#and translation issues between their languages and whatnot

[fahbev]

Unstoppable Force Meets Immovable Object pt3

Part 1: (https://www.tumblr.com/bahfev/715070691717840896/unstoppable-force-meets-immovable-object?source=share)

“Fine. Give us precise directions, and we’ll see.” Sophia loomed over Aolli.

“I- I don’t think I can. Most of the way there is also uncharted. I was shown the way there by someone, and I remember my way mostly by my senses than anything else. I’m not lying I swear! Please don’t hurt me!”

“Are you definitely, 100% certain you’re not lying?” Sophia just had to make sure.

“Yes! 100%! Please believe me!”

“Okay. Then you are going to take us there.” Sophia said.

“...”

“... what?” ————————————————————————————————

Yal-sre had always wondered about humans. They had grown up being told stories, “humans hail from a Death-World, where everything is dangerous! They survived there, they can survive just about anything!”. Yal-sre had been told stories about how scary humans are, that they have acid in their stomachs. They are strong due to Earth’s high gravity. Later on, Aolli also provided some stories from their youth.

As a child, Yal-sre had gone through a phase where they loved humans. They were sort of the galactic “boogeyman”, but, safe on Challrk, Yal-sre idealized these apex predators. Not only were they super strong and cool, they were also pretty. Yal-sre especially liked the humans with long hair, they were very elegant. Of course, they did know logically that meeting a human in real life wouldn’t be a very good experience, but as a child they didn’t care. They preferred to daydream about these awesome alien critters.

During Yal-sre’s young adulthood, they decided move off Challrk to a diverse space-city. They got a job as a security guard, which was shockingly easy to land considering the pay. But the new city that Yal-sre couldn’t pronounce or spell, carried a very different atmosphere. Everyone seemed wary.

Yal-sre was confused, at first. They had moved to a very good, and well protected neighborhood, why did everyone seem so scared? That was until, Yal-sre pieced together that people were only scared when they were around.

What’s wrong with me? Why do I scare people?

After that realization, Yal-sre did everything they could to appear nonthreatening. After a while, people who saw them every day began to realize that Yal-sre really wasn’t very scary after all. Some of them, anyway.  At some point, Yal-sre couldn’t tell you when, they figured out why this was. The fear had little to do with Yal-sre themself, and everything to do with their species.  Apparently, the rragletatchen had quite the reputation among the galaxy. “They have indestructible exoskeletons! They’re practically invincible!” Not indestructible; broken, damaged, or missing skeletal plates were very common injuries. Of course, it takes a lot to damage an exoskeleton, so to an alien? It made sense, how they could seem invincible.

“They’re huge! They’re hella strong too!” They weren’t - okay, comparatively yes. But many other species were large as well, rragletatchen weren’t anything special!

“They spit LAVA!” Acid. It’s acid. And only when threatened, if we spit acid at you, that means you’ve fucked up immensely! We’re pacifists! We don’t want to hurt you!

“Sharp spikes! Sharp teeth! Impossible to outrun! Infants that are deadly poisonous to the touch! Jaws that can eat things half their size!” Okay, true but- ...true, all true.  Yal-sre understood it, but the stereotype of rragletatchen being aggressive, mean, dangerous, or even remotely competent at fighting wasn’t true. 

Rragletatchen were a peaceful, unified tribe. Very few even did the hunting, those few providing for the whole tribe. Rragletatchen, particularly in the sector Yal-sre grew up in, people preached kindness, forgiveness and mercy.

Yal-sre was never a very religious person. They weren’t a goody-two-shoes stickler about morals, and they even thought their parents hardcore pacifism was old-fashioned and flawed. However, when surrounded by everyone who thought the worst of them, they became more and more determined to embody their cultural beliefs. Yal-sre would break this stereotype, and show the world that rragletatchen are gentle giants. Yal-sre had so many eyes on them, rragletatchen were rare, so they represented their whole species. He had to be the perfect embodiment of all that is good, and all that his people stand for.

He had always thought, or perhaps hoped, that humans felt the same way.

Until he met Sofia.

It had been a surprise, coming across a human when he came to pay Aolli a visit. Everything he had hoped to say if he ever met an Earthling, everything he hoped a human might say, all the common ground he hoped to find... all of that faded the second he noticed them, and all the scary stories came flooding back in their place.

It was hard to read Sophia’s body language, but they made themselves bigger, walked straight up to him, really close, and looked directly up at him. If that wasn’t a show of aggression, what was?

“Fight me.” Sure enough. But despite his initial fear, he had still been hoping that they would... well, he didn’t know exactly what he was hoping for, but it wasn’t this. This moment he had imagined in his head over and over in hundreds of different ways, became simply another moment of proving himself. Being the ambassador of all rragletatchen, once again. Only now, he had to face an aggressive human to do so. Great.

Sophia was one of the long-haired humans. Suddenly, their black hair, tied back behind their head into one long brush like an angry geerecht’s tail, it didn’t look so elegant anymore.

He tried not to show how scared he was. Rragletatchen are peaceful, but we are nof weak. I will not fight, but I will stand solid against a human if I must.

Now though, Sophia was... helping him? Why? This was a foreign creature, with foreign emotions, Yal-sre may never know. On the other hand, Yal-sre needed to know if he could trust this fellow space orc, and to what extent. 

So far, Sophia seemed to have little regard for the law.

Aolli was whimpering in the corner.

Yal-sre, for the record, was not a fan of this idea.

“Alright, everybody buckle up! Let’s see what this baby can do!”

Sophia clearly didn’t mean it, because they didn’t wait a second. No one, not even Sophia was strapped in before Sophia slammed the accelerator on the stolen ship.

“WOOOOO-HOOO! HELL YEAH!” Sophia raised one of their upper appendages, with the smaller appendages at the end wrapped up in a ball.

“SOPHIA!”

“AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!”

Yal-sre could have sworn that their organs had been left behind in the spacecraft rental lot.  Sophia very nearly missed a building on their way. The three of them screamed in unison.

“FUCK! Jee-zuss- kriest”

“NONONONONONONO STOP!”

“DO YOU EVEN KNOW HOW TO DRIVE THIS THING?”

In a panic, Yal-sre fumbled for a seatbelt. Not that anything could save him from Sophia ramming the ship into six goeals of reinforced cement. As it turned out, the seatbelt, like the rest of the ship, was way too small for his large frame. Lovely. 

“Of COURSE I know how to drive a ship! I’ve just never used this kind before- the steering is FUCKING REVERSED! Woah- holy poop-”

“Great, that makes me feel SO MUCH BETTER!” Aolli screeched.

“Maybe you should have CONSIDERED that BEFORE you decided to STEAL A SPACECRAFT IN BROAD DAYLIGHT!” Yal-sre shouted.

“DO YOU WANT ME TO TAKE US TO NAYERSWU OR NOT!?”

“NO I DON’T!” Aolli screamed.

“I want to GET there, but I don’t want to DIE BEFORE WE DO! Give me the wheel, I’M driving us there-”

“Buzz off! Aolli can’t fit behind the wheel, and you can’t even fit in the GODDAMN cockpit! -No, stop trying- ow- SIT DOWN- oh SHIT!” The ship was getting dangerously close to the cliff wall. Sophia swerved. Directly into the cliff. A second later they remembered the controls were reversed and swerved hard in the other direction. It happened so fast that Yal-sre barely had time to scream.  “STOP DISTRACTING ME OR WE ALL DIE!”

“Yes- yes! Got it!” Yal-sre scrurried back to where he’d been sitting.

Everything was peaceful for a minute. The ship pierced through the first and thickest of 12 atmospheric layers, and the air changed color. The view would have been breathtaking, if Yal-sre’s anxiety wasn’t keeping him from appreciating it. The sentiment seemed to be echoed by Aolli. And Sophia... he couldn’t read Sophia.

Suddenly-

“Drone!” Aolli shouted.

“WHAT? Where!?” Sophia shouted back

“Turn left!”

“LEFT-LEFT OR FAKE-LEFT!?” Nevermind, Yal-sre could definitely read the raw panic in Sophia’s voice.

“JUST- AHHHH!”

———————————————————————————————— pt 4: (pending)

I have mastered the art of the cliffhanger >:)

Can anyone tell me how to do that thing where the link is words? Im new here.  Taglist: @honeysuckletook

If you’d like to be added, ask in the comments!

[operafantomet]

Hi Anea! Out of curiosity, how many languages you know? Are most Scandinavians multilingual?

"Know" is a bit... fluent. I tend to separate between how many languages I could read a book in VS how many languages I could order food in... Hah.

I think most Scandinavians learn the neighbor languages during their childhood or teenage years. I learned Danish as a very young child. My dialect is close to Danish and we frequently visited Denmark - it was a three-hour ferry trip away. And Swedish because of all the Swedish children's programs, Emil, Pippi, whatnot.

The three languages Danish, Swedish and Norwegian are quite similar, with some differences in words and pronunciation but not so much you would not get understood when talking your own language. I master all three as such, but prefer to speak my own language when talking to adults. For children I might change completely, depending on their level. But when I have visited Denmark with Swedish friend Josefine, we have all spoken our respective languages without much issues.

There's also hybrids for easing the communication - the most made-fun-of version is "svorsk" (svensk/norsk, AKA Swedish/Norwegian). It's sometimes done on TV and it's rather amusing. I think the best illustration is this candy, as that middle letter is a hybrid between Norwegian/Danish Ø and Swedish Ö. It doesn't make sense in any language, yet A+ for trying.

So yeah, I speak and read Norwegian, Danish and Swedish, albeit I only actually speak the two latter when forced as I feel I'm a character in a TV series when speaking it. I guess the best comparison in English would be to fake a Scottish accent. It's do-able, but doesn't feel natural.

Then there is of course English. Most Scandinavian kids learn it both in school and from the internet. Most are also encouraged to do a second foreign language later on. For me it was French, but I'm somewhere between "can ask simple questions and hope for a simple answer" and ordering food. This is also my approach to German. There is so much similarities to Norwegian I understand a lot of what I read and hear, but I can't form my own sentences.

With a base in English, Germannic languages and a Latin language I can fake my way through many European countries and at least order food, understand basic newspaper headlines and manage my way through non-English websites (for example looking for tickets or info).

As an adult I also tried to learn Greek. The grammar absolutely killed me, but I can read it fine enough (in the pace of a child). I just don't understand a lot of what I read. Hah! I can also - again - order food, say my name, ask how people are doing, understand ticket systems etc.

So yeah... I would say I master four languages - Norwegian, Danish, Swedish and English. I can fake my way through French, German and Greek to some extent, and that also translate into related languages (for example Italian, Dutch). But I could never read a book in those languages, or hold a meaningfull conversation past "Hello, my name is (...), how are you doing?".

[ironclawallosaur]

I'm not even sure my word on this is worth two cents but:

I feel the big issue with "AI art" isn't the stolen artwork per se—yes, it's annoying, but there's functionally no difference between this

and this

This, too, is stolen art, used by the internet for humor. (the original appears to be by artist Joaes Kleine) It took the original artist 15 hours of work, and the memester probably about 15 second.

And, y'know. If we banned Object Labeling memes, the internet would be a poorer place. Deepfaking US presidents riding a giant rollercoaster, using AI to generate sexy victorian catgirls, and making relatable memes (who hasn't gotten up in the middle of the night Big Thirsty?) is all fun and games.

(what I wish is that we had a way to credit the artist easily without wrecking the joke that people could also notice, I'd use it all the time)

(maybe put the link in the alt-text?)

The problem is that I'm seeing more and more signs of "AI art" being the next autotranslate.

where it gets out into the professional world and turns everything to shit.

This is a social ill, yes—instead of a skilled translator getting paid to translate what I presume to be a hair salon, no one has gotten paid except maybe a few cents spread around in click revenue. But... I feel that's not the heart of the matter. Sometimes jobs—like lamplighters or buggy drivers—dry up, but translation is nowhere near replacement

There's something fundamentally wrong about using a blind, stupid machine to crunch all the work for you and then not even bother to go double-check it. Anyone who's explored a foreign language website with these services knows how stupid and frustrating autotranslations can be. It's fine for a private citizen (who will notice most of the blatant errors), or for people showing the translation of foreign-language memes, but companies use them because they're cheap or free, and don't even bother to slide them to a friend who speaks a little English to say "hey, does this say something about hair".

It's something that degrades everyone's experience, it makes the world stupider. And it's just... lazy, and cheap. You can blame capitalism but the same sorts of cheap shortcuts turn up in socialism (see: Chernobyl) so I don't think the attitude is strictly linked to economic system. I don't know what to do to solve it—and I know people have disapproved of me trying to do things the good and thorough way instead of the quick, cheap, and lazy way.

So, use AI art for funneh memes, as a jumping-off point for art, or to make something pretty. Try to source the material ethically if you can. Professionally, maybe early-stages concept art? Concept artists do important work, but it beats a crude cocktail-napkin doodle for commissions and whatnot. But the idea of people using AI art for making video backgrounds in paid products makes me sick, and it will have consequences.

Anyway, I'll leave off with a meme that's basically both:

[tonyglowheart]

Hi, if it's alright with you there's a translation bit I want to ask about. From what I'm seeing on social media and on various translations of MDZS, 氏 always seems to be translated either to "clan" or "sect", and there are the rare instances where two parties get into a disagreement over it. What would you say is the more accurate meaning? And can both clan and sect can be used as translations of "氏" without any conflict of meaning?

Hi! Okay so. Let’s unpack this lmao.

氏 more technically translates to “clan,” “family,” or like as a term used to refer to “kinship” relations. It doesn’t.. really translate to “sect”? if you looked it up in a dictionary that’s not what it would say at all. *however.* It’s also not without precedent for there to be cultivation sects within what I’d say is, like, “wuxia classical canon” in which the sect name IS the [location][family name]氏, like what you see in MDZS. Look at the sects listed until “Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils” in this EN Wikipedia lists page.

But 氏 itself does not mean sect, I wouldn’t say, and the usages I’ve encountered before in, like, harem dramas or such, use the term to indicate family, clan, kinship relationships, etc. In harem dramas for example (I’m specifically referencing harem dramas bc that’s the specific examples I have off the top of my head lol,,), you’ll see female characters referred to by [Family name]氏 if they’re not being referred to by their titles or whatnot, and it means something like... clanswoman of [Family name] in this usage. like.. referring to her by her maiden name. (which has its own complicated politics involved and I’m not getting into that here, just as a like... related aside to this example)

I haven’t read much as far as the “classics” of the genre to say what’s typical or not, which also means I don’t know if the cited precedents in earlier wuxia novels treat their 氏 as more of a sect or a clan, or a mix the way mdzs does. But I do think that MDZS, at least, does somewhat conflate clan & sect in how the sects are treated compared to the handful of other danmei cultivation novels I’ve read. MDZS’s “sect” situation is a bit more feudal in the sense of having a founding families who are in charge of certain city-states/regions, and have followers who are part of their city-state and so are members of the “clan” but who aren’t actually a part of the clan in the sense of bloodline or familial kinship goes. Non-blood members of the “clan” are not literally adopted into the family in order to be part of the respective cohort, which is what makes it more like your typical cultivation sect within a wuxia or xianxia setting go. At the same time, you still have your differentiation of the ruling/founding family within the “sect” (which goes by the clan name). If it were just translated as Clan, I can see this becoming more and more confusing for an Anglophone, especially if they don’t have experience with the genre, genre conventions, or cultural conventions. But again I can’t speak for if this is “typical” in the genre or even how the specific texts that might be considered a sort of “wuxia classical canon” treat the 氏 there, and how that’s “typically” been treated in translation (like whether the English translations of these other novels tl as clan or sect, for example). I could look into that more, and like as far as due diligence goes I probably should, but I feel like I can answer your questions without reaaallly delving into all of that at this moment, so I’m gonna  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ If someone does know better and wants to correct me, please feel free.

Regarding MDZS specifically: I believe the choice to translate 氏 in MDZS as Sect was a specific choice that ExR made (who like. c’mon we all know they did in fact set a lot of translation precedent with their tl). If I remember correctly, I believe that ExR actually translated 氏 to Clan or sth like that at first, but then decided to change it to Sect to go along more with “typical” cultivation novels terms (isn’t there an A/N somewhere to this effect?). I actually don’t have an issue with this translation choice, lmao, I think it helps clarify some of the issues an Anglophone unfamiliar with the genre might have, or like help combat some of the connotations of using “clan” that might confuse an Anglophone. I think in English, “clan” tends to have strong kinship meanings, and like a cursory look at the look-up for clan mentions something about “common ancestor” and how in some societies clans would be exogamous, which means their members cannot marry each other. That is not the case with cultivation sects more generally, and not even the case with MDZS sects even tho it acts as a sort of deconstruction of the genre or as a sort of “proto-xianxia” society evolving out of more feudal structures. Anyway, cultivation sects don’t really follow this kind of organizational idea, and MDZS also does have discussions of the significance of bloodline within each respective Sect, which imo would warrant the distinction in translation choice. It also makes it easier to indicate who you’re talking about when you’re talking about, like.. “inner disciples” or “outer disciples” like Gusu Lan has, slash is extra helpful when the other Sects don’t already have this kind of in-built distinction in terminology.

I also kind of like this particular translation choice ExR made because I think the “Gusu Lan Sect” or “Yunmeng Jiang Sect” format lends it a formality to the naming that something like “Lan Clan/family of Gusu” or “Jiang Family of Yunmeng” kind of lacks.

(Rando note: some more “common” terms that “translate” to sect are 派, and 寨 and you’ll see some others like 帮, 教, or 门 and so forth. Each of these don’t... exactly translate to “sect” on their own but Chinese characters don’t always act as individual “words” with one-for-one translations; they sometimes are morphemes which need to be put together with other characters for form words, but can still lend the meaning of common word-constructions even when used individually, depending on context. If you looked up “sect” in an EN>CN dictionary you’d get results like 教派, 宗派, 门派, and more, which take on the meaning of “sect” depending on context and usage)

tl;dr: no 氏 does not translate to sect, per se; if you just asked me out of the blue I’d say it’s “clan” or “family” and/or referring to other kinship relations, including like a “maiden name” for women, as with the harem drama example above. *however*: there’s precedent for the MDZS-style “sect” naming structure within wuxia classical canon as far as referring to established organizations in a given novel go (caveat of I don’t know that much about those or how it’s treated in the text or in translation), and within MDZS usage I can also see why ExR made the decision to translate it to “Sect” when referring to the overall collectives, bc the members of the “sects” include not just the bloodline family members but also non-bloodline disciples who are followers of the sects, and I actually don’t think it’s a bad translation decision. It helps formalize the English translations of the “sect” names, and makes it clear(er) to an EN audience we’re talking about cultivation sects, and also helps to create a distinction for when we need to discuss the main “clan” (i.e. ppl of the bloodline of the founding families of each respective sect) within each respective “sect,” especially where other sects don’t make the distinction between “inner” disciples and “outer” disciples the way Gusu Lan does (a distinction which imo also is helped by calling the greater organization a “sect” and not a “clan,” bc otherwise we’d. probably get even more wank from anglophones arguing that “oh disciples are literally adopted into the family!!!!!!!!” and honestly there’s only so much bs I can take lmao. we already get enough “wwx is LITERALLY adopted” wank as is).

Kind of a last note and also a more context-dependent on the target-language-side approach to translation: I think the treatment of translating 氏 to “sect” as far as MDZS usage goes is, like, considering more certain “canonized” translations of certain terms & concepts from Chinese to English; with here the idea of using “sect” is because that’s the more “canonized” translation for a collective of ppl following a certain school of learning/thought in a cultivation setting.

[moonlite-stars116]

Pink Camellia, Red Rose, Yellow & Purple Hyacinth, Heliotrope, and Daffodil’s...

Pt.1

--------

Pink Camellia, Red Roses, Yellow and Purple Hyacinth, Heliotrope, and Doffodil’s, I cough these up.

⚠️warnings: Death(Pt.2), Unrequited love(possibly), Crying, Blood, Gay, Hanahaki, and Cussing. ⚠️

Do people still post things on here? IDK....But read the warnings and all of the flowers in this have Victorian meanings. This is between the second and third movie, then the third Movie, which I need to watch again so, consistency issues are to be expected. Also, in any other language that isn’t English, I’ll either use Google translate, If not I’ll use my Know-how of the languages but no one in here is German so- Google translate!

Hope you Enjoy reading this! 🙂

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

When Jedediah first felt the itching in the back of his throat was soon after the Smithsonian, and the museum was now being open during the night. He and the Leader of Rome were Usually joking around sometimes, or talk to tour groups.

Octavius was the leader, he was the same height as Jedediah but that was the only common thing they have together. While Jedediah was Blond, he was Black-haired, While Jed had blue eyes, he had brown, while Jed preferred Leather vests, red handkerchiefs, blue cotton shirts, jeans, boots, and his usual Stenson, Octavius preferred Armor, A gladiator-like helmet, a tunic, and sandals. So, when he started to hack his lungs up away from prying eyes and given a petal from a red rose he was confused.

This had never happened to him before, even with his memories combined with the real Jedediah Smith. The only thing that he could think of was that he started feeling something for the Roman. He dropped it to the ground and kicked dirt over it. Walking away he couldn't help but taste blood faintly, probably something that wouldn’t affect him. Much.

He was completely wrong...

Every month the petals would get worst of change up colors, it turned into pink petals when he was with the roman, red when he was alone when he felt jealous when the Roman talked about someone in the company having hypnotic blue eyes, he coughed up yellow petals, then purple when he calmed down and a wash of sadness would come over him. He didn't know why. He wanted to know why.

He was with Octavius walking through some of the other exhibits when he felt a larger itch. As if something was coming up, and it wasn't a petal. He doubled over hacking and coughing. He faintly felt someone hitting his back, finally, a bloodied rosebud came up out of his throat, it felt like it was torn out of his lung... He could feel the tears dripping down his cheeks as the Roman held him up. The coughing took a lot of his energy out of him, More then what the petals did. “I’m taking you to see a doctor!” Octavious exclaimed before dragging Jed to where the dioramas are. Jed really hadn't the energy to fight the roman sadly and he wanted to head home and sleep.

The Roman had dragged him to the western diorama and now the doctor was looking over the rose. “And how long had this been happenin’” Jed thought for a moment, “A few months, it started with petals...” He said looking around. He ignored Octavious’ worried look. The doctor hummed. “I think you two should talk with Ahkmenra, He would know all of this magic and whatnot that came with the tablet.” the Doctor handed Jed the Rose. The two left and saw the start of the sunrise coming up. They quickly got into their positions and Jedidiah felt something scratch the back of his throat as the rays of sunlight shone in the room.

The moment Jed could feel his joints de-stiffen he was dragged to Ahkmenra’s exhibit by Octavius. He explained what was wrong to Ahk who just looked at him. “I believe it was called Hannahaki, they mentioned it once ore twice at Cambridge University.” “It makes ya hack your lungs up for flowers?!” Jed said angrily. “It’s cause by Unrequited love or believing that the person doesn’t love you back my friend.”

Well fuck-

The two left the Egyptian exhibit with no other problems. Jeremiah is feeling sicker than before. Before feeling his lung jerk and him doubling over coughing harshly. Blood spurting from his mouth. Octavius rushed over to his friend’s aid and rubbed his back as a daffodil fell to the ground with blood on it and around it.

The two made it back Jed having hidden the flower in his vest pocket. “Who do you love friend?” Octavius asked once they were alone. Jedediah was caught off by the question. H looked up, “I don’t wanna talk about it.” Jed said looking away. Thinking of what Ahkmenra said.

“It’s cause by Unrequited love or believing that the person doesn’t love you back my friend.”

Octavius gave him a worried look. “Are they in the museum?” Octavius asked. Jed looked at him skeptical. “Are we playin’ that 20 question game Gigantor explained to us?” “If it’s to keep you from dying my friend then we shall! Now are the person of interest in the museum?” Jed sighed, but nodded. If he just beats around the bush then he could avoid being rejected, and having the disease get worst, and not having someone to help him through it.

The questions were simple. We're they human? We're they a well-known exhibit? Till they got to a few bumps.

“Are they male or female?” the two now we're in some other excluded part of the Museum. A place no one visits. Jed thought for a moment. “What do you think?” He asked slightly smiling a Jed. He felt a couple petals in is mouth coming up. He looked away and coughed watching as a few purple petals dropped on the ground. Octavius gave him a sad look. “Female?” he asked. When he didn’t get a response he tilted his head at Jed curiously. “Male?” Jed looked away but nodded. “So, your Homosexual?” Octavius asked. Jedediah looked at him curiously. “Is that a bad thing?” Octavius shook his head. “It is not my friend, some of the people in Rome are,” Octavius said. “But I thought-” “I like ‘em both, just the person causin’ this is male,” Jedediah said.

The two returned to there Exhibits before the sub rose and made them wax again. “I promise to find the person for you Caseus mollis mea!” Jedediah chuckled. “Ok partner, see you tonight.” He said as he walked to the Diorama.

After that the game between the two turned from 20 questions to 40 questions.

“Is he a military leader?”

Jedediah nearly wrecked when the roman asked that while the two were driving around. “Yes?” he said. The Roman was silent after that more than likely thinking of another question. “Is it Atilla?” Octavius asked, Jedediah thankfully was expecting that question, but it still was unexpected. “No, ” he coughed and a few flower petals dropped from his mouth. They were pink. The roman nodded and looked out the window. He couldn’t think of any other question for the rest of the night. The westerner was happy about this. Then a thought came to his mind.

“Since we’re talking about my love life what about you?” Jedediah asked. The Roman gave him a shocked look before sighing. “I don’t have one, well, not in the museum. Before now, I had 3 wives and two children of my own. They're not here now sadly, But a of now I have no spouse.” Jedediah hummed and nodded. He swallowed feeling petals in the back of his throat. “Suddenly he nearly wrecked feeling his hands stiffen all of a sudden. Octavius had enough for sight to reach over and grab the wheel as Jed tried to regain control on his hands. “My friend what was that about?!” the two stopped. “M-My hands froze up on me.” “Is it from your disease?” He looked at Octavious.

“I-I don’t know.”

------------

Sorry, that's it for now. I’ll have the next part up tomorrow. I wasn’t expecting it to be so long so for now, Pt 1. Hopefully part 2 in a few days. Also,

I’m planning on making a Blog for night at the museum.

It will have Incorect quotes, Hc, Oneshots, and other things like that.

Also, On Aug.18th, I will be going back to school, sophomore year. And I'll be trying to get my permit so...

Busy busy busy. (imagine that in Professor Hinkle's voice from the original Frosty the Snowman movie from 1969.)

Hoped you enjoyed

Thanks for Reading,

Stay bright,

-Moony.

(Part 2.)

[musicallisto]

without fail tag

THE “WITHOUT FAIL” TAG — List five things that you, WITHOUT FAIL, weave into or explore in your stories, whether it be specific themes or tropes, character archetypes, allusions to other literary works, what have you! It really can be anything that you consistently include in your narratives for whatever reason. Then invite others to share theirs by tagging them!

I was tagged by @deadlymodern - thank you so much for tagging me, this tag is amazing and I loved reading your answers! I can tell you have a very thorough approach to your writing & themes, it’s so cool!

(tagging people at the bottom of the post if you want to skip)

1. flowers, skies & words

grouping them together since they're all related to a wider, general literary device: symbols and allegories in my stories. Without fail, I’ll always use flower symbolism to evoke certain themes, places, characters... withered petals for death, blossoms for youth, you name it, it’s probably been in one of my stories. just consider my main WIP’s title, The Grave of Roses (Le Tombeau des Roses). It’s a little basic, and has been used time and time before in literature, but I still love it.

Other elements that often make it into my stories as symbols are planes (because I love aviation obviously, but also as a symbol of breaking free, independence, of man’s domination on mortality, what with having tamed the skies, but also his frail condition and how everything hangs on a thread). Also, the sky is pretty.

And lastly, words, stories, novels always have their place in my stories, and more often than not one of my characters is a writer, or someone who uses words and stories as some kind of comfort, outlet, or a driving force.

At its [the tombstone] foot, below the name, red roses piled up, enough of them to cover ten graves. A single vermilion bud, a wind-swept poppy, clashed with the rest of the bouquet, and Samuel knew that it was William's children who had placed it there. Only they knew that he didn't even like roses anymore, and that he would come to lay poppies on his father's memorial every time he returned to London...

The tomb was both smaller and prettier than Samuel imagined, less opulent than England would have wanted to give its precious child. The morning sun, like a caress, illuminated the epitaph, a Latin verse that Samuel had known in the past. “Bury me southward,” he heard William say so clearly that he almost turned around, "so that I can look at England and France in the same breath." His name, however, was drenched in full light, facing east, and inexplicably this saddened Samuel.

“And there it is... it's pretty, don't you think? I don't know if he would have liked it... You probably know it better than I do...”

“And why do you care about that, huh? You don't even believe in God.” “He's a writer. He believes in symbols.” “He believes in vanity, alright.”

“I think he would have liked it anyway,” he nodded in agreement, his eyes glued to the lonely poppy. (Translation)

2. parental roughnesses

this was bound to come, because I feel like we were all pretty fucked up at some point in our lives from our upbringing. I didn’t go for straight up “parental issues” because I don’t deal with like, abusive or absent parents or anything, just complicated relationships between parents and their children, but who still love each other. Oftentimes it has to do with one of the children idealizing the heck out of their parent and slowly realizing that they make mistakes and are not a hero at all, and/or unmeetable expectations and parental pressure. but it’s not like I’m projecting or anything lol

“You never knew Father, William,” Grace stopped him immediately [...]. “Don't you dare pretend you know what it's like.”

“Growing up without a father is not necessarily better than losing him in childhood! Everyone here has suffered from his disappearance, Grace. You have no idea how much I miss him, despite never meeting him. But that's all in the past now. And there's no reason for there to be another war.”

“Of course there is!” she retorted ferociously, despite the tears spilling from her eyes. “Of course there is, and they're going to send you there like Father, and you'll want to play hero like Father, and then you'll get shot down like a dog! Where's it going to be this time, huh? Above Luxembourg, just like him, or maybe somewhere in your beloved France?” (Translation)

3. patriotism

One way or another, all my stories always deal with patriotism, nationalism, pride in one’s country and more broadly speaking one’s relationship to it. It questions what it means to belong to a country, to share one culture, one language; does it justify acting in the benefit of one’s country, and where do you draw the line before you intentionnally harm others’; what even is a country, a nationality, and it what sense do you belong to one, and what do you owe it, if you even owe it anything? Is it wrong or right to feel love and attachment to your place of origin? And what does it mean to fight for your country, for its values, for its people? & other things of the like. It probably stems from my own experience as a binational person; growing up, I was always asked stuff like “but who do you root for in a football game” “but are you like really French or not?” “if Spain and France got into a war what would you do?”, and this all lead me to question “am I more French or am I more Spanish - which one am I, and which one would others perceive me to be - do I need to pick a side? And how can I express my affection to these places that raised me both differently, without undermining the other - or others? can I still be proud of my heritage given the horrors my countries have committed in the past?”. I still haven’t found a definitive answer, so my writing is just me throwing trails out to the world and hoping I’ll figure it out someday. that’s why my stories often have a war setting; firstly I just love historical fiction, and secondly it’s the perfect backdrop for all these questions to unfold.

William laughed at the idea - he, a true Frenchman! It was a very silly thought. He may have loved what he had seen of Charlotte's country, but England was not to be ashamed of any other land, for it was the only one he would love until his last breath. (Translation.)

4. just a hint of supernatural

I love me a good ghost story, and I’m a fan of everything spooky, but what’s subtly spooky, and not the gory, in-your-face horror. This particular theme may have increased since I saw The Haunting of Hill House which completely OBLITERATED ME with how it uses the house and its ghosts to tell a story of family and trauma and memories... but I’ve loved ghost stories forever. Another piece that truly resonated with me was One Hundred Years of Solitude (Cien años de soledad) by Gabriel García Márquez. It was my first dive into the world of magical realism and I didn’t make it out of there the same person I was when I entered. This one is not necessarily included in every piece without fail, because some are just too anchored in reality, but if it’s not a straight-up spirit or an otherworldly creature, I’ll always find a way to include an aspect of superstition, a myth, a legend, a tale from faraway that is neither proved nor disproved throughout the story. It truly adds to the atmosphere of the world, even in a very realistic and gritty setting, I believe.

I hear murmurs of legends among the soldiers. [...] One of those stories caught my attention, I must admit... It is not very special, nothing more than a children's tale, but I thought it was beautiful enough to please your Romantic soul. Some pilots speak of a cemetery, somewhere in the countryside north of London, which has something mystical about it, lost in the flowers that sway as far as the eye can see, in the calm rhythm of the wind, wrapped in the heady scent of eternal spring, and where the bravest warriors would go to rest forever, tired of their exploits and the continual explosions. No one knows exactly where it is or what to do to be buried there, but this beautiful image simply floats like a dream in the minds of many and, I confess, in mine as well since I first heard about it.

It is said that there only flowers dare to disturb the heroes in their sleep... This fragment of silence is called the Grave of the Roses.

So if I were to leave you, if you were to hear that I am gone...

With a bit of luck, that is where you will find me.

5. love

this one is broader and less obvious than you might think. Of course, I’ll always, always implement an element of romance to my story (and more often than not it’s angsty with star-crossed lovers or insurmountable obstacles or forbidden romances and whatnot), but there’s more to it. I don’t think I have ever written a story that is entirely grim and bleak, simply because I do not believe the world is built like that. I’ve said time and time again that love is my favorite thing in the world, and I believe it is the force that drives us all forward and connects us all together; love is, to me, the truest power of humanity, and its inherent purpose. And love covers all subjects and all types of relationships, but my absolute favorite ways to explore and show love in my stories is through long-lasting, rock-solid friendships (because friendships are often overlooked both in fiction and real life), and just a grandiose love letter to humanity as a whole. I’m an optimist, and many people who have suffered more than I have would deem me naive for thinking this - and I cannot blame them -, but as Anne Frank put it more bravely than I ever could, “despite everything, I still think humans are good at heart”. My stories are always born out of love and made for love. For the love of humanity and kindness and literature and love of myself, too, because sometimes I just like rereading the words and thinking, “wow, I’ve made it this far. look at me go.” In a word, yes, I would say that is what it boils down to; my work, but also what I hope my entire life and being will be. An ode to love.

“He admired you and truly loved you, you know. You were a good leader, I'm sure, and a good friend, above all.”

He thought she was going to put her hand on his shoulder, and prepared to bend to avoid it, but instead she came to rest on the polished marble of the tomb, which was already beginning to erode at the corners. The soft light bathed her hand, and Samuel's on the other corner, still resting above William's surname, the only thing he had been proud of from beginning to end.

“And I loved him too. I loved them all. If you only knew...”

well, I got carried away, as I always do when talking about my writing, but it made me miss it so much. I haven’t worked on any of my projects since literally October and I’m feeling the void rn. anyway, thank you again for enabling me to ramble about what I love most, Thais! and I’m tagging @softeninglooks, @lxncelot, @myriadimagines​, @swanimagines & @randomfandomimagine + plus any writer who wants to talk about their marvelous work <3

[digitalbounce-digitalsound]

Currently on the verge of a massive breakdown my guys 👌👌

Not only have my parents never accepted me for being Non-binary, I find out that as well as my mums being transphobic, my dad is a biphobe?

The thing is, I've been out as Bisexual to my parents (my birth mum and my dad) since I was 14. That's 9 years I've been out. They both didnt care when I first told them and makes sense yeah? I mean, my mum is gay, my step-mum is bisexual and my dad is a transvestite.

But both my mums are raging transphobes so when I came out as non-binary (well forced out in the middle of pride) they didnt take it well. Constantly using my birth pronouns, refusing to use my chosen name (Or even my chosen nickname that I have used specifically to make the transition easier for others) they misgender my trans friends and always look disgusted in me.

My birth mum has always gone out of her way to make me seem like a fucking trender when I came out, nothing changed, I've used the bi label for as long as I can remember and more recently, the trans and nb labels. She will go out of her way to say things like "oh, so you're bi now? I thought you were pansexual like, last week" or "but I thought you were gay" and with my gender identity shes worse saying shit like "if you were really trans you wouldnt wear this." "Your hair wouldnt look like that if you were trans."

What's worse about that is my step-mum joins in. My BISEXUAL step-mum joins in. And if I joke around calling her gay she gets assy. She seriously, to my face, calls my sexuality and gender made-up and then gets assy that I corrected her.

Now, I'm almost used to that kind of shit, I just dont see them often. Clears it right up. But now, I have nowhere to go.

My dad recently told me that he hates that my generation "complicated things" saying how back in his day there were only gay and straight, man and woman. (Not trying to think of all the historical examples I could have given him that he is blatantly wrong).

He said that bisexual is made up by straight people who want attention which is entirely untrue (even more so when you consider I'm a gay leaning bi)

And originally when I told him I was non-binary he straight up shouted at me and threatened me before saying to my face that I'm not allowed to do this because I'm just an attention seeker who is trying to be interesting 👌

My siblings are almost as bad. (More specifically my younger brother.) He has many cis friends, a couple trans and surprisingly enough, some enby friends. He uses their correct pronouns and names but he has said straight to me "I wont respect your pronouns because I dont want to." And yet he perfectly respects my friends pronouns?? I dont understand.

My older sister is not that bad. She is the only one in my immediate family that doesnt know but I think she has noticed something is off. She tries not to use my name and will just kind of gesture? But at this point I'm too scared to say anything because I know she'll probably just be like the rest of my family.

As a quick nudge, both my siblings are straight cis, I'm the only one that doesnt match either of those descriptions. It honestly does make me feel like I am that one fucked up sibling. I dont WANT to be different. I fucking dont! This is who I am and I cant help it. I hate that I'm different but shouting at me and being assholes isn't going to change that.

It's not just my sexuality and gender that they scrutinise either which makes this family feel less like a family and more like jailers.

I dont understand why I try to express myself anymore. My step-mum has said to my face before that my whole family (THE WHOLE FAMILY) didnt believe in me being able to go to uni. They all thought I would fail.

For years, since I was very young, I've been called a Hypochondriac for actually going (and wanting to go) to the doctors when I'm ill. To the point that since I was about 17 I've been terrified to go to the doctors because I never think I'm sick enough or that I shouldn't bother the doctors because there might not be anything wrong with me (this has led to me almost being hospitalized with major infections and health issues more than once)

I struggle to breathe 24/7 and yet I'm too scared to get help for it incase they put me on anything (which I know my dad will guilt me into throwing away which would be a waste of money).

I feel like no matter what I do they're never pleased at me. Those 6+ years I did of dance? My parents hated it so I changed to business and language. Those near 15+ years of music, singing (church choir as a soprano & alto and school choir as an alto) and instruments, my mum genuinely laughed at my music teacher in year 10 for asking if I'll be joining up with the choir again bc my mum thought I couldnt sing.

I like cosplay, making props and costumes (for over 4 years)? Mum tells me I'm shit at it and should put my time into something useful.

I like languages so start it as a degree doing Japanese, Korean and German with extra classes in Spanish and French? My dad turns horribly racist and makes jokes about languages and how they're useless, my mum tells me that languages is a stupid degree to do because there isn't any money in it unless I'm a teacher. (I'm going into translation)

It seems like whatever I do, it's never good enough. My siblings get all the praise and help but I get nothing. Currently, while I'm between my uni and an international uni, I'm homeless. I sleep on a mattress in the middle of my dads living room. I have no privacy and have to clean up their colossal hoarding messes to be allowed to stay. I have nowhere else to go and nearly all of my friends live up north where I belong. I have 2 friends down here and no money to do anything.

Honestly dont even know why I'm on this planet some times.

Sorry. Rant over. Anyone got any tips or whatnot, I'd really appreciate it.

-Killian.

[artisticvicu]

Weekly Short Story | Part 2 - Into the Land of Metal and Sand

[prev]

Unlike the fancy transportation hub they had just left, Si'Otwo's transportation hub made the previous one look like it was a strange future with modern tech and whatnot. Si'Otwo's transportation hub was the main city market. The platform they were on was surrounded by a thick crowd of a wide assortment of people wearing a dizzying array of clothing. Sellers were shouting over the roar of the crowd in any number of languages. It was the heavy tongue of Metch that filled the air the most. After all, as much as the world spoke in Altone - the Mecon word for the common language - Meco's native tongue was still a point of pride and every Mecon child was taught Metch first and Altone second. His gaze flickered to the male twin as the other stepped up to his side. The slightly unfocused look in the other's eyes was the only hint he had that the other was piecing something together. "You know Metch?"

"Enough to pass as fluent without being native," the male twin confirmed. Their gaze turned to him. "I can also understand a number of others but speaking them is challenging. My sister can understand all of the major languages of Izen and about a third of the uncommon. She knows two rare and can read one dead language. She can recognize a number of others but cannot translate them."

"Good to know." He turned to look at the given twin. The female twin was standing behind the other three watching him and the male twin. "Can you speak all the ones you know?" The female twin shook their head and made a few quick gestures. It was enough and he turned to the male twin. "Keep with them, then. I don't want to have to hunt for a lost vicu in a city known for its slaver's market."

"Of course," the male twin assured him.

He really ought to have read those files completely. At least he had a set of translators in case things got out of hand. He intended to abuse that knowledge as well but it would be tricky hiding it from those he was exploiting. He'll have to talk to the male twin about that.

"Come on," he spoke, starting down the platform's stairs. "We'd best get moving."

The crowd swallowed him and his group with ease. The human girl and smaller twins stayed close and barely drew eyes - those that were drawn to the human girl were out of curiosity due to the fine clothing she wore as well as the pet she apparently kept and it only made their gazes flicker to him. The other set of twins drew far more eyes and he had expected as much. As much as Mecon culture still had slaves, vicuran servants were hard to come by. Most vicu had long since fled from the country or had remained hidden enough to not be caught and put to work. The good news for them was that they were treated more like servants or employees, given money and some rights, which was far better than the humans who were seen as nothing more than slaves; it was a twisted sort of irony to occur after generations of it being the reverse. But even with the higher standings, vicu were still owned by his kind in Meco and having such fine specimen readily following him without a seeming care was unusual.

He expected issues because of it but not as soon as they stepped off the platform.

The male twin played their part well, though; he didn't even have to say anything and suddenly the male twin was stepping between him and the man that came right up to him smelling of a sickly sweet smoke and fermented grain. Both told him this man had influence and was either a seller or a buyer. It didn't matter which: both were dangerous.

"Good sir, may I trouble you for your property?"

The man - rotund, skin burned red from the sun, and doing everything in his power to get around the steadfast male twin - was clearly a foreigner here who had stayed for the good money.

He sneered at the man. "My property is not for sale. Be gone before I get annoyed enough to sic one on you." He leaned forward a bit and dropped his voice. "And you wouldn't want that, sir."

The man's face went blotchy in anger and he recoiled in disgust. The man pointed a fat finger laden with rings at him, shouting, "Now see here, young man! I will have you know-"

As much as his hate for the vicuran race was ingrained in him, their seamless shifting would always be breath-taking in its own right. The male twin didn't give the man much distance before their body flowed into that of a predator bred between two of the male twin's forms; their clawed hand snapped around the man's wrist faster than they had shifted and sharp teeth were bared with a warning growl. The man's coloring went from blotchy red to sickly pale at the same speed as the male twin had shifted.

"Watch yourself," the male twin growled. "I would rather not relieve you of your arm."

The man swallowed thickly. The male twin released the man's wrist and he watched the man stumble backwards into the surrounding crowd. Now they had every eye on them and he was tempted to do something drastic to get out of it. It wouldn't stop the rumors from beating them through the city but it would at least make him feel better.

"Come on," he spoke, starting for a break in the onlookers that led into the still moving crowd beyond. The break in the onlookers widened for them to pass and he looked back only when the crowd beyond started to swallow him to make sure the others were following.

Not that he needed to. He could feel the metal he had formed on their bodies following him.

The flow of the crowd guided them through the bustling market past stalls and carts brimming with product and the ringing of voices. Jostled this way and that, he started for one of the lesser known exits. The male twin was right behind his shoulder, leaving him feeling more on edge than he would have cared. The break from the crowd was desperately when he finally stepped out of the swarm of people into the side street. He waited for the rest of his company to join him before continuing on.

"How deep into the city are we going?" the male twin inquired after several long minutes walking the nearly deserted side street.

"As far as we need to go." He looked at the twin. "The slaver's market thrives in the veins of this city. If we want to find who you're looking for, we need to start there."

"You think Lucky will be there?"

He frowned at the snake still draped around the human girl's neck. "Lucky?" he parroted.

The snake nodded. It was mildly disconcerting but, then, he didn't hang around the shapeshifters of Izen if he could help it. "The Myst we're looking for. The name they go by is Lucky."

He gave a noncommittal hum. "If someone captured this friend of yours, they would have done so to sell in the slaver's market. It's the first thing we have to at least check. I'm not promising anything."

The street came to another, though this was was a larger thoroughfare. He stopped at the edge of the new street, looking to the left waiting for the traffic to die down enough to cross.

One of the metal sets started towards the right and his head snapped around. The female twin was walking down the new street as if it were perfectly fine for them to wander off as such. He glared at the male twin. "What is your twin doing?"

"She wanted to see the city," the male twin offered. "The street curves and the buildings give way for the view."

They weren't wrong but he didn't like how certain the other sounded. "And how do you know that?"

The male twin offered him a soft smile. "We studied a few maps before we left. That and we have pretty decent vision. I can see the end of the bend in the road where there could be no more structures build on the south side."

He half glared at the male twin for a bit longer before letting out a sigh. "Fine."

He turned finding that the female twin had stopped shortly after he had caught them leaving. They were looking his way, patient yet expectant, like him leading the others to follow their lead was the inevitable outcome.

He wasn't even sure why he was allowing it.

The road curved to the left, putting the sidewalk they were using on the outside edge where the structures gave way. There were always a good number of people there taking in the view, most of them tourists. But despite it being busy, he found himself looking out over Si'Otwo as it stretched out before them. A part of him ached to be back.

The city was massive. There wasn't barren sand to be seen between them and the horizon. To the right was the marketplace itself; on top of an outcrop of the rocky plateau the massive structure cradled the marketplace within pillars, thatched roofs, and canopies. It wasn't so much a solid structure as it was simply made to distinguish the marketplace from the rest of the buildings around while also keeping the hot sun off of the marketplace itself.

The rest of the city was far below, causing the road they were on to weave back and forth down the side of the plateau till it reached flat ground eight bends later. Many of the buildings in the city below were made of stone but it was the ones made out of metal that separated a Mecon city from a city in Qwen. All Quenish cities were made of earth since that was what the country was known for. Meco was known for metal. All like him had roots that tied them back to Meco regardless of where they were born.

He leaned against the guardrail listening to the metal vibrate under his touch speaking of so many things. "Welcome to Meco, the Land of Metal and Sand. To Si'Otwo, Meco's crowning jewel of all her cities. You will never find a city quite like this one." He pushed away from the railing. "Trust me. I've tried."

[next]

[maiji]

Thoughts on Grasses of Remembrance (The Tale of Genji through its poetry)

Finally had some time this weekend to sit down with A Waka Anthology, Volume 2: Grasses of Remembrance Part B by Edwin A. Cranston. This book is the last in an impressive and intimidating collection translating a number of major classical poetry anthologies. It’s basically a speedrun through Tale of Genji (if such a thing were possible) filtered through all 795 waka poems written or uttered by the characters over the course of the novel.

Poetry was a Really Big Deal during the Heian era. If you were an aristocrat, not only were you expected to compose decent poetry, you had to be able to do it off-the-cuff appropriate to the occasion. AND to do this properly, you were expected to be able to recognize and respond cleverly to references to a ton of other existing classic poems from memory that people would just mention casually in conversation or writing (kinda like how people quote the Simpsons today lol). This was a prime marker of how intelligent/competent and - no joke - how sexy you were. So not surprisingly, these poems are extremely important to the development of character interactions and themes in the Tale of Genji which has a lot of romance and relationship plotlines. 

However. Translating Heian era Japanese into modern Japanese is already challenging. Rendering Heian era Japanese waka poetry into modern English is, as you might imagine, harder for a bunch of reasons. Considering how dense the actual novel already is, it’s super easy to gloss over the poetry, and some modern translations simply integrate the basic intent of the poems right into the main text/dialogue.

I was really interested in finding something specifically focusing on and analyzing the poetry, and this book appeared to fit the bill.

Short review: IT TOTALLY DOES. If you’re into Tale of Genji, Heian era, classical Japanese history, classical Japanese literature, Japanese poetry, or just love reading translators articulating eloquently while sassing characters or flailing through linguistic complexities, I RECOMMEND THIS BOOK

Long review: blah blah blah thoughts follows, including some quotes/poem for reference.

The book starts with a quick 2 page intro setting the context of the Tale of Genji, then goes straight into the poems. TBH I personally found it more flowery and redundant than necessary (it repeats a few poems that are then explained later). But it’s only 2 pages, we’ll live.

Then, the poems. For every poem (or poems, in the case of an exchange - sometimes a flurry of them with multiple characters speaking or dashing letters off to each other) there’s an intro and summary of context followed by an analysis, including notes on meaning, narrator and character intent, structure, symbols and wordplay. The original Japanese is included in romaji alongside the English translation. The commentary also flags known references to other classic poems (WITH those poems in-line! This is awesome because I don’t have the rest of these books!), and even mentions poem and folk song quotations from the rest of the novel where the characters have not composed new poetry, but are reciting other existing known pieces.

Overall, I have only three real “warnings” about Grasses of Remembrance Vol 2b:

1) It’s very academic and flowery in tone. If you’re not used to it, it can be hard to read. But then again, if you’re not willing to get past that, how are you reading Tale of Genji? lol. In any case, I personally thought the commentary was a lot of fun. Cranston definitely has opinions and can get pretty sarcastic in places, which I found hilarious. Here are a few sample quotes:

“Tamakazura has remarked to herself how superior the Emperor [Reizei] was in looks to all the courtiers in his train (It is a principle with this author that superior people be dashingly handsome or ravishingly beautiful).” 

“The ruefully witty poems exchanged between Yugiri and To no Naishi [Koremitsu’s daughter, the Gosechi Dancer] are rather more to my taste than the soggy ones Yugiri and Kumoi no Kari exchanged on their wedding night. Might it be the case that a totally sanctioned relationship is literarily uninspiring?”

“The old lady reaches for the melodramatic ultimate and dies just as Yugiri’s letter arrives.”

The overall effect is like an exceedingly well-educated, gossipy and sassy ride through the entire novel hahaha. 

2) Minor typos. I noticed some speckled throughout the text every so often (e.g., Tamakazura being rendered Takakazura, Akashi as Asashi, instances of accidental extra letters, etc.). It was pretty clear what the correct spelling was supposed to be, and TBH considering this is the last of a huge-ass series of over 1300 pages I think it’s forgiveable. Maybe a few that spell-check should have caught, but oh well.

3) This book is NOT CHEAP. As I mentioned in a previous post, not only did I not buy the entire collection, I didn’t even buy a complete Volume 2 - I only bought the last half of the second volume lmao. And the Tale of Genji translations are only HALF of this half of a book. The rest is actually the footnotes, appendices, notes to poems, glossary, bibliography and indices (including indices for every poem by author and by first line) for this beast of a translation/compilation project. This includes a lot of additional commentary and other poems and makes for pretty interesting reading itself, even without the rest of the volumes/parts. The price can definitely be scary and an issue for a lot of people, so if you’re interested in it, I suggest try checking it out at your library or on Google Books first. (In fact, Google Books is how I learned of this book in the first place.)

For me, the depth of insight for the poems was fantastic. It gave me a lot more appreciation for the scenes, including the mental state of the characters, plus a million more symbols, metaphors and ideas for my own creative works like the Genjimonogatari illustration series, North Bound and other original stuff. 

It also clarified several fuzzy translation questions I had that relied on specific knowledge of Heian culture and history/evolution of the use of the language and wasn’t easily found in Google searches or online language resources. And even if you’re already familiar with common allusions, metaphors and puns/homophones in Japanese poetry, it’s still helpful to see them all summarized. And sometimes lamented by the book’s author too. SO MANY PONIES EATING GRASS. SO MANY PINES. Especially the pines. (It IS an amazing pun though, especially because it works in both English and Japanese. Pine [tree] -> to pine, matsu/pine tree -> matsu/to wait)

In term of the actual translations themselves, you may still find them coming off a bit roundabout in some cases when comparing to the original Japanese. But overall I find Cranston’s translations more direct/flavourful than how they were rendered in the Tyler translation, partly because of how Tyler chose to juggle his set of translator’s challenges for rendering not only meaning but also more technical aspects of the poetic form. So the imagery ends up being, to me, a lot more vivid. The overall effect usually ends up more colourful, more emotional, more erotic, more cutting, more entertaining, and whatnot. 

For example, Kashiwagi’s suitor’s poem in the Kocho/Butterflies chapter. When reading the novel, I was like, uh-huh, yah, OK. When I read it here, I was like whoa, dude, that’s a little intense lol. Cranston’s translation amps up the connotation of the heat of the water based on the rest of the line. For comparison:

(The original non-romaji Japanese in the samples following are thanks to the Japanese Text Initiative from the University of Virginia Library Etext Centre and the University of Pittsburgh East Asian Library. Their Tale of Genji page has a FREAKING AMAZING side-by-side comparison of the novel in original Japanese, modern Japanese and romaji. Bless them and the people who had to organize and wrangle that text together.)

Original Japanese: 思ふとも君は知らじなわきかへり 岩漏る水に色し見えねば Omou to mo / Kimi wa shiraji na / Wakikaeri Iwa moru misu ni / Iro shi mieneba

Tyler version: You can hardly know that my thoughts are all of you, for the stealthy spring welling from the rocks leaves no colour to be seen.

Cranston version: Hardly can you know / Of the longing that I feel, / For the boiling wave / Is merely colorless water / As it drains away from the rock.

Here’s another example. Oigimi (Agemaki in the book, as Cranston used Wayley’s names for the sisters) telling Kaoru that he’s the only one who’s been actually visiting them and Kaoru is like all riiiight :Db! From Shii ga Moto / Beneath the Oak chapter:

Oigimi’s poem 雪深き山のかけはし君ならで またふみかよふ跡を見ぬかな Yuki fukaki / Yama no kakehashi / Kimi narade Mata fumikayou / Ato o minu kana

Tyler: No brush but your own has marked the steep mountain trails buried deep in snow / with footprints, while back and forth letters go across the hills.

Cranston: Over the bridges / Clinging to the cliffs along / Our deep-snow mountains / No letter-bearer leaves his trace: / Those footprints are yours alone.

Kaoru’s reply つららとぢ駒ふみしだく山川を しるべしがてらまづや渡らむ Tsurara toji / Koma fumishidaku / Yamakawa o Shirube shigatera / Mazu ya wataramu

Tyler: Then let it be I who firsts ride across these hills, though on his mission, / where ice under my horse’s hooves crackles along frozen streams.

Cranston: In the sheets of ice / Covering the mountain streams / My steed crushes / Such letters as form my reason, / My first, to cross as a guide.

In other examples, Genji’s “*throws hands in the air* I give up” poetic reply to Suetsumuhana about how she keeps using Robes of Cathay/Chinese cloak imagery in her poems in the original Japanese alongside the translation cracked me up even more. And one of my favourites is a pair of poems between the future Akashi Empress (as a child) and her birth-mother the Akashi lady. It’s really sad, sweet and cute all at the same time and completely flew under my radar when I read the novel originally.

The poetry analysis for the Uji chapters is especially intriguing. The plot pointedly pits Niou against Kaoru as opposing personalities with particular similarities and contrasts that drive their relationship with each other and with the woman they’re competing for. Especially in the latter half of the story, a lot of their poems, even ones written independently (i.e., to Ukifune), are specifically composed to highlight those attributes and play off of each other.

Finally, it’s also super interesting to see my experience with the narrative changes through the lens of the poems. Obviously, as I mentioned, some things I easily missed without paying as much attention to the poems in between the rest of the story. But also, some prominent characters have very few poems, so the narrative shifts away from them. Meanwhile, a number of otherwise very minor or usually overlooked characters stand out even more, thanks to the fineness, loveliness, resonance, and sometimes just sheer consistent presence of their poetry. This book definitely gave me a lot of additional perspective on the Tale of Genji, and enhanced my appreciation of the novel and the skill behind its crafting!

[dramable]

A Poem a Day: An Irreverent Review

Here’s a review for your enjoyment of the drama about poetry and stuff and people who unlike doctors are just normal folk like I don’t know physiotherapists. 

I won’t post the poster for the drama because honestly? It’s not memorable. Also, I don’t want.

I will also add a disclaimer: I like Lee Yubi and I also like poetry.I will also add that poetry loses a lot (everything) in translation or maybe I am just uncultured. I don’t know.

But honestly, A Poem a Day had a strong start but oh my god, it was boring.

That was me as I waited for something to happen. And it did, often, but not the kind of thing that I wanted to see. I mean, initially it was cute? Bo Young was cute even without a personality. She had some personality, I suppose but no opinions, nothing that grabbed me by the collar and demanded I give her my ardent support. 

The romance was cute for a while until the second lead became super annoying and I was hardpressed not to throw something at my screen leaving myself without a medium in which to watch things which would have been TRAGIC. I resisted, thank goodness. 

The major issue I had with this drama was that it felt contrived. Rather than allowing the story to breathe, it tried too hard to be something without going the proper distance. It tried to be meaningful without actually putting in the effort to be meaningful.

As an example, i give you one of the later episodes in which we are introduced to a doctor who works too hard and has a stroke and finds himself in the same situation his patients were in. Bo Young feels heartbroken for him as is her brand and cries and whatnot. Which is fine. On paper, this sounds like solid stuff to tug at heartstrings. HOWEVER, this doctor is entirely without weight. They introduce him in the same episode that he is a paragon of virtue, has a stroke, and deals with his diminished capabilities. 

There is no progression of his character, however slight it is; we don’t see him from the beginning. We don’t see Bo Young’s admiration for him until he is used as an obvious plot device so his struggle, his story feels hollow and without the emotional payoff it would have had had this character been present in whatever quantity from the very beginning. 

This is not the only time the author does things heavy-handedly and as a writer, I found her/his/their obvious manipulations to be discordant. The poetry too while beautiful in the language of origin feels extraneous to me. I wish they had used few poems and dedicated more time to a single one, perhaps uniting the themes among the characters. 

This drama was among my least favourite but hey, at least I got to see this kid and his alligator. He was the best thing about this drama, to be quite honest. Okay, that and the friendship between the three people. I wish they could have removed the romance entirely and focused on the friendship between these three people. The drama would have been so much stronger for it.

[guyinlovewitheremika]

Dude serious question here : how are you still single ? Judging from your blog you seem so cute and friendly and an overrall fun person to be around. I for one would have loved to get to know you irl. But well keep up your amazing blog, I wish you the best in life

Aww anon that’s really sweet of you haha. Hope you have an amazing life too.

I used this opportunity for a little bit of self-analysis, which I’m keeping under-read since it’s not the main content of this blog. Quite frankly it failed and I don’t recommend reading.

THERE IS NO POINT TO THIS POST. I started writing with a huge plan, it didnt work out and now only half the thing is here, and by itself, it makes no bloody sense. I still wanna keep it here simply for myself, but anyone reading this rn will probs only get an incomplete and thusly inaccurate picture of what I’m trying to paint. 

Okay, so here’s the thing. I started writing this huge thing with a clearly mapped out thought process in mind, it had structure and whatnot. Unfortunately an event I even described in my analysis, a change of my mental state, prohibited me from finishing my writing---this is thus very incomplete, lacking many arguments and most importantly an actual conclusion. I doubt I’ll ever reconnect to this particular text anyway, but I still felt like sharing it as I considered it to be a very accurate depiction my head up until the point where I got lost. So even though it’s totally lackluster and incomplete, I’m still sharing it here because I feel like I owe it to myself. Anyway. After this follows the introduction I had originally written. Since I posted this for myself, the chance of me answering asks, replies or messages about this is very little, partially for reasons explained below. AnYwAY

Le forum ofdeath and sucks balls what the fuck

You'reprobably just a lovely anon who wanted to say something nice and cheer me up,and believe me, it's appreciated^^ This extended response shouldn't be takenpersonal by you in any way at all, I simply saw an opportunity for me to writethings down I've been meaning to write down for a long time. Thing is, there'sabout a 0% chance of me talking to over people what's really going on in myhead unless I'm prompted to do so--unless there're huge indicators of therebeing legitimate interest in my psyche, I aint talking, and even then, the chancesremain slim. Granted, your message wasn't really a direct inquiry or whateverbut I've had this shit in my system so long that it's more than sufficient forme to let lose. Warning: basically everything below (and even above) are mypersonal observations of myself, and most likely don't make a ton of sense foranyone who isn't, well, me. "Translating" all of this into anythingcomprehensible outside of my head is gonna be tricky enough, but I still feellike doing it. The purpose of this text is ultimately for self-analysis; uponwriting things down it can clarify or explain certain thoughts, and that'sreally waht I'm after. I don't want to shove my own analysis of my mentalsituation down my followers throats, I'm writing and posting this only for myselfto be affected by the process of doing so; thusly, once more, this will potentiallybarely make any sense for anyone, but it's not supposed to for anyone exceptme, so in essence, don't read too much into this post.

Long assintroduction

Damn

Anyway, let'sget started, and back to the original question, how are you still single.

BecauseBOI, there's a plethora of reasons, mostly tied to my relationship with myselfand my surroundings, and that's what I wanna talk about here.

First ofall, yeah. Guy does seem like a fun, sweet person to have around here, doesn'the? You're not the first person to tell me that, and I'm not saying that tofeed on my ego or whatever, but because this perception of Guy isn't unique. Iget nice and lovely anons, Barely and hate towards me as a person despite arather rapidly growing follower count, I've even made a ton of onlinefriendships over the span of months, and those folks generally don't seem tohate Guy either, for similar reasons. That's all good and fun, and ofc Iappreciate people who're sympathetic towards me, but that's because here ontumblr and over on discord, I'm Guy. The dude who absolutely loooves snk, whoknows a lot about the series, who tries to help people out and is pretty wankfree (that's an over-the-top, stereotyped description simply for the sake ofgetting the general point across).

The problemis that "Guy" is a periodic, temporary and very much incompleterepresentation of my identity. Now of course, the following dialogue can quicklyfall into the "edgy-teenager-YouKnowMyNameButNotMyStory" trope whichtypically disqualifies any rationality accompanied by the claims, but for thesake of argument, I'd like to give my analytical skills more credit than a 21stcentury stereotype. The basic point I'm trying to make here is this: the"real", "complete" version of myself has more to it thanjust the blogger you know as "Guy", and that's simply because myonline presence is very filtered. Whenever I'm posting on my blog or talking tomy friends on discord, I'm being Guy. My mental state, my thought process, andmy emotional balance is that of SnK loving Guy. The thing is, whenever there'sa change in my mental state, a variation, one that differs from who we know as"Guy", Guy shuts down, and so does my activity. I'm not blogging24/7, I'm not being constantly Guy. And I'm not chatting 24/7 either, myfriends may confirm this: I often stop talking in the middle of conversations,stop responding, reduce or cease my current activity all together. Occasionallythat's caused by irl disturbances, but for the most part, the issue lies in avariation within my mental state, one that disrupts my situation of being Guy,causing a discrepancy between my activity and my thought process concerning myactivity. In simpler (and seriously overblown) terms, I temporarily stop beingthe person I just was (this being Guy), and swap to a different mental state, onethat differs from being Guy.

This allprobably sounds ludicrous and absolutely over the top, and I apologize for that.It's not as if I have "multiple personalities" in my head, orschizophrenia, or whatever. These varying mental states I'm describing aren'ttotally different people, but...different facades of myself, if that makes anysense.  It probably doesn't, so let meprovide you with a possibly explanative analogy, to visualize everything. Letssay you're playing and RPG, and you have your core character. You level him up,gain experience, skills, and whatnot. That's default form of your character,lacking equipment and whatnot. However, in order to adapt to the constantlychanging environments and opponents you face, you need equipment, and the onlyoptions you have are various, predetermined armor and weapon sets. There's adifferent, unique type for every situation-one for each environment and eachenemy. The only problem is this: they come with a predetermined set of statsand skills. Parts of the sets cannot be exchanged with one another, and youcan't use multiple ones either. What's worse is that, despite the varyinglevels of skills you may have obtained on your core character, these arepartially or even entirely overwritten when donning one of the sets--you can'tverify or even use these stats and skills of your core character, as they'relocked away by whatever set you use. Only in down times, when in your hideout,all by yourself, can you take off the sets and access your stats andskills--only then does the experience you obtained when using the sets actuallyappear, only then can you observe your core character as a whole. That's moreor less what my head looks like, from my POV. Granted, this by no means is atotally accurate representation--it's flawed, it ignores certain other aspects,doesn't universally apply to me either, and ultimately, has no proof. However,I feel like this is the closest approximate description I can offer at themoment, and ultimately just am example to allow for some visualization--not auniversal truth or affirmation.

But let'stake a closer look at these equipment sets, or mental states, as I like to callthem. One of my favorite movies over the past years was the sci-fi flicArrival--Denis Villeneuve's thought provoking tale about extraterrestrialcreatures showing up on our planet and humanities attempt to interact with them.One of it's major elements was the use of language, and one theme in particularfascinated me: the theory that speaking in another language can potentiallymodify, or even rewire your brain and thought process. It's something Icouldn't agree more with. I fluently speak three languages, and, given myliving and educational situation, typically switch between all three of themmultiple times a day. I don't want to assume anyone's thoughts or feelings, butI'm certain I'm not the only one who has different relationships with thelanguages they speak, and who feel different depending on the used language.It's a pretty natural thing. Another thing we can probably all agree on is that,depending with whom we're interacting, or under which exterior circumstances(such as location), our precise way to express ourselves may sometimes vary--youmay act in a certain way with one person in a certain place, and act verydifferently with another person in a different place. Well, of course I can'tclaim that to be a universal truth for every person on the planet, but I'vecertainly heard other people describe it before, and I've felt it from otherstoo. It's there, sometimes, to a certain extent. Maybe it's totally natural, aneveryday feeling for everyone involved, and maybe I'm just too weak to be ableto counteract the consequences, but who knows. My primary issue stems from the fact that, I'm taking this varyingcircumstances and their consequences to a ridiculous level. Depending on mylanguage, my location, the time of day and the people I'm with, my expressionof myself, my (from an exterior POV observable) personality, if you want to, isborderline subject to change. "Guy" in many ways I can't mentallygrasp at the moment is fundamentally different from the person you mayencounter under specific, different circumstances.

Now ofcourse, this probably is something felt by other people alone, I'm not somehowspecial by feeling that way, probably just too weak to deal with it. But onething I can say with absolute certainty is that the consequences of thevariations has an effect on my surrounding. An example in my family: due to hisjob, my father is rarely at home, and I'm typically left with my mother, withwhom I have a rather close and positive relationship with. On the days myfather is there however, our relationship changes, my general mood is affected,and my expression of myself heavily changes. Once again, I'm sure I'm notunique in that way, I'm sure it's a normal, human concept, it just seems toaffect me really much. This isn't just limited to important, deep relationshipslike me and my parents, but its present in really every situation. Example, Imay desire to spend time with my friends at school when there, but back home,in a different mental state, that desire disappears entirely. I often don'treply to messages for weeks, and rarely ever initiate communication by myself,which can be totally different in another mental state. See, and that's one ofthe primary issues. My relationships with pretty much everyone are heavilymodified and affected by the changes in my mental state based on circumstancesand whatnot. If we follow that logic, any intimate or romantic relationshipwould be affected too. And that's one of the cruxes here: I couldn't possiblyentertain one particular mental state throughout the entirety of anoverarching, important relationship with someone. There would be instances inwhich my mental state would vary, and I would in turn be severely affected thischange, but this non-given, non-evident relationship with a significant otherwouldn't just...stop existing, wouldn't temporarily be on hold until I've returnedto a mental state appropriate of said relationship. You can't put it on hold,you can't neglect all of that while waiting for your brain to return to anadequate state. There's continuity and effort and ultimately something enduringwithin a relationship, but that's incredibly hard to entertain if the facade ofoneself is subject to constant modification. Though that in itself is somethingI would already consider rather problematic, it's far from the end. Rememberwhen I described the situation in my head? The idea of a certain core character,unaffected by the armor sets? Let's take a closer look at that.  

All thesevarious mental states, these predetermined armor sets, caused by the varyingcircumstances I find myself in throughout life, have one thing in common: blockingout the "core character", the one that acquires the skills andexperience obtained through the life in armor, the one that has a sort ofoverseeing access to all of these obtained life experiences. That is what Iconsider to be the "purest" version of myself. The one thingunaffected by circumstances, the one at the center off all these various mentalstates. I can only be in this unaffected state when not in relation to anythingin my exterior: not being constrained to convey thoughts verbally through theuse of a certain language, not being actively in relation to another person,and being in a neutral place, unaffected by anything, such as my room.Basically, if I'm in an entirely neutral situation, not affected by anythingexterior whatsoever, my mind goes into a neutral state too. This neutral stateallows me one particular thing: introspection. Self-analysis, if you want to.Only in the neutral state can I fully reflect on my experiences and my life asa whole, only then can I attempt to understand my progression in life, myemotions, my mental situation. In fact, at this very moment, I find myself inthis neutral state--only now am I actually able to reflect on what's going onin my head, and the fact that I'm able to write it down cohesively is an enormousfeat in itself. However, this distinction between my neutral state, the"core character", and the various mental states, the "armorsets", comes with a plethora of issues, the first one being this verydiscrepancy. As explained earlier, the "sets" override the"core", and I mean that in a literal way. All my reflections, all mythoughts and questions, all my arguments, failures and progressions, areblocked out when I'm in one of these sets. For example, if I'm talking to mytherapist, it's downright impossible for me to communicate all these thoughtsobtained through introspection, simply because they're blocked out, they're notavailable anymore. They slip out from memory, I can barely grasp them at all,it feels like walking through horribly thicc mist; and even in the event that Istill can formulate some of my thoughts, I can't properly convey them. In fact,even if I write them down and try to read them out, it feels more like readingsomeone else's thesis: my brain doesn't connect to the material at all, itdoesn't understand, it can't back it up: in that situation, they're not my ownthoughts at all, but someone else's, and no matter how much I search my mindfor answers of clues, the only thing I can find is a bleak, empty void, leavingme feeling dumbfounded, with an empty head. Literally. When I later return tomy neutral state, everything returns to me, but quite frankly, that's notuseful, since I still lack the means to communicate it in a manner thatconvinces both me and party B.

Unfortunatelythe issues don't stop there. If we go by the assumption that this neutral, coreversion of myself is what you may call "the real me", I would kind ofbe in a pretty shit situation, because, quite frankly, being this neutralversion of myself is not fun at all. Maybe its related to ingrained pessimism,but all introspection, all reflection and thoughts, always go in a prettynegative way. Never once have I thought about myself in depth and arrived at anactual positive outcome: every answer is negative and spells out inevitabledoom one way or another. There's always a depressing note to everything, infact, there is a seriously ingrained tendency leading towards what may be aform of depression in all my thoughts, but I'll get into that later. The bigbad issue is that ultimately, this neutral state of mine, as well as everypossible variable mental state, lacks one primordial thing necessary to thehuman existence: life. I'm descending towards a melodramatic presentation oncemore, forgive me. It's a hunch towards excess. But here's the thing. Theneutral state is exclusively based around introspection, it can't do anythingbut reflect, and reflect in a pretty negative manner if I might add. There'snothing else to it. The "sets" are technically set in what we wouldcall life, they're all in relation with something, but inherently lack thecommon thing that is myself; they're mere facades, they're fakes, they'reincomplete, they're not ME.  Here's thething. Perhaps it was a result of all the issues mentioned above, or perhaps itcaused the issues above and originate from a certain event in my pastirrelevant for now, but one thing is certain: I'm heavily emotionally distancedfrom my own life. I barely ever feel any real, active emotions out of anythingin life, everything is distanced, bleak, unilateral. Any real, strong emotion,be it joy, hatred, sadness or whatever else you may think of, is something Ibarely ever feel these days. Even events that have an incredibly strong effecton my life struggle to bring forth an emotional reaction. Everythingstays...bleak. Unaffected. There's often a sort of distant negativity, abackground feeling of sorts, and there are occasions of limited joy or whatnotthat last a few moments, but it takes absolutely nothing whatsoever to returnto an empty or even highkey depressed state--ultimately, the sensation of"being alive" has become incredibly elusive to me over the last 8years, now nothing more than a mere distant memory. That's just how things are,and I can't deal with it.

Granted, Imay possibly be overdoing it rn. Been writing for a long time, need to makesure I don't start getting affected just yet. Ultimately, all these thingsheavily block the way for a meaningful relationship with another person. Notonly would they have to deal with the fact that the person they know seems toundergo mental changes on a continuous basis which can't be any good, their s.o.would go through constant mood changes, would often be emotionally distant fromthem for seemingly no reason whatsoever, wouldn't be able to even entertain a relationshipon a deeper level. Whatever it would be, it couldn't even be called a proper relationshipfrom my point of view. I wouldn't be able to be myself, and that's pretty mucha death sentence for anything meaningful that's supposed to last for a bit,right?

(sidenote:I feel as if I may have just exited the neutral state and am no longer able toentertain my introspection. My thoughts are literally disappearing from my mindand my memory of everything I've said so far and what I meant to say afterwardsis getting foggier by the minute. It's absolutely ridiculous and horriblyannoying, but at the very least it proves my points to myself, that's worthsomething).

After this point, I continued writing, but quickly realized I lost all connection, I had indeed gone through a change in mental state, leaving behind my introspection. Thus, this is largely incomplete, with many threads not tied together, and many arguments lacking entirely. My analysis went much deeper than what we see here, but unfortunately I don’t seem to be able to pick it up for now. What a shame. I had thought I had finally figured out some serious progress. But in a way, it’s also fitting. This major failure is evidence that the points made are very real and not my imagination. Too bad it prevented me from going further, but that’s all I can do for now. 

This is more or less the conclusion I meant to reach, but since half the arguments and reasoning are missing, it doesn’t make sense and feels like an asspull for the sake of attentionwhoring. It’s not, and I can assure you there is legitimate reasoning behind this, I just can’t access it rn:  To add more finality to the actual question that I tried to properly explain here but clearly turned out incapable of doing so, I have rather convoluted but justified mental and psychological issues for being single. These aren’t by choice, these aren’t because I enjoy being lonely, in fact I’ve desired the opposite since I was a child, but for various reasons I cannot fully explain yet, it wouldn’t be good at all for neither me nor my partner, not with the way I am right now (and this current failure is proof of that). Instead, I’ll keep sitting on my ass, waiting for a miracle that will never happen, with mental and and physical issues getting worse and worse as a consequence. But in its own way, that’s desirable for me; which is based on another issue, rooted even deeper in my psychology, one that is probably the source of all my issues. But I can’t talk about that yet.  

Other than that, there’s practical issues too. I’ll be leaving the continent this summer. I have very little positive memories about the last 8 years, the 2nd chapter of my life, but I don’t want to start getting attached to this life just as it is about to end. That would be the worst possible way to leave, and I need a clean cut at all costs. So yeah, no SO for me.

[mysmess-seol-blog]

Jumin's Treatment towards Jaehee (Jaehee's Route) - Korean vs. English Comparison

Hi♡

I got two questions that are very similar, but in two different languages whaaat~ this is actually a very good question! I was actually hoping that someone would ask me this question because I think there is a big clash between my opinion and a lot of opinions (mostly majority) I would assume ^^;;; I would be glad to answer this question, and as a sneak peak, I will tell you, I think quite similar to you! I’ll explain soon ^^

안녕하세요~^^ 칭찬을 너무 많이 하신것같아요!! 저도 현재 공부하는중이라서 아직은 여기저기 오타가있을수있어요ㅠㅠ 하지만 제가 공부를 도움을 줄수있다면 영광스러워요~^^ 설명은 당연히 할수있죠! 영어공부를 하신다고하니 영어로 분석을 하겠지만 만약에경우 한국말로 따로 설명이 필요하신다면 메시지 보내시면 제가 설명해드릴게요^^ 블로그 방문해주셔서 감사합니다~^^ 

Okay! With the greetings out of the way, please join me under the cut if you would like to know more about why I don’t really sympathize or identify with Jaehee in this topic or the criticism towards Jumin for his behavior during Jaehee’s route.

Please note that although this is an analysis, there may be opinions that may differ or be consistent with mine! While I can give some sort of Korean background, for debatable topics, I do not represent all of the Korean minds for respective topics. Also, please excuse any errors or let me know if clarifications are needed, for English is not my first language! Thank you and enjoy!

So, I want to begin with my explanation before anything. I want to make it clear that I am not saying that Jumin's actions are justified, and yes, it is preeeetty harsh. But please do understand, in Korea...

This is not new.

I am currently a third year student in university, and I have been preparing for employment ever since high school. With Jaehee as Jumin's secretary for C&R, a big big company/conglomerate in the Mystic Messenger world, more than finding Jumin's actions something I couldn't identify with, I find Jaehee's actions more the case.

Employment in Korea is very difficult. I personally would dream to have Jaehee's job considering it is also my university major, but the probability that will happen is not that high even if I do have the best grades. Not only that though, but this is the reality of work culture. I hate to say it, but it is true. Yoosung mentions a bit about this issue in a chat. A degree won't get you anywhere and that sucks soooo much. I think I almost went through a mental breakdown when Yoosung said that tbh orz.

Working overtime or in Korean, 야근 is very common. Not having vacation time is very common. A boss like Jumin or more often the case, worse than him, is very common. Quitting the job the way Jaehee did? Not so much.

So I personally could not sympathize with Jaehee. For the sake of getting the good end, I did choose the answers that were pretty much telling Jumin to chill out and stop giving Jaehee so much work, but in all honesty, if I could say what I wanted to, I probably would have told her to suck it up. If a post would make people hate me, this would be it. This sounds worse than I initially put it off to be.

DON'T HATE ME YET.

Like I said. I am not saying that Jumin is right though. Of course I would want Jaehee to have a more easier time with her work. Who wouldn't?? Jaehee is a great character and in the later part of her route, she is just precious. I mean it, it is just that I can't sympathize or agree with her actions.

Her ending was so idealistic and something that even I wish were to happen to me as well. However, as idealistic as it is, I highly doubt it is realistic. It is fiction after all. I wish it weren't though.

Jumin's representation as Jaehee's boss is definitely a real thing, and I have experienced it one way or another. It is not something I enjoy and I can relate to how she feels. But like I said, it is her actions that I cannot relate with.

So, now that that is out of the way. I will go on with this post by comparing some parts of her route that I could compare and contrast, Korean vs. English!

I will probably make another part because there are lots of cases with this issue. I will just pick out a couple scenarios and move on from there.

I will start with this one.

Let me translate it for you,

Jaehee: At the time, I had too much work to do...is my only excuse right now.

Jumin: If you’re going to make an excuse, I want to hear a proper one.

Jaehee: 이사님 (CEO/president - not really Mr. Han), as you already know, there is a limit to the amount of work I do within my work hours.

Jaehee: I think I couldn’t reserve your ticket because I had other work on top to deal with. English translation: I think I forgot because there was so much work around that time.

☆☆ 한주민: 그럼 근무 시간을 늘려. ☆☆ Jumin: Then extend your work hours.

I want to star this because this was almost a deja vu for me.

It doesn’t matter what the excuse is. If there is a strict and existing hierarchy which we do see here, Jumin is always right. Sadly, that is the case here.

In my experience, I had something like this happen. My boss told me the only excuse he would take is a death certificate.

Well, he’s nice, right?

Welcome to the 야근 (working overtime) life Jaehee ^^

Jumin: Another department? The cherry farm ticket for Elizabeth...

Jumin: you had another department book my flight?

☆☆ 한주민: 난 처음 듣는 일이야 ☆☆ Jumin: This is the first time I’m hearing this.

☆☆ 강제희: 제가 너무 바빠서 그 쪽에 부탁을 했습니다. ☆☆ Jaehee: I was too busy so I asked them.

☆☆☆ 한주민: 나한테는 말도 안하고 말이군. ☆☆☆ Jumin: Without telling me.

Jaehee: ...first.

Alright, so I wanna bring this up because lol, something like this happened to me too.

That was my excuse. I was too busy because of my workload and I had forget to inform my superior about it.

My superior rolled up lots of papers and just smacked me in the head. It is a good memory.

The choices that the MC could say can either be supporting Jaehee and taking her side, but the other is more focus on your work kind of ordeal. I made this exact mistake before once in my life, and even I acknowledge that if I had told my boss about informing in this case, another department, I probably would not have gotten in that mess to begin with.

So in this case, I definitely know what it feels like to be in Jaehee’s shoes, but I do feel that Jumin’s words are justified.

Oh oh man. This one.

사과할 생각이 안 드는군. The thought to apologize does not come up. English translation: Of course I have no plans to apologize.

사과에 쓸 에너지를 회사에 쓰는 게 낫지. It is better to use the energy I could use to apologize to work. English translation: I would rather use the energy to work.

I remember a friend of mine from the US would tell me that that was what did it for her and Jumin. But to be honest, this is just a thing here in Korea. Not something I personally enjoy if I really think about it, but I’m used to it, so I’m not really affected by it. If it is a big company like in this case, C&R it is just kinda normal.

Not bashing my own country or anything, but there is just that kind of nuance.

Which brings me to my next point,

MC: 두분 다 점심은 드셨나요? MC:Did you both have lunch yet?

한주민: 난 미팅에서 일식을 먹었지... Jumin: I had Japanese food at my meeting...

강제희: 저는 아직 못 먹었습니다. Jaehee: I haven’t eaten yet.

☆☆ 한주민: 그 쪽으로 음식을 배달 시켜 주도록 하지. ☆☆ Jumin: I will have some food delivered to you.

강제희: 감사합니다... Jaehee: Thank you...

It’s not like he is brutally mean to her. Like, it’s not like he is going, “idgaf jaehee.” and to top if off, it isn’t like Jumin is overworking her while he is just playing around like what Zen is often saying.

Jaehee: My schedule is as full as yours and I don’t know if that will be possible.

Jumin: I know.

The last screenshot I have for today is when as anon said, Jumin get’s really angry and goes “damn” for a while. My screenshot is a little after the part where he is saying damn.

707: CEO/president’s emoticons

Jumin: =_=

707: He’s asking with him being all wealthy and whatnot, you would expect some manners but not in this chat lol.

Jumin: I’m angry.

MC: Why?

I think the English translation for the game is very similar! Well, except the cringy “Mr. Han.”

This is where I found Jaehee a bit ><;;;;; it is not like she hates Jumin’s guts and that she is not a member of the RFA anymore, but her leave was very abrupt and I don’t know how to explain it but if I were her and I really did want to quit.

I would have waited until he got another secretary tbh.

I mean, that’s just me.

Opinions do differ, but in my views and understanding, it’s not like Jumin was a terrible terrible boss in Korean work culture.

The last thing I want to talk about before I end this post is that Jaehee, I feel you girl, I really do.

She had a different dream, and we all know what that is if you reach the end of her route. I also am an avid believer pursuing what you want to do and enjoy what you are doing. Life is short after all.

But if I were in her shoes, even if I did per say, not enjoy my job, I would still go through with it because,

I have a job.

With unemployment as a huge issue here, I just can’t seem to wrap my head around Jaehee’s decisions sometimes, and I hate that I can’t because honestly, what she got, is my dream. A happy life doing what she loves.

I guess my brain thinks more like Jumin rofl.

Anyway, thank you for joining me in today’s analysis! Send in a request and I will get to them in the order of which they come in~^^

I may come back and add some more screenshots or examples, but for now goodbye~

- 류설♡

[janiedean]

Dear French anon, not all French speaking people are so lovely to learn the language of the region. Greeting from someone living in Flanders, where sometimes people talk French in post offices in (unilingual) territory, where French-speaking politicians distribute flyers to advocate the use of French in unilingual Flemish territory, where people died thanks to French chauvinism, where French-speaking nurses insult Flemish people for trash.

anon listen I’m about to go to bed and I’m the least person on the list to discuss french/flemish/dutch relations in belgium because I don’t know nearly anything about it but like then I could tell you that the one time I went to belgium in the dutch part there wasn’t one restaurant menu in french (and actually in a couple places not even english so I had to rely on dutch friends to translate shit for me even if I know french well enough to read it) and I spoke french once in bruges, the rest of the time most people looked at me like ‘lol no just use english instead’ which in turn ended out with me having to communicate in english. now, we can discuss for ages about french imperialism in the modern era/the middle ages, which by the way goes back to the whole reason why anglosaxons have that privilege now - that the language of the most powerful nation gets privilege - but like french people in belgium (which is a country with three official languages) are not the same case as americans in italy or brits in greece or germany or what have you.

also fyi up until twenty years ago but in some cases today as well, northern italians insult southern italians for being trash in hospitals and whatnot and we don’t even speak two different languages. like. the language issue related to power imbalances between neighboring nations with a history is a thing, the language issue related to ‘X comes from english speaking country and no one expects them to learn the language but Y comes from a less privileged country and if they don’t learn the language in three months they’re dirty immigrants stealing our bread’ is another.

[snommelp]

I don’t remember the name of the movie, and frankly right now I don’t care all that much, but the other day I was thinking about a fairly generic time travel drama that I saw once upon a time (side-note, “generic” and “time travel” shouldn’t belong in the same descriptor). For some reason or another the time travel people had sent the protagonist’s dad back to France during the Hundred Years War and now they needed to send back the protag and a group of his friends, all archaeologists and historians.

The part that my brain keeps returning to is the French guy. He had a stereotypical French name, Jean or Pierre or something. But I remember that he actually didn’t want to go, because he had health issues or something, but he went back anyways because they were going to Medieval France and somehow this team of archaeologists and historians who specialized in the Medieval period didn’t know French and were going to need him to translate.

Anyway, after they travel back in time they run into the British, because hey, we just jumped into the middle of a century+ long war between France and England, and *gasp!* the British leader doesn’t trust the French guy and kills him.

Then, from that moment on, every single person they encounter speaks English. Specifically, every single person they encounter in 14th Century France, whether French of English or other, speaks 20th Century English with a bad accent.

I mean, I know there’s gotta be suspension of disbelief when you’re watching a movie about time travel and whatnot, but that whole sequence was so incredibly ridiculous to me. First, that none of these academically-minded people would have even a working knowledge of the language in the time/place that they study, to be able to stumble their way through a conversation. Second, that apparently 14th Century France in this universe was filled with people who spoke perfect English, but the academically-minded people didn’t know this and thought it was necessary to bring along a reluctant translator. And third, that all of this nonsense aligned in order for the movie to kill off a character and manipulate an emotional response from the audience when frankly we hadn’t known him long enough to be emotionally invested in his death - and also it seems like they specifically chose the character that they themselves cared the least about.

@fandomsandfeminism I know that this kind of critique is often right up your alley, do you get what I’m talking about?

[rplatt101]

Google's Pixel Buds translation will change the world

See on Scoop.it - Wearable Tech and the Internet of Things (Iot)

Google's Pixel 2 event in San Francisco on Wednesday had a lot of stuff to show off and most of it was more of the same: the next iteration of the flagshi

Richard Platt's insight:

Google quietly revealed that it had changed the world with a pair of wireless headphones. Not to be outdone by Apple's Air Pods and their wirelessly-charging TicTac storage case, Google packed its headphones (in combination with the Pixel 2) with the power to translate between 40 languages, literally in real-time. The company has finally done what science fiction and countless Kickstarters have been promising us, but failing to deliver on, for years. This technology could fundamentally change how we communicate across the global community.  The Google Pixel Buds are wireless headphones designed for use with the company's new Pixel 2 handset. Once you've paired the phones to the handset, you can simply tap the right earpiece and issue a command to Google Assistant on the Pixel 2. You can have it play music, give you directions, place a phone call and whatnot, you know, all the standards.  But if you tell it to "Help me speak Japanese" and then start speaking in English, the phone's speakers will output your translated words as you speak them. The other party's reply (presumably in Japanese because otherwise what exactly are you playing at?) will then play into your ear through the Pixel Buds. As Google's onstage demonstration illustrated, there appeared to be virtually zero lag time during the translation, though we'll have to see how well that performance holds up in the real world with wonky WiFi connections, background noise and crosstalk.