie Merlant has turned a corner in her career.  Like Marion Cotillard, Adèle Exarchopoulos and Juliette Binoche, she is now sought out by foreign filmmakers.  In 2021, Todd Field sent her the script for Tár.  And for a significant role.  She plays the assistant to a famous orchestra conductor, starring opposite Cate Blanchett – and speaking perfect English.  An intimidating experience?  Idolization is not her style: «It's important to demystify people who are in the limelight.»  Still, she took the time to observe Cate Blanchett in action.  The way she handled a complicated sequence shot or filmed the same scene twenty times without complaining.  Her ability to juggle lessons: piano, German, baton handling.  «There's no mystery.  It's all about the love of the craft, precision and the quest to relinquish yourself to the role.»  She adds, a bit idealistically: «Often the ones who succeed are also good people...  Not always, but I prefer to tell myself that.»

Yet Noémie Merlant has no desire to sacrifice her whole life for her profession.  For a long time, she took one role after another, as if for fear of missing out or being forgotten.  These days, her priorities have changed.  «I want to do Qua-li-ty», she says with a smile and a funny inflection.  Wouldn't this be a good time to enjoy it, too?  Her financial situation now allows her to help her family.  She has adapted her house to accommodate her father, who has been in a wheelchair since having a stroke in 2009.  She has helped her parents find a new home, and paid for outside help to relieve her «very exhausted» mother.  How does her father view her success today?  «He's very, very, very proud.  He tells himself that he was lucky, because it might not have worked out.»  He follows every step of her career, keeping track of every press article.  «He's definitely going to be handing out Vanity Fair to all his friends.»  You can sense her admiration for this close-knit clan, for their ability to face adversity.  A few years ago, she took out her camera to film them in their daily lives, around Christmas time.  She has started editing, but still has some work to do.  Recently, she went back to the rushes, but hasn't managed to finalize the project.  Perhaps it's too intimate.  I propose a hypothesis: what if she had primarily sought to freeze time?  She continues: «There's something interesting about the way they talk, the way they live, with a lot of humor and joy in spite of everything.  I want to share this story, because it can do a lot of people good.»  Could this be the next step toward freedom?

[Please don’t repost this anywhere, in part or in whole.  Feel free to reblog, or at least cite your source and provide a link back here.  Asking permission would be nice in an ideal world, but I’m a realist – I know far too well how easy it is to appropriate stuff on Tumblr.  I would be the first to admit that my translations are not perfect – there are some words and phrases that simply do not drop neatly into an equivalent in English, and I constantly fix typos and make changes or corrections in older posts – but they do take a lot of work and time.  Thanks for understanding. - C.]

h/t @morningmightcomebyaccident - thank you, Grey!

[qqueenofhades]

just saw your offer for book recs and would love some fantasy/sci fi books, it seems like we have similar taste. i just finished nk jemisin's broken earth trilogy, and also loved the city we became by her.

Aha, I am at work right now and thus do not have my bookshelves at hand to make sure I'm not missing something blindly obvious. However, I will start you off with these:

The Rook and Rose trilogy by M.A. Carrick (The Mask of Mirrors, The Liar's Knot, Labyrinth's Heart). Yes, this is the series I have been screaming about nonstop for the past few weeks and thus craftily suckering unsuspecting passersby into reading. An AMAZING world, an OT3 who own my entire ass, lots of political intrigue, cultural and social commentary, a unique magic system, and also plenty of humor. It really has it all. I continue my one-man quest to make this fandom bigger. Ahem.

The Green Bone trilogy by Fonda Lee (Jade City, Jade War, Jade Legacy). Another fantastic fantasy series that NEEDS more readers. Inspired by Chinese/Hong Kong kung-fu movies, set in a gritty modern universe, kind of like the Godfather but with magical jade-wielding families. Tons of discussion of empire, culture, violence, appropriation, power, war, family, Asian identity, more. They're likewise nice and long to keep you busy.

The Daevabad trilogy by S.A. Chakraborty (The City of Brass, The Kingdom of Copper, The Empire of Gold). Another you-gotta-read-this trilogy (yes, I have many of them). Set in the 18th-century Middle East and the magical djinni kingdom of Daevabad. Politics, empire, religion, history, intrigue, magic, scheming families, ancient wars, and my most beloved, Muntadhir al-Qahtani. What is not to love.

The Priory of the Orange Tree and its standalone prequel, A Day of Fallen Night, by Samantha Shannon. Absolute doorstopper (800+ pages apiece) epic-with-dragons-and-medieval-worlds fantasy, like Game of Thrones if Game of Thrones was a) good b) gay c) feminist and d) had people of color. She is also the author of the Bone Season series (four books thus far) which is a unique blend of futuristic sci-fi and fantasy set in an alternate totalitarian London and a ruined Oxford.

Winter's Orbit and Ocean's Echo by Everina Maxwell. Two M/M space opera romances (set in the same universe, but can be read independently). She got her start as a fanfic writer and it shows; these are both delightful, plotty, funny, and full of sassy gay disaster homosexuals in space.

A Memory Called Empire and A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine (I have read the first one, need to read the second one). Historian of medieval Byzantium writes space opera set in Space Constantinople which is also Space Tenochtitlan. Explores language, history, memory, power, identity, assimilation, and more, and is also very funny.

Autonomous, The Future of Another Timeline, and The Terraformers by Annalee Newitz. High-concept social-commentary dystopian science fiction; of the three, Terraformers (the newest one) might be my favorite. They're not related so you can read them in whatever order.

Two books that I have not read yet but I really want to: Swim Home to the Vanished by Brendan Shay Basham and To Shape a Dragon's Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose. Both are fantasy novels by Native American authors; Basham's is magical realism and Blackgoose's is about a Native American dragon-rider facing assimilation at an English (Anglish) boarding school.

Likewise coming soon and I am excited: The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport by Samit Basu. Middle Eastern-inspired fantasy, cyberpunk, techno-magic. In space!

There are definitely more that I will get home and be like oh wait yeah. But this should get you started.

[babylon-crashing]

Some times you see a photo with so many bizarre things in it that you overlook the weirdest parts. What are we even looking at? A flood in China? Is this a movie set? Who is this woman sitting on the half-submerged car?

But then, suddenly, I realized what I wasn't seeing, which was this curious person, calmly standing in the middle of the giant heap of cars, perhaps dressed in what looks like a 19th century Lieutenant in the Imperial Japanese Army? What does that remind me of?

For me, it is Yasunori Katō, the villain in Hiroshi Aramata's Teito Monogatari (帝都物語) from which we get the Doomed Megalopolis franchise.

Of course, it isn't. The photo is of the 1966 flood in North Point, Hong Kong, which dumped over 15 inches of rain in 24 hours. The storm resulted in widespread flooding, landslides and, "turning streets into raging torrents that killed at least 50 people ... causing cars to be swept down roads like toys."

In the series, set in Tokyo, Yasunori Katō does indeed attempt to use his supernatural powers to set off a natural disaster in order to destroy the city (in this case it is The Great Kantō earthquake of 1923) and since cosplay wasn't a thing back then I probably will never get a satisfying answer as to why this person is so weirdly out of place.

[jointhearumanati]

🌎 HETALIA SEXUALLY HEADCANNON 🌍

🇨🇳 China is Pansexual and leans twords men and Agender and honestly doesn't care what you call him He/She/They/Them there is no label for him

🇯🇵 Japan is Demisexual Biromantic goes by He/Him

🇰🇷 S.Korea is a Flaming Bisexual and cisgender

🇰🇵 N.Korea is Aro/Ace and cisgender

🇲🇴 Macau is Straight and cisgender

🇭🇰 Hong Kong is flaming Gay and cisgender

🇹🇼 Taiwan is a Lipstick Lesbian and cisgender

🇻🇳 Vietnam is Bisexual and Non Binary she like China doesn't care what what they are called

🇺🇲 America is Bisexual and leans twords men and cisgender

🇨🇦 Canada is Bisexual and leans towards women and cisgender

🇬🇧 Britain is a flaming Bisexual and cisgender

🇫🇷 France is a Flaming Pansexual and Cisgender

🇪🇸 Spain is Gay and Cisgender

🇮🇹 N.Italy is Both Bisexual and Genderfluid He/Him/She/Her depends on the day he has a wig and several dresses for when he feels more feminine

🇮🇹 S.Italy is Bisexual and Cisgender

🇩🇪 Germany is Gay and cisgender

🇩🇪 Prussia is a Flaming Bisexual and cisgender

🇦🇹 Austria is Pansexual and cisgender but he's not above crossdressing on special occasions

🇨🇭 Switzerland is Asexual Biromantic and Cisgender

🇱🇮 Liechtenstein is Straight and Cisgender

🇭🇺 Hungary is a Bisexual trans man goes by He/Him

🇷🇴 Romania is Gay and cisgender

🇧🇬 Bulgaria is Gay and cisgender

🇷🇺 Russia is disaster Gay and cisgender (China confuses him so he usually refers to China with male pronouns)

🇱🇹 Lithuania is disaster Bisexual and cisgender

🇵🇱 Poland is Gay and Agender he doesn't really have a gender he's just himself he just goes along with male pronouns because it's easier and he doesn't feel like explaining

🇱🇻 Latvia is straight and Cisgender

🇪🇪 Estonia is Asexual Heteroromantic and cisgender

🇫🇮 Finland is Gay and cisgender (Sweden calls Finland his wife as a joke)

🇸🇪 Sweden is Hella Gay and cisgender

🇩🇰 Denmark is Pansexual and cisgender

🇸🇯 Norway is Gay and Nonbinary goes by They/Them

🇮🇸 Iceland is Gay and cisgender

🇬🇷 Greece is a flaming Pansexual Polyamorus and cisgender

🇹🇷 Turkey is a flaming Pansexual Polyamorus and cisgender

🇪🇬 Egypt is Asexual and Nonbinary he does experience sexual attraction but very slightly

[staticspaces]

Hoarding Issues

You can also find the detailed walkthrough here!!

Moving downstairs we now get to see the disaster that was taking place on the main floor along with a look at the basement!!

This week we get to explore an extreme hoarding situation. It appears as though the house has been abandoned for about 13 years since the latest date I could find was from 2011. The large home has not faired well during that time suffering from water damage due to a failing roof. The ceiling has completely collapsed in the master bedroom and insulation covers everything in the room. All of the personal belongings have been strewn about the house including boxes that used to be full of stuff. There was broken glass hidden beneath that clutter everywhere you walked making for a treacherous environment.

I was not able to find much definitive information about the previous owners other than a man who lived in the house was born in 1943 and presumably his wife who was born in 1961 in Hong Kong.

There is a rumour that both the husband and wife were doctors and the husband had their license revoked for a short period before he would later resign from his practice. The wife had continued to work in the field. I was not able to find any evidence of this in my research. However, I did learn that the husband worked as an airport supervisor from paperwork found in the home.

As for the reason why the house was abandoned, that we may never know but in situations like this, it is entirely possible that one or both of owners passed away.

Seeing the condition of this home, it could certainly be saved if someone wealthy had a lot of money to sink into the project but the reality is, with the extensive damage the building has received, it will likely be demolished in the future.

[moosemonstrous]

Ghost Rider Pacific Rim AU

The Charger is somehow more menacing up close than it was from across the hangar.

Robbie tries to swallow and realises how dry his throat is. He doesn’t know what he expected. He doesn’t remember the jaeger, not really, but the white stripe on its hull brought forward a memory – pressing his face into a warm, broad chest in a ranger suit. The skull-like head does nothing of the sort.

“She’s something, isn’t she?” Ivanov hooks a heavy arm over his shoulders. “A bit dusty, I suppose, but the techs kept her up to specs. To honour your father’s memory, you know.”

He doesn’t—he didn’t know. He didn’t know dad was a ranger until last week. It’s still a little overwhelming, if he’s being honest. How did he forget? Most of the information on The Charger is highly classified, but it’s last run was only ten years ago. Robbie was eight. He should have—something. Anything. Instead, when he reaches back all he gets is a vague sense of fear and his mother’s voice: don’t look. Don’t look.

“How did he—” His voice comes out scratchy. He clears his throat. “What happened?”

Ivanov shrugs. He wears too much cologne. “The first gen two. We weren’t ready.”

He offers no platitudes. Robbie is a little grateful for that. He wouldn’t know what to do with them. “And the other pilot?”

Ivanov points to the deep gash on the external hull of the jaeger’s cockpit. The corruption has been long cleaned away, but the jagged edges exposing the chrome underneath the armoured layer speak for themselves. “It was a miracle they made it long enough to kill the beast. Heroes, both of them.”

He lets Robbie have a moment to process. He wishes Gabe could see it, too, but he’s had so many new things to get used to already – a new city, a new home. So many new people to befriend, a new classroom to navigate. The cockpit access walkway is stairs-only, and Robbie wouldn’t mind carrying him all the way up, but. Maybe it’s for the best. Next time, they will come together, and he will know what to say. Know how to keep his expression even. There is no rush, after all – for once in his life, Robbie Reyes got a lucky break.

The evacuation of Los Angeles was a disaster on top of a major humanitarian crisis. For a few weeks, Robbie didn’t think they would make it, not with everyone climbing over each other’s backs to reach the relief transports. He didn’t even know where they were heading when he pushed Gabe onto the UN plane. They had nobody in Hong-Kong – no contacts, no friends, no papers. The refuge wasn’t wheelchair-accessible. Gabe’s meds were stolen a few days before they were going to run out anyway, and Robbie got arrested for beating up the punk he thought was responsible. If the sergeant in charge of the compound didn’t used to work on the base, if she was a little younger, if she didn’t ask– if, if, if. He can’t think about ifs right now. He doesn’t have to.

“Do you want to see inside?” Ivanov asks.

[aphfroghat]

Sexualities+identities headcanons!

Norway - genderfluid bisexual

Iceland - transmasc demisexual

Denmark - cis male, omnisexual

Sweden - cis male, homosexual

Finland - cis male, bisexual

Hong Kong - cis male, asexual, demiromantic

Taiwan - cis female, homosexual

Korea - cis male, disaster bi

Hungary - demigirl, heterosexual

Belarus - cis female, homosexual

Ukraine - cis female, heterosexual

Russia - cis male, heterosexual (surprising isnt it)

Romania - transmasc, bisexual

Bulgaria - cis male, bisexual

Romano - transmasc, heterosexual

Veneziano - cis male, bisexual

Poland - some sort of gnc ("what's in your pants?" "Lithuania"), homosexual

Lithuania - cis male, bisexual

(Right for pride month)

[discordiansamba]

So, I finally had a chance to watch pacific rim. Promptly dreamt up a vld crossover.

The basics- Shiro and Keith are jaeger pilots based in either Japan or Hong Kong (dream unclear) and the higher ups (Coran and Alfor) have a plan to make a larger Jaeger but need five people to split the load.

Shiro’s twin (kuron/kuro/Ryou) is called in with his team (Lance and Hunk, because where in the rules does it say they have to start at the same characterization of vld season one) and the higher ups are like “perfect! You’re twins so you and your teams should drift perfectly” and Shiro and his Twin are like “uh, did you not get the memo on why we’re leading separate teams on opposite side of the pacific?”

Higher ups of the higher ups don’t care, they still have to test the darn thing under the watchful eyes of Allura and Pidge (who’s brother and dad are jaegar pilots)

And promptly things go sideways because despite being twins, Shiro and twin have trauma from when they did work together and drifting together freaks them both out. Keith meanwhile is surprised that he’s compatible with anyone other than Shiro

Bonding ensues after

Anyway, things go sideways while Shiro and Twin go to visit someone (???) and the base gets damaged, the only way out is for Pidge and Allura to join up.

They have some trouble, and get help from Matt and Dad, as well as the twins who would like their partners to stay alive and that’s it so far?

Thoughts? At least for Allura and Pidge

I think this sounds very interesting!

The way things take some time to figure out the ultimate configuration for the Voltron jaeger is really good (and that feels like a very Sanda move to just. ignore what Shiron and Kuro tell her about not being drift compatible. I know you said the higher ups were Alfor and Coran, but that's such a Sanda move she has to be involved somehow). The idea of Allura and Pidge joining in the middle of a disaster and discovering that they are drift compatible with the other three and getting out together is really great!

It sounds like it could be a very fun AU!!

[paikothecateater]

I LOVE HOW ITS ACTUALLY MADE

My fav quote so far is “The toaster pastries travel through an oven; which bombards them with top heat and bottom heat. Which are the two elements that make convection heat. As you can see here, top heat is fucking nuts”

I’d also imagine him and hk at some point do the thing where they wear AirPods and swap one of them so they can communicate through their phones. Disaster.

Yeah, Hong Kong is a jackass, so he plays some of the funniest shit out there and Iceland literally has to bite his tongue to keep from laughing.

[trustednewstribune]

4 Dead, 60 Injured As "Strongest Earthquake In 25 Years" Hits Taiwan

At least four people were killed and nearly 60 injured Wednesday by a powerful earthquake in Taiwan that damaged dozens of buildings and prompted tsunami warnings that extended to Japan and the Philippines before being lifted.

Officials said the quake was the strongest to shake the island in decades, and warned of more tremors in the days ahead.

"The earthquake is close to land and it's shallow. It's felt all over Taiwan and offshore islands," said Wu Chien-fu, director of Taipei's Central Weather Administration's Seismology Center.

Strict building regulations and disaster awareness appear to have staved off a major catastrophe for the island, which is regularly hit by earthquakes as it lies near the junction of two tectonic plates.

Wu said the quake was the strongest since a 7.6-magnitude struck in September 1999, killing around 2,400 people in the deadliest natural disaster in the island's history.

Wednesday's magnitude-7.4 quake struck just before 8:00 am local time (0000 GMT), with the United States Geological Survey (USGS) putting the epicentre 18 kilometres (11 miles) south of Taiwan's Hualien City, at a depth of 34.8 kilometres.

Three people among a group of seven on an early-morning hike through the hills that surround the city were crushed to death by boulders loosened by the earthquake, officials said.

Separately, a truck driver died when his vehicle was hit by a landslide as it approached a tunnel in the area.

Social media was awash with shared video and images from around the country of buildings swaying as the quake struck.

"I wanted to run out, but I wasn't dressed. That was so strong," said Kelvin Hwang, a guest at a hotel in the capital, Taipei, who sought shelter in the lift lobby on the ninth floor.

Dramatic images were shown on local TV of multi-storey structures in Hualien and elsewhere tilting after it ended, while a warehouse in New Taipei City crumbled.

Local TV channels showed bulldozers clearing rocks along roads to Hualien, a mountain-ringed coastal city of around 100,000 people that was cut off by landslides.

President Tsai Ing-wen called for local and central government agencies to coordinate with each other, and said that the national army would also be providing support.

The National Fire Agency confirmed the death toll, adding nearly 60 people had been treated for quake-related injuries.

Regional impact - In Taiwan, Japan and the Philippines, authorities initially issued a tsunami warning but by around 10 am (0200 GMT), the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the threat had "largely passed".

In the capital, the metro briefly stopped running but resumed within an hour, while residents received warnings from their local borough chiefs to check for any gas leaks.

Taiwan is regularly hit by earthquakes as the island lies near the junction of two tectonic plates, while nearby Japan experiences around 1,500 jolts every year.

Across the Taiwan Strait, social media users in China's eastern Fujian province, which borders Guangdong in the south, and elsewhere said they also felt strong tremors.

Residents of Hong Kong also reported feeling the earthquake.

China, which claims self-ruled Taiwan as a renegade province, was "paying close attention" to the quake and "willing to provide disaster relief assistance", state news agency Xinhua said.

Fabrication at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company -- the world's biggest chip maker -- was briefly interrupted at some plants, a company official told AFP, while work at construction sites for new plants was halted for the day.

The vast majority of quakes around the area are mild, although the damage they cause varies according to the depth of the epicentre below the Earth's surface and its location.

The severity of tsunamis -- vast and potentially destructive series of waves that can move at hundreds of kilometres per hour -- also depends on multiple factors.

Japan's biggest earthquake on record was a massive 9.0-magnitude undersea jolt in March 2011 off Japan's northeast coast, which triggered a tsunami that left around 18,500 people dead or missing.

The 2011 catastrophe also sent three reactors into meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant, causing Japan's worst post-war disaster and the most serious nuclear accident since Chernobyl.

Japan saw a major quake on New Year's Day this year, when a 7.5-magnitude tremor hit the Noto Peninsula and killed more than 230 people, many of them when older buildings collapsed.