#Written in the West

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

"DRIVING THROUGH TEXAS, ARIZONA, NEW MEXICO, AND CALIFORNIA, WENDERS WAS CAPTIVATED…"

PIC(S) INFO: Spotlight on assorted photographs by German filmmaker Wim Wenders, documenting the American Southwest while scouting locations for his classic neo-Western/drama/road movie, "Paris, Texas," c. 1983.

OVERVIEW: "In late 1983, looking for the subjects and locations that would bring the desolate landscape of the American West to life for his iconic film "Paris, Texas," German filmmaker Wim Wenders took his Makina Plaubel 6 x 7 camera on the road. Driving through Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and California, Wenders was captivated by the unique, saturated, colorful light of the vast, wild landscape of the American West--even in the 20th century, a land associated with cowboys and outlaws, and suffused with the mythology of the frontier. The series he produced, "Written in the West," was first exhibited in 1986 at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, and first published in 2000."

-- D.A.P./Distributed Art Publishers, on "Written in the West, Revisited" (2015) by Wim Wenders

Sources: https://plainmagazine.com/wim-wenders-west-1983, Artsy, AnOther Magazine, Artsy, PRINT Magazine, LPAC Blog, Blogazine, Pinterest, various, etc...

[papanowo]

i think dan should get to be a little weird too. as a treat

[polysucks]

The twins are still twinin’ in the Wild West au I promise.

[krazieka2]

I've played the Fire Emblem Husbando Dating Simulator Games

[ohnoitsjesster]

[seoulmatez]

“boothill. . . i’m tired of sneaking around — when are we leaving?”

“don’t worry darlin’, just got a few loose ends to tie up before i whisk ya away from here.”

drawn by @/quianmon on instagram!

[petaltexturedskies]

I’ve got a lovely full moon (or nearly) for you — I've just been out looking at the court; it's now midnight;

Vita Sackville-West in a letter to Virginia Woolf, dated 15 January 1927, featured in The Letters of Vita Sackville-West to Virginia Woolf

[sometimesbrave]

Me all casual: Let me check out The West Wing TV show

After 2 days: Oh my God. It's the President and JOSH!!! NO NOT JOSH!! PLEASE GOD NO!

[optichocolate]

Sure, Dick has a thing for redheads, but can we talk about how Wally tends to end up with women of Asian descent???

[zakuramochi]

After watching the Hetalia english dub, the disparity between the interpretations of the Western and Eastern fandoms suddenly make a lot more sense… a lot of the lines were changed so much to cater to localization to the point that the characters’ personalities became completely warped from the Japanese version. 😯

[blooming-marylii]

I'm very normal about differences in dynamics between Jeremy and the SQUIP in each version of the musical, so I'm going to yell at you about it. And about SQUIPs in general tbf. This'll get kinda long

Ok, so in my understanding, SQUIPs don't all interact with their users the same. Each SQUIP's personality gets generated(?) during first activation based on its user's psychological attributes to achieve the best possible result. I also think SQUIPs are inherently benevolent but simultaneously amoral, which is why they eventually mess their users up in attempts to improve their lives

Another thing that probably isn't super important to all of this, but I still feel should be mentioned, is that while I do think their personalities are individually generated, I still believe they are just that. Personalities. All the reactions aren't simulated for users' benefit. The human brain is like a supercomputer, so why couldn't an advanced supercomputer be like a brain?

With all that out of the way, moving onto Jeremy and his SQUIP

In general, the SQUIP experiences the world and makes conclusions about it largely through Jeremy's knowledge. Which is exactly why it calls him pathetic and similar things. Because it genuinely thinks this way about Jeremy because Jeremy thinks this way about himself. So the SQUIP sees this as a fact. Additionally, deprecation motivates Jeremy to change just so it doesn't continue. This is a good strategy from the SQUIP's point of view because it produces quick results in achieving its goal

Now, let's talk about the differences

Two River: Jeremy wants his life to become better/easier but can't achieve this himself and doesn't believe anyone will help him. Becoming cool is a nice daydreaming scenario he doesn't expect to ever come true. Up until he learns about SQUIPs. And then he sees the SQUIP as his Only Chance To Be Helped. Which is why the SQUIP becomes so self-assured and condescending. It is Jeremy's saviour, his light at the end of the tunnel. It is the only thing that can help this pathetic little creature of a user. And it knows this. So it behaves accordingly

Broadway: Jeremy is an anxious mess to the point where harshness from the personification of his Only Chance To Be Helped would just destroy him. This guy needs some meds and support. So, the SQUIP provides support. The SQUIP sets an example. The SQUIP sympathises (if not empathises) because its user is so anxiety-ridden that he's going to either start crying or have a panic attack. He needs someone to stabilise him, he needs a support system, and he needs encouragement

West End (or, well. I've only seen the off-West End bootleg, but I don't think they made any drastic changes to characterisation between productions): for Jeremy, not being a loser brings a sense of vindication. Near the end of Loser Geek Whatever, when he realises he can be popular amongst his peers, he enters a mental state that I can only describe as manic. My guy sounds like all his rational thoughts left him, and he's riding that high. Which I'm assuming means that when this was only a daydreaming scenario, Jeremy was also a little too invested into/excited about it. And since making Jeremy popular is the SQUIP's primary objective, the strongest emotion associated with this idea had to influence its personality. I'd say this SQUIP is very straightforward and collected by default, but when it needs to hype Jeremy up, or when they are getting closer to achieving their goal, it gets more unhinged to varying degrees, depending on the situation. And because getting closer to achieving the goal is a process split up into chunks, the SQUIP gets more unhinged a little more often than one might expect

[wanderingmind867]

I already have my Batman Season Four ideas planned out to an oddly precise degree, right? Well, I still have more ideas that I can't bring myself to get rid of. So I'm going to do a Batman Season Three and a Half. Here I'll adapt some of the few comics I like from the Batman '66 comic book, and maybe i'll add a few minor 50s and 60s villians I wish had been on Batman '66. So without further delay, here's my Batman 1966 Season Three and a Half ideas (now revised to include two or three extra stories):

Episodes 1 and 2: A two parter based on the events of the Batman '66 Comic, Issue #1. A story involving The Riddler (Frank Gorshin) and Catwoman (Julie Newmar).

Episodes 3 and 4: An adaptation of the Lead Story in Batman '66 #2. A story featuring The Penguin (Burgess Meredith) and Mister Freeze (either George Sanders or Eli Wallach). They team up, only to get busted by the dynamic duo!

Episodes 5 and 6: Just the first story of Issue #3 of Batman '66 in it's entirety. Joker (Cesar Romero) stars, as does The Red Hood/Professor Overbeck (played by Leonid Kinsky).

Episodes 7 and 8: An adaptation of the second story in Batman '66 #3 (but an adaptation that's longer and more fleshed out). Egghead escapes from jail, and begins plotting to defeat Batman and Robin once again. To do this, he decides to conquer the skies with a gigantic dirigible of his own design! Egghead eventually captures the dynamic duo and drops them from his airship, to face the treacherous earth lying below. But due to sheer arrogance on his part, he'd forgotten to remove their utility belts.

So Batman and Robin successfully use their utility belts to survive the fall. They then fake their deaths, and prepare to snare Egghead and his gang within a trap of their own…

Episode 9: Batman is all alone on this case. He goes to the theater with a new love interest of his (and an old friend, too), one Linda Page. They've gone to see a benefit performance being put on by Chandell and The Siren, two supposedly redeemed ex-cons. But while Chandell really has gone straight, The Siren has done anything but. She uses this performance to hypnotize her audience, and then she tries to steal everything from people.

But Bruce manages to get away during the commotion, and he changes to Batman! But The Siren has learned some new tricks since last we saw her. Namely, she's learned how to summon hallucinations with her singing. So while Batman is immobilized by her strange hallucinations, Linda Page comes to the rescue and saves him from The Siren. Then she's sent back to jail, and Chandell is free to continue his performance.

But watching from the audience was that famous european criminal known as the Sandman, and he's most displeased that his newest assistant (The Siren) failed so utterly. He'd increased her powers by adding his dream sand to her arsenal, but she still failed! In his eyes, truly an unforgivable sin.

Episodes 10 and 11: Batman and Robin learn of how the Queen's Guard in England was robbed of all of their hats, and they realize that the Mad Hatter is clearly up to something. So with Alfred as their guide, Bruce and Dick travel to jolly old london town. While there, they end up having to confront The Mad Hatter, who really was behind all the thefts. He invades the Tower of London and steals the Crown Jewels.

But due to Batman's peerless reputation (even across the pond in the UK), Batman and Robin successfully manage to stop The Mad Hatter from getting away with the Crown Jewels. And then the good people of Scotland Yard haul the Hatter away, to serve out his full term in a London jail cell.

Episode 12: A more elaborate retelling of the second story in Batman '66 #4, Batman and Robin are still in England (being honoured for their victory against The Mad Hatter). But then Batman recalls an odd detail regarding the chiming of clock bells during their fight against The Mad Hatter. Realizing The Hatter may have had an accomplice, him and robin rush back to the tower to investigate this mystery.

And inside the clocktower, Batman finds his suspicions confirmed: The Mad Hatter was being aided by The Clock King, who actually turns out to be his brother! And The Clock King is now proceeding with his own seperate scheme to blow up The Tower of London when Big Ben chimes five. But before he can get around to that, Batman and Robin stop him. Both him, and his army of henchmen and clock themed androids.

From there, Clock King is sent to jail to rejoin his brother. And Batman and Robin return to their feast with Scotland Yard, finally able to celebrate the fruits of a victory well won.

Episode 13: An adaptation of the secondary story in Batman '66 #25, wherein Batgirl encounters Catwoman (played by Eartha Kitt) trying to steal the expensive Tiger Topaz. It turns out that crime never stops in Gotham, even while Batman's away (this story takes place concurrently with the saga over in England). So it's Batgirl to the rescue, on one of her many solo adventures.

Episodes 14 and 15: Batman and Robin have returned from their adventure in London, only to now have to deal with The Sandman, that evil super crook from the european continent. Still angry about the failure of The Siren (back in episode 9), The Sandman has now decided to take matters into his own hands. Him and his gang plunder the city, using a new form of sleep sand that can hypnotize people through dreams.

He successfully manages to ensnare and entrance the entire city (including Batgirl), but never once accounts for Batman's powers of lucid dreaming. Batman successfully manages to resist the strange dreams of the sleep sand, and he wakes up in time to free robin and batgirl and defeat the rest of the sandman's gang.

Episodes 16 and 17: A bit of a more dramatic episode, starring a very old Boris Karloff as Basil Karlo. An old man who's angry about the new remakes of his old horror films, Basil Karlo takes up his old costumed identity as Clayface and begins a series of attacks on the studio. When the film comes to Gotham City's annual film festival, Batman and Robin are called in to investigate.

Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson also deal with Aunt Harriet and Linda Page (who both serve on the gotham film festival board).

Episodes 18 and 19: A story dealing with Catwoman, this comic is an adaptation of a story first seen in Batman #122. To summarize that story (by copying from off of the DC wiki):

Catwoman escapes from prison and then threatens three wealthy men with the old superstition about black cats. When the men won't pay her, she steals from them, after placing a black cat in their way. Batman and Robin try to stop her, but Catwoman gets away, using her new vehicle, the Kitty Car. During a second confrontation between the Dynamic Duo and the Catwoman, Robin is captured and taken to Catwoman's hide-out, where he uses his belt-radio to summon Batman. Batman then rescues his partner, but Catwoman flees and is able to jump across a rising drawbridge in her car, escaping once again.

Episodes 20 and 21: Batman and Robin have to deal with The Bookworm, who's come up with a new and decidedly tricky scheme to figure out Batman's secret identity. Although he still fails, Bookworm ends up coming dangerously close to figuring out Batman's secret identity. So dangerously close that one thing becomes perfectly clear: Bookworm may one day actually find out Batman's secret. Of all the rogues, only him and egghead have gotten close to the truth. If either of them should team up one day…

Episodes 22 and 23: The Joker teams up with Louie the Lilac to cultivate flowers that produce laughing gas. They use this to lead a mad crime spree across Gotham, and only gotham's terrific trio can stop them now!

Episodes 24 and 25: Olga, Queen of the Cossacks has returned to Gotham City. Angry on behalf of her partner egghead's failure (back in episodes 7 and 8), Olga has left him. And now she pursues a better choice of husband: Batman himself. Luring Batman and Robin to a large, snowy mountain in great northern reaches of North America, Olga kidnaps Batman and leaves Robin for dead.

Thankfully, Batgirl had been tailing them. So she manages to save Robin, and then the two of them go after Batman. They manage to trail Olga to her lair inside of a mountain, and then they find Batman struggling in the arena against an army of Olga's best men. Robin and Batgirl jump in to lend him a hand, and then our terrific trio end up saving the day and stopping Olga, but not before she successfully steals a kiss from Batman. Knowing our heroes luck, this probably won't be the last time they'll have to deal with this strong-willed cossack queen. She's still determined to win Batman's hand, after all.

Episodes 26 and 27: The Penguin teams up with The Black Widow (Tallulah Bankhead). This is really just an almost completely faithful adaptation of the story from Batman '66 #15, as that's one of the few stories from Batman '66 (the comic) that sounds perfect to me.

Episode 28: A longer and more in depth version of the second story presented in Batman '66 #7. Here's the synopsis of that story from the DC wiki:

The Joker successfully robs a popular game show's jackpot, but bitterly notes only one of his men had actually helped in the getaway. After an evening watching business news, the Clown Prince of Crime is inspired to fire his whole gang except that one henchman. This "downsizing" not only leaves him a bigger share of loot, but also lets him evade Batman and Robin (who have grown used to picking him out of large retinues) at his next heist.

While troubled by the Joker's new efficiency, Batman correctly judges it unsustainable. Indeed, the Joker quickly overworks his one lackey to the point of exhaustion, and their following heist fails miserably against the Dynamic Duo.

Episodes 29 and 30: Batman and Robin meet The Monkees, in a musical crossover involving The Music Meister (Donald O'Connor) and a crime wave framing The Monkees for thefts of many priceless instruments and music trinkets. I chose to have a Monkees crossover here, because that was legitimately the only way I could it fit to introduce The Music Meister into the world of Batman '66.

Episodes 31 and 32: Batman, Robin and Batgirl all end up dealing with the evil villian of Spellbinder, a young bohemian/countercultural artist who's learned that his pop-art can cause people to follow his every command. Now causing a real mess with light and spectacle, the terrific trio have to stop him before he can do any more damage with his hypnotic powers.

I would definitely also have Andy Warhol make a cameo during a wall climbing gag during this episode. Because this episode is all about pop art, and he is the king of that stuff.

Episodes 33 and 34: Tony Randall guest stars as Mister Camera. Mister Camera, the villian who nobody ever expects. His skill with photography makes him second to none in the world of forgery, and he's now come up with a daring way to trick the GCPD into arresting Batman and Robin, while simultaneously promoting himself.

He dresses like a plainclothes businessman, but he'd do things like doctor photos and manipulate the press via his photography. He might hide out in an old, renovated dark room. And he could have henchmen with names like shutterbug, snapshot, etc. I really don't think they could make the old comic design with a tuxedo and giant camera head mask work, but I know that the gimmick of photography and cameras could work for Batman 1966. So Mister Camera is definitely getting more than one apperance.

Episodes 35 and 36: An adaptation of the main story in Batman '66 #7, featuring False Face, a plot where he impersonates Bruce Wayne, and a subsequent showdown at Mount Rushmore between False Face and the dynamic duo!

Episodes 37 and 38: King Tut falls in love with Linda Page when she's working as a nurse at Gotham's penitentiary. He kidnaps her and tries to force her to become his Queen. Batman and Robin have to stop Tut's new plans for domination of Gotham, but in the end Linda Page is frightened away from Gotham City. She moves back to her father's estate in Texas, traumatized by the three or four major crimes she'd been dragged into while living in Gotham.

This is the last time Linda Page serves as any sort of recurring character. She might make two or three more appearances in future seasons, but she's now definitively off the books as a love interest and recurring character for Batman/Bruce Wayne.

Episodes 39 and 40: The Penguin is back with another new fiendish crime spree, all themed around rare and exotic birds. A ornithology exhibition has come to Gotham, and this bird of crime can't help but make a spectacle of himself stealing all the objects. Can Batman and Robin stop him? Or is it too late for our heroes to stop this foul bird of prey?

Episodes 41 and 42: The Riddler is back in town, and he's come to menace Gotham with a scheme involving clues hidden within the daily crossword puzzles at the Gotham Tribunal. Can Batman, Robin and Batgirl successfully solve all of his riddles in time? Or is this curtains for our terrific trio?

Episodes 43 and 44: Catwoman (Julie Newmar) ends up seemingly collaborating with Batman and Robin when another villian frames her for a crime she didn't commit. The villian in question ends up being revealed as a master magician known as The Great Marini. Using his masterful illusions, he manages to frame Batman for all sorts of crimes, and he manages to even successfully convince the GCPD that Batman and Robin are on the outs as useful crime fighters. That's when Batman learns the truth: Catwoman was a double agent all along!

Episode Two of this saga leaves our heroes no better off than they were before, as they're now hunted by the authorities. But they do escape Marini's deathtrap, and they even successfully manage to stop him and Catwoman before they can do too much harm to the city. To be fair: they were already beginning to fight amongst themselves. They were practically sitting ducks for the dynamic duo. But still, this would be the way that season three and a half ends.

[runaria]

Part 7

[habunshu]

Hello! Sorry to bother you.

I noticed you are in JTTW fandom and wanted to ask if you know where can I find more info on Sun Wukong's make up and stage performance? I tried to find stuff on my own but quickly realised that I'm just one small weak goblin. I saw some blogs about chinese opera behind the scenes with SW images and couple of videos but that's about it... and since you look like you are way more knowledgeable I came here to beg a favour.

Do you know any videos, documentaries or blogs on this topic?

Thank you for your time ♥♥♥

Hi!

TLDR: Bold text are writings/videos linked to Peking Opera Culture and specifics surrounding Monkey King performances. Post has a mid-length summary of key aspects of his Peking appearances and core thematics. This mainly goes along visual design analysis, as I don’t focus in performance art as much! Read more divide for courtesy

(Also taking a moment to highly praise @/bonesmarinated ‘s Peking opera Wukong pieces!)

The Monkey King/Sun Wukong is a very well covered and well performed character in Peking Opera, I’ll give a short(ish) summary of the key aspect of his design across various performances based on work I can recall from my Undergrad as well as my own experience- and i’ll link any documents/websites/images I have on hand

Wukong’s Lian Pu falls under what is known the Jing role (complex hero) with similar facial decoration also being delegated to the Chou roles in Opera as well.

The dominant school of art in depicting him either on live performers or maskwear, have a fairly universal foundation for his appearance.

The oldest forms of Peking opera stick to Wuseguan (Five Colour Theory) with his Lian Pu sticking to a core 3 of White (Cunning), Red (Bravery), and Black (Loyalty). Even with Modernisation of the Peking Opera and developments in the science behind art and makeup, Lianpu is specific in its purpose of portraying the nature of a character beyond body language and aiding in accessibility for people at the far end of the audience.

The Monkey King’s Lian Pu is reflective of his mischievous and bold nature, combining it with the shape of an Old World Monkey’s furless face shape so that even those “uneducated” in Peking Opera culture can at least see /what/ Wukong is before they see /who/ he is. The White and red placement are linked to yin-yang dynamics relating to the stone he was born from and the energy it cultivated) as well as general themes beyond the tale itself.

Zheng’s “Evolution, Symbolism, and Artistry: A Study on the Colors of Peking Opera Facial Makeup” Discusses this in more detail. ( DOI: 10.23977/artpl.2023.041207) (ISSN 2523-5877)

(General Mask colours in Peking Opera, separate from Lian Pu: The Cultural Connotation and Symbolic Meaning of Chinese Opera Mask Color - Hanbing Tu)

In more modern designs, the key foundation of Wukong’s face doesn’t change much, however some variations do add colour to Wukong’s eyelids- mainly pink or yellow/gold. Both of these relate physically to the ‘whites’ of Old World Monkey’s eyes, with the yellow face paint being representative of “barbarism” or “savagery”. Gold is used on the faces of various immortal creatures from all backgrounds as Silver is.

(Left: Chu Luhao as Monkey King, stedling divine peaches and wine in celestial realm, Kaohsiung ) (Right: Monkey King Wukong in Beijing Opera Journey to the West at Liyuan Theater)

As with Taiwans branch off in culture, This Lian Pu on the left shows the eyebrows as the top of the eyelid makeup, contrast to Chinese style and other Sino-influenced regions. This works in Chu Luhao’s production as it plays towards the character Wukong is before he’s sealed under the mountain and begun the journey- hence more “wide eyed”.

Mentioning Yellow within the Wuseguan, this is why most of his earlier outfits have such a heavy bias towards yellow cloth, barbarism being represented across his whole body (his form, as a monkey over his soul that achieves enlightenment) with costumes later down his hero’s journey adding more black, blue (simplicity).

(Left: Performer playing Monkey in Journey to the West, Chinese Opera performance in Singapore) (Middle: Chu Luhao’s production, Sun Wukong arrives at the Dragon Palace of the East Sea) (Right: CANTON, CHINA – CIRCA JULY 2019: Beijing Opera performance of “Monkey King Making Havoc in Heaven”)

Key Read -> The Artistic Symbolism of the Painted Faces in Chinese Opera: An Introduction, David Ming-Yüeh Liang. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43560653

Book -> Chinese opera: Images and stories, Peter Lovrick, Wang-Ngai Siu

Book -> Drama kings: Players and publics in the re-creation of Peking opera, 1870-1937, Joshua Goldstein. https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=XT_1fZ9Jp18C&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=info:49R3XREYwVoJ:scholar.google.com/&ots=3OF1F4SILK&sig=gQyW7bGJzgnxG62Y2TxU01ZPazQ&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false

This analytical paper on Monkey King: Hero is Back showcases modern animated links to Peking Monkey King designs - https://fslmjournals.taylors.edu.my/wp-content/uploads/SEARCH/SEARCH-2024-16-1/SEARCH-2024-P5-16-1.pdf

A blog site I found interesting was an interview with Yao Yudong, the successor to colourful Peking Opera masks, where he discusses creating the mask designs (with a Wukong mask as a recorded example) and a more in-depth written post. He expresses the key two styles of Wukong’s red markings known as “Upside down Gourd” style, and the less complex “Upside down Peach” style attributed to a different art school. In which his mask is directly attributed to items that come into contact with his face.

Jiao Feng, Peking Opera Facial Makeup: The Art of Face Painting: http://www.chinatoday.com.cn/ctenglish/2018/ich/202001/t20200117_800190202.html

Connected is a video of an Opera performer who does his own Lian Pu, which depending on the time period could take up to two hours. Although this design is significantly more contemporary in the use of gold on white sections as markings like black paint. https://x.com/chinadaily/status/1365730927133958144?s=46&t=06bYiE12l6qVJUxPCBuvvQ

In regards to Wukong’s combat performances, he falls into the role of a Wusheng (武生), which is the strand of stage costume used in representation of his staple armour.

(Monkey King in Journey to the West Performance, Beijing Opera)

In this costume, Wukong’s Phoenix feather cap is mirrored by Lingzi (翎子) or Zhilling (雉翎), which likely play back and forth with influencing eachother as time progresses, due to Wukong’s theatrical personality being heightened by the Pheasant tails and their movements as actors play their roles. In his Wusheng roles, he is more likely to be adorned with gold eyelids to highlight his layered immortality and connect to the golden armour he wears. The trait of biting the pheasant tails as a theatrical act of frustration is seen across adaptations, most recently in Black Myth: Wukong’s Chapter 6 Animation.

This animation’s design seems to relay the Lingzi strongly due to the way the studio details the lowest connection points to the crown ornament.

As stated in Bond’s writings “BEIJING OPERA COSTUMES: THE VISUAL COMMUNICATION OF CHARACTER AND CULTURE”, Wukong’s in-game Suozi Set and various adaptations Dragon Palace armours split similarly to the Kao (Armour) on Peking stages, with the falling of the frantic drastically increasing the size of the actor and his silhouette.

Qing-era flags on the costumes of Wusheng were used to express social standing, gender, nature, and ranking. The image above showcasing them has them match the Kao pattern of the clothing, other flags often held zodiac patterns- with the monkey showcasing vain, egotistical, inventive and tricky individuals; and the peach included in a flag hinting towards immortality.

(Ching Dynasty Year of the Monkey Flag used in the Peking Opera) Zaricore Flag Collection: https://www.flagcollection.com/itemdetails.php?CollectionItem_ID=943

Due to the History of Lian Pu, and Wuseguan, despite modernisation of Opera arts vastly widening the colours and complexity of costumes; Wukong sticks to a key 5 colour scheme, with a emphasis on the original trio of red-white-black, and gold being reserved for Wusheng/Wuxiaosheng to showcase immortality and strength. The prevalence of Opera alongside fictional theatre means that the two constantly play off of eachother in mannerisms and influence, both at the time of JTTW’s writing to the 21st century. But as Opera is a physical performance, all aspects of Peking costume design is meant to make the emotional and psychological aspects of characters physical, to a large audience space needing to see facial expressions heightened and clarified by Lian Pu.

Read -> Cultural-based visual expression: emotional analysis of human face via Peking Opera Painted Faces (POPF)

[godlizzza]

PLEASE more trans danbert smut…… trans dan has such a special place in my heart, I read your last fic of them constantly. Please more, anything,please

"Fuck," Dan hissed between his teeth, biting down on his knuckles. "Ah- Herbert. That's so-"

The euphoric high Dan had been riding was abruptly cut off at the knees when Herbert poked his head up from between Dan's legs and flatly said, "Dan. Could you stop talking so much? I'm trying to concentrate here."

Dan tipped his head up from where he'd been happily resting against the sheets to stare down at Herbert, who stared mulishly right back at him. With Herbert crouched down on the floor at the foot of the bed and Dan's legs hooked over his shoulders, they'd been having quite a pleasant afternoon. It was always the case when Herbert quit his constant bickering and put his mouth to good use, like he'd been doing up until this little interuption.

It took Dan a moment to process what he'd said through the cloudy soup of lust that had been fogging up his brain. When he did, he blinked a few times before irritation jabbed him in the ribs and he frowned down at Herbert.

"Oh, I'm sorry," he snapped. "Am I enjoying myself too much?"

"If you could enjoy yourself a little more quietly," Herbert muttered, "that would be greatly appreciated. This is no easy task, you know."

Dan, who had eaten plenty of pussy over the course of his life, scoffed. "Sorry, didn't mean to break your concentration."

"It's fine," Herbert replied, entirely missing Dan's sarcastic tone. His glasses were off, his bare face pleasant and pretty, like a cougar with its claws retracted. He lowered his head again, drumming his fingers against Dan's hairy thighs, and said, "Let's just keep the commentary to ourselves, shall we?"

Dan was tempted to bite back another retort but then Herbert was running his thumb along the seam of his folds and he sunk his teeth into his lower lip instead. He pushed his fingers into Herbert's hair, scraping his nails against his scalp as he felt the heat of Herbert's tongue. Dan managed to swallow the words of praise he wanted to heap on Herbert's head for the great head, but he settled for moaning at the ceiling instead.

"Mm," Dan hummed, rolling his hips against Herbert's face, seeking more of that wet, silky pleasure.

Herbert responded by swirling his tongue around Dan's t-dick, sending a tingle of pleasure bolting up Dan's spine.

"Fuck," he hissed under his breath, pulling one hand from Herbert's head to bite down on his knuckle.

Holding back became even more difficult when Herbert dipped lower, replacing his tongue with fingers so he could lap at Dan's dripping entrance. Dan's legs, quivering at his mounting desire, squeezed around Herbert's ears, his heels pressing into Herbert's back in a desperate attempt to pull him closer. His back arched, lifting off the mattress as Herbert continued to lick and rub, working him with mouth and hand, building Dan up to a sweet crest of crackling lust.

Dan came with a breathy, "S-Shit," his grip on Herbert's hair squeezing tight as his orgasm wracked through him. Pleasure pulsed through him, the nerves between his legs throbbing with it as Herbert pulled away, gently unfurling Dan's legs from where they were wrapped around his head. Dan flopped back on the mattress as Herbert crawled onto the bed, wiping his mouth against the back of his hand. Dan couldn't find it in him to be offended, not when he was laying there, spent and panting at the roof.

"You're welcome," Herbert said as he laid down on his side next to Dan, who huffed out a laugh.

"Thank you," he said with a roll of his eyes. He turned over onto his side, raking his eyes down Herbert's body. He was dressed only in a white undershirt and his briefs, which were sporting a sizeable tent. Dan's lips curled up at the corners as he snaked a hand down Herbert's stomach to his waistband. "How 'bout letting me return the favour?"

Herbert's eyes widened a fraction, darting down to follow Dan's fingers dancing around his navel. He swallowed, his throat bobbing, before he shrugged.

"If you want to," he sniffed, glancing away.

Dan just laughed and pushed Herbert onto his back.

[mrs-remarkable]

Evelyn was... she was the absolute best. No two ways about it. But, well... she isn't here any more, Siegfried. [...] She'd at least want you to try and be happy.